How are We?

Got some great news today!  I found a job at my gym as a nursery worker to replace my Avon Admin position.  I was getting nervous about meeting so many strangers at the office while the kids and I were there by ourselves.  It made sense to look for something else.  The new position is for MWF mornings for about 3.5-4.5 hours each day.  Christian, Nicholas and the new baby are welcome when I am working.  Also, a big bonus, my gym membership for the family is free and I get paid per hour.  I’m excited about it as it will provide a little more money (for a little more work) than the Avon did, so I will be able to decrease my evening tutoring hours a little.  This, in turn, means I get to spend more time with Ed in the evening once the boys are in bed, and I get back a little TV time!!  WooHoo!  I will start the first week of January. 

My first doctor’s appointment is Jan. 8.  I switched doctors to the one that delivered Christian last time.  Since it seems that you never actually have the doctor that you see for your entire pregnancy, I guess we shall see who actually delivers this baby. 

The boys are excited.  Nicholas says he wants a little sister.  Christian says he wants a little sister.  We shall see what the future beholds. :) 

Ed is hoping to find out this week if he will be going on his away rotations for sure.  He is on a Pain Management rotation again this month, so his hours have been pretty good so far.  I love that he is here in the morning when the boys are up and getting ready for school.  It allows them to see him before he goes to work rather than just for a little while after he’s worked all day and is tired.

Nicholas was the star at school last week!  Each child is “the Star of the Week” once during the year.  They get all of these special privileges as the “star of the week” and they really look forward to it.  He’s been talking about it for months.  We made him a poster and I read a book to his class that week too.  He really liked it and Christian loved going to big brother’s class too.

Nicholas also sat on Santa’s lap!!  I’ve got pictures!  I will bring them when we come down for XMAS.  It was funny because Christian was the one who wanted to sit with Santa, and Nicholas was resistant, but then at the end, Christian said “No” and Nicholas did it!!

Christian has been making all kinds of Christmas ornaments at parent’s day out this winter.  He loves school, but he still hates having me drop him off.  He goes through these periods where it doesn’t matter if I take him to school or not, and then he goes through these waves of freaking out that I am taking him.  It’s really hard for both of us.  I will be glad when he is done with this and is happy when I leave him at PDO.  I think he will enjoy being at Kid Fit with me every MWF at the gym.  He will like that, I think. 

I recently got pictures of both boys from school, so I will bring those down too. 

Love you all!

First Week of School

Wow! This week has flown by!  Tomorrow is Friday and rather than wait until the weekend when I will also have a birthday party to blog about, I figured I may as well get this post published. 

One of the best things about having this blog is that I get to write about all the exciting things that happen to the boys.  I hope that one day when they can read, they will be interested in how their childhood was, and also get a little of my perspective too.  I tend to write about all their antics on my other blog, Life’s Ups and Downs…and My Place in It All, so I hope they end up reading both at some point.  This place is used as our Family album so first days of Kindergarten should definitely go here.

Day 1:

Nicholas started school this past Monday on August 24.  He had met his teacher last week and also we knew he would have a neighbor friend there.  He was really timid about starting the first day of school.  Eddie was post call that day, so he was able to be there both for drop off and for pick up.  That was a real treat because Eddie is so often missing these moments.  You could tell he was really excited to see his little man go to school.

We parked on a side street to the school because we walk him to his door.  Both Nicholas and Christian had their backpacks (Christian was insistent and I didn’t want to fight…pick your battles, right?)  We crossed the street and said hi to the crossing guard and then we walked into the school.  Everything went fine.  We went inside and had Nicholas drop off his backpack.  He sat down and would not let me leave until A, his friend, showed up.  I squatted at his table, which was filled with 3 other boys.  No one was talking, so I figured I would introduce Nicholas to them.  We met B, L and W.  B is a big boy…he might be a little older than Nicholas, or maybe his parents are just tall.  He was very friendly.  L was also really nice.  He smiled and said hi.  W was really hard to understand because he was so nervous and quiet.  He has a slight accent as well.  I found out on Tuesday that he is most likely a Mennonite.  That is a culture I had never heard of until I came here to this area.  I believe they have a German background and many of them are bi-lingual or only speak their language.  Ed tells me from his experience at the hospital that their language is not German because other doctors are unable to communicate with them.  Anyway, their culture is radically different from ours, I suspect, and he seemed scared out of his mind.  I just wanted to scoop him up and make his nervousness go away, but then he probably would have really been freaked out.  Anyway, it was right about then when A got there and Nicholas was okay with me leaving.  He seemed to have calmed a bit as well since he knew his tablemates’ names.  In the meantime, while all of this was going on, Ed motioned to me that he and Christian were going into the hallway.  Apparently Christian wanted to sit and color and participate too!  He was getting mad because Ed had not let him do that (obviously).  Christian was crying as he left with Ed, and in a couple of minutes after I got Nicholas settled, I went out and joined them.  We left and Christian cried and whimpered the entire way back to the car.  He was so disappointed that he didn’t get to go to school.  Poor guy doesn’t understand it when I tell him he will start school in 2 weeks.  In the afternoon when we picked up Nicholas, he said he liked his teacher “alright” and really enjoyed playing outside and pizza (that apparently had no cheese or anything on it according to him—I think their cheese doesn’t look like ours) and he had to be quiet at rest time, but he didn’t have to sleep.

