Give a teacher a chance...

I am not even sure what to name this particular blog tonight....who knows it may come to me after I have completed writing it! (it did)

Well, the big talk of the town around here is "Who's your teacher?" Understandably so seeing how school officially begins around these crazy parts on August 9th. Yes, those of you who are not familiar with this, it is craziness. Summer has basically just begun and we are already going back to school. Now, we have been out since May 26th so I guess it's fair that we are on our way back!

Now you may wonder why this question may irritate me so, and it's not really the question that bothers me - it is the parent's response to this question that bothers me. I made it a point not to live in the county I teach in. I have also made it a point to stay as far away from the mommy groups around here because of all the smack talk that goes on. I don't really have time for that nonsense. Anyhow, that's important to know because many of the people around here (at my local pool - which I go to EVERY single day) do not know me nor do they even know I am a teacher. I prefer it that way! So as they are talking about this subject right in front of me I grow more and more agitated.

As soon as the question rolls off their tongues the negativity pours out. From listening to the responses the reasons that they "hate" their assigned teachers are all from third party hear say. None of it is from personal experience. It is always "Well, so and so said this about Mr. Cape" Give me a break. Why do we do this? Why set the year up for failure before it even begins? Give the teacher a chance - have a positive attitude towards your child's teacher. Go in with an open mind. If you do this you and your child will have a much better year. Your child can tell whether or not you respect their teacher from the get go! Children pay attention to everything.

Get to know your child's teacher first before making any assumptions. Who knows just because the person down the street had some personality issues with a certain teacher doesn't mean that you won't have the best year of your child's academic career. Keep and open mind. Teachers are truly doing what they do to educate each and every child that walks through their door.

This was short and sweet but I just had to get it off my chest...

Happy Back to School!

My Love / Hate relationship with the Beach

Wow! It has been a very long time since I last blogged. I feel like I have been quite busy lately! I decided I was not going to blog while vacationing in Myrtle Beach - wouldn't have been able to anyhow because the damn internet was way too slow. The only time it worked was from 7 am - 7:30 am! I think NOT! That is way too early to try and come up with any blog writing!

Okay now that you know where I have been I am going to talk a little bit about my beach relationship. I definitely have a love / hate relationship with the beach. The more and more I think about it I am coming up with more hates but ultimately the loves outweigh the hates! At least I think they do. So these are not going to be in any order - I will talk about hates with my loves and they by no means are ranked. They will just be coming to my head as I write about them.

SAND - I absolutely HATE the sand. I think I hate the sand more now being a mother of a child with extremely sensitive skin than I did childless! It is awful! Stupid sand gets everywhere. It doesn't help that she sits right in it and basically bathes in it. Then has the nerve to complain to me how badly her skin itches! REALLY? I told you not to roll around in the sand! Plus I don't like the feel of sand so little gal comes running to me with sand all over her and wants me to hold her! GROSS! No thank you. Go wash off. I know I may sound very harsh but I really don't like sand. I don't want any part of it. I am so careful down at the beach not to get it on me at all. The only part of me I want touching that sand are my toes and feet...that's it! So sand is an absolute HATE!

OCEAN - I think the ocean scares me more than anything. I actually did get in the ocean this summer because it was extremely hot out! I am so afraid that some living creature is going to bite me, sting me or, eat me! Without fail my brother gets stung by a jellyfish EVERY year. I am not kidding. EVERY single year. It's kinda funny to me but I know if I laugh too hard my time will come. Little Gal actually enjoys the ocean water and I love watching her out there in the ocean with anyone other than me! This year we smartened up and she wore her goggles out there! What a sight! She was even brave enough to try boogie boarding. Which was hilarious to watch and she was so darn proud of herself! I guess the ocean water would be a LOVE / HATE for me because I do hate getting in the water but I love watching Little Gal out there especially when she's with her Daddy! Priceless watching those HUGE waves take them out!

BIKINIS - Okay, now this may be a touchy subject. But I really HATE seeing HUGE 300 pound plus women walking around or sitting around in little teeny weeny bikinis. They make very cute and very nice one piece and tankkinis these days so I am not sure why people don't take more advantage of these suits to try and flatter their bodies. It almost seemed like the smaller women were trying to cover more than the much larger women. I just don't get it. Enough said on this subject - like I said it's a touchy one.

