TEMPLE TRIP
We were able to get to the temple on Tuesday. It was WONDERFUL for me. Jess let me do an endowment, which is at least 30 minutes longer than if I serve in an alternative way. I was able to converse with a lady I met last month. It was really nice. Jess and the girls were really hot when I was finished. I'm so grateful for their sacrifice for me! (Especially Jess, the girls were just totally happy to be at the temple!)
Kat was especially pleased to be there. She shrieked when she saw the temple spire the first time and then when she saw it (and I was present) each time after that she would say in her sweet loving way, "Bumpoo," which, 'in Kat,' is temple, of course.
Ria was totally and completely excited to get to go to the temple when we told her about the trip the night before. She was thrilled to be there and excited about the prospect of a picnic for breakfast, made possible by a sweet, generous, and totally thoughtful gift from someone we all love! That gift enabled us to have STORE BOUGHT food (we've been bringing our own lately) and that was RIGHT UP THERE with the joy of being at the temple for Ria! ^_^ It's pretty funny how into food our girls are... but, then again, maybe not. ;) We were able to stop at Chick-Fil-A on the way home, which was our first meal out in a restaurant in a VERY long time. And our girls really seem to LOVE eating in restaurants! It's pretty cool and sort of funny. They are quite well-behaved, too! Believe it or not.
Acorn TEA!
Jess and the girls gathered acorns for the purpose of making Acorn Coffee. Ria was just tickled pink that she would get to have some "coffee" and Mama is not pleased about the name of the beverage. We're trying to call it Acorn Tea, but Ria is really attached to "coffee" much to Mama's chagrin! Jess cracked the acorns and the girls and Mama worked to remove the meat from the shell on Wednesday. Jess finished the preparations and we had Acorn TEA with out dinner on Wed. It was actually pretty interesting in flavor. And then we tried it with some creamer - even better! And finally we added some Quick... WOW! What FLAVOR!!! And, apparently, acorns are FULL of nutrients (the squirrels knew it all along!). Indians used it in everything and it's really good as a fortifier! So, we're hoping to experiment with it (especially Jess). There will, surely, be a blog post about ACORNS from Jess before too long. ^_^
Midwife Non-Visit
Today at dance class someone made mention of the fact that Karen, my midwife, is the only one in her practice so that if she had a birth and I had an appointment I wouldn' t get to see her. I acknowledged that, but added that I probably wouldn't want to see anyone else even if there was another midwife in the practice. Well, Karen had a labor this evening and I had an appointment... so I didn't get to see her. It toally IS a bummer, but I still feel that I wouldn't want to see anyone else, so it all works out. She's planning to come on Saturday, so I'll still get to see her this week. I'm in my weekly visits now, so I think she feels it's important to make sure to see me this week.
People really look at you oddly when they find out you home birth... I never really KNEW it the way I do now because when I was preggie with Kat I couldn't really talk about it since my midwife was sort of not totally legal and all. It's weird how totally brainwashed basically EVERYONE is... okay, so out of 5 women, MAYBE 1 will be admiring or say something positive about the prospect and fact of home birth. The others just look at me like I'm a freak or say something negative (or both, really). I don't say rude things about their choice to expose their newborn to untold numbers of pathogens by having a hospital birth when they are completely and totally healthy... but hey, at least I know it! I'm glad hospitals are there, but I just wish people knew how unnecessary they are for the majority of births, mothers, and babies! ahwell...
DANCE CLASS
I had two talks with Ria before her dance class about her behavior in class last week and how she SHOULD behave. She did MUCH better even when she wasn't moved away from the other girls. She's SUCH a total social butterfly/magnet, though! A few times I saw her move from an "outskirts" sort of position (put there by teacher) to a position IN THE MIDDLE of the other girls. One of those moves is caught on a video you'll be able to view before long. When I asked her about it (without leading) she said that even after her teachers moved her the other girls came around her! ....hmmm.... that's TOTALLY NOT what I saw. But, obviously, that's how she felt things were happening! How funny, right?
