| No Teacher Left Behind? |
[02 Oct 2008|12:28pm] |
I was just contemplating the utter failure of the Bush administration and some of its colossal blunders. Because of the financial crisis, education reform isn't getting much coverage right now. But I guess today, reform is on my mind. I'm still mad about the past. The No Child Left Behind policies have demoralized our schoolteachers and gutted our public school curriculum.
My mother is a wonderful first grade teacher. I see her work herself to the bone every year. I see her pour her energy, love, and enthusiasm into her work. And, every year, I see her spend her own hard-earned money for materials to enrich her teaching. In return, she gets little thanks and less recognition. No Child Left Behind hasn't done a thing for her or for the kids she teaches.
Here's an idea for the new administration: The No Teacher Left Behind act. It's very simple. Give them all a raise. Yes, that's right. Pay our teachers more money. Maybe then, more bright and talented people might actually WANT to take jobs as teachers. Trust me. If you treat them right, they will do so much more than just raise our test scores.
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| :) |
[28 Aug 2008|10:03pm] |
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| Peace |
[31 Jul 2008|09:05am] |
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mood |
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 bored |
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My grandparents are here from Texas along with my Aunt and a cousin (one of the flower girls from my wedding, who is now 17 and applying for colleges... I remember her birth...EEK! I am getting old!)
I shipped Justin off to spend the night with them last night in Morgan Hill. He rode CalTrain with his Grandpa- given that he recently discovered Thomas the tank engine, this was a big event :)
The Mini-Minnie is now sleeping on me, and my arm will fall off soon (but she wouldn't go back to sleep when *I* wanted to sleep past seven, oh no ;) Whoever gave me the massive fluffly purple amorphous mass of blanketness, thank you.
Actually I should not complain- after the first couple of nights, my angelic little one has slept through the entire night for the rest of the week. I wake up every two hours or so to breastfeed her, so it's true that I don't get enough deep sleep. But we continue to be a happily cosleeping family. Let's put it this way- Matt and Justin are less than two feet away, and they don't wake up at all, because there's never any loud crying. It's more like "snuffle snuffle wiggle wiggle squeak" and by that time I've managed to get the milk into her mouth, and she and I go back to sleep. So I never have to get out of bed at night. I continue to think cribs are a bizarre invention thought up by sadistic people, but I realize I am in the minority, at least in this country.
That's it- the rest of my time is spent dreading having to go back to work in three weeks. Oh well. I'm as ready as I can be, I suppose.
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| Birth details |
[26 Jul 2008|10:01pm] |
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mood |
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 cheerful |
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So the update, now that I've been home a few days and have slept some :)
Harmony Rose Coughlan
born Monday, July 21, 2008 at 7:43 AM
I had another natural, drug-free birth, even shorter than last time (depending on exactly how you count the hours of labor, I suppose) and with a quicker recovery. My water broke at 3AM and you can see that baby was out less than five hours later, so that's pretty good as these things go.
I think I rather perplexed almost everyone I met at the hospital, since I was up and about the same day- I can't tell you how many puzzled nurses asked me "how is the pain, do you want any motrin or anything?" and simply would not accept that I was not in any particular pain- sore, yes, and tired, and very very hungry and thirsty, but not in -pain- per se. Ha. There is something to this natural birth stuff. That or I am just a very lucky human who tolerates childbirth very well.
Harmony is a good baby and perfectly healthy, and Justin is doing very well with her. He is gentle with her and is already trying to educate her about trucks and tractors. (the all IMPORTANT things in life, yes?) "Harmony, that's a front end loader, that's a steam roller..."
I'm still a little weird from the hormonal aftermath, but not too terribly sleep deprived yet, thanks to a lot of help from grandparents. It's hard to describe just how GOOD the world has seemed just after the birth of each of my children: thank you, endorphins. Yeah, I'm high on oxytocin most of the time :)
That's it- all's well for now. Thanks for all the congratulatory remarks.
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| Waiting |
[16 Jul 2008|01:19pm] |
Still no baby :) I haven't been on the internet much- too hard with a toddler, and at night I am too tired.
Justin is 2 1/2 now and suddenly is fully potty trained, for over two weeks now. He even wakes up dry in the morning. I am astonished. We have had a potty for a while now, but apart from a bit of bustle when it first arrived and some periodic attempts to let him go without a diaper, I had more or less given up and figured we'd wait until he was three to push the issue. But one day he just decided he was ready, and that was pretty much it.
My grandfather had a heart attack last week and is fortunately fine due to a very quick response and good medical care. He's 80 years old.
That's about it! I'm about two weeks away from my due date, so there's nothing to do but wait and enjoy what's left of the summer.
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| Hats |
[10 Jun 2008|10:15am] |
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| Thank Goodness |
[08 May 2008|04:07pm] |
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mood |
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relieved |
] |
Now, it's not officially OVER over, but this was my last real week of class and I am so grateful that I survived it. All I have to do now is preside over a final exam, attend the all-day grading session, clean up the remnants of the semester's papers that are still floating around my office, and compile final grades.
