Lately, it feels like all I do during the day is read books and look at baby stuff. Not that I'm complaining. I enjoy both activities. For those who are curious, the books that I've read are Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, 1984, and the Hunger Games series. All were good books and I would recommend them. If there weren't so many books that I've finished in the past month, I'd write a review of each, but that would take too long.
As far as baby stuff goes, we've decided to name the baby David Michael. He loves to wiggle and kick it seems. On Saturday, he apparently decided to show off and gave lots of big kicks to show his daddy what he was capable of. I think Ashton was impressed and for good reason.
We've been slowly gathering baby things. We've had a stroller and car seat for a while. We bought baby clothes and some blankets, although I would like more baby quilts. Buying baby clothes is a little difficult since we have no idea how big David will be, but we've got our bases covered. In any case, it feels like we've made some progress on getting ready for David's arrival. It's been nice to slowly collect things rather than getting it all at once right before the baby comes.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Public Schools
Ashton and I have had several discussions over the years, and particularly lately, about public schools. We had different experiences growing up in the public school system, which have led to different opinions on what's best for our kids. We do agree, however, that public schools today have many things wrong with them.
Some of the biggest problems with today's public school system come from this increasing argument that things should be fair. I don't mean fair as in students not cheat on tests, or anything like that. No, I mean fair as in everything should be equal. One school went so far as to say that kids in an AP class couldn't use any outside resource for homework. They were also not allowed to discuss homework or what they learned in class with anyone, including parents. (Click here for the story.) Why would they do this? Their excuse is that it's not fair for some students who don't have as many resources as other kids do.
What these teachers don't seem to grasp is that life isn't fair. Some students don't have as many people or resources to fall back on, but that's a good thing in some ways. It means that they'll have to work harder, which will make them stronger. They will learn to compensate for what they don't have with what they do have. Why would you hold back a class from using their brains and creativity merely because some aren't as fortunate as others? It's the worst kind of pity, because it's damaging. You will not only teach the students that aren't as fortunate that they should expect to have their hand held through every difficult situation, but you will also keep other students from learning to their full capacity. If you want to actually help those kids who are behind or struggling, help the kids gain access to the resources. Make yourself more available if possible, or suggest they use the library, or suggest that students pair up to work on assignments.
Certainly, it's not all schools or all teachers who exclaim the need for fairness in classrooms, but it does seem to be an ever growing concern. There are people protesting various political issues exclaiming the want for fairness or equality between everyone. There are also people who try to make sports fair by bizarre methods. I've never heard or seen anything quite like this. Life is only fair in that every person can make what they can from it. I may not have the same opportunities as my next door neighbor, but that doesn't make me worse off. It just makes my life different.
I won't get into the other things that drive me nuts about the public school system. Sorry for the rant, but I feel much better!
Some of the biggest problems with today's public school system come from this increasing argument that things should be fair. I don't mean fair as in students not cheat on tests, or anything like that. No, I mean fair as in everything should be equal. One school went so far as to say that kids in an AP class couldn't use any outside resource for homework. They were also not allowed to discuss homework or what they learned in class with anyone, including parents. (Click here for the story.) Why would they do this? Their excuse is that it's not fair for some students who don't have as many resources as other kids do.
What these teachers don't seem to grasp is that life isn't fair. Some students don't have as many people or resources to fall back on, but that's a good thing in some ways. It means that they'll have to work harder, which will make them stronger. They will learn to compensate for what they don't have with what they do have. Why would you hold back a class from using their brains and creativity merely because some aren't as fortunate as others? It's the worst kind of pity, because it's damaging. You will not only teach the students that aren't as fortunate that they should expect to have their hand held through every difficult situation, but you will also keep other students from learning to their full capacity. If you want to actually help those kids who are behind or struggling, help the kids gain access to the resources. Make yourself more available if possible, or suggest they use the library, or suggest that students pair up to work on assignments.
