Life as a Leach

I couldn't include this in the same post as the previous mournful one, so I decided to just write another. When I was changing Caleb for bed tonight, I was singing "Skidamarink" to him. He was singing along, and at the end where it goes, "IIIII LOOOOOVE YOOOOOU!!!!!!!!!!" I sang "I love..." and stopped after "love." He sang out really loud "MEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!" It was quite cute. So cute, in fact, that I had to sing it again and dance around with him....which did nothing but stir him up and make him oh so not ready for bed! If I have learned anything from the events of the last few weeks, it is to make the most of all of those little moments I have with Caleb. I will tell you that I have sat by his crib several nights stroking his face and crying for my friend. You do not truly know how to love until you have a child, and I can't imagine how I would ever be able to face losing Caleb. I really do love him more each day.

Matt told me today that a woman from our church had her baby on Monday. He said it in a way that I had to ask, "Is this more bad news?" The baby was only 4lb 11oz and was sent home Tuesday night. When they went in this morning to check on him, he wasn't breathing. The family is, of course, devastated. We don't know a lot of details about why he was so little or why the doctors released him, but I'm sure we'll find out more in the weeks to come. She goes to the same pediatricians my sister and I both go to and I feel very confident in their professional judgement. They would never knowingly send a sick baby home, so I am sure they felt that he was healthy. Still, it is sad... I am seriously considering not having anymore children after all of this in such a short amount of time. Seriously.

As you read in a previous post, my friend just lost her little boy Parker. The funeral was on Friday, and it was heartwrenching, to put it mildly. Since then, I was shown a blog done by the wife of a friend of mine from college. They have gotten some difficult news about their son and are preparing for the worst as they near the date of their C-section. Reading their blog, there is just so much hope and thankfulness! I don't see how I could ever be thankful about a situation like this, but they definitely are. I'm not downplaying the fact that they are heart broken over all of this, but they are finding joy in sorrow. To top all of that off, Matt came in with some difficult news from our wonderful next-door neighbor. His daughter, who has already lost one set of twins to pre-term labor, is only 20 weeks pregnant and is in the hospital again. She is having serious complications and the doctors are just hoping that they can keep the babies (twins again!) in for another ...

Caleb LOVES to go potty! I have never heard a potty training story like this one....Caleb tells us when he needs to go, we take his diaper off, and he goes! Now, is it perfect? No, not at all! We aren't trying to potty train at at all, but we figure every time he goes is one less diaper we have to change! The only time we consistantly put him on the potty is when we give him a bath (he always pees in the tub, so we know he needs to go!) He almost always goes on the potty now instead of the tub though. When he's not "really" going potty, he's pretending to go potty! He's such a funny kid!

A friend of mine was carrying twins (a boy and a girl) and was due to have a C-section this week. To make a long story short, the cord got wrapped around the boy's throat and he didn't make it. The little girl is fine--beautiful, in fact! She weighed nearly 6 pounds, which is quite a feat for a baby 4 weeks early! I just can't imagine how they are feeling right now. I mean, on one hand, you are excited to have a beautiful, healthy little girl. On the other hand, her birthday is going to haunt you forever. While most people are looking forward to bringing their baby home and leaving the uncomfortable hospital, they didn't even want to think of the idea. I can't pretend to understand how they are feeling because I don't know. Thank the Lord that I don't! So, I'm doing the only thing I feel like I can do....be there to help out. We visited them in the hospital last weekend and Matt is taking dinner over tomorrow. None of that seems like it will do...

Today was a staff development day, and a small group of us were having a meeting in my classroom to discuss this book we are reading about our reading/language arts structure. We're reading a section to ourselves and it is completely silent....until I discover something pretty awful. My rules are posted on a long, thin bulletin board across the chalk board. The title says "Give Me Five!" (as in 5 rules) and there is a big hand underneath holding up 5 fingers. I have been in this room for 3 years and have kept this up every year (I just cover it up in the summer). Well, I guess that some of the staples have come loose on the hand or something, because all of the fingers but one were flopped down. Yes, the large hand on my bulletin board was flicking everybody off! Of course, I started laughing hysterically, totally breaking the silence. My friend Courtney looked at me rather quizzically, since she is normally the one to cause trouble! I pointed and she started crack...

I teach honors reading. Just keep that in mind as you read the next four short clips of conversations I had today. This is the cream of the crop here, folks! * We were discussing 9-11 and how the soldiers are still fighting for our freedom. One kid raises his hand and says, "Aren't we fighting with the Germans?" No....that was in WWII.... * There was a vocabulary quiz today and one of the words was "resigned." A girl raises her hand and asks, "Can you tell me what 'resigned' means? I don't understand it." She was very upset when I replied that it would kind of defeat the purpose of the vocabulary quiz if I told her the meaning of the word. * One of my more "energetic" boys had to go to the bathroom, but the pass was gone. He begins jumping up and down holding himself screaming, "I gotta go poooootty! I gotta go pooooootty!" What, are you 3? You are 10 years old. Grow up and hold it! * A girl brought me a b...