Dad's Story - Part 2 - The First Few Days

(Be sure to check out my last post first)

Monday, November 20, 2006

After getting home and posting the good news on the baby's blog, I settled down for a good night's (morning's) sleep. Meg's mom was already en-route and arrived about 7 o'clock or so, although I stayed asleep.

I got up around 11 AM, had breakfast, got showered, dressed, etc, and then posted some pictures on the blog. Then, I headed to the hospital to meet my new family.

I got there and found Meg with Maddie and her Mom. Meg was feeling better, though only got about 1.5 hours of sleep, due to the many interruptions you get in the hospital. My goal for the day was to share the good news with everyone.

So, I got out the phone list, which had been carefully organized into sections: "Call when we are admitted to the hospital, call when we start pushing, call when the baby is born, call the next day when there is time." Well, if you remember from the previous evening, there wasn't any time for those first two categories. However, I had to tackle the "call when there is time" list.

So, taking up a few hours, I called all of our friends and family. I also called the handbell choir and canceled the practice I had scheduled that evening. We would still be playing on Sunday, however.

In the meantime, I enjoyed time with Meg and Maddie. I didn't quite feel like Dad yet at this point. There are lots of people in the hospital to take care of the baby, and I was so busy with making phone calls that I didn't have the chance to get much hands-on experience. I, however, did change my first diaper.

Meg and Maddie also struggled more with nursing. It was not going well. It only partially worked if one or two nurses were there to help. I began wondering how we were going to do this when we got home.

As the day and evening when on, the room just seemed to get more full with people. My family came over, and Maddie got to meet her Aunt Laura, and Uncle Nick. Aunt Caitlin was also there. It was nice to have so many people there, but the room was only so big, and Meg and I were able to breathe a sigh of relief when everyone went home.

All day, however, my neck was still hurting, and it seemed to be getting worse. I was so happy, but really wasn't enjoying myself. I didn't quite feel like myself the whole day.

I still hadn't finished my lesson plans which I started on Sunday, so I REALLY had to get them done. Rather then finish them at home, I decided to stay at the hospital with Meggie while I worked. I said "bye" to Meg and Maddie, and headed home around midnight or so, because I had to go to school the next day.

Before going to bed, I gave Max one of Maddie's receiving blankets from the hospital so he could get used to the smell. Max pretty much likes anything you give him, but he was really interested in this blanket. When Max and I got into bed, I was holding the blanket to my chest. He came over and took it from me, brought to 'his side' of the bed, and rested his head on it and fell asleep. It looks like Max will be a good 'big brother!'

Tuesday, November 21
Today I learned that I apparently can't wake up without Meg there. My usual morning routine is to set my alarm for 5:33 (yeah I know, just accept the weird time, there used to be a logical reason for this). I hit "snooze" until 6:18, get up, get showered and dressed, have breakfast, watch the news, and then head to school around 7:15 or so.

My PLAN was to get up even earlier, and leave earlier, since I didn't have anything ready to teach that day. Well, I ended up waking up at 6:52! No time for breakfast, I showered, and put a very confused Max back in the crate, as Meg's mom and sister were still asleep.

I rushed off to school, grabbed breakfast AND lunch on the way to school, called Meg to tell her how important she is to me... I NEED HER TO WAKE ME UP! I also tried to figure out how I was going teach today, since I wasn't prepared at all. I finally decided that I was going to be my own sub today, and just use my emergency sub plans.

School was pretty hectic and nerve-racking. I didn't really want to be there in the first place. Everyone was very happy for me, and wanted to hear the story, and see pictures, which was nice, but I was really busy, and didn't have a whole lot of time to stop and talk. Then there was the matter of personal days. I wanted to take of Wednesday and Monday, to give me a 6 day weekend. However, both of these days surrounded the Thanksgiving break, which is a contractual issue. I had to get permission from the superintendent to do this, which involved leaving a message with his secretary, and then waiting in suspense all day as I wondered what on earth I would do if I didn't get these days.

After teaching (playing a video) all day, I had finally had gotten approval for my days from the principal. So, I spent the rest of the afternoon getting everything ready for my substitute for the next two school days. It didn't matter to me that I was staying at school late, because I would have the next 6 days off!

I left school and headed to the hospital to visit Meggie and Maddie. Meg had another pretty tiring day, and didn't get much sleep last night. Meg's mom visited her during the day. Soon after I got there, my parents arrived to visit. Meg had just started another attempt at nursing, and I wanted to give her some alone time, and I wanted to get something for dinner, so my parents and I went downstairs to the hospital cafe (which was actually pretty good, and cheap!) to give Meggie and Maddie some success.

After my parents, we attempted to watch Gilmore Girls, however, didn't get to see much of it between taking care of a baby, and the many visits from various doctors and nurses.

I ended up staying at the hospital until really late. Meg was very bummed about the nursing not going well. We also felt like crappy parents when the night nurse took her away, and explained that we didn't feed her enough (we couldn't even get her to nurse, so we were feeding her formula with a syringe, and no one told us how much we had to feed her). Meg did have success with the pump that night though, so it looked like we were stuck pumping, and then syringe-feeding her until we got this worked out. I stayed for a while for moral support for Meg, and because I really missed her. It really wasn't coming home unless she was there.

I finally headed home (after 1 or so), and got some sleep.

Wednesday, November 22
I overslept again, though it was not a major problem, as my only plans for the morning were to get the house cleaned and straightened so everything was nice for Meg and Maddie.

While cleaning, the stork guy arrived, and put it on the lawn. This was a surprise to me, as my parents ordered it. I would've never thought to do that.

After getting the house ready, I drove to the hospital, with the carseat, as we were going to be taking Maddie home today. I stopped at a drug store to buy some ibuprofen, as my neck was still killing me.

Meggie and Maddie were up when I arrived. Still no success with nursing, but at least we had somewhat of a backup plan now (pumping and syringe-feeding). We got the room cleaned up and everything packed. We had a few more visits from doctors and nurses, and were allowed to leave when we heard from everybody.

Leaving the hospital was a little stressful. We had packed a winter coat for Maddie to wear, which didn't work, since she could swim in it. We didn't really have anything else warm enough. This was also the first time Maddie went into the carrier, and also the first time we heard her really wail. To this day (only 4 weeks later to be fair), she still hates getting in her carrier, but usually mellows out when the car starts moving. We also left the hospital with a lot more than we checked in with. I had to borrow a cart from the hospital just to get everything out.

We finally got the car loaded up, and Maddie had settled down, and we headed home for the first time. When we got to the house, Mom and Cait had went out shopping to give us some alone time. We introduced Max to Maddie (Max still doesn't quite know what to make of her).

It was nice to finally get a chance to use all of the stuff we had acquired this summer and fall. It was also nice not to have to care for a baby in a 12x12 hospital room.

Soon Meg's mom and Cait got back. They had brought us dinner from Peter's. Meg and Cait played with the baby while we ate, and soon my parents and Laura arrived to bring the stuff over for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

Our first night was a little interesting. We were still sticking with pumping and syringe feeding, though weren't really sure we had the idea. Maddie slept more during the night than I had really expected, I guess since I had heard so many horror stories about baby's not ever sleeping at night.

Thursday, November 23, Thanksgiving
My parents came over early in the morning to start the turkey in the oven. Thanksgiving was at our house, although we weren't hosting it. They left us with instructions to baste the turkey every half hour, and told us they would be back later.

In the morning I had made an attempt to get the house cleaned up, but was kinda tired, and dealing with the stress of caring for a newborn. Meg and Maddie also made one of their last attempts at nursing. After an hour or so of helping Meg try to get Maddie to latch on, all three of us were in tears. Out of desperation, I called my mom for advice. She said to give her a bottle (which you aren't supposed to do if you are trying to nurse), because the most important thing was that Maddie got nourishment. Meg gave her a bottle, and for the first time ever, it seemed like Maddie was happy. We knew that this was the right thing, even though it wasn't what we planned. At this point, we figured Meg could just pump what we needed to feed Maddie, and that way we wouldn't have to formula feed.

Eventually my parents came back over, and Meg and I were instructed to take a nap, since we were both tired and stressed. While we slept, the rest of our family set the table and prepared the meal. Meg eventually got up to socialize, while I got some more sleep. In the meantime, my grandparents arrived, and soon I got up for dinner.

Dinner was delicious, and was fun, even in our sleepy state. Afterwards we took a bunch of pictures, relaxed, and talked. Soon the house was empty, and only Meg's mom and Cait were left. Meg and I managed to get some more sleep that night, though found sleeping with a baby in the room wasn't all that easy, even when she was quiet.

To be continued...

Dad's Story - Part 1 - The Birth

Okay, okay, that is probably old news to most of the people who read this blog, but, as anyone with a newborn at home would know, there isn't a whole lot of free time to blog.

Most of my daughter's birth as been documented on her blog, and Meg has also blogged a lot about it. But, I have yet to have a chance to blog on the experience from a dad's perspective. So, since Meggie has 'baby duty' right now, I am going to attempt it.

