We had a great shower

Greyson and I wanted to thank those of you who made it to our baby shower. We really were glad you could all make the long trip to be there to celebrate with us. Everyone was so generous. I still have 2 more bags of things to go through from the shower but it looks like we are just about ready for these babies. Ready in terms of supplies that is. Mentally we still need at least another month to prepare. And I especially want to thank Jenn and Brian for doing all the work to host the shower. You did a huge amount of work and we really, really appreciated it. Jenn especially looked wiped out when she finally got us all out the door.

This 3 day weekend was nice. I spent a few hours yesterday laying out on a mat in the shade reading a book. All three cats joined me. Greyson has been busy enjoying the sun by going for runs with Ada, learning how to windsurf and taking long bike rides. I get fairly envious as I sit on the couch and watch him leave but he shouldn't have to give up his life just because I am stuck on the couch.

My father said he was going to come back up to help with some jobs around the house. I will have to get my "to do" list updated. And I know Jenn has some things on her list like powerwashing her deck.

Well I hope you all are enjoying the sun and survive the last few weeks of school. Many of you will be off for the summer before you know it. (then you can be up here helping me)

Mel

Frying Chicken (from Mom/Jan)

Yes, I know it is unhealthy, but I feel every American-blooded woman should know how -- and maybe a few men. Anyway, I tried frying chicken this weekend, and it was a big mess with very poor results. Any cooking hints out there?

Hanging in there

I talked to Melanie this afternoon, and she's hanging in there. Babies are at 30 weeks tomorrow.

Only 3 weeks of school left, not that I'm counting.

Went to Costco to buy meat for barbecued short ribs on Sunday, but they had none. I'm trying to come up with plan B.

XOXOXO
Mom

you're invited

All family and friends are invited to celebrate Melanie and Greyson’s baby shower this Sunday at 1:30.  Please join us. 

We are planning to barbecue and have a few games for the kids. 

No words needed for our Noah

bedrest upgraded

Well I had another ultrasound today to check if things were progressing, hoping the answer would be no. Unfortunately things were slightly worse than last week so I am now on full bed rest with getting up only to use the bathroom, get a drink of water or a snack or to move to the couch. I am also now on medicine all the time to slow down and lessen any contractions. Now it is just one day at a time. My primary goal is to make it to 32 weeks- so 3 weeks and 1 day to go.

I shouldn't be left alone with the internet anymore. All I do if find horror stories of babies born early and all the problems they have. I need to try to get back to doing some work but it is hard to get focused on that.

Aunt Sharron called me up yesterday and said they were having a garage sale tomorrow with all of her and Kim's baby items. I could come look through all of the baby stuff before the sale and have any of her items that I wanted. I was going to take her up on it before I got derailed. But I think Jenn if going over after work tomorrow and see if anything is left that I would like.

Greyson has been pretty good to me, bringing home dinner, getting me popsicles, filling my water. He is definately earning his keep lately.

That is all, hopefully I won't have anything to report for awhile,

Mel

My new dogs

I have two new small dogs, a Westie and another Fox Terrier. I have named the Westie "Molly" and came up with the name of "Lucy" for the Fox Terrier. If you would like to see these cute dogs you will have to travel to our home in Sweet Home. Mom is training them not to jump up indiscrimatly and I am working on stopping them from barking at strange noises or our next door neighbors. I made sure to get shock collars and check them often; so far they are learning the yard boundaries very well. I have placed food and water in two spots because Charlie was a little possessive at first. I have been trying to get "Lucy" to fetch, but so far she won't bring the ball all the way back. Charlie taught Lucy to race around the big trees, splash thru the creek and complete the circuit crossing the bridge. They did this around 3 times. Molly is sweet but very short. She likes to be near me; in fact she is laying at my feet under the computer desk as I type this. Whenever I am on my knees pulling weeds she is right by me while my two Fox Terriers are roaming the rock garden. All of my pets seem to really enjoy the sunshine and the large yard. I have noticed that several of my lilies have been flattened. It is getting late so I will put my puppies to bed, strap on the CPAP mask and call it a day. Love to all, Dad.

