Goodbye July, Hello August!

I can hardly believe that July is almost over with & with it comes the end of yet another summer. I always feel a little sad when the 4th of July rolls around each year because in my mind it is the 1/2 way point of the summer & the last half always goes so much faster than the first half. Tomorrow is the first day of August, which means (for me) there are only 10 more free days until school starts back up again. 10 more days to do what I want with, 10 more days to hang out with Luke & witness all of his changes firsthand, 10 more days to share with my 1 son before 1000 other kids enter into my world again. Don't get me wrong-I love my students & I love coming home at the end of the day & being able to share the stories they tell me or that I have about them with Scott, but it sure is nice to only have to worry about one small little boy right now instead of him plus all of the students I see on a daily basis. I am, however, looking forward to getting back into the "grind" & a regular routine again. I love being able to have a routine of getting up at a certain time, getting myself & Luke ready to go, & leaving the house to serve a "purpose" (other than just being Luke's mom, which is a good one!) & trying to be a positive influence in other people's/kid's lives, which some of those kids need so badly. I always thought that I would want to stay home with my kids (which would still be wonderful), but financially we need me to work, & what can I say I LOVE teaching! I love being able to impact someone's life for the better (anyway I hope that is what I do!) & it is a career that works very well with being a mother too. I get the joy of spending my summers with my kid & hopefully future kids too, plus weekends & holidays. Although, I may not enjoy every aspect of it (school politics, cliques, etc.), it has been a very rewarding career for me thus far. So, as my summer is quickly coming to an end, I am a little sad to know that the babysitter (who we LOVE!) will be spending more time with my son than I will be, but since she is so great-it makes it a bit easier to get back into the groove of school again & back into the lives of my students, coworkers, etc. Plus, the start of another school year has always been kind of an exciting thing for me so Goodbye July & Hello August!

Toe Fun

Over the past couple of days, Luke has found a new pasttime. He is scooting all over the place & really starting to get into a lot of things. One of his favorite things, though, are my toes. If he sees me standing in the room, you can bet that he is going to make a beeline for my feet. He likes to get himself situated in front of my legs, then take his fingers & jam them between my toes. Now this would all be fine & dandy, except that I don't really have a very good range of motion in my toes. (They basically all move together as one & don't separate very well on their own.) So as you can imagine, it is a very odd sensation to feel these little fingers moving around in between my toes & trying to yank them apart. Of course, I try to stay calm during all of this, but unfortunately my reaction of "Eeeeeaaaaaw" results in a fit of giggles (from Luke) & me hopping around on my feet trying to avoid the next attack of his little fingers (which starts again as soon as I react). I'm glad he enjoys it so much, but as for myself-I could do without the strange sensation it creates between my toes. Maybe I could just look at it as cheap physical therapy for my toes!

Summertime Resolutions July Update

Another month has come & gone so that means it is time for another update on the summertime resolutions. I think this month was a bit more productive so I'm happy about that.

