Caylee's First Birthday and Other Awesomeness!

I know, I know.  I said I was going to be better about updating this blog.  In my defense, the past two months have been awesomely busy.  Or busily awesome.  I'm not sure which, but both seem to fit.  Let's review the highlights!

August 16 was Caylee's first birthday.  That's right, I am now the mother of a one-year-old!  Since her birthday fell on a Friday, we planned her first birthday party for the next day: Saturday, August 17.  The party theme was sock monkeys and the colors were red and pink.  Caylee's Aunt Julie made her a red and pink tutu to go with her special birthday onesie.  

In my family, the tradition is to invite everybody to the first birthday party.  So that's what we did.  We invited great-grandparents, great uncles and aunts, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and all the cousins driving there from.  And of course we invited our friends that we consider family as well.  When was said and done, the best guess count was that we had 60 people at my house the same time.  Fortunately, the weather was beautiful, so we got to make use of our back porch and pergola.  It was barely controlled chaos, but a complete blast!  That said, I'm glad we only do that for first birthdays lol. 

All in all, the party was a complete success.

The next weekend, Caylee got to spend time with her Ganma and Grandpa while Bryan and I headed for San Antonio!  It was our first "just us" get away since before I was pregnant.  We took advantage of a LivingSocial deal and stayed at a wonderful bed-and-breakfast called the Ogé house.  

We ate from food trucks, went to the zoo and the Riverwalk, had dinner, drinks AND dessert with Gina and Stephen, and took part in San Antonio's Culinaria restaurant week.  It was an amazing weekend, and Bryan and I really enjoyed the chance to be just us for a while.  We love Caylee more than anything, but it was really nice to not be "mama" and "dada" for a couple of days and to, instead, focus on enjoying time as best friends and spouses!

Kaylee had her 12 month check-up the week we got back. According to her doctor, she's the picture of health!  

In September, Bryan's Papa invited us to go to the A&M-Alabama game on the 14th.  Whoop!  We excitedly accepted.  Normally, Caylee would have stayed with my parents; however, they were on their celebratory "We're retired!" trip to Colorado.  Fortunately for us, Caylee's Aunt Alicia offered to watch her for the day.  It was Caylee's first time staying with someone other than my parents for a 12 hour+ period, and I was slightly nervous as to how she would behave. However, my concern was completely unfounded! According to Alicia, Caylee behaved wonderfully and had a wonderful time to boot.

  Bryan and I also had a wonderful time at the game!  Even though the Aggies came up one touchdown short, it was still a very exciting football game and they played very well.  I tend to get very excited during football games, so I was pretty hoarse for the next couple of days!  We were so grateful to Papa for inviting us!  It was definitely the can't-miss game of the season!

At the beginning of September, Bryan also started his first graduate course.  This is definitely required some adjustments to the family schedule, but it is more than worth it!  I am so very proud of him!  That pretty much catches us up on the highlights of the past two months.  

In between the highlights has been our normal day-to-day living. I can't believe I'm the mother of a thirteen month old!  This past year has gone by way too quickly.  That said, I love watching her grow each and every day and love the excitement and proud look in her eye when she makes a new discovery, learns new word, or gains another ability. The newest ability is using the handles on our family desk as handholds to scale the cabinet in order to see the computer.  Her rock-climbing Uncle Austin and Aunt Fanny will be so proud!  

I'll end with a video of her next-to-newest word.  I'm so proud of my munchkin!

Caylee is 7 Months Old!

March 16, 2013 our little girl turned 7 months old!

I can't believe it's been seven months already since her arrival.  Even more than that, I can't believe how fast she's growing and how much she's learning and developing each and every day!

As a six month old, Caylee:

Continues to play pee-pie-boo...she started this about a week before her six month mark.

Continued taking practice baby steps while we held her hands to keep her up and help her balance.

Mastered her sippy cup.

Cut her two bottom front teeth--at the same time.

