Crazy Busy

Sorry that I have been MIA for so long.  The last several weeks have been intensely busy--the school year is underway for me (after a rather dramatic start), Savannah is now in the Pre-K classroom at school (which means my baby girl will be in kindergarten next year....which she refers to as "candy garden"--she can't wait to go!), both of our cars--including J's very new, very lovely car--were in accidents over the span of two days, and then, you know, just normal day-to-day things have kept me pretty well occupied.

I'm about four weeks into teaching now, and I can honestly say that I love it.  I was worried about moving from teaching college-aged students to teaching 12-15 year olds, but it hasn't been that difficult a transition.  These kids are so bright and engaged that it makes teaching them a really joyful experience.  Plus, because of some issues with our building (we're a new school with a new building...which wasn't ready for occupancy on the first day of school!), I had the opportunity to get to know my students in a more informal setting before moving into our classroom.  As a result, there's a really great rapport in the class already...something that normally takes a little bit of time to develop.  This isn't to say that it's easy or always fun--it's a lot of work and there have been some long days.  But, overall, it's amazing.  We had an enrichment night last Thursday, where students and parents could learn about the different sports and clubs that we would offer.  I had a couple parents come up to me just to say that their child had never liked history before this year, but now it's all they want to talk about at night.  That was amazingly gratifying to hear.  While I feel like I was able to connect with many of the undergrads I taught, I don't think it was at this level, and certainly not this soon in a semester.

My classroom! Nothing decorated as of yet...haven't had to do that before and a little unsure of what to put up :)

Fancy projector.

And I have a view outside, which is nice.  Sunshine is good.

And I have my own office...which is huge! Can't wait to get bookshelves and all of that put in!

Savannah has been doing great--the transition into Pre-K was very smooth for her.  She comes home at the end of the day eager to talk about using the sewing machine, or the hand drills (yes, for real), or what she and her friends built outside on the patio.  Since my last post, she also tried out a new hairstyle--purple streaks!  After she saw that I got my hair dyed (ahh...gray hairs...), she wanted to do something to her hair, too.  She decided upon purple streaks.  I have to say, it's incredibly cute.

Jason is busy with work.  He's on a new team now, which seems to have been a good change for him. Not nearly as stressed out at night as he had been.  The one sad note for him of late was, of course, the car getting hit.  He's fine--wasn't even in the car at the time.  A contractor backed into the side of his brand new--parked--car (two days after I had a fender bender in the other car...).  The car was still driveable, but the rear tail light was broken, and there was a fairly big dent in the back quarter panel.  We just dropped it off at the shop last night to get repaired (took a few days to get the insurance situation worked out with the driver of the other car)...it should be back to new and lovely in about 10 days or so.  

I'll leave you with a few more pictures from the last month.  I hope all of you are doing well and enjoying the final days of summer.  For those of you back south, Sav and I will be in SC the last week of September (primarily in the Charleston/Walterboro area)...we're even doing an overnight in Savannah, which the girl is super excited about--"Mommy, there is a city named after me!"

I gave her one oreo cookie in the car...she promptly rubbed all of the icing all over her face...naturally.

Love you all,

Ashley

Summer Moments

Today is a pretty big day.  I'm headed back into the classroom--it's not actually the first day of school, but BASIS (my new place of employment) offers incoming students classes on organization and time management the week before starting class.  So, I'm off today to teach 90+ 6th and 7th graders how to be organized!  Before I do that, though, I thought I'd share some photos from the last few weeks of summer.  I feel like my summer is more or less over now (so early!), so it's a good time to share :)

We got the hand controls installed in the new car, so Jason is able to drive it now.

I went to Arizona for a week...it was crazy hot and there were all sorts of desert critters there that I would have preferred not to meet :)  LOVED meeting all my new colleagues, though.  BASIS Silicon Valley is going to be pretty awesome.

My casita for the week (yay for Hilton Honors points!)

Desert sunset

Savannah and I took a day to go to Berkeley and the Oakland Zoo

Heading out for the Fremont Festival of the Arts

Climbing at a friend's birthday party

This girl is fearless!

Lots of bubbles at the party...here is Sav inside of a bubble!

Trip to Sacramento (we took Nick to and from orientation at UC Davis); this was the view from our room...not too bad.

Savannah loved the window seat

Old Town Sacramento

Quick stop in the Jelly Belly factory on the way back home

I hope you are all enjoying the last bits of summer.  

