Just a Quick Post...

Tonight is my official start to Christmas Break (I get to say that since I'm working right now). I'm so excited! Next week, I plan on spending a few days focused on my Masters and my portfolio since it's due in May -- that's my ticket out! Daycare is open for Mon. and Tues. so Wyatt will go, not sure about Garett. Then, there's a good chance my bro, sis, and nephew will be stopping in on their way to Florida. THEN, we are all going to meet up in Florida (us and my folks) for a fun family fiesta! I'm sooooo excited (have I said that yet???).

School has been going well. The longer I'm there, the more the students and I grow together. I get more and more hugs each day and more and more respect!!! The teacher told me today she hopes to be back around January 20 so I'll plan through that week just in case. This next month will be fun -- some more new changes to put in place but the students sound excited about it. Man, I love teaching!

Tomorrow night is our first Dining Out. It's the Medical Ball so the Vet Corps gets to attend since they are part of the MEDDAC (??). Anyhow, I've got my dress and shoes, I'll do my own hair, nails, and makeup (just need a new can of hairspray), and Jake's got his suit. He doesn't have to wear his Class A's this time - it's casual formal I guess. The boys will be with our sitter down the street. The vet from Eglin AFB (Rhonda) is joining us. She's a crack up!! :)

We've taken our family Christmas picture for the year and I have started to address them. I'll say this now: don't expect it on time! If it makes it to you before 2009, you're lucky! That'll be better than last year when I addressed but never sent them. I'm that good!!! I'll post a few of the mess-up shots -- there's some funny ones, thanks to our boys!

My Classroom and a Webcam

This is my classroom for the next month and a half... possibly longer!

Hello, my name is Mrs. Barnoski. That's barn... aaahhhh... ski! Not Mrs. B!!

As most of you know, I've been in a long-term sub position in second grade for two weeks now. I have dealt with some challenges that I have never had to deal with before: an over-the-top attention seeking child who pulls down his pants, a room where I am still learning where paper clips are (I know organized chaos but not like this!), and a team made of 7 teachers -- not just one or two! But I'm loving every challenge and am glad to have had this opportunity to teach at Lakewood Elementary. I hope the teacher recovers quickly from back surgery but I am more than willing to teach for as long as necessary! I come to school with a smile and I leave with a smile. A quote I read yesterday: a scientist was asked why he kept working day in and day out on the same thing. He said because he was dissatisfied; once he was no longer dissatisfied, he would work at it no longer. In the end, he hoped to never become satisfied. I agree, Mr. Scientist, I agree!!!!

The school recently purchased and installed webcams on all teacher computers. So this morning, I decided to try it out with my class. Logging into Messenger, we connected with my dad in Missouri. The students were amazed! Each one of them asked him one question. My hope, when we have time, is to turn those "facts about Mr. Wheeler" into a short expository paragraph. Anyhow, at the end, one student asked me what my question was for him. I asked, "What are you buying your daughter for Christmas?" He said he didn't know so they decided to chime in. Here's some of their answers:
-a new car!!!

-some make-up (that one made my mom laugh in the background)

-a toothbrush (mentioned by the student who I tend to get in his face a lot. Noted!)

-some new cute clothes (notice they said cute!)

Well, we'll see what Grandpa Santa brings. But either way, it was hilarious! Thanks, dad, for letting us into your home this morning! By the way, if any of you are interested, I found some great live cams sites online, one being for Santa. The site is http://www.santaclauslive.com/ Make sure to choose the live option, not webcam. We actually saw an elf!!! (Santa was sleeping, it was dark there)

A Smiley Boy

This is just a fun one of him and his thumb. He LOVES to suck on it!!!

Here's just a ton of pictures of Garett smiling. I need to find a pic of Wyatt at this age so you all can see how much alike they look!!! Good thing... now I know Garett will be a cutie too! :)

Garett's face just lights up now when he sees me pick him up at daycare. I love it! Two beautiful boys, two beautiful smiles! I can defnitely see their dad's cheeks on them -- cute, if I don't say so myself.

Thanksgiving Feast!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break with lots of good food, laughs, and a wonderful time with Jake's parents! Wyatt definitely kept Joe and Andy entertained and busy to say the least. That child loves to drag his grandparents around for sure!!

Andy did most of the cooking for Thanksgiving which was a wonderful break for me. We did the bird in our new roaster too which made things a bit easier. Our table looked pretty much the same once the meal was over -- did we even make a dent??? Garett was in his own food coma that day too.

