Happy Hot October

I can't believe it's October and it's still 90s outside. I guess it's payback for a mild summer.. just dragging it out for a higher average for the year. (In my finance brain that makes sense).

Preschool rocks! Now that we are in cribs, the kids actually sleep! Today, Caleb even slept in his crib in our room. It was simply amazing. It may have helped that he's on drugs for a sinus infection, but he was so pleasant all day (not that he's not lovely all the time) and he didn't have his paci except for sleeping times. A miracle! Starting tomorrow, no more pacis besides to sleep with. Today was a turning point on that. And I got to thinking, if he's not totally off them by the time baby girl gets here, it will be even harder for him to give it up if he sees little sister sucking on one. So that's the new goal. No more pacis by the arrival of little sis. Potty training can wait, and so can a big boy bed, but the paci has to go! Now I need the will power....

Ever lost your child? I have.

I'll start by saying that allergies, exhaustion, and tears make for a nasty headache.

Today at preschool started off alright but went downhill very quickly. By lunchtime we had especially fussy and tired kids, and naptime went the same as usual. I have said it before and I will say 100 more times. Whoever thought 18-month old babies should sleep on the floor on mats was seriously demented. The one boy who always sleeps did sleep so that left six backs to rub and pat and four hands to do it.. which doesn't add up quite right. Caleb, as usual, refused to lay down at all, the twins cried loudly, and another girl kept popping up and escaping to play. (I think there was speed in her lunch or something, because she was seriously hyper.) So an hour into rubbing, patting, crying, and being asked by the adjoining teachers to please hold it down twice, we scrapped naptime altogether and decided to go for a walk outside. (For the record, I didn't think it was a good idea to start with but I'm not experienced enough to say so, so we went anyway) The kids got hot and sweaty and even more tired and cranky so we went back in. On the way in, we passed two older classes and in the confusion, ours just scattered. Seven kids ran in 7 directions. I chose to chase the two who were running toward the treehouse (large indoor McD's type playscape) to rescue them, and by the time I got those two back to the elevator nook, we only had six. The one missing was Caleb. My coteacher tried (unsuccessfully) to corral the remaining 6 while I went to find Caleb. After searching the entire first floor, meeting the director halfway up the stairs, and about 5 minutes later I still couldn't find him and was starting to freak. By then the director, music teacher, receptionist, and librarian were all trying to hang on to our kids and find Caleb. Then the resource lady called down from the second floor saying, "Umm, I have Caleb upstairs." So up we went, with four adults, six kids, and me in tears. (of relief, anger, embarassment, and exhaustion) When we got off the elevator at the THIRD floor there was Caleb with the resource lady. My son climbed two flights of stairs!! I'm still trying to figure out what he was thinking and where he was going. He normally hates those stairs and insists on being carried up them. All the other adults were very surprised that he would strike off on his own since he hardly ever ventures very far from me. I'm atill just baffled.

Soooo, the ending of the day decided that we are moving our class to a room with cribs. Thank Goodness!! So hopefully no more naptime trauma.

And I decree that Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 no longer exists.

This is really about Caleb, but it was a family affair... his first HAIRCUT!!

All-over haircut I mean. We've trimmed the rat tail a few times, and around the ears, but never gone all over shorter. We geard up by putting him in his swing on the back porch, slapped on a #4 guard on the clippers and went to town. Greg held his head still and distracted him while I (gasp gulp) cut his hair. It looks surprisingly good for a VERY amateur job, if I do say so myself. Afterwards I couldn't stop starting at my little big boy. He looks like a little boy now, but he still just a baby. So sad. Here are pics. You can see how long it was before in some of the recent blogs either below or on About the Babe next door.








Just look how long it was!!! (The scissors are just for size comparison. I only used them around his ears, which doesn't look so great)

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Whew

The first day of my second week of being a preshool teacher. I haven't even started having kids yet and all I can say is WHEW am I tired. Today was a planning/work day and I worked like a dog to get all of my lessons planned and bulletin boards hung. Got the month of September totally done, (a good thing since I have to turn them in Thursday) and 2/3s of my bulletine boards finished. Caleb had a great time tearing up the room while I stapled and crinkled paper. Thursday is meet-the-parents day and I am only slightly freaked about that. I think once I get everything organized in my head I'll be okay, but it's all still flying in circles in there. At least I though of an art project, which was the source of much stress this weekend. Fingerprints and paint, should be a blast!