TAP SHOES ALL AROUND
Ria received her special pink sparkly tap shoes in class this week. She's TOTALLY happy with them! I'm pleased that she's so happy and now Kat gets some tap shoes, too! :) TWO winners for the price of one! They are both SO in love with dancing and, especially right now, their new tap shoes!! Kat was completely and totally happy to get to wear tap shoes (even though they are AT LEAST 2 sizes too big!!). She snuck her little feet on the grey dance mat during class time to do her own tapping to the music and when the class was over I let her run around on the mat with her tap shoes on. She was IN HEAVEN!
I took some video and pictures of our two little dancers. They are so fun! Ria is actually very attentive and DANCING (she wasn't so much, last week, if you recall). Now, I just have to make the time (amidst my work and other activities) to upload them to the computer and then load into blogger (here).
Daddy Gifts
I have this tradition around the time of the birth of a new addition to our family. I feel it's really important and a way I can show Jess how much I love him and appreciate him and all he does. It's a gift of some sort that I give to him in expectation of the new arrival or shortly after the birth. With Ria I couldn't really think of anything particular, so I arranged for a few of his buddies to take him to a bar across the street and hang out there for a while. He really enjoyed spending time with his friends, but wasn't thrilled with the whole bar atmosphere anymore. A joy to hear, but also a crimp because I would have to come up with a new "gift" for the next birth.
When I was still preggie with Kat things were crazy and I knew they would get even crazier after she was born, so even though the "gift" wasn't extra humongo or anything, I arranged for a day that I would encourage him strongly to go off and fish on his own. Considering that I was packing the house while trying to deal with our unruley 2 yr 6 month old Ria, sacrificing a day of him being away was a BIG gift from me at the time! He was pleased with it, though. If you know him, you'll think, "Duh, give that man some time to fish and he's happy for a week!" But, if you know me, you'll know that I would like to do more for him.
This time (currently pregnancy) I had something very specific I wanted to do, but never any time to do it. Seriously, I haven't even finished the new baby's blanket, jacket, hat, shoes, or Tigger!!!! Well, the other night I decided to sacrifice work time (money making time) and baby gift making time to work on his special "Daddy" gift and some other house stuff. The reason for the "other house stuff" is that I couldn't possibly do just one thing, as per Tori, I had to have at least 3 things I could vascillate among depending upon my interest and ability to focus my attention on any one of them. It worked out quite well and I accomplished a GREAT DEAL in 3 hours!
This particular gift is especially huge considering the amount of physical effort required. I have tried NOT to complain too much about the pain I've had more and more of lately, but it's getting quite rediculous, really. I'm going to share a bit about it here and now only to illustrate further what a great gift this thing that I did for Jess is. :) Illustration of my pains: most days I wake up and either my hips or back hurt VERY very baddly and I either have constipation and/or a totally upset tummy (like unable to eat barfy feeling upset!). My hips will throb off and on through the day and cause my walks, when I can kick my butt out the door (usually only 3 or 4 days a week right now), are very slow, but, amazingly, I still sweat! Perhaps I sweat as a result of the pain... either belly, back, or hips hurt every time now. Anyway... When my back hurts, it hurts ALL day. Major bummer, of course, but almost more tolerable than the off and on pulsing throb of the hips, which LITERALLY stops me in mid step and causes me to shriek when at their worst. I'm TOTALLY not exhaggerating. My poor girls are getting pretty desensitized to hearing Mama in pain... but then, maybe that's a GOOD thing! ^_^ I'd rather have neither of those pains, of course! And the upset tummy thing... well, I'm not eating very much. I'm drinking tons of milk (to get the protein in) and for whatever reason I can tolerate that. But I can often eat only 1 banana for breakfast and a ramakin size amount of most anything else. (I just discovered this is basically the perfect size (FULL) when I'm hungry. If I don't feel hungry, but need to eat, if I full the ramakin about 1/2 way it's enough to help me feel good about eating, but not feel barfy 30 minutes later. How annoying, right? Anyway... motion often aggravates the upset tummy feeling. ARGGH! BUT helps move the stuff that causes the constipation. Win on one hand, lose on the other! anyway...