We went to see Bolt in 3-D. That was pretty fun... it's always fun to see Wyatt's little nose trying to hold up the glasses! Of course, there was some good football on the TV. Jake definitely enjoyed that part... I, on the other hand, loved the naps!!! :)

Introducing Rice Cereal

Although Garett is a month younger than most babies when parents tend to offer rice cereal, we decided to give it a shot. He seemed to do okay with it considering last night he slept from 8:30-6:30!! We made the cereal quite liquidy but offered it by spoon to see how he did! When Wyatt first tried it, his reaction was priceless! Well, needless to say, these two boys are different. When I was feeding Garett some after subbing today, he was all smiles... not like his brother at all when he was first eating it! We think we might put some in a bottle next time and see how that goes. I'm just nervous about subbing full-time and keeping up a GOOD production, not just quantity but quality, considering I don't get too many breaks during the school day (there's no union down here).



And notice in the video how much a helper Wyatt is! Love it!!

A Movie

Here's a video of Wyatt playing while the littlest one is napping. Wyatt is so good at playing and entertaining himself. It's awesome to watch his imagination come alive! On this day, Wyatt felt that the corner wall needed some renovating! I couldn't get the camera quick enough to record him actually fixing the wall but at least you can watch him tinkering with his tools... and humming his favorite tune, of course!!!

Finally Some New Pictures!

Here's some new pics of my boys! Some of you might think we're crazy for putting Garett in the exersaucer already but this child loves to sit up! He loves to look around and watch us and this toy lets him. It's a good change from the swing. Garett is smiling so much now and cooing a bit. It's wonderful to see his personality.

Next Monday, I start my subbing job for the next 6-8 weeks. I'm very excited but will miss having every other day at home with the boys. At least there's still the weekends! And financially this will be good for us. It's crazy how the district pays very little for day to day jobs but once you are contracted for multiple weeks, your first day is more than double the normal pay. We're fortunate too that Jake's insurance covers all of us so I can do subbing.

And, yes, Garett can sleep with his eyes part-way open! It freaked us out the first time we saw it but, hey, whatever he needs to do to sleep I'm fine with.

But these pics of the boys sleeping, ahhh, the memories of the quiet moments in the house! :)

This picture of Wyatt under a desk is at Jake's work. One day, I had gone on post for a play group/lunch around noon. Wyatt needed a nap but I didn't want to go home since we were going to a Block Party at around 4:30 -- not wasting gas! So he cuddled up under the desk willingly and caught some zzz's.

Try to Play Catch Up!

I will post some pics tomorrow (hopefully!) but for now, here's an update:

Garett is smiling and cooing! A-dor-able!!! It definitely makes the crying time at night much more doable. And his hair is starting to come in more on the top. So he's looking less like my Uncle Alan (hair on the sides, missing on the top). Love you, Al!!!

Wyatt is Wyatt... even in his crazy moments, he makes us laugh and smile!! He's counting up to ten but somehow the numbers get in the wrong place. For example, a normal count for him goes something like: 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,5. Oh well! We're working on it. Also, our little "weed" has some new pants and shirts that fit him -- we couldn't wait for Christmas! Turns out our 3 year old is needing 4T and up for his legs and torso. But the pants either need a belt or those elastic tabs to pull them tighter to fit Wyatt's little waist.

Jake is doing well at work and loving his job with the Army. He has an upcoming trip the second week of December that involves all of the Captains from the Southeast region. He should have lots of fun! One of the Captains coming is from his Vet class.

As for me, I've been subbing every few days mostly at the local high school. It's lots of fun and challenging. But on Friday, I got a call asking if I could do a long-term job at the second grade level. Uhhh, YES!!! I'm so excited. For one, the pay more than doubles a day. And this is guaranteed work from the beginning of December through some of January. I'm not sure how long for sure -- the teacher is getting back surgery. I meet with her on Monday and will observe her class for most of the day. Then the Monday after Thanksgiving, I'm on! I'm excited and hope that I can quickly get into a groove of adding teacher back to my list of "jobs"! :)

My Birthday

I am a lucky mom and get to spend my birthday with my son every year! Growing up, I had it good too since my dad's birthday is the same as Wyatt's, November 8th. So why not share a cake since mine is the day before. Well, this year I shared Wyatt's cake but still really wanted an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins -- specifically, a pralines n cream cake with yellow or angel food cake. To my suprise, Jake brought one home on Friday! Definitely not on our diets but soooo yummy!!!

Saturday night, I got a sitter for the boys and Jake took me to a local italian restaurant. It was so good. We had a wonderful meal together. Then, he took me to the mall to go shoe shopping for a new pair of running shoes. I swear my feet have grown since they kill when I work out. So we ended up getting me a nice pair of Nike's that were on SALE!!! We found them at the second to last shoe store in the mall so I can definitely say my husband was a tropper! And my feet did not hurt in my workout this morning. So yay!! Love you, Jake... thank you!