PHEW.
Then, maybe I can get back to the business at hand of having a baby :)
I think this mood warrants skipping out of here a half hour early and going someplace quiet with a book.
Perhaps I can also start *thinking* about tackling my to-do list. Maybe. Sometime soonish.
sssssssssssssssssssssssss
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| What I am up to |
[29 Apr 2008|03:59pm] |
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mood |
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 busy |
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I just got a call on my cell phone. It was Justin- he said "come home mama and eat with me." Despite this clearly being a coached line (Matt told him what to say) I must rate it as the most wonderful phone call I have ever received.
Two weeks left to the semester, and then summer! I have to grade, oh, approximately 200 papers before that can happen.
My belly is HUGE and I still have a few months to go.
Matt got food poisoning this weekend and it was very blah, but luckily it missed me and Justin, so life could be worse!!!
Life has never been better, actually :)
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| Freudian slip? |
[17 Mar 2008|11:10am] |
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mood |
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busy |
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Student essay:
"However, it brings up another problem that incest or bacteria may evolve to become resistant to pesticide..."
HAHAHAHA
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| PostyPosty |
[06 Mar 2008|04:18pm] |
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mood |
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bored |
] |
Well, I haven't said anything for a while, so I thought I would kill a few minutes of my office hour doing something nonproductive :)
It's the middle of the semester and the middle of my pregnancy, so it's no wonder that most of my time right now is spent just trying to hold everything together. All three of us had a minor but nasty cold a couple of weeks ago, plus we went through a brief spell of rainy weather, so February was a little tough, mostly because Justin was cooped up indoors a lot and that put Matt under a lot of strain. (It's no small thing to have a terrible-two with a runny nose who can't go outside and play because it's raining!)
But we're all mostly over it now and despite being tired, have had a fun week. we took Justin to Ikea on Tuesday to look for a coat rack. They were all hideous, but it was kind of fun running around their massive store. Last night we took him to the mall, where there's a play area, and it was warm enough for him to go out to the park during the day. So he's sleeping much better this week. It reminds me of the Dog Whisperer show, which I like to watch at my in-laws' on Friday nights. Ceasar's advice almost always starts with "excercise your dog, then give him affection." The same basic strategy seems to work on two-year-olds :)
Harmony is doing well, kicking a lot, etc. I'm finally starting to "show," which is amusing.
Matt's not doing as well, and he mentioned that he feels like he might be getting depressed again. It's possible, so I called our old therapist today to see if we can get an appointment. It's nice to have insurance, although we have to meet our deductible before they will actually pay. But that's not too bad. Anyway he doesn't seem too badly off. It's nice that he just admits up-front now when he's feeling down. I also suspect that a lot of it has to do more with the same kinds of issues that stay-home mom's face: isolation, a sense of never being "off duty," frustration with the repetetiveness and boredom of child care, and basic exhaustion! Plus he just finally got his degree, and that's a goal he's been working on for most of his life. So I think he's really feeling strange not to have that hanging over him any more.
He says he's worried about having another baby and being broke all the time, and those are reasonable too. I worry too, but I think I have more of a sense of control over the situation, because I can anticipate looking for a better paying job once Harmony is born. I don't feel trapped, since I have youth and good health, a solid education and a good work history. I also continue to keep things in perspective- Justin is healthy and thriving, we have health care, a clean, decent place to live, and lots of family support. We've both just recently finished expensive and difficult schooling (and although my third degree is on hold, I haven't given up that goal either). Our overall debt load continues to shrink, which is no small feat on my salary. I think if we didn't have the family support we do, I would be more concerned. But, for example, I've never had to buy a pair of shoes for Justin in his entire life, even though he's been through about five pair already. I almost never buy diapers. They just appear at various grandparent's houses, and I take them home. Etc. If there's anything we really need, it has a way of getting taken care of. We're lucky people, to have so many loving people to count on. I just don't feel poor. I haven't felt poor since I got that job at AATI with health insurance, and I still don't feel poor now, whatever the numbers say.
Well, enough of the afternoon gone- back to reading my book :)
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| Girly things! |
[18 Feb 2008|11:38am] |
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mood |
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chipper |
] |
I had the ultrasound on Friday. It's a girl! At least, that's what they think, but of course it's not 100% until she's born. Medically, everything is perfectly sound and they told me she looks "wonderful," and I agree :) So I am only about 16 weeks along and she is due at the end of July.
I'm soooo excited!
Her first name is "Harmony," or "Minnie" for short, but we're still working on a middle name :)
Edit: I almost forgot to add that Matt's degree finally posted to his transcript! I told him we will celebrate when it actually arrives in the mail and is hanging on our wall.
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| Superquick |
[31 Jan 2008|10:09am] |
Have to run off to class in a few. So far the semester is going pretty smoothly- fingers crossed!
