Merry Christmas!

Just a quick note to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Woke up today to see snow on the ground!! Moana's first snowfall, not that she'll really enjoy playing in it lol. Its good to be home with the family, no matter how much the nephews/nieces drive us crazy with their antics. My sister says when kids get together, somehow their brains stop working.  LOL! I think its true.  Moana is doing well with the family, she's taking longer to get used to the men, even Grandpa, but I suppose that's normal. She woke up happy and smiling at her Grandpa so its a good sign. Her cousin, Emmy is 3 months older than her and they're about the same size! I'll have to post a pic of them in their Christmas dresses. Guess my babies will take after their daddy's side of the family. :) Its fun to see them together though, Moana seems more encouraged to try the "pushups" when she sees Emmy doing it. Well, life is still fun with us having a baby. Family is definitely something that brings joy to our lives. I would hope everyone has family to turn to for joy and laughter. Lucky us, we get to visit both sets of families this season, an Moana gets to experience true "spoilt-ness." haha.  Merry Christmas to all and to all a wonderful year!

Blogging!

I'm trying to be more diligent about posting blogs here. I figure this is a great way for my family and friends to catch up on what's going on with us, especially when I don't get around to emailing. So check out our slideshow of Moana and family. if you have pics you want to contribute, let me know, I think there's a feature where you can do that. 

Anyway, life is soooooo good with my baby. She's sleeping longer the past couple days, I was so surprised to wake at 4 am and realize that Moana slept for 5 hours! It was wonderful of her to do that for her mommy. Although it means she is ravenous when she wakes lol! Time is flying so fast and I'm already missing my tiny baby. But Moana is such fun when she laughs and coos at us quite often. I am astounded at how well she knows us and even then how well she behaves with strangers. Everybody says "good baby!" LOL! Motherdom is more than I expected and I cherish every moment I can. I learn so much from this experience and wish I had started sooner. But good things come to those who have to wait, and Moana sure is a great thing. 

Want to give a "hand wave" to my hubby for the wonderful husband and daddy he is. Love is compounded when a baby is added into the mix. Moana does take up almost all of our attentions but we had 4 great years with just ourselves so it is nice to add a third. John is amazing in how much he loves and dotes on his daughter, she'll definitely be daddy's girl!

Slideshow

Baby!!

I do not have much to post right now as all my pics are on the other computer. But have to say, Motherhood has not seemed so attractive and I wonder how I could have waited so long. I love being a mom, even with the aches and tiredness. All I have to do is look at my child's smiling face while she sleeps or marvel at her laugh when she sees us or hears our voices. It is quite a remarkable experience and I would not want any other at this time. Not even a Masters Degree posted on my wall can beat this (sorry mom ;). My love for my husband has also grown so much when I see how much he loves his daughter and enjoys being with us. He'll even go shopping if he gets to tote her around lol! What a grand adventure!

Education & Parents

I will have to admit that I am glad John's the teacher and not me. I would be fed up with the current education system for deaf/hofh kids by the first day!! It is frustrating to see the 'system' fail so many bright kids. Its becoming harder and harder for me to see the kids I counsel every week and not berate the teachers and school district for their failure to raise the standards and expectations they place on these kids. Compared to my generation, these kids are almost doomed to be lower income working class people because their teachers and parents do not believe they can achieve more. It boils my blood! My words may come back to haunt me but I wholeheartedly believe that if today's teachers/parents would expect better from their kids, their futures would be full of possibilities rather than full of bleakness. Its interesting the shift I notice in parenting too. Too often these days, I see parents not bothering to implement any kind of discipline on their kids, preferring instead that the schools teach the kids how to behave. Funny....I thought schools were for learning, not behavioral modification! Of all the kids I see, not one of their parents sign fluently with their child. I think that borders on neglect/abuse. When they deprive their children of adequate nutrition for their physical growth, parents are accountable. When they deprive the children of adequate language and access to communication, they SHOULD be accountable!!

In the words of Forrest Gump..."That's all I got to say about that."

Chess Nut!

I decided to change the background in honor of my hubby, the Chess Addict. LOL! Its his birthday next month and so I found this bkgd for him to enjoy, if he ever looks at the blog. I know it looks a lot like "Breaking Dawn" the book, which I've read, but its the chess pieces that attracted me. John starts his first day of student teaching and I think he was already stressed, I'm sure I didn't help him with my short temper this morning. But he is a wonderful, kind, and patient man and I'm lucky he picked me. So, here's to you My Kiwi!! Enjoy.