Okay, my last post was all about the big weekend of furniture moving, and me not looking forward to a stressful week of school. Well, that week of school went fine, and all of that furniture moving ended up giving me a really bad neck-ache. We also found out that week that we were going to be scheduled for an induction on Maddie's due date, November 24. With some kind of date set in stone, the planning began. Thanksgiving would be at my parents house. Meg's Mom and Caitlin would be coming joining my family on Thanksgiving to be there for the birth. Meg's Dad was flying in from California on Friday morning to be there for the birth, and would be staying till Tuesday. I submitted paperwork to take personal days on Monday - Wednesday, November 27 - 29. That would give me 7 days off with my new family. Little did we know, plans would change.

Since maybe I thought moving more furniture would actually make my neck feel better (it didn't, and by the way, I really don't think that, I am just a glutton for punishment), we went furniture shopping on Saturday, 11/18 at Ikea. My mom came with us (actually, we came with her, since we took their van). We got a new coffee table, side table set, and end table. I also got under-cabinet lighting for the kitchen. After enjoying some Swedish meatballs, we came home, and I spent the rest of the evening assembling the furniture. Meg was very tired after a day of walking around Ikea, and well, being nine months pregnant.

Sunday I got up, and spent all morning doing school work. Tuesday started a new teaching cycle in the new marking period, and despite my hard work this summer to stay ahead, I hadn't quite stuck with that. I spent all morning and day that Sunday making worksheets. I began working in the office, where I am usually the most productive, but Meg was not feeling well at all. She was complaining of pressure 'down there,' and said it was related to the baby dropping (which can occur weeks before delivery). I, of course, had thought, "could this be it?" but didn't want to jump to any conclusions, so I didn't say anything at the time.

Worried about Meg, I brought my laptop and school papers upstairs, and made a desk out of the new side table I had assembled the night before. I didn't feel comfortable working downstairs with her upstairs in pain.

I got all of the worksheets done through Christmas, and was ready to start on my lesson plans, when, BAM, at 4:45, Meg had a VERY bad version of the pain she had complained about this morning. She described it is having to go to the bathroom badly, but it caused even more pain when she tried to go. After a few minutes, she said she felt better. I thought this might be a contraction, so I wrote down the time: 4:45, and how long it was, 2 minutes. Meg thought this was a little silly, because she was sure this wasn't real labor, as it was nothing like what it usually felt like. I thought better be safe then sorry.

The afternoon went on, and I was working on our Sunday night routine of getting things ready for the week before we headed to my parents. Boom... another one... 5:02, 2 minutes. And then another one... 5:13, 1 minute. At this point, I got the stop watch out. Meg thought I was crazy.

We were debating whether or not we could go over my parents. We decided to do so, because we didn't want my parents to worry too much, (5:25, 2 minutes).

I grabbed the stopwatch, the pen and notepaper I had been writing things down on, and we got in the car (5:40, 2 minutes). On the way there, Meg had another 'contraction,' (5:50, 2 minutes), though was still convinced this wasn't the real thing.

We got to my parents, and had explained what had been happening (6:15, 2 minutes). They seemed a little concerned but weren't too worried. (6:30, 1 minute).

Meg was definitely (6:35, 1 minute) feeling worse, but was doing a good (6:42, 1 minute) job of not showing her pain, (6:49, 1 minute), as she didn't want to concern anyone. We had dinner (6:56, 1 minute), ham steak with pineapple (7:05, 2.5 minutes), and we joked about whether this was it or not. Meg didn't think so, and at this point, I don't think my parents did either. I wasn't convinced yet. After dinner, Meg called her mom to let her know about the pain (2 during the half hour she was on the phone). I was still timing things with the stop watch and writing stuff down (7:43, 1:15).

Eventually, this became a family activity (7:46, 3:30), with everyone watching the clock, watching Meg, and watching me with the stopwatch. (7:52, 4). I knew that real labor contractions were supposed to have some kind of a pattern (8:01, 2:30), but had found that with just writing down times, it was (8:10, 3) a little difficult to see a pattern. (8:14, 1)

I borrowed some graph paper (8:19, 2), and worked on a visual representation of these 'contractions,' to see if they were regular (8:14, 1). They really didn't "look" (8:19, 2) regular to me, so I had began to assume that (8:27, 1) these were Braxton-Hicks, or false labor (8:35, 5) contractions.

Meanwhile, my parents started to get a little more concerned. Even my brother, though branded with his odd sense of humor, was interested (8:49, 3). Meg still wasn't convinced, as probably felt very (8:57, 2) on display about all of this (9:03, 2). My dad pulled me aside and said, "I think tonight is going to be the night." (9:06, 1) (9:08, 1). My mom had also agreed, and urged us to at least call the doctor (9:14, 2).

Meg got on the phone, and tried to read my graph to tell the doctor how the contractions were coming. The doctor has asked if they were 'regular,' and we said no. (9:23, 1). To us, 'regular,' would look more consistent than these 'contractions' were (9:27, 4). The doctor said to keep timing, instructed Meg to take some Benadryl, a hot shower, and get a good night's sleep (9:46, 3) (9:56, 2).

With that said, we decided to head home (10:06, 3) (10:11, 2). My parents instructed us to call them when we got admitted to the hospital. My dad once again said this would be the night, and we got in the car and headed home.

The car ride home was very rough, with these (10:19, 2) 'contractions' (10:22, 4) coming more frequent, and more painful. Meg was still not convinced. I was beginning to think that this could be it, but didn't want to get my hopes up, and wanted to be supportive. (10:26, 3) (10:29, 1).

We got home, and Meg got in the shower (10:40, 2). She was in a lot of pain at this point (10:46, 3). At this point, I went on with our normal (10:50, 1) Sunday night tradition of (10:51, 3) posting the name game clue on Baby D's blog. This took a while, since I kept checking in on Meg, who was pretty much paralyzed in pain in the bathroom (10:58, 2). At this point, it was getting more and more difficult to time these contractions (11:05, 1). As Meg explains it (11:08, 2), the pain was pretty much constant at this point (11:11, 6), and it was getting very difficult for her to even tell me when the contractions started and ended (11:17, 2). At this point, Meg called the doctor again, and with barely any words due to the pain, explained what was going on, and the doctor (11:22, 1) told us to go to the hospital (11:24, 2).

We got in the car, Meg not even able to speak at this point. I gave up on timing the contractions. I was driving, so I couldn't write anything down. I was trying just to remember the times that Meg communicated to me simply by squeezing my hand and nodding. I eventually lost track, and stopped thinking about it.

Our normal traffic-y trek up Gibbsboro Road was easier than usual, since it was close to midnight. We got to the ER around 11:50 or so. Valet parking was closed, so I just pulled up, got Meg out of the car, and an ER attendant helped her into a wheelchair. I ran back out to the car to park it. I left behind everything, including my jacket. I thought about taking the suitcases in, but Meg really thought we were going to be sent home, since these didn't feel like what she thought contractions felt like, and though they came frequently, they weren't regular by our definition.

I ran back into the ER after parking the car, and wheeled Meg through a long corridor to the main part of the hospital. The security guard noticed us, and opened up the patient elevator. At this point, I was staying calm, and trying to remember all of the stuff we learned about the hospital in child-birth class.

Into the elevator, 2nd floor, Labor and Delivery. We got off the elevator and I picked up the phone to get into the ward. Explained that I was Meg's husband, and that we had called. The door opened up, and we stopped at registration.

The woman at registration didn't notice us at first--she was on the phone, I was getting anxious, but didn't want to be rude. She finally noticed us, and asked Meg all kinds of questions that I answered for her, since she really couldn't talk. They led us to the L&D room, and we met our nurse.

Meg got into the bed, and the nurse checked her out. All the while, Meg was asking for an epidural for the pain. They first had to hook the fetal heart monitor up to her, which they had a lot of trouble doing. They went to break her water to do an internal monitor of the baby's heartbeat, but found out that her water had already broken (we had no idea). They also discovered that she was 5 cm, and were very happy for her, since this is much further than most new moms are when they come into the hospital. Meg was in a lot of pain, and wasn't exactly excited. "Epidural," she asked again. Not yet, she had to get a whole IV bag of fluid in her first. This process was delayed, because they couldn't find a vein for the IV. Then, there was nine million test tubes for blood work they had to fill. "When can I get my epidural?" Meg asked again. After the IV, after the blood work came back, since her BP was kinda high. Meg is in extreme pain at this point.

So the IV went through, and the blood work came back okay, and it was time for the epidural. but FIRST, they checked her one more time. 8 cms! You woulda thought someone won the lottery with how excited the doctor and nurse were. Meg is still asking for her epidural. "Sorry, it's too late for your epidural, it's time to start pushing." I could tell Meg was very scared at this point. She had been the poster-person for epidurals, and though all of those natural childbirth people were nuts. She wasn't prepared to do this without pain medication.