Started sitting up all on her own.

Went from scooting backward, to scooting forward, to full out crawling.

Started crawling over obstacles--like mommy's legs--and chasing her Annabelle puppy around the living room and under the coffee table.

Started pulling herself into standing position without assistance, the same week she started crawling.

On her 7 month birthday, she pulled herself up using her hippo walker and let go and balanced for a few seconds.  Also, she took several steps holding on to/pushing her hippo walker...and promptly fell down lol.  I have a feeling she's going to be walking on her own before we know it!

Today, she pulled herself up into standing position in her crib!  Thankfully, when she came home from her Spring Break visit to my parents' house (where she started full out crawling and pulling up), my dad lowered her mattress.  Otherwise, she probably would have taken a nose dive.  Her other favorite pull up spot is the breakfast table chair.  Today she finally stood all the way straight up using the chair for balance.  

This month, Caylee also had her first Easter photo shoot with Carina and celebrated her first St. Patrick's Day by "helping" daddy brew beer!

We are so proud of our Caylee-bear and are having a ball watching her learn and grow and experience the world around her!

RA and Motherhood

As I've already mentioned, to get Caylee here safely we opted for a C-section.  The upside--at least for me--was a fairly easy recovery.  Of course, never having delivered a baby vaginally, I have nothing to personally compare it to; however, the C-section recovery was about what I expected from a major abdominal procedure.  That is, the recovery was annoying, inconvenient, and somewhat painful--though of course the wonderful pain meds helped with that last bit lol.  The downside was that it has postponed my restart of my RA medications.

Even more of a downside, for the last week and a half I've been dealing with my first post-pregnancy flare, which has been a doozie.  Luckily, the prescription strength Ibuprofen from my C-section combined with my 20mg a day of prednisone seem to be keeping me at least functioning.  Of course, that's when I remember to take my middle-of-the-day Ibuprofen.  For example, I forgot today and am severely regretting it tonight.  Soon though I will be back on my once-a-day Meloxicam with the prednisone, so hopefully that combination will tide me over until I get to start the big boys.

There are a few hoops for my to jump through before I get to start the rest of my drugs back up.  First comes my MRI this week.  This is sort of like a baseline for the post-pregnancy condition of my joints.  Of course, it's also a way to measure how much damage I've managed to do by being off of my meds since November of 2010.  Should be interesting!  I also am probably going to have to get more bloodwork done--as always lol.  Of course, last week, the tests saw some slight elevations in a few areas, so I had to do a repeat on Friday.  Since I haven't heard anything this weekend, I'm assuming no further issues showed up, but I should get a phone call to confirm that either Monday or Tuesday.

After that, the next step is to get my postpartum clearance from Dr. F.  That will be next week.  I don't foresee any issues with that appointment--I seem to be pretty much healed up.  And if I haven't been taking it as easy as I should be, at least I haven't been vacuuming or lifting objects heavier than Caylee.  In other words, I haven't done anything the doc needs to hear about, unless she detects an issue on her own!  Lol.  The day Dr. F clears me, Dr. C will call in my methotrexate prescription and I'll be back to my weekly injection.  I'm not looking forward to that AT ALL, but I am looking forward to a month or so down the road when the drug reestablishes itself in my system.  At that point, hopefully I'll see some improvement!

Finally, there's my insurance company's prior approval process for my Remicade infusions.  We're billing it differently this time, which should help with the financial end of that medication.  It's amazing what you can learn about your insurance when you have the time to call and chat with people about something you read in your policy!  There shouldn't be any issue with getting approval, so we went ahead and scheduled my first infusion appointment for the week after my postpartum clearance appointment.  In around two months, I should start seeing improvement from the Remicade establishing itself in my system.