Read, Read, Read: My books this month mostly revolved around a couple of series that I have started & would like to complete. I read By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It was an easy read, but I really enjoyed it. I have never in all of my 27 years finished this series, in fact, I don't think that I had ever actually made it to this book in the series so it was a good feeling to finally be able to motivate myself to read it (especially considering I teach reading to elementary students!) I think I only have about 2-3 books left to go now in this series & they do seem to get better as Laura matures through the books. The next two books I read are also part of a series (a very popular series that as a teacher-I probably should have read a long time ago too!) I read the first two books in the Harry Potter series Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone & Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Both of these books were excellent, although I'm not really sure why they became such a phenomenon. Harry & his friends make for great characters & these books felt like reading a mystery novel set in a "fantasy" world (two genres that I tend to like) so they both definitely made for good reading. I'm ready to read the third one, but I'm working on another novel (a western) right now that is part of yet another series so it will have to wait for a little while & that is okay by me. (I know, I know, what are you thinking Anita? Trying to read books from 3 different series at the same time-I hope I can keep them all straight! I guess if I start thinking that there are wizards & indians "out west" & that Laura Ingalls is attending Hogwarts then someone better give me a good shake!) The last book I finished was one that is required by the school (work) because we will be receiving training in it once school starts up again. It is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. It is a "self-help" book, but I actually really enjoyed it. I thought that it had a lot of good advice for teens (& adults), but since it was geared at teens-the examples were slightly off base for an adult reading it. We were told that it contains much of the same info as the adult version of the book, but that the teen version was a much easier read & easier to follow so that is why it was chosen by the school for the staff to read. In addition, I found out that I am a "grape" & boy, did the description of a "grape" (me) hit the nail on the head! It contains great life skills for anyone to put into use in their own lives.
Exercise: I'm a little proud of myself on this one because I have actually been getting more active this month. I've also been using her to hold myself accountable, which has helped tremendously. I finally got back into doing my Pilates videos 1-2 times a week (usually twice-yeah me!) & I have been working walks in a couple times too, however, since all of the hot, muggy weather set in over the past couple of weeks I have been trying to incorporate other types of activity into my week when walking isn't very appealing. I like to throw a CD on the player & dance around the kitchen & living room while holding Luke (an extra 20lbs makes a HUGE difference) or sometimes we play chase/peek-a-boo around the island in the kitchen (Luke is in his walker so he can't actually fall down/hit his head/hurt himself when we do this-unless laughing too hard counts.) What can I say? Luke & I have quite a bit of fun during the day sometimes!
Get my photos organized: My photos are all pretty well organized on the computer into files that I am happy with. Now it is just a matter of trying to go back and edit the ones that need editing & continuing to sort out the pictures that have come from various locations (Scott's mom's camera, picture CD's, etc.) & finally getting my pictures printed/ordered!
Get my house in order: People are now allowed to enter the Master Bath & Living Room. :) Scott & I have been doing an okay job of keeping the Dining Room straightened up after my efforts last month so that is 3 rooms of my house that have been cleaned in great detail! Hooray! The next room on the agenda is Luke's bathroom+the 1/2 bath. These should go fairly quickly-I hope!

With school starting this next month, I'm hoping to stay on top of all of these things & get back into the groove of going to work every day again, so wish me luck.

One Year Ago...

One year ago today is the day we received the call about Luke. I wrote about it in a journal later that evening (actually it was the last entry I ever wrote in that journal too, which seems appropriate since the rest of it was filled with my feelings about the woes of infertility). Here is what I wrote:

"I can hardly believe that I am going to write this, but we've been picked! Someone

(her name is Lisa) wants to let us raise her baby! I can't even express the pure joy

and excitement I felt when the agency called this afternoon. I think I've moved into the

shocked mode (did that really just happen state). I keep checking the caller ID just to

confirm that the agency did call. I've even talked to the birthmom already. [omitting details

about the birthmom for her privacy] She said that she liked our pictures and wants to meet

us. We're talking about heading down there in 2 weeks to see her. She is due Sept. 7th,

but will have to have a C-section because of major back problems. [Birthmom details omitted]

It hardly seems possible that in a matter of a few weeks Scott & I will have a son if

everything goes as planned. She is very insistent that we be there for the delivery & wants no one,

but us to take the baby. I can't even put into words how I feel right now. It's a sort of elation

I've never really felt before along with a "Holy Crap" feeling. I'm definitely going to enjoy this

time in our lives! We've told grandparents and no one else yet-they were excited & I know

everyone else will be too when we do let the secret out! I still need to get in touch

with Susan [lady from the agency] to find out all of the specifics of where we go

from here, but it's pretty wonderful to finally have something more concrete to hold on to!

More good news from the agency-they told me that they also contacted my cousin Brian &

his wife Kyra about a baby today as well! What are the odds of that! I hope we both have

babies home with us very, very soon! :)"

It's hard to believe that it has been a year already. Looking back on it all-it was such a crazy period in our lives those 6 short weeks, but it has all been so worth it. As for the cousins I mentioned in the journal, that specific child did not work out, but they were blessed with being able to adopt a son who was placed with them just a few short months later & who was born exactly a week after Luke! Our families have both truly been blessed!

