Hey, it's me!

Sorry to all three readers who read this blog, because I never posted anything about Andrew's surgery on Friday. It went fabulously. He didn't go back until about 90 minutes after the scheduled time, but he was really good waiting in a little tiny room for a very long time without having eaten anything all day. They only time he would get really upset is when someone would come in. When they did finally come to take him back, they wanted him to ride in the guerney. That really set him off, so he went through the OR doors wailing. While it was upsetting, I know it didn't last for long, because the nurse had assured me that they put the babies under almost as soon as they are in for just that reason. After he left, I ran down to the cafeteria since I hadn't eaten in ages to grab lunch. In the time it took me to get my lunch, get back to the room, and eat one chicken strip, the tubes were in. The doctor came back to the room within 15 minutes to tell us it was done. They brought Andrew back about a half hour later, and 45 minutes after that we were able to head home! By the time we got home, he was already back to his normal, happy self. He ate a full supper that night and headed to bed with no problem. All in all, it went perfectly!

Now, if I could only get him to start talking. . .

What a Day!

Well, it has been quite the day today. The boys and I headed to school this morning, and I taught until 9:30. Then, I left to take Andrew to his pre-op appointment at Children's Healthcare at Egleston. This hospital is closer to us than Scottish Rite where he had his surgery last year. It's actually on the Emory campus and right across the street from Emory hospital where my Uncle Ron got his new heart almost two years ago. His appointment was at 10:30, and I arrived at the parking garage before 10:15. After driving through all four levels of the garage, I finally found a family that was getting ready to pull out of their spot. Thankfully, it was right beside the elevators, so it didn't take me too long to get Andrew out of the car, into his stroller, and up to the right floor. I signed in at 10:29. :) Then, the wait started.

First, we waited to get called to registration. Then, we waited to get called back. Then, we waited for the tech to get his vitals and take a history. Then, we waited for the pre-op clinic nurse to come and ask me the exact same questions that the tech asked. Then, we waited for someone from anesthesia to come and ask me the exact same questions. Finally, we waited for the doctor to come to look in his ears and ask me some of the exact same questions. (Are you sensing a pattern?) We didn't leave until after 12:30. I zipped through the drive-thru at Chik-fil-A and got us both some lunch, raced home (without speeding on 78!), and dropped Andrew off so I could get back to school at 1:30. I was actually only about 3 minutes late.

Then, tonight, I went to our church's training for KidzLife. This past spring, our church decided to drop our Awana program and begin their own. I will admit that I was a little disappointed at first. Matthew and Nathan really enjoyed Awana, and Matthew only had one more year left of Sparks. I liked that it really gave him a goal to finish his book twice each year so he could get his review patch and go to the skating party the church sponsored for book finishers. But after seeing what our church has put together, I'm really excited. We're going to spend the year studying the Sermon on the Mount. And the lessons will encourage the kids to really think about what they are studying and how they can apply it to their lives. Plus, the journals that the K-2nd grade kids will use are incredibly cute! I'm going to be working with a group of Kindergarten kids, and I can't wait until next week. We have over 1000 kids registered to start next week! It will be awesome!

Musings about our First Week

One thing I will say for the first week of school: It seemed to zip by. It feels like it was just Monday morning, and suddenly I'm already getting ready for another week of school.

Nathan's love/hate relationship with school has not diminished over the summer. On the way to school on Monday, he was complaining about how he didn't want to go. I told him he could be miserable for the next 179 days, but on the first day of school he had to pretend to be happy!

Matthew still hasn't learned that there are times when he needs to zip it so his teacher can talk.

Even though I hoped that starting school would cut down somewhat on the fighting, that hasn't proved to be the case.

I think I'm going to really enjoy my group this year. I had a fabulous first week. While I was exhausted at the end of it, I had a great time. I'm diving headfirst into both Writer's Workshop and organizing my reading time around something called "The Daily 5". Both went really well, and I'm very excited about the rest of the year!

On another note. Andrew's surgery is this Friday. I still don't know what time it will be. I'm not sure if I will take my laptop or not with me to the hospital. Either way, I will be sure to post something by Friday evening.

Working for Free

Tomorrow, instead of heading into school to start the year, I'll be at home. Thanks to the economy, I'm furloughed for the first two days of August and one day in October. On principle, most teachers I know aren't going in to show the governor that we won't work for free. Of course, what were lots of us doing last week?

Going in to get our rooms ready.

Working for free.

Ironic, isn't it?