Sweet Home News (from Mom)

We are grand-dog sitting this week for the Porters, so there are 3 small white dogs running around the place. When I volunteered to do this, Traci neglected to mention that one of the dogs is in heat! Haven't seen any neighbor dogs in the vicinity so I really think she probably is over it. Charlie is having fun bossing the other two around. We had a wet spot on the carpet the first night, but Mollie has been sleeping in the kennel since then. The other two are good sleepers.

Our lawnmower broke so we shall be ready to bale hay by next week when its supposed to be fixed. We are having wonderful warm weather so everything is growing extra fast.

This has been a busy week for me with 3 work evenings--board meeting on Monday, Parent internet safety meeting on Thursday, and our big parent-teacher club auction on Friday. And this weekend I need to get my first draft of that grant finished so I can start the editing and revising stage.

I have written the pregnancy weeks on my calendar so I can keep track of when we (the royal "we", but in actually just Melanie) get to 37. There are lots of birthdays in June and July so I wonder if she'll hit one of them: Tucker, Grandma Far Away, Greyson, Traci, Anita, Brian, Joanne and Gabe. Better odds than the lottery. Chris is definitely the long shot on August 8.

If you get tired of the view from your couch, Melanie, you can always come down here for a week and watch the view from my couch. There is a lounge chair on the deck.

Grandma Far Away has lots of pretty flowers on her deck and front porch/yard this year. I really like the hanging baskets that are in nurseries this time -- lots of different combinations of flowers. Mine are small white flowers with just a dash of red petunias. My strawberries are getting bigger but still very green. Our tomato plants must have set down roots because they are growing. Wish I had a spot for some corn.

Enough rambling.

Dean family update

First off- Melanie you better be on the couch reading this!

Secondly- I got asked to do the magnet science position yesterday.  So I have to decide by tomorrow morning.  It’s an extra .2 which would be as much as both volleyball and basketball coaching combined…and less time away from my kids.  So I’m leaning towards saying yes.  I’m still upset that it took them a month to ask me after Susie (the other biology teacher and friend of mine)  turned her letter in about taking a year off.  I was already scheduled to take on the 9^th graders for the second year of the science/math magnet- and Susie and I were going to develop all  the curriculum for the position this summer…so it isn’t a huge change…but the first year will bring a lot of stress and high expectations.  So that’s my personal news.

Brian has been busy buying bike racks and researching truck options.  It looks like we are going to upgrade the features on our old truck rather than buy a newer truck.  Our truck has had some breaking and power problems since we hooked a 30 foot trailer to it.  We got a big scare on our last trip when Brian lost control of the trailer trying to pass a semi- and the trailer started to fish tail- sending the truck back and forth.  We were all frightened…except the girls who were both sound asleep in their car seats.

Emma is growing into quite the young lady—very bossy- don’t know where she gets that from.  She is very inquisitive and is always full of questions.  She’s the only one who wants to spend time with me in my classroom- and asks to see the dead animals in the fridge and spends time looking through all my insect vials.  I need to teach her how to use a microscope. 

Kalena has taken to removing her diaper as soon as she is wet or dirty- so I think this is a potty training time signal.  I’m looking forward to summer and a chance to get her out of diapers and consistently to a toilet.  No more children in diapers- soon- I think I should throw a party. 

Nicholas is headed to Oaks park today for a field trip.  He still spends hours drawing.  He’s really a quiet and caring kid….well at least to everyone but his brother.  He’s enjoying his position on safety patrol at the school.  Tomorrow night we go to the middle school for the informational meeting- its hard to believe he will be going to dances next year. 

