To know or not to know, that is the question!

We finally made the decision. We are NOT going to find out the sex of the baby before the baby comes. It will make the delivery day that much more special, and maybe help me keep my mind off the pain! :) But we have heard some interesting theories!
Theory 1:
Look at the father of the child and how many siblings he has. Which ever one there are more of is what the first baby will be. So Bryan has 5 kids in his family. 3 boys and 2 girls. So that is making it seem like its gonna be a boy!
Theory 2:
An old wives tales says the baby's heartbeat while in utero can tell you the sex of the baby. If the heart beat is less than 140 than it is a boy, and if it is above 140 than it is a girl. Well, our baby's heart was 168 at our last check-up and that is making it seem like its gonna be a girl!
So those are the theories we've seen so far...do you know any more you want to share and in October we'll see which ones come true and which don't!

Redhead or Brunette?

Big news! We are going to be parents! I am due the beginning of October, and and we are so excited about it!! We were playing around with a website, and put in pictures of us and they made a composite to see what our baby could look like. Cute huh! I definitely think that Redhead is the way to go! :) But I'll love any color, even green!



We don't know if we want to know what sex it is before it comes so whenever it is that we find out is when you'll find out! Wish us luck! :)

Cellphone MANIA!!!

I teach 5th grade, and I run into such problems with CELLPHONES!! I teach 10 and 11 year olds and these kids are over run with cellphones!! I have had problems with kids at school and cellphone ranging from such things as pornography to death threats!! All on my student's cellphones! Let me reiterate one more time, I TEACH 5th GRADERS!!! Does this not seem a little much to be giving a 10 year old a cellphone and unlimited texting and just think they are going to know how to handle everything that comes their way. This is the new aspect of parenting that parents are forgetting! You have to explicitly teach your kids cellphone "rights and wrongs" Am I the only one who thinks it is plain CRAZY to give a 5th grader their own cellphone!?! Vent with me if you will.....

Books! Books! The Magical Fruit!

So I have decided that when I read a good book I need to tell people! As a teacher I am exposed to a lot of great literature, and some not so great (BORING!) But as I come across books that I love I am going to tell you all about them!
This has been my latest. Children of the Dust Bowl, The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp. This books centers mainly on the unknown tale of the "Okies" of Southern California. John Steinbeck wrote an amazing (and disturbing) book called the Grapes of Wrath after visiting this Weedpatch Camp, he pulled his story from the real life suffering of these people. During the Depression there was a huge migration of "Okies" or people from Oklahoma (from the Pan Handle) to California. They were going through a terrible drought in the Dust Bowl Area, which included parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico. People were losing their farms, and living through horrifying dust storms. California was promising jobs and opportunity for anyone and everyone who came. But it was a lie. As these people, the Okies, came to California they found no jobs, no help, and hate and scorn. They were considered the lowest of the low, and were starving as surplus food was burned infront of their eyes. They were called "Okies" as a kind of derogetory name. The horrible the kinds of conditions the book talked about them living through was shocking, and this was in the United States, less than a hundred years ago!! It was appaling to me! But through the hard work of a good man, and many others things changed. They built a school when no one wanted them and made something better of themselves.
This is an amazing read! I read it less than an hour, so its not too long. I'm no amazing speed reader! But as we talked about this book with others from my school that had grown up in California, they knew nothing of this! They were not taught this part of their states history. I don't blame them, it's not something to be proud of. But they should be proud of all the amazing people that came out of that camp, and eventually the school that was built there. If you need a great inspirational true story of human spirit and have a spare hour, this is a great way to spend it! I have a copy so borrow away!

Life's Little Joys

We live in the basement of our house. As with all Basement living, it can get COLD!! I am not one for cold, and my husband knows this. He bought me the coolest Christmas Present, it is called a Snuggie, which is basically a blanket with sleeves! It is the best!! Well, if we don't turn the heat up during the day, my bedroom gets quite nippy and it is like jumping in between sheets of ice when we climb into bed. Bryan, the warm hearted one, LOVES it, and so I try to leave the heat down, and just use blankets. (It also saves money) But every night I climb into bed and shiver for a few minutes until my body warmth has warmed up my blankets. Tonight I caught my amazingly thoughtful and kind husband doing something a little weird! I came in to go to bed, and he was using my blow dryer to heat up the sheets and blankets on my side of the bed! I was one of the sweetest, kindest, oddest thing he's ever done for me. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again, isn't he the best!?!!! By the way, it is one of life's little joys to jump into a nice and toasty warm bed. If you haven't tried it, YOU SHOULD! :)