Hashing, chewing, gnawing

I just deleted an entire post because it was me, me, me, me, me.  And poor, poor, poor me.  It's been so long because I'm just a little black rain cloud, and I don't want to pass it on.  

I'm not very happy with myself right now, and this negative energy I'm putting out to the universe is really coming back to bite me in the butt.

So here are some things that are going right in my world of wrong:

1.  Lucy is the happiest baby, ever.  She constantly shows her 4 teeth, 2 on the bottom center, and 2 on the top, but they are not center, they're the ones to either side of the center top teeth.

2.  Addie and Emily are happy, healthy, and bright.

3.  My husband is very supportive of me, no matter what.  He's the best cheerleader.

4.  Yesterday, on my way to a professional development meeting, I totally butterfingered my coffee cup, and as it tumbled out of my hand I had a brief flash of hope that maybe the lid would hold and I'd only lose a little of my half cup.  That hope was quickly dashed as my cup did similar on the hallway floor and sweet smelling, creamy coffee spewed forth, like a hawaiian eruption.  My colleagues that were walking with me stopped to help me, locating a janitor, picking up and carrying my mug, and kneeling down to help me mop up the mess.  I felt loved!

5.  At lunch time, I couldn't find anyone to go to lunch with, and made my way down to the local restaurant in hopes that someone would be there.  Then, one of my colleagues called to ask where I was, not wanting to leave me behind.  It was so nice to be included.  

6.  Had a great workout with friends on Monday, and I'm sore in a good way from it.  

Just a few things to be thankful for!

I get to teach!

That's right!  I get a class to teach next year!  It is one section of 21 students, but they are all mine 5th hour and I get to fill their little heads with US history!!!  YAY!!!

My mind is whirling on how I'm going to do it.  Last year, the class was taught backwards, starting with the Iraq and Afgan wars, and moving to the 90's, then 80's and so on.  I think they made it to the 50s.  It's an interesting way to do it and I am eager to talk to the other teacher to see how he thought it worked.

I will not have my own classroom, so I'll have to figure out how to go about doing that.  I don't think we have any books either.  I know they used a website last year that acted as a text book.  I have a ton of worksheets and supplies, somewhere on my bookshelf at home, so maybe they will finally get used!

Ah, just can't wait to get back into it!  Very thrilled!

I only have a few minutes...

So the baby is cat napping, and the tv is babysitting the other two!

I'm still alive.

Actually, Lucy has been a great baby!  After a brief problem with not sleeping at night unless we were holding her or she was in the swing, we realized she was waking herself up by running into the sides of her bassinet.  Now she is in the pack-and-play and lots of room to stretch and grow.  She eats, sleeps and poops like a champ.

The other two are now done with school, but we are just getting busier and busier!  Only two days were free in May, with nothing written on the calendar, and I have a feeling June will be more of the same.  Birthday party, playdates, school cleaning, horse camp, grad parties, baptism... so on and so on.

I am currently playing the role of stay at home mommy.  I am trying to embrace it, but find it takes an effort to not feel like I should be doing something "more important."  There is no more important job than raising my children.

I hope to have a great summer full of learning, imagination, fun memories, cuddling.  Oddly enough I need to work on just letting these moments happen, as our days go by faster and faster and before I've noticed, it's lunch time and all we've managed to do is watch a movie in our PJs!  That's not very good quality time!

I think maybe we should make a list of things we want to do this summer.

Camp in the back yard
Visit different playgrounds
Go to the library once a week
Go to the County Fair
Dance parties in the dark with glow sticks
Teach Emily the alphabet
bake cookies
Have them help with chores on a regular basis so they get used to it

What else?
Alright, time to feed the baby, I'm off!

The newest Rudd

I knew I shouldn't show my face here until I had pics to post...
So without further ado:  Introducing Lucy, weighing in at 8lbs 5.2 oz, and a whopping 22 inches, with a full head of dark hair and an appetite!

Countdown to our IMPENDING DOOM!!!

The time is now 9:30pm on April 2nd, 2012.

154 hours until our lives change forever and Lucy joins us!!!

Welcome snuggle time, suckling noises, Iowa class burps, and that new baby smell!

Also welcome less than 2 hours consecutive sleep, smelling like spit-up, showers shorter than pit stops at Nascar, and sneaky, unidentifiable stains on clothes I thought were safe to wear out in public!

Oh, and the reopening of the Rudd Dairy...

MOOOOOOO!!!!!

I'm On Fire!

The last few days I have been on fire!  Full of great ideas!
Here they are:
1.  After an e-mail from a parent stating they want to get their child on an IEP, my brain started working on this problem.  The student has not qualified before because of good test scores.  But something was bothering me, and I couldn't put my finger on it.  I have now figured it out!  Test scores don't measure cognitive functions. (another problem with standardized testing!)  They can measure basic knowledge skills, but a very important skill is the ability to solve a problem that requires a multi-step solution.  The student can not follow a complex set of directions to complete a task.  I also have concerns about short term memory.  In order to be eligible, it has to be shown that the disability disrupts learning.  If given a clinical evaluation, I'm sure this student would meet criteria to get the help they need for next year!  I've organized my data for a meeting today already, and I think I have a good case!

2.  A colleague was rearranging their room and didn't want the tables in rows.  I suggested she put them in the shape of a hexagon, with students facing in, and room in between to pass through.  This way she could stand in the middle to work with all students, teach dynamically, and encourage whole class discussion and collaboration.  It worked great!

3.  Our school is trying a new thing called reader's workshop.  It is a program that encourages the development of reading skills across curriculum.  To keep track of each of the 12 skills being taught in each subject, the students created a binder with tabs for each skill.  Then, they 3-hole-punched the papers and placed their documents in the appropriate spot.  The problem with this is the amount of paperwork and the logistics of hunting down the right folder, for the right students, in the right classroom.  Then, for each teacher to review and discuss and evaluate what is happening in each class, they have to get their hands on all 110ish binders... what a pain.  So I suggested a move from physical binders to an online portfolio using google docs.  Templates can be shared with each student.  They share documents with all teachers, teachers can give feedback, collaborate with other teachers, students can collaborate together and share with each other, and best of all, nothing gets lost (unless google crashes, but that would be the end of the world anyway, right?).  They will be able to access the documents anytime and anywhere there is internet access.  The teacher I ran it by shared it with another and they are discussing it during a meeting today.

So, there is the remainder of my intelligence for the month, I've used it all up!

A few pics

I've noticed that my blog is a little boring when it comes to visuals.  So here you go...

My 34th 29th birthday (Disclaimer: I am not fat, just preggers!)

Me and my big girl, sporting our hats on Rock Island

Grandma worked her magic and made the girls Hollyhock dolls!

Addie at horse camp... thanks to the other grandma

The girls on Christmas morning opening presents

My brave little one investigating a creepy crawly... not even Daddy would do this!