Speculation

I wondered how long it would take before my students started speculating about my "condition."

Apparently, not long.

Today, on two separate occasions, students (all girls) called me over during seat work and, none-too-timidly, asked the question: "Are you pregnant?"

Granted, my choice of outfit probably prompted some of it: I was wearing an empire-waisted shirt that puffed out a little bit in the front ... And my belly has seemingly "popped" overnight (maybe it was all the Easter food on Sunday) ... But I was still slightly surprised by all the unwanted attention.

If I have learned one thing as a educator in the past two years, it is that there is a wall that must stay firmly in place between teacher and student. Without it, students get the false impression that you are their buddy, an older friend that divulges intimate life details ... That can (obviously) not be the case! With these kids craving attention and, oftentimes, that connection with an adult that they can trust, the wall can become faulty, crack, and fall, challenging and sometimes eliminating all professionalism from the teacher/student relationship.

It's a strange little balance to strike ... One that I hadn't realized would be affected by my pregnancy.

Obviously, the students that ask and wonder will get their answer (either directly or indirectly) because my body is changing. I am getting a little bit rounder in the midsection. I suppose I'm lucky that I got this far without any scrutiny ... I successfully bypassed any suspicion due to morning sickness (I didn't have any) for the first three months.

I don't want to go up in front of the class and make a big announcement, but I don't want to be like one of those celebrities that denies her pregnancy when she's as round as a beach ball, either.

Ha!

I just compared myself to a celebrity ... If only I made that much money!

April Storm

In under a week, a lot of things can change.

Gone are the long shadows of an evening sunset on a clear, cloudless day.

Gone are the brisk, warm-ish temperatures that warrent only a bulky sweater.

Gone are the smiling faces of my daffodils ...


I hate to say "I told you so," but I totally did.

Darn you, Cleveland weather!

April Bloom

I was surprised to see the bright yellow petals of this daffodil amongst the dark, rainy gloominess of the morning as I made my way to work. I was even more surprised, after a long day at said job, to see how fresh and happy it looked in the dying light of the day ...

So I just had to snap a photo.

I have the sinking feeling that this vibrant, little flower is going to end up covered in snow before the month is up.

Venus and Mars

To truly see the difference between men and women, one must look no farther than their reactions to a pregnancy announcement.

A response from another (female) teacher at my place of employment: "A baby! How exciting!"

A response from a (male) co-worker at my husband's place of employment: "You've got to be loving your wife's bigger boobs! Just wait until her milk comes in ..."

Souvenir

In addition to more photos than I can count, my husband and I like to pick up a little trinket from the locations we visit while on an extended vacation. Usually, the item is something small ... A hand painted sand dollar from our honeymoon, a piece of mountain rock from Colorado ... Definitely not something worth more than a couple of dollars.

Our family vacation to Mexico being no exception, we came home with a nice piece of coral from the beach that flanked our resort and a rustic magnet from one of the vendors around Chichen Itza ...


Or so we thought ...

It turns out, our leisurely vacation out of the States yielded something else, as well ... Something worth much more than a couple of dollars. It turns out our vacation produced a fertilized embryo, which implanted itself in my uterus, which has now grown to become a 14-week fetus.

It gives the statement "Made in Mexico" a whole new meaning for us ... One that will come in quite handy when we wish to torment our teenage son or daughter one day.

:)

Mid-winter Slump

This February has been especially rough on me and I feel as if I'm caught in some sort of trap. Motivation is low, creativity is nonexistent ... I find myself counting down the minutes until I can curl up in my warm bed and fall asleep for the night.

While this is doing wonders for the amount of time my brain is getting to reboot every night, its not doing much for this blog.

It doesn't help that I'm feeling more frustrated than inspired at work, and I don't want to constantly complain about the incredibly crazy situations that make up my day-to-day life ... Then my readership (of two people?) will really go down! I just feel like whenever things seem to be moving in the right direction, something has to ruin everything.

• A productive lab day for all of my classes is sabotaged (at least in my mind) by someone stealing my supplies.
• A seemingly "easy" class of simple note-taking becomes a shouting match between two girls when one none-too-kindly requests that the other "shut up."
• A student recites my written words from past discipline referrals and even a conference questionnaire in front of his peers ... Announcing that I must be passive-aggressive for good measure.
• Students give up if they feel overwhelmed (challenged?) by an assignment and then blame me for not "helping them."

I don't know if this winter weather is pulling everyone down, or if I'm all alone in having a really crappy month.

It just stinks that all these little storm clouds fill my thoughts overshadow the good things that are currently happening, too ...

Maybe next month.

Blizzard

No ... Thankfully not the type that is made of feet of cold, unyielding snow ... But rather the edible Dairy Queen variety.

I'm not sure if it's because Valentine's Day is tomorrow, or because my husband is just awesome (it's probably because he's just awesome) ... But I'll be getting a delicious ice-cream treat when he returns home any moment now. Chocolate chip cookie dough. Yum!

And to think, all it took was a simple, "Do you know what you should do after we clean up from dinner?"

And off he went.

I'm a lucky, lucky girl. :)

If only the rest of my week (especially the parts where I am working) could go as wonderfully as this!