Jealousy

I recently realized I am insanely jealous of any pregnant woman I see. I'm very happy for her and her partner, but find I just LONG to be pregnant and yearn for another baby. Hm, the less baby-like my baby is, the more I want another one...is there a connection here?

My New Job!

I had the most wonderful visit at Walsingham today! I divided my time between two Kindergarten classrooms and a fifth grade class. I was overwhelmed by the quietness in the K classes and by the calm, quiet demeanor of the teachers. There were 20 children present in one room and 21 in the other and they were overwhelmingly well behaved.

I really enjoyed my time in those classes but began to worry about how I would work with one of the teachers, as my persona and personality and teaching style are on the opposite end of the spectrum from her. I worry I would drive her absolutely batty!

With that worry in mind I headed for the fifth grade class. When I arrived in the room, the children had just left for Chapel. Okey dokey. That left me with about forty minutes in which to pick the teacher's brain. The fifth grade position was just recently vacated by a lady who is pregnant with twins and has a four year old at home. She won't be returning to work in the fall. The two fifth grade teachers worked very VERY closely and team taught. The teacher I observed teaches math, science and Social Studies. The other teacher taught reading, writing and Social Studies to her own homeroom.

The teacher I observed was very open, friendly and gregarious. The children were delightful and funny and very bright--even if they were fifth graders! :oP

I entered the lunch period feeling that I could work better with the fifth grade teacher, but would probably still be more comfortable teaching Kindergarten.

After lunch I revisited Kindergarten and confirmed by thoughts on working with the K teacher. She is delightful, lovely and very sweet, but I worry about how we would team and goodness knows I am going to need lots of help!

When the K classes headed out for recess I popped back into the fifth grade class where I was welcomed once again with open arms :o). From there we headed across the green to the Upper School where we watched the high schoolers perform the opening scenes of "Harvey". It wasn't too bad and before I knew it it was time to go home.

I've never seen anything like it--dismissal with no school buses. Parents are responsible for getting their children to and from school and the fifth grade teacher calls it "carpool rodeo" :oP. The children (all of them that are picked up which is TONS!) stand in the hallway SILENTLY while carpool numbers are rattled off as each car pulls up in front of the stairs. The kids come running and within ten minutes they were all gone. It was crazy!

I then went to speak with Margaret. I had determined I would tell her I would be comfortable wherever she decided she needed me, either K or 5. Both are going to be a HUGE departure from where I am now and whether good or bad, I'm in for a change. Margaret then told me they may be filling the K position from in-house which she didn't really know when we first met and spoke. So, I may be a fifth grade teacher next year. And you know what? I'm kind of excited at the prospect.

Oh, one final thought--it took me all of ten minutes to get home this afternoon. I almost wept with joy!

If I Had My Way...

Tonight over dinner Hannah whined, "I wish I was a grown-up, then I could have my own way." Oh, Hannah don't we all wish we could have our own way!

Walsingham Tomorrow

Tomorrow's the day! I head to Walsingham for "a day in the life". Margaret has set up a tentative schedule of activities for me and I'll spend my day with both Kindergarten and fifth grades. I'm trying to be open minded, but I have to say, the thought of fifth graders just chills me. I'm a little uncomfortable at the idea of Kindergartners, but *shiver* fifth graders *shiver*. Yikes!

But, knowing me, as soon as I've made up my mind about Kindergarten, I'll want a fifth grade position. Ultimately, I'm in for a change and I'm more than ready to embrace it!

Lily Photos

While Jessie was here, she took Lily with her and Ella to have pictures taken by a local photographer. Beth does an amazing job--a photographer who is truly comfortable capturing children as they really are. Beth is not afraid to get down on the child's level to get the best shot.


I think she really captured Lil as she is. A tiny, plucky, studious little bit of girl who has moments of sheer joy and enthusiasm. I didn't realize just how serious Miss Bit can be until I saw all the photos of a gregarious, smiling Ella. There were more serious photos of Lil than smiley ones whereas there were more smiley photos of Ella than serious.


Ultimately, they are both beautiful, funny, cute little girls. The thing that struck me the most though, was how big Ella looks. She looks just like a little girl while Lily still looks like a baby in so many ways. It's amazing how much teeth and hair will make a baby look so much older. Oh, yeah, size too...


The rest of these are just a few of my favorites from the bunch. I had a very difficult time choosing between the black and white and color photos they are all so wonderful. I'm calling Beth over break to see if I can schedule some studio time for both girls. Enjoy! :o)

Good-bye Toot

This afternoon I got to my mailbox (at work) and found I had a missed call from Brien. I rang him and was greeted with, "Toot died this morning." For those of you not in the know, we have, er had two guinea pigs--Toot and Puddle. They are five years old which is right old for a guinea pig.