RELAXATION - I would have to say that our beach vacation is one of the most relaxing vacations that we as a family take. It by far beats Disney World by a landslide...even more relaxing that cruising (in my opinion). We wake up and sit around at the pool or beach all day long. We may or may not go out to dinner. If we stay in it's pizza or an easy cook at home meal. We stay in swim suits all day long. I don't believe in going shopping while at the beach because I can shop anytime. I have all those stores right here why waste my time shopping (and I LOVE to shop)! We spend time together enjoying each other's company. We eat and drink all day long and have no worries. We have no schedule. We play it by ear. I even let Little Gal stay up way past bedtime! Why not? It's vacation! So ultimately, I do think the beach is my favorite family vacation because we are rather carefree throughout the week and there's no schedule. Being such a scheduled person I think that not having a schedule for a week is fabulous for me and the rest of my crew!

My little home-body!

Well, my little angle face finally turned 4 yesterday. It was not really how I imagined spending the day with her but it turned out to be a truly perfect day.

As she came down the stairs she was greeted with a big birthday sign and streamers. Brian and I had a very small package for her to open. My sweet sweet girl was so excited to open her gift. The best part was that she was super excited over her new underware! I am not joking. I asked her if she seriously thought this was her gift from her Dad and I! She got this HUGE smile on her face and said with a big grin "no!" We preceeded to take her outside to see her real gift. A trampoline! She was beyond excited - however, didn't want to jump right away because she had just woke up and needed to pee! But after we got that pee out that's where she wanted to spend her time.

Then she got to pick the breakfast of her choice. That breakfast ended up being several things: scrambled eggs, bacon, blueberry pancakes (with fresh blueberries), and OJ! Seems like a ton of food but she ate it and loved every bite!

The sun was shining so she decided she would like to go to the water park that we had her party at. Well, the sun didn't last long and the rain started to trickle down. I felt terrible. The one thing she wanted to do for her real birthday - we couldn't.

But, you see, I think we run around and do so many wonderful things together as a family that sometimes my dear Emma would just prefer to stay home. And that is just what we did! My daughter is truly a home-body, and I tend to forget that sometimes just staying home would be more meaningful to Emma than any big adventure. I am not sure why I think we always have to be out doing family adventures but that tends to be the way I lean! So Emma is truly a home-body and Brian and I (more me) tend to forget that she seriously can have more fun playing here at the house just spending time with us than anything in the world!

Okay - got a little side-tracked. So we stayed at home. She wanted to watch a little tv. I can't really say no because it is her day. Then she was ready to bounce and nothing - not even the rain- was going to stop her. We headed outside and bounced and bounced. We were soaking wet, but that didn't matter. We were laughing and having the best time together. We would come in and dry off play with her new play-doh for a little bit and then head back out. The rain did not stop us from enjoying a fun day together. Together - that is what is most important. It doesn't really matter what we are doing as long as we are doing it together and having a great time!

After nap, we did convince her to go out for dinner. She had been asking for crab legs all week! We went and got her her crab legs! She rushed through her dinner, didn't want dessert, just wanted to get back home to bounce some more! So you better believe it - even though it was rather late we enjoyed some more trampoline time "together!"

Twas the Night before Emma when all through the house...

Here's a picture of what I looked like 4 years ago today! I was such a lucky prego gal! I had absolutely NO sickness and I was very active all through my pregnancy (even if it doesn't look like it here!) I gained a whopping 20 pounds and didn't gain the last couple of pounds until my final week. Lucky for me I didn't crave sweets at all....I wanted watermelon! It was rather difficult finding watermelon in January!

Here was a little note I wrote upon returning home after giving birth.

I was not expecting you for another week or two…you came to us eight days early. It was 12:30 am Wednesday morning, Daddy and I had just gone to bed not an hour earlier. I got up to make a usual bathroom break…to my surprise my water had broke while I was using the bathroom. I called into your Daddy letting him know what had happened. So many thoughts went through my head. I was rather unprepared for this day! I had nothing packed and was so frightened of the whole labor and delivery process. We called the doctor he told us not to come to the hospital until contractions were stronger and closer together. If the contractions did not become closer together by 7:00 am he wanted us to come to the hospital. I thought ok, I will pack just in case because at that time I was not feeling any pain! After we got everything together for the hospital the contractions started coming on stronger and closer together. We started at 18 minutes apart, then 9, 5, 4, and 3 in a matter of two hours. It was now time to head to the hospital. Daddy said that if I wanted a shower I better get it! I went ahead and did that then we were off to Martha Jefferson Hospital. We arrived at the hospital around 4:00 am. We went straight to the delivery ward and got settled in our room. Contractions were coming very rapidly and they were beginning to become more and more painful. I came into the hospital dilated 2 centimeters. By the time we got to 4 centimeters the pain was too much for me to handle any longer. It really was the worse pain I had ever felt….unlike any other in my life! I was in back labor…very excruciating. So around 9:00 I received my epidural. The epidural itself was not very fun…but I enjoyed how it got rid of the pain of each contraction. After the epidural I had a smile on my face and felt ready to face what lied ahead. My contractions slowed down due to the epidural so I had to be put on petocin. The petocin made my blood pressure go down and your heart race faster so we had to go off of that. Finally at around 2:45, the time had arrived to begin pushing. I pushed and pushed…I didn’t think you were every going to come out! After about an hour and twenty minutes you were born into this world at 4:04 PM. I just held on tight to you and began crying. You were absolutely PERFECT! They allowed you to lay on top of me for quite sometime before they took you off to weigh you and take your measurements and do all those newborn tests!!! Your Daddy and I just stared at you once they brought you back to us!

