Joaquin wanted to say "Happy New Year"!

What's that on his shirt you ask?

Could it be?

Is it true?



Looks like Joaquin will be a big brother in the new year...due August 6th!

The Christmas Tree

With the encouragement of my mom, we decided to get a Christmas Tree this year. Honestly, we have never had one that is over one and half feet tall in this house, but we figured we couldn't deprive our child of the joys of a real honest to goodness Christmas Tree any longer .

I was actually hesitant because I know my child. If you have ever met him, I think you would think twice before putting a tree filled with electrical wires and glass in front of him too. To make it as safe as possible we only have unbreakable ornaments all hanging from ribbon. I know my child would love to chew on those little metal hooks, he really would.

The first thing Joaquin did when we started decorating it, was put one of those lights right in his mouth, to you know, taste it. Luckily they weren't plugged in yet, and I tried to explain as well as I could that that was just plain dumb. "No, Joaquin, we don't put lights in our mouth because we don't like to die. Please put it back...how about a cracker instead?" Yep, that is when I knew I was in for a real treat.



Each morning since the tree went up, Joaquin wakes up begging for "The Christmas Tree Lights" and as soon as they're plugged in he cheers an "All Riiiight!" It's wonderfully cute. But, each day since the tree went up, I have had to redecorate it.

One day, Joaquin decided that the ornaments looked better hanging from the knobs all around the house. Another day he "cooked" them all in a big kitchen pot. While another time, he thought they looked fabulous spread carefully all over the floor of the entire house. I don't know how he managed to get so many off so quickly. Every day. But he did. He pulled the lights off, he pulled the beaded garland off. Every day.



Finally the Gods of The Natural Consequences heard my calls. I had gotten home to an empty house to see all the ornanments and half of the lights sprawled across my living room. I spent the next half hour redecorating while wondering if Christmas Eve was too early to take the tree down.

Soon Dan and Joaquin came home and Joaquin went straight for the tree squealing his version of "Christmas Tree lights, Christmas Tree LIGHTS!!" I was standing in the middle of the living room facing away from Joaquin and the tree talking to Dan when I heard a crash behind me. I turned to see a Christmas Tree on the floor and no child. I screamed "OH MY GAWD!" and hurled the tree up. Of course Joaquin was wailing, rightfully so...I mean a 6 foot tree just fell on his 3 foot body! But he was fine. Really.

That is when I lectured, "This is what I've been trying to explain to you over and over and over... we don't pull on the tree, or touch it, ever ever again. It will fall on you and kill you." He nodded in understanding.

He will now point to the tree, admire the lights and inspect the ornaments but all at a safe distance. My relationship with the tree and all those damn ornaments has never been better.

Party like a Rockstar!

After a few days postponement, Joaquin's 2nd birthday party was a raging success. I can't say I was in tip top shape with all the sickyness around and Dan had to miss it because he was next in line for The Puke, but we still managed to pull off a rager. Not nearly as many people were able to make it on Sunday compared to Friday, but we still had a perfect sized crowd. It was a Rockstar theme, because, well...my kid loves to rock out.


These were a variety of vegan, gluten free and regular...all were chocolate, with pumpkin and chocolate chips and all were dee-lish!


The cool kids munchin' on their rolled tacos my mom made...also dee-lish!


A guitar pinata, of course!


Goodies!


The bags had sunglasses, guitar bubbles...


...little musical instruments and...


...Rockstar tattoos, of course.


He LOVED this part!


It only took him a few tries, and a bit of slobber.


And I'm beat...but happy.


He's two! Happy Birthday little man!

Two years ago today...

Charles Joaquin was born at 9:15 am on November 28, 2006 at Sharp Mary
Birch Hospital in San Diego, CA. He weighed in at 8 pounds and 4 ounces and 20 and half inches long. It was really an amazing birthing experience considering it was at a hospital, and I'm so thankful to have had it go the way it did.

