I See Red!

Every time my husband and I go out together without our little guy, I feel the need to spiff up a bit more than usual. Last night he took me out to a wonderful dinner at one of our favorite places. As I was waiting for him to get home, I thought I might as well paint my finger nails. I NEVER paint my finger nails. It's way too much work for something that I can't do well, takes forever, and will start to chip and look terrible in hours. But I did anyway.
I chose a very fiery red to match my feelings at the time. No not for Valentine's Day or for 'love', but because I was feeling a bit fiery myself. It wasn't until this morning that I thought about how painting my nails may actually be of serious benefit! My students walked in, and one of them said "Oh, Mrs. B has red nails today. We better be good!
Having red nails isn't just useful in signaling silence from 11 year olds, it also gave me a new attitude. I feel sarcastic, confident, like a force to be reckoned with. I like the painted-side of me, and it makes me wonder if different colors would give me different moods. Hmm. I may have to take the 30 minutes to do this more often, even if it does only last until the paint begins to chip.

Open-Mouthed Kisses

I'm a very sentimental person, which has been difficult to deal with since Liam was born. It's hard to be the type of person who needs reminders of the past, when your son seems to grow years, daily and right before your eyes. Although all of the normal, major milestones that he reaches make me sad that the stage has passed, I also think that I do a pretty good job of keeping it together. I can honestly say that, until last night, I have made it through the first 21 months without weeping about his growth.
I say, until last night, because one of the most amazing, adorable baby-isms that Liam has participated in, is now over. I can take the rolling over, the crawling, the walking and talking, the first hair cut, and his first birthday without so much as getting teary-eyed, but when my beautiful boy stopped giving me an open-mouthed baby kiss, that's when the flood gates opened! I LOVE his open mouth, slobbery kisses. Now that they are gone, he seems to be much older some how.
When he gave me a kiss right before going to bed last night, it was a normal peck of a kiss. When I said something about this, my husband said, "Oh ya. He gave me a kiss like that last night too. He must be over the open-mouthed kisses." Instantly, I felt my eyes begin to water, then the sobbing began. Both Liam and Joe looked at me in disbelief. Joe was confused and Liam concerned. Liam crawled into my lap, touched the corner of my eye where the tears were coming out, and then gave me a big hug. This almost made it worse! It was so sweet of him to be concerned and caring, but that's my job and he is too young to know what to do. Or at least I wish he was.

Apple Mummies and More!

Every year, I'm thankful that I get to teach things that I'm interested in. My favorite subject to teach is Social Studies, my favorite section is Ancient Egypt. As part of the curriculum, the students learn about the embalming and mummification process that the Egyptians created. To help them "see" the process for themselves, I have always had them do an activity where we mummify apple slices. The kids LOVE it, but I have to say, I think it's more fun for me. : )

Here is how/why we do it:

Step one: Cut the apple into slices so that the students can see the effects of mummification on both the "skin" and the "flesh". Apples react to this process very similar to a human body, which is interesting.

Step two: Mix 1 cup of salt with 1 cup of baking soda. This will create a substance similar to natron. Natron occurs naturally in Egypt and is what was use to dry the bodies out.

Step three: Pour a bit of the salt/baking soda mixture into the bottom of the cup (we don't want the apple to touch the sides of the cup), put the apple in holding it up so that it doesn't lean on the cup, pour the mixture all over the apple until it is covered.

*You will need to let the apple sit in the mixture for 7-10 days before it will be completely dried out and ready to be taken out.

Step four: Take the apple out of the mixture- the salt/baking soda will be hard, because it has sucked out all of the apple juice. There also may be a yellowish tint to the mixture (due to the juice as well). The apple will be shriveled and brown, but will not smell or grow mold.

Step five: mix white glue with a little water, dip strips of gauze into the glue mixture. Cover it completely and then wring it out so that it is only damp, and not dripping.

Step six- Wrap the apple completely. Take extra care not to leave the ends open. Then put back into the cup to dry.

*It will take a few days for the wrapping to dry completely.

At this point the apple mummies are done. I extend the activity by having my students make a sarcouphagus for their apple mummy.

I also think that it is very important to display the students' work for all students to see. It creates a lot of excitement about learning.

If you have any questions/comments/thoughts feel free to ask away! I love this project and would love to share it with anyone and everyone!

From the Mouths of Babes

So, everyone thinks that their child is the most beautiful, perfect child that has ever walked on this earth......guess what!? I know that it's true in my case. ; )
There is evidence that supports my thoughts. Do you need to hear it to be convinced? Well, here it is:
Everyone we meet out and about comments on how completely adorable my son is. Just last weekend, while getting his hair cut, several people said so. Then there is the usual infatuation with every picture that he has ever been in (none of which are less than amaing). But the last, and most crucial piece of evidence came at school today.
While getting ready to show my students a powerpoint presentation about the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, I was hooking up my computer to the document camera. When my students saw the picture of my beautiful boy that covers my screen, they did a collective sigh and the "how cute!" and "he is so adorable" comments were flying. Then (and this is the most important part) one student spoke out, "Is that a model baby?" My heart skipped a beat and I smiled from ear to ear. I said, "Nope. That's my little guy." He face was one of utter suprise. "But he is just so cute! He should be a baby model!"
I will NEVER forget the day that one of my six graders proved that what I have thought all along is in fact the absolute truth!