I seriously can't believe my little angel face is going to be four tomorrow. It is amazing how quickly time does fly once having children. I never in a million years thought I could instantly love another human being the way I love this little girl! I am truly blessed!

Do you want more children?

I am beginning to get more and more irritated by people when they ask me, "So are you having any more children?"

Does it really matter whether or not I am having more children? How will this directly effect anyone else's life? If I have more children what's in it for you? Am I weird for only having one child? Why does anyone seriously care whether or not I have more children?

I truly don't understand why this is such an important question that people feel inclined to ask. It is almost like we are looked down upon for only possibly wanting one child. Does it make us bad people for only having one child. Not all children without siblings turn out bad!

I truly can't tell you if we are going to have more children. All I can say is that for right now things feel right. It may be selfish on Brian and my part but it is what it is. We are happy. We have a fun life. We do tons of family adventures together.

Snoring, Dog, Night Terrors, & Bad Dreams

Snoring, Dog, Night Terrors, & Bad Dreams...what do all of these things have in common? Well, all of these lovely things are what keep me from sleeping peacefully from night to night. I usually don't have to deal with all four things in one night, but it has happened.

Let's start with with the snoring! I pretty much hate going to bed at the same time or after my husband! If we go up at the same time the LOUD snoring starts not even five minutes after the lights go out. Seriously? I would love to fall asleep that quickly. I try so hard to make the snoring stop. I slap, kick, push, yell, and just toss and turn very obnoxiously. It used to be much easier when we had a queen size bed. Now, with the king size it's not quite as easy to reach! Once there is contact the snoring will stop for about two minutes and then we are back at it. Not only am I dealing with guy snoring - I am also dealing with dog snoring. Not sure which is worse. I have stupid snoring on both side of me. In order to get the damn dog to stop I have to pretend cough. Very odd I know. But it scares the hell out of him so then he wakes and walks over to another place. His snoring will stop for about ten minutes before I have to pull out the stupid fake cough again. All this snoring goes on for about an hour then I can hopefully drift off....

But wait we have a HUGE dog sleeping in our room. Thank GOD not in our bed with us but in our room. You would seriously have to know our dog to understand all of his quirks. He's a rather annoying dog. He's got some allergy issues which leads to compulsive licking. He licks himself and the floor which drives me absolutely mad. To get him to stop the stupid licking you have to yell at him. So in between the fake coughing and all of the abuse on my husband, I am yelling at the dog to "STOP LICKING!" Now, if that is not enough he's a freak'n pacer. Talk about dog OCD! If he can't get himself comfy he paces back and forth from Brian's side of the bed to mine, then in to the bathroom. This sometimes goes on all night long.

Moving along to night terrors. Now, I do not wish this upon anyone. It is one of the most awful things to watch your child go through - especially the first time it happens and you have no idea what is going on. The best way I can explain night terrors is that it is almost like your child's brain is caught between two places. It wants to be awake but can't wake up. I will never forget the first time Emma had a night terror. We were out of town, at my sisters house. Brian and I went up to bed we had laid down for not even ten minutes and we were startled by Emma screaming hysterically sitting straight up in her bed as stiff as a board. Her eyes were wide open but very glassy. She just screamed and screamed. Nothing we were doing was snapping her out of it. It went on for what seemed like an eternity. Then suddenly as quickly as it had begun it stopped and she laid back down and was out like a light. We didn't have any more that night, we never have more than one a night. These went on for months. We did find that if we stayed in unfamiliar places or if she stayed up later than usual (usual being 7:30) that would also trigger them. I think our last night terror was this past May. They have lasted for as short as ten minutes and as long as forty-five minutes. It is seriously as if something has taken over her little body! Yes, thinking Poltergeist here people! I have watched one too many horror movies! i have read that night terrors are more common in girls than boys and only occur in about 3% of children. Lucky us I guess.

