A Blurry Two Weeks...

Well, the last two weeks have passed in quite a blur.  It seems that every time I thought about sitting down to write about it all, sometime else popped up.  I am left with a pretty random string of events to share, none of which are all too exciting.  But here is what I've got (in no particular order).

Sickness.  Today is the first day in over two weeks that I have felt healthy.  And by healthy, I mean that if I continuously take cough medicine, then I manage to make it through the day without having to leave the children to go and cough out in the hallway.  There has been illness traveling around my entire school, my entire extended family, and perhaps the greater metropolitan Chicagoland area.  I am not sure where I got this particular yuck, but it has been awful.  I went a good four days without any voice at all.  As you can imagine, being a fifth grade teacher with no voice was less than enjoyable.  And I just felt awful.  One of the worst days, I picked Millie up from day care and somehow she must have known how awful I felt because she happily sat in her rocker, in front of the fish tank, while I curled in a ball on the floor next to her and apologized for not being able to be a better Mom at the moment.  Yeah. It wasn't pretty.  Luckily, Carla totally stepped it up and took over all the things that I just couldn't manage to do.  As always, she was the reason that I made it through some of those bad days.  Luckily, after a long, long two weeks, I am finally starting to feel like myself again.

Health.  On the opposite end of the wellness spectrum, Millie had her four month check-up last week.  She got a glowing report! No mention at all of any sort of flat spots on her head and she was even a champ and rolled over for the doctor.  She also did a much better job with her shots this time around.  All in all it was a great appointment and it was fun to see how much she has grown since the last time we were there.

Food.  Millie has had her first taste of solid food.  Well, it wasn't at all solid.  Instead, it was a delightfully soupy mixture of avocado and water.  But it was something other than formula and that was exciting.  We have had three separate attempts at eating and while I am not sure how much food has actually made it down her esophagus, she didn't seem at all unhappy about the whole thing.  It is just really exciting to be at this new stage and to be able to think about her eating real food.  We have yet to progress beyond the avocado puree, but I do believe that there is banana in her future.

Party.  I had the most wonderful baby shower with my students.  The two room mothers for my classroom have been wanting to throw a party for Millie ever since I announced that we were bringing her home.  There was no time before I left on maternity leave, so we decided to wait until after.  So this past Friday, Carla and Millie came to school and the room mothers brought in balloons and donuts and the most wonderful, generous, kind, beautiful basket filled with presents for Millie from all of the kids and their families.  It was such a wonderful, wonderful moment and I was so touched at the excitement from my students and from their parents.  This is just the most special group of kids and parents and when we tell Millie all about the story of how we brought her home, these kids and their families will most certainly be a big piece of that story.  I can't say enough about what it means to have this kind of support.  In so many schools, a lesbian teacher would feel the need to hide her family from her students and their families and here I am, not only sharing my family, and not only being accepted and tolerated, but being celebrated in the most beautiful way.  It is overwhelming to think about.  I am deeply, deeply grateful.

Birthday.  This coming weekend is my nephew's second birthday.  I cannot believe that he is going to be two.  His big party is not until the following weekend, but this weekend, there will be cake and ice cream for the family.  I can't tell you how much I love this boy.  He is the most energetic, loving, fun-loving kid and he just makes all of us enjoy life so much more.  He has gotten our family through some tough, tough moments and he is nothing but lovable and wonderful.  He truly has taught me how to love a child in a way that I didn't know was possible.   He was the one person that made me certain that I wanted to be a mom.  I am so in awe of the little guy that he is growing up to be and I can't wait to celebrate with him.

I do believe that is it for now.  Sorry for the very random and not so exciting post.  I just thought I would keep everyone updated on the not so exciting goings-ons of this household!