Certainly, it's not all schools or all teachers who exclaim the need for fairness in classrooms, but it does seem to be an ever growing concern. There are people protesting various political issues exclaiming the want for fairness or equality between everyone. There are also people who try to make sports fair by bizarre methods. I've never heard or seen anything quite like this. Life is only fair in that every person can make what they can from it. I may not have the same opportunities as my next door neighbor, but that doesn't make me worse off. It just makes my life different.
I won't get into the other things that drive me nuts about the public school system. Sorry for the rant, but I feel much better!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
More Than Halfway There!
I am now 21 weeks! I have finally gotten used to my baby belly although it still gets in the way. Thankfully, I don't bump it into things too often. I have purposefully, and gently, bumped Ashton with it. It's hard not to when you're trying to get a hug. In any case, to celebrate the halfway mark (I was going to take a picture at 20 weeks, but that didn't happen), here is a picture at 21 weeks:
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
It's a....
boy! We're so excited that we're having a little boy. (I couldn't resist saying, "I told you so" to Ashton when we saw that it was a boy.) He looks healthy and all of his organs look good. We couldn't get a good shot of his face since was sleeping with his hands in front of his face, and he was content to stay that way. The doctor tried to get him to move, but there was no persuading him.
We're naming him David Michael. It was actually nice that we had a boy's name and a girl's name picked out before I even got pregnant so we were prepared for either a boy or a girl. It took a while to agree on a middle name for David, but he's got one. David is getting more and more active it seems, or at least I'm feeling him more and more, which is good. Ashton's also has got to feel him move around, which is exciting.
We love our little boy so much already. Now it's onto buying baby stuff.
We're naming him David Michael. It was actually nice that we had a boy's name and a girl's name picked out before I even got pregnant so we were prepared for either a boy or a girl. It took a while to agree on a middle name for David, but he's got one. David is getting more and more active it seems, or at least I'm feeling him more and more, which is good. Ashton's also has got to feel him move around, which is exciting.
We love our little boy so much already. Now it's onto buying baby stuff.
Friday, October 1, 2010
What a Month
The month of September was the month of trips. We started out with a weekend trip to Utah for my freshman roommate's Open House. It was so good to see her and meet her new hubby! It was also nice to see friends and family that live out there. We had about a week to recover from that trip before going to Maine for almost 2 weeks.
It was so nice to have Ashton come with me on this trip to Maine. Usually, I'm traveling by myself and it gets stressful. It was a nice change to be able to walk around without lugging all the carry-ons with me, especially when going into the bathrooms. It was also nice to be able to have him around visiting with my family. My nieces and nephews loved having Ashton around, too. He's much more fun to climb on. It's always nice to have a new person around to try antics on.
I didn't take as many pictures as I usually do, but I did take some. My nieces and nephews are getting so big. I keep trying to tell them that they need to stay small, but they're not listening. We had a good time listening to everything they had to say though and they said some pretty funny things.
One of my nieces took to calling Ashton "Ducky." I'm not exactly sure why, but the whole ducky thing came up when I called her a "lucky ducky." She thought that was funny and kept saying "ducky" the whole night. Somehow, it became associated with Ashton and he was "Ducky" for the rest of the trip. When we went up to my other brother's house, I related the story to them and their girls overheard. So, they took great delight in calling Ashton, "Ducky," "Mr. Duck," "Mr Pig," "Peanut," as well as some other names. Ashton was a good sport about it all. It probably helps that they all called him by his actual name as well.
The other things they did or said, weren't as long lasting, but still funny. It never seems like I get to spend enough time with them. All I know is, we might be in trouble if we have a little girl. Ashton would be wrapped around her little finger in an instant.
We had such a great time seeing everyone that we could. I think we actually did a pretty good job of being able to visit with the majority of the family that we have there. Not always an easy task. The majority of the time we spent in Maine was visiting with family and catching up with some friends. We did get to go to the Common Ground Fair, which was so much fun. They had such good food there, and it was nice to walk around and see some of the things they had on display there.
