Inspiration: discovered

I have always loved beautiful things. Quite often I find myself on an inspiration journey~ seeking to find something truly beautiful. As I trudge daily through the beautiful mess named student teaching I find bits of inspiration.

Today while doing homework with a little piece of heaven nestled beside me I happened upon inspiration. This is for anyone who enjoys books, writing, traveling and family. In short, this blog epitomizes my existence. I am inviting anyone who wants to join in the fun to a 12 week course with Travelin Oma.

I am going to create a new blog...one that will not be private just for this occasion.

What's Happening?

~School Days~
A unique, free, course of study offered each day of the week
with my website as the virtual campus.

Daily Classes:
Mondays: Creative Writing
Tuesdays: Travel Studies

Wednesdays: Book Club
Thursdays: Home & Family Relations
Fridays: Discovering your Personal Philosophy

Where will the Seminar Happen?

Right here (at TravelinOma.blogspot.com)
A Post will be available by 8:am each morning

Your own blog, e-mail, a notebook, or daily life
is where you'll complete your home-work assignments.

When will School Days start? When will they end?

Monday, August 31st—Friday, November 20th

How Do I Sign Up?

1. Leave a comment on this post saying you're interested.

2. Read each daily post next week to see various class curriculum, goals and assignments.
Choose one or all as your course-work, and try to attend class
(by reading the post and doing the homework)
each day your class is offered.

3. You can do the assignments on your own,
or email them privately to TravelinOma,
but for the best results,
post your work on your blog,
and leave a comment and link on Oma's post
for others to see and comment on.

Homework assignments are totally adaptable to your own situation,
and not mandatory to be part of the courses. Your comments will still be welcome.

What's in it for me?

Fun, writing practice, ideas, some new ways of thinking, plus AWARDS!

4. Oma will randomly visit the blogs of those who leave a comment saying they completed an assignment. Participation points will be awarded, kept track of,
and a graduation certificate will be sent to those who finish a particular class.

Actual prizes will be awarded to anyone who participates and completes the assignments
for the entire 12 weeks in all 5 classes.

*Recruiting new students:
Feel free to forward this post to someone who might be interested.
(Click on the little letter icon at the bottom of the post.)

There will be 2 honorary degrees awarded for those who invite the most readers to try
the seminar. Just have them comment that they came to my blog from yours, and you'll be on the extra credit list!

The official graduation ceremonies will be posted Wednesday, November 25th.
Prizes and certificates will be sent then.

Grab your lunch-box, hoist your virtual backpack,
and come back to school the easy way.

See you Monday.
(You can sit next to the tall, tanned, blond!)

Update:

What a crazy month!

So I started my internship as a student teacher this week. It was probably the hardest week of my life. I explained to Adam that the reason it was so hard is because I am being hit physically, mentally, and emotionally.

I am waking up almost every night with Hannah needing me, and then I have to be up by six to be at the school by 7:30 and then I have to have enough energy to perform my daily duties at the school then I come home at 4:00 and have my mommy duties...with homework on top of that. By the time 9:00 rolls around I am exhausted and I crash. So physically I'm worked to the bone. Thankfully I have such a supportive husband who is willing to take on more than his fair share of housework and daddy duties.

Mentally I'm also exhausted. I am constantly thinking of Hannah at school and at home I'm stressing about school. I'm split in half!

Emotionally I was not ready to leave my three week old baby and return to school. I know it is the best thing for her but it was hard. Maternity leave is supposed to be at least 6 weeks in Nevada but you don't get to have maternity leave when you elect to finish your degree three weeks after birth :(

So it has been a stressful week. It has also been a great opportunity to learn A LOT about myself as a person. I am grateful for this opportunity. I think I will be better for it.

Adam is learning he is anxious to go back to school and get back into a routine. He has 32 kids in his class and already has a parent calling to complain that 4th grade is too easy for her daughter and possibly to try and get his sub fired. Too bad she is AWESOME!!!

