New Realities

1) I love my new work schedule, but it allows me MUCH less free time. I am going to seriously have to budget my time better. Although it looks like I'll have Sunday afternoons free. No reason to gouge my eyes out watching the Bengals.

2) I have been spending a lot of that free time planning a potential 2009 trip...but the numbers that came back (under the new travel plan) are gaudy. We have a lot of figuring to do...and there are some parts of the trip I might just have to let go of. And that is hard. I spent a long time changing things around and trying to find a decent itinerary that balanced travel, sightseeing, and relaxing. Had it really well. Lots of thinking to do.

3) There is no way I am even coming close to working on Tennessee videos (or the other 6-7 that I am backlogged, reaching back to mari's 2nd birthday party) until The Procedure takes place on October 1. And then...well, who knows how I'll feel?

So much more to say, so little time. Life is good, but busy.

Matt

1st Day of Preschool

Tooks had a great first day of preschool...all of this information is second-hand, but apparently...Tooks' only sad moment was when she was helping Steph pack her snack and then realized that she had to wait to eat it until preschool. Had a few tears about that. But then Steph actually had to remind her to give her a hug before she ran off to do puzzles. It's so nice to not have to worry about the tears. Not that someday she might not develop an anxiety about preschool, but for now, easy come easy go. Of course, the flipside is that Tooks is clearly going to be MY daughter in terms of being totally uncommunicative about what happens at school. Can't get her to say a word about it.

In blog news...a few new additions.

Added a link to my good friend Dr. Matt Saunders' website, Martian Dances. Check it out, but only if you're ready to have your mind blown. Funny thing about Matt and me...we could probably both look at each other and say with a mixture of admiration and trepidation, "There but for the grace of God..." and really mean it.

I hope he takes that the right way. It's supposed to be a good thing.

Also uploaded a newish video to Youtube - finished this one before Tennessee but never got around to posting it - a smattering of images and movies from the summer of 2008.

Life is good. Busy but good. Must work on time management.

Matt

Post Title Here

(It's too stressful for me to come up with post titles...)

So I know I'm back in the swing because it's 2pm on a Sunday, Matt's watching the Bengals (even though the offense apparently decided to not show up to the game), and I'm sitting at the computer trying to find ways to procrastinate on making this week's lesson plans. Sigh. It's good to be back! ;-)

Robby rolled over last night -- from his back to his tummy which I consider to be tougher than the other way. He'd rolled from his tummy to his back at Grandma & Z's this week. Hannah doesn't really show signs of doing this yet but doesn't seem frustrated by that.

Went to my sister's bridal shower yesterday. It was a lot of fun and so good to see everyone who was there. It was mostly my mom's old friends (w/ my aunts and grandma and my sister's good friends), all of whom I consider to be like family. All of whom I have sort've grown up with having around a lot and all of whom, I am pretty sure, are nurses! We tease my mom about only being friends w/ nurses! Matt's mom came too and she is, of course, a nurse as well!

I brought the babies and they behaved pretty well. Of course, there were like 20 women there helping me to hold them so that was definitely helpful.

We're really starting to feel the "crunch" of those last 2 months before the wedding. Fri night the babies and I went over to my mom's to help her and my sister finish up the invites (George helped too). So those are in the mail and we're trying to finish up all the details as we can! My sister has her first dress fitting this week which is pretty exciting! Hey the link to her cool blog is to the right there -- "Cinnamon and Lemons". Check it out if you get a chance!

Faith and Mari start preschool this week. Mari goes a half day tomorrow. Faith doesn't do her half day until Wednesday. I'm nervous for Mari -- she is so unpredictable at times. I'm leaning towards her being totally fine and not even realizing I've left. But part of me wonders if she'll melt down. With Faith we knew for sure she'd melt down -- no surprises there. So we'll see with Mari. She's taking a good nap as I type this so that will help that she'll be well-rested.

We'll see how Mommy does with it all. Both the emotional part of realizing half my children are in school now and the physical part of getting everyone where they need to be!

Steph

A busy time

Yeah, it's really hard to find time to post. I'm going to have to get creative in how and when I can get online to do stuff. I'm posting before work in the morning now...not my favorite time to wax philosophical.

So...since last time...a lot has happened. Short version:

* Steph decided that the extra job was not for her, and when she decided to quit, a sense of relief was felt in the house. Maintaining that schedule was going to be really tough.

* It's gotten hot again. My room at work is unbearable. Kids are melting.

* Work officially feels normal, though. I think the usual sign that I'm back in the groove for real is the first time that I start worrying about tomorrow's problems today. That came last Thursday or so. So the horrible transition is over and I'm back to being at work like every other schlepp.

* Preschool starts next week. Should be exciting. Tooks did fine hanging in the room while Steph went to the orientation meeting upstairs. I think preschool is going to be SO GOOD for her.

