Playground

Saturday is Maxine and Daddy day. This Saturday, after getting my butt kicked by the Praxis math test, I took Maxine to the park. She is becoming quite the monkey. In the picture with her dangling, she is working her way across that bar while hanging from it. I certainly can't do that. They've told us at her new preschool that she is really good at the monkey bars for a kid her age. That's my girl.

And she likes playing with the gravel, too.

Four weeks of school to go!

More than a Month

Quinten is more than a month old!

I submitted my taxes electronically a full two days early!

I finished this semester's course from Baker!

I'm halfway through the last quarter of my first year of teaching jr. high math! And I'm starting to understand what exactly I'm doing!

I'm not entirely sure what I will be doing next year, but it will very likely be at the same school. My principal and assistant principal both want to keep me, but the decision is not entirely theirs. As you may know, Kansas, like most other states, is having some serious budget problems. The amount of money spent per student is plummeting, which means that teaching positions get cut back. Including the one I am currently working.

And Maxine is getting cooler every day. This was a bit of conversation today:
shirt or ball?
coin or puzzle?
mustache or bunny?
underwear or computer?

So I say to my 3.5-year-old daughter, Maxine, "Jumping or sauce?"

(If you don't know what I'm talking about, there is very little sense in my trying to explain it to you, as it does not come from a sensible place.)

She cocks her head to one side, thinks a bit, and says, in her most serious voice, "Sauce."

I don't laugh at this, but then she says to me, "Daddy, coin or puzzle?" I choose puzzle. She then offers me the choice of shirt or ball, followed by underwear or computer. That's a toughie. I've gotten mighty used to wearing underwear, but no computer again, ever? I went with the computer, so I may be chafing a bit from here on out.

Her last choice is "Mustache or bunny?" I've had a mustache for a long time, and am not about to give it up for a bunny, but somehow the word "bunny" slips out of my mouth, like a little poop squirt when you thought you were just going to fart.

And that's one reason why having kids is so much fun. Maxine just grabs hold of the ridiculous and runs with it.

This one's for you, Jay.

I'm also including some pictures. We had a baby dedication service at church for Quinten, and my parents came, along with Uncle Tom and Aunt Debbie, and Quinten's great-grandma, MaryLou. Horyon's parents and sister were here, too. We filled up an entire pew.

Before church we just hung around, causing trouble.
Give Quinten a kiss!Whoops. Messed up his hat.

And some just plain Quinten pics.

Some pictures

I sure needed this spring break. I am having keyboard issues. For some reason, when I try to type a single quote, instead of the double ", it does a quick find for links. So I am writing without contractions. Fortunately, I am under no contractional obligation to use them.

These pictures speak for themselves. The fam is fab. Maxine is enjoying her new brother, though definitely experiencing some stress due to his presence. She sometimes reverts to baby talk, or what she perceives to be baby talk. She is more defiant than before, though this has been coming on for the past year: her twos were not terrible, but her threes have been a bit trying.

I am working on a comparison of having a baby in Korea and having one here. The biggest similarity that I can see is that in neither country was I required to actually push a baby through any orifice of my body.

Peace,

Rob

It's Baby Time!

Horyon looks pretty good, right?
Quinten Simeon Sack was born today, March 9th, 2009, at about 12:15 a.m. [sorry! 12:43 a.m.]

He weighed in at 8.5 lbs. [Actually 8 lbs 5 oz, a solid 3 oz away from half a pound.] A pretty hefty percentage of his mother's weight.

Speaking of Horyon, she did a fantastic job. She was focused through the whole thing. She breathed well, pushed when she was supposed to and didn't when she wasn't, and didn't complain nearly as much as I would have if I had to push something as big as Quenten's head through an orifice that small.

I got to be there for the whole thing. It was pretty messy, but I got to see Quentin crown, I got to cut the umbilical cord, and I got to hold him (after someone else cleaned him up).