Ok, I'm Updating :)

Hi All!! I know its been a long time, for some reason I've been staying away from the blogging world. But I'm trying to be better lol. Wow, so much has happened I don't want to bore anyone ;). Well, what I wrote last time so... here goes.

Another year blows by, and where were we? I'd have to ask my memory, I think its lost among all my gray matter lol. What I can recall is that John and my first year of masters was finished with great relief!! We sure needed a breather and I was not looking forward to my last year because of the dreaded thesis/project. They don't do comp exams so I had to do my writing and research, ugh!! John was just getting into the flow of being back in school, poor guy, he's the only male in the Deaf Ed program...I tell him he has to stay away from the females!! ;)

Summer blew by rather quickly, we went from Fresno to Idaho a couple times to work and make some money to stay alive haha, and enjoy the family. I got another new nephew who is soooo cute. He look like a little old man.. His name is Alexander and has such a sweet, wonderful smile. I'm happy for my baby bro to be a daddy again cuz he's such a good one!! It was nice to be around family and "feed up" so I don't get too homesick.


To be honest, John and I don't really enjoy Fresno. I've begun to detect a subtle, but dark change in society here. Its depressing at times, when all we see on the news is murder, deaths, ridiculous political manuveurs, etc. I tell John all the time, we are getting out of this state as soon as we can. I'm not cut out to be a Californian, lol. Guess I like the mellow, small town life. John just wants to be near mountains or beaches ha. John still teaches the deaf sunday school and I was 2nd counselor in the young womens, but in January they called a new presidency and now I'm 1st counselor, yay.... :) It should be a good time to serve as we're all under 30 and the girls are a good bunch. I'm still working out how I'm going to survive the conversations (they're all hearing) but I do fine with teaching.

Last semester of school was CRAZY!!! I was soooo stressed out and some of my classmates had breakdowns early on. The program changes in grad social work have not improved my outlook so I try to survive. John's been a great support and very patient with my mood swings. *grin* I had my first 3 chapter for the project 1/2 done and I don't know how it'll work out later on. It's about doing a narrative, I hope to interview deaf people who have been through the mental health system to assess the kind of services they get and hopefully aid in developing more research into that arena because it is so sad for many Deaf people who are without capable services.

John gets to start his first round of student teaching and he is nervous. I give him pep talks daily, haha, and he starts the observation this wednesday. The deaf classes are excited to have him teach b/c he's deaf like them and he'll also teach an Algebra II class to hearing students. I'm impressed with the teacher of that class because he asked John outright if he wanted to teach his class. Its a great, challenging opportunity for him to show what he can do and gain confidence. for those of you wondering how that'll work, John will have a skilled interpreter voicing his instructions and so on. I suppose the real challenge will be maintaining discipline as its a real doozy in the public school systems these days. I'm confident John will be their favorite teacher by the end of the semester. *wink, wink*

I'm back at school and I actually feel better about everything, but I'm guessing I'm just in denial at this point. I should be pulling out my hair and all. :-P Grad applications are due next week and I haven't even started lol, I'm an adrenaline junkie!!!

There's no other news really, except I'm still waiting for my baby to drop down from heaven. :) (no, i'm not preggy...yet). We got a bread machine for Christmas and we're having a lot of fun trying it out, we've already made 4 different loaves I think and a pizza. I'll have to post pictures of it, it was sooooo yummy!!! I have to say my parents are awesome people!! They have too many kids and grandkids, but they managed to give us a wonderful Christmas nonetheless. John got a stained glass chess-set that is so beautiful and he was really touched (it was his favorite gift, surprise, surprise). Each family got a special steel crepe pan b/c we grew up having Dad's crepes often and we love the tradition still. I loved seeing the babies and we had a lot of fun with them and even got to enjoy some snow and we barely avoided getting into an accident when I skidded off. I kept my head and managed to get the car off the road safely, albeit in the wrong direction lol. I'm sure John had a mini-stroke at that. But thanks to experience, we survived intact and no one was hurt.

For now, I have to endure a long semester with no breaks till April, maybe I'll even lose a few pounds from stress. haha. I miss everybody and I even signed up on facebook so people could check me out if they need to see if I'm still around haha. Have a great winter and pray for spring!!