Home From Vacation!

We got back home from Indiana this morning. Driving all night is good for us because the boys sleep most of the way, but it does make for a really long day after since taking a nap in the afternoon is a really bad idea if all of the boys are awake.

I'll post some pictures soon! We had a lot of fun!

Why Is It . . .

that when strangers see me at the pool they feel the need to warn me that my baby is going to get a sunburn??? Let's look at the facts. First of all, he looks like he hasn't been out in the sun at all, and yet I have a fairly decent tan. Obviously, I have been out in the sun. In addition, my other two boys are also fair-skinned redheads, and neither of them are burned. Am I just walking around with a "Yes, I'm an idiot" stamp on my forehead? Yes, I do know they sell stuff called sunscreen, and I do know how to use it.

My Biggest Pet Peeve

When people ask me what my biggest pet peeve is, I usually give some off the cuff remark like people who don't use turn signals, or people who go through the express line at Kroger with 50 items. But that's not really truly what bugs me most. My biggest pet peeve is when people make comments without really thinking about their listener's situation. Let me explain.

We were married for almost seven years before Matthew was born. During that time, I got more cute questions about when we were going to have a baby than anybody should ever have to bear. Part of it was where we were living and going to church. Our Sunday School class was filled with couples that were our age, and many of them were starting their families. (OK, almost all of them.) So, of course, every time a couple would bring a new baby to church, and I would congratulate them, I'd always get the question about when we were going to have one. Well, after the seventh or eighth time, I ran out of cute responses. See, the problem wasn't that we didn't want kids. The problem was that we couldn't have a baby. I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and undergoing treatment for it. It's not that the other people were cruel. Many of them had no idea. We hadn't shared what was going on. My best friend knew, and ironically, she felt guilty since she and her husband couldn't seem to stop from getting pregnant! (You know I love you, Shelley!) I just wish that sometimes people had looked at the situation and realized that maybe the continual questions were making me very uncomfortable. So, I've made it a policy of mine to never ask a married couple when they are going to have kids. I don't know what they are going through, and what their problems are or aren't. I wish I'd spoken up when I was being asked those questions. Of course, I could have been brutally honest and put them in a very uncomfortable situation. Darn, I wish I'd thought of that sooner. ;-)

Why am I posting this? I think as a reminder to myself to make sure that I think before I speak. Sometimes, my mouth gets ahead of my brain, and I say things I shouldn't. So, if you're reading this, and I've put my foot in my mouth regarding something I said to you, I'm sorry. And I'm sure I'll need to apologize in the future as well.

No Helmet!!!!

We saw the neurosurgeon today for a follow-up, and he says that Andrew does not need a helmet. YAY!!!!!!!! He says there is still some "frontal bossing" which means that his forehead is still bulging forward a little bit, but he believes that it will correct itself as he grows. He will probably always have a forhead that bulges some, but not to the point that it will look like a defect. He is very happy with how Andrew's head looks. He told me that it's harder for me to see the difference because I see him everyday, but to the doctor who hasn't seen him since the end of April, there is a lot of difference. Andrew was so cute during the visit. Usually, when someone walks in who he's not familiar with, he'll get very quiet and just watch them, but as soon as the doctor walked in, he just started cooing and chattering. It's like he knew that this was the person who had fixed his head, and he was trying to say thank-you!

I'm just glad we don't have to try and fit in fittings for a helmet along with our upcoming vacation and school starting in just a few weeks.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday. Since I've moved FAR away from home to Georgia, I appreciate my mom much more, and I miss her very much. (Especially when Jeremy and I want to go out for the evening. I'm kidding, Mom!) Happy birthday!

(I also want to wish a happy birthday to my best friend's daughter who was wonderful enough to be born on my mom's birthday. Happy birthday, Nicole!)

Math Institute is Finally Over!

All this week, I've been at Math Institute. It's a program the county runs where you work with a mentor teaching teaching math during a week at summer school. This week, I've spent every morning helping my mentor teach math to kids who have just finished 2nd grade. The idea is you see some of the best practices in teaching math, plus you get a chance to work with a small group helping them. While I really enjoyed working with the kids, I feel like I didn't learn a whole lot. I've got some more resources, but my mentor teacher teaches upper grade gifted kids mostly, and there were some times when I thought that she talked over the kids' heads too much. I know the big thing now is letting kids talk their way through problems even when they don't understand, but I found that it really confused some of the other kids. I had one student I was working with who was understanding the concepts, but when the teacher let the other kids give the wrong answer and try to justify it (hoping that they would see their error), she got really confused and frustrated because she knew her answer was right, and she couldn't see why the teacher was letting someone give a wrong answer. I can see how that would be frustrating to a student.

It was nice because it helped me begin to ease into a regular teaching schedule again. The kids come a month from today!

Dieting

I hate dieting. I've been trying to lose some weight lately, and so this week I decided to go back to doing Weight Watchers. And I hate it. The worst meal is lunch. I hate making lunch as it is, because I'm not a big sandwich eater, and I can only eat salads for so long. When it gets cooler, I'm going to make more soup that will last me the whole week, but for right now, finding stuff for lunch stinks. Suppers are a little better, but they still want me to eat salad with every meal. Yuk.

Hopefully, I'll get more creative with the meals, and I'll appreciate it when my clothes get looser. I'll just keep repeating that to myself. Over and over.

