Its about the journey, not the destination…….

I will miss you all this year at the STANYS conference! Hey, maybe I’ll make it out?! Anyway, I was sent this information about a scholarship for 2nd or 3rd year teachers to attend the STANYS conference. Wish I knew about this last year! The info is below:

Fellows New Teacher Conference Award 2008

The recommendation from the principal or department leader should include comments concerning the following: How will the applicant’s attendance at the conference benefit your district? Does s/he show evidence for a promising career in science teaching? If the award is not received, will the teacher be allowed to participate in the conference? Please verify that the applicant is entering the second or third year of teaching and will be able to attend the full conference.
Application letters must be postmarked by August 29, 2008 and mailed to Rebecca Remis, STANYS Fellowship Committee Chair, 126 Heckeler Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. Applicants will be notified of their status early in September.

As for keeping everyone updated- I haven’t had the twins yet. They are both almost 5 lbs. each though and very healthy! That’s like 10 lbs. of baby in this tiny body! Amazing! Anyway, I will have them sometime in the next 5 weeks for sure. The average delivery is about 36 weeks which is in about 2 weeks from where I am now. I am pretty uncomfortable, but still going and trying to sleep a lot because I know what its like to bring just one little one home, never mind 2 with an extremely busy 1 yr. old! Hope you are all having a great summer! Thinking of all you guys and gals!

My hubby found this link from Boing Boing (one of the funniest blogs of bizarre news out there!) for T-shirts made by “Teach the Controversy“. They make graphic T’s of science and other controversies. They are great too! The site also has other science promoting and non-science T-shirts that I know I’ve seen on Threadless. Threadless has been a staple of our wardrobe for years now- check it out. More sweet original, smart and sciencey fashion!

A new blog! My husband and I have started a blog about family related stuff, kids, life hacks, parent tips, etc. Check it out: www.sixsmallhands.com

So, this will be brief, but Friday was my last day of work for the year. Last week was a little rough with a scare on Monday where everything ended up being fine after 7 hours at the hospital with all 3 of us hooked up to the baby monitors. But really, everyone was fine, flipping around in there and all good. However, to monitor some more, that left me on bed rest on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Dr. let me return to work on Thurs. and Fri. to tie up loose ends and prepare for my long term sub. I have been getting ready for this possibility since early March, but man 2 days are still not enough to figure it all out! Things are up in the air with our Regents lab test especially, but I know like all things it will work out and my kids will do fine. I am glad to be cautious but man is this frustrating! I actually won’t teach again until Sept. 2009! I am not officially on bed rest, but more like house arrest where I have to be off my feet most of the day and can only drive a short distance for small errands. Things are more unpredictable with twins as I am learning. I can’t remember what it was like to just run up the stairs or jump around! Just walking up the stairs is difficult. I am measuring about 1.5 months larger than I normally would with one baby and my ribs feel like they are gonna bust open anytime I sneeze or breathe deeply. I haven’t been able to pick up my daughter for a month now, which is so hard, but she has grown a lot closer to my husband, which is very sweet to see. I just have to laugh when I remember my actual due date is August 23rd! The doctors tell me to obviously try and get as far as possible, but they expect the babies will come sometime in late July if all goes well. Every week I can keep the “buns in the oven” is better and better. So, the next months should be interesting. Send my husband your good vibes!

My tenure board meeting was Tuesday night, which I went to, so I will be official on Sept. 1st! Also, my 20 something co-worker at school was diagnosed with colon cancer and things are looking better. She probably won’t be able to return for some time but she looks amazing and is getting healthier and healthier. Prom was Friday which is always an exciting but tense night so I hope things went well and our kids stayed safe. In such a small school, the little things get noticed and have great ripple effects.

I have no other philosophical great things to ponder at this point… Maybe after a few days around the house by myself I will have some more time to think about those things!

NY Aquarium, April 2008 Me, My Brother, Brian and Lucy

I am so excited May is almost here! Things are going well and school is wrapping up, but getting more stressful at the same time. There have been so many things swirling around my head to write about concerning school, but I don’t have a spare minute lately! I have had some amazing conversations with my students and lots of incredible classroom moments. Also, I am still doing the cooperative learning technique I developed as part of my action research and even debuted it to my principal in my last observation for tenure. I also have my tenure approval board meeting on May 13th, so that is so exciting too. Lots and lots and lots of good things!