Lastly, bad dreams! No, not mine. I am talking Emma again! Lately, if Emma goes to bed too late or if she's getting sick she has some crazy dreams. Most of the time I don't have to go in to her room, but she's talking and yelling at people in her dream so loudly that it wakes me. I have been startled by her yelling before that I have run in to her room. Her eyes are closed and she's sleeping but dreaming LOUDLY away. Eyes are closed here unlike night terrors. I laugh a lot at her dreams because a lot of times she's got quite the attitude and really giving it to people. However, there are times she's crying and it breaks my heart. I do wake her if I think the dream is getting out of control. She wakes up drinks some water and falls right back asleep. So then I am able to fall asleep for a little while until the next episode!

So this is a night in the life of Stephanie trying to catch some zzzzz's! One of these nights I will sleep peacefully - one of these nights!

Funny, as I type the little one who went to bed at 6:30 is up there sleeping and talking out in her sleep! It's going to be a long one!

Independence Day!

Every Friday we head to our historical downtown to an event that Emma longs for each week. She calls it "The Dancing Tent!" That my friends is basically what it is. It is a huge tent and bands come each Friday to perform for FREE! Yes, folks for FREE! They definitely make money there though because beer is $5. That is the only downfall of the weekly event! It is really so much fun and the children are so fun to watch. Not only are the children fun to watch but you see all sorts of folks downtown.

There are 2 older couples, cute as can be, that get down and boogie EVERY single week. They seriously bust a move. They move better than I could ever imagine at their age. It is so hysterical to watch. Brian and I are pretty sure they smoked a good bit of weed in their day! Who knows, they may still smoke a good bit of weed!

Then there are the hula hoopers! Which my daughter is becoming a part of. Man I never in my life seen gals rock out a hula hoop they way they do! They are somehow able to get that hoop going crazy off of every single part of their bodies! This has been Emma's favorite part of her dancing tent experience this year. Some kind woman brings a ton of hula hoops and lays them out for the little kids, big kids, and old kids! Emma runs over there and grabs her hula hoop and hangs on to it for dear life for her time down there. She has not yet conquered the waist hooping but definitely has the neck thing DOWN!

Moving along, after we do the whole dancing tent thing we end our evening getting ice cream and we sit outside so we can watch all walks of life passing by us. We also usually enjoy the "Fiddling Brothers!" To our disappointment they were not there tonight. Instead we got to listen to this funny kid singing while play his little guitar. By the way, this is very common downtown for people to be out singing, playing instruments, juggling, you name it you basically will see it downtown! Anyhow, what made this kid funny was the fact that he sang about the passer byes. He making fun of them! I just hoped and prayed that when I walked by he didn't sing about me! Thank goodness he didn't! Whew!

We see it all downtown. It is a VERY liberal community! I sometimes wonder how I got to be here exactly.... I am very glad I am here and part of this community though!

So many walks of life and coming from a very small community I am so fortunate that my daughter is growing up seeing that not everyone lives the way we do, not everyone dresses like we do, nor do they have the same beliefs.

I write this in honor of our nations independence! Happy Fourth of July!

Jealous Much?

Upon reading this blog you may get offended. I seriously have no intentions of doing so, and I do apologize in advance if I do so! With that said, let me begin...

I had the most horrible time falling asleep last night. It hit me, it was going to be July 1st when I awoke in the morning. It truly made me incredibly SAD. I love summer time so much because I feel like a stay at home mother again. It makes me sick to think I have to head back to work come the last week of July. Yes, my wonderful school system thinks it's okay to get out at the end of May and return the last week of July. Last time I checked summer was July and August. Whatever happened to starting school after Labor Day?

As I was lying there in bed I came increasingly more and more jealous of stay at home mothers. Which made me start to really detest them. I began thinking...How do they afford it? Why can't I afford it? How much does a husband have to make in this community for their wives to stay home? I kept getting more and more angry. I just don't understand, how in the world do families around here make it? I see folks driving very expensive mini vans, wearing the fanciest of clothes, eating out all the time, going on several vacations a year, having gym memberships, hiring babysitters to go out and about...I am sure you get my point. I could seriously go on and on and on with more examples but I won't.

I guess what these feelings truly boil down to is the loss of my summer upon me. This anticipation is bringing out a bad side in me. I don't hate stay at home mothers. I envy them. I want to be them.

Now you may be asking yourself, "is her life that bad?" No! It is not. Not at all! I have a good life. I have a great husband who works his ass off providing for us. I have a daughter who is not only beautiful on the outside but most importantly on the inside. We go on tons of family adventures together making wonderful family memories.

I will leave you today with a little story from this morning and quote from my daughter: We were sitting at the pool. I told Emma that I have already started to miss her just thinking about having to go back to work. She comes over to me and sits down next to me and says, "You don't have to miss me Mommy. I am always in your heart!" as she said that she pointed to my heart and just smiled the BIGGEST smile ever.

Which just goes to show just how very lucky I am to have my life!