The Luminous (not bright) Side

Being part-time has been amazing for my family, my work, and myself, but there has been a few downsides too. Two weeks ago I signed a contract saying that I'm officially a part-time employee. This means that I may not be able to get my full-time status back. Being home with Liam has been such a blessing for our family in so many ways, but lately all of the drawbacks are what have been plaguing me! My husband and I have given up a great deal so that I can be home.....money, movies, resturants, date nights, a bigger/nicer house, and most importantly, our financial security.
Now I'm not saying that we can't make it with what we've got, we can- no problem. But there are things that are important to us that can't be as important anymore. Our son is, by far, more important than anything else in our lives, which is why this is all worth it. Lately I have been dwelling on all the things we can't do because of our situation. I made my decision and I know it's the right one for me and my family, and I never want to be one of those people who make choices and then complain about the consequences, so I have been working very hard to remind myself of all the good we have (now and in the future).
I don't think that these sad feelings would have surfaced, except for the fact that so many people in my life are just a bit ahead of us. I always feel like I'm trying to catch up. But that's wrong! I have things that they don't because I made choices and I have things that I will never be willing to give up and I need to learn that I can't have it all. I love my husband so much, and it makes me so sad to see the kind of pressure he is under being the "bread winner". He is already the stress-out-about-money-type and this situation could have flung him over the edge, but it didn't. He is so calm and thoughtful about everything we do, and I hope he knows how much I love that about him.
A friend recently told me, "Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not, remember that what you now have was once among the things you hoped for." and I can't thank her enough, because it's true!
I have a beautiful home, an amazing husband, the best baby boy ever, my loving pets, wonderful and supportive friends and family, and a job that I am thankful for everyday. Really? What do I have to complain about?! Nothing!

Oh ya! My next blog will be about the apple mummies!!

Missing My Alarm Clock

There was a time when the sound of my alarm clock in morning was the most dreaded and hated sound I could imagine. This is no longer the case. I now WISH that I could hear that sound, just once or twice a week. Since going back to work after Christmas break, I haven't heard that sound. Instead I wake up to "Momma"...."Dadda". Now this might sound like a better way to wake up, and I will admit that I would much rather trade this sound for the beeep, beeep, beeep of my alarm clock. However, the problem lies with the time that these sounds are occuring. Liam has decided that 5:00-5:15am is a good time to wake up. My alarm clock isn't set to go off until 5:45am.
I know that this doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is for me! That extra 30-45 minutes is now a treasured period of time that I miss. What makes this even worse is that I like to take my time in the morning and relax a bit before heading off on my busy way, so at 5:45am when the alarm is supposed to go off, I have given myself an hour and 15 minutes to get ready. Add on the extra time when Liam is ready to go, and I have about two hours to entertain, feed, dress, and change his diaper, when all I want to do is make a pot of coffee and watch the news.
Today, being a furlough day, should have been a sleep-in day. But oh no! That doesn't work in our house anymore. Liam was up at his usual time. Unfortunately for him, mommy was not ready, nor willing to get up. I let him stay in his bed and play, call for me, and a bit of crying for 45 minutes, at which point he went back to sleep. I can't believe that this worked! I actually got to sleep in (after about an hour of listening to the monitor) unitl 7am! I even had to go check that he was still breathing, which is what actually woke him up.
This won't work on a work day, because he can hear me getting ready and just gets more agitated, but at least I know there is hope that one day he will just go back to sleep. So for now, beeep, beeep, beeep is charished and missed.

Getting Things Because I Lack Hair

A couple of years ago I was driving my sisters home, and I'll admit, I was driving well above the speed limit. Of course, I was pulled over. I was fairly nervous considering this was only the second time I had been pulled over. When the cop came to the window he asked me the usual questions "Do you know why I pulled you over?", "Do you know how fast YOU were going?", etc. I answered truthfully and told him that I absolutely knew why, and that yes, I knew how fast I was going. He took my license and registration and went back to his car.
As I waited, completely embarrassed to have my little sister see this, I knew that a ticket would be coming with him. When he returned to my car, he handed me my information and told me "Well, since you were honest with me, I'll let you go with a warning." It wasn't until this morning that it dawned on me how many times things like this have happened to me. Going to a restaurant where they give us something for free, at a club where a man randomly gave me a rose, on vacation when a complete stranger handed me a souvenir, people on the cruise ship secretly sprinkling me with holy water, and the day when our new neighbor mowed our lawn for no reason (they could have just been tired of seeing it get taller and taller). What is it with people? Oh wait! I have "cancer" right? I guess instead of a ticket, having to pay for my dinner and my souvenirs, I get to get away with everything! Would it be horrible of me to use it?
Yes, I know it would be. I don't have cancer and I'm not going through anything remotely like what people with cancer deal with, but am I going to randomly say "I don't have cancer." when a complete stranger assumes and does something nice for me based on that assumption. Yes, if I know that is what they are thinking. But I will not tell a police officer "I don't have cancer." without a reason when he tries to hand me a warning. Not because I want to take advantage, but because I think, if they assume I have cancer, but refuse to ask me, I should just assume that they know its alopecia and are just trying to be friendly.
Moral of the story: Ask!