* Steph started work, and her first 4th grade class went well. I think she's going to be great.

* And...trip planning is officially underway for summer of 2009. Lots of ideas, lots of research...a lot of details still to work out. As things become more solid, we'll post plans.

Kids are doing lots of cute stuff too...but I'll leave that to Steph.

Gotta run,
Matt

Another day at the office

I'm getting closer and closer to that feeling that going to work is 'normal'. I'm to the point now where waking up and thinking about work isn't a majorly stressful event in and of itself. Which means I'm getting my confidence back. Trouble is, I'm still in the stage where as soon as I realize that I'm NOT all that nervous, I think I'm being overconfident and start to stress just because I think I HAVE to. Once that stage passes and I can get up, go to work, and not really notice it, I'll be back officially into the groove.

Things are crazy but stable at home. Faith and Mari have been really wonderful lately, and we hope they keep it up. Twins have been a little less consistent in sleeping, but even if they're getting up at 4, they're going back down. So we haven't had any truly awful nights for a long long time.

I've also been back at work long enough to start thinking about attacking the Tennessee videos. I feel bad that there are people who have probably given up on the blog, because let's be honest...hearing me talk about my mental state going back to work isn't why people check in. They want to hear about the babies and the big girls and see pictures and videos...so I'm going to try to make an effort to put some more stuff of that nature up this week. Keep checking in.

Thanks for still reading!

Back in the "New" Swing

Well, we survived Matt's first week back. Not really that bad, to be honest. I had LOTS of help from my wonderful in-laws. Had a dr's appt so they watched the kids Tues morning during that. Faith and Mari had their preschool orientations on Wed and Thurs mornings so they watched the other 3 during that. Aunt S/P and I took the 4 kids to Coney Island on Fri. Fri night, my mom and dad took the two big girls overnight which they LOVED. Yesterday morning, while the big girls were still at the grandparents', Matt and I (well...mostly Matt) worked on organizing the remaining boxes/bins in the garage and worked on the storage room in the basement. Also went grocery shopping.

I started an (additional) new job this week. I'm going to be working for a HUGE, multi-national corporation. One of this company's areas is customer management. I'm going to be an at-home call center agent, taking inbound sales calls for infomercials. Should be interesting. I'll be working in our "home office" (read: basement)on Sat and Sun mornings from 6-2:30. So I'm in the middle of training right now. The training is done via conference call and virtual classrm. Been pretty interesting so far, really. I'm NOT a fan of conference calls and can not imagine what it would be like to have ADD and have to be a part of a conference call. Phew. So I'm sure you'll hear more about this in the future!

I have my teacher inservices this Thurs and Fri, students come the following Tues (Sept 2). Again, the adventure of teaching 4th grade will begin this school year.

Hannah is consistently sucking her left thumb now. The past week or so when we put her down for "tummy time", not too far in to it she finds her thumb and promptly goes to sleep. We really thought she'd only do it while on her tummy but I walked in this morning to get her and Robby up, and she was on her back of course, and she was sucking her thumb! Of course, this has its pros and cons. Pro is that she always has it with her and can soothe herself. Con is that it'll be more difficult to break her of it, as we see with her big sister Faith. Robby desperately wants to suck his thumb, we think, but just can't grasp the coordination of it. So he just chews on his fists.

Well, I have to go get ready for my Usborne Books party. I have a very sorry attendance of 2 (MAYBE 3) people and they're both my very best friends. Sigh. Oh well. Maybe I'll get 1 or 2 free books from it!

More to come on the big girls starting preschool -- Mari for the first time!

Steph

I'm trying, really...

...but it's hard to get a few minutes to post.

First (short) week of school is done. Good to get that out of the way. Interesting mix...a few classes that looked like trouble on paper were actually okay in real life. Sometimes those kids mature from one year to the next. Good job classes...I wonder if any students read this...

Anyway...

Babies are still sleeping PRETTY well, but they have begun making a few random early appearances in the morning. Not awful...usually the timing is such that they can go back down. Big girls have been a real pleasure all week...friendly and helpful, and we really appreciate it. It's made this step of the transition a lot easier.

It's hard to think of specific stories from home life over the last few days...I know that general reports aren't as interesting as anecdotes or philosophical ramblings...let's see...Oh, okay, here's a kind of funny one:

Last week while we're being kinda silly at the dinner table, Mari turns to me with a big smile and says "Everybody at the party is a nonagon." Now, she's not a child-whiz freak or anything. It's from a song by They Might Be Giants' newest kids DVD "Here Come the 123s" and she actually got the words a little wrong. It should go "Everybody at the party is a many-sided polygon" but who's checking? Still very cute and disarming when a 2-year old says it unexpectedly. Great DVD by the way. Every bit as good as "Here Come the ABCs" - keep it up boys. Much better than "The Else" - sorry, that album did not do it for me.