I also introduced Ashton to Gifford's ice cream, which is the best ice cream ever. Ashton tried a couple different flavors and loved both of them. He tried one that was called "Maine Lobster Tracks." The description is this, "Pure Vanilla Ice cream with loads of lobster colored chocolate cups filled with a thick caramel swirled with a unique eclair crunch whirl." The funny part was when he ordered it, the lady went to scoop out the ice cream and when she came back she said, "Here's your Maine Lobster Tracks, and here's your lobster bib." Yes, she did hand him a lobster bib. We got a good laugh over that and brought the bib home with us.
Now that we're home, it's back to the daily routines. For those of you who want to know, we're finding out the gender of the baby next week. So, if you care to guess whether we're having a boy or a girl, you better get your vote in soon! We're hoping that the baby isn't feeling shy or something. It'll be nice to be able to get the pronoun right for the baby. I've been feeling the baby kick and move, which is pretty amazing although a bit strange at the same time. Ashton thinks he might have felt the baby kick, but most of the time, as soon as he puts his hand on my stomach, the baby seems to stop or moves locations. Ah well, I'm sure Ashton will get to feel the baby soon.
It was so nice to have Ashton come with me on this trip to Maine. Usually, I'm traveling by myself and it gets stressful. It was a nice change to be able to walk around without lugging all the carry-ons with me, especially when going into the bathrooms. It was also nice to be able to have him around visiting with my family. My nieces and nephews loved having Ashton around, too. He's much more fun to climb on. It's always nice to have a new person around to try antics on.
I didn't take as many pictures as I usually do, but I did take some. My nieces and nephews are getting so big. I keep trying to tell them that they need to stay small, but they're not listening. We had a good time listening to everything they had to say though and they said some pretty funny things.
One of my nieces took to calling Ashton "Ducky." I'm not exactly sure why, but the whole ducky thing came up when I called her a "lucky ducky." She thought that was funny and kept saying "ducky" the whole night. Somehow, it became associated with Ashton and he was "Ducky" for the rest of the trip. When we went up to my other brother's house, I related the story to them and their girls overheard. So, they took great delight in calling Ashton, "Ducky," "Mr. Duck," "Mr Pig," "Peanut," as well as some other names. Ashton was a good sport about it all. It probably helps that they all called him by his actual name as well.
The other things they did or said, weren't as long lasting, but still funny. It never seems like I get to spend enough time with them. All I know is, we might be in trouble if we have a little girl. Ashton would be wrapped around her little finger in an instant.
We had such a great time seeing everyone that we could. I think we actually did a pretty good job of being able to visit with the majority of the family that we have there. Not always an easy task. The majority of the time we spent in Maine was visiting with family and catching up with some friends. We did get to go to the Common Ground Fair, which was so much fun. They had such good food there, and it was nice to walk around and see some of the things they had on display there.
I also introduced Ashton to Gifford's ice cream, which is the best ice cream ever. Ashton tried a couple different flavors and loved both of them. He tried one that was called "Maine Lobster Tracks." The description is this, "Pure Vanilla Ice cream with loads of lobster colored chocolate cups filled with a thick caramel swirled with a unique eclair crunch whirl." The funny part was when he ordered it, the lady went to scoop out the ice cream and when she came back she said, "Here's your Maine Lobster Tracks, and here's your lobster bib." Yes, she did hand him a lobster bib. We got a good laugh over that and brought the bib home with us.
Now that we're home, it's back to the daily routines. For those of you who want to know, we're finding out the gender of the baby next week. So, if you care to guess whether we're having a boy or a girl, you better get your vote in soon! We're hoping that the baby isn't feeling shy or something. It'll be nice to be able to get the pronoun right for the baby. I've been feeling the baby kick and move, which is pretty amazing although a bit strange at the same time. Ashton thinks he might have felt the baby kick, but most of the time, as soon as he puts his hand on my stomach, the baby seems to stop or moves locations. Ah well, I'm sure Ashton will get to feel the baby soon.
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