I think she did feel some relief when the doctor asked if she had felt the urge to push. As I mentioned before, Meg had described the pain as kinda like having to go to the bathroom. So, Meg told them yes, and they were like, "Let's do this." I had a "really? now?" type feeling, and all kinds of thoughts started running through my head... "Ah, the camera's in the car!" "What about the phone list!" "I have to call my parents!" "I have to call Meg's parents" "What about the hours and hours sitting in the hospital playing Uno waiting to become more dilated" "I'm wearing a nice sweater!" "I'm gonna have to take tomorrow off!" "Really? Now?!?"

So, at about 1 am, Monday 11/20, I took my sweater off, and got into position (hold one of Meg's legs). Then the pushing began. I was really afraid I was going to grossed out. I certainly was when we watched the video in childbirth class. I had planned to focus on Meg's face during the delivery, and not to watch what was going on down there. I started like that, but then slowly found myself watching what was going on, because, it was really fascinating.

After only a few minutes of Meg pushing, I could see the top of Maddie's head. Just a little bit though, but you could see hair and everything.

The next half-hour was rough. Each session of pushing moved the baby out a few more cms, and I was beginning to doubt how this process was actually going to work. I felt really bad for Meg. I had never seen her in so much pain. She just kept asking "How soon?" "How soon?" And like parents in a long car trip, the nurse and doctor kept saying "Just a few more pushes."

Then, all of the sudden, Meg let out one heck of a scream, and Maddie's whole head was out. We told Meg, and she didn't believe us. Then, at 1:38 AM, in what seemed like a nanosecond, there was a gush of blood (I know, gross), and a purple, screaming baby on Meg's chest. I burst into tears at this point. They weren't quite tears of joy at becoming a father, but more tears of relief at this experience ending for Meg. We sobbed, and looked and talked to Maddie, and then they took her to get her all cleaned up.

Meg continued with all of the afterbirth stuff, which I missed (not that this was a bad thing), since I was calling people... our parents.

My parents were surprised, since there instructions were to call when we were admitted to the hospital, and the baby had already been born. The got in the car, and headed to the hospital.

I called Meg's mom next, who was very surprised, and sleepy, as it was the middle of the night at this point. She then left Gettysburg in the middle of the night to see us. Then, I called Meg's dad, who was completely shocked, as last he heard, this was supposed to happen on Friday, when he was flying in. I told both of Meg's parents I would give them more info as soon as I knew, and then went back to Meg and Maddie.

I found Meg laying there, recovering, looking much happier, with Maddie on her chest. We spent a few minutes looking at Maddie, talking to her, and just trying to reflect on what just happened.

Next, my parents arrived, and were overjoyed of course. In the meantime, I had run out to the car to get the camera, and began to take some pictures. Mom and Dad met Maddie, and my Mom was informed that she won the name game contest, guessing "Madeline Rose" her name.

We all headed upstairs one floor to the nursery. Meg and I went in with Maddie, my parents looked in through the window. They weighed and measured her (8 pounds, 1 ounce, and 20.5 inches long). Meg then was sent to her room on the third floor, and I stayed with the baby for a while as she got her first bath, and got her tags. She had to stay there for a little while longer till they were certain she could stabilize her own body temperature. I alternated from checking on Meg to checking on the baby.

The eventually moved Maddie into Meg's room, so they could bond some more. My parents said goodnight, and Meg, Maddie, and myself were alone as a family for the first time.

Knowing that I would not be going to school the next day, I didn't feel the need to leave anytime soon. I hung around for a while. Meg and Maddie had made their first attempt at nursing, and it did not go well. I stayed through to be supportive, as Meg was very bummed about this. But at this point, there were still other options we were going to try. They then took Maddie back to the nursery, where they would feed her, and Meg could get some sleep.

Very excited, but exhausted, I headed home. On the way, I updated my in-laws on Maddie and Meg. Meg's Mom was en-route, scheduled to arrive in an hour or so. Meg's dad was thrilled, probably a little disappointed that he couldn't be there for the birth, but overjoyed that he would get to meet his granddaughter in a few days.

I arrived home, and let Max out of the crate. I was very confused at this point, as it is rare that he spends the night in a crate. It was now 6 AM Monday morning, so I called our sub caller, gave her the good news, and told her I wouldn't be in school. Next, I updated the baby's blog with the good news, then, with Max by my side, got some much-needed rest.

So, there is the story of her birth. I've got some other stuff to do today, so I will have to take a break. But, I definitely need to write more about this experience.

My body is going to kill me...

Right now, I am on the recliner, blogging, with the heating pad on my back, because it has just been one heck of a long, fun, exciting, and tiring weekend.

If you read my last post, you'll see that I was looking forward to an easy week. Teaching-wise, this was definitely true, however, I managed to keep myself busy.

Monday, I had a fairly uneventful day of school. However, Monday night was a little interesting. When I went to leave school, I got all the way out to the car, then realized that my cellphone was dead. So, I went back into the school to call Meg from the office to let her know I was leaving. When I called her, she had just gotten up from slipping and falling--flat on her stomach! I told her to sit down and relax, and see if the baby was moving, and if not, call the doctor. I hurried home as quick as I could, getting stuck behind slow people all the way. When I got home, Meg said we had to go to the hospital. Uh-oh. Hopefully just a precaution... So, we rushed to the hospital, got in, and they put us in a birthing room. They hooked the fetal heart monitor up to Meg's belly, and after about 15 minutes, they were picking up a strong heartbeat, so Baby D was okay. We had to stay there for four hours, and observe her heartbeat. All-in-all, Baby D and Meg are both healthy, and we got a good dress-rehearsal for the real deal.

Tuesday was an in-service for the regional general music teachers. This woman presented on teaching improvisation using world music. It was probably one of the more fun workshops I have attended. We used pretty much every general music instrument I have heard of, plus some I had never seen before. I learned some new teaching strategies, and can't wait to use them in my classes.

Wednesday was another in-service at school. The in-service itself was kinda pointless. The morning was the run-of-the-mill pep-talk from the boss, our new superintendent. Then, we went to a workshop on using the grading component of the new student data system they installed this year. Of course, the grading component won't be up-and-running until next year. Why we were in-serviced on it now, I don't know. I used that time to not pay attention (I'll figure it out when we can actually use it) and to work on the yearbook. However, the afternoon was very productive. I finally got around to putting together the shelves I ordered for the kids to store their instruments. I also moved the existing shelving into the storage room, and now have a real instrument storage area in my room.

Wednesday night, we went to see Man of the Year. The movie was great. Not as much of a comedy as I had expected, but the story was great, and Robin Williams is always fun to watch. We also hadn't been to the movies since Harry Potter 4 was in theatres.

Thursday morning we had an OB appointment: a non-stress test and a fluid check. Baby D and Mom are healthy. You can read more about it on Baby D's Blog. After that, I got a start on raking the leaves in the back yard. This is a big job, that still isn't finished, due to the rain today. Then, we went to visit our new pediatrician. We were both very impressed, despite the wait. You can also read about that on Baby D's blog. That night, I just got some schoolwork done.

Friday morning we had a growth scan at the hospital. Same deal, read the baby's blog, it's got everything you need to know. Bottom line, Meggie is doing really well with managing the GD, and the baby is growing just right. We got home, had lunch, and then I was off to yet another Drs. office to get my flu shot. Friday night, we went to Peter's, and then Wal-Mart. I got some more schoolwork done on Friday night.

Yesterday was the day of new stuff. In the morning, we went to a breastfeeding class at Virtua. I could only take so much from this, seeing as I am not the person who will be nursing the baby. However, I learned how things work, and how to be supportive of Meg as she nurses. After that, we went over to my parents to see their new TV and wall-unit. My brother bought them a flat-panel LCD HD-TV for Christmas, and they bought a new wall unit at Ikea to match. It looks really classy, and it basically meant a lot of new stuff for us. First off, my parents took us out to buy our Christmas gift, a new dryer, since the other one was literally screaming in pain whenever you used it. After some installation difficulties (the drum wouldn't turn--but I fixed it), I got the dryer up-and-running. We also got my parents old TV to replace the 19" TV in the living room, that I bought before college, and is literally being held together by tape. So, I set that up Saturday night too. For the rest of the evening, I finished my schoolwork, and got the money stuff done.

My plan for today was to finish the leaves, but pouring rain changed that plan. I at least got the front yard done this morning, before the rain started. Then, my dad and I moved their old wall-units to our house (more new stuff)! I spent the rest of the day disassembling our family room wall unit and moving it into the attic and setting up the new wall units. All of this was very hard on my back, hence the heating pad.

In a minute, we are going to head to my parents for dinner, and then it is off to bed to rest up for a busy week of school. Yes, it is a full week, actually, the last full week in November, which means I need to make the most of my lunchtime rehearsals. Of course, this all goes out the window if Baby D decides to come next week, which I would also be very happy about. I have no problem saying "screw it" to school, especially if it means finally getting to meet my daughter.