Anyway, things are going well with me being pregnant but wow, is 2 different than 1! I am about 23 weeks along now and I have to get to 32 weeks to be in what my Dr. calls the “safe” zone. At this point, I am measuring about the size I was 2 weeks before I had Lucy (33 weeks)! I feel like that too! My ribs are about to give and I can’t breathe when I bend over, never mind walking fast anymore! I can’t imagine what 32 weeks will feel like. But, other than that I am grateful things are looking healthy and everyone is growing great and safely at this point. We just got back from NYC over spring break and had an awesome time as always. Check out our flickr photos! Also, as soon as we got back, our little lady started walking solo but with a walker borrowed from her friend Ava. Take a look below!

Lucy and her walker from Jason Dettbarn on Vimeo.

After talking about desalinization, costs and the efficiency of water purification, water conservation and pollution, one student came out with this one:

“If we can clean and purify our water, does God purify the holy water in my church?”

My baby is finally crawling forward! She was stuck in reverse for a while. She also loves to clap and make lots and lots of noises. This is a video Jason shot with our new flip video camera (inexpensive and works great). Wish us luck as we fly to NYC tomorrow to see Uncle Brian!

Lucy Crawls from Jason Dettbarn on Vimeo.

Okay- can’t believe I am blogging on my first day of Spring Break! Anyway, it always amazes me how the end of the year seems to be here all of the sudden. I am taking a leave of absence next year to care for the babies and preparing now for the entire end of the year (in case I should be put on bed rest) and cleaning my office for whomever will inhabit it for next year (I feel sorry for them- I never realized how messy I am!). I’ve got all my plans for the rest of the year, practice exams, review assignments (for the warm body of a sub that might be there) and even regents exam seating labels so kids can find their seats for the exam all in a folder on the corner of my desk. Way too organized for my liking, but at least I don’t have to worry. Two days before I spontaneously had Lucy last year I spent a few extra hours at work getting some “just in case” plans ready and luckily left them on the corner of the desk. All I had to do was text my good friend and let her know and I was good to go. It is so bizarre to plan for the rest of the year and try to think about what the sub might need for next year. I packed up some of my more personal things and books to bring home at the end of the year too. You don’t realize how much of you gets into a place and sometimes its hard detangling it all. I remember when our Bio teacher retired after my first year after teaching for 30 or so years and the things she was digging out where amazing! We unearthed all these cool rocks and videos such from her ES days, some of which she gave me. It was fun to see her reminisce.

Maybe all this is rushing it along? On one side of my mind is all this work stuff and on the other side is the baby stuff. I am 20 weeks now- 1/2 way through the pregnancy. Last year, 5 weeks from where I am, JDs cousin had her twin girls at 25 weeks at Strong (one day before Lucy was born- my water broke on the phone hearing about her). They got their 10 mo. check up last week and were said to be the healthiest 25 week babies they’d seen. They are so lucky and we are so lucky to have the level of neonatal medicine we have in this day and age. Still this weighs heavy on my mind. Next week we go to the Dr. every 2 weeks and start getting ultrasounds every 3 weeks. At about 24 weeks the babies are considered “viable”, but quality of life and disability is a concern. I am considered a high risk pregnancy and delivery and will be delivering on an operating table. Also, the Dr. told me that I will be on bed rest at some point- its just a waiting game. Waiting until August 24th….

On the other hand, my incredibly wiggly, funny and driven daughter. Last night she entertained us by dancing to They Might Be Giants for a while- she loves to dance and clap now. We came in to her room this morning to wake her up and she was standing in the corner of her crib peeking over the sidebar with a huge “look what I can do” grin on her face. She started crawling forward yesterday, crawled around on the grass outside, stood momentarily alone and finally ate some actual people food (okay, some crumbs of a ritz cracker but its a start!)- all in one day. It amazes me that this all happens all at once. This is how it seems to go. Studies on twins have also shown that one twin will be the “practicer” and practice doing new things over and over while the other “watches” and then does it all one day on the first try. Talk about zone of proximal development! It is said that their development closely mirrors each other with each of them helping the other learn and this continues throughout life. It will be interesting to see the reaction from my older daughter towards them and their reaction toward her. I wonder if they will be very close or competitive? Or is that mutually exclusive anyway?

Anyway, these are the things that are on my mind…. not too educational, but I think it all kinds of feeds together in the end. One thing is for sure that being a parent is the best way I have found so far to be a better teacher. Check out this video that is too sweet to pass up.

My hubby, Jason and our daughter Lucy, have a video announcement using Vimeo:

Introducing Lucy and a Big Announcement from Jason Dettbarn on Vimeo.