Two weeks prior to his birth date, I started feeling signs of pre-labor. I was having Braxton-Hicks more and more often along with menstrual type of cramping. I had lost what I thought was my mucous plug and I was sure that labor would come any day. Each time I went in for my weekly appointment I had dilated a little bit more and my Doctor stripped my membranes. I was walking as much as I could to get labor going and each morning that I woke up still not in labor was a disappointment.

Finally on Sunday night, November 26th, his actual due date I started getting contractions that felt quite different and were much more regular. There was a bit of pain with each contraction that I openly welcomed because it was a sign that these were possibly "real" as opposed to all of my pre-labor. I tried to go to sleep and they kept coming at about seven minutes apart. I knew that was still quite a bit apart, but I also knew that this was something real. I couldn't sleep anymore and I was kind of in a dazed state. I pulled out my ipod with my Hypnobabies (self- hypnosis) and tried lying down on the couch. Finally at 1am I called my doula and told her what I was feeling. She told me that they were still far apart and to try and rest as much as possible. I just couldn't lie down anymore so I started on my birth day projects. I made some cookies and got some snacks ready for Dan for the hospital. While I was working in the kitchen I noticed they were coming much closer together, but were not that much more intense.

Finally at about 4 am I decided to take a bath. I brought in my Hypnobabies and lied down in the warm water. That was when they pretty much completely stopped! While my body was enjoying the break, I was so utterly frustrated, I had no idea what was going on and I wanted to be in real labor already!! I got out eventually and fell asleep on the couch, with still no regular contractions.

The next day,Dan went to work and I went about my day totally disappointed with the fact that I wasn't in fact in labor. I had a Doctors appointment later that day so Dan came home early and drove me since I was still getting contractions, just not very regularly. They also still felt like they did the night before, some pain, but nothing I couldn't handle without concentrating through. The doctor told me I was about 3 cm and 50% effaced. She told me she was on call on at the hospital Wednesday and if I wanted to I could come and they could try inducing. I had no intention of taking her up on her offer, but thanked her. By the time we got home I was exhausted so we decided to take a nap and see what happens. I woke up at about 5 pm and the contractions were back and regular and getting more and more intense. I was so excited!!! But at the same time I didn't want to set myself up for more disappointment.

I used my birth ball and hypnobabies for the next few hours while Dan timed my contractions. They went from about 7 minutes apart to about 5 by 11 pm that night. He started to doze so we pulled out the sleeping bags and camped out on the couch. I had notified my doula that I think it was coming soon and kept going on the birth ball and with my ipod. I took a bath and did my best to relax and focus on my hypnosis. I don’t remember how long I was in there, but it was hard because I could barely fit and it was difficult to stay warm. At about one or two I thought I was ready as the contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart. I called my doula and she encouraged me to rest at home a little longer. I was so glad I did. While listening to my hypnobabies I managed to nap on the couch for about an hour. I remember kind of dreaming my way through the contractions it was almost surreal. When I woke up, they were much closer and stronger. I stood up to go the bathroom and I felt a sort of pop, I assumed it was my water breaking, but there wasn’t a huge gush like I had heard it described. The contractions were then definitely getting stronger and were about 2 minutes apart. I called my doula and we were on our way to the hospital and arrived at about 4:45 am.

When I arrived at triage, I kept myself in hypnosis, but I was still able to hold conversations and was obviously fully conscious. They didn’t seem to believe I was in labor and took their time with me. Finally when the nurse checked me she seemed surprised to report that I was 6 cm and in active labor. She made a call to the Dr on duty and I heard her trying to explain that I was using hypnosis that that I was in fact in active labor and that I really was calm and collected. Finally they sent me on my way to the delivery room.