The first contraction was at 9 p.m. That's right, less than three and a half hours of labor. We talked to Dr. Gaumer on the phone around 10, and she suggested taking some tylenol. "If the pain subsides, it's probably false labor," she tells us. "If the contractions get stronger and closer together, you need to get to the hospital."

"OK," I said, and went back to working on my weekly project for Baker. Don't know what I was thinking. I guess I figured I should try to get my homework done.

It's still not done. I emailed the teacher, and had emailed her early in the semester, so I think I'm OK.

They had the baby cleaned up, Horyon mostly cleaned up, and most everyone out of the room by 1:30 or 2:00 a.m. Kind of hard to keep track. They had to come back in every 15 minutes for an hour to massage Horyon's belly, then every half hour for another couple of hours. They moved us to a different room at some point, and took Quinten to the nursery after a good attempt at breast feeding him.

They brought him in later, maybe around 4:00, and he did much better at breast feeding this time. It's the only thing he's really going to be doing for a while, so I suppose he'll get good at it.

Sometime in there I got on a computer and emailed and Facebooked to my satisfaction. The only people we called were my mom and dad. It was one in the morning, but they didn't sound upset to be woken up.

I slept a little on this uncomfortable chair thing that transforms into an uncomfortable bedish thing. I'll have to take a picture of it later, because I think it could be in the next Transformers movie. I have no idea how much I slept, but it wasn't enough.

At 6:30 I went in to school and got my sub plans together, as well as getting a sub day submitted to the system. And I had a Pepsi. Because it was getting hard to keep my eyelids open. Might explain why I'm doing this now instead of sleeping. By the time I left school, my sub had arrived, so I got to go over the day's plans with her. Fortunately, our school learning coach, Jackie Stafford, is extremely helpful. By now they have done some cool activities that will (hopefully) help my students to do well on their state assessments right after spring break. Which is next week. Yeah. No stress there.

Then I came home. And here I am.

When we did this in Korea, it was a very different experience for me. I think I'll save that for another post.

In the mean time, I thought I'd share a couple of pictures of me with the other apple of my eye. Or is that the apple of my other eye? Not sure. Smile Maxine and Daddy!
Guess what? You're going to have a baby brother!

NO WAY!!!!!

more to come!

Three Weeks Left!

Including this week, the semester has three weeks to go, then we get a two week vacation!

Not that I'm counting (ahemtwelvedaystogo).

(Not that I'm even finishing my posts any time near when I start writing them, as now there are only five school days to go.)

I thought I'd share a few bits of entertainment I've gleaned in the last couple of months:

At parent teacher conferences a mother was trying to shed some light on her son's sense of humor. She told me this was her husband's favorite joke: "What's green, has four legs, and falls out of trees? A pool table!" I think I'd like to meet this man.

An actual conversation overheard between a teacher and a student:

S: Is this math 7?

T: You're in 8th grade. This is math 8.

S: (Seriously exasperated) This is too confusing!


The same male student was telling me that a female student had hit him:

Male: She hit me!

Female: You touched my things!

M: (Pointing at her empty desk) You didn't bring any things!

F: They're parts of my body!


Funny stuff.

Over Thanksgiving the family got together and my cousin, Doug, was talking about his job as a counselor at the prison. He said that part of his job was just socializing with the prisoners, and keeping an eye out for odd behavior. For example, if this guy usually talks to him, but today keeps his head down and avoids Doug, it can be a warning sign. He tries to head off explosive problems before they build up to that point.

I leaned over to my Aunt Becky, who is also a Jr. High teacher, and said, "Sound familiar?" She laughed, as would anyone who has taught in secondary schools.

The business has come to seem normal. I'm not looking forward to restarting the Baker classes, though. Sometime in January things are gonna get ugly.

In the mean time, I wake up on Mondays at 5:00, and try to get to school by 6:30. This gets pushed back later every day of the week.

My algebra class is very challenging. They are so very social that it is difficult to get anything done. They have also succeeded in making me lose my temper. Before Thanksgiving I told them that I refuse to get angry at them, and with that promised not to yell at them.