In recent weeks we had noticed Toot was looking a little more frail and not up to his usual robust roundness. When B discovered Toot had died, he reached in for him and Puddle tried to attack him. Puddle was standing guard over Toot and wanted no one near him. In all the years we have had these wheekers, they have never been aggressive. Yet, Puddle wanted B to keep his hands off his buddy. It's all rather sad and tragic and quite frankly I'm a little worried about Puds now that the Tooter is gone. They were litter mates, together from the very beginning. Poor Puddle.

Meanwhile, Hannah once again reverted into curious, clinical mode. She insisted B needed to put Toot's remains in the freezer so I could see them when I got home from work. Niiiiiiiiiice. So, he did!!!!!*


*Okay, so they're actually in three baggies which are inside a box, in the freezer in the garage. Still...ew.

Whew!

Last week was pretty crazy with both girls down and out with the flu. Hannah had mostly recovered by Friday evening, but Lily didn't show any improvement until yesterday evening. Thank goodness tomorrow is back to the normalcy of every day life! :o)

I took these pictures in the middle of the month. Hannah is playing with her Littlest Pet Shop creatures and assorted teeny tiny choking hazards. We lock her in the dining room when she is playing "pets".


Part of the fun of playing "pets" is decorating the pets. Hannah takes tiny snippets of ribbon and uses them to Fancy Nancy up her pets. You can see what a delightful assortment of decorating items are strewn across the dining room floor.



Hannah saved and saved and saved every nickel she had earned, converted them to dollars (with help from Mommy and Daddy), and went to Target to make her purchase. She decided on the pet show item above. Hannah took her purse and her wallet with her and felt like such a big girl making her purchase. The choices were tough. She had saved twenty dollars and we agonized over which items she could purchase. Should she just get five individual pets? Should she get the very large pet shop? Should she get the "Teeniest Tiniest Pet Shop"?



Eventually she settled on the "fuzzy bunny for Easter," she said. :o) The cashier was delightfully patient whilst waiting for Han to count out her "monies" and change. It was very sweet and wonderful. :o)

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Lily's New Toy

Meanwhile, Lily spent that afternoon throwing all the laundry out of the basket so she could climb in. And out. And in. And out.


Most of her forays out were to procure a new book which promptly joined her back in the basket.



Lily is getting to be such a big girl even though she is still rather, um, diminutive...

She is saying many things and comprehend even more. Of course, if you don't happen to live with us and hear Lil speak every day, you might not understand what she is saying. For example, "Cheeeeeees peese" would be "May I have some cheese please?" "Ho-yee uff uff" means, "Holly says, 'woof woof'."

Most delightful of all is Lily learning to tell us "I love you". She now regularly blows kisses (sadly, the "Mmmmmmmwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" is gone, to be replaced by a single kissing noise) and will bestow kisses upon any and everything she loves--the dogs, her "Bay-bee", Hannah, the ball, you name it.


Speaking of balls, here is the giant one purchased at the same time Han bought her LPS item. Lily is a ball lover--again, not as much as Ella--so this was a fantabulous toy!

I promise to be more on the ball posting this week, now that both girls are on the mend and I no longer have to spend all my time cuddling one or the other or both of my babies. Poor poor out of sort little girls. I'm SO glad they are all better!

Eeeewwwwwww

I don't think my evening can get any better--Lily just threw-up all over me as I was holding her in my lap. The stench of vomit is stuck in my nostrils (I'm so sorry, Mom!).

It has been quite the day here at Casa de Davis. I stayed home with the girls because both still had rather high fevers and the potential to be carriers of flu. Well, it turns out they are. No shock there. Hannah began the morning as a miserable lump, crying because she was in pain. Lily was her usual plucky little self, only with a fever.

Hannah barely ate, Lily wolfed down her food as usual. As the day progressed, Hannah gained energy and Lily got worse and worse. By five o'clock, Lily was done for. B had come home early to go and fill their Tamiflu prescriptions so both girls had had a dose. Mom had called earlier and scared the beejeebers out of me with a report on Tamiflu being responsible for children in Japan committing suicide and all sorts of other potentially terrible things. After discussing it at length with Brien, it was determined there was a greater risk of death from the flu than from the Tamiflu. The report stated the teenagers in Japan were receiving significantly higher doses of Tamiflu than children here in the US. I also read the FDA website and considered the fact Dr. Via would not of prescribed something he felt to be dangerous. Am I still a little paranoid? Yes. Am I more concerned for my children's health and well-being? Absolutely. With the Tamiflu, they'll be on the mend much more quickly than without.

Hannah is feeling fairly energetic although she still isn't much interested in eating. Lily had some dinner at 5:30 or so, but really didn't eat much and began crying pitifully. I snuggled with her on the couch until almost 7:00 and she dozed on me for much of the time. When B and I tried to get a dose of Tylenol in her she began to throw-up. Now I know why she wasn't hungry...