Wyatt's Third Birthday... Finally!

Sorry for the lateness of these pictures. I'm finally finding a few moments of down-time!

Wyatt's birthday was sort of themed around Spiderman. We did cake and presents at the Vet Facility (since Jake and his Soldiers were coming back from Annual Training) and then we headed up to Monkey Joe's, an inflatable play place. We met some other friends and their kiddos there. Wyatt had a blast! We lasted about 1 1/2 hours there and then were overcome with exhaustion. Sorry I don't have any action pics of him on the slides there but I was busy chatting it up with friends. Ooops!

I had so much fun making his chocolate Spiderman cake. It took a while but it was worth it... it was quite yummy!

This picture is of Wyatt and Alexandria, the daughter to the other Veterinarian (also a Captain). She is such a cutie and asks where "My Wyatt" is!!! :)

Adopt a Classroom

Everything's A-OK!

My doctor checked things out and said everything was ok as long as the cyst goes away or doesn't get any bigger. It's called a Wolffian cyst and is due to pregnancy. Nothing to worry about, thank God!

And you know, I just realized even if it was "something to worry about", I wouldn't need to because God has it under control. Funny how we say it's nothing to worry about when it never should be something to worry about (get it??). Matthew 6:25-34 talks about worrying and how it does no good. Verse 27 says "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?" This can be read as "Which of you by worrying can add time to his life?" As Jesus says, we are more valuable than the birds in the sky who never worry about food or shelter, so why wouldn't we believe that He will take care of us for everything? I think these verses can ease our minds about A LOT of things that are going hay-wire right now!

Doctor Visit for Mommy

This afternoon, I am going in to see my doctor about a bump I found. I'm a bit nervous but am hoping he says it's just a cyst. The appt. is at 2pm Eastern time. I'll post about the results later tonight or tomorrow. Say a little prayer for me!

Yesterday I subbed in the high school. It was lots of fun even though I had no idea for the most part what the students were working on - precalculus, calculus, and anatomy. I thought all day, "I wish I had Jake's brain!" I took precalc in college and got a B - probably could've made an A if I went to class more. Watching the students work on their assignments brought back some information but not enough to help the strugglers. For the most part, eveyone did a good job in the room. I didn't sit down much, just kept walking the room, which totally helped with the management. I had a student who was talking a lot so I went and stood by him and he just stopped. But then, a few seconds later, he whispered to his buddy, "Is she still there?" His buddy said, "Yeah!" and I just chuckled. They kept working after that! Also, I share a powerpoint about myself so they can figure out who this gal is. At the end, I have Questions? written and the numbers 1-3. A boy asked me, "So we get to ask you three questions?" I said, "Yes. That's one, two more!" Everyone chuckled! I thought that was funny since rarely do I have such quick comebacks. I guess six years married to the world's best "comebacker" is starting to wear off on me. :) All in all, my first day of subbing at high school was not bad at all. They already signed me up for four more days over the next few weeks.

And I promise to finally post pictures from Wyatt's birthday this weekend! By the way, Jake surprised me with an ice cream cake last night!! That definitely earned him some points -- it was pralines and cream with angel food cake. YUMMY! Guess what's for lunch?!?! :)

Smiley Boy!

Ok, here are some good pics of Garett smiling. Notice who he is smiling at... Jake! Granted, Jake doesn't rush to the camera when he is smiling at me but daddy is definitely Garett's favorite for smiling at!!! That's ok... he smiles at me when I change his diaper. So I'm good for something!

Feeding Brother

With us being so sick on Monday, I felt like I had very little milk production. So I used some pumped milk and asked Jake to do the feeding so I could rest. Then, if Garett needed more, he could nurse whatever I had made. Well, once Wyatt found out we were doing the bottle, he asked if he could help. Here's some pics of Wyatt helping feed his little brother. He's so sweet to Garett, who can't keep his eyes off of his big brother most of the time - don't know if it's in awe of his awesome brother or in question of who this crazy kiddo is!! Either way, I know it's love! :)

Sick... again!

What is going on in our household? We are having some horrible luck here...

Yesterday, we ate some sushi (california rolls - not any raw fish) and ate dinner at Red Robin's. Last night, my tummy started hurting and by this morning, Jake and I were both in the fetal position. Wyatt was an angel this morning, playing with all of his new toys from his birthday. Garett did well in the morning as well. But we called a friend to try and get Wyatt out of the house so he could enjoy his day. Right before she showed up, he threw up!!! Ugh! So now we don't know if it was food poisoning or a case of the flu.