Love you all,

Ashley

Baltimore and another Round at KKI

As much as traveling back from the east coast can be a pain (our girl is an amazing traveller, but she normally demands a lot of attention on flight, plus wheelchair things can get a little stressful depending on how familiar the flight crew is--or isn't--with wheelers), there is one thing I absolutely adore about returning to the west coast from the east:  the first few mornings of jet lag.  I was up at 5am today feeling totally refreshed and ready to tackle the mountain of stuff-to-be-done-post-vacation. I always tell myself that I'll continue to wake up that early, because I feel so productive when I do...normally, this doesn't last too many days post-vacation. [Though last year, I made myself get up around 5 every day to dissertate before Sav woke up...I've had trouble maintaining this schedule since finishing up]  But this morning, I'm awake, enjoying a second cup of coffee, and writing while the next load of laundry finishes drying.

We had a great trip back to Baltimore.  Savannah was especially excited to go to "the Duck" (we stay at a Homewood Suites--their "mascot" is the duck).  In between medical appointments and therapy for Jason, we went to the aquarium (three times!), Baltimore's awesome children's museum, took walks along the harbor, visited with friends and family, and I ventured into a paddle boat (something I thought I'd never do again after my last attempt to do so ended up with me paddling in circles in the middle of a lake).

We travelled on July 4, so Savannah was suitably patriotic for the flight.

Playing Go Fish on the plane

Octonauts...there were LOTS of octonauts on this trip....

Snack time, J sleeping in the background (unfortunately, Savannah seems to have inherited my inability to sleep on a plane...J has no such problem)

Resting following our first aquarium visit

Running around in the hotel courtyard

Lovely girl

Sunset walk around the harbor (it was very humid last week, but it wasn't as hot as it has been in previous years)

Port Discovery Children's Museum

Play Date

Watching the aftermath of a big thunderstorm...Savannah was entranced by the weather (our CA girl is not accustomed to thunder and lightning)

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum

Loved the model trains

Loved the rides more...

Outside the aquarium

Photos by Savannah

Adventures in paddleboating...also known as that time, I had to do all the work to paddle us around the inner harbor while Savannah yelled at me to "go faster"

I underestimated how much work it would take to move one of these things around in the water...

So, that was the vacation side of things.  Of course, we were also there for Jason to see his doctors and PTs again.  His doctor was really happy with the progress and gains he's made this year (built up a lot of muscle, legs are not atrophying, which is normally what happens post-SCI, but J has been working hard to prevent that, and he's got a smidge more feeling back on the right side...not enough to be re-classified, but a gain is a gain).  He also learned some new exercises to try out at home. It was good to spend the third anniversary of the accident in such an optimistic, encouraging place.  

Standing Frame Exercises

FES Bike...which we're now trying to get for the house (I'm sufficiently recovered from fighting with insurance for the stander...)

This go round we took Savannah with us to the hospital most days.  They have a playroom for children 4 and over (so this year was the first time she could go)--Savannah LOVED this.  All sorts of new toys to play with.  KKI really does a great job of making a facility that takes care of the whole family.  They recognize that an SCI doesn't just impact the person injured, but is felt by the whole family.  Savannah enjoyed getting special treatment, and hanging out with other children who also have family members impact by SCI (or some other neurological injury/condition).  Jason and I have talked a lot about how much we want Savannah to be exposed to in terms of hospitals, injuries, etc.  She's certainly spent more time in medical facilities than most 4 year olds, and KKI, even though it is a cheerful place, requires you to deal with and witness difficult things.  There are lots of patients there with significant medical issues, and we've struggled with how much of this Savannah should see (would she understand and, more importantly, would she be able to respond in a way that does not hurt/offend the patient and/or their family)  But it's made Savannah incredibly empathetic.  She does ask questions, and we take the approach of answering everything she asks as honestly as we can, but she also knows that people are different.  That everyone can do different things.  She's comfortable around wheelchairs, and feeding tubes, and walkers, and all sorts of other medical equipment.  And she rarely hesitates to talk with and interact with patients, particularly if they are children.  As a parent, you constantly second-guess yourself, so I know we will probably continue to re-visit this issue, but so far, so good.

And, completely unrelated to the above, we came home yesterday and picked up the new car!  Jason was super excited, though he's not been able to drive it yet.  We're headed in this morning to work out the hand control situation and hopefully will have those installed by the end of the week.  In the meantime, I've enjoyed driving it :)

Hope everyone is having a great summer so far.  

Love you all,

Ashley