Day 2:

This day I woke up to a cranky (tired?) boy who fought me on going to school.  He wanted to be at home with Christian and I.  When we dropped him off, he didn’t want me to leave, but eased into coloring pretty easily.  I could not help but notice W and his mom come in.  W’s eyes were full of tears. Poor guy.   We got him to school only to pick him up and be told “Mommy, I had fun today.  I won’t  give you any more problems in the morning.  I like school!”  He also told me how they got to go to computers, but that they stood there and didn’t get to get on them yet.  Christian, on the other hand, was still upset when I made him leave in the morning, and still insisted on wearing his backpack, although this day I asked him to leave it in the car.  Poor guy asked me about “Bubba” several times throughout the day and got mad when he couldn’t stay and color again.  We colored after working out that morning.

Day 3:  As promised, Nicholas was up and running this morning.  He did everything I asked with no problems.  He went to school and reported to me after school that he had made 3 new friends.  They are J (a cute little blonde girl), L (the same L from his table the first day) and T (another little boy).  T apparently had told his Mom that Nicholas was his new best friend (too cute) but that he didn’t know Nicholas’s name—just that it started with an N.  His mother had T point Nicholas out and she introduced herself to me.  Nicholas also informed me he got to go to the computer lab, but that he had to just stand there again(I guess they are not putting them on computers yet), and he also went to music where he got to see his keyboard he will learn on (a new program this year—the kids all got keyboards to learn the scales and hopefully play some songs).  Unfortunately he did not get to play the keyboard that day either.

Day 4:  Another good day!  He says he saw one of his old classmates from pre-K, but that she is not in his class.  He was excited about that.  He has had Apple stamps everyday this week so far.  Tomorrow they get to celebrate July and August birthdays with cake and ice cream in the cafeteria at lunch.  He’s excited about eating in the cafeteria again.  I told him he could eat there twice a week.  $1.75 a day is a little expensive when we have our pantry stocked at home.  He seems happy with this. 

Nicholas is into his “cool dude” poses…he does this in front of the mirror and says, “I look good!”  LOL!!!  His first day Tee-Shirt is Super Mario Brothers.  He loved it and it goes with his Nintendo DS. 

Christian on his brother’s first day of school…he really thought it was his first day too.  It is not getting through that Nicholas’s first day of school and Nicholas’s birthday party are not also his.  He wants to share everything…poor guy.  He’s only doing what his mommy and daddy preach all the time, “Share, Share, Share!”

Brothers!  They love each other so much! 

Nicholas’s teacher, Mrs. W.  She is really nice and has been teaching this grade for a number of years.  Excuse the way I look…that is me, too early in the morning and ready to go workout.  No makeup.

Mr. Shyguy.

Birthday Wishes, Stomach Bugs, Fellowship News, Tutor Demo, Starting School, and Little Boys Who Want to Start School

These past few weeks have been erratic, heartbreaking, and a huge still undecided whirlwind.

First, on the 18th, we accepted a position at TTUHSC for Pain Fellowship!!! 

Second, Nicholas turned 5 on the 19th!!  We planned for him to have a birthday party at Legacy Play Village at 10am on Sat, Aug. 22.  Grandma and Grandpa Ozuna drove to visit, and we had all the food bought (thank goodness I chose to do sandwiches and not pizza) and everything was ready.  The morning of the party, Nicholas threw up twice!!!  He was so broken hearted.  Luckily, he had gotten a Nintendo DS for his birthday from Grandma Spencer and played it all day.  He took a nap around 9:30am that morning, and by 12:00pm, he was laughing, running and playing again.  Basically he was out for the count just long enough to miss his party.  I guess we can relish in the idea that someone got to spend the morning at the table we reserved on our $50.  Oh, well…stuff happens.

