blog is a funny word

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: blog is a funny word

I am going to add my Christmas pictures now! Since it's still January, I feel very good about my prompness here. I am usually way behind... And of course I am still way behind, but at least I can update here and feel semi-productive...

First, the before picture. Notice our little tree. Every year is the year we'll get a bigger one, but... The kids like this one, I guess. It's sort of a recurring Charlie Brown Christmas tree... (And it doesn't take up any storage space hardly, which is good because we don't have storage space!)



Now, the after picture. It took the kids all of 10 minutes to do this damage! Oy... I can not get them to stop and say "thank you" for the gift, and to watch as someone else opens their gift. So the massive unwrapping happens every year with hurricane like force.



And some photos of the kids with some of their presents... Steven got this Transformer set from my brother. Luke got it too, but Steven was much more taken with it. He was super excited.



Luke rather enjoyed playing with Isabel's My Little Pony Teacup House set... :huh: He loves My Little Ponies-- he brings them to show and tell constantly.



Isabel posed to have her picture taken after every present. So we have lots, but somehow... Can't get a really good one! Here she is wearing Luke's dress-up Army outfit. Tit for tat...



Kate got a new boom box. It has a really loud base system. It's currently driving me nuts, all the time. (Don't you love the term "boom box"? She has no idea what I'm talking about when I call it that...)



And finally, the toy that occupied them for one day and has been generally in the way and a huge eyesore ever since... The T-Wrecks Hot Wheels toy. I rarely go for toys like this. I call this experience a little refresher course for me as to why!

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: blog is a funny word

I'm so tired! And I get progressively nauseated as the day goes on! I am so unproductive these days... I don't remember any of these symptoms, but I know I had them. It's all part of the pregnancy amnesia that hits after delivery. Mac even said, you're 8 weeks? That means 2 more weeks and you're a quarter of the way there, right? :banghead: Oh my, that was helpful.

He has been *great*. He no longer has symptoms, I think he may've peaked at my blog? Or maybe he just heard my grouching? And he does not complain even though the food I am making for dinner is... really bad. I don't feel hungry to eat anything except for bread, because that is bland and it settles my stomach. And it's really bad for me, too. Since bread has always been my downfall... But dinner has been a casual affair to say the least. The kids are getting fed, anyway. If all we have for dinner is cereal, Mac is OK with that! After everyone is in bed, he just does the dishes and cleans up while I drag myself off to bed at like 9. Oh well. I may as well sleep now, while I can.

Kate has been doing very well in school recently. She seems to be keeping on top of her math (of course, the quarter is only 4 days old, now...). She did poorly on exams right at the end of the semester, which dropped her grades in 2 classes. So now we have to go back to the checking her work every night scenario, which is annoying... When she gets a certain number of A's or B's in a row, then we can go back to just checking her online account for her grades, and not so much her homework. The main concern I have with Kate right now is that she avoids Mac so much. We're working on it. I know that he irritates her, and that she says he treats her like she's still 5, etc., etc. She tells me everything (more than I want to know, really), but has nothing at all to say to him. :huh: I think it is pretty normal, but it's still sad to see.

And the littler kids are doing well. They have been healthy this year! So far... And that is a huge blessing.

So, not too much to report on the blog-- I have lots of photos and stuff to post, though. One of these days... I need a power nap right now before Luke gets up from "rest time" and the after school mad rush begins...

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: blog is a funny word

I slept so much this weekend! DH was home all weekend... The only activities I did were Kate's basketball game and church. Mac wanted to do all sorts of stuff, he is sort of a restless spirit, but I just couldn't... He took the kids to the store, and then we all watched a bit of the superbowl last night, but other than that... Not much.

