WWI Debate

Half the class was prepared, the other half wasn't - they finally admitted that they didn't read their packets. Hello! They were assigned Germany and A-H -- the Central Powers -- they already had their work cut out for them. Then another student failed to mention he would be gone, preparing for the pep rally. Ridiculous! So, we will take final statements and let Russia (the student in charge of the pep rally) report on Tuesday before we take a final vote. I look forward to this day, and it was kind of a let down. The IB kids let me down, how depressing...and that's not even taking into account their papers I am correcting, where one student did it correctly. I am going to have to push them more the next 3 terms if they are going to be ready for their exams in May. :P

I just got home from a long week. Time to get ready for family and everything happening on Sunday. (We will miss you Ddonn, ElCid, Fred, Jr, and George! I will take lots of pics for you.)

Surprise!

Saturday I received a pleasant surprise. Ddonn came to play! Really she came to play with the baby, but he's so cute, I can understand. Werty kept it a secret from me all Friday evening. We went to lunch, bought stuff for Jr. at distribution, and bought Boo a dragon halloween costume. Ddonn brought with her a video of OOTI, and I agree that the full skirts worked really well to enhance the choreography. I get to see Ddonn again this weekend, but this time she will have her whole family with her.

In other news, Werty's little sister has a confirmed case of the nasty flu. Good news, she has a week to get better. Bad news is that anyone else in the family exposed to her won't be able to join us next weekend. This is a scary year to have a newborn.

Randomness - I finally got to see the second part of the Dr. Who episode with the big cliff hanger that I missed at the beginning of the summer. I only had to wait 4 months for the re-runs to show again. Little things that make me happy.

This Friday my IB kids are going to engage in the famous WWI debate! Last year I had one packet of materials to give the kids, but ran out of time to do more. Tonight I finally finished packet #2. Yay! (And can I comment on how much Germany and A-H try to lay all the blame on Russia - which was the country I defended in HS when we did this debate.) I am hoping that the additional materials will help enliven the debate. I will let you know how it goes. Friday is also the end of term, so I have to get grades done at the same time that all this other family stuff is going on this weekend. Hmm, maybe not the best planning there. :P

I had two former students stop by today to see pictures of Boo. They said that my class was fun and they miss it. I wonder if any of my first semester students will feel that way, since I won't have as much time with them. Ah, well. I wouldn't trade Boo for anything.

More Pic Fun

Boo and Daddy catching some Zzzs.

Bath time - he's only happy when it's over.








That's My Boo - smiling in his sleep.

Happy Birthdays - revised

Happy Birthday week to Ddonn, Jr, my MIL and my brother Softserve. YAY!

The medicine is supposed to be taking effect now, and I can tell the difference. He slept for 5-6 hours yesterday. Too bad I was at work for most of it, but Werty really needed some sleep after being up with him until 5am the night before (he was sweet enough to take him around 1:15am and let me sleep - I got a good one, let me tell you!). Last night he wasn't as tired after all that sleep, of course, so he woke up early this morning. Also he only spit up normal amounts yesterday, so yay for modern medicine. The best part is that he should outgrow this by 6 months old.

Sorry that I didn't make it with Boo to the viewing or funeral this week. We weren't sure how he would handle that long of a drive. We look forward to seeing ID people in a few weeks!

I spoke too soon. Boo had a rough morning today with vomiting all over his daddy. But still, it should get better.

Unexpected Visit

Yesterday work ended in a really crummy way when a couple of students that I had never met before showed up to class during my last period, and one of them became very belligerent during the first 20 minutes of class. I calmly told him that my policies are set forth in my disclosure and he was welcome to see his counselor about transferring to another class if he didn't like my class rules. So, he got up and left. Five minutes later, his friend followed him. Those kind of things are upsetting.

Today, in contrast, two of my former students dropped by my class to say hi. I showed them a picture of Boo before sending them on their way to class. Then during class one student commented that he liked me better than the sub and was "actually learning stuff" now. That's nice to hear and something, I guess, I needed to hear.

I took some pics of Boo last night. As soon as I get a chance, I will post some here. We saw the doctor and Boo is now taking meds to help his acid-reflux. It won't really take effect until tomorrow, so then we will see. Hopefully, he will be able to sleep better. Poor Boo gets so tired, and just as he drifts off to sleep he starts crying in pain from the acid in his esophagus, leaving him exhausted but unable to sleep. And for us parents, we hope he will be able to sleep on his own without having to be held constantly.

So hard to leave

The weekend is drawing to a close and I am not looking forward to leaving him tomorrow morning. It was fun and exhausting with Conference, going out to eat with Sue and her kids, dropping by Werty's parents house after priesthood session to celebrate October family birthdays...we took Boo home eventually because he was sooo tired. But he was so good! My niece Ginny declared that my baby was cute.

Something new for us this week is that we are watching Boo to see if he has acid reflux. Sue thought his earlier colic symptoms sounded like acid, something she went through with her kids, but we were resistant to believe it - every parent wants their child to be perfect, after all. But his amount of spit up has increased beyond normal levels, and on Thursday I watched him projectile vomit, and that was what convinced me he might have a problem. We will talk to his doctor and see what she thinks.

Back to Work

Boo did really well with Werty while I was at work. Werty is discovering which music helps soothe Boo. Boo likes musicals - but that isn't too suprising since he is our child. :P I am starting to get the hang of pumping at work, as long as I don't get too wrapped up in prepping that I forget to give myself enough time. The first day back I had about an hour of sleep because I had trouble falling asleep and then he woke up for a feeding at 3:30, which lasted until 5am, and by that time I only had 15 mins to lay back down before my alarm rang. Each day was a little different in the morning, and each time I made it to work relatively on time.