I had my first doctor visit yesterday after a lot of procrastination (I still hold a bit of resentment from the run-arounds I had with the first pregnancy...long story).
I got to see the baby but didn't get to find out the gender yet. That will come in two weeks. The doctor was worried because she thought it was smaller than it should be, but everything was fine in the ultrasound- two arms, two legs, doing backflips, waving at mommy, etc. So it is most likely that I have the date of my last period wrong by a week or two and I am only 14 or so weeks along instead of 16. That pushed my due date back a little bit to the end of July.
Anyway it was exciting! I swear baby waved at me.
Justin is fully weaned now as of a couple of weeks ago, which makes me kind of sad. But it's nice to sleep at night!
Off to class now.
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| The Updates |
[19 Jan 2008|02:19pm] |
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mood |
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mellow |
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Well, school starts up again next week and I will be busy, busy, busy. Not to mention very pregnant. Come to think of it, I am very pregnant NOW, just not showing superly yet.
I had all kinds of exciting plans for the break, from scrubbing my bathroom tile with a toothbrush to filing the paperwork that has been piling up since early 2005, which appears to be when my filing system fell apart completely and de-evolved into big amorphous piles of paper hidden in various dresser drawers, preferably the most obscure and difficult to open ones, far away from small toddler hands.
Instead I spent most of December and January either A) sleeping or B) being nauseous or C) sitting around at various grandparents' houses letting them feed me and watch my highly energetic two year old.
The horrible nausea of early pregnancy is finally starting to lift and my energy level is slowly climbing, though it will never catch up to Justin's. Just in time for the semester to start!
My cloud of procrastination is also starting to be dismantled bit by bit. I emailed every single student that had written to complain about either their grade or not passing the class yesterday and politely but firmly told most of them that yes, they did receive a no credit in the class and that they are welcome to come to office hour to discuss it but the answer will still be a no credit.
My syllabus was supposed to be at the office yesterday for photocopying and review purposes, but today while checking it over I found several major flaws (one paper was assigned and then due to be workshopped one day later) and also discovered that microsoft word had overwritten all the dates I put in by hand because it thought I was making some kind of demented outline. So hopefully I will finish it tomorrow.
I still have a gazillion things to do that I have been putting off, annoying necessary things like getting reenrolled in dental insurance (which means wrestling with HR, which I detest) and taking Justin for his two year shots, and apparently the cat is due for rabies or the city won't issue her permission to exist. Some year I need to convince the city that my cat is fixed so they will stop charging me outrageously for her license, but for that I would have to take her to a real vet instead of to Petco, maybe.
I also need to go see my OBGYN and let them start poking me with vampyric needles and so forth. I haven't exactly been in a rush to inform my doctors that I'm making a baby, since I spent most of the last pregnancy grumpy about being interfered with constantly. But I want a healthy kid, so there you go.
My family is being soapoperatic again, and I'm worried about several of them, but as usual I will have to discuss that later after things calm down again.
Matt is good and seems to think that he might get his emergency credential soon. I'm not quite sure how we will work that out child care schedule-wise, but substitute teaching could be a good job for him. Call this plan K. Or something. In the meantime we seem to be making ends meet ok. Matt's student loan got deferred again, which helps some.
Yeah that's about it. House continues obscenely dirty. Justin continues extremely amazing. All is proceeding, if not exactly according to plan, at least in a generally good direction.
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| Umm |
[10 Jan 2008|08:38pm] |
89% Mike Gravel
88% Dennis Kucinich
86% Chris Dodd
84% Barack Obama
83% Hillary Clinton
82% John Edwards
80% Joe Biden
75% Bill Richardson
35% Rudy Giuliani
25% Ron Paul
25% John McCain
20% Tom Tancredo
18% Mike Huckabee
16% Mitt Romney
7% Fred Thompson
2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz
My take... who is Mike Gravel??? WTF?
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| Merry Christmas! |
[25 Dec 2007|10:06am] |
Once upon a time, I believed in all-natural, gender neutral toys. Then I had Justin and discovered the amazing world of *TRUCKS* and *TRACTORS*.
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| Hooray |
[13 Dec 2007|10:54am] |
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mood |
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relieved |
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First news: I am pregnant again! Buggle number two is due in July... we think. I'm a tad fuzzy on the exact date right now (I wasn't keeping track of these things for some reason.)
Second, I just came back from the doctor and a scary mole I had is not cancerous (phew!) and has now been zapped into oblivion (ouch!)
So I am feeling pretty good at the moment. Justin's at the park with Matt, so I get a little bit of time to goof off and play on the internet, like the old days when I actually had FREE TIME.
I am cooking experimental chicken in the crock pot. This consists of me putting in the chicken, broth, onion, garlic, tomato paste, and some spices and crossing my fingers. If it sucks, then taco bell dinner!
I made my Granny's potato soup yesterday and it is yum.
This ends the what I ate today broadcast.
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