Once there, things got way more intense. I had to moan my way through the end of each contraction. I can’t say it was pain free, but it was manageable. I paced and rocked around for a couple of hours. They kept trying to put the stupid belt around me to time my contractions and keep track of the heart rate. It kept sliding off and the nurse would have to come in and fix it, very distracting. I was going to try and use a squat bar, but I just didn’t want it. I wanted to be on my side. I finally made my way to the bed where I landed on my side and didn’t get up from then on. I felt him coming down the birth canal and I felt like I was ready to go, but they kept telling my I wasn’t dilated enough. I remember a primal groan coming out of me with each contraction. I pleaded to let me push as my body started bearing down without my permission. Finally I remember my doula asking rather firmly if they could check me again. Sure enough I was ready. I felt me body take a little break and they within minutes the contractions were back again.

The nurses told me to wait, that the room wasn’t ready yet. Yeah right. I was ready and this baby was coming out now, if the room is ready or not! The on call Dr came in and asked me to get on my back. I refused. I knew I just couldn’t. I was afraid it would slow me down and I was ready and comfortable in the position I was in. I heard him say he was worried I would kick him in the head. My doula promised him she would hold my leg if he let me stay on my back. He sounded peeved, but obliged. I should have still kicked him. They set up a mirror and I saw my baby Joaquin join the world at 9:15 am. Pushing wasn’t so bad; I don’t remember much pain after I got into bed. It was more just very intense pressure.

Joaquin was placed in my arms and started nursing right away. After I delivered the placenta the rest of my family arrived. I recovered quickly so we only stayed at the hospital over night. By the next morning I was tired of being stuck in a bed and was ready to get out and about. Like I said, the birth was actually pretty great considering I was at a hospital. Of course there are things that I wish would have gone differently, but I had a wonderful, drug & intervention free birth and an awesome kid to show for it!


Happy Birthday Joaquin!!!

The Puke

Joaquin is turning two tomorrow and we had a rockin little party all planned out and ready to go. Unfortunately he woke up this morning at 3:30 am puking his little brain out. It continued every 15 to 60 minutes all day. He nursed, he drank water, he even asked for some bread, but it all came right back up.



I knew I had to cancel the party, but I was in tears about it. It was going to be his 2nd birthday and no festivities. I didn't even think to postpone because every weekend in December is already full of obligations. Luckily I managed to g-chat with a sane and helpful mama that reminded me there were other days left in this weekend, and Sunday was suggested. So Sunday it is. Now I'm just freaking out that a handful of people don't check their email and show up to an empty house tomorrow morning.

We still managed to go to my mom's house for dinner. When we got there he was totally lethargic and super sad and pitiful looking. He hadn't puked in a few hours, but about 15 minutes after some nursing it happened again. I had him in my lap while I attempted to eat dinner and he just burrowed his head in my armpits. He still must have somehow gotten a whiff of the food because he started asking for some, I gave him little bits at a time and within 15 minutes he was a new kid. He ate off and on for the rest of the evening and was back to his old shenanigans of tearing apart my mom's house. Thank goodness.

I'm prepared for another puke or two tonight, but I'm glad to see it's moving along. It's too bad we had to postpone the party, but the last thing we need is 20 little people all puking in unison. That would not be pretty.

It's going.

I know I haven't updated about my work situation in quite a while. The truth is, things were really sucking and I didn't want to spread my negativity to all of you great folk.

Things have been getting better and better lately. I'm actually smiling through much of the day and not on the brink of tears. My toughest class can still drive me right to the edge, but they can also make me laugh. I can handle a room full of the teenage worst of the worst and believe it or not, they're not the "worst" for me. They can actually be pretty cool.

I tried to resign from department co-chair twice and each time I got the run around. I'm glad they did that. I can handle things now and it's not so bad actually. Leading department meetings are actually kind of fun in a challenging sort of way.

I guess I'm being forced to really push myself this year and kind of see what I can really do...and I'm finding out I can do more than I thought I could...and that's kind of cool.

I'm still really looking forward to next week off though!

Choo choo trains!

