Weigh in: 235.4
OK, so, yeah.
Here we are, more than two weeks into my summer vacation, and obviously little has really changed.
Well, a few things have changed. Ian turned one year old the weekend before last. We had a great time. My dad and the in-laws came into town. I made an airplane birthday cake with blue frosting (that yes, caused a little blue poo for a day or two). It looked pretty good. I don't think it looked quite as good as Brendan's Elmo cake back in October, but it was still pretty cool. Also got to use the "1st birthday" decorations that my friend had bought for Brendan so long ago that never got put up. Cake was eaten, presents were opened, and all was well. Well, except for the fact that Brendan thinks Ian's presents are his own. Ian is still too little to fight about it, but the day is coming very soon when they will start to fight over their toys. There have already been a few tug-of-wars over some items.
Ian is also big enough to finally start walking! We weren't sure if he would make it before his first birthday, but by golly he took his first few steps two days before the big day. I'm still very surprised that it took him as long as it did...Brendan was walking at 9 months, while Ian didn't really even get good at crawling until then. I know, everyone is different, but I expected Ian to be on the early side of development since he has his big brother to watch and learn from. I can't help but wondering if the potentially early delivery we suspect Ian had might have delayed some of his developmental milestones a bit. There's no way to know, really; it's just curiosity on my part. He's up to seven teeth or so now, and I'm pretty sure he's got one or two more coming through. He's also doing well with his solid food eating, and we're switching him over to whole milk from formula.
Brendan is wild and crazy, still. He's a nonstop whirlwind of energy and activity. Nothing slows the kid down. He has gotten the hang of riding his tricycle and actually using the pedals, and his sitter bought him a little bicycle with training wheels that he's practicing on. He's lazy when it comes to pedaling, and would rather run his feet while sitting on the seat, but he's getting there. He loves to play in water, whether it's a sprinkler or a swimming pool. I had hoped to get the boys into swimming lessons this summer, but I suspect it's too late at this point. We will try to take them swimming as often as we can. We are also going camping for the first time since Ian was born in a few weeks, and I'm sure at least Brendan will have a blast. Ian is still a little unsure of things that are new, different, or unfamiliar, but I hope he has fun too.
As for me, I survived the most difficult and stressful school year I've ever endured. I didn't do a very good job this year. I struggled with classroom management, discipline, and time management. I very nearly didn't get some assignments graded, and I don't think I did the instruction for those assignments very well either. I've always been very literature-driven in my curriculum, and since we've adopted the Common Core standards, our curriculum is more assignment-based. I need to do some reading this summer on doing writing instruction, since writing is becoming a very central part of our curriculum. I also have a few books to read that I am probably going to be teaching next school year. There is still some question about when I will teach next year--I will have my usual freshmen and sophomores during first semester, but I am supposed to teach SciFi again second semester. SciFi is now going to be a senior-level class instead of junior-level, and I need to review the standards and books on the senior curriculum. But there is some question in the school district as to whether or not we'll even be able to offer the class. I'm not sure about the details and why there is a controversy, but there apparently is one. I'm going to be holding my breath, waiting to see if I'll get to teach the class or not. I really love science fiction and feel very passionate about the genre. Anyway, while I'm waiting for final word, I'm going to be reading stories, writing lesson plans, and doing some research into how I want to present the coursework.
Something else I didn't really get around to doing this spring was losing weight. My weigh-in today was almost exactly the same as the weigh-in from the previous post, in March. Epic fail. I also haven't gotten any weight loss in the past two weeks. I haven't worked out. I haven't eaten well. As a partial excuse, I spent the first week of summer cleaning the house and getting everything ready for my company. Then right before my dad was supposed to leave to go home, he got sick and ended up in the hospital for gallbladder surgery. I spent the second week of my summer break helping my dad with his convalescence. Yesterday was a bit of a waste--I had taken my truck in for some mechanical work, which ended up not being done because some other work had to be done first, and the whole thing just threw off my groove. I have a few things I need to get done today, in preparation for our carpet being installed tomorrow morning, but I am determined I am going to go to the movies this afternoon. I have missed a number of movies that have come out lately. The last time we saw a movie was back in February. The newest Star Trek movie has been out for several weeks now, and I want to make sure I get to see it in the theater. I did work out today, though. I'm starting out slow, with a workout series I had found on Pinterest. It's called Shape up Size Down, and it has different levels based on your current level of fitness. I started with the Absolute Beginning level, although I did add a few extra sets in. I will try to do that workout level the rest of this week, and then step up to the next level. I now have just under ten weeks before school starts again in the fall, and I'd really like to lose twenty pounds by then, but I'm not sure if that's a realistic goal (especially since I couldn't even lose twenty pounds during the ten-month school year). Anyway, we'll see how it goes.