Easy week ahead

It's Sunday night, which is usually when I start worrying about the upcoming school week, however, I feel a little differently this Sunday.

This week will be a piece-of-cake! I have one teaching school day this week, a Day 6, which is my easiest day. Tuesday is an in-service for all of the regional schools' music teachers. Wednesday is an in-service at my school. Thursday and Friday we have off for the NJEA convention. I guess technically we should go, but for the past two years, we haven't. There is never really a whole lot there for music teachers, and we usually go to the NJMEA convention in February, which is much more beneficial (BTW, the "M" stands for "Music"). I was actually planning on going to one day of the convention, but I changed my mind. Since Meg is home, I'd rather stay at home and spend the 4 day weekend with her.

* * *

I have this feeling right now about the baby that can be described as that feeling you get when there is a major snowstorm in the forecast. You know how it is. You stay up to 11 and watch the news reports, snowfall total forecasts, and the Doppler radar. You know it is late, but you don't care, because there is a chance that you will get to sleep in tomorrow. Then, you finally go to bed, and can barely sleep. You wake up every hour or so, and want so bad to peek outside and see if the snow has started, but you can't get up the guts, because you'll know that if it hasn't started, you'll be going to school. It is just a feeling of anticipation and excitement, but only conditionally. It all depends on whether the snow actually comes. I am feeling like this right now with the baby. Just being told that it can happen at any moment is like constantly waiting to see if it is going to snow tomorrow! Chances are it won't anytime soon, but just knowing the possibility is there....

* * *

This weekend has been very fun and relaxing. Friday night Meg and I went to Peter's, which wasn't our plan, but Meg got some money from her surprise baby shower at school on Friday. Afterwards I went shopping solo, so that Meg could go home and rest. I know she really wanted to go with me, but I feel better knowing that she is comfortable, and don't mind shopping on my own.

Saturday morning we went to Sam's for our monthly stock-up trip. Oh, the 'grocery experiment' as I call it went well in October. We were only $7 over our budget for the month (which is way better than the $50-$100+ that it was before), and that was with our 'mock thanksgiving' dinner that we have every year with my family.

On the way home from Sam's, we saw that they were doing free carseat inspections in the new Target parking lot. We had both of our cars inspected, which was good, because I really didn't have either carseat tight enough, even though I had them as tight as I could get them.

After that, we cleaned the house, since Meg's mom was coming to, well, help us clean. I learned this weekend that some people are cleaners and others are straighteners. I am a straightener--a major one. I hate clutter; I like everything to have a place and be nice and organized. I like desks, counters, and tables to be clear, and floors not to be covered with stuff. Meg's mom is a cleaner. She spent a while today cleaning the kitfchen: inside the microwave, cleaning the vents on the front of the oven with a toothbrush, scrubbing down the fronts of the cabinets. However, she is not a straightener. When she was finished, the kitchen was cluttered with dishes and cleaning supplies. I felt bad, because to me, it looked worse than when she started. And I hardly ever notice things like dust and dirty microwaves. Oh well, at least I know the area is clean and germ free.

Meg's mom took us to Cotardo's, a nice Italian place in Blackwood. This has been one of my favorite restaurants since I was a little kid. I had the special, which was black and lobster ravioli. Meg had chicken, topped with cheese and crab meat, and Mom had one of my personal favorites, Tortellini della Casa, which is homemade tortellini served with blush sauce with shrimp and scallops. Yum!

I spent the rest of the weekend getting caught up on grading papers, and deciding how to best utilize my Zen. I put on my Christmas list that I want a yearly subscription for Yahoo Music Unlimited To-Go, but was disappointed with the performance of Yahoo Music Jukebox. In the process of syncing with my Zen, both the Zen and the computer froze three times. Plus, I love the new version of Windows Media Player. So, after talking to my brother and doing some research, I discovered that I can download the songs from YME and play them in WMP. Windows MP will even refresh the licenses for the files too. So far, I have been very impressed with the new version of WMP. It has integrated seamlessly with my Zen. It is also much faster than WMP 10 (especially with searching). It also has a new, clean interface, which relies on album art. Most of the CD's I have ripped did not have the album art, but that is okay, since you can manually add it yourself. I am most impressed with the synchronization. It automatically synchronizes all music, pictures, and videos, and playlists. It also synchronizes media information whenever you change something.

* * *

Okay, I really should be getting to bed now... I've gotta be mentally prepared for my easy week.

Ready for parenthood...

Ahhh, I miss the days of summer when I actually blogged every day. Lately, I am lucky if I blog once a week.

Everything in the baby department is going well. Check out Baby D's Blog for an update on her health. As far as myself, I can happily say that I am completely ready, if not too ready, for Baby D's arrival. First off, I am tired of referring to her as Baby D. Meg and I are very happy with the name we have chosen, and I am just dying to start using it. But, it is a secret, and will stay that way. Second, the house is ready. The nursery looks fabulous (pictures here - updated pictures at the bottom), and we have all of the equipment we need, and I am eager to start using it. Thirdly is the issue that I hate the unknown. I like to have things planned and mapped out. And, well, this is impossible to schedule. So, the sooner the baby comes, the sooner it will be until we are out of limbo.

Despite all of this confidence, I can't help but feel that I am completely underestimating parenthood. But, then I think about all of the other things that I (and we) have accomplished, getting married, buying a house, moving into three different homes, getting a dog, getting a job (or two in my case), and securing our financial independence to name a few. This is the logical next step in life. I am sure it will be a challenge, but so has everything else, and hey, what exactly is wrong with a challenge anyway?

Next week, my students have one day of school. Then, we have two days of in-service, and then the NJEA convention. I am looking forward to a relaxing week of school, as it has been very hectic lately. We had our first performance on Tuesday, the Halloween Parade. In my three years there, it was the best performance yet.

Things are going much better with pretty much everything this year, yet there are still some challenges. I am having some trouble motivating my younger band students. I have a huge group of 4th and 5th graders, and they all seem to have a very defeatist attitude when it comes to learning anything new. I feel like I end up reviewing over old stuff and teaching very little new stuff in every rehearsal. I know one reason is that they don't practice, and I am not sure how to motivate them to do so.

I am also dealing with the same behavior issues in my classes. Well, now the major problem has come down to one class. They just seem to have it out for me. Students who are generally well-behaved in other classes turn into obnoxious, attention-starved brats when they get into my room. I had a girl on Wednesday who would not stop calling out. I decided to completely ignore her, and then the calling out got more frequent and louder. I finally gave up, and gave her a demerit. Then she pretended to cry, very badly mind you, because she kept laughing in between 'sobs.' Another teacher suggested calling her parent, so I am going to try that next.

Tomorrow is Friday, and then the weekend, and then one easy day of school, and then the rest of the week is professional development (i.e., no kids!). I need a break... unless Baby D decides to come this week!

Grrr....

Okay, the people at Google still have a few bugs to workout with posting from Picasa, as my weekly entry just dissappeared into cyber-space.

It's WAY past my bedtime, so hopefully sometime this week I'll get around to posting some pictures and updating you on the goings-on around here. Just a few short things:

• Nursery is done!
• Baby D is healthy!
• Leaves are pretty!
• 40 kids in beginning band!
• Halloween parade in a week!
• 8th grade boys will cry, real tears and all, to get out of a demerit!

More on all of that later!

I'm Still Alive

I'm still alive, even though you haven't heard from me in two weeks.

ACTUALLY... I posted a rather long entry last week, but have a feeling that I never actually hit 'publish,' because it is not there.

I am going to blog the lazy way this week:

http://megymelly.blogspot.com/2006/10/october-15th-day-at-beach-other-stuff.html

Everything Meggie said about me is true, so there, you have been updated.

Oh okay, I throw in a link to more of the pictures we took of Max at the beach:

Max in Brigantine

Okay, and here are some from my gardening project today:

House Pictures October 2006

It was a very busy week, and I spent much of the weekend down the shore or digging in the garden, so there's my excuse. Hopefully I'll have a REAL blog entry for you next week.

LVC Homecoming Pictures

Meggie and I on the bridge in the Peace Garden. Or, Our Wedding Photo, 3 years and 3 months later.



Meggie in her concert choir chair in the Organ Choral room.


Brenda, practicing for keyboard harmony in a practice room.


Me and "Hot Dog Frank" in the peace garden.


The LVC Pride of the Valley marching band in a 'park-n-bark' set.


Me remininiscing my drum major days in the band room.


The Garber science building, under construction


Brenda, Meggie and Laura in the new student lounge.

The rest of last week, our dating anniversary, and LVC homecoming

Okay, so now that the school year has really started, I don't see myself blogging as often. This is good for my readers, as here ends the boring, "here's what I did today" format. I am going to try to at least update weekly, on when major things happen.