The basketball game was interesting. The other team was very scrappy. (Not in a good way, IMHO.) Kate did attempt to shoot the ball a couple of times, and she committed a hacking foul, so woo hoo! She's getting more aggressive and not quite as afraid to make contact! We're not looking at the future star of the WNBA here, and that's perfectly OK. It's just good to see her doing active stuff. I have tried and tried since she was 4 to get her interested in sports! Uggggg. Now the twins and Luke are all *very* interested. Getting Steven and Izzy to basketball events is a logistical nightmare I don't even want to contemplate-- shove to the back of the brain time... I am not starting them on BB until probably grade 3, so that buys me some time... They are starting soccer this year! Hopefully on the same team, so that we only have Kate's game and the Twins' game to worry about on any given Saturday. While DH is on Gen Surg, and not available at all...

Rambling, rambling, rambling...

I have so much laundry. I need to get at it. I didn't even do laundry this weekend. I was so lazy!!! It was wonderful.

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: blog is a funny word

I don't have much to add, but I did want to post a picture of a rather large couch that I carried into the house (with help from Mac, of course!) Anyway, we needed new couches for our living room, and we liked these at Costco, but what a huge problem to get them into the house! And no neighbors to help! Ugggh. We had to bring them at a 45 degree slant through our slider on the back porch! They didn't fit through the front door... And they were heavy! Come to find out, a few days later, that I was pregnant and doing all that heavy lifting! Normally, Mac would be too *chauvenistic* to allow me to help move furniture (a stereotype which I fully endorse), but he was desperate! Anyway...

The big couch. Which clearly the boys needed, since they really like to spread out.



And the big bus, made from the box from the big house! The kids had a lot of fun with that. (Until it got recycled!)



So I know these are sort of random pictures, and not a huge event. But it was an event! And it convinced us that no matter how tight living quarters are now, we are NOT moving until the ARMY moves us...

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: blog is a funny word

I still have to download the pictures off of my camera... And then I can post something other than what I'm posting today. And that is: I feel sick, blah, low on energy, and blah. Isabel just asked me if I'm on the computer all day. And so, now I have mommy guilt, that perhaps I'm on the computer when the kids are just home from school up until I need to get dinner ready... To avoid what? They were begging me to go to the library of all places. Not Toys R Us, the library. But I just can't. (It can be hard to control them, especially when they are excited and I'm not nearly full-charged.)

What kind of existence is this!? I think, physiologically, pregnancy sucks everything out of you because the baby forming requires massive amounts of energy. But why doesn't nature help out? Like why don't I feel like eating vegetables and fruits to recharge? Instead of bread, cereal, and potatoes? And why can't I find anything that I can drink without it nauseating me? Even water--- it nauseates me! And I am thirsty... But I can't find anything. to. drink. I don't even drink decaf anymore. Coffee smell totally makes me wretch. And I loved my coffee. I even drank decaf through previous pregnancies. :huh: :huh:

So, this post goes out to those people who are already afraid of pregnancy. And especially to DCJenn, who really is glad she never got to experience all this . (And I'm not even telling you about the bloating-- Good Lord the Bloating! and other even less glamorous side effects.) Most of all, this post goes out to the future me, whenever pregnancy amnesia may strike me.

I want to fast forward to what I remember as being really fun-- the baby moving around. I'm a huge wimp... Huge. I don't do physical discomfort, so... Mac looks shocked when he comes home and sees me so out of it. I made meat loaf this week, and you'd think I had slayed a dragon for all the praise I got. That's how lazy I've been-- when making meat loaf (one of DH's favorites :huh: ) is such a huge achievement!

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: blog is a funny word

A couple of weekends ago, over the MLK holiday, we went to an indoor waterpark in Virginia. It was pretty good, except that Mac didn't take leave and so he had to leave during the night to drive back for work the next morning. That was a bummer. And it meant that we couldn't go to the waterpark the next day-- I wasn't going to take all the kiddos solita. I'm that brave in my non-pregnant state, easily, but being pregnant? No thank you.