We have rescheduled his party.  He’s excited, but the poor boy has had to wait a whole week and a half past his birthday.  I think he thinks it will never get here.

In other news, I got my Infinity Online Math Tutoring demo up, finally.  WHEW!  I am learning all about working with Windows “Crazy” Maker…and how everything has to be in this nice and neat order or it doesn’t recognize it. 

I did 2 tries on my first podcast today.  I am going to offer free podcasts on areas of math where students have trouble.  My first one is on adding and subtracting integers.  So far, I am having to trouble shoot the fact that my talking is much faster than my video…I guess I’ll be at it again trying to make this work.  No converting problems this time…just recording problems.  Hopefully I will get this troubleshooted (troubleshot?) and know what settings work best for my delivery on camera.  Im really excited about doing this and hope that it will also help to bring people to my website and get the word out on my online tutoring.

Nicholas started school this week!  He likes it more and more everyday.  I plan on writing a post with pictures on this soon.  I just haven’t been bitten by the writing bug lately.

Christian was NOT happy about having to stay home while Bubba was at school.  Everyday he asks to go sit down and color when we go to drop Nicholas off at school.  Everyday he expects to wear his backpack on his back and go pick up Nicholas at school.  Everyday he tells me, “Mommy, I go to school!”  Poor guy doesn’t understand “You get to go in 2 weeks.”  He also doesn’t understand that his school will NOT be Bubba’s.  I guess we will cross that bridge when we get there.

Busy, Busy Month

August is finally here! I’d say it is the month I have been waiting for, but I really didn’t know it was the month I would be waiting for. The thing about this fellowship application/interview business is that we didn’t know when we would know anything. Now it is all starting to clear up.

All I am allowed to say so far is, Ed got an offer from Texas Tech on Friday for a January 2011 spot. He interviewed at Cleveland a little over a week ago, and they finish their last day of interviews on Monday of this next week. They told him that they would notify people of offers in the next two weeks. Ed felt good about Cleveland. He is supposed to be going to Philly this month, but has decided to cancel that interview. I think he’d rather go to Tech than Philly, so he decided to save us some money. He is also scheduled to go to Maryland for 2 interviews this month. The thing is that he is supposed to give Tech and answer around the same time, so it is not likely he’ll be able to interview and get an offer before having to decide. We are still going to go to Maryland and interview, I think--and also enjoy a little vacation. I’m super excited. I have to make sure it is good with my boss with my Avon Admin, but I am sure it will be.

Grandpa Mason is coming to spend a few days with us this next week! The boys are excited about the visit, and so am I! I cannot wait to play tennis with Mason!

Grandma and Grandpa Ozuna are coming to spend a week (most likely) with us for Nicholas’s birthday and so that Ed and I can go out of town. We are excited to have them come. We haven’t yet told the boys because they will ask us everyday until they are here if we mention it now.

Nicholas is having his birthday party the weekend before school starts. He is super excited to have a Transformers party. We have invited a few close friends that he plays with often. We are going to have it at Legacy Play Village. ( I just remembered I was supposed to go pay for that---shoot! I’ll have to call them on Monday).

Schools starts for Nicholas on Monday, Aug. 24th. He’s excited. We went today and got his and Christian’s fall clothes. They are getting so big!! Nicholas is in size 5, and Christian is in 3T!!! Some of Nicholas’s 4T shirts fit Christian. He’s just a big boy.

I have continued working out this week, but I changed up my routine. My muscles are screaming at me (and have been for a week) because of the classes I have been taking. I have been playing tennis once a week (except for this week. I was supposed to go today, but got rained out).

I’m still marketing my online tutoring, but kind of at a standstill until school begins and first tests come back. My goal is to have my first client or two in September. Wish me luck, and refer anyone you come across to my website, http://infinityonlinemathtutoring.com

You all have a nice night! I’m going to bed.

Another Busy Week!

We finally finished swimming lessons today!  We had a makeup session this morning since we got rained out on Wednesday.  Ms. Debbie informed me today that Nicholas swam underwater through a hula hoop today!  How exciting!  This week he has been going underwater, jumping in from the side to open arms, blasting off the bottom of the pool using his legs so that he can surface at the top of the water, and jumping from the steps in the water toward someone in the deeper part and swimming a few feet!  This is major progress from the last two weeks!  Remember it was only a short time ago when he ran screaming from the water. 