My school week finished up okay. I am starting to see which classes are going to be my problems this year. At least this year, only one of my 8th grade classes is a major problem. The other two (so far), are okay. The class I have on Day 3 though, is turning into a competition for who can be the most obnoxious. I am serious. There are several students who will do ANYTHING to get the rest of the class looking at them. I am not sure what to do about it either. Demerits don't seem to work, because I think they actually like getting demerits. Or, like to argue about why they shouldn't have gotten one. I have a new policy this year, I don't argue with students. Especially not during class. I had one student, who protested a warning that I gave him. This warning eventually led to a demerit. He felt as though he shouldn't have received the warning, because he wasn't the one that did it (made a loud, grunting noise during the listening lesson--mainly to get people to look at him, and pinned it on the GIRL sitting next to him, despite the fact that it was a male voice). He argued about the warning, which caused another warning, and then eventually a demerit. At the end of class, I filled out the form and handed to him. He protested, and I just didn't say anything. He then went to the OFFICE to complaint about the demerit I gave him, they of course, laughed at him (not really), but told him he had to work it out with me. He came back 10 minutes after dismissal, in tears. I explained to him that I don't argue with students, and that he would not have the demerit now if he hadn't argued. But since he was crying (an 8th grade boy, mind you), I decided to hear his side of the story. He convinced me that it was not him, and that he didn't know who it was. He seemed pretty sincere, so I explained to him that next time he has an issue with a warning, demerit, etc., he cannot argue it in class, and has to calmly tell me his side of the story AFTER class.

Then, later in the week, I had another kid act up, 7th grader this time. This kid I have no idea what to do with, because he doesn't care, at all. Doesn't care if he gets a demerit, fails, etc. And therefore, sees no motivation not to act up in class. I am going to talk to his other teachers to see what they are doing.

On a good note, I have a TON of 4th graders signed up for band. Up to 39 at this point (16 of them are flutes... AHHHH!) This will be my second beginning band at this school, and I've learned some lessons from mistakes I made last year. I start lessons with them next week, and then we have our first rehearsal the following week.

I also worked out with Rita and Betty, the two teachers I share the ActivBoard with, how we will share it. I suggested that we keep it for a whole six-day cycle, since it is a pain to set-up/tear-down. It also works better this way for planning, since I do my plans by cycle. They both agreed with this. Betty says she not anywhere near ready to use it, because she is not sure how she is going to use it yet. Rita isn't planning on using it until she does her next unit, which isn't until after Halloween. That means, until then, the board is mine! I re-arranged my room on Friday to get it to fit, and I used it with one of my classes. It will take some practice till I get good at using it. I have some difficulty writing on it--it seems that actual chalk/ink is much more reliable than the digital version. I have to write some plans this weekend, and am going to incorporate the use of the board. I love technology.

This past Tuesday, September 26 was our "dating" Anniversary. It was 7 years ago on the bus-ride home from the Allentown Collegiate Band Festival, that I sat next the Meg, and got up the guts to hold her hand--and then things became official! Meg and I reminisced, but were both too busy and tired to do anything special on Tuesday. However, this weekend's activities were a pretty good way to celebrate 7 years...

Yesterday, we went to LVC Homecoming. It was the first time we had been on campus since 2003, when we went to Homecoming. We couldn't go the past two years, because of marching band. Another perk of not doing marching band, is that we can actually do stuff on the weekends in the fall.

Being back on campus was really neat. Not a whole lot had changed. I thought at first it would be weird to be back, like we didn't fit in or something, but it felt very natural, like it was home or something. Well, it WAS home for four years of our lives. We met up with Brenda, who we knew was going. I was really afraid we would be the only ones there that we went to school with. We ended up meeting up with a bunch of other people that we knew from college. The only odd thing was that the kids who were freshmen when we were seniors graduated in May, meaning that there is no way we would know any of the students. But, running into so many old friends made it feel like we were back in college.

We got there a little later than planned, due to a backup at the PA turnpike toll plaza from all of the weirdos going to the Renaissance Faire. I really wanted to get there in time to see the band march-down and pregame show. There were all kinds of little traditions and rituals involved in both of these, and I wanted to see if they still did them. Well, we ended up missing both, but I learned from watching the game, that the band still does all of the same fun things it did when we were there, like the "From Coast to Coast..." cheer, and the trumpet line sneaking behind the visitors stand and playing a fanfare.

We stopped at the college center for a potty break, and then headed across the pedestrian bridge to the football stadium. We met up with Brenda, and then chilled under the tents they had set up until half-time. Neither of us are football people, so we didn't really care all that much about the game. We watched the half time show, which was amazing, and then skipped the rest of the game to tour the campus. They have new student lounge in what used to be the gym (a new gym was added to the sports complex). They are also reconstructing the science building, so we checked that out. Next, we stopped by Blair, the music building, to visit some places where we had spent a lot of time in the past: the band room, the choir room, the stage in Lutz hall, the practice hallways, the instrument storage room, etc. We also checked out the new student center they built on the east side of the campus, as well as our old dorm rooms (the outside of them, anyway). We headed back to the stadium, because after the game, there was FREE FOOD for alumni. We met up with Shawn and Christina there. Shawn was a great friend of ours from college, and I haven't seen him in years. He teaches down in Virginia now, so I didn't expect to see him here. So it was great to catch up with him again. After a while, we all decided that it was time to go home. Meg and I made a decision that we are definitely coming back next year, which will be really neat, because we will be bringing Baby D along. So, we said our 'till next year' good-byes to everyone.

On the way home, we stopped at the Golden Corral, a restaurant in Lebanon, for dinner. This place has a great buffet, and we left being able to barely move. We got home around 9 o'clock, and gave Max some TLC, since we were gone all day (my mom did stop over to feed him), and then went to bed.

I have pictures too, which I will put in a separate post.

Today is a day of school work, and then the usual Sunday night dinner at my parents. Tomorrow we have OFF because of Yom Kippur, and then a 4 day week of school.

Day 1, Bells Start

Today went well, despite being VERY tired this morning from the long weekend.

All of my classes went very well, nothing really notable. I did use my ActivBoard for the first time with a real class. My biggest problem is that the USB cable that goes from the board to my laptop isn't really long enough. I had it stretched across the room, which isn't exactly the safest setup. What I need is a USB extension cable, which I am not sure if they even make. And if they do, it is probably pretty expensive.

Right at the end of the day, I got a call from one of my handbell ringers that she won't be ringing for us this year. I don't think I am going to be able to get a replacement anytime soon, since there really isn't a whole lot of interested in the handbell choir. So, after school, I had to rework some of the parts to have stronger members of the bell choir share a bell.

We ate dinner, and then went to bells.

We have a lot of changes this year: We are down a member, and possibly one more. After our October performance, Meggie will not be able to perform anymore. Also, we have a new closet, and new rehearsal space. Despite all of this, we had a very good first rehearsal. It was a little disorganized for my taste, considering the amount of changes and variables.

I didn't plan anything else for the evening, which was really nice. Watched an episode of ST:TNG, and chilled on the couch. I needed an hour of relaxation after a weekend of none.

Quick Post

First off... the shower was a success. I'll let pictures do the talking, so I am dead tired. Check out our newest Picasa web album:

Baby Shower at Mom and Dad's

Sep 24, 2006 - 44 Photos

Also, the pool issue is being solved. After the shower, Mom and Dad came over to help unload all of the stuff we got. My dad looked at it, and noticed a small hole in the liner, right around where the wall and floor liner meet. We ghetto-patched it with some duct tape, and I ordered a vinyl pool repair kit. I started refilling it, but don't have quite enough water in yet to get the filter to successfully prime, so I am giving up on it tonight. I'll finish filling it tomorrow after-school, and get the filter going again.

Okay, I am dead tired. It has been a long weekend, and I've got another week of school coming up. Thank goodness it is a 3-day weekend coming up!

Leaking Pool!

Oh what fun! I woke up to discover 4 inches of water missing from my pool. I am losing water at a rate of 1/4 inch an hour. The good news is I found the leak. The bad news is, I have no idea how to fix it. I just hope it doesn't cost too much...


Yesterday, at about 4 pm, a view of Max and I taking a swim in a pool that was working perfectly fine.


Not even 12 hours later... the same pool. Notice how much lower the water is at the skimmer.


A close-up of the skimmer. I usually try to keep the water above the 2nd screw from the top. I am glad I caught this and turned off the pump. After a few hours, the pump would've been running dry. BTW-I put the piece of electrical tape on the wall at the current water level about an hour before I took this pictures.


If you look closely, you can see the sand billowing out from underneath the pool frame.


Take a good look at the grid pattern. Notice how it is distorted right against the wall? There is a sink-hole about 8 inches long, and about 2-3 inches deep. I actually discovered this yesterday when I was vacuuming. Did the sink-hole cause the leak, or did the leak cause the sink-hole?

Fun Friday, Busy Weekend

Friday was a very good day of school.

First off, I had 8th grade music ensemble in the morning. Last year, this was something I would have dreaded, but I really like my 8th grade band students this morning. They are a fun, enthusiastic group. The only bad thing about the period was the 2nd fire drill of the week, which, for some reason, at my school, takes 15 minutes!