So, the lodge was one of the "great wolf" places. The room had a "cabin" built into it with 3 beds. One top bunk, two bottom bunks. (And 4 kids-- you can imagine the drama! ) Kate, as always, got the top. But this time she had to flip for it. Izzy got the "counselor's" bed, and Steven got the bottom, which is what he chose at the get-go. Luke is too little for those beds (Luke is really into being "little" and "the baby", so he got to sleep in his little inflatable Thomas bed-on-the-go thing...) Since Mac left early, I got the queen bed all to myself!

Here's some pictures of the room and the wonderful murals...
First, Luke climbing up into Kate's territory. Yes, he's always the instigator!



Steven, on his chosen bottom bunk...



Isabel, ever the tourist guide. She was very thrilled with the murals.



So, the hotel room was one thing. The indoor waterpark was another-- it was nice. It was warm enough, and the twins LOVED the wave pool. Kate liked the bigger slides, and kept trying to get the littler kids to go on them with her. All the while, Kate had to be sure to keep an aloof front-- how lame if she were to look like she enjoyed spending time with her family... Unacceptable. Whenever anyone asks her what she thought of the Great Wolf lodge, she says, "It was ok, but it would've been SOOOOOOO much better with my friends."

Luke liked the looks of the waterpark, and right away went to this big climbing structure in the middle of the place. The climbing structure ends at some slides. I asked the teen on duty if Luke was too little, and he said there were 2 year olds going down the slides and loving it. The kids, no matter how little, had to go down by themselves. Luke was ready to go, super excited and everything. Kate went first, then Luke, then I was going to go... Somehow, Luke flipped while going down the slide (it did get going pretty fast) and ended up face-first on his stomach... and crying hysterically. At this point, Mac happened by. He'd been off in the bathroom or something. So he started yelling at Kate about what happened, where's mom, etc., etc. Then of course I make my grand entrance on this stupid slide... Anyway, after that, Luke wouldn't even go down the baby slides! He did enjoy wading in to his ankles for about 6 hours on that day...

All in all, we had a good time, but I don't think I'd go back. It's really overpriced, and you are forced to stay in their lodge. If I ever went back, I would feel the need to have 2 full days of waterpark, whether or not the kids wanted it. As it was, we really only used the waterpark for those 6 hours, and then we went home. I wasn't feeling 100% (or even 70%), so that was OK... I guess it's a good break from the winter blahs...

Here is a picture of the outdoor parts of the slides- as seen from our room.



And another picture as we were leaving of the kids:



You'll notice that Kate isn't in the pictures. I can't catch her! She's just way too cool... Ahhhhhhh, adolescence.

You'll also notice there are no pictures of Mac and me. I shall never post a pic of me in a swim suit on this site! My solemn pledge to you all...

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: blog is a funny word

Mac's on the ER rotation now... I know people call it EM or something like that, but I grew up calling it "ER" so there it is. Plus that's the name of the TV show, that I haven't watched since the helicopter fell on the evil doctor. They totally lost me at that point...

Anyway, Luke has pink eye. OOOOOOOHHHHH, I hate it when Pink Eye visits our house. I never had pink eye in my entire life-- until last year. I was not happy. Now I'm a crazy hand-washing woman with my kids. If Steven and Izzy come down with it, they will miss the Valentine's Day party and that would not be good. They've been working on their valentines the last couple of days. I'm just waiting for the ball to drop. Luke missed his party today, but that's OK. He is pretty much clueless about it all. His teacher told me that he'll get the valentines sent home from school with him the next time he's there, so that should be interesting...

And this is the kind of mom I am. I let them look at their valentines for about a week, while they get left out all over and generally drive me nuts, and then one by one, they start to disappear. Steven is a hoarder. He keeps everything, but I find that in small doses, I can throw away some of his "treasures" without him knowing it... I do have to carefully time the act of throwing out to the act of taking out the trash, because nothing is worse than when they see their treasured X in the trash... Intense mommy guilt there. As far as the candy goes? I have the kids pretty well-trained to bring it all home to me. We are super aware of peanuts, and the kids do a good job of giving over their candy. Since Steven's allergic to peanuts, right there we eliminate a good 1/2 of the candies they get. Izzy doesn't get peanuts, either. Then, they can choose one candy each day until they forget about them, which usually doesn't take long, and then... into the trash they go. Or else, Mac takes them to work. Either way, I'm happy...

