liza bean
I finally did it. Out with my camera, click, snap---, what?? Nothing. So apparently batteries don't last more than 6 years -even the lithium kind. I had the perfect shot too. Beautiful light basking a sleeping Amia, who was all snuggled up against her napping mother. On to other hobbies until I make it to a camera shop for the itsy bitsy baderiiiz. (Please note: I'm just exploring wacky spellings, it's fun!)
Wednesday had me tied up with the book entitled Wicked. It was indeed wicked (read in Northeastern dialect please). It had been awhile - reading an actual novel. I liked it! It wet my appetite for lazy summer reading just in time for the vacation days to come. The book itself made me sad. It was a book about the Wicked Witch of the West and how she came to be. I've always had a fascination with witches from these fairy tale stories. For those who didn't know me in my younger days, I played a wicked witch in the 5th grade musical. My friend was mad because I got the part even though I didn't use a witch voice. My take on the matter - this witch wasn't all cackles and evil. She was just cranky from being wisked away from her home so suddenly (I could relate!), and I read the part that way. I love "evil" characters that have depth to them. In Wicked, the Wicked Witch of the West had depth my friends! So that I liked. What I did not care for was the way the book tended to revolve around acts of adultery. Boo. Hiss.
Signing off,
Liza "the Wickedy Witch" Falconer
I should really be sleeping. Aaah, but I'm not. I've been blessed these last few couple days with being allowed to practically camp out at the Allmarts. I suppose you could say I've been helping out- I've cooked, dabbled in a little baby laundry, made a "Keeping track of Amia" chart to help organize my tiny neice's poop'n/pee'n/eat'n/andpoop'n again schedule but most of all I just stare at that little "love song" until my eyes go cross-eyed. And then her eye's do and that's just darling. When I'm not over there- which, mind you, is rather rare- staring at her with puppy eyes or rocking her to sleep or just plain holding her while she sleeps -I'm at home sleeping or busy talking Brent's ear off with "oh my goodness, isn't she just perfect!?". So now I'll get it all out via the blog venue. Today was super special in this auntie experience. Suzanne let me comfort Amia during a brief fussy period and it really helped boost my confidence with this whole calming a baby thing.
First of all, let me tell you that this baby is a rooting feign. She, naturally, roots when she's hungry but she also roots when she has just fed and is tired or if she has just fed and her belly hurts. You know when a fuss is about to come because she starts opening her mouth, turning her head, and sucks madly at the open air. So I began to anticipate- ooh she's sucking my arm, time to bounce; ooh she's scrunching up her face like a vacuum's sucking everything in toward those puckering lips -time to sway and bounce. Oh my, she's tired of the swaying and bouncing- football hold. Now that was a moment for me because two days ago I was too nervous to hold her standing up but now, switch positions while bouncing and swaying? No problem! And then she began to fall asleep. That light sleep (yeah, I can actually tell the difference!): when she does those sleepy baby smiles, when her eyes flutter beneath those pink eyelids. And then slowly, ever so slowly, and after increments of gentle rocking followed by stillness, she enters the wonderful realm of deep sleep. And deep sleep is good. Deep sleep is when Auntie Liza gets to sit down, put her feet up, and stare at one relaxed and content baby while Suzanne and Husayn can relax as well.
When I first saw Suzanne after the baby was born, when I saw how strong she had been, I thought "oh my goodness, I could never do this". But after spending so much time with this new family I look forward to a time when Brent and I can start our own. It will be awhile yet but thanks so much to the Allmart family for letting me be so involved these last few days. It's meant the world to me.
Oh my. What a beautiful, healthy baby. She makes these tiny elephant noises that make me squeal with delight. Yesterday I got to hold her. TWICE. Does life really get any better than that? Last night, when Anya and I arrived home from the hospital we thought "my goodness, every moment we love her even more!" All she has to do is open those dark radiant eyes, stick out that tiny pink tongue and it's over. Our hearts are melted. Imagine what will happen when she starts smiling. And tomorrow Tia Katie will get to meet her for the first time! Aaah. Life is good. Check out Husayn's blog
Well, no baby yet. My mind is no longer on this heightened "the baby might come in minute !" mode which helps me mentally allow myself to reside back to my usual schedule of lesson planning, report writing, and therapy sessions. Ooh, it's humid. Sticky weather is not to my liking, I need to go swimming at some point today. Luckily, we have a nice breeze coming in through the one window in our home that has a screen in decent condition. Brent cleaned house yesterday -yippee! And I cooked dinner and we had some friends over. I was thinking of inviting people over today but better yet, perhaps I will invite myself over to someone's house with air conditioning! More for their sake than for mine. Once you live in the bliss of cool air it might be difficult to adjust to my home's jungle-esque atmosphere. Really, it's not that bad. I just like to exaggerate - it's more fun!
