Oh Well

It turns out that you should ask yourself a question or two before committing to posting everyday for a month. The first of these questions is, "will I be in a small rural town in Northeast Arkansas for any amount of time this month?" If this answer is yes, you should then ask yourself, "will I have access to internet at all?" If the answer is no, maybe you should rethink the posting everyday plan.

In Little Rock

On Hysteria and Turkey

I sounded angry yesterday, huh? Don't know why. It was just meant to t be a "look at my neat birth center" post. Let's chalk it up to pregnancy hormones, shall we?

One more day of work and then Thanksgiving break! I will also be chalking up my hoarding of pies to pregnancy hormones. What a neat excuse this is turning out to be!

Other Reasons We Do What We Do

So I mentioned a few things we love about the midwives before, and I guess I should revisit that and explain why we chose one in the first place. It is a surprisingly touchy subject, though I am not entirely sure why. I virtually never bring up our plans because I get two reactions. The first is defensiveness from people who think we disapprove of their way of having a child, which we absolutely do not. The second is, "oh, you'll never go through with that." THAT being natural childbirth, or breastfeeding, or cloth diapers, or whatever has come up.

It is just so rude! Think it if you must, but don't say it out loud.

I KNOW we might not do all of these things when the reality of the situation hits. Childbirth is unfathomable and unpredictable, breastfeeding is difficult and painful, cloth diapers are extra work. Dur. But is there any harm in planning it the way I would like for it to occur?

Phew! Having said all of that, let's get back to the point. Why did we lean toward midwives and natural childbirth? Sergio was born at a birth center with a midwife. His mom really enjoyed that experience. My mom had my brother and I naturally as well, though I don't believe it was necessarily planned that way. I have two good examples of women who managed just fine. It is a matter of if they can do it then I can do it too. Another reason for the midwife is the amount of information I have gathered over the last few years. If the pregnancy and delivery remain low risk then I will have much more control over labor than I would in a hospital. Small things like being able to move around the room, sit in the shower, walk around outside, eat, and drink, to big things like whether or not to induce labor will be within my control. After the baby is born I can hold her for as long as I want before passing her off for inspection. Do I want to wait to cut the umbilical cord until it stops pumping blood, or even hours later? I can do that if I so choose. And I can leave as early as four hours after I give birth. The whole thing is set up to give parents ultimate control and to promote intimate connection with the newborn. These are still just a few of the reasons, but I am rambling.

Why did we choose this particular birth center? Well, take a look.

Kickin' It

I began feeling the baby move around nineteen weeks. I thought it would begin more gradually than it did, but instead found myself awake at about 4 am one day giggling at a decidedly new sensation. It has gotten stronger and more regular over the last two weeks, and Sergio has been able to feel her moving around about three times now which he is thrilled about, of course.

I wish I could be more romantic about this process and write poetically about all the new things the baby does. For the life of me, though, I can't find a better description of the movement than, "it feels a lot like gas bubbles." I come by this honestly since the first thing my mother asked when I said I thought I was feeling her was, "it feels a lot like gas, doesn't it?" We are a sentimental family.

I am enjoying the moving. Every little while I get a quick moment of connection and reassurance that everything seems to be going along okay. Sometimes she fills up a boring moment. I was standing in class the other day waiting for something to do when she went nuts right up around my belly button. This is much higher than I normally feel her. I pushed on my stomach where I had felt her and she stopped moving. As soon as I let go I received a mighty kick. We did this two more times. It was most likely entirely involuntary, but it made me feel like she had accomplished something cognitive. And it made me laugh.

The only downside to this whole thing is that she seems to think my bladder is a toy. I don't really mind that too much, I guess, since it in no way affects what I eat. I love food.

Good Old Fashioned East Texas Gumbo

We made this gumbo recipe tonight and it was really really good. You should make it also.