Since Mac is at the hospital at odd hours now, he's not really home at all for the kids. This morning he was, though. He's doing a 1 pm to 12 am shift, so he got the "morning duty." I felt nauseated, so I went back upstairs after breakfast to lie down-- and woke up at 11 am! Yikes! I guess I needed that...

I don't know if Mac violated my HIPPA rights here or not, but yesterday he checked the results of my blood test. It showed the HCG levels at "appropriate" for my stage of pregnancy. I went to the trusty internet to attempt to use my results to try to eliminate the possibility of twins based on some science. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. While there may be an elevated HCG level for twins, there may not be, and anyway, it's all within the "average" range which is from like 10,000 to 200,000 so... I guess that's a useless range really. Whatever. But I did come across some information that I think I would have liked to know. I always knew that having had a set of fraternal twins predisposed me to having more twins in the future-- it increases the risks. I assumed it increased the risk a little bit, like from 2% to 3% or something. According to some data I was reading yesterday, the chances actually are 1 in 12 of having twins again. And since I won't know until I get an ultrasound, and since the military won't give me an ultrasound until something like 22 weeks, I have a while yet to sit and worry... I honestly don't think I can survive twins again. Mac worked 40 hours a week when Steven and Izzy were born-- 40!!! And we lived in my hometown, minutes away from family. And I didn't have significant driving to do-- no middle school this, no basketball/soccer/cub scouts/daisy girl scouts... Nothing. But I can't stress too much, I just have to wait. It's frustrating though!

My parents are thinking of not going to Afrika on safari. They were planning to go to Kenya, and have put a deposit on the tour group and what not. Kenya has had a bit of trouble lately with uprisings and what not. They don't know if it's safe enough. A couple of years ago they went to Israel, and even got hijacked by a Palestinian cab driver who drove them into Palestine and wouldn't return them to their hotel in Israel for over an hour, but somehow the rebels in Kenya are a bit more worrisome. I can understand that, I guess. I just hope they are not putting it off because of me and the pregnancy. Oh well...

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: blog is a funny word

I have been busy updating my photos- editing them and getting ready to upload to get prints made. I am so far behind! I have done 4 months so far. I just finished with the Halloween pictures! This project needs to be done, but it will take lots and lots of time! (How far behind am I? Let's just say that I don't have prints made of Luke since he was about 6 months old or so... Once I went digital, I just stopped getting prints made.) Anyway, it's funny to look through my photos and see these random pictures of my engagement ring and a wall hanging in my house, all inspired by iMSN posts...

Besides that, the illness cloud is perhaps starting to lift. Knock on wood... Kate may have an ear infection- but I haven't seen her yet this morning. And it is almost noon. *Sigh* I know she's up, she's just reading. She's always reading.

Mac is back to work today. I am very lucky that his days off corresponded to my days of flu/intense sinus pressure. Another pregnancy benefit-- if you do happen to get a cold, since your immune system is all out of wack and your mucous membranes are enlarged anyway, your cold will last longer than normal. Good times. Yet another tidbit for me to file away in the "must get snipped" book of convincing arguments. I've been such an enormous weenie on this pregnancy that Mac is not even hesitating to take that step! I don't think he wants to go through this again either! Right now we're almost at 11 weeks, so... we're getting there!

And tomorrow it's back to school. Today we have lots of homework to plow through. Kate actually has a joint assignment for me and her to work on. Oh joy. It's a book report. It's "one of the most popular reading assignments of the year" so says her English teachers. I already discuss plots, etc., with her on various books, but Kate says I'm supposed to write something.

I'm ready for spring break.