Well, this all makes for my excuse as to why no birthday pics are up yet. I will hopefully get around to it tomorrow... hopefully!

Mrs. Substitute

Yesterday, I subbed in a classroom for the first time. It made me respect all of my past subs!! It was fun, no doubt, but totally wore me out. And it was definitely hard to leave Garett but it helped knowing his big brother was there too! Wyatt told me a story last night that he was sad about Garett (the words he used were No See Garett! :( ) I'm not sure if he was telling me he didn't get to see Garett at the daycare but it was still nice to see both of my boys at the end of the school day. The other plus to subbing was that I did not have to stay after work to plan for the next day!! That was sure nice.

I got a call early this morning for another job but had to decline - I have lots to do around the house (as soon as I'm done blogging) and Wyatt only has 4 hours left for the week; otherwise they charge me a ton more for a few more hours. I work again next Thursday for sure. I'm glad Jake will be here to help me get the boys ready and to daycare that time.

Oh yeah, all the kids loved learning to say my last name! I showed them a barn, an opera singer, and a skiier! Barn-aaahhhh (in your best opera voice of course)-ski! We even do movements for those tactile learners. :)

Getting to Know Him

Jake has been at his district's annual training this week. And while he's been away, I've been blessed to go on my own "retreat" - a spiritual one. I was convicted earlier this week about my priorities: how I'm trying so hard to fit back into my pre-preggo size by fitting a workout into my schedule YET I can not take the time to fit a bible study or even a prayer, intimate time with my Maker, into my daily schedule. It reminds me of something I saw as a young girl (thank Mom and Dad for sending me to VBS)...

If you fill a container with rice (all the things in our day that we view as necessary but are less important) and then try to fit in the golf balls (your relationship with God, time with Him, etc.), there's no way the golf balls will fit in the container. But if you place the golf balls in first, the rice will fill around the golf balls and the container will seal.

As we do with tithing (giving of that money first and then budgeting on what is left), so should I be doing with my relationship with God: prioritize spending time with Him and then all other "priorities" will fall into place. Instead of feeling frazzled all day, I would rather be at peace and obtain more, having a strong foundation to stand on.

I was listing relationships that I have fallen short in and needed to make improvements. After looking over my list, I realized nowhere on it had I written my relationship with my heavenly Father. Once I thought about this, I came to the conclusion that if I worked on that relationship first, then the others would fall into place.

I was reading for my bible study tonight and came across verse after verse that I could not recollect a time that I had ever heard these verses before. I was saved at a young age but never have I come to really know the Word. A conviction.

This might be a post that some of you just roll right over and, if so, that's okay. This was just something I needed to do, to "put down on paper" some of my thoughts. Two verses that have stuck with me that I need to type out (mainly since I learn it better by writing it out) are:

Phillipians 4:8 - Whatever is true, noble, or right, whatever is pure, loving, or admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think of this. Whatever you have learned or received, heard from me, or seen in me, practice this. And the God of Peace will be with you!
(this verse speaks volumes to me in some issues that I have faced in the past two weeks - to know that if I think or practice these things, the God of Peace will be with me... I will have peace!)

Isaiah 7:9 - If you do not stand strong in your faith, you will not stand at all.


Thanks for reading my thoughts!

A Long Night...

(I just posted this once and it deleted so here we go again...)

Last night, Wyatt got an ear infection. With that, he spiked a fever. He kept waking up every few hours (interesting how my baby slept through the night and my preschooler was the one getting up every 2-4 hours). He was crying and screaming, it hurt so bad. I gave him some pain reliever and I made a child-sized heat pack that seemed to help. But it was still a very rough night on us - I think the snuggles with mom helped but didn't cure it! :(

We met Dr. Faught early this morning and discovered that his ears are pretty bad - there's a bubble causing all the pressure in both of the ears. Once it bursts, he will feel much better but it will hurt, might even leave a small scar. So we got some numbing drops for his ears and an antibiotic. He's been resting a lot in bed or on the sofa. I gave him a bath earlier too - he was happy to do it at first but then wanted out, that's how sick he is!! His fever was 102 earlier this morning before the doc and then around 11 am, it was about 104.5. Poor little man!

I'm hoping the fever breaks soon so he can be more comfortable. Tomorrow, I'm supposed to sub for the first time but will cancel if he isn't doing any better. Garett is doing well which is making this more doable for me. (I just checked on Wyatt laying next to me on the sofa and he is OUT and he doesn't feel as warm!!)