Gabe is getting all A’s in school- he’s a wonder and a challenge as usual.  He’s definitely still my cuddly kid, that evaluates the world around him and is upset with the ruining of the environment.  I’m hoping I can get all four of them more involved with leaving a smaller footprint on the planet.  

Well I come in early on Wednesdays to get extra work done.  So I better get started on it.  I still haven’t had time to mail off pictures…and the pictures of the boys aren’t due in until the 17^th.  The boys have ball games and practice Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Sunday I’m going to do a little baby item shopping for my sister…who should still be on the couch reading this.

Take care.  Lots of love. Jenn. 

where is everyone?

Well my doctor told me that he wants me done with work and on the couch for the rest of the pregnancy. I have decided that I will continue to work from home and do as much as I can from my laptop from the couch but will otherwise take it easy. I am the only one at my work available to do the work I had been planning on doing these next couple months so I can't very well just ditch them out of the blue.

I talked to my father this afternoon and it sounds like he and the Porter's have been extremely busy getting their house ready to sell. I know Traci hasn't been checking the blog very often but I hope she will get back on and give us some updates.

Greyson was busy priming all the bunkbed parts today. I watched. It was a hot sweaty job but someone had to do it. Someone other than me that is.

The entire outdoors at our house smells of lilacs. It is quite nice.
-Mel

I need to remember some spice....

Well I decided today to pack a just in case overnight bag to leave in my car for those unexpected hospital admissions. And I will make sure to sneak in some sort of Mrs. Dash or some type of seasoning to liven up that bland hospital food.

Well as you may have guessed I had another brief stay in the hospital. I have been having Braxton Hicks contractions fairly often for weeks now which is very common for twins. But the other night I woke up in the middle of the night with a sharp pain in my lower abdomen and was having a number of contractions. By morning the sharp pain had dulled out but I called the nurse anyway to report my symptoms and she said it was likely just gas and to try a warm bath, some tums and it should all be fine. But by 3pm it still wasn't gone and I was having dull pain in my lower back and the contractions were still fairly constant. So another call to the nurse, a different more friendly one this , I was called into the hospital for evaluation. The monitors determined I had a "irritated uterus". They were about to ship me out the door to just take it easy when they checked the fetal fibronectin test and it came back positive. That test means you have a 25% chance of giving birth in the next 2 weeks. So as to not take any chances I was admitted and given a round of steroids to mature the babies lungs just in case. I did have some more painful contractions start and they gave me some drugs to slow those down. They did an ultrasound and the babies look really great. They were around 3.5lbs each at just under 28 weeks which is great. The other thing they did was measure my cervical length and it was 2.1 cm which was not great but not horrible. If it had been under 2 they would have made me stay in the hospital but I managed to just make the grade and was discharged the next day. I am on bed rest until Tuesday when I have my next appointment and they determine what I can an can't do and make sure nothing more is progressing. I would really like to make it to at least 34 weeks when pre-term babies tend to do really well but even at the size they are now they could still do quite well. So I am hoping for the best and am hanging out on the couch while Greyson babies me. I am not sure how this will all work out with work and using up all my sick leave early but at least I have great insurance that we have really been putting to the test this year. So bottom line is things are alright at the moment and I could still go full term.

What else... My mother and grandma far-away are coming up for Mother's day. We were going to go to a mother's day brunch but now they will have to settle for hanging out at the house and maybe getting some good pinochle games in. I just need to get Greyson to set up the living room so I can play cards from the couch. Jenn is also going to stop by tomorrow and we are going to do some online shopping for baby supplies that I am still needing. We were going to head over to babies 'r us but I think shopping trips will not be in my future.

I hope everyone has a great mother's day. We have a family full of great women who deserve all the credit we can give them.