Lily has gotten progressively worse and my heart is aching for her. Hannah feels crummy, but you can tell Lil is just miserable and has no idea what is going on.

Meanwhile, I don't think any amount of hand washing will protect me from the exposure I've had today. I've snuggled and cuddled, been sneezed on, coughed on and throw-up on and had items that have been in Lily's mouth forced into my mouth. I'm doomed.

Cool and Useful Product for all you Moms

My sister-in-law introduced me to this fun product. You see, Lily and Erin have the exact same sippy cups and Melanie kept getting them confused, as did the girls. I was mentioning this to Jen and she showed me the Bumpy Name bands she had had created for her kids.

Sure, I could have used tape or a Sharpie on the cup, but the tape always comes off and is sticky and the marker fades away. These bands are made of the same material as the "Live Strong" bands and can be used on so many things. My 10 year old niece uses them on her sports drinks bottles at swim practice so that no body else mistakes the drink for their's. Both Kelsey and Miles have severe food allergies, and Jen was able to have that put on their bands as well as their names.

Sure, I could have lived without them, but they're pretty nifty and I thought I would share, for those of you who may be interested. :o)

Oodles of Pictures

Thursday in the Park

I took Thursday off to play with Jessie and Ella. Jessie met her friend Rachel and her two little ones at Kidsburg here in Williamsburg. It was a beautiful day and the girls had so much fun!

Above, Lily takes on two steering wheels. She's such a tiny Little Bit she could barely be seen in the car if she was sitting down!

Zooming out a little so you can see the car.



Little Bit and the big car. This playground is lovely in that there are multiple sections. We spent our time in the little kids' section for ages 2-5. There is also a bigger kids section for ages 5-12. It's great to be able to be with the tiny tykes and not have them be run over by the big kids!


Jessie packs everything and I mean everything in her diaper bag. I think I even saw the kitchen sink in there! How someone so tiny can carry something so heavy is beyond me.



Two views of Ella enjoying her snack of wheat thins and orange juice. She is the most beautiful baby!

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Saturday at the VLM

We are blessed to have a wonderful museum here, the Virginia Living Museum. It is as the name states, a museum full of living creatures of Virginia. You can find more info here. It is an amazing place for children to explore with lots of hands-on opportunities and scores of fun animals.


There are also places for kids to crawl and play, such as the large turtle above. Ella had to practically be dragged away from it!


Initially we had planned on visiting the zoo. The plans had been made earlier in the week when the weather had been warmer. Jessie even extended her visit so we could go. Imagine our disappointment when Saturday dawned cloudy and cold.

I quickly altered the plans and the VLM it was :o).

Here Jessie and Ella check out the mountain stream exhibit.


The girls explore the large sea fishes in the saltwater tank. There are even a couple of nurse sharks and a HUGE tortoise in there!


Brien and the girls explore the piedmont river display. Lily, absolutely terror stricken at the thought of water hung back.


Here Ella and Hannah explore a "fallen log".


Lily missed her nap, refusing to sleep in the car, so she was an absolute wreck in the museum. She had fun (except for the watery exhibits), but really refused to get down. I finally convinced her to try out the "tree".



Lily had so much fun in the "tree" Brien had to go in and perform an intervention, dragging her unwilling little self on to see something else! :o)

We finished off the afternoon at a local fast food restaurant and headed for home. Later that afternoon there were actually snow flurries--it was CRAZY!

Hannah's Art and a Motivational Chart

This is Hannah's new motivational chart--her Race to the Finish game. There are two roads, one for morning and one for bedtime. There are stops along the way. Once Hannah completes one task, she moves herself (a picture on a heart) to that station. For example, after she eats dinner, she moves her piece to "Eat Dinner".

The beauty in this is it's novel. Additionally, it gives Hannah specific directions and is seems like a game. Hannah is only five. I have to remind myself frequently that Han is only five. She is very articulate and bright and I often forget she is unable to face a task that seems monumental and overwhelming, even something as simple as getting ready for bed. Last night was a dream. While I was busy getting Lily ready for bed, Han was taking care of herself and very excited she got to move herself from station to station. In fact, she was even ready for bed early! It was wonderful!! I'm hoping the novelty lasts for at least a week before I have to find some other method of motivation. ;o)


Here we see yet more of Hannah's sidewalk art. There is a flower with a butterfly on it.


I love this detail of the butterfly. He is in profile and is very sweet looking :o)


Hannah completed this masterpiece last Saturday. She received no direction from any adult other than the one time she asked me, "What comes after red, Mommy? Yellow or orange?" There are many aspects of this picture I love. I love the way the sky meets the ground at the horizon. Most little kids make a blue stripe across the top of the page.

I love the wide bands of color on the rainbow. Most little kids use skinny lines and are afraid to let the colors touch one another.

