Baby Blog Part II: Updates and Explanations

Same song, different verse as last year.

After Christmas I will be returning to teaching 7th graders. I can’t say I have a lot of faith in this principal. They say first impressions can be deceiving and although I knew him as a coach when I attended the school, lets hope it holds true in this case. Annoyance was the first emotion to cross my mind. The principal at the high school called me around Thanksgiving to tell me "unofficially" that I would be moved to the junior high when I came back from maternity leave. She was letting me know that the Superintendent would be calling to let me know officially any day. He never called. So the last week of school before Christmas, I called the high school principal back to see what was going on and to see if I could get her permission to call (since she was the only one who mentioned it and it was sort of off the record) and ask what was going on. She said she sat next to the attendance center (K-8 grades) principal and he had mentioned to her that he hadn’t called me yet and he definitely needed to get on that. I called the school and left a detailed message for him with the secretary, since he was not available the three other times I called and was told to check back later. Three days passed and he still hadn’t called me back. It was the last day of school and it was 60% day. I was supposed to go by the high school after the students left and show off Jake. One of the teachers told me to go down there and confront him in person. They were only too happy to watch Jake for me and so I left to go across the street and see what was going on with my job. I met the assistant principal at the door—I introduced myself by my last name and she said oh yeah, your—and then mispronounced my first name. I corrected her on the pronunciation of my first name and then she said oh yeah and called me by my maiden name. I don’t know this woman so I am not sure how she knew my maiden name, especially since she mispronounced my first name, but managed to pronounce my maiden name correctly. I had just introduced myself by my married last name, so once again I corrected her. Everyone seemed oblivious to the fact that I was on maternity leave and that no one had officially contacted me about working there. They were planning on me just magically knowing I need to show up on January 6th (telepathy wasn’t on my resume, but I get the feeling my principal has never read my resume). My impressions so far are that things will be about the same as last year except most of my 7th graders will be white, my school has walls, I will be teaching World History and I don’t have Elizabeth to go to for help and support. Once again things seem sadly disorganized, the children do not seem to have grade level skills, and other teachers don’t seem to have high expectations or qualifications. This just backs up my theory that education is lacking all over the state, not just in the Delta. Several times I was told not to worry about anything until staff development in January. Apparently, according to everyone I have talked to, including some of the administration, teaching World History is not hard. In fact I have been told by two different people not to assign homework because they will have enough work in their other classes (implying I am not teaching a "real" subject). It is almost as if they are afraid I will turn out to be a real teacher (I am replacing a coach who they moved to the high school to teach Drivers Education). We will see how it goes sooner than I would like to think about so I will now move on to more important subjects…

…Excuses, Excuses…
Even though I was visiting Baby Jake every 4 hours in the NICU the first week of his life, I still found time to write the book on our labor and delivery. However, I still had plenty of adrenalin and was having trouble sleeping. Now that Jake is home I am still having trouble sleeping, but now it is for an entirely different reason. So needless to say I have been having trouble getting anything done, except feeding Jake 24 plus times a day, changing him, holding him, etc. James is off for the New Year Holidays and he took care of Jake this morning and Jake actually slept for 5 ½ hours last night and I got some much needed sleep. Now that I feel rested for the first time in quite a while, I will finish the Jake story. We finally got internet connected and so hopefully some of the 14 million pictures James, my mom and I have taken will find their way to this blog. I know that every mother thinks their child is the cutest baby in the world, but I am sure mine is and I have the pictures to prove it! In all seriousness, he changes so fast that I am afraid I will forget what he looked like at each stage. After putting him down to sleep one night, James and I were looking through some of the digital pictures we had printed and I started crying because he doesn’t look like that anymore, even though they were taken only a week before. I also started crying when I picked out a pair of pajamas for him and they were too small for him. He had never even worn them! I feel like he is growing and changing so fast. It seems like every day he can do something new. He was born with neck control, at three weeks he could bat and grab at animals on his mobile, and just this week he started scooting around on his back (he can move from one end of his crib to the other—its tiring and scary). I am not looking forward to going back to work, even though I know he will be in good hands (my mom will be keeping him). I keep reminding myself that he will be six months old when school lets out for summer and that he won’t remember me not being there. James and I are considering options for next year that might allow me to work part time so that I can spend more time with Jake and in contemplation of having more children.
Well now onto the Jake Story. Since the first part of the saga was told from my perspective, I thought it would be fun to tell Jake’s story from his (imagined) point of view.

Meet Baby Jake
Well, I turned 5 weeks old today and so much has happened in my life so far. I spent my first week in the hospital, but I have been home for a month since today. I didn't like the hospital much because they were always poking me and prodding me. It was nice to have two people looking after me all of the time though! I was excited to come home because everytime Mommy and Daddy came to visit me they fed me and loved on me, which the doctors and most of the nurses didn't do. So far I spend most of my time with my Mommy. It is great fun—she gives me lots of food and cuddles. Sometimes I have to fuss at her because she just doesn’t understand what I am telling her, but most of the time we get along just fine. At night and at lunch time Daddy comes home and plays with me and gives me attention. I love staring at him and I can always tell when he is home by the sound of his voice. He is normally quicker at changing diapers than Mom is, but I think it is normally because she is fatigued. Occasionally I visit my grandparents and I have met my Aunt Cheri and Uncle John twice now. I have one Granny that is constantly taking my picture. She has more patience with me than anyone else so far, and Mommy says she is going to be staying with me during the day when Mommy goes back to work. I don’t mind at all because she looks kind of like my Mom and she always feeds me bottles when she visits me. Food is definitely the way to my heart! I had my first Christmas last week and I got a lot of great toys. I like Christmas trees, the lights are fascinating and next year I hope to be able to play with all those dangling little toys hanging on the tree. My New Years resolutions are to get more mobile (it is frustrating not being able to get around) and to get some teeth so I can eat whenever and whatever I want to (I cry when Mommy and Daddy eat because I feel left out and it smells so good). Oh well, speaking of food, I am hungry again, so it is time to go. Be sure to check this blog frequently for my latest pictures. Here are a few of the latest and greatest…