The beginning of every school year brings reflection and determination. I am entering my second year of teaching having two kids. Last year was a whirlwind of emotions and commitments made outside work to serve my family and my sanity. This year I get to relish in a bit more stability and experience with how to orchestrate our three ring circus.
A couple of simple guidelines to strive for this school year: turn on my phone twice during the school day to check for messages, get one-to-one conversations going more often with my students and commit to limiting my weeknight commitments.
This morning I was thrilled when 8 of my Freshmen from last year came by to visit me in the morning before they started there day as Sophomores. One of my favorite things about walking the hallways from my classroom to the math wing for my co-taught class, is getting an opportunity to run into smiling students from years past. I love seeing them grow-up year after year and keeping in touch with them throughout there time at LHS and after!
You see a great majority of us are always striving for better ways to do x,y & z in our classrooms, this goes without saying. I'll tell you, just when you start to doubt that your not doing enough to make a difference, your reminded how much of a difference you do make.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
18: Post Conference Thoughts
No big surprise that last week was exactly what the doctor ordered! We met fantastic families, affected individuals and Registry leaders.
The minute I walked into our first workshop, I could feel a weight lift off my chest. I knew then and there that we belonged. During lunch the first day, I spotted a mom of an affected child with a beautiful 18 tattoo on her wrist. I went over to her table and introduced myself, as I could tell from her badge this was also her first conference. I met another lovely mother with an affected daughter that comes from a family of educators. During mom's night out, one of the post poignant conversations was had when myself and a mom talked about our daughter's having old souls. We believe that our girls have wisdom way beyond there years and teach us an immeasurable amount about life.
Two veteran members from the Midwest who have children with 18q- introduced themselves to James and I. I had the pleasure of meeting there families and discovered that one of the member's daughters teaches at a nearby high school! These ladies are quickly becoming reliable resources and rocks to lean on.
Wednesday night's dinner dance was an opportunity to catch up with folks that we didn't have a chance to meet with throughout the previous days. One of the most beautiful moments came in the form of affected adults welcoming Adele to the family. We owe it to Adele to continuously seek guidance and support from her affected family; after all, this is a part of her identity.
Our family and friends in Jacksonville proved once again to be amazing! We spent Sunday at the beach for some time with our good friends that we miss dearly. My cousin lent us her mini-van (thanks Marv the mini), for the entire week along with picking up and dropping us off at the airport and watched the girls for us on Monday and Tuesday!
Savannah itself is a stunning city with gorgeous buildings and landscaping along with delicious food and drink. Shopping is a breeze and we must have walked 6 miles a day with no second thought. I was a big fan of how the city is structured. It is similar to Chicago in the sense that everything radiates from the water into a grid pattern. This made navigating a breeze!
James also had a chance to interact and connect with some amazing dads as well. These men offered him advice and glimpse into the future.
We are planning on attending as many conferences as possible. Next year we'll be heading to Stamford Connecticut to reconnect with our new family.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Georgia on my Mind
The night before traveling on an airplane for a flight set to take off at 6:00 am from O'Hare to Jacksonville FL with two kids under the age of three.....Yeah, me too!
In terms of logistics, my hope is that Murphy's Law is kind to us tomorrow. Weather is looking good on both ends and flight stats are positive. We are as packed as we are going to be and would like to give a special shout-out to my dad for volunteering to drive us to the airport at 4:00 am! We have packed "new toys" for the girls and a DVD for Jade. I'm crossing my fingers that Adele is willing to sleep on the airplane.
I need to give another huge thanks to my cousin, her wife and my "niece" for lending us there mini-van and helping us watch the girls in Savannah! We are looking forward to visiting with them in Savannah and our friends who recently moved to Jacksonville!
In terms of logistics, my hope is that Murphy's Law is kind to us tomorrow. Weather is looking good on both ends and flight stats are positive. We are as packed as we are going to be and would like to give a special shout-out to my dad for volunteering to drive us to the airport at 4:00 am! We have packed "new toys" for the girls and a DVD for Jade. I'm crossing my fingers that Adele is willing to sleep on the airplane.