Daddy's POCD Area/Spot
Back to the gift! So, when we were given the awesome livingroom furniture we have now Jess wondered what to do with the old $10 couch we'd purchased from Goodwill. I already knew what I wanted to do with it! I moved it to the garage and started a corner that I wanted to turn over to Jess as "HIS SPOT" at some point. He bugged me about getting rid of the couch, so I had to share my plan. He was really happy with the idea and subsequently found a really nice arm chair that seemed to go REALLY well with the couch! Then someone from Jessie's work gave him a small TV and VCR, which were the PERFECT size to fit in the shelving that I'd designated for his "entertainment center". You see, I got this idea that I wanted to make a corner in the garage for Jess from a house on my longer walks (way back when!). The front half of that garage was dedicated to a whole outside hang-out area/grill spot. While we couldn't do that because we park our vehicles in the garage, I could totally see using a small area for a Daddy area.
Well, over time the area was sort of jam packed with random things. Jess hadn't started using it because the TV/VCR came many moons after the furniture and he just never went out there to hang out alone when it was just the furniture. And the shelves had stuff he didn't want to move when he DID get the TV... so it just collected stuff.
The other night I spent the majority of the 3 hours I put ChaCha aside to clean up and clear out the spot I wanted for Jess. Just as a note, my back AND hips hurt really bad that night, but I just couldn't see it getting better and I wanted to have the area ready for Jess BEFORE this baby arrived. So, it was completed that night! The projected entailed reorganization of that whole side of the garage, movement of lots of things, large and small. It's been 2 days since the work and my shoulders are STILL killing me! My back actually felt better mid-way into the effort, but my hips have been significantly worse since then. But Jess is REALLY happy with it! Unfortunately, he found out about it WHILE I was doing the work because he heard something that woke him up. I was really hoping he would take the girls out there for Story Time and see it then... but, alas, he foiled my plan! My hard sleeping hubby actually awakened! :P
I had the joy of realizing exactly how much he loves his area over the past couple of days. I call his area "DADDY's POCD Area/Spot". The acronym stands for: Pissed Off Cool Down. ^_^ Appropriate, don't you think? So, not only did I find Jess with our girls chillin and sort of neslting down in HIS area after Story Time yesterday, but he told me how cool people at work thought it was (he doesn't tell people at work all that much, so that's a HUGE indicator of how much he loves it), AND again he and the girls were hanging out there today when I got up! ^_^ So, I'm SUPER pleased that he's so very happy with his spot!
Daddy's So Pleased
Jess has been Ria's primary HS teacher as of late. He's SO pleased with her reading ability and bragging to me about her reading level. I've sort of taken over the "Principal" role, in that I ask him to focus on ____ and follow up with questions about how it went afterward. It's been kind of nice. Difficult for me because he does classes SO different from how I would prefer... especially Writing Class, but I'm doing REALLY well at not criticising and just letting it happen. As Principal, though, I have asked him to be a little more attentive to reading class (since he falls asleep a lot) and to work more closely with Ria during Writing class so they can focus on spacing, which she doesn't stick to very well.
When they went to the library yesterday, Jess picked out a bunch of books that were all 2nd and 3rd grade reading levels. When he was reading through the levels of the books, he came across one that said FIRST and he turns to Ria, all surprised, and asks, "Who snuck that one in there!?" Of course, it's totally not a big deal because we DO want and ask her to choose books SHE wants to read. But it was REALLY funny for me because he was just SURE that ALL of them were 2nd and 3rd grade reading levels! ^_^
I'm not at all surprised that her capacity is so high since he's had her reading the HUGE Disney watercolor illustrated books (like +60 pages and totally NOT easy readers)! He bragged to me when I awakened today that her reading class consisted of a 3rd grade book and she'd done perfectly well with it. ^_^ As it happens, it was a 2nd/3rd grade book, but still!
What a pleasure it is for me to hear him speaking with such excitement about her education! I mean, he's been totally supportive and all, and happy for my excitement, but he just wasn't getting excited about her abilities. Now that he's involved, he totally is! So, this is another way I'm trying to see this difficult time as a positive experience. He's becoming more invested in her education and intelligence! I'm so glad I turned classes over to him since he's home!
