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!