Hi Baby Boy,

You are now 5 months old and conquering new feats every day!  We gave you rice cereal for the first time- you LOVED it and GOBBLED it up.  You learned how to sit up on the floor unassisted- balancing with your hands out to both sides! This is even more exciting because we have discovered that you can now sit in a grocery cart by yourself and even in  restaurant high chairs.

You can pick moving objects up off the floor and pass them from hand to hand (after, of course, putting it in your mouth a time or two).  We think there is a good chance you might skip crawling all together and just start walking because your little, chunky legs are so strong.  Your sudden interest in the outside world sometimes makes feeding you a challenge (and that’s putting it mildly). I think you know your name and are starting to learn fun games of cause and effect.  You are also starting to get a little leery of strangers.  The lady at Sam’s Club makes you cry when she talks to you.

You are still the happiest, most laid back baby.

I didn’t know it was possible to love anyone or anything as much as I love you. And, as much as I HATE how fast you are growing up, I wouldn’t trade this age for the world.

XOXO,

Mommy

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Change is hard. Change is sad. Change is scary. With this being said, sometimes change is necessary.  I’ve come to the realization that if I let fear of the unknown hold me back, I’m going to miss out on a lot.  Growth means change and change involves risk.   But, no pain, no gain, right?!

Remember a while back when I wrote about how I felt something brewing?  Well, it seems as if its really happening- and I’m still not sure what exactly “IT” is.  I’m rolling on blind faith and instinct alone.

I found the following quote the other day, which pretty much sums up everything I’m feeling right now-

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy, for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter into another.

– Anatole France

This is the most spontaneous thing I’ve ever done. And I’m praying day and night that I’m making the right decision.

Happiness is not the belief that we don’t need to change. It’s the realization that we can.

Don’t worry, friends, I’m rather partial to my Dizzle, so I’m leaning towards letting him stay.

To Be Continued… Don’t ya hate that?

As I have mentioned before, the idea of putting my children into a public school terrifies me.  And, this is after years of being on the “inside.”  I have observed, worked with, and learned from more teachers than I can count, and, unfortunately, I have only found a few that I would entrust with my child’s education, safety, happiness and well-being. If that isn’t depressing, I don’t know what is.

There is a stigma attached to homeschooling- you all know exactly what I’m talking about- the “if you homeschool you must be an anti-social, religious freak” stigma.  I have casually mentioned that I’m considering homeschooling on numerous occasions, and more often than not, the responses wouldn’t have been any different had I said I’m considering letting wolves raise my baby for the next couple months.  At least that’s what I inferred from the audible gasps, the “WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU EVER WANT TO DO THAT?!” questions and the raised eyebrows.

The following article caught my eye today, and it was truly a breath of fresh air.  Its nice to hear a positive spin on the choice to homeschool, and even more inspiring to hear that the stigma is beginning to fade as homeschooling is becoming more and more mainstream in America.

Why Urban Educated Parents Are Turning To DIY Education

What are your thoughts? Are there any GREAT public schools out there anymore?  If so, please give me names so we can move! 🙂

Andrea

Green Lantern is the new Batman.  RJ worships Green Lantern- he thinks he’s the coolest superhero ever.  Today, when RJ got home from Pre-School, he had colored his arms, legs, and hands GREEN with nothing other than a PERMANENT marker!  We asked him why he chose to use green and he very “matter of factly” explained that he was turning into Green Lantern.  Duh.

You see that brown box below that says “Like My Blog? Vote For Me!”???  All you have to do is click on it one time and you, too, might turn into Green Lantern. 😉 

There are few times in life when we are given the opportunity to create truly magical memories. As many of you know, Ian and I were married on Jekyll Island, so when the seas parted and an opportunity to escape our completely overwhelming lives presented itself, we took off! There was never really any doubt what beach we wanted Grae to see for the first time.  We knew right away that this would be our chance to recapture some of the magic from the very spot this amazng fairy tale began- the sacred place where the world stopped, but not for a moment, we somehow found a way to stop it for a few days.

Anyway,  Jekyll Island has always held a special place in both of our hearts – it was the destination of one of our first vacations together, the place we were married, and now, Grae’s first trip to the ocean. We have stumbled upon a place that we will return to each year as our family grows, instilling a sense of history in our children and allowing them to understand the dream that they made a reality.

We made sure to get lots of pictures- under the same Great Oak where we said “I do” as well as on the same tree on Driftwood Beach were our wedding portraits were taken.

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Just wanted to say hi and let everybody know we are still alive and kickin’.  The blog has been a little neglected lately.  I have been on spring break for the last twelve days- and although I thought this vacation would mean ample time to catch up on all kinds of things, it  didn’t actually turn out as such.  We took Grae and RJ to the beach for the first time, spent Easter with my family, Grae and Mommy got a nasty virus of some sort which monopolized my time, and then Ian’s family came down to visit us in Atlanta this past weekend.  All in all, it turns out it really is more work being a SAHM then working full-time. Who knew?!

In the time that I have been M.I.A., Grae has learned how to barrel roll across the floor, scoot/crawl backwards about 6 feet at a time, and has morphed into a 20 pound, five month old, perfect baby boy.  I have so many pictures I can’t wait to share, and I’ll do my best getting those posted tomorrow.

XO,

Andrea

Today, a first grader stopped me in the hallway and told me she wanted to be a science teacher just like me.  🙂 When I asked her why, she said- “YOU ARE ALWAYS HAVING FUN! I WOULD LOVE TO DO SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS ALL DAY!” Hehehe, I really do have the best job ever.

The following is a newspaper article and some pictures from a lesson on the States of Matter:

1^st Graders Get “Fogged” With Dry Ice

1^st graders in Mrs. Mielke’s science class recently explored for themselves some of the interesting properties of dry ice (the solid form of carbon dioxide) that makes it such a useful cooling agent.  While in the science lab, they were also able to witness first-hand how it transforms from a solid to a gas and how it reacts with common household items, such as liquid soap.  The CO2 vapor (fog) and the bubbles creates quite a bit of excitement…and a lot of fun learning!

The Elementary Science Director, Andrea Mielke, stated, “The students are always excited when we are in the lab doing hands-on experiments…the activities are not just fun, they are the best way for kids to connect to and learn about science and methods of scientific inquiry, such as observation, prediction, measurement, interpreting data and drawing conclusions.   It is also very helpful that we have instant access to all the appropriate science equipment and technology right at their fingertips.”    

Easter spells out beauty, the rare beauty of new life.  ~S.D. Gordon