Aaah...just a few days/week(?!) and Amia will present herself. I can't wait to see my whole family all together to witness this special moment. Or, rather, hear about the special moment from the proud mama and papa a little bit after the moment. I'm so much looking forward to seeing Suzanne and Husayn hold their little baby, to see her with her grandparents. And it's rather strange to go about the day wondering "when is she coming?". I can't even imagine what Suzayn must be feeling! Aah the excitement!!
Among other things, rice milk and mac -n- cheese - not the best combination. We don't buy milk because Brent's allergic or something and I find myself being rather adventerous with using its substitutions. Usually all is well but today, I discovered that mac-n-cheese is not quite how I like it with the ricey rice milk -especially the vanilla variety.
Well, back to waiting.
the boy who later in life became my husband
So as Brent and I approach our one year anniversery I've done a lot of thinking about our life together and our relationship before marriage. And then I came across the poem in which I proposed to him. His answer, by the way, was "no -not yet", and I saved a little face with "Oh, yeah, I'm not ready yet either". And then two months later we had consent and were looking forward to a summer wedding. The following poem is a fun combination of corny and sweet:
The Question
Grey smoke within an emeral room,
a spark ignites from deep within,
here we have your eyes.
They see the deepest ocean blue,
a twinkle in the midnight sky,
with you I'm never shy.
One question, my baby blues
will ask your smoky greens,
Brent, love, will you marry me?
Heeheehee. Well, off to bed.
Last night I was working on my resume and I was thinking. I've always been told to try to stand out -in a good way- by mentioning a unique skill or experience that I've had. And then there's always that column of "activities" or "membership" and I have nothing! And what's so frustrating is that I don't just sit around doing nothing...I do a lot of Baha'i things. And those activities illustrate qualities that employers are looking for: leadership, organizational skills, enthusiasm, service to your community, flexibilty, creativity...man. But I'm not allowed to mention my affiliation with a religious organization because employers might be judgemental. Oh well! At least I've had those experiences and have learned a lot from them.
Speaking of those activities. I nearly cried at children's classes. From joy! I was talking to the kids about what protection means. And we played this game where the kids all dressed up into animal costumes - a little spat broke out about who would get to be the deer but luckily Billy jumped in and nicely resolved the situation- and I was the "sneak" and tried to steal all their food. We have awesome wooden "toy" food. Well, at first I was an easy "sneak". I didn't try super hard to steal the lose wooden apple that had stumbled out of one of the kid's hands, but then I did try hard and the animals lost a precious apple and pear. Then, the moment: where as before they each grabbed some food and cowered over their own pile, they now began to put the food into a very large pile and all worked together to protect all the food. At it worked! Without me even having to be an easy "sneak". Okay, so what was so awesome about that moment? They problem solved and decided to work together all on their OWN. With none of my usual promptings. I was so proud of them. I now wish I had showered them with even more glee but I think they got the idea.
For me the significance of that moment is grand. Part of my struggle as a teacher is to see those teachable moments and to see those moments that illustrate a virtue so clearly. And I'm excited because I'm beginning to see the fruits of experience from working with these children. They have taught me to see virtue in those little moments.
So Fed Ex is whipping Brent's bootay. He had to go to the doctor earlier this week for an chest x-ray and has been scheduled for an asthma test for mid-July. Poor guy can't get enough air, and when you can't get enough air it's tricky business trying to move 1050 boxes within the hour -some of which weighing up to 80 lbs. So he may need to go on another job hunt soon, we'll just have to see. On the plus side, his gig with Fed Ex fits his sleep cycle nicely.
I am very pleased with myself. Last night could have been another 4:00 in the morning disaster, but no! I started early and ended at 2:00 am. Progress has been made, my friends, progress has been made. Although this Friday still did require the weekly dose of catch up on missing sleep from the previous week. Baby steps. My life is full of baby steps. And school is NOT, for once, whipping my bootay.
My friend Katie has just returned from Hawaii and has informed me that Hawaii is twice the place Florida could ever be. (Okay, so those weren't her exact words- but you get the idea). Now that blew my mind. I've only ever been to Florida once and that was paradise; somewhere better? Now that's unbelievable. And yes, this illustrates very clearly how very little I've seen of the world outside of the midwestern states of the US. The benefit of being a mid-westerner is that you are contininously in awe of what to many people, may just seem like rather ordinary natural masterpieces. Aaah, the joys of landlocked and flat land are endless, are they not?