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: blog is a funny word

After dinking around on winkflash for a while yesterday trying to upload my photos from the past 5 months, winkflash crashed my computer (epinions said this happens sometimes) and so I just gave up and sent them to Costco. It's more expensive, but I'll pick them up in person and if there's a problem, it'll be easier to deal with... (Except that we live in the land of crappy customer service, but I can always refuse to pay... Or send a nasty email to corporate which yields a surprisingly fast response.) So, 200 pictures on tap! Yikes! That's only 5 months... About 30 more months to go! What a project.

In other news, tomorrow is my Dr appointment finally! I am going to ask her about my headaches/sinus pressure that won't quit. The last 2 nights I've taken Afrin, which I have never ever done for fear of becoming a serious addict. My mom is totally hooked to Afrin. She has taken it for... YEARS! Mac told her she really needed to stop, and she *told* him she did, and even didn't take it while she was visiting us for about 10 days... But I'm pretty sure she's back on it. A total addict. But that stuff WORKS magic. I'm not supposed to take regular decongestants b/c of the pregnancy, so we'll see what my doctor recommends so that I can breathe at night.

Kate has had more math issues. We've been working on algebra, solve for x type of things. Algebra was probably the easiest subject in math that I ever took. It isn't so easy for her, and I don't get it. Except that she 1) has no desire to get the right answer, and 2) doesn't take time to check her work. She misses so many problems because she makes "stupid math errors", doesn't distribute the negative sign, doesn't add correctly, etc., etc. Her teacher sent me an email about her "lack of effort", and I appreciate so much that her teacher is willing to work with her, but I just don't know what to do. I can't motivate her to care. I am making her show me the math homework right away when she gets home, which takes about 10 minutes of her digging through her binder. Then she has to show me her progress before she goes to bed... So hopefully she'll pick it up... I did ask the teacher if she's going to be ok for next year's math class, and teacher told me that next year, Algebra, is actually easier than pre-algebra, this year's class. :huh: I hope the key to this thing is maturity. Kate's maturity...

Speaking of maturity, Kate had yet another field trip today, and they were very short on adult chaperones/volunteers. So I volunteered Mac, since he had the day off. :> He was very thrilled. Anyway, it's probably the only field trip he'll be able to go on! It's quite rare to have an entire day off mid-week. So, Kate was not thrilled. She threw a hissy. Mac wasn't at dinner last night when I broke the news. The twins said they'd be happy to have daddy come spend time in their classroom! Anyway, it worked out fine, of course. He kept his distance, she kept her status... Ahhh, middle schoolers. Do I have to love them???

That's about it for now. Mac is doing dishes right now, and "supervising" the little kids' homework. We're expecting some type of snow/ice storm tonight... When will February end?

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: blog is a funny word

Quick update-- I had the Dr. appointment... We did an ultrasound to check for twins, and...

It's a singleton!

Wooo Hooo!

And... We saw a heartbeat!

This is very great news for me!

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: blog is a funny word

This ER rotation is getting more and more frustrating-- to all! DH is tired of not knowing what day it is and I am tired of his schedule. When he works, he's not home until after bedtime. When he doesn't work, it is on odd days-- mid-week, usually, when I already have plans/activities for the kids, and so he's left to tag along or just do his own thing. He doesn't have any weekend days off at all... It's only a month, but it's a huge pain. To make it a bigger pain, he has to answer to 2 bosses now. The ENT boss (who is taking two of Mac's days off- one for a test, and one for some residency program review) and the Gen Surg boss (who is being a total PITA for approving leave-- which was requested months and months ago. No Leave = No Vacation... = majorly stressed out wife.) Then there's the boss of his actual current rotation, ER, where there really is no boss, just whichever attending is on duty... Anyway, it's a tug of war... Even though we have 5 people here tugging from my end of the rope, ENT seems to win by eating up days off.