My Clean House

Last night when I went to bed, my house could not have been cleaner. I spent almost all day yesterday cleaning. Almost every floor surface was either mopped or swept. Both bathrooms were cleaned, and the boys helped me dust. At least they waved a dust cloth at the furniture. I gave my kitchen those once every couple of months cleaning where I pulled everything off of the counter and cleaned behind it, plus I wiped down all of the cupboard doors. Then, I used my very nifty non-chlorine bleach to clean my dish drainer, and some baking soda to clean the sink. Finally, I used the bleach to clean the mat that is in the boys' bathtub. It has suction cups to hold it to the tub, and it grows mildew pretty easily. I love the bleach. It's got hydrogen peroxide in it, so it's not as caustic as regular bleach. Plus, when I'm done, my hands don't stink, and I don't have to worry about pollution. It degrades into oxygen and water. (I once knew the chemical equation, but it's been a long time since I was in Mr. Roth's chemistry class!)

When all that was done, I did the laundry for all of us. So at the end of last night, the whole house was clean, and all of the clothes had been washed. By tonight? We could probably do at least one load of laundry, and the family room and kitchen need to be swept. My work is never done. But I'm going to bed now, since I have Math Institute tomorrow. Can't wait!

Our Fourth of July

We decided to head out today to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield today. It's a Civil War Battlefield north of Atlanta where the Army of Tennesee tried to hold off General Sherman's troops (I think native Atlantans still spit after they say Sherman's name). You can go up to the top of the mountain, and there a miles of trails to walk. Not that we did. My stroller does not go off-road. Here's what it looks like from the top of the mountain. The sign said on a clear day you could see all the way to Stone Mountain (28 miles away). It was too smoggy today. I want to come back in the fall. Can you imagine this view with the fall colors?

Here are Matthew and Nathan in front of one of the cannons. Nathan was a little afraid that the cannon might actually shoot at him. We told him that he was pretty safe since that cannon probably hadn't shot off anything in over 100 years.

After coming back down from Kennesaw mountain, we took a driving tour through the National Park to see a couple of other sites from the battle. The best one was Cheatham Hill where you could actually see some of the earthworks the Confederate soldiers built during the battle. Here's a marker showing where one Union soldier was buried. Don't worry, he's not there anymore. Most of the soldiers buried on the battlefield were later re-buried in Marietta National Cemetary.

There are also monuments set up by various states around the battlefield commerating their soldiers service to the war. Here is the one from Illinois, the most famous one in the park.

I looked for one from Indiana, but I didn't find one. However, knowing my state, it was probably placed somewhere very flat!

We did have to buy something at the gift shop, but since we didn't have to pay an entrance fee and the shuttle bus up the mountain cost us a total of $5, I figured we could afford it. Here's Nathan with his own little Civil War battle.

And to finish off, just some random pictures including one of Nathan looking at a map (big surprise) and Andrew hanging out in the stroller. He was such a good traveler. He didn't really get to nap at all while we were at the park, and even on the way home he was playing with his toys and singing.

We decided that fireworks would be a little much after our busy day, so we just stayed home. I hope you all had a great 4th of July!

Pictures from Nathan's Birthday

As promised many days ago, here are some pictures from Nathan's birthday.

Am I Really This Cheap?

We went to the pool again today, and I spent some time observing the other families there. During the break time they have each hour, everyone heads back to their towels or chairs and pulls out snacks. Hey, swimming does make you hungry! So while they are pulling bags of potato chips and sodas out of their coolers and picnic baskets, my kids are getting peanut butter crackers and drinking water out of the water bottles that I get out of my bag. I take so little to the pool. Last year, I fit everything we needed, including towels, into one, large, bag. This year, I'm taking the stroller in. I didn't really want to, but after the first time taking Andrew and having no place to put him, made me realize I really needed the stroller. I guess I just don't feel the need to drag all of that stuff to the pool. Or maybe I'm just too cheap to buy all that. Although, my kids do think it's a very special day when I let them share a Twix candy bar out of the vending machine! (Yeah, we've done that once.)

It's July 1st in Atlanta, Georgia. . .

and I just turned the air conditioner on today. It was so nice we were able to have the windows open today.

A Woman Who Needs to Get Off TV

You know how when you're driving, and you see a car accident, you can't look away. Well that's how I am with Jon and Kate + 8. This show is a total train wreck, yet I can't stop watching. For the uninitiated, J&K is about a couple and their 8 children, a set of twins and a set of sextuplets. I first saw them on a special TLC had about them a couple of years ago, and they seemed to be a very sweet couple who wanted to give their children a happy life. They showed Jon going off to work, and Kate bargain shopping and using coupons to make their dollars stretch as far as they could while working as a nurse on the weekends. Well, TLC gave them their own show, and they are now acting like "big reality stars". They now take skiing trips to Utah and stay in private cabins, the kids dress in identical GAP and Gymboree clothes, and both Kate and Jon have had cosmetic surgery. But yet, they still promote themselves as this humble family who struggles to make ends meet. Really? Jon doesn't even go to work anymore. Instead he "works from home". Sure he does. In the episode I watched last night, Kate took the girls to a pottery place to paint pottery. But instead of actually interacting with her children, she sits at a table painting her own pottery and making snide comments about how the little girls are painting. You know, those little girls who just turned 4. I thought what they painted was adorable. Plus, Kate freaked out about how they might get dirty. Did I mention she's a germophobe, and her kids don't play in the grass? Just on the driveway of their house. What a wonderful life. I think Kate loves the "idea" of being a mom, but when it actually comes down to the nitty-gritty of motherhood, she doesn't want to be bothered. There was one episode where all of the kids were sick, and all Kate could do is complain about how much extra laundry it made for her. Well, her and her helpers. She has someone come in once a week to fold the laundry, someone else to put it away, and a third person to do all of her ironing. Yet, she talks about how she always needs all of this help. Whatever. I'm not sure what she'll do when the kids stop being cute for TV, and they have to live a life like normal people.

And why do I keep watching? Well, like I said before, it's a total train wreck. But the kids are also very cute. One of the boys wears glasses, and I'm a sucker for a pre-schooler in glasses. I think they are too adorable!