So far I have kept my word. I have walked out of the room a few times to cool off, especially with regards to one particular student. When she is absent, I enjoy the class. When she is there, the difficulty increases exponentially.

Still, I'm almost to the half-way point through the school year, and I have survived.

Thank you, Uncle Bob, for reminding me that I have an audience. I'd like to think that I will do better in 2009, but I kind of don't think so.

Peace,

Rob

A Day Back Together

Horyon and Maxine arrived at Kansas City International Airport yesterday at 3:50 p.m., right on time. I had to stand around for almost three minutes waiting for them. Not bad. They came off the airplane with Maxine in a stroller, a sure sign of exhaustion. When I reached down for her, Maxine reached back up for me. I squatted down and she wrapped her arms around my neck, saying, "Daddy daddy daddy!"

That moment was on a par with the very first time I held her in my arms, only moments after she was born.

We went and got her luggage off the luggage-go-round, and I called Mom and Dad. They were in the parking lot, just heading in. I was still holding Maxine, so I pointed Grandma and Grandpa out to her. Her face just lit up, and she said "Grandpagrandma!" I put her down and told her to run to them, and she did.

And right there I had another beautiful moment that will stay with me for a very long time. I had very slight doubts that Maxine would be reluctant to see me when she returned; after all, two months is a long time to a three-year-old. My worries about Mom and Dad were a bit more solid. After all, Maxine only sees them once or twice a month. It was a joy to see that my worries were unfounded.

We couldn't spend much time with Mom and Dad, as Dad had a meeting to go to. They had just come over to our house a couple of days earlier and helped to clean the house. Dad and I focused on the garage. You won't believe this, but both cars fit in the garage now!

On the way home, Maxine fell asleep in the car. She was actually asleep by the time we got to the highway. She slept most of the way home, waking up to protest when we stopped to pick up some dinner. She slept through being carried into the house, and slept straight through the rest of the evening.

"How about through the night?" I hear you asking. "Not so much," is my reply. Horyon and I went to bed before 9:00, which was a good idea for me. Maxine woke up around 10 and 11, but was easily coaxed back to sleep. I'm pretty sure she was awake again at 1:00 a.m., but that's kind of hazy for me. Horyon told me that at 3:00 she was awake and asking for cereal. So she had cereal. Maybe some grapes. I don't know. Around 4:00 she came in and shook me awake. Asked if I was sleeping, in Korean. I told her yes, and asked for a kiss. I got one, and that was enough to send me back to sleep. I think this happened two or three times through the night. When my clock radio went off at 5:00, I was alone in our bedroom, but not for long. Maxine popped in to say that she had heard music, again in Korean.

Her Korean has improved by leaps and bounds, by the way. I am very proud. And tired.

We went out together to see what Mommy was up to. She was cleaning Maxine's room. It had been straightened, but all of her toys were put away in the wrong places, so she couldn't find anything.

Hopefully they will adjust to Central Standard Time soon. In the mean time, Maxine has learned to say "No" in Korean. It is truly the language of whining.

I leave you with a picture downloaded from our camera. Looks like Quangan Beach in the background to me, though I'm not sure where exactly they are.
They had some pictures taken at the same studio we used for Maxine's first birthday. I will have to get them scanned for you, because she looks like a little model. Seriously. Make up, different outfits, and beautiful. But I've been working all day, and ready for bed. Which means that Maxine will be ready to wake up soon. She and Horyon took a nap from 3:00 until after 6:30. Actually Maxine is still sleeping. She's not only jet-lagged but seems to have a bit of a stomach flu. We'll be in church Sunday for sure. The girls should have five or six hours to get ready for it, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Time for dinner!

Good News

Horyon called this morning, but couldn't reach me, so she called Mom and Dad, and they called me at work:

The amniocentesis test came back negative. Our baby is healthy.

I took a moment this morning in my classroom, alone, with tears rolling down my face, to thank God. I then got on with a busy day.

Now I'm feeling a bit drained. As happy as I am, I want my family back. They arrive next Thursday. As busy as I am, I feel empty. I'm looking forward to being full again.

I'm going to bed.