We were called to primary. We are tam teaching 11-12 year old girls. It should be awesome.

One Month Old!

Today miss Hannah Elizabeth had her one month check up with Dr. Dani. She is 21 inches long and 11 pounds 6 oz. In other words- she is one curvy lady!

Here is a conversation between Adam and Dr. D:

Doc: How many ounces does she drink
Adam: About 6
Doc: No really
Adam: Yeah...6 oz...if not she gets fussy
Doc: You seem like the kind of person who jokes around and I don't want to put six ounces in the computer and hear you say you are joking
Adam: Yeah I'm serious

She was in the 95th percentile today (around 50th at birth).

She is sleeping longer hours at night and she is big enough that I don't feel like I'm going to crush her so sometimes I pull her into bed with me and we sleep for an hour before I have to run off to student teaching. Hannah loves her hair almost as much as we do...When she is in distress we often find her holding onto her hair with her right hand and sucking on her left hand.

Hannah loves music. Just tonight she was in distress so I put on some Michael Jackson and she listened intently then screamed when the music stopped for three seconds until the next song came on...geez she couldn't wait three seconds! She also loves listening to Jazz and her great-Granpa Marsden's CDs.

Hannah just started the beginnings of real smiles this week. She will be fussing in her bassinet and when we pick her up she gives us the most grateful beautiful expression of happiness!
Hannah doesn't like to be by herself. She likes to be noticed and acknowledged and then she is fine.

Right now our darling is laying next to me on the couch...I can't get enough of this kid! We love her so much!

Today...

Today is my LAST first day of school.
It's smooth sailing from today on out! I'm at Batterman Elementary in 3rd grade. Good luck me!

Hannah with her Family Members

Hannah with Her Mommy and Daddy

Hannah with her Aunt Megan, Glamma Margie, and Grandpa T

The Elizabeths Allie Elizabeth, Aubrey Elizabeth, and Nana Elizabeth

Hannah's Nana

Hannah and her Uncle Sean in Australia


All we need is a picture with Grandpa Terry, and Uncles Austin, Addison, and Avery

We are a Happy Family!

:)

Last Semester...

I'm excited for school to start...I'm excited for school to start...I'm excited for school to start...

If I keep telling myself that, maybe it will be true :)

Tomorrow I have orientation (more like borientation) and I will find out where I will be for student teaching. I am also required to go to back to school night (I usually go with Adam but no this year) to get to know my cooperating teacher (or CT) so I will be doing that on Thursday.

Student teaching will be interesting. Unlike regular school where I've been going to UNLV 2-3 times a week from about 9-4 with some breaks in between, I'll be at an Elementary School from 8:10-3:21 (the time I will be obligated to stay there) and I will have a class each Thursday which may or may not meet at UNLV (it may just be at our individual schools). That class will last until about 7 so I'll be at school on those days ALLL day long.

I believe how it works is one week of observation, perhaps two...then the second or third week I'll be taking over one subject from my CT for that week. Each week after that I will take on one subject which means writing lesson plans for each subject including an objective, engagment activity, development activity, and assessment. After about a month I will have taken over the whole day and will be writing lesson plans for the whole day, Monday-Friday. Basically I will be a full time teacher (in training). I will do this until friday, December 4th and then on December 15th I will GRADUATE!

Adam will be home with Hannah until October 5th. Adam has 6 weeks of paternity leave from the day she is born so technically he is on it now :) By the time school starts he will have three weeks left on paternity leave and then his class tracks off for three weeks (perfect!) so he'll continue to stay home. Sometime in September Addison (Adam's brother) will move in with us and become our full time Manny :) What a great Uncle to be willing to come and take care of his little neice!

