Thursday, April 29, 2010

ACK

Sheer craziness. That is all. More to come soon (I hope). I cannot wait for the next few weeks to be over: sooooo much to do. Ack!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

research...

The "research" part of my graduate school research is officially done! My sub for my maternity leave, Beth, did an AWESOME job of implementing my research project and helping me collect data. The timing worked out (kind of unfortunately) that I wasn't there for any of the project except for the initial surveys and introduction and the final surveys, testimonials, and reflection! GO BETH!

The project is a reading project. I wanted to see how mixed-ability book clubs/literature circles affected students' self-efficacy and their opinions of themselves as readers. They did tons of discussion, journaling, and Beth even got videos and photos of them in the process. I have tons of file folders full of journals and surveys to go through now - I'm so excited to see how it turns out!

Why am I blogging about this? Because...there is a ginormous presentation and notebook to accompany this project. Obviously I've done some of the writing beforehand, but until I know my real results, I can't do that much! The project is due two weeks from today. Better get to work! (I always welcome a break, though!!)

Have I mentioned how glad I am to be almost done with school?? WOW!! I am so glad I got my masters pretty much before kids! Craziness. 

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

family pics!

Here are a few of the family pics we got taken the other night. Quinn SLEPT through the entire session, so you'll notice that her eyes are closed in all of
them.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Sunday/Monday

Sunday was a fun day, too! Quinn and Randy woke up early and let me sleep in! Love that.

We relaxed all morning and went our separate ways for the afternoon. Randy helped his dad with some farming business and I went to a baby shower for my friend Stacy Miller. She looked absolutely GORGEOUS! She is due in May, so getting close. I remember being that hugely pregnant and just being so ready for baby and tired of being pregnant! Anyway, the shower was fun. I got to catch up with my friend Maggie and her little boy, Miles, who is a few months older than Quinn now. Can't wait to hang out with all of our kiddoes once the weather gets warmer!!

 Quinn in her baby shower dress, not cooperating for Mommy.

She wasn't as crabby as she looks here. We were not torturing her!

Randy and I ate a quick dinner with his family before we headed back to Waukee. I drove home until we got to Stuart. We needed to stretch our legs and get a strawberry shake. :-) We all went to sleep about 9 or 10. I woke up at 3:30 and realized that Quinn had slept that whole time! She has never gone more than 4 hours without eating so I woke her up. In retrospect, she probably would have been fine, but who knows?!

Anyway, Monday I filled out the paperwork for this day care we were planning on going to. They needed a doctor's form, so I ran to the doctor's office and dropped off what they needed to fill out. As soon as I got home, Randy called and said that an in-home daycare we'd been wanting to go to had a spot for us! What crazy timing - all my paperwork (and there was a LOT of it) was for naught! Rats! Anyway, we had family pictures scheduled for that evening over at Merle Hay Mall so we told the day care woman that we'd meet her afterward. We ran quickly over to the mall, got some stuff at Target, took a few pictures, and were on our way. I am NOT HAPPY at all with how the pictures went, but I won't vent about that. (UGH!!) Then, we ate at Perkins. Yum for pancakes!

We then went to meet the day care provider. Hopefully this works out - looks promising. If all goes according to plan, Q will start Monday! What a big girl!

Busy little family!

It has been SO CRAZY around here lately. Randy and I both love to be busy, but this is nuts! I am going to update in shifts. :-)

Friday, after Randy got off work, we went to visit a day care center here in Waukee to which we were ready to commit - more to come about that later. We toured, and the place was very nice and clean and everything, but Mommy did NOT do well on this trip. I was supposed to go to a party later on that night and really could not stop crying. Randy was nice enough to make dinner. :-) Instead of actually going to the party, Randy, Quinn, and I took a walk around the neighborhood, stopped by the party for about an hour, and went home for a bath. (Quinn did, that is.)

Saturday morning, we got up bright and early (as always with a newborn, right?) and headed back to Manning for our friend Sarah's wedding. I was nice enough to drive the whole way so Randy could read in the car. Normally, he always drives because I'm the total bibliophile who must always have her nose stuck in a book....but Randy loves car reading too so this was his turn. At Randy's parent's we got ready for the wedding, had a quick lunch, and were on our way to Defiance! 

Quinn looked beautiful - she wore a pretty pink tulle dress that my mom had gotten her. She was SO well-behaved at the wedding - a few hunger cries, but a bottle took care of that! Our pew at the wedding was all young mommies and daddies and babies, so we were in good company. I love how much our life has changed - definitely not anything wild and crazy, but interesting and rewarding for sure.

I meant to take lots of pics of the gorgeous Sarah CAVE, but didn't manage to, nor did I manage to get a decent pic of the Kasparbauer crew! Rats! I'm posting a terribly unflattering picture - I promise I don't really look that bad.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Last full week at home!

This is my last full week of maternity leave!  I go back next week on Friday, April 23rd. That is exactly 6 weeks from Baby Quinn's birth! So soon!

 I have LOVED being at home for this time. Anyone who knows me well knows that I've always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. This has been a wonderful taste of that! It does seem a little silly for me to quit my job now, especially since I've worked so hard to get my masters, earn several additional teaching endorsements, etc. We'll see after #2. :-)

My maternity leave has actually been really busy! I am graduating with my masters in a few weeks and am working on the final action research project for it. There is a huge notebook and paper that accompanies this project, and I've been trying to get as much done as I can before I go back to work! Also, I'm hard at work at my 2nd job (I work from home, online, about 20 hours per week). Needless to say, lots of time spent on the computer. (YUCK!) However, I'm not letting anything get in the way of Quinn time! I really try to only work or do homework when she is snoozing or playing happily by herself or sitting contentedly in Mommy's lap. Luckily she is a very good girl so she spends lots of time doing all of those things. Now that she is a month old she loves just hanging out on a blanket, kicking her arms and legs and making noise! She also likes tummy time (sometimes) and is working hard on strengthening her neck  muscles!

I love my job. I love teaching, and I LOVE my kids. (Call me crazy. They're 14!)  So in a way I am excited to see them again and finish  out the year. I am really excited for summer, though!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

My big girl!!

Quinn spent the first night in her crib last night! I was worried about that because she is so young (one month tomorrow). However, the bassinet situation was not working out the best! Baby girl is a NOISY sleeper! I love that she is so active, moving her arms and legs and making noise, etc., but it makes it hard for her roommates to catch any z's. It got to the point where after I would get her to sleep I would have to go down the hall and sleep in a guest bedroom and let Randy stay in our room with her. That was not helping anyone!
                              Quinn napping on the floor in her room :-)


I've been using her crib as a place to organize outfits for upcoming outings, but it has been cleaned out now. :-) She did a great job last night and slept from 10-2, ate, and then slept from 2:30-6! Wow! That is a long time to go for a month-old, nursed infant. She does eat every two hours during the day, though. :-) Not calling this a routine yet, because it's only been one night. Just wanted to share an exciting mommy milestone!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Quinn's new portraits



Mom and Quinn went to get some more pictures today. We are calling these her one month photos, even though she is only a little over three weeks. We got this cute tutu and headband from our friends Amy and Jamie McCullough and had to get pics in it immediately!!