-Melanie

FW: happy teacher appreciation week

I thought this was cute.  It is also a great job description of a teacher. 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Wales, Karen
Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2007 10:44 AM
To: (BL) CHS Staff
Subject: happy teacher appreciation week

 

From a fellow teacher to all my peers here at CHS,

Have you heard about the next planned “Survivor “ show? Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped on an island for 6 weeks with a copy of their school district’s curriculum and 28 kids each.  Each class has 5 learning disabled children, 3 with ADHD, 1 gifted and 2 who speak limited English.  Three have been labeled as severe behavior problems.  There is no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch. Each business person must complete lesson plans, modify accordingly, teach the kids, handle misconduct, implement boys’ town training, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, write lesson plans, complete report cards and benchmarks, communicate with parents, have conferences with parents, sell tickets at athletic events, chaperone dances, supervise hallways.  The business people only have access to the golf course on the weekends and they can’t afford it anyway on their new salary.  The business people must continually advance their education on their own time,  which they must pay for themselves either by moonlighting at a second job or marrying someone with a lot of money.  They must attend workshops; complete drills for fires, tornados and shooting attacks; and tutor those that are behind.  They cannot let it show when they are having a bad day, must always be prepared and must incorporate reading, writing in their lessons,  get their students prepared and proficient enough to take the WASL and ITBS tests, and provide a stimulating environment at all times.  The kids and parents vote them off the island based on performance.  The winner gets to got back to his corporate job.

It is a pleasure to serve with such a fine group or “Survivors” and I appreciate all you do for my son here at CHS.

Karen Wales

American Sign Language Teacher

 

6 month update

Well here is your 6 month picture. I might not look much bigger than the last picture but I sure feel large. I have just over 2 months left if everything goes according to plan.

The weather has been beautiful and plants are all going nuts. Not too many flowers out yet except all the lilacs that are just starting to bloom. There were a few hundred spider babies on one of our screen doors this afternoon and Greyson found a bunch of caterpillars crawling around inside the workout room. Apparently sugar ants invaded while we were gone. All but a few stragglers seem to have died from the ant bait put out.

I save a couple shrews, voles and mice from the cats each day. Luckily the cats like to play with them for a long time so I have a chance to save them before they get killed.

I think that is all of the small talk I have.
-Mel

dean's will not be able to attend

I’m headed out for a workshop north of Seattle.  We returned from our trip to Cape Disappointment- I really like this state park.  I’m hoping I can talk my family members in reserving several sites this summer or next year- I’m looking at the one with a yurt in spot 91…and the rest are primitive camp sites.  The campsite is great for bike riding, clamming, cliff climbing, beach walking, etc.  Anyway- we enjoyed our trip- just wished it had been longer…also was a little sad at all the garbage on the beach- we started to bring garbage bags to the beach- I will bring bigger ones the next time I go.  Lots of plastic lids and shotgun shells…L All family and friends are invited to join the next camping adventure- Brian has the last week in June off- so we’ve made reservations at the Pacific Beach State Park.  We’re on one of the sites that has a view of the ocean- near or on sand. 

Real quick update

Boys are in baseball- pictures will be sent this weekend- I hope.

Emma is quite the talker- always trying out new big words and mimicking her brothers.

Kalena is getting tall- she’s a brute and can take her sister down to the ground anytime.

Well got to run.

Mother's Day (from Mom/Janice)

Next Sunday is Mother's Day. My children and their families are all officially invited to come for the weekend if you are up for the drive. I know it is a very long way, so I understand if you can't make it or are visiting other mothers. Mothers and mother-in-laws are invited as well. I hope the good weather holds until then.

Noah Phillip

More baby pictures.. Michelle and Christopher made a trip to Chicago to see the new nephew.. It probably will not surprise anyone if Grandma buys Noah's parents a new Web Cam.. It will help us stay connected.

color

character

One of the highlights of our trip so far, was this guy.

We sat down beneath the canopied bird enclosure to watch him puree a small mouse with his bill, which was decidedly ill-suited for the purpose, for about 5 minutes before finally swallowing it whole. It made our eyes water just watching him.