Ingredients

1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped green bell peppers
1 pound hot smoked sausage, such as andouille or kielbasa, cut into cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 bay leaves
3 quarts chicken stock, recipe follows
3 cups cooked chicken, previously roasted
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped green onions
Hot Sauce, optional
4 cups cooked long-grain white rice, previously cooked

Directions

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat and stir in the flour. Stirring slowly and constantly for 20 to 25 minutes, make a dark brown roux, the color of chocolate.

Add the onions, celery, and bell peppers and continue to stir for 4 to 5 minutes, or until wilted. Add the sausage, chicken, salt, cayenne, pepper, and bay leaves and stir well. Cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the stock and stir well to combine with the roux mixture. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour.

Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley and green onions. Ladle into deep soup bowls. Serve with hot sauce, if desired. Place a scoop of rice in the middle and serve.

Into the Fire

The teacher that I assist went home sick about thirty minutes after arriving today.  It was urgent and entirely unexpected, so I was thrown quick sub notes and wished good luck.  Class had already begun.  

Complete terror is facing a class of thirty fifth graders for two hours and trying to hide the fact that you are reading the notes for finding the area of a triangle under the overhead projector.  I bet she is getting a lot of calls for homework help tonight.   

Comfort Foods

These are my favorite foods; Pho and Menudo. One has raw beef thrown in it and the other has tripe. They are both spicy and delicious. 

Because You Couldn't Live Without These Details

5:30 am:  Alarm goes off.  Hit snooze.

5:39 am:  Alarm goes off again.  Roll out of bed and find my glasses.  

5:39-6:20 am:  Shower, get dressed, makeup, dry hair, eat breakfast, check email, wake Sergio.  

6:20ish am:  Leave the house.  If I leave even a minute after 6:30, I will miss the morning meeting.  

7:00 am:  Attend morning meeting.  

7:02:  Meeting ends.  Make copies, pass out morning work, try to look busy until 7:15.

7:15:  Kids come in the room.  Help students with morning work until my tutoring kids arrive.  

7:30:  Tutoring kids arrive.  Rush them to get breakfast and morning worksheet and then hassle them endlessly to finish morning work in time.  

8:00:  Send kids back to class.  Help organize binders and hassle them to finish opening activity.

8:05-10:00:  Hassle one student all class long to stay on task.  I actually sit at his desk with him.

10:00-10:45:  Teach opening activity, check morning work and homework with new class.  

10:45-12:00: Roam around the room to keep kids on task or to help them out.  I am not supposed to sit during this time unless tutoring a child.  Find LOTS of students to help so that I can sit.  

12:00-12:30:  Lunch.  I wait at least 10 minutes to warm up my food.  Then I sit in the car for fifteen minutes while I eat so that I can make any calls I need to.  I have to go back in five minutes early in order to pick up my second round of tutoring kids, who are always let out of class early.  

12:30-1:15:  Tutor five kids

1:15-1:45:  Tutor seven kids that are all on different levels with different abilities.  

1:45-2:00:  Planning period. Make copies, file, grade, etc.

2:00-2:30:  Teach the opening activity, check homework and morning work with final class.

2:30-3:00:  Tutor three boys that DO NOT want to be tutored.  Don't I understand that yet?

3:00-3:45:  Roam around the room helping the last class.  Look for kids to help so that I can sit.

3:45-4:15:  Pull my last tutoring kid to help him with his homework.

4:15-4:45:  Roam the room and help kids with homework.  Tell 3o kids over and over that they MAY NOT go to the bathroom.

4:45-5:00:  Walk kids outside and yell at 100 car riders that there is no talking while waiting on parents.  

5:00-?  Make copies, file, parent meetings, staff meetings, etc.  

I work 50 to 57 hours a week if we have saturday school or I have to go to meetings.  I get paid a starting teachers salary.  You wish you were me.  

Copy of famed Lincoln letter turns up in Dallas

Executive Mansion,
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.

Dear Madam,--

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,

A. Lincoln