Crazy Lady on our Porch

Saturday, I decided it would be a great idea to hose down our porch since we would probably be having company the following day. It had not gotten done this past spring like we normally try to do so I knew it was pretty bad. Meanwhile, Scott was going to be hacking down the weeds leading up to our porch by hand, since he had let them get way out of control (Did I mention that last summer both our push lawn mower & the weed eater broke down & they have still not been replaced?! In addition, our "great buy" of a riding lawn mower hasn't really worked more than 1/2 a season since Scott bought it 4 1/2 years ago, so our yard gets pretty out of control each summer!) I love my husband, but he is usually not overly motivated to work on these things or the yard after he gets home from work, which can be frustrating. If the equipment was operational, I would try to help out during the day (if Luke allowed for it), but since I'm not mechanically gifted & don't feel like exerting the effort to clip everything by hand-our yard becomes a jungle most of the time. (Sorry got off track-back to the story!) So Scott got all of the hoses hooked together & I went & fetched a broom to knock down all of the spiderwebs down(& it also makes for a nice "scrubber" to get the dirt off the siding while using the hose). I got Luke put in the stoller so that he could watch all of the festivities & Scott began hacking down the weeds. I need to mention here that we did have a couple of wasps nests in the corners of our porch too that Scott had previously sprayed with bugspray to kill the wasps before I started cleaning. Well, as I start spraying, here come the wasps floating through the air. Now they weren't really trying to attack me-they were just minding their own business, but just seeing them made me not want to spray the water because I didn't want to tick them off! Scott informed me that some of them would be fine ("muddabbers") because they don't get mad too easily, but to watch out for the paper wasps because they DO & they will come after you. I asked him how I could tell the difference & he could not really give me a good answer, so I decided to treat them all as paper wasps. To add to the problem, there were horseflies roaming around the porch too! So I started spraying down the siding, but needless to say, anytime I saw a wasp &/or horsefly I shrieked & jumped (which happened quite often). Scott kept looking at me like we wasn't quite sure what was wrong with me & Luke kept looking at me from the stroller like "Whose the crazy lady on our porch!" Well to make things worse, a horsefly landed on the porch right in front of me & I thought "What a perfect target?" so what did I do, I sprayed him with that hose! Of course, he didn't like & it flew off, which resulted in me jumping/shrieking & flinging the hose around (not paying attention to my whereabouts) like a crazy person trying to chase it through the air with water. All of a sudden, I hear "Hey! Watch it! What are you doing?" Yep, you got it-I had totally sprayed Scott with the hose (while he was hacking weeds) & probably Luke too in my madness! Scott wasn't mad (just wondering what was wrong with me!) & did end up helping me after he finished up with the weeds. So if you're ever passing by & wondering who the "crazy lady" is with the hose on our porch,well, it's probably me!

Toe Guards, Please!

Luke LOVES his walker. He likes being able to move around on his own trying to get into cabinets & pulling things off of the endtables (thank goodness he can't do too much damage yet because of the width of the walker.) Since you can walk around the main floor of our house in a circle, he loves to walk "laps" & always throws us one of his sweet smiles as he passes us (so long, suckers!) He also likes it when we throw some of his whiffle balls in the bottom of it. They make a fun sound when he walks, plus they can't get away from him when he kicks them because the base of the walk keeps them contained. I'm glad that he enjoys the "freedom" he gets from being able to "walk" on his own & I like knowing that he can't really do any "damage" yet since he can't actually get into things from the walker, but I do not enjoy the fact that when he sees one of us he comes running at full speed crashing into our feet/toes/heels. (Let me clarify-I am glad that he is happy to see us, just not happy about the pain that is soon to follow!) Now I have learned that if I lift my heel or toes slightly, I can use them like a bumper to stop the walker before it runs over part of my foot, but sometimes the little guy is just too quick or I misjudge the timing and he gets me. "OUCH! (try not to insert profanity!)" So I know they sell shin guards for various activities, but has anyone heard of such a thing as toe guards? If so, I may just be interested!!! :)

Help! I've fallen & I can't sit up!

I'm sure that this is what Luke is thinking when he has somehow managed to let himself fall onto his back. He tries to keep it from happening, but every once in awhile (especially when he is tired) it happens & then he lets us know about it. It usually starts with a small whine (GA, GA, GAAA!) & then escalates from there. Now, mind you, we are not trying to be bad parents by ignoring his initial protests, but we ARE trying to see if he will get himself out of this position on his own. All it requires, is for him to roll over to his side & try to push up. Does he even try it? No. What he tries to do instead is lift his head & feet off of the ground like he is going to sit straight up out of a lying position. That would be great if he could do that, but it's hard to do (I even have trouble with it-it requires a lot of effort & good abs, which I don't have, but Luke should definitely have by now!) So, when he realizes that we aren't running to his aid immediately when he beckons us, he just lies back & relaxes for awhile. Does he ever roll over? No, but he can sure lay there for awhile until Mom or Dad caves in. Is this a problem? Well, yeah, developmentally wise, he should be able to do this by now. Do we work on it with him? YES, but now we get to let the "experts" have a try at it & see if they can get him to do it or if his stubborn/lazy side will continue to win out!
Keep tuning in for updates of "Luke vs the Experts"! :) Maybe we could get our own reality show!