Charlotte

Well this has been a long week. I haven't seen or talked to Jeff in days. We had a falling out over some things I said. Of course, now I look back and regret ever saying them. I just wanted to see my granddaughter more and Jeff and Katie were acting like I was bugging them too much, so I decided to back off. Well I apologized and asked him to forgive me, but apparently he is still hurt and angry with me, because I haven't heard back from him. I invited him to breakfast this morning, but he hasn't answered me back.
On a positive note, Katie sent me a few pictures of Charlotte last night and she is just adorable. I can't wait to spend time with her and do special things with her. Another positive note is that my sister, Julie, is pregnant. We are so excited, but at the same time we are worried about her age and all the worries that come with that. I guess that's all the news I have for now.

Sorry to say...

Hello all,
Sorry to say, but Katie and Jeff have requested that no pictures of Charlotte be posted on the internet. I will try my best to send some by snail mail or maybe email.

Visit with Charlotte

Hello all,
I finally got to visit with Charlotte yesterday afternoon. It was a very long 13 days. She slept for most of the time I was holding her. She likes to cuddle up real close to the person holding her. She has a ton of hair. I'm sure they could already put a barrette in it and it would stay. It is the same color as Jeff's hair. She also still has those beautiful long eyelashes. She hasn't gotten a whole lot bigger, but she is just as beautiful as ever. She goes back to the doctor on Wednesday, so then we'll see just how big she's gotten. She is a good eater, that's for sure. Jeff and Katie said that she is already pushing to eat 4 oz at a feeding. They just changed her bottle to the playtex drop-ins to hopefully help with her gas. Uncle Kenny and Aunt Becky just sent her a bunch of stuff, so I need to drop that off to them. I'm sure Katie and Jeff will appreciate it. She also got to visit with Grandpa, Jeff's dad, over the weekend and I understand they enjoyed the visit. Well, that's the baby update for the week. More to follow I'm sure.

My Beautiful Granddaughter

Hi all,
Sorry it's taken so long to get a new post on here. I've been real busy with my new job. I created this blog so that I could keep friends and family updated on news of the baby. Well, here it is. She has finally arrived. Introducing Charlotte Rain Beck. She came into this world on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008 at 1:48 in the afternoon. She was a big girl weighing in at 8 lbs 7 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. I am so excited. My first words to her were "We are going to have so much fun!" I am trying to be mature and let Jeff and Katie have their space, but it has been so hard. I finally get to see her today. I've looked forward to this day all week. I can't wait until she is old enough for me to babysit. More to come soon.

First day of School

Although it was only a half a day, today was the first day of school. When I walked into the building and down to my itty-bitty corner of a room, I felt somewhat sad. This will be the first time in 8 years that I hadn't stood in a doorway greeting my new students. Of course, the administrators had other plans for me. First, I had to get the numbers off the buses and figure out whether or not they would be a permanent bus. Then, I had to record the buses' time that they pulled on the lot with students. Next, three of us had to write the bus number on every child's hand that got off that bus. The heat was almost unbearable. After all the students were finally in class, we walked around to every class to assure every child had a number on his/her hand.

There hasn’t really been any direction from the admin on my new position, so I just decided to go visit the classrooms and say hi to the students and teachers. Just to make sure everything was running smoothly. It was nice going into each classroom and seeing the different teaching styles. I can already see the ones that need discipline help, class set up help, lesson help, etc… Next week I will be at central office for more training. This should be an interesting and fun position. I’m looking forward to working with my 16 new teachers, 8 of which are first year teachers (yikes) but it’ll be OK. I’m taking it one day at a time and telling the teachers to do the same. Stay tuned for more, as PTO asked me if I'd take a few pies in the face if the building raised a certain amount of money for our first fundraiser. Of course, I said sure. They can see a sucker for children a mile away! LOL

Classroom Pack UP

Jonathan and I packed up my second grade classroom yesterday (well friends helped as well). Although I am excited about my new job, I am also going to miss my classroom. :-( My new room is the science lab. For the past 4 years, we've had a teacher holding classes in there, but our new admin took the teacher and class away from us. I was hesitant about taking that room because I didn't want to hold back teachers from using it and the resources in there. However, our new admin said it was going to be locked all year and not used, so at least now I have a space to call my own and room to spread out. I sure am glad I cleaned out the garage this summer, because it is back to being a mess now. I'll have to get back out there and organize . The job of a teacher is never ending, even when it is the summer. LOL

Baby Charlotte

Yesterday I had the most wonderful experience with new technology. Katie and Jeff opted to have a 3/D scan of the baby. She was being very stubborn and uncooperative at first. She was curled up in a little ball lying toward Katie's back, so we couldn't get any images at all. We rescheduled for a couple hours later and went to eat spicy food and try to make her move into a better position. When we returned, she did move enough to see the gender, but kept her arm in front of mouth the entire time. We got a 100% confirmation that it is a girl. Katie and the technician continually poked at her, she'd move but wouldn't move that arm. Anyway, Katie and Jeff are going back on Thursday to get better pictures. I'm so excited about becoming a grandma, because for those of you who know me well, know I tried for several years to have another baby, especially a girl. I feel so blessed to be a part of this baby's life and can't wait to get to know her on or around Sept. 13th!

Our Bike Adventure

Yesterday, Jonathan and I decided to venture out and go for a bike trail. I found this wonderful bike path in Ashland City, TN. It was the perfect bike ride for novice bike riders like us. I can't wait to go back. Of course, about a 1/2 until the end one of my pedals decided to start falling off. Thankfully, it waited to fall off completely until we got back to the truck. Fun Fun!

New Job for ME!

I took the plunge yesterday and took a new job. I am still going to be working in my school, but now my official title is the "Academic Coach" of Ringgold Elementary. The short job description is I will be the "teacher of the teachers.” I will be helping new teachers, modeling lessons in classrooms, staff development, etc... I'm excited about this opportunity and scared at the same time. It won't be as if I have twenty- two 7-year-old children looking up at me. Now I'll have about 100 educated experienced teachers looking at me. YIKES!!

Julie & Allison's Visit

Julie and Allison came up on Friday afternoon. We had a blast this weekend. We went to the Nashville Zoo on Saturday. I took them there to make sure Allison understood the difference between a 'real' zoo and my house. LOL We saw many animals and missed some rain by choosing to eat lunch at just the right time. On Sunday, we played in the sprinkler out front and cleaned out our trucks. They left Sunday afternoon to go back home. I hope that they will visit 'the zoo' again soon. 

An Eventful Few Days

Let's see, where to begin. I worked out in the garage all weekend, so the blog fell to the wayside. After trying several times to get my brother's pictures online, I finally succeeded. My sister-in-law, Becky, went into the hospital with chest pains. (She is recovering at home now) I went to dinner with Jeff and took great pictures on the cellphone, which came out blurry. :-( My recent project with this blog is to get Jeff's info on here. This is a lot of fun, but the time sure goes by fast when you are setting this up. 

Second day of blogging

Well, today did not go as well as I had hoped. I finally figured out how to upload the pictures of my brother's family; however, now they are too small to read. Geez, I sure hope this gets easier. Nevertheless, I am having fun and learning a lot while I'm playing around. :-)

First Day of Blogging

Well, this has been a fun day. I think I've figured out much of this website. It is very simple to do. I added Ken & Rebecca's (brother & wife) children to the blog today. I'm still working on this blog, but I think it is going to be a great communication tool among friends and family. :-)