Working with Babies!

Working with babies...kinda sounds like I work in the NICU or something, but nope! On this particular day, I was actually working, WITH babies! I am proud to work at Cottonwood Elementary! I have worked here for 8 years and I love it! At what other work environment would you be allowed to bring babies to a meeting? And this time, they weren't just mine! (ok, I brought 3 of them, but Jen brought little Andy bringing our total to 4 babies and lots of women! I thought these pictures were too funny not to share! I'm lucky to work with this group of people!

Can you find the four babies?

Colton is helping Aunt Mary

Kristine, Jen & Andy, Apryl

L to R: Mary & Colton, Jen & Hunter, Renee...see how well those babies are paying attention?

This is Colton snuggling up to the Boss Lady, Ms. Bryson! He was in no hurry to leave her arms!

GOOOoooooooooo.....

COTTONWOOD!

**If you were wondering where Ethan went, he was being baby-hogged by his "Aunt Patti with an i" in the front office! :)

All in a Day's Work: Part 1...Multiples Day at Cottonwood!

One of the best things about the Vail School District is that we teach on a YEAR-ROUND schedule! (I know, to most people, the thought of going to school year round repulses them