I only had two classes, a 5th grade and an 8th grade. The 5th grade was okay... a little chatty though. The 8th grade was very hyper and chatty, but pretty good for an 8th grade class. This is a pretty good group of kids, who I seem to have a good rapport with. They are just very talkative. I think at this point, the best thing to do with this particular class is work with what I've got. They are still participating, just noisily. Despite the noise, I had fun with this group. That's the first time in a while I've said that about an 8th grade class.

Right after this class, I sat down to check my e-mail, when Arthur, one of the computer support guys stopped by my room. I figured he was going to talk to me about having the yearbook software installed on the computers. Turns out, he told me that the ActivBoard was in, and I could go and get it from the computer lab.

So, I went to the lab with him, got it, installed the ActivStudio software on my computer, and played with it. It is really cool! It is basically a white board that hooks to my laptop. You project whatever is on your computer screen on to it, and then you can digitally "write" and create presentations on the board. There is software that comes with it for doing presentations, which I will use sometimes. The best thing is that the board simply interfaces through the mouse. That means, whatever movements you make on the board can work in any program, just like a mouse. I was running Finale, and entering notes from the board. I think I could do some cool lessons with this with music composition.

The good thing about Day 6 is, after those two classes, I am pretty much done. I have some lessons in the afternoon. However, they are 8th grade lessons, and 8th graders never seem to show up for them. I don't know why--when I was in 8th grade, I would've taken any excuse to get out of class. I am not going to make a big deal out of it, though. I didn't have these kids from the start, so I never really got do doing sequential stuff with them in lessons. None of them have a lesson book or anything like that. We basically just go over band music, which is pretty much redundant to what we do in rehearsals and music ensemble. I mean, every bit of practice helps, but in this case, it isn't completely necessary.

Well, all this free time meant lots of time to play with the ActivBoard. I also took a look at two trumpets that new students brought in, and I got my band schedule for next week posted.

When I got home from school, I started making the shopping list. Meggie had a growth scan at the hospital. I usually go to these, but the latest appointment they have is at 3:30, and there is no way I can make that. I am not really happy with the antenatal testing part of the hospital. They have terrible hours, and kinda gave Meg and attitude when she pointed out how difficult it is for someone who works to schedule things. I guess they figure that health comes first, but when you are trying to bank sick days for post labor, you don't want to waste anything. I can understand taking off work if you have a one-time procedure, like a surgery or something. But Meg needs to go to these things every 3 weeks, and then more frequently later. That will be several sick days used up.

I was further annoyed to find that Meg, after trying to leave the parking lot, had to go all the way back into the hospital to get a parking token. We've been there at least 4 times now, and the gate always lifted when we left the parking lot. Now, apparently you need a token. What is the point of the token anyway?!? Are people really going to abuse the hospital's parking lot?!? I think it is ridiculous that they even have the gates. What is the point!! And everyone (including someone who pulled up behind her and had to back up to let her out) gave her attitude because there is a sign that says you needed a token. We never needed one before! I am glad I wasn't there, because I would've been angry. I usually try to keep my cool and avoid confrontation, but between the crazy scheduling expectations, and the parking situation, I would have lost it. I am sometimes just completely disgusted at the health care system. Between the terrible hours, health insurance, prescription drug prices, and red tape, it is amazing that anyone ever gets help. I find it unbelievable that people who are in the business of healing and curing can make it so difficult. Something needs fixed. And that problem is not with the people who do the healing either. Doctors, nurses, technicians, etc., are generally very friendly, caring, and helpful people. However, call your insurance company or have to deal with a rude receptionist, and suddenly things are quite as helpful. I can't offer a good solution, because I don't completely understand the health care system, but there must be an easier way.

Anyway, despite my annoyance with the hospital, and health care in general, the appointment went well. Baby D is healthy, and growing at the correct rate. Below is an ultrasound of her face. The two dark circles in the top center are her eyes. Kinda creepy looking actually, since all you can really make out is a skull. The first picture is the original ultrasound. The 2nd picture I annotated using ActivStudio. The yellow highlighted areas are her eyes, pink=nose, blue=teeth, green=hands. You can read more about Baby D in an update on her blog.




So, while Meggie and Baby D were getting scanned, I was making the list. The whole Sam's Club experiment definitely isn't going to start working this month. We are going to be well over our limit. But, we ended up buying things we needed this month, that we won't need again for several months, so after a while, we should start to see results.

Meggie got home from school, we made salmon on the grill for dinner, and then went to my parents to drop off some folding chairs for the shower on Sunday. The original plan was to just drop them off, and then go shopping. Well, we ended up hanging around my parents for a while, and by the time we left, we were both too sleepy to go shopping. My parents living room was pretty much ripped apart. They are going all-out on getting ready for the shower. This included a fresh coat of paint in the living room, sanding and repainting the trim, and installing quarter-round. I think this is probably the first time a power-sander was involved in preparing for a shower!

When we finally got home, we pretty much headed straight to bed.

Saturday, September 23

I woke up early this morning, with that awesome feeling you get when you think it is a school morning, and then you suddenly remember it's the weekend. I then went back to sleep, and a combination of Max and the alarm clock woke me up at 9 or so.

I got up, got showered, and made breakfast for us. We then went to Sam's and Wal-Mart for our grocery shopping, came home, had lunch, and then got to work. Cait, meg's mom, and meg's grandmom were all coming today, and we really weren't sure when, and the house desperately needed cleaned. I did the floors, and Meggie straightened. Cait arrived soon after lunch, and offered to help clean by dusting. We also got word that Mom and Grandmom wouldn't be arriving till 5 or so.

After doing the floors, I blew all of the leaves off of the front lawn. Then, Max and I took the last swim of the summer. This was more out of necessity. The pool steps have to come out of the pool when you winterize it. You aren't supposed to winterize the pool till it is cooler out. Well, in mid-October when I go to close the pool, I guarantee that I am not going to want to get in it, and this is the only way to get the steps out.

So, I took Max into the pool, played with him a while, vacuumed (clogging the hose/filter several times with the nine-trillion acorns in the pool), and then removed the steps. It was kinda sad, because we really had a lot of fun with the pool, and it is weird to think that we won't be going in again until next spring. I'm sure Max is even more disappointed. The vacuuming got the filter dirty, so I also had to backwash too. I finished all of this right around five, and then got a shower. While I was in the shower, Grandmom and Mom got here.

Grandmom took us all out to Peter's, where Mom had the servers (and the entire restaraunt) sing to me. Very embarrassing, but I appreciate the effort. Grandmom wanted us to splurge a little, since she was treating, so I got the tortellini alfredo, and I have some leftovers now for tomorrow.

After dinner, we all came back to our house, and we gave Grandmom a tour of the nursery. Cait is staying the night here, and Grandmom and Mom are staying in a hotel up in Mt. Laurel on 73. So, I gave them directions, and they went on there way.

I got my weekend's worth of school work done--band update letters and a calendar for October. I did money stuff, and am currently blogging. Man, this is a long post.

I am sure to have another post tomorrow night on the shower tomorrow. Until then...

Day 5

Pretty much a standard day, not a whole lot to blog about. But, I will want to know a year from now what I was doing on September 21, 2006 (maybe...)

Day 5 is mostly a lesson day for me. All lessons, a self-contained class, and a 6th grade class. All of my lessons went well. Despite yesterday's crappy rehearsal, the kids still seem enthused and all, and some are ACTUALLY practicing. I also had a rehearsal with my advanced band during lunch, and that went very well. I've got a good group of kids, who I seem to have a good rapport with. Last year, I had 4 boys in my advanced band that made my life a living hell, and several 8th grade girls with a generally poor and whiny attitude. I have a small group now, but they are all good kids who seem to want to be there. Let's hope that sticks. I am looking forward to auditioning some more kids into the group. I have several 6th and 5th graders who are ready. I am going to audition at the end of October. This is an experiment for me, but I think it will work. The only thing that concerns me is handling when a student doesn't make it. But I am going to offer a re-audition in January--hoping to motivate some practice and improvement.

The 6th grade class I had was good. I pretty much succumbed to the fact that I would spend the entire period explaining this 'music family tree' project I have. My mind must work differently than everyone else's. I experience this same issue with adults, as well as my students. When I explain/describe something on paper, it seems like a perfectly good explanation to me, but others find it overly complex. I think I try to include too much information, in order to eliminate confusion. This always seems to backfire on me, and cause more confusion!

The rest of the day was uneventful. BBQ chicken on the grill. I also took Max for a walk and got down the fall decorations (I thought fall started today, but apparently it doesn't start till 9/23). Meggie put up the decorations. When I get a chance, I will post some pictures. I spent the rest of the night catching up on reading the forums I follow. The Finale Form (to learn new things about the program), the Pool Help forum (to offer assistance where I can), and the Band Director's form (where I learn that all band directors have the same problems I have, or worse, and how to deal with them). I also did some StumbleUpon for a while, and now, I am heading to bed.