Showing posts with label tap shoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tap shoes. Show all posts
Friday, September 19, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Thursday was Our First (and second) Day of Dance Class This Year
So, I'm pregnant. Everyone should be pretty aware of that by now, I hope. Well, there are certain memory/brain issues that somehow accompany the myriad other difficulties that plague preggie women. Thursday was a living embodiment of my brain issues. I'm CERTAIN they are (and were) complicated by the fact that my schedule is completely skewed relative to the rest of the sane population. (Ooops, did I somehow assume myself sane in that last line? Well, I think I certainly WAS compared to now!)
In addition to brain/memory/thought issues, I'm also rediculously weepy lately! No, seriously! I mean, I've heard of preggie women being emotional, but this is verging on exceptionally tedious. And not that I've been totally in control of my emotions for all that long (or even totally, for that matter), but it's really getting tiresome to have tears in my voice and pouring out of my eyes over every little thing that pulls at my heart! COME ON NOW!
Ok... so, back to dance class... sort of.
Ria, Daddy, and I have started working on a job chart/routine tracking system. (Kat has one, too, but it's MUCH more difficult to connect the reward with the activities in her case.) Ria has a total of 17 jobs she does throughout the day and earns rewards for completion of them. Over the course of a week she can earn money, a special dinner, a book, and even candy for completing full days worth of starts (ALL jobs completed). In the first 8 day period, she had SEVEN all star days! That meant that she earned, among other things, a new book that she could choose from the local book store here in town that she's wanted to visit for MONTHS! (The book had to be $2 or less.)
Since I'm not all full of gusto and gumption (meaning I'm totally lacking energy most of the time), I decided to combine our Dance class day with the Book Store trip. We literally pass right in front of it on the way to Dance, so why not! We left in plenty of time to stop for a book, get to class early so Mama could purchase dance shoes, and still have some "rest" time before class started. Or, at least I thought we did.
Well, we were in and out at the Book Store. Ria was SUPER easy to please with a Snow White book (which she read from start to finish on the way home from Dance!! and it's NOT an easy reader!!). It cost me only $1.75! ^_^ I was worried it would be difficult to find a book for under $2, but, thankfully, the store carries TONS of used books. I think the book stop was a bit too fast, really....
We arrived at Ria's studio in plenty of time to make our purchase and relax, I thought. I was able to get Ria some ballet slippers. Initially we received leather ones with flowers on the lining, which Ria was TOTALLY excited about, "Mama, they look like everyone else's!" But they were just right or barely too small, which we canNOT afford (replacing them in a month or less, PSHAW!). So, we received some canvas ones just like her previous slippers to try on. I like these as they look more like little ballet slippers to me, but Ria was obviously disappointed. She was NOT snotty about it, but her countenance was downcast, "Mama, I don't like these so much." I tried to build them up, but she wasn't consoled. Though she didn't complain or carp at all after the one comment. Strangely enough, to me, my heart hurt SO bad over this incident! I'm actually going to purchase her some leather slippers for Christmas because I know it will be THE hit of a gift (we're only giving one gift to each child this year because we're using any other money for camping/preparedness stuff).
There were TONS of parents present. There were at LEAST 15 girls in this class (which is the HIGH number for our class last year!). A few of them were the girls Ria had class with last year, so, of course, their mothers were there. I'm sure this impacted my percetion of everything and confusion. Well, class started REALLY soon after Ria had her shoes on and everything and I, not being a clock checker anymore and thinking that we were more on time than super early, didn't think twice about Ria going out for class.
A little way through class I realized I'd not paid for the new ballet slippers. So, I went to the office to pay. Cindy, the director, told me over $30 when I asked for the amount I needed to write on the check. I was sort of shocked, but not thinking, and wrote the check. Later, as I tried to rest a little in the waiting area, I looked at the receipt for the shoes. OH, NO! I'd paid for tap AND ballet slippers! I'd only purchased ballet slippers because her tap shoes from last year still fit.
So, I went back to speak to Cindy. She was sort of confused, understandably. There'd been SO many people she was dealing with... anyway. While I was waiting to talk to her, I learned that she was trying to switch over to a new tap shoe, PINK SPARKLIES. Well, I'd already subtracted a high amount from my ChaCha pay (for the shoes I thought was just one pair and turned out to be 2), so I decided to pay for the new style tap shoes and be able to give those to Ria when they arrived in (since they didn't have them in stock yet). As it happens, they cost only a couple dollars more than the other ones, so I'm really glad for the accidental quote of a high price. So, Ria will receive the new style tap shoes, which she is SUPER excited about because her very favorite color is pink and she LOVES sparkly things. And Mama feels happy to be able to provide something that she will love so well!!