This picture of Dirty is for Jake - your best friend misses you but is excited, like all of us, to have you home again this Saturday!! Love you!

Garett's New Saucer

Ok, so our baby is only 2 months old today and we already have a saucer for him to play in but there's good reason: he loves to be up-right! We give him tummy time and he plays under his play gym, as well as getting time in his bouncer and swing, but we thought we'd try him out in the saucer already. We couldn't get a Jumpin' Johnny since there isn't a doorway close to the family room that we would let him hang in near us. So this is the next best thing. Wyatt was about this age when we first put him in the Jumper - blankets padded around him. Same as Garett! He really stares hard at the toys on the saucer.

Serious Workout Time!

I have no idea what made Wyatt want to do these this way but somehow he got the urge to start doing sit-ups! The video is only a second long since my card was full and I didn't realize it but you get the picture!! :)

Abs of steel, baby!

Halloween Gift Package

Wyatt received a package in the mail on Thursday. Of all the goodies inside, Wyatt reacted the best to something that didn't cost a thing - a hanger! Watch for his reaction at the end!!! :)

Medicines Galore!

I wanted to post this picture of all the meds that Wyatt was put on for his cough/cold. Garett now has the sniffles and gunk in his throat. It's sad to listen to him trying to breathe while nursing!

Halloween Fun

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=67894&l=dca6d&id=531195571

Here's a link to a lot more pics of our Halloween fun this year! The boys were cute. Wyatt definitely enjoyed walking to neighbors' houses and getting candy just for showing up! When the night was over, we had the same amount of candy as when we started the night, just new kinds (might I say better kinds too - snicker, kitkat, butterfinger... yum!). Garett did pretty well too. Jake stayed home and passed out the candy to the kids. When we got home, Wyatt poured all of his candy onto the floor and we ALL dove in!

Later in the night after Wyatt had been tucked in, we checked in on him. He was passed out on the floor, using his bed as the pillow. See what a candy coma can do to you???

Also, I forgot to add this - you can see a sucker in Wyatt's hand in the picture at the top. Wyatt was very upset that he could not eat his sucker with his mask down so pretty much the whole night, the mask was up on his head just to enjoy the sucker!

I promise...

... to post some pictures soon. I'm just exhausted right now. Wyatt passed his cold onto Garett and mommy (daddy's not showing signs yet). Poor Garett just sounds horrible since the gunk just sits in his throat and nose. But he's still been smiling, especially at daddy, so that's good. I've got the runny nose, sore throat, and pressure in the sinuses. But we are still determined to take Spiderman out for a little bit tonight - at least one road in the community! You can't deny the kid his candy!!!

300, Sick, and Moving

300...
Hooray for Jake, he got a perfect 300 on his PT test this morning!! I'm so proud of him. He's been working hard to improve his score and perfect is about as high as he can go!! His age bracket is the toughest one that he will be in for awhile and he's in it until he turns 31. So keep up the good work, honey, you rock!!!!

Sick...
Wyatt went to the doctor yesterday due to a fever. When I checked it in the afternoon, it was 102.8 rectally. Poor thing! You could just see it in his eyes that he was sick. He opted to lay on the couch watching me workout instead of going outside to play with bubbles... obviously sick! He's much better today, no fever and less coughing. So I'm thinking he will be able to go trick or treating this Friday night!

Moving...
Ok, Mr. Garett! One reason you might cry at night is because you move so much in your crib that you knock your head up against the posts. Ouchie! I've started to lay Garett more at the bottom and left side of his crib since he is determined to push himself up and to the right. And that's on his back! When he gets tummy time, he kicks so much that he ends up off of the blanket and turning at least 180 degrees. If this is any inkling to what I have ahead once he starts crawling and walking, it's a good thing I'm getting back in shape - two boys running two different directions, God help me!!


Oh yeah, I'm doing pretty well, too!

Just a Movie for Fun!

Knock on Wood...

Garett slept from 9 pm to 6:40 am last night!!!! Wowzers!! :) He woke up sometime around 5 while Jake was up getting ready for PT but it was the cry like "I will go back to sleep, just need to get this fart out!" So I didn't bother him. But at 6:40, it was definitely the hungry cry and for good reason: he'd gotten about 9 hours! After the morning feeding, he went back to bed for three more hours, ate again, and has been up playing under his play gym.
Wyatt's cough has gotten much worse and he had quite the hot head this morning (somewhere around 100 degrees). So obviously no preschool today. But we got some medicine in him and I think he's doing better. Definitely still into everything and still a bit stubborn-headed (hmm, which parent does he get that from?!?) but he's pretty good at the cuddles right now.