Like many boys, Joaquin loves him some choo choo trains. Any time we're driving on the 8 freeway he is on the lookout for trolleys and spots them with screams and squeals of "CHOOOO CHOOOO DAIN"!!!!!!!!!!

So yesterday I did what I should have done months ago and my mom and I finally took him to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum. This boy was in train heaven.







By far the coolest room was the Toy Train Gallery. They had the most awesome little displays and models. Joaquin just wanted to watch the trains go by, but I wanted to sit and stare at all the amazing little details everywhere!



It was six bucks to get in and 30 for a 12 month family pass. With how much Joaquin loved it and knowing that some possibly not so nice weather is up ahead, I went ahead and paid for the family pass. What's cool is that Grandparents can use it, so my mom or the In-laws can take them shall they feel so inclined.

After the success of this little adventure, how could we stop there? Off we went to the Miniature Railroad. As we arrived the train was just about full and it had to leave with out us. Just like at the pumpkin patch, the heartbreak began. The poor guy just didn't understand it was going to come back, luckily the gate prevented him from chasing it down.









So if your little person is obsessed with trains, go check out these two spots, I promise you won't be disappointed!

Earthquake. Fire. Disaster.

We are having our annual disaster drill today. The past three years that I've been here, I wasn't teaching in the classroom. So, this will be my first time with a class full of kids all by my lonesome. We will have to first duck and cover. Yeah... right, that's going to go over well. Have you ever seen a group of 17 & 18 year olds willingly duck and cover? On the floor? Under a table? That is just so not cool. Then we all get to tromp out to the football field and hang out for an hour. Hm, maybe I'll use the time to have a little talky talk with my feuding drama queens? Fingers crossed it's not a total "disaster".

I *heart* Costco

We had to give up our Costco membership a couple of years ago. Every time we went, we spent a boatload of money and left with a boatload of junk. Plus, we really don't have the storage for boatloads. So we never renewed and now my Costco fixes are few and far between. Thankfully I have my mom to hook me up.

Yesterday we went to buy Joaquin's Christmas present. Yeah yeah, I know it's early. But we got him this super adorable kitchen and my mom was worried they would run out if we waited too long.



Good thing she dragged me over there kicking and screaming, because they had taken an additional 30 bucks off. So we got this cute thing for less than $100! When we walked up to it, I pointed it out to Joaquin, he looked up and said "I want that" "Good thing" I replied, "because you're getting it for Christmas!" That didn't really seem to register for him and I'm sure he's forgotten all about it by now.

Anyway, Costco is awesome and I'm so glad I don't have a membership because I would go bulk-wild on a regular basis if I could. Seriously, the bags of pears made me giddy and the toys are straight up awesome. There was also a very cute wooden toy garage that I have my eye on for possibly another Christmas present. I know I shouldn't, especially since I'm already obsessing over all the cute wooden food and kitchen accessories out there that will surely find their way under the tree.

And I wonder why I don't buy myself stuff anymore. Mama things are so boring compared to fun toys...I can't wait to play!!

Trick or Treat!!!

What a great Halloween!

In the morning we celebrated with our friends at our Friday playgroup. I really miss hanging with this group every Friday, but am glad I was able to join them yesterday. All the kiddos were adorable all decked out and who can beat the company?

Unfortunately Joaquin wouldn't have anything to do with his beard. He eventually took a dive in some mud and ended up in just his diaper and boots.
















In the evening we Trick or Treated at a few houses in the neighborhood. We were going to go to Sea World, but Joaquin wasn't interested in leaving the house. Amazingly, after I showed him how cool his beard was, he kept his costume on almost the whole time. On the way home he did tear off the beard though and even attempted to take off his shirt, I guess he got hot!








I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!!

Baking with Joaquin

I'm ditching work tomorrow to enjoy Halloween with Joaquin. I love Halloween and one of my playgroups is having a Halloween get together. I figured it was more important to make memories with my child than to deal with the insanity that will be tomorrow. So, in preparation for tomorrow, I decided to bake cookies with Joaquin tonight. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but seriously, I almost ran out of my house screaming...instead I had three glasses of wine.