In other news, Steven had yet another cub scout thing last night. He got a trophy for placing 3rd in the "Pinewood Derby" race. His car may have won a trophy for its time-- it wasn't going to win for its design or paint job! I am amazed at the amount of time and effort that some people clearly put into making the derby cars for their kids! Steven did his entire paint job (I believe in making him do these type of projects by himself). Mac did the cutting out of the shape (Steven 'designed' it), my dad (saved our life by being here when he was-- Mac had no time to finish the car) hollowed out the bottom of the car for the weights, I got out my broken yet functional glue gun to glue in the weights, and Steven sanded the car. Believe me, the adult effort on his car was absolutely minimal compared to some of these things. Amazing.

Here is a picture of him from last month with his car:



And this picture is of his car racing-- I don't know which lane he's in! Oh well!



So last night was the "awards banquet"-- banquet is an acceptable term if you mean pizza that literally tastes like cardboard, and is colder than room temperature. They also had a "mad science" person there doing some fun experiments for the audience-- it was about an hour long, but I was thoroughly entertained! She did acid/base stuff, and had some dry ice out. Dry ice is always a big hit. Anyway, Mac traded somebody so that he could be there-- of course he was scheduled to work, since it was a Saturday.

Other than that, we just are in a holding pattern until it dries out and warms up a little so that we can hit the playgrounds... And we are getting ready for a cross country trip again- in the end of March. This may be the last time I can do this- all this planning, expense, and hassle for a 1 week trip, where 2 days of the week are completely eated up by travel (we're talking over 16 hours total of travel, without delays)... My grandparents are so old, and they are so happy to see the kids, and it's great for the kids to have these memories with their "greats", though. It's just never a vacation, really.

I don't know when/if I can make plans for this summer to fly out for a longer trip, since I'll be in the 3rd trimester by the time we can travel (after swim season is over). The earliest I'd be able to fly the kids out would be at about 33 weeks pregnant... That would be a trip by myself, with my 4 helpers. I already had 1 nightmare about a rude business traveler yelling at Luke on a moving sidewalk because Luke was in his way. I was a huge, 3rd trimester mess! I am generally non-confrontational, and when I am really truly angry to the core all I do is turn a strange color-- Mac says it's sort of a purple-red-- and I start to choke up and can't even talk. This has only happened to me a few times. In my dream, I got so infuriated... I started to lay into this guy, right there on the moving sidewalk. Everyone was staring! That's how I know it was all a dream-- in real life I never would have the ability to talk. Maybe hit him with a diaper bag, but not actually form a verbal argument. Yes, I'm feeling a little anxiety over the possibility of the trip!

So that's about it from here.

ETA: I forgot the big news! Kate scored in her final basketball game! She took 3 shots, I think. For a girl who was afraid to touch the ball (she's still a bit afraid, actually) this is huge progress! She even had to grin after making the shot-- and all the parents cheered and cheered! It was fun! I don't think she's interested in playing next year, but we'll see...

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: blog is a funny word

I've been feeling better, in general. I've had less nausea, but still pretty much just as exhausted. I can't sleep well, either, which is annoying, and I have a headache constantly, but that's a similar symptom to previous pregnancies. I think Mac is getting tired of me being so tired. He mentions getting snipped frequently! I still don't know what we're going to do. September is back to school time, and incredibly busy.

To distract me from the arrival of #5 (gulp, gulp) I am searching for plane tickets for this summer. I guess I'll just buy some non-refundable cheap fares when I spot them, and then if I have problems or complications, just eat the money... I don't know. It's such a pain to buy 5 tickets. Not to mention the pain of the actual trip (1 adult, 1 preteen, 3 small kids!). Yikes.

I picked up the photos the other day and put them in an album. The kids love it. They've been looking at the same pictures over and over. I haven't even done the Disney ones yet! That's going to be a popular album... We're not talking scrapbooked pieces of art here-- just pictures put in an old-fashioned photo album. That alone is a big achievement for me.