Until then, I'll keep on keeping on.  Bryan's been a big help during this flare, as always.  I'm so lucky to have him!  That said, I'm looking forward to getting this nonsense back under control.  Believe it or not, it hasn't been anywhere near under control since the Enbrel stopped working during my first year of teaching.  So, here's hoping this drug combo will do the trick!  And of course, hooray for the end of my prednisone usage FINALLY being in sight.  I hate that drug, as much as it does the job.

So anyway, that's where things stand RA-wise.  Wish me luck in regards to the MRI--unrealistic as I know it is, I'm still hoping that Dr. C tells me there hasn't been any progression!  Hey, a girl can dream, right? ;-)  For now, I'm going to go enjoy my last bit of evening with my hubby and baby girl before I head to bed.  Gnite!

I Got A Fever...

While I was teaching, I noticed a particular phenomenon.

I think I noticed it because I was working with primarily women.

Come Spring semester, babies were popping out all over the place!

Not that this in any way shape or form is a bad thing--quite the contrary!

Babies are awesome!

The only thing it did make difficult was toughing out the fever I got that time of year.

The baby fever!!!

Even now, baby-centric thoughts fill my head and I make day-dream plans lol.

Oh well, I've just gotta be patient a bit longer ;-).

Now that I'm at home, I didn't expect to really notice this phenomenon this year.

I reckoned without the presence of social networking.

Yes, the all-knowing, all-informing Facebook!

Now, obviously, this is not Spring.  It is Fall.

However, I can't help but notice all of the babies that are making their debut and all of the pregnancies that are being 

announced!

I know of three babies that have just come into the world--one of whom is making his/her debut as we speak!

Then there's the other two that are coming in the next couple of weeks.

And THEN there are the (at least) three pregnancies that have been announced recently, one of which will be a double-header!

I am so happy for all the families that are adding little ones to their head count!

Congratulations to all of you, and best wishes for easy pregnancies, and healthy and happy little ones who learn to sleep through the night very quickly! 

Kids Today: Whining

Wow, it sure has been a long while since my last post. I guess that's just what happens when life gets super busy! Anyway, due to several observations and conversations I've had at school within the past couple of weeks, I finally have a subject worth posting about.

***Let me preface this post by saying that I am not talking about ALL parents of high school students (my aunts, for example, are great parents). Nor am I talking about ALL high school students (I have some students that are absolutely wonderful). I'm just exploring a disturbing trend I'm seeing in my students and what I think might be the cause. Also, no, I am not yet a parent, BUT there are some parenting issues that seem pretty commonsense to me. Anyways, here we go!***

I truly think something went a bit wrong with the generation of parents that came after my parents--those whose children are now high school age. I've been noticing extremely disturbing behavior patterns in the teenagers I teach. Two in particular were extremely aggravating today: whining, and talking back. In this post, I'm going to talk about the whining incident. I'll deal with the talking back in a separate post.

I hate whining...HATE it. The high nasal pitch, the facial expressions, all of it. They grate against my nerves. But what bothers me more is what is IMPLIED by the whining. Whining to someone says one of two things: either "I'm too tired to control my voice when I'm having a bad day" OR "my problem is now your problem and I expect you to fix it". The first is only acceptable in children ages 5 and below, and occasionally for the rest of us. The second puts the winer in the enviable position of having no responsibility for the events or responsibilities in their lives that they do not like NOR for doing something about said events or responsibilities.

Let's look at today's prime whining example. We'll call the student, Student W1 (for Whiner #1). Well, we started our last project of the year in class yesterday. It is a foldable, on which the students must write down the grammar notes I give them. That's right, I'm making a freaking copying exercise into a major grade. Why? So that they WILL copy down all the info they need for the final, AND to help their averages. Well, Student W1 spent most of yesterday talking with her neighbor, so she did not finish. I've made it clear that each day's notes must be finished by the end of THAT class to get full credit. Failure to do so results in a 50, unless the notes are completed the following day, at which point the grade is a 75. Today, at the beginning of class, I reminded Student W1 that she needed to finish. And what do you think happened?