One more comment... TOMORROW'S FRIDAY!!!!

New Shoes

Today was a good school day, but got very frustrating towards the end. I had a day of good lessons, my only 7th grade class was okay, and I finished the day with my 5th grade band students. This is the same group of kids that had an awesome rehearsal yesterday, and they would not shut up today. I tried yelling, and that didn't work, so I did the old, sit-there-angrily-and-wait-for-them-to-figure-it-out, which took about a minute, and then gave them a speech about how I am here to help make them better, and they are wasting their time by talking, and not allowing themselves to be better, and that it will be their fault when the parade comes along and they are not ready. Of course, the bottom line is, if the band does not sound good, it is a reflection on my performance. I am not worried about this, but it seemed like a good idea at the time, to guilt them into being quiet. I hate doing that kind of crap. As much as I admired my HS band director, he was guilty of this kind of tactic, and I was never really a fan of it. I am not sure how to address the issue in a productive way. It is the same issue I have with my 8th grade class. I am not sure how to discipline a whole group. I'd be there all day writing out demerits!

I had a very busy afternoon, as I was expected to be in three places at once. I had duty outside, I had yearbook club, and I had to go to a 'round-robin' (a meeting of all of a student's teacher, and the parent, usually requested by the parent). I switched with the person who had morning duty...that solved that problem. The issue with yearbook was that Rita, the art teacher and co-advisor, works at the other building on Day 4. I figured I would have no problem getting to the round robin, because Rita would be there to get the kids started. I forgot that it takes about a half hour to get from the other building to my school. Well, luckily, Rita got there soon after the start of school (joking that she ran over some kids to get here on time), and I was able to get to the round-robin. After that, I joined the yearbook meeting. We have a pretty good crew this year. I was worried that some trouble-makers would join, but they didn't show up.

Meggie picked me up, and we came home and had ham steak for dinner.

After that, we went to Famous Footwear to get me new shoes. Three years ago, I bought a pair of brown Sketchers dress shoes. They were good shoes, but recently bit the dust, when I noticed that I had completely worn the heels down, and there were actually holes in the bottom of my shoes. So I got a similar pair, Sketchers again, and they look even more durable than the last pair. Only $39.99 too! I have an issue with paying any more than $40.00 for a pair of shoes. They were literally the cheapest pair I found there. Good thing I liked them. I guess I am just used to the Gettysburg Outlet bargain prices.

We came home, and couched it for the rest of the evening. I graded some work, and read my mail and blogs, while watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. My favorite episode of all time was on: the one where the Enterprise gets caught in that time rift, and keeps repeating the events over and over again. They eventually realize this is happening, from feelings of deja vu. Well, I won't get into it all, at a risk of making myself sound even nerdier than I already have.

Okay, Meggie is cutely sleeping on the couch, so I should wake her up so we can go to bed.

B2S Night

So, yesterday was my birthday, which is cool, except for the fact that I spent most of the day at school. I had a fairly good school day, no major issues or anything. I got a few 4th grade permission forms, and hopefully more will come in by the end of the week. I am very interested in seeing what kind of group I will have this year.

So, after a good day at school, I had to come BACK to school at night, for... Back to School Night. I don't really have a problem with B2S night, and I had several productive conversations with parents. But, I would rather not have been at school on the night of my birthday.

Today was not as a good as a day. Actually, the first half was good. I had some extra prep time in the morning, since my 4th grade lessons haven't started yet. And I had a very good 4th grade class. Then, I had an awesome rehearsal with my intermediate band. We got through twice more than I had planned, and they sounded great, for just their second rehearsal.

Then, in the afternoon, I had a 7th grade class--they weren't that badly behaved, but whined the whole time about I project I assigned, a 3rd grade class--which was okay, and an 8th grade class--which pretty much ruined my day. There are a bunch of kids in the class who just can't keep their mouths shut, between talking to other people, and having to comment and question everything I say. And I know they are doing it just to be obnoxious. But, even more annoying, are the kids who I know are good students, who just sit back, and never even bother to participate in class. It's September, and I am already counting the days till this group graduates. That is one nice thing. My first year was hell, last year was a little better, and this year is turning out to be even better. Every 8th grade class gets a little easier, since I have had this group for two years already. Hopefully, I'll get to a point where I actually LIKE the 8th grade class. I am thinking this will happen when this year's 5th graders are in 8th grade, since they are the first class only to have me.

After school, we had quesadillas for dinner. I grilled chicken and some peppers, which turned our really great, and Meg made the quesadillas. I got a little bit of school work done, and spent
the rest of the evening vegging, and watching the top 100 best SNL moments. I also pre-spent some of my birthday money on bulbs for the garden. Yeah, it sounds lame, but all of the yard work I did this summer made me kind of interested in getting the gardens to look nice. Plus, the bulbs will come back every year.

Okay, very tired, after a long two days. Good night!

Birthday Pictures and More

Here are some pictures from today...


My awesome birthday gift from Nick, a new car stereo, with a line input! No more computer speakers in the car!!


Our house, with a well manicured lawn


The delicious cake Meggie made me.


My other big birthday gift, the chest freezer!

There's a new clue on our Baby's Blog. Keep guessing!!

If you want more pictures, I have uploaded two more web albums:

House Pictures September 2006

Sep 17, 2006 - 9 Photos

Bob's 26th Birthday

Sep 17, 2006 - 18 Photos

Weekend

Okay, so I got lazy about blogging over the weekend. Here is my weekend so far...

Friday, September 15

A Day 1 at school, I am starting to see all of my students for a second time. Most of my classes were very good. I like Day 1, because I don't have any 7th or 8th grade classes. The big deal of today was the 4th grade instrument demo. Joe, the rep from the Local Music Store that services our school, came and brought the instruments. He is a woodwind player, so he demonstrated the flute, clarinet, and sax (WAY better than I demonstrated the brass). Then, I demonstrated the trumpet and trombone. We decided to leave percussion out of the demonstration, as Joe suggested not to encourage any more 'drummers,' than the usual bunch to sign-up. I am thinking, for next year, of starting anyone who wants to play "Drums," "Percussion," etc. on bells. The Local Music Store offers bell kits that the kids can rent. It would my rehearsal planning much easier, and would weed out the kids that only want to play drums so they can bang on something. Then, later, I would introduce the other percussion instruments (snare drum, bass drum, etc.), since the rhythm-reading and technique skills would already be learned from simply learning the bells. It's too late to try it this year, but I'll definitely do it next year.

Meggie came to pick me up, and then, the WEEKEND officially started! On the way home, I stopped at the bank and deposited my check. It was still the same amount as last year, as our new collective bargaining agreement hasn't been ratified yet. It is also the last time I will have to stop at the bank, as our next paychecks will be direct-deposited (It's about time my district caught up with the 21st century)!

We came home, had a snack, made the shopping list, and headed to Peter's. I got the patty melt, Meggie got the fried chicken platter. It was insanely busy there for some reason, so we had to wait a while, but the wait was worth it. If you are ever on the Black Horse Pike in Williamstown, you NEED to go to this diner.

We then headed up to Wal-Mart, did our shopping, came home, put everything away, and collapsed into bed at 9:30! Some exciting Friday night, huh?

Saturday, September 16

Our living alarm clock, also known as Max, woke us up yesterday morning. We got up and showered, and headed to Meg's school. Since there was construction at her school this summer, and every one's rooms had to be completely cleared up, they decided to open up the school on Saturday this weekend, so teachers could get into their rooms to finish setting up before Monday. Meg brought me along, and I helped by decorating the higher parts of her room. She made it very easy for me, by laying out what had to go where. Meg got her stuff set up for Monday. We ended up staying there for a while, as it took time to complete all of this.

We headed home, and had lunch. Afterwards, Meg ran to Wal-Mart (or at least I thought), to get me some stuff for my birthday. While she was gone, I cleaned up the bedroom, brought the dirty clothes downstairs, and started the laundry. After starting the laundry, I decided to see if I could fix our squeaky dryer. For about the past month or so, our dryer makes this terrible metal-on-metal squeaking noise as it turns. Years ago, my parents had the same problem with their dryer, and temporarily fixed it by rubbing candle wax against the shaft that the drum turns on. I figured I'd give this a try, so I started to take the dryer apart, only to find out that I wouldn't get access to this part of the dryer.

So, here I am , with the dryer in the middle of the laundry room, and my tools out, when I hear Max making all kinds of noise at the front door. It was my parents. So, I let them in, and explained the dryer problem, and my dad started to look at it. Soon after they arrived, Meg came home to find us all in the laundry room, with the dryer half apart. My parents then told me there was something in the van for me. I went out to the van, to find my birthday present, a chest freezer! Now, I was surprised by this. I knew that I was getting a chest freezer for my birthday, but I didn't expect to get it now. Here, Meg had met my parents at Sam's Club, so they could pick up the freezer. Now of course, the freezer's destination was the laundry room, which was now all in pieces. So, I put the dryer back together, and my dad helped me bring the freezer in. They took off, I read the instruction manual, and plugged it in.