Oh, maybe Steph will post tomorrow about the Frog Hopper.

Gotta run - will try to check in tomorrow! Thanks to Grandma D for the night off!

Matt

Meet the Teacher

So here I am, the day before school starts for real, and I'm sitting in my room waiting for the start of "Meet the Teacher" night...which for me usually means 2 hours of quiet time. Not many people come see the specials teachers.

But anyway, no real complaints. Looking back at what I said last year at this time:

"I think I have reached the level of confidence (or hubris?) where work stuff doesn't send me into a panic. I've been teaching long enough that I feel like I can handle new challenges, and I've been alive long enough to not be afraid of my own mistakes."

So, here I am again. And I've done my fair share of rehearsing the first day stuff, but I feel pretty well prepared. And I know there are some real pieces of work coming in...but even if I fail miserably in dealing with it, I'll get back up. Even if I have to do it again and again. I'm strong enough to overcome my own mistakes. And looking at a few of these lists...yeah. I'm going to make plenty of mistakes.

So...more tomorrow, when the day has simmerred down. For now, keep me and all teachers everywhere in your thoughts and prayers.

Matt

In Closing

"Summers going fast --
Nights growing colder
Children growing up --
Old friends growing older
Experience slips away..."
- Rush, "Time Stand Still"

Well, almost right. Of course the temperature is about to spike just in time for my return to my non-air-conditioned room at work. Nice.

So, what can be said about the Summer of 2008 as it comes to a close for me?

It was one of the least summer-like summers I can remember. When you've got new twins to take care of, you don't notice the season.

It was a summer when we managed to live to the fullest one of my keys to happiness in life - make the most of what you've got. Even with all the craziness, and unable to take a long trip to the beach, we created our own destinations. And while Louisville, Cleveland, Chattanooga doesn't sound like anyone's idea of a vacation itinterary, we made them special for us and created memories which have already earned a place in everyone's hearts.

It was probably the last summer when we'll feel totally tied down geographically. Next year, barring any unexpected problems, we should be much more free to revisit the open road.

It was a strange summer, but not nearly as insane as it could have been. Blessed with wonderful babies, there remained some semblance of normalcy.

And so now, the darkest time of the year for teachers is upon me. For everyone out there with 'normal' jobs, tomorrow is just another day. But for me, it's the beginning of the grind again.

And no, I'm not dreading it. But I know that only the passage of time can make being back at work not feel weird any more. No matter how mentally prepared you are, if you're suddenly at work and you haven't been there for months, it feels odd. So I am ready to get on with it. In a few weeks, I'll be back in the groove, work will feel normal, and I'll be one with humanity again. Until then, it's one day at a time.

Not long from now, we'll probably all sit down and talk about next year's trips, about plans for the holidays, about all sorts of nice things to look forward to. But for now, it's time to be an adult.

So thanks to everyone for checking in this summer - hope you keep doing so as school starts...there'll be lots to talk about in the family...Steph's second job, Took starting preschool, babies eating solid foods...and maybe some carefully edited work stories too.

God bless. The adventure continues. Come along for the next chapters.

Matt and
The Specter Family

Milestones

So we're getting more and more clues that both babies, but especially Robby, are starting to show the very early signs of teething. Sigh. With Faith, we barely even noticed her teething. She really seemed to take it all in stride. Hardly a word from her about it. Mari, on the other hand, was not a fan. She had those totally random screams and shoving her hands in her mouth and drooling. Really seemed to come out of nowhere at times. Not too much fun for anyone.

For a good week now, Robby has been drooling quite a bit and when he shoves his fists in his mouth, he chews when he used to suck. Hannah too, but not as often. Last night, Matt tried to give them their daily "practice" bottle and all Robby wanted to do, again, was chew on the bottle nipple. He wasn't upset or anything, just chewy.

OH and Matt has a new nickname (as if we needed more in this family) for Robby: "Scooter". He really loves to scoot himself off the play mat we have (a fabric mat with arches over it on which we can hang different baby toys -- ours happens to have a battery-operated bird hanging down that moves and plays music when one of the babies moves an arch -- we call it the "Bird Cage"). He also scoots himself clear across to the other side of the crib at night. We are pretty sure the past few days he has been waking up Hannah in the morning. Another sigh. I think this might mean the end of them co-sleeping pretty soon. Sad, really, as these signs mean they are coming out of the newborn phase. Exciting as they are learning to do all these new things. Sad because it really and truly does go by so quickly -- especially when you know these are your last babies!

Today I begin to get the house ready for the baptism celebration we will have on Sunday afternoon. The house isn't too bad (well, for us) because I hosted pokeno the other night. Just need to pick up a bit and I think I'll scrub the kitchen floor and the living room hardwood floor. Oh and I need to dust. Ugh.

Steph