I have concluded that the magic of Disney is that when you return from The World, and you rest for about 3 days straight, you get something called "Disney Amnesia." It's sort of like pregnancy amnesia. You forget the heat and stress, the chasing after kids, the whining about this or that, the pointlessness of standing in lines to go on a ride that the kids are scared of... These were all magical aspects of our trip, yet we all remember Disney as a *really fun vacation*. Really fun. And we'd go back in a second.

GAAAH. My kids keep on coming up to me and reading everything and asking for milk, etc., etc. Go Play! It's going to be a long day. It is Mac's day off, but his boss boss has him taking some practice test all day. Thank you very much for scheduling that on his only day off when the kids are actually home for 3 weeks... Very helpful. I'm so over this whole thing, and it's not even the end of the intern year yet.

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: blog is a funny word

I fell like we're in a bit of a holding pattern here. It's not spring, but not exactly winter. Mid-50s now are definitely warm enough to be playing outside... the chill is out of the air.

Mac is mostly over the flu. He still is home on his little "sick leave" excursion. Bless that ER doctor, really. We were so shocked that he was sent home. The ER is really pretty slow-- he always has patients, but it's not a typical ER, and not a Trauma 1 center, so it's mostly like an "urgent care" setting. There are always other docs to cover, and so I don't think it's really affected anyone too much that Mac missed 2.5 shifts! But after he slept for about 15 hours he's looking better than he has for weeks. And he doesn't have the night-sweats anymore, etc., etc. Luke got a bit of the flu. Mostly just an intense fever and lack of appetite, which doesn't mean anything since he doesn't eat much anyway. He is coming out of it now, too. Isabel and Steven didn't get sick... yet. They are not quite out of the woods. Neither am I. And Kate? Who knows. For all the time she spends holed up in her room, I doubt she'll catch anything.

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: blog is a funny word

My last blog entry was interrupted by the kids and DH... I didn't neglect to write anything important, of course. Just random complaints...

Such as, Kate and her lack of focus in school. Kate and me having to explain, again, LONG DIVISION. That's right. She's in pre-algebra, and she needs work on her 3rd grade math skills. I am so tired of holding her hand through basic math. I just don't understand it. She and I learn *nothing* alike. We also had a "fun" joint assignment. This is fun so says the teachers at her school. So she was supposed to select a book that she and I would read, discuss, and eventually work on some answers to questions together. It took her about 3 weeks to give me the paper describing my homework assignment (I am coming to terms with the fact that I get to repeat all of elementary, middle, and most likely high school by helping everyone with their homework-- even though my mom never did any of this, but apparently it's expected now-- either I spend about 1 hour per night at least on homework, or I hire someone which I can not afford, unfortunately)... Back to my literary assignment. So I got the sheet finally, 2 weeks until paper is due. She decided on a book, and then 1 week until paper is due, she finally gave me the book. OK, I assumed it took so long because perhaps she was re-reading the book? But... apparently not. I finished the book with 3 days to spare, but we didn't have time to work on it until last night, the night before it's due of course. (She comes by her procrastination tendency honestly! ) And so I sat down with her to discuss it, and... she couldn't remember anything about the book. It had been "too long" since she read it and it was all "my fault" because I had taken the book from her.



So. Frustrating. So I sent her to go skim the book, and to get back with me. When we finally discussed the themes of the story, one of them was the angst the preteen characters all have with their fathers, mostly. Some mother issues, but mostly daddy issues. Once I pointed out that theme she globbed onto it and wrote a paragraph about it... I was assigned to "edit" her work (there were several short answer essays to write), and so I just wrote my own anwers and put them after hers in a different color font. I'm sure her sweet yung thang English teacher (seriously, I don't even think she's 23...) thinks we're crazy because Kate's response was all about how unfair parents are and my response was all about how parents try their hardest and life isn't always so simple as a preteen may think it is. So that was exciting. Today we had the "tea" where no tea was served. A parent was supposed to attend with their child to "discuss the books and what we've learned." It was fine, and she didn't totally ignore me at the "tea". I'm glad I made the effort to go, actually.