The moment he was done, in came a group of folks, including a stroller carrying a toddler. The toddler evidently wanted to grab and chase the bird, and the mom lifted him out of the stroller so that he could do so. As the toddler came close and his hands out, the bird immediately tucked his head, puffed his chest, and ran a quick circle around the kid, who immediately burst into tears, scared and isolated by the move. The display worked very well, as if this problem had arisen many times before. As the child cried, the bird simply stood there next to him. The rest of us, content to just watch the animal, laughed heartily, as the mom, a little indignant, carried the kid away to safety. We shared a bit of a high-five after that. The bird, shown here is photographed shortly after the attack.

Vacation

Well we are having a great time here in San Diego. Our hotel is everything we were hoping it would be. You never know when you book something over Expedia whether it will really be like you planned when you get there. But our hotel is the nicest that I have ever stayed at, which isn't saying too much, and is right on the beach and we have a partial view oceanfront view, which surprisingly does have a great view of the ocean from the balcony. The rooms are large and we ended up with 2 queen sized beds which actually works out great since I sleep with about 50 pillows around me at night being pregnant and all. So we each took got our own bed (hey, this isn't a honeymoon). There is a large flat panel plasma TV, a robe to wear, they turn down our bed while we are at dinner and leave chocolates on the pillow. Greyson makes sure to enjoy the wine happy hour where they serve all sorts of alcohol for free down by the patio/pool area. We made a large mistake yesterday however. It was the first really warm sunny day and we sat by the pool reading books, swimming and having drinks brought to us every half hour. And after about 3 hours we were pretty much fried. The only sunscreen I had with us was my Oil of Olay and I think that just washed off with the first swim I took. But I feel a bit better this morning. But the hotel is lovely and I would recommend it if you can get a good price like we did. I think it goes for around $415/night if you book with the hotel but I know we only paid around $180 or so through expedia and to us the extra touches and oceanfront location were completely worth it and made the stay.

So far we have done lots of eating, visited the zoo and wild animal park, visited wine country where Greyson did some wine tasting, explored the boardwalk, relaxed poolside, etc. Today we are going to Sea World and then somewhere fun for dinner and we return home tomorrow. This has really been a great vacation and really the first real one since we have been married (almost 8 years by the way). Well, I think it is time to go down and have breakfast while we watch the surfers do there thing.

Hey, I did notice one weird thing while I was here, the seagulls don't make that awful racket like they do on the Oregon coast. It is really strange.

-Mel

Sickie (from Mom)

I appear to be cursed this year with a weak immune system. I have caught another cold, and this one is a doozy (sp? You know what I mean.) Anyway, I think I am over the worst of it (can't breave frue my node) and heading into the annoying nose blowing and coughing segment. I am sure I am better because tonight I unloaded/reloaded the dishwasher, put away clean clothes and started another load, made a pitcher of orange juice, and took out the garbage. The past two days I sent from chair to bed.

I can't believe my sister - who has very interesting things she has e-mailed her mother about - has not blogged any of it. Hint: Includes a new riding lawn mower and antiques.

Melanie and Greyson are in San Diego. Not quite the warm weather forecast they were hoping for, but plenty of sunshine. I understand Greyson took his laptop with him so I am expecting news on their trip as well. Yet, so far nothing. Hmmmmm. . . Hope they didn't end up in Arkansas like Jennifer and Brian did on their last trip.

Grandpa is dog and cat sitting in Stevenson. I've tried calling twice but no answer. He is either out watching the dogs play or napping. Its an even bet.

I got 4 hanging baskets for the deck. I think they are quite beautiful with small white flowers and some dark red accent ones. I think Dad would have preferred something much more colorful and showy. You can vote when you visit.

It seems very quiet here with neither a husband nor dog. The cats come and go but are pretty much quiet. Well, Will sometimes wails, but not often.

Isn't it also about time for new photos of Noah. They change so quickly when the are newborn. He's probably grown a beard by now.

Hope all is well with y'all. Wash your hands after you read this.