Joaquin is very much the explorer and like any toddler he loves all the stuff that he sees us use. I'm trying really hard to honor his need to explore and experiment with real life stuff, but holy jeez.

By the middle of our evening the kitchen floor had a solid coat of flour and sugar. Dishes, utensils, pots and pans scattered the entire floor, table and each counter while two cabinets had been emptied and the coffee maker was nearly completely disassembled.

We finally both had a bit of a melt down and we both ended up in a "time out". But somehow after a little cuddling and nursing we managed get it together and get back to business. He helped me clean the kitchen and even helped me sweep. We also picked up all his toys in the living room and he begged me to take out the vacuum. He then vacuumed. Not well, but it was still pretty awesome.

Miraculously the evening ended with a heaping plate of cookies, a semi-clean house and both of us in smiles. It's pretty cool how much he can actually help, as long as I open myself up enough to accept the little toddler ways of helping. I'm not sure how soon I'll venture into another adventure like this...but I have to say, even after all the insanity, it was kind of fun. Maybe next time I'll even manage to take a few pictures.

The Gnome

I was going to wait until after Halloween to unveil my Gnome, but realized the pictures are already in my flickr photo stream which you can obviously see on the right of this page. So here he is...my little gnome. More pics to come soon!!!


He's not mad, he's just in awe of the very "happy" lady trying to get all the kids in a parade.


Here I think he's just thinking she's crazy.


And now we have a grin. The boots finish this outfit off but the little man just wouldn't allow both beard and boots on his body at the same time. Hopefully I'll be able to get a shot of the whole ensemble come Friday.

New lens

I got a new lens the other day. Not really a purchase I should have made, but I needed something to make me happy. It did the trick. Only problem is it doesn't auto focus on my camera, so I've been practicing a lot and loving every minute of it. Some are obviously sharper than others, but practice makes perfect!

The Baby?

The other morning as I was getting ready to head to work, I was emailing a colleague to set up a morning meeting. In the email I told her I would "be there soon, as long as the baby didn't wake up". The baby? What baby?

I continue to refer to Joaquin as "The Baby". The problem is, he isn't a baby anymore. When I call him "the baby" I'm sure people are expecting to see an actual baby, not a walking talking toddler.

So what do I call him now? The kid? The toddler? My son?

None of them quite have that ring of "The baby", plus he's still my baby!

The Nightly Show

Every night, between bath and bedtime, Joaquin puts on his Nightly Show. He dances, poses and plays "music" for us. Here is a shot from last night's performance...




We've also been practicing the potty more often lately. I'll just let him hang out naked and wait. For a while he would start to pee, catch him self and then run to the bathroom. Now I'm noticing that he's holding it. The other day he had been naked for a couple of hours and I realized he hadn't peed, so I asked him if he needed to. Sure enough he ran to the bathroom, I helped him up and he peed...a lot. He did the same yesterday, as you can tell, he was rather excited about it!



If you're "friend" or "family" you can see the cuter uncropped photo on flickr.

I tried to resign.

I finally met with one of my Administrators on Thursday and told her just how done I was. I decided I need to give something up. If I was going to continue as department chair, I had to get out of the classroom and back into the position I was in last year. If that wasn't a possibility then I had to give up department chair. Honestly, I would rather just give up the chair position. I like teaching, as tough as these kids are, it's more fun to teach then deal with a bunch of administrative crapola. She asked me to stick around until the second week of October. I'm not really sure how it's going to pan out, but I really hope she isn't just trying to buy time in hopes that I'll "calm down" and just deal. I'm done dealing.

Joaquin has been doing much better at night. We're down to one night nursing session and I think we'll start trying to get rid of that one in the next few days.