Right now she's "grounded" from internet, again. For getting an E (this is so stupid, like kids feel better about themselves if they get an E at school rather than an F ) on a RETAKE of a math test.

I give up.

Anyway...

In other news we took the kids out to eat last night. We decided it was time to share the news of our expanding family. We had to wake Luke up from a nap to go, which is always pleasant. Kate was complaining hard core about everything in life, specifically math and her family. Isabel and Steven were along for the ride, not causing any trouble, as usual. So we got to the end of the dinner, and Mac decided to tell the kids about the baby...

Kate just started flipping out. "I can't believe you're doing this. You guys are ruining my life! I am NOT sharing my room!" (Glad that's cleared up. We were really going to put an infant in the basement with Kate, while we sleep blissfully on the 3rd floor... I guess we can't do that now! ) Anyway, her response was just what I thought it would be. It did hurt Mac's feelings. He still remembers her being all sweet and excited for the twins' arrival, and somewhat interested for Luke's... As soon as we got home from dinner, one of her friends called, and even though she's grounded, she answered and had enough time to tell her the terrrrrible news. "My life is over! I've been crying since I got home from the restaurant!" Now the rumor of MY pregnancy is "all over the school- the whole 6th grade knows it!" Oh, the scandal! The intrigue!

The twins were excited, though. They marked the due date on their calendars with stickers, and Steven decided that we'd have a party for the baby the day after the due date. Anything to get ice cream! Isabel thinks the baby should be a girl, because "we've already had a baby boy." (That would be Luke.) Steven thinks the baby should be a boy, because "we have lots of Thomas toys." (This is very true...)

Luke... didn't really get it. This transition will definitely be the hardest on him. He doesn't want to "get bigger", and he still refers to himself as the baby. He starts crying if you tell him he's growing up. "I don't want to grow up!!!" Smart kid.

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: blog is a funny word

I have to take control of Kate's math progress, again. Goodbye relaxing time I used to have after I put the kids to bed. Now I get to engage in math wars again. Her getting help from her teacher just isn't working out. Kate is so lazy. She just won't struggle through the math. It drives me nuts. I asked her if it bothers her to get an F (I will not call them E's anymore-- I object) on a test? And she says, "no." Then she spazzes out about how she has A's in her other classes, and why can't I just leave her alone, etc., etc.

*sigh sigh sigh*

So she is in 6th grade. Next year she is taking Algebra. Algebra will count on her high school transcript. So will her spanish class. I really hope that she grows up, and grows up a lot, in the next few months. It could get very ugly.

The thing about her is that I start to wonder if there is something chemically wrong. And then just about when I decide she really can't do the math, I will get some standardized test result (the school here is in LOVE with standardized tests) and her English assessments put her in the 99th percentile nationwide, the math in the upper 80s or low 90s. So.... it's just the chronic underachiever thing... I don't get it. I was the chronic OVERachiever. My friends and I would check the grades weekly to see who was on top, and we'd gun for that person. We'd beg our teachers for extra credit assignments. It was my goal throughout high school to go into finals week with an average high enough so that I could get a D on the final and still get an A in the class. I just can not relate to someone who "doesn't care" if she gets a D or an F. It does not compute.

And then yesterday I forced her to do her review worksheet for a huge test in math coming up on Tuesday. I explained how to analyze the story problems, and gave her an example written out, and she did all the problems without any trouble. They weren't that easy. Some of the problems made me scratch my head... I *know* she can do it. I just don't *believe* she cares enough. I told her that if she gets a "C" at the end of the semester she's done at this school. I'll move her to the one that's closer to our house. This school is a lot of fun (too much fun), with a lot of field trips (too many field trips), and a lot of opportunities for socializing (too many), but since she's not in the "special magnet" for math, she's expected to be a regular student and get her stuff done. This school is great, I guess, sometimes, but she needs to focus... Like it or not, math is "one of those classes"... You just have to do it.

Ugggh. Math wars.