That's right, she didn't. She ended up staying after class (which I graciously allowed AND wrote her a pass) and WHINED the WHOLE TIME about how she did not have enough time, and how she's a slow writer, and how she can't see the board well (by the way, she forgot her glasses AND refused to move closer--instead she was copying off another student's already finished notes). This student has been a talker most of the year, and like the times before this, here is what she was saying: "I can't believe you expected ME to FINISH. I had more important things to do than YOUR assignment." Then, when I take her to task, the whining starts, which says, "I can't believe you're taking ME to task. I shouldn't have to be accountable! I didn't like the assignment and didn't do it and don't want the consequences, so YOU should give ME more time/the grade anyway and stop insisting I be responsible."

Needless to say, I am out of patience with Student W1, and let her know that I was done listening to her whining, that she had two WHOLE CLASSES to finish when everyone else easily finished in ONE, and that if she didn't get her crap together, she would continue to fail. Keep in mind, Student W1 is just today's example. Granted, she's one of my worst whiners, but there are plenty of others ranging from only an occasional whine to almost daily.

So, why did I talk about the parental side first off in this post? Because I think that, if we are looking for the reason WHY these kids are whiners and WHY they see no problem with whining, we can find that reason at home. Let's start with the mentality behind the whine.

The parents of many of my kids don't seem to see the need to hold there children accountable for their educational success or lack thereof. If a student is failing, well, the subject is too hard, or the teacher just "doesn't like" their kids. The fact that a student does not turn in assignments, take notes, study at home, and bombs every quiz and test they take is never mentioned. Because, of COURSE, their wonderful child would NEVER fail at anything he/she attempts...it CAN'T be their fault...something else must be to blame (ie, the teacher, the material, some sort of disorder, etc.) These parents are raising a generation of individuals who take no personal responsibilities for mistakes and shortcomings, but instead look around for someone or something to blame. And that's just plain scary. And admittedly it's worse than whining. But let's look at the parent's roll in NOT raising a whiner.

When I was young, and I would indulge in the occasional whine, my mother would calmly look at me and say, "I can't understand you. You're whining" and then turn around and get on with whatever she was doing. I got the message quick, fast, and in a hurry that if I wanted to have a conversation with my mother, I had better cut the whining and address whatever the issue was in a normal and calm tone of voice. The amazing thing? I've tried this technique with some of my infrequent whiners, and it's worked wonders!!!

But apparently parents today don't do this. Nor do they apparently simply tell their child to stop whining. I can only infer through what my students seem to expect, that when they whine, their parents capitulate to their wants so as to stop the whining. After all, why would they be whining to me (at the age of FIFTEEN no less!) if it did not work at home? This parental procedure leads to kids who think whining is acceptable, and also gives the "go ahead!" to the mentality behind the whining. Not to mention, the parents don't use the whining as an opportunity to teach their children to control their behavior even when frustrated or upset.

Anyway, to bring this post to an end, I guess I'm just frustrated with most of the parents of the generation I am teaching. Whining is only the first behavior I'm addressing--I'll write about the talking back, the throwing fits (FITS!!! at FIFTEEN!!!), and the ever-ready excuses later. But my observation of my kids this year has led me to a disturbing conclusion---apparently, when the time comes to teach their children important behavioral lessons, many parents are checking out. They're either too busy, or too busy trying to be the "friend", and the lessons don't get taught. And that has led, and is leading to, a whole generation who knows jackshit about personal accountability, proper interpersonal interactions, and how to interact with those placed in a position of authority over them. Ladies and gents, that paints a pretty frightening picture of the type of societal members these kids are becoming.

***Once again, I would like to point out I am talking about SOME of my students. I do have a select few who are hard-working, respectful, and demonstrate daily that they have a deep sense of personal accountability and discipline. It's just frightening to me that, out of the almost 150 kids I see everyday in my classroom, these good ones are by far the minority.***