I love the detail of the puddles and the fact Han used two shades of green in the grass, overlaying a light spring green with a darker kelly green.

I'm not sure if you can see it if you enlarge the image, but there is also a swirl in the sun! :o)


This was Hannah's representation of the Virginia Living Museum we visited on Saturday. The brown arch with the black rectangles is the seating area. The black item in the foreground is a penny well and the arch on the top with the two brown circles is the slot you put the pennies in to send them into the well. The brown items are obviously the pennies.

The blue item next to that represents the large cylindrical aquarium behind the check-in counter and off to the right you can see a turtle.


Lastly, we have Hannah's leprechaun and his pot of gold. She didn't take her time as much with this picture, which was created at school. However, the leprechaun is very cute and I love her words. :o)

Two Sickos

Hannah came into our room very early this morning after having a bad dream. I let her snuggle down in bed with us, and in my half awake sleepy state I remember thinking, "Boy, her hands are HOT!" Not only were her hands hot, but so was the rest of her body. She was 102.5 and Brien and I began trying to figure out who was staying home and who was working. I took a half day today and I'll take a whole day tomorrow. Hannah's joints are aching and her eyes hurt and she is really just a miserable little lump of a mess. Poor baby.

Lily had a well baby visit today so Hannah came along for a sick child visit. While we were waiting (and waiting and waiting and waiting!) Lily began to feel rather feverish. Sure enough, her temperature was 100 when the nurse checked it. Great!

Dr. Via swabbed Han for strep and it was negative. He then swabbed her nose (a very unpleasant experience for Han, I assure you) and we'll get the flu test results tomorrow. Both girls received flu shots but it's still possible for them to have it. I have two prescriptions for Tamiflu waiting on the fridge if the test comes up positive. Goody!

As for Lil, well, she is still the peanuttiest of the peanuts. She is 19 pounds 2 ounces and 29 3/4 inches long. Which means, I need to turn her carseat back to rear facing! I can't stand it!!

I'll post tomorrow to let you know the results of the flu test.

In other news,

More Vista Issues

Vista is still being spooty and won't let me download pictures with any sort of haste. In fact, this evening I was told it would take one day five hours to download the 89 files on my SD card!! Grrrr!

Pictures when I can get them downloaded...

The Visit is Over

We had such a great time with Jessie and Ella we are really going to miss them. I'm sure many of you read Jessie's blog and know what happened from her point of view. Here's my accounting:


First off, I had the easiest week I have had since Hannah started Kindergarten this fall. I got up in the morning (as late as 6:00 or 6:15!), got dressed, got some breakfast and headed out to work at about 6:45 or 7:00. Nice and leisurely. I nursed Lily before I left and put her back down to sleep. When I left work in the aftern00n, I would come straight home. No stopping off to pick up children, no getting home after 5:00. I was home by 4:15 most days.

Now, tomorrow it's back to the same old grind. I'll miss the ease of daily life Jessie brought with her when she and Ella came as much as I'll miss them.

Vista is still being finicky and persnickety and won't let me download the pictures Jessie and I took this week*. I took a personal day last Thursday and Lily and I headed to Kidsburg with Ella and Jessie to meet her friend Rachel and her two children. Afterward we went to Tropical Smoothie Cafe' for lunch (where Rachel informed me you can ask for no added sugar in the smoothies. Who knew?!) and then Lily conked out. When Han got home from school, the five of us headed on over to Maggie Moo's where Jessie introduced me to the wonderful world of Chocolate Better Batter ice cream. YUM! It tastes just like chocolate cake batter! Oh so good! Hannah had a delightful time with her Aunt Jessie and cousin, although she still doesn't want to share so much with the smaller girls. Lily had fun playing with someone close to her size.


One interesting thing I noticed was the differences in parenting styles Jessie and I have. We have our similarities, but we approach our children in different ways. We both love our girls very much and both want what is best for them. I'm much tougher on my girls than Jessie is with Ella. I'm convinced she must think I'm the most awful mommy ever. In fact, I've been pretty paranoid about what she must think about me (Jessie, lie through your teeth when you comment!). I don't know why, but I continue to worry about what others think about me. I don't worry so much about strangers and how they perceive me, but family and friends are another matter. I'm continually worried about their opinions and worry I'm parenting in a way that others think is really wrong. Logically I know it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks since I'm letting my heart and head and life experiences guide me, but I'm still worried. I think it may be time for me to get a grip and act like the 30 year old I am and trust my own judgment and not be bothered by anyone else. I'm trying, I swear I am.

Tangent aside, we did have a lovely time and I'm sorry they have left. I hope that if Jessie needs to get away again they'll come on back and play with us. :o)

*As soon as I can figure out this new !@##$ operating system, I'll get the new pictures up. There are some wonderful ones!!