Afterwards, I got started on school work. My goal this weekend was to make and print personalized band reminder cards for all of my band students. These cards contain the usual days and times for lessons and rehearsals. I also included this year, a calendar that high-lights the days they need to bring their instrument to school. Using mail-merge, I was able to complete this job.

Meg and I were going to make salmon for dinner, only to discover that the frozen fillets we bought had to be defrosted first, so we ended up doing burgers on the grill. After dinner, I made two copies of a video a fellow teacher had given me about instruments of the orchestra. I made one copy for Meg, and other for myself. While copying these, I kept up with the laundry, and made a CD of upbeat music appropriate for school that another fellow teacher had asked me to make. I am pretty much done my schoolwork now. I just have to fold and sort all of the band cards I printed yesterday.

We went to bed, where I read and sang to Baby D (through Mommy's belly). They said you should do this, as it helps the baby get used to Daddy's voice. We also need to start playing music through headphones for the baby.

Sunday, September 17
Max woke us up again this morning. We had breakfast, then I did money stuff. Now, I am blogging. After this, I will get dressed into work clothes, and mow the front lawn. Tonight, we are going to my parents, and having my birthday dinner. Tomorrow is technically my birthday, however, I have school, then Back-to-School night (yeah, pretty crappy birthday). So, today is kinda like my birthday celebration. Mom is making tortellini for dinner, and Meggie is making me my favorite kind of cake- yellow cake with white icing.

Oh, I have been meaning to post a bunch of pictures. I will try to remember to do this tonight. I'll take one of the freezer, as well as the dresser we got for the nursery. Also, I am sure we will have some fun pictures of my birthday dinner.

Lots to do, gotta go!

Day 6

Today was my first day 6 of the year. Tomorrow the cycle starts over again. I am kind of looking forward to this, as I can start to get into things with my classes. I also get tired of teaching the same thing for 6 days in a row, so it is always a good, fresh start when you get back to day 1.

I talked to the few kids who I thought might be quitting band, and it turns out they are all still going to do it. I had a 5th grade class, and an 8th grade class today, so now I have seen all of the classes. I was worried about the 8th grade class, because last year, I only had 1 general music class on day 6, an 8th grade class, and it was the class from hell! There were five boys in this class that pretty much made my year a lot less pleasant. I am just glad they are off to HS now. And, four of those 5 boys were in band, so I had to see them several times a week. This year is so much easier, simply by not having those boys around. Of course, I can already see who is going to fill those shoes, but I am not going to let them get to me as much as the boys did last year. But anyway, this 8th grade class was nowhere near as bad as the class last year, so I won't fear day 6 like I did before.

I had my first advanced band rehearsal today, which went very well. I have a small group now, because I don't have last year's 8th graders, and I haven't auditioned anyone new yet. They were a little chatty, but we got a lot done.

The rest of my school day was spent planning for tomorrow and the rest of the cycle. I had a lot of kids miss their lessons (it takes a few cycles till the kids get used to the schedule), which basically means more planning time for me.

Meggie and I also carpooled today, which was nice. We save gas, and Meg and I get to have the car ride together. We will try to do this as much as possible this year.

After school, Meggie and I tried our new plan of eating later, which worked well. I made pork on the grill for dinner, marinated with Teriyaki. I had to do a little bit more school work after dinner, and that was my day.

Tomorrow is FRIDAY, thank goodness. This week went really slowly, as it was the first 5 day week. This Friday is also a PETER'S Friday, which I am looking forward to. Speaking of restaurants, we got a $50 gift card to a local restaurant from the new 4th grade teacher at my school. She worked for Meg's school district last year as a long term sub, but was not able to be rehired for this year. Around the same time this happened, I found out that there was a fourth grade teacher opening at my school. I let Meg know, who let her know, and she applied, and got the job. So, she gave Meg and I a gift certificate for helping her get the job. Sweet! Another dinner out.

Okay, Dane Cook is on HBO, and I wanna watch the rest of it.

Lesson Day

Today was another busy day. Will it get easier??

Day 5 is a day of mostly lessons for me. I have 1 class during 8th period, and a self-contained class during 2nd period. The rest of the day is all lessons. This makes for a long day, since I teach two 20 minutes lessons every period. So, three periods of lessons feels more like 6 periods. My lessons went well. A had a lot of kids not come, but it always takes a few weeks till everyone gets used to the schedule. The lessons I did have went well though. Just as I said yesterday, I am very happy with how the 5th grade class is doing. I got most of my permission forms back, and I only lost a few kids from 4th to 5th, and they all still seemed psyched about the year. I am probably losing two of my middle school students, which was a little unexpected. Both are good musicians, who always seemed to enjoy band--I don't know what's up with it. I plan on having a talk with them tomorrow morning and trying to change their mind. But I'll leave it up to them. If they really don't want to be there, then I probably don't want them there anyway. But I will give it a try.

Tomorrow is day 6, meaning after tomorrow, I will have had all of my classes once. Geeze, the first cycle went slowly. Only 29 to go! Things will get easier as I get into the routine. And the weeks/cycles will go faster. I hope so anyway. I am sure looking forward to the weekend. Tomorrow's Thursday, which is almost Friday, which means=weekend!!

After school, Meggie and I had dinner, apparently too early, because, by 7, we were starving again! We ended up ordering some more food out. Dinner also was a bit of a (failed) experiment, lemon chicken. It was a little too lemony. Making it was a group effort by Meg and I, and apparently, we need to read up on making lemon chicken. Well, after an early and unsatisfying meal, Meggie and I were really hungry. She got wings, and I got a cheesesteak from Bella Vita. We felt a little guilty about it, but Meggie had some extra money for it, and we are going to try to eat dinner a little later (like 6 instead of 4:30), so we don't get hungrier later.

I got some organizing done with my planbook, and then blogged. Kind of a busy-blah day. Alright, time for bed!

1st band rehearsal, OB Appointment

Very sleepily got up this morning, since I went to bed a little to late last night.

Despite the 4 periods of prep time I had today, I was very busy. In addition to weekly rehearsals during lunch, I meet with each grade of band kids during one period of the 6-day cycle. This program won't start till next week, so I have these periods off this week. Not that this helped.

I got a lot more permission forms in today, which meant I spent a lot of time processing these. I also had my first band rehearsal, which I had to set up for beforehand. The rehearsal went VERY well. I still had an issue with talking. I am not sure how to address this... it's the same thing I was talking about yesterday: when most everyone is talking, I don't know how to effectively discipline the group. I can yell and scream, I can lecture, but that just wastes more time, and usually the talking resumes in a few minutes. I am not sure how to fix this, but I need to find a way. On the good side, the kids (all 5th graders in this group, plus a few 6th graders) played really well for their first rehearsal of the year. Many of the kids admitted during their individual lessons that they didn't practice a whole lot this summer. I was expecting to have to review over notes and stuff, but they remembered everything, and I got right into teaching the music for the parade. They also seem psyched about the year. I really need to keep these 5th graders into it. They are the first class that didn't have the guy before me for band ever. I feel that with the 6th graders and up, their band experience with me will never be the same as it was with the old guy. It doesn't bother me. I do what I can. But I need to focus on these 5th graders, and the new crop of 4th graders that will start this year, and begin shaping an outstanding band program with this group. I think it will take several years before I get the program to my full expectations, but I am up for it (unless an equal paying job, in a good district, with NO general music comes up).

Speaking of general music, today was easier, as I only had one GM class. A 7th grade class. I had similar issues with this class as I did with the 8th graders I had yesterday. I was able to maintain more control though. I also COMPLETELY FOLLOWED THROUGH on a discipline issue. A kid in this 7th grade class, got two warnings, then the demerit, and then, he actually got to the phone-call home stage. After I had the class, I pulled the kids number, called home, and spoke to dad. So, even before he gets home, his parents already know what happens. dad felt his child's behavior was unacceptable, and said he would discuss it with him. I hope word of this spreads to the other kids--I WILL CALL HOME, and will see what happens.

Tomorrow is another insanely busy day. 5 periods of lessons, a self-contained class, and a 6th grade class. At least I get my lunch off tomorrow.

I rushed out of school at the end of the day, and just made it in time to our OB appointment. I met Meg at the OB's office. Good news. Baby D is very healthy and normal at this time, and Meggie is also healthy. You can get a more complete update on this post from Baby D's Blog.

After the appointment, we had tacos for dinner, and then I helped Meggie load her school stuff into the car. Today was unfortunately her last day of summer, since she has to be back at school tomorrow for a faculty meeting. So I dug her stuff out the crawlspace, and helped her load it all in the car. I spent the rest of the evening, doing my teacher homework (grading papers, re-updating the band schedule with the permission forms I got today), playing with Max, watching TV, reading news & blogs, and of course, blogging.

Gotta get a good night sleep tonight... busy day tomorrow!