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frustrations & happiness

OK, so I have come to the time of the year for frustrations. I am not sure how this always happens, but it always seems to come around.
I just don't know how my students have gotten as far as they have with this horrible lack of skills. It is just such a tremendous disservice to them. I am honestly worried about how they are going to become productive members of society. It is not just the students in AZ either, while on the whole the students in CO were a bit higher in their knowledge levels, I was also dealing with mainly sophomores there, and here I have all freshmen.
so the question becomes -- what to do??
My decision has been to move on and hope that they will get the basic knowledge as we keep going through other labs. (But then there is always that little voice inside my head that says they really won't get the concepts if they don't have basic math and measurement skills).
it truly is a dilemma -- do we hold those students back to get the concepts, but with little to no parent support, are they really going to be able progress? What happens when we have a middle school full of 18 year olds??? UGH! I just have to remember that I am helping some and can't possibly help all (although i feel like i am dying trying!). I think that a lot of this frustration is from the subject matter as well -- physical science isn't nearly as interesting as Biology (i know some would argue, but that is my opinion). So, because that is my opinion I don't have the enthusiasm that I should.

On the happy side, Myka is the most amazing baby ever!! she giggles and laughs and is going to be crawling before we know it!! Time to baby proof the house :) I have a video that we took last night (with our little camera) and will try to post it tonight. she is giggling and playing with Mike before bath time. It is the cutest thing ever!! She is in her "Halloween prison" outfit today (will post pics of that today too hopefully) it is orange and white striped - too cute!!!

Now if I could only figure out how to not be frustrated with school -- life would be great! Just take a deep breath and keep moving forward right???

Love to all!
Erin

yummy, yummy food!!!

So, we are working on solid foods, and at first Myka was not sure she liked it -- but today, she took the spoon right from me and here are some way too cute pics of her with it :)

No longer a preemie!

So, we took Mykaela to her 4 month appt (at almost 5 months, but who is counting) on Thursday, and she weighed in at a whopping 15 lbs 13 oz and is now 24.5 inches long!!! that is the 75th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height, i would say she is definitely no longer a preemie!!!
she is almost out of her car seat length-wise anyway.
I am doing better at adding pics regularly to the picasa web site and here is a pic from yesterday in her ISU outfit :)

I found the sepia option on our camera :)
We are heading up to Utah this weekend to visit the family. Mike's grandparents (and a few others in the family)haven't seen her yet, and we finally found the time to get up there! It will be a quick trip, but we are looking forward to it!

Myka has found her voice

And she really loves to hear herself talk :)
Some days (like the one in the video) are louder than others!
All is well, Mike got a job at Buddy Stubs in Phoenix, starts on Monday, we are excited that he got a job in the motorcycle field!
I am plugging away teaching -- Myka is in daycare, and we are just waiting and hoping that a spot will open up at the daycare at Metro tech soon!!
Love,
Erin, Mike and Myka
p.s. check the picasa web site often, trying to be better at uploading pics!!

Update

so it has been awhile sooooo... Erin is teaching back at Metro Tech Myka is going to daycare Erin is going through guilt of leaving Mykaela and putting her there (i think it is cute Erin is such a good mom)
Me I am still looking for a real job, I am working at the nightclub but am not liking it. I have apps in at all the shops and some at places I really don't want to work at but we are starting to run short on funds so I can't be picky and will take the first offer I get regretting that I choose to go to MMI and not to a real collage I feel more at home in AZ but feel like a idiot for leaving Colorado and freedom without more experience .
We are trying to get to Utah asap but with looking for a job and not knowing what is going on from day to day is frustrating me more and more. hopefully by the end of Sept.

picasa albums

ok, so I finally put all of our pics on-line on a picasa website.
It is picasaweb.google.com/mmestrong
it is way easier to upload them there than on a blog post :)
now hopefully we can keep both updated!!
erin

back in phoenix

So, we are somewhat settled into the new house. It is nice to be home. We got a wonderful monsoon storm a few days ago. Myka is starting to really smile and react and talk to us. She is always making some sort of noise even when she is sleeping (mike says she is definately my daughter) Here are a few new pics :)

hope all is well!!

EMM

couldn't fit them all into one

so here are some more pics -- couldn't fit them all into one post :)

time to take pics

so i realized that we hadn't taken a whole lot of pics over the past couple of weeks. Been a little busy with packing (thanks dena for getting me started) and just taking care of the wonderful baby. so here are some pics from today -- as new as you can get :) notice the double chin -- she is definately growing!!!!

newest pics

well, so myka and i surprised my mom and showed up for Nat's graduation. it was great! We were only there a short time, so we didn't have time to see anyone other than family, but we will be back for good in a month, so we will be able to make the rounds then. here are some pics from the trip and then back home :)

more pics

went to myka's first docs appt today. she is perfect and gaining weight! here are some more pics :)

erin

here is our myka

here are pics of Mykaela Astrid Strong

hospital part 2

ok, so after less than 48 hours, we are back in the hospital. went in for the normal weekly visit this morning and the doc said, you are going to the hospital. My protein levels jumped from a trace amount to 3.5 g (high is considered 300 mg). So, long story short we are here til we deliver, which should be sometime early Saturday
exciting stuff!! can't hardly wait

hospital visit

So we got to go to the hospital yesterday afternoon. Don't worry it is a false alarm.

Basically because I am on bedrest and at risk for developing pre-eclampsia, headaches are pretty serious. Yesterday i got a headache that was bad enough that my vision blurred to the point that I really couldn't see. Not fun, really don't want to do that again. Called the doc and she said get to the hospital as soon as you can. Again, probably not a good sign. So, off to the hospital we went, and got on the monitors and all that. They took blood to check enzyme levels to see if I have developed pre-eclampsia, and everything came back normal.

Mykaela was fine, they monitored her for the entire time we were there. My blood pressure is still a bit high even if I am laying down now. So, I have my scheduled appt on Friday and we will see where it goes from there.

At my last appt, my ob basically said if everything stays status-quo, then we will induce on 5/12 -- 5/13. Again, with the hospital visit yesterday, we will see what my appt entails tomorrow :)

myka 3-D ultrasound video

here is the link to the video of the 3-D ultrasound. Thanks chad for your help!!!!!

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=32565615

3-D pics

Here are some of the 3-D ultrasound pics :)

Erin's Baby Shower

Here are some pics of ERIN'S SHOWER