Ed is working this weekend and then he will be off to Pittsburgh on Monday morning early.  He has his interview there and will be home on Wednesday.  I have to put together a list of things for him to inquire about since I cannot go with him.

Wednesday I start my 2 CPE classes to qualify for my teacher recertification.  They will last 6 weeks and provide me with 48 hours of CPE.  I will then only need to complete 10 more hours online. 

Our next few weeks will be much calmer in the morning.  After that, Nicholas will start his week-long camp at Jump & Jungle.  The camp will last M-Th from 11:00am-4:00pm (I think…I need to check the time). 

Oh!  We found out Nicholas’s teacher’s name this year.  He is in Ms. Wuenche’s class.  Our neighbor friend Will is also in Ms. Wuenche’s class too!  He is super-excited about that!!!

Well, it is about nap time, so I am going to get off here!  Have a great week!

Preschool Graduation

Today Nicholas graduated Pre-K!  I have always been skeptical of these mini-graduation ceremonies and have even been the person to rant about them.  After attending I felt that it was a wonderful way to celebrate going to kindergarten.  The kids got to get excited about what lies ahead of them.  I got some great video and a couple of pictures. 

The big surprise of the day was that Ed was able to be there!!  We didn’t tell Nicholas just in case he was unable to come, but he was able to and it made the day so much better!

Nicholas started going to Holy Spirit Parent’s Day Out and Preschool this past August.  His teachers were Ms. Marcy and Ms. Katie.  He attended two days a week and made great friends there.  Unfortunately his classmates will all attend other schools, so he will have to make new friends at his new school this year, but he enjoyed playing and learning with them everyday this year. 

 

Above: A picture with his teachers, Ms. Katie (left) and Ms. Marcy (right)

Below:  Nicholas standing in place below his Name Sign.  Don’t you love the graduation hat?  It is one of those cardboard type (like the old Burger King Crowns)

Big Changes for Nicholas

Hey everyone!! This week has brought about some huge changes for Nicholas. He had his first shower (we are working on getting him able to take charge of shower time all by him self), he asked me (yes, I just said "asked me") to make him a chore chart, and he attended Kindergarten roundup at our local elementary!

Now, to explain more about the chore chart...it is on a website called Handipoints.com

He watches Sid the Science Kid on PBS almost every morning and one day, after viewing an episode where Sid had a chore chart, he asked me for one. We have it setup so that as he completes and marks off his chores as done, I go back and "grade" him on his chores and he accumulates points. Once he gets so many points, he gets $5.00 from us as an allowance to use on whatever he wants to. The nice thing for me is that sometimes when he doesn't do a chore well, his grade reflects it because I grade him on it. For instance, the other night...he took a shower (one of his hygiene chores), but he cried the entire time. So, when I graded him on it, I gave him a D. He only got a portion of his points for that chore. He did great when he put his laundry away, so he received an A an got all the points available for it. In addition on this site, there is a place called Handiland where he gets to play games and walk around using his virtual pet cat that he calls "Overboard." He got to name him and pick his coloring...and if/when we are able to afford it and still want to, we can pay to have the service and his other points he earns can go toward "buying" clothes and accessories for his cat. Kind of like a WebKinz, I guess. I am not sure because I have never checked out Webkinz. For right now we just use it for the chore list.

Kindergarten roundup was fun for him. He went yesterday and got to know a teacher and some of the students that he will go to school with. He made a butterfly and read a book while all of us parents were introduced to Kindergarten. Sitting there while the principal spoke to us kind of made me feel like I was going to school. We were lectured on attendance and what kinds of foods we can bring to school. They are much more strict now days about what you can send to school with your kids for food. You would think it would be common sense stuff like allergy-foods..but they actually stressed candy much more. Even if there is a birthday party, you cannot bring cake to your child's class. I actually kind of liked that aspect. One really cool thing...We DON'T have to buy school supplies. They are all provided from the money they make at their first big fundraiser. They encouraged us to donate to that instead. Works for me!! Now I will only need to buy school clothes and school supplies for Christian. Way cool!!!

Tomorrow we (all 4 of us) are going to the Ranching Heritage Center for Ranch Days. They do this every year. I'll try to get some pictures and post them. We are stoked because Daddy gets to go with us.

You all have a great weekend!!!