Although I'm not looking forward to leaving my little one I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to finally graduate. Lots of people didn't think I'd go back to school after I got married and moved to Vegas. More wondered if I would finish when I got pregnant. I went through at least part of three semesters pregnant and I'll finish off school as a mommy. I do admit I'm proud of myself and I'm grateful for the support I've been given. I know that Hannah was supposed to come into our family on July 27th 2009. I was worried myself that it would be difficult and that it couldn't be done but I knew somehow it would work and here Adam will be able to care for her until October and Uncle Addison will take over for seven weeks. Life is good!

Hannah Pictures of the Week

Hannah Playing with her hair

Sweet Expressions

Looking Vexed, wondering why mommy keeps taking pictures

Snuggles!

Its as if I all did for 9 months was grow cheeks and hair!

Hannah is getting bigger every day! This week she weighed in at 8 pounds 13 oz and is 20 inches long. Adam loves to sit with her on his lap, giving her kiss after kiss and telling her "kisses" after each one. He wants to make sure she knows what kisses are and that they are reserved for daddy.

Hannah loves her hair just as much as everyone else. She loves to grab onto it and play with it in times of both stress and contentment. Right now I'm watching her sleep on her tummy (the doctor recommends "tummy time" to help develop digestion and strength in the muscles) Hannah is getting stronger everyday!

I love being a mom. Last night Hannah and I were alone for a few hours and we spent that time listening to primary music. It was such a special moment as I listened to songs like "Teach me to walk in the Light" and "A Child's Prayer." It is strange being on the other end of the music, knowing that it is my responsibility to raise her to love the Lord and be a valiant person. About a month ago in church a man asked if I knew that one of Heavenly Father's most precious spirits was being sent to me. It made me want to be a better person. Tears streamed down my face as I listened to "Love is Spoken Here." There is a line that says "mine is a home where every hour is blessed by the strength of priesthood power" I was so grateful for Adam in that moment, and for the loving spirit in our home, especially since Hannah joined us. She has strengthened our relationship with each other. We know she is the greatest gift we could have given each other. She is wonderful and we are so grateful for her.

7/25 and 8/1 What a Difference a Week Makes

Week One

Hannah is a phenomenal baby! We thought we were the luckiest people in the world to have such a BEAUTIFUL baby girl with all her thick golden brown hair, as we have gotten to know her we are even more grateful for her precious spirit and easy personality.

Hannah likes to show off her tongue. When she is awake and aware she is often sticking out her tongue and rolling it.

Her eyes are big and beautiful.

We are getting down the sleeping schedule. I know that pregnancy prepared me for the night time awakening. Adam are becoming smarter when we wake up...for example, we change her before we feed her because she is more likely to be subdued after feeding.

Hannah was very lucky to have her Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Megan over to tend to her, love her, and get to know her all week. They are going home now but I'm sure through webcams and pictures they will be able to get to know Hannah very nicely :)

I'm doing great! I've had a few emotional moments, especially as I think of leaving her for my last semester of school...I've lost most of my pregnancy weight (only seven pounds to go) and by staying active and involved I feel I'm healing rather nicely.

Hannah's umbilical cord fell off today in the early afternoon. Her naval is as cute as a button (:).

As of yesterday afternoon we took over 660 pictures of our gorgeous girl.

Rosalie asked me if it was difficult to adjust our lives. I'm sure as time goes on we will find that there are adjustments to be made, but taking care of her feels so wonderful and natural. The adjustments we've made starts in our hearts. I feel like the Grinch who's heart was three sizes too small but I never knew it. This morning Adam and I were laying in bed with me on one arm and Hannah on the other and Adam said "Do you see how lucky I am, my arms are so full!"

So in spite of the dirty diapers, the 1am feedings, the worry I fear I will have for the rest of my life this has been a golden week. Tomorrow we celebrate our three year anniversary. She is the best gift we could have given each other. I told my mom that I was reminded of Fiddler on the Roof when the father says "They are so happy that they don't know how miserable they are."

Another Hannah Collage...I'm so in love!