I need to give another huge thanks to my cousin, her wife and my "niece" for lending us there mini-van and helping us watch the girls in Savannah! We are looking forward to visiting with them in Savannah and our friends who recently moved to Jacksonville!
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Hi! Nice to see you again!
Summer has been a wonderful mix of family time, playdates, work and a little vacation time. I can hardly comprehend starting up again one month from today.
Last week marked one year since we received the phone call from Dr. McCall telling us about Adele's diagnosis. Last summer was hands down the most difficult time in my life. Since then, Adele has become Adele, which has helped to overshadow the syndrome and put the girl up front. I am continually amazed at her personality. She lights a room up with her smile and is destine to be a performer of some sort. Best of all, she is happy and overall very healthy. We have obstacles to tackle but a strong team of people who we now consider our family, to help us overcome them.
Speaking of Adele, I know many of you have inquired about when we plan to reschedule "A Day for Adele". I am so happy that word has gotten out and quite frankly, it helps motivate me to move forward with the fundraiser. We are headed to Georgia in just a few weeks, so after that, we'll focus on picking another date. My best guess right now is late April, or early May of 2014.
This summer, I have been working as Summer School Coordinator at Lemont. I have been happy with the position; faced a few challenges and showed off my strengths. This position is sneak preview of future endeavors and has helped me grow as a teacher and hopeful future administrator.
Jade continues to rock as our "big girl". She loves her "big girl" gymnastics class and is conquering her fear of water. The other day, we went to my Aunt's pool. Jade was hesitant as usual, however, by the time she got out of the water, she was ready to dunk her head under! A big statement for this girl. She is quickly developing a stronger sense of self over the past year. Along with this, her confidence levels are going up which is something I was keeping an eye on. I'll have to make sure to post a video of one of her vocal performances soon as well.
James has almost conquered his first trimester of grad school! He has weekly online class sessions in the evening along with group sessions, in-person class sessions twice a trimester and projects. This has put a time constraint on us as a family, but he's juggling the life balance well. I am happy to support him in this effort!
Last week marked one year since we received the phone call from Dr. McCall telling us about Adele's diagnosis. Last summer was hands down the most difficult time in my life. Since then, Adele has become Adele, which has helped to overshadow the syndrome and put the girl up front. I am continually amazed at her personality. She lights a room up with her smile and is destine to be a performer of some sort. Best of all, she is happy and overall very healthy. We have obstacles to tackle but a strong team of people who we now consider our family, to help us overcome them.
Speaking of Adele, I know many of you have inquired about when we plan to reschedule "A Day for Adele". I am so happy that word has gotten out and quite frankly, it helps motivate me to move forward with the fundraiser. We are headed to Georgia in just a few weeks, so after that, we'll focus on picking another date. My best guess right now is late April, or early May of 2014.
This summer, I have been working as Summer School Coordinator at Lemont. I have been happy with the position; faced a few challenges and showed off my strengths. This position is sneak preview of future endeavors and has helped me grow as a teacher and hopeful future administrator.
Jade continues to rock as our "big girl". She loves her "big girl" gymnastics class and is conquering her fear of water. The other day, we went to my Aunt's pool. Jade was hesitant as usual, however, by the time she got out of the water, she was ready to dunk her head under! A big statement for this girl. She is quickly developing a stronger sense of self over the past year. Along with this, her confidence levels are going up which is something I was keeping an eye on. I'll have to make sure to post a video of one of her vocal performances soon as well.
James has almost conquered his first trimester of grad school! He has weekly online class sessions in the evening along with group sessions, in-person class sessions twice a trimester and projects. This has put a time constraint on us as a family, but he's juggling the life balance well. I am happy to support him in this effort!
Thursday, May 30, 2013
I'm kind of a big deal...
Welcome summer and welcome routine doctor appointments, therapy sessions and re-evals! This is part of life and I have learned to embrace it as best as I can, luckily, Adele has absolutely NO trouble gaining fans everywhere she goes.