I'm so happy it's Friday. Hmm, at least with all this work crap, the weeks go by fast.

Things that make me happy?

Work is so tough and overwhelming right now, I really need to start to focus on the good around me or I'm headed for a downward spiral.

Not only have I taken on the responsibility of a department chair, the department chair job now has more responsibilities due to some serious cuts from the top. That in itself would be enough to cause some work stress, but I am also back in the classroom this year. The decision to do the department chair job was totally my choice, as was the choice to go back into the classroom. They are both choices I completely regret.

I have one class with over 20 students, the other nearing 20. Twenty Special Education Non-Diploma Bound students. These students have some very intense educational, behavioral and emotional needs and there are way too many in these classrooms, so essentially me and the other Non-Diploma Bound teacher are just babysitting. I've been cussed out in both English and Spanish, dealt with near fights and have had to stand very tall and strong in the face of attempted intimidation. Keeping them on task for even half the period is a small miracle. Don't get me wrong, I love to teach, I just wish I could do more of it.

What's crazy, is that my classes aren't even the main culprits of my stress. The majority is coming from dealing with my colleagues and administration. It just amazes me how hard people will work to do as little as possible and how difficult it is to get people to really support you. It really makes me think long and hard in regards to Joaquin's education and whether or not we will do traditional public education. But that's a different story. I wish I could elaborate more on this topic, but alas, I must keep my mouth shut and my fingers bound. I've said enough as it is.

So back to my original thought. I need to find things that make me happy, happy on a daily basis. I'm so beat, I seriously have to think about it. What makes me happy right now? What little things can I do every day that will simply make me smile and push the seven hours of crap out of my mind?

I'm not sure right now, but hopefully I'll be able to come back soon and tell you.

It did not go well.

I am a walking zombie today and am rethinking my desire to night wean.

He woke up in his bed at 10pm. I brought him to bed with us and he went right back to sleep without nursing. I mistakenly thought this was a sign that the rest of the night would go just as smoothly.

He woke up again just after 11. I had just started to really fall asleep because work crap kept running in and out of my brain. I was not happy. He kept searching for milk while I held and hugged him. He screamed for milk and I reminded him it went sleepies. He was not happy. He cried in my arms for about 5 minutes and fell back to sleep while laying on his back on my stomach and I whispered "I love you, I love you" over and over in his ear.

He woke up again at 1:30 and had decided he really wanted milk and he wasn't taking NO for an answer. He tossed himself all over the bed. He wouldn't let me hold him. He screamed. He cried. I just wanted to go back to sleep. Finally after what felt like an eternity, but was probably more like 10 minutes, I gave in. Here. Nurse. Just let me sleep.

But after a few minutes of nursing my skin was crawling. I just couldn't handle it. I feel so bad, but I'm so done with night time nursing! I whispered to him "Ok, time to finish." He shook his head. "Time for milk to go sleepies." He kept on. Finally I tried to pop him off. That kid held on for dear life.

When I finally got him unlatched he screamed bloody murder. He was pissed. I was evil. I held him and whispered in his ear for a few minutes and he soon settled down and fell back to sleep.

At 4:30 he was up and looking for milk again. I was done. I had to get up in two hours and was not up for a battle. He nursed for a minute or two and rolled back over. Then did the same at about 6am. I finally got out of bed close to 7 and am not in the best of moods today.

Can I really handle this again tonight?

Night Weaning

Yes, Joaquin still nurses at night. I know, I know, and yes...it is starting to drive me insane.

We worked on night weaning this summer, and by the end, I pretty much had him off the boob from bedtime to about 5 am. Everyday, I would remind him that when we all went "sleepies", milk went "sleepies" too. I would also try and top him off with yogurt before bed to make sure he didn't wake up in the middle of the night hungry. Some nights he would wake up and beg for milk "peeeease!". Other nights he would wake up and roll around, wouldn't even bother to ask and then fall back asleep. He still woke up in his bed around midnight, but when I brought him into ours he would just roll over and fall back asleep, it was awesome! Then at 5 am, like clockwork, he would wake up to nurse. I was OK with it because I knew once I went back to work, I would want to nurse before I got up.