Oh, looky there, it's raining. How bout that.

random good news

I saw an ad in the church bulletin two weeks ago saying the church CDO (children's day out) still had openings. I assumed that it meant for kids, but I still thought to myself, "I should ask if they need teachers." I never did call or talk to anyone at all. Today out of the blue the phone rings and it is the director of the CDO, a nice lady I know of but have never met. She said they were looking for teachers and had two more openings and asked if I was interested. I thought, "Absolutely YES!" but I was a little more business like with my actual answer. She got my name from someone else at church that we know. I am just amazed that she called me so randomly when we really need the money right now. And the best part is Caleb gets to go to the preschool for half price and he'll be right next door to me. It's Tuesday and Thursday 8:30- 2:30. I'll be teaching the kids that are the same age as Caleb (18-2years) and Caleb will go into the higher class since I can't teach him. (policy) I'll only have to work about 8 hours to recoup the cost of having Caleb there and the rest of the month is income. YAY.

Also, Greg asked the church secretary last week if she knew of any part-time work that was needed and today she called with a possiblity for him. It's also at the church doing maintenance/moving type work. Not glamorous, but it's money and we're glad for it.

Lightning

We *think* our house got struck by lightning yesterday evening. We had a quick, bad storm pop up. Obviously it didn't burn down (darn it!!) but us and the neighbors had several breakers that tripped randomly when a lightning bolt hit really close. I think it actually hit the neighbors house, or between ours and theirs. The pot-smoking teenager next door said their fireplace whooshed with a flame (the pilot light caught the strike, maybe) but we never know if what she is seeing is reality or the weed talking. Their gas was blinking"offline" and she *says* the TV is fried and half their breakers tripped. We lost 2 breakers, and the TV went off, but the lights in the rest of the house didn't even blink. It was pretty weird. We didn't think much of it until the firetruck showed up next door. I guess when you're 19 and your mom's not home, you call the fire department. The fireman said it probably hit us but not directly. We were joking about climbing up in the attic and starting a fire and blaming it on the lightning strike... that's one way to get out of this house!!

Another thought. Maybe God was trying to scare those kids into going to church. Hah!

update on the living situation

So greg had a meeting on Friday with the bosses and was praised for his excellent work. Unfortunately he was told there aren't any openings in Longview and they can't say when there will be. A month, three months, a year, two years, etc. SO, while we are still going to sell the house, we will be sticking around DFW until there is an opening in Longview and then reevaluate the situation then. For now, when the house sells, we will find a house to rent in our price range and stay there a while. Hopefully we can save money by not paying upkeep, property taxes, etc. So that's the plan!

Faux-Toe Overload

Here's what you've all been missing while I hovered around the porcelain throne for the past two months.

Melody's graduation: May 18thish:
The Sibs:



Vacay to the desert- Dad's "1000-acre wood" (Razor-sharp mesquite shrub, that is.)

C walking the lonely road. Classic!



C driving the golf cart. Notice the tan soft-sided weapon case next to him, complete with loaded weapon inside. Ahh, the country life.



Me, in a deer stand.



Greg and Caleb in a deer stand. Notice the completely awesome view behind it.



The wildlife. Ewwww. Eeeeeeek.



The views from the land. My dad owns this ridge, yes, the one in the far distance.



This is the rest of it.



This one too:



Here is a closer-up of that first ridge. Dad says he's climbed it. We were going to try but there was lots of weedy grass growing on the path and we were afraid of getting into chiggars. You know, those little invisible bugs that burrow into your skin and itch you for days... we turned back. Maybe in the fall when the grass is all dead?



Highlights of the trip: I did DRIVE up a small slope in the golf cart with everyone haning on for their dear lives. Great fun. Sleeping out on the windowed porch was a cool deal, I only wish the stars would have broken out from behind the clouds. In the span of 2 weeks since Dad had been out last, it had rained 8/10ths of an inch which is a lot for the area. It was pleasantly cool and slightly muddy. There was also the nice old man that runs the combination Gas station BBQ smokehouse that gave Caleb a quarter when we stopped to stretch our legs. He was probably the mayor of Robert Lee. Robert Lee is located in Coke County, Texas where there are literally 5 towns in the entire county. Robert Lee, I believe, is the county seat, which is funny to me because the population is about 87. Or maybe 187. Close enough.

Check out the Babe blog for more pictures of Caleb's life.

Public Announcement

There is news here. Not house news, not job news. Baby news. Yup.

Dedication day

We are so excited for this Sunday! We are finally having Caleb dedicated at church. We missed the last one and then found out they only do it twice a year, so he's a little older than I would have liked, but it's never too late! Lunch afterwards, fun stuff! Can't wait!

Our house is showing today for the first time in a while. Paid the big mortgage last night. It really hurts to write that outrageous check every month. Someone just buy this house! We are still having faith that God will take it when it's the right time, but man it's getting close.