After getting that all straightened out, I went back to the waiting room and sat down (trying to deal with Kat ALL this while). I realized, at this point, that the little girls waiting were the girls Ria went to class with last year. This was a problem because I'd asked for Ria to be scheduled in with the older group. Why didn't I notice this before? Well, mostly because I wasn't able to watch Ria in her class much at all. I was dealing with Kat's meltdown over not being able to participate IN dance class. SHE was just HEARTBROKEN. I was, of course, sad, too... which made convincing her that it was ok that she could just do dance class with me in the waiting area not terribly convincing. :(
Another trip to the office. I explained the situation to Cindy and told her I was totally willing to pay for the second class, but that it was actually the 415pm class that I'd meant to arrive for, "Blame it on the belly!" Cindy was very kind and refused the $10 for the class Ria wasn't supposed to be in. So, after Ria was finished, I talked to her teacher, Danielle. Danielle had thought we'd had to go to the 3:15pm class because of some sort of scheduling issue, which is why she hadn't said anything. I said, "Yeah, the scheduling issue is my preggie brain/memory and inability to keep track of time properly!" They were both very understanding.
So, Ria enjoyed dancing for almost TWO hours straight on Thursday. And Mama was beyond pooped from the rediculous amount of activity and exertion Kat required. (On top of the disappointment, it was her nap time during the beginning of all of this!) I walked too fast from home TO dance and could barely walk from dance TO home! How annoying. If I had a vehicle, I would probably drive to dance class every week after this (as long as I'm preggie) because it was really that difficult. But, as it is, I will walk VERY slowly to AND from dance class from now on!
Crazy day. Crazy preggie Mama!!!
Oh, and the ChaCha Universe is crazy right now, which makes time for me to write here rather than work for money. I was logged in for an hour and received only one query (and that while I was out of the room, so it timed out and I didn't even get to answer it)! ahwell... I should probably just hang out with the girls for a bit and get them to bed!
Adui, for now. ^_^
In addition to brain/memory/thought issues, I'm also rediculously weepy lately! No, seriously! I mean, I've heard of preggie women being emotional, but this is verging on exceptionally tedious. And not that I've been totally in control of my emotions for all that long (or even totally, for that matter), but it's really getting tiresome to have tears in my voice and pouring out of my eyes over every little thing that pulls at my heart! COME ON NOW!
Ok... so, back to dance class... sort of.
Ria, Daddy, and I have started working on a job chart/routine tracking system. (Kat has one, too, but it's MUCH more difficult to connect the reward with the activities in her case.) Ria has a total of 17 jobs she does throughout the day and earns rewards for completion of them. Over the course of a week she can earn money, a special dinner, a book, and even candy for completing full days worth of starts (ALL jobs completed). In the first 8 day period, she had SEVEN all star days! That meant that she earned, among other things, a new book that she could choose from the local book store here in town that she's wanted to visit for MONTHS! (The book had to be $2 or less.)
Since I'm not all full of gusto and gumption (meaning I'm totally lacking energy most of the time), I decided to combine our Dance class day with the Book Store trip. We literally pass right in front of it on the way to Dance, so why not! We left in plenty of time to stop for a book, get to class early so Mama could purchase dance shoes, and still have some "rest" time before class started. Or, at least I thought we did.
Well, we were in and out at the Book Store. Ria was SUPER easy to please with a Snow White book (which she read from start to finish on the way home from Dance!! and it's NOT an easy reader!!). It cost me only $1.75! ^_^ I was worried it would be difficult to find a book for under $2, but, thankfully, the store carries TONS of used books. I think the book stop was a bit too fast, really....