So, I went back to work and all was well, for a few days at least.

He then got a fever for a couple of days. His canines were coming in and while he didn't seem in too much pain, I was concerned about the fever and wanted to make sure he nursed as much as needed. This was nearly four weeks ago.

Now we are back to nursing multiple times a night and it. has. to. stop. We made some headway a couple of weeks ago, and I have to admit, it was much easier to get back on track, but we have since fallen off the wagon.

Last night he threw a fit and a half when I had finally told him no more. He did finally fall asleep, albeit while crying in my arms.

So tonight, we're back on it. This afternoon we'll be talking about how "milk goes sleepies". I'm gorging him with yogurt before bedtime and I'm pulling out my turtle neck.

Wish me luck.

Where are you?????

I'm still here. But working a LOT. I've been in a rather negative place, so rather than coming on here and sounding all whiny and bitchy, I've decided to refrain.

Things seem to be getting better though. Another teacher reminded me, "All teachers hate September, right?" It is true. September sucks. October will be better. We will get into our groove and life will start to move along at a smoother pace.

As of this weekend I've stopped bringing work home, but I'm still going to bed ridiculously early. Still no time for me to blog in the evenings. Hopefully once I get into this new groove, I won't be so dead tired and can go back to my regular oh-so-fascinating updates.

xoxo, I miss you!!!

Awesome.

I forced myself to stay up, and I'm so glad I did!

The first day of school!

I am so very incredibly tired, so I don't know how long this post is going to be, but I figured I needed to update...it's been a while.

Last week I was swamped with work. I went in two days early to take care of department stuff and today I feel like it was a complete waste. I didn't even get to start setting up and planning for my class until Thursday which only left me a couple of hours on Friday. So I ended up doing lots of planning over the long three day weekend. Fun fun! Anyway, I had our "master schedule" for our teachers and aides all set up only to have an admin go and totally change it up today. I don't know why she had me do it in the first place. All the teachers were happy with where they were going and my department was actually somewhat functional for a moment there. Then student schedules got all changed and so did the teacher schedules and every body came bitching to me when I was just trying to get myself and my class ready for the kids that were on their way. All I could say was "I didn't change it, see XYZ, she changed it!" Seriously, what was the point??

On a positive note, I really did have fun teaching again today. I haven't done it in 3 years! It's like a performance. When I'm in the moment, I'm so engrossed in what I'm doing and then when it's all done I can't help but think, "wow, that was freaking fun!" It's exhausting but exhilarating to be up there, especially when you see those faces of total disinterest or boredom change...they start to sit up a little straighter, look at you more, nod their head in agreement. They start to get into it and they don't even know it. Then they catch themselves and realize that they're not looking cool anymore and fall back into act. It's a constant game of cat and mouse. Me always trying to chase down what gets them, what holds their interest. Like I said, it's totally tiring, but totally great all at the same time.

Well, I'm in need of some real sleep. Yes, I know I'm pathetic...it's not even 9 and I'm going to bed, but this lady is beat!

these boots are made for...

Some boys have teddy bears, others have blankies. Joaquin has boots.

brussels sprouts and boots

There is no real subject to this post other than to show you how funny my kid is.

I had tried to feed Joaquin brusells sprouts once before and he wouldn't have anything to do with them. This time I made them with coconut oil and sprinkled garlic powder, salt and pepper over them and then popped them in the oven for about 20 minutes. They came out so yummy with the outside leaves nice and crispy and the insides all nice and soft. Obviously Joaquin ate them up, and he even stole one from my plate. Oh, and that hat? He refused to eat without it.



So yeah, did you know that rain boots are also to be worn in the tub? I didn't, but Joaquin insisted. Why fight such cuteness???