awhile

As my mom so lovingly pointed out in a recent email, we've not posted anything in quite awhile. Whelp, Aidan now says his own name really well and knows that it is his. He points to me and says "daddy," to Amy and says "mama," to Kate and says "sissy," and then points to himself and says "Aidan." Kate is getting more gorgeous all the time. We just had another doctor's appointment for her. The appointment previous had indicated to us that she had not gained any weight from the appointment before that, but that she had gained considerable height. Well, the doctor was not good with no weight gain, but said that there was at least no loss. The doctor then told us to up her calorie intake again. We started putting rice cereal into her formula bottles. We also upped the baby food. The appointment was yesterday, Thursday, and she had gained half a pound, so the doctor was pleased. Amy has found something for her heartburn. It is a powder that she diludes in water that she drinks in order to balance out her body's pH. The RN that got Amy into the essential oils was the one who pointed her in this direction about her body's acidity. Amy has felt a lot better, in relation to the heartburn, but another problem has arisen. Amy got some blood work done recently, and we found out that she is severely anemic. She got some iron pills, but they've not done enough yet. We're hoping that with some more time that she'll balance out there, too, and have the energy that she's been lacking. Hope you enjoyed our quick update. We'll have to do some more pictures and video soon.

suns

As many of you know, the Suns recently traded Shawn Marion (the Matrix, with the team 8 seasons and some change, and holds the Suns all-time rankings as 5th in minutes played, 5th in field goals made, 5th in field goals attempted, 2nd in 3-pointers made, 2nd in 3-pointers attempted, 2nd in rebounding, 4th in steals, 4th in blocked shots, and 5th in points scored) and Marcus Banks (who just recently was starting to see playing time in the Suns rotation and was doing a great job on defense and his three ball) to the Miami Heat in order to retain Shaquille O'Neal.  Shaq (self-proclaimed "Big Cactus") debuts tonight at home against the Lakers.  Okay...I was practically pissed at Steve Kerr for making this trade originally.  I couldn't believe it when it was a rumor, I really couldn't believe it when it was confirmed.  I told myself that I had to listen to what they had to say about it first, so I waited for a press conference.  After I saw the press conference, I then decided that what they had to say sounded good, but I needed to see some results before I got on board fully, though, obviously, I am rooting for the Suns hardcore anyway.  Now tonight is the night when the sports world watches to see if this trade ended up being a good idea for the Suns.  Even Kerr himself said that he's either a genius or a moron for this trade.  I truly hope he's a genius, and my excitement is heightening as the game is about to start, but I still wonder....  Oh, and by the way, Shawn Marion's stats have improved in the 3 games he's played for Miami, but they've also lost all three games and are the worst team in the NBA at the absolute antithesis of the best record with only 9 wins and 42 losses.  Sorry, Shawn (and Marcus).

the pledge

The pledge of allegiance went like this today at DV:

I pledge allegiance to the flag
Of the United States of America,
And to the republic for which it stands,
One nation,
Indivisible,
With liberty and justice for all.

Noticing the blatant omission of "Under God," I quickly shot an email to the one who had done the announcements. I said, and I quote (myself),

I don't want this to be a big deal, but I just wanted to ask if, during the pledge of allegiance, if the omission of "under God" was simply a mistake. Again, I don't want to make an issue here, I just desired clarification. Thank you.

The response I got was another break into class with the pledge being redone by the same person and an apology that she had accidently omitted some of the pledge. We then proceeded to say the pledge in its entirety. I was so blown away, and so were my students, that I could not help but laugh at the outcome of (possibly) my email. I then decided to write the one who did the announcements again. I said,

I truly did not expect there to be another pledge. I really did not mean for you to have to do so, either. I do appreciate that you went ahead and did do it, and I wanted you to hear that from me. Kim, I do hope that you know that I really was not trying to cause a fuss but just wanted to inquire. Maybe I just shouldn't have said anything, but I do thank you for your response. I have a high respect for you in that.

She wrote an email, then, to the entire DV staff which said,

I sincerely apologize for the pledge miscue this morning. I forgot that Heidi had asked me to do announcements and as I ran to the mike , I took a breathe at obviously the wrong time and fell behind the office ladies. If discussions arise among your students regarding this pledge miscue, please assure them that it was a human error and was not in any way on purpose. Those who know me, know that is the last thing I would have wanted portrayed. I have fired myself from announcements:)

I did appreciate the response and how quick it was.

baby powder

Aidan is now sleeping full time in his new big boy bed.  We started on Friday with him sleeping at night in the bed.  He has been doing well during the day with not getting out of bed unless he is allowed to.  But the last few days he has been getting up when he wakes up in the mornings.  On Monday morning I went in his room to find him up and playing.  Not only had he been playing he had decided that he would play with the baby powder on his changing table, which he knows he is not allowed to touch.  He had completely emptied a travel size bottle all over himself and his room.  Needless to say he got in big trouble for this action, and had to have a bath before breakfast.  It's a good thing for me that Adam had called in sick that morning...I don't think I could have handled it by myself, especially with Kate crying too.  After he got in trouble I had to take some pictures because I knew that it would be very funny later, and it is pretty funny...now.

baskets

The other day Adam and I were sitting on the couch and Aidan was pushing a basket around (one of his favorite things to do).  Adam got a phone call, while he was talking Aidan decided that he could sit in the basket he was pushing around.  He got in and sat down, it was a rather small basket.  Then he started rocking back and forth in it, laughing.  He rocked too hard and fell backwards because the basket was so small.  So there he was laying on his back still stuck in the basket, he could figure out how to get up himself because he was stuck.  It was really funny, I was laughing, but Adam was still talking on the phone so he couldn't laugh.  He hasn't tried to sit in the basket again.