Today we had an Opthamologist appointment. This is the same waiting area as our ENT, so we are no stranger to this office building. Part of the time, Adele had her BAHA on. We had a lovely group of 7-10 year old sisters very politely ask "what is that head band for?". My standard response to this question when children ask is "it helps her hear better". Of course, Adele flashes the girls one of her HUGE smiles and starts waving and clapping so she immediately makes BFFs. We get called back to the office and since they needed to dilate her eyes, we got to go back to the waiting area to make more friends. Here we encountered a 2 year old blonde boy who was smitten with Adele. While attempting to hug her, he also got a smooch in! Who would have thought a first kiss would be in a waiting area of the Opthamologist's office?
Yesterday, Adele saw her friend Mindy, the Audiologist. Mindy did a behavioral hearing test which consists of Adele and I going into a sound booth, Adele distracted in a high chair playing with foam puzzle pieces, while I sit nearby for comfort. There is a window in front of the booth so Mindy could make visual contact with Adele. Mindy proceeded to talk to Adele through a microphone system and reward her by flashing Sponge Bob on one side and Crabby Patty on the other. Adele did very well for her age and we found that her hearing WITHOUT the BAHA has stayed the same. WITH the BAHA, she was able to get up to normal range in her right ear!!! (Note that Adele has borderline normal hearing in her left ear). So, how does this impact her speech? Essentially, it shouldn't, so any Speech Delay relates to other things such as her mouth muscles etc... Our Speech Therapist is evaluating her on Tuesday, so we'll hear more at that time. Of course, as we talked, Adele managed to convince Mindy that she was the cutest toddler on the planet with plenty of smiles and communication! I should mention that Adele has been gaining speech, but at a slower pace than her average peers.
Good news: Adele has AWESOME eyes. Optic nerves look normal and she no longer has a Nystagmus (twitching of the eyes). We only have to see her once a year!! Physical Therapist is reducing to once a month since she is monitoring Adele and Developmental Hearing and Speech will continue. Adele's 6 month annual review is coming up in a week and a half so we'll get more details at the meeting.
Love my 18qt! Time to pick up our big sister!
Today we had an Opthamologist appointment. This is the same waiting area as our ENT, so we are no stranger to this office building. Part of the time, Adele had her BAHA on. We had a lovely group of 7-10 year old sisters very politely ask "what is that head band for?". My standard response to this question when children ask is "it helps her hear better". Of course, Adele flashes the girls one of her HUGE smiles and starts waving and clapping so she immediately makes BFFs. We get called back to the office and since they needed to dilate her eyes, we got to go back to the waiting area to make more friends. Here we encountered a 2 year old blonde boy who was smitten with Adele. While attempting to hug her, he also got a smooch in! Who would have thought a first kiss would be in a waiting area of the Opthamologist's office?
Yesterday, Adele saw her friend Mindy, the Audiologist. Mindy did a behavioral hearing test which consists of Adele and I going into a sound booth, Adele distracted in a high chair playing with foam puzzle pieces, while I sit nearby for comfort. There is a window in front of the booth so Mindy could make visual contact with Adele. Mindy proceeded to talk to Adele through a microphone system and reward her by flashing Sponge Bob on one side and Crabby Patty on the other. Adele did very well for her age and we found that her hearing WITHOUT the BAHA has stayed the same. WITH the BAHA, she was able to get up to normal range in her right ear!!! (Note that Adele has borderline normal hearing in her left ear). So, how does this impact her speech? Essentially, it shouldn't, so any Speech Delay relates to other things such as her mouth muscles etc... Our Speech Therapist is evaluating her on Tuesday, so we'll hear more at that time. Of course, as we talked, Adele managed to convince Mindy that she was the cutest toddler on the planet with plenty of smiles and communication! I should mention that Adele has been gaining speech, but at a slower pace than her average peers.
Good news: Adele has AWESOME eyes. Optic nerves look normal and she no longer has a Nystagmus (twitching of the eyes). We only have to see her once a year!! Physical Therapist is reducing to once a month since she is monitoring Adele and Developmental Hearing and Speech will continue. Adele's 6 month annual review is coming up in a week and a half so we'll get more details at the meeting.
Love my 18qt! Time to pick up our big sister!
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