We arrived at Ria's studio in plenty of time to make our purchase and relax, I thought. I was able to get Ria some ballet slippers. Initially we received leather ones with flowers on the lining, which Ria was TOTALLY excited about, "Mama, they look like everyone else's!" But they were just right or barely too small, which we canNOT afford (replacing them in a month or less, PSHAW!). So, we received some canvas ones just like her previous slippers to try on. I like these as they look more like little ballet slippers to me, but Ria was obviously disappointed. She was NOT snotty about it, but her countenance was downcast, "Mama, I don't like these so much." I tried to build them up, but she wasn't consoled. Though she didn't complain or carp at all after the one comment. Strangely enough, to me, my heart hurt SO bad over this incident! I'm actually going to purchase her some leather slippers for Christmas because I know it will be THE hit of a gift (we're only giving one gift to each child this year because we're using any other money for camping/preparedness stuff).
There were TONS of parents present. There were at LEAST 15 girls in this class (which is the HIGH number for our class last year!). A few of them were the girls Ria had class with last year, so, of course, their mothers were there. I'm sure this impacted my percetion of everything and confusion. Well, class started REALLY soon after Ria had her shoes on and everything and I, not being a clock checker anymore and thinking that we were more on time than super early, didn't think twice about Ria going out for class.
A little way through class I realized I'd not paid for the new ballet slippers. So, I went to the office to pay. Cindy, the director, told me over $30 when I asked for the amount I needed to write on the check. I was sort of shocked, but not thinking, and wrote the check. Later, as I tried to rest a little in the waiting area, I looked at the receipt for the shoes. OH, NO! I'd paid for tap AND ballet slippers! I'd only purchased ballet slippers because her tap shoes from last year still fit.
So, I went back to speak to Cindy. She was sort of confused, understandably. There'd been SO many people she was dealing with... anyway. While I was waiting to talk to her, I learned that she was trying to switch over to a new tap shoe, PINK SPARKLIES. Well, I'd already subtracted a high amount from my ChaCha pay (for the shoes I thought was just one pair and turned out to be 2), so I decided to pay for the new style tap shoes and be able to give those to Ria when they arrived in (since they didn't have them in stock yet). As it happens, they cost only a couple dollars more than the other ones, so I'm really glad for the accidental quote of a high price. So, Ria will receive the new style tap shoes, which she is SUPER excited about because her very favorite color is pink and she LOVES sparkly things. And Mama feels happy to be able to provide something that she will love so well!!
After getting that all straightened out, I went back to the waiting room and sat down (trying to deal with Kat ALL this while). I realized, at this point, that the little girls waiting were the girls Ria went to class with last year. This was a problem because I'd asked for Ria to be scheduled in with the older group. Why didn't I notice this before? Well, mostly because I wasn't able to watch Ria in her class much at all. I was dealing with Kat's meltdown over not being able to participate IN dance class. SHE was just HEARTBROKEN. I was, of course, sad, too... which made convincing her that it was ok that she could just do dance class with me in the waiting area not terribly convincing. :(
Another trip to the office. I explained the situation to Cindy and told her I was totally willing to pay for the second class, but that it was actually the 415pm class that I'd meant to arrive for, "Blame it on the belly!" Cindy was very kind and refused the $10 for the class Ria wasn't supposed to be in. So, after Ria was finished, I talked to her teacher, Danielle. Danielle had thought we'd had to go to the 3:15pm class because of some sort of scheduling issue, which is why she hadn't said anything. I said, "Yeah, the scheduling issue is my preggie brain/memory and inability to keep track of time properly!" They were both very understanding.
So, Ria enjoyed dancing for almost TWO hours straight on Thursday. And Mama was beyond pooped from the rediculous amount of activity and exertion Kat required. (On top of the disappointment, it was her nap time during the beginning of all of this!) I walked too fast from home TO dance and could barely walk from dance TO home! How annoying. If I had a vehicle, I would probably drive to dance class every week after this (as long as I'm preggie) because it was really that difficult. But, as it is, I will walk VERY slowly to AND from dance class from now on!
Crazy day. Crazy preggie Mama!!!
Oh, and the ChaCha Universe is crazy right now, which makes time for me to write here rather than work for money. I was logged in for an hour and received only one query (and that while I was out of the room, so it timed out and I didn't even get to answer it)! ahwell... I should probably just hang out with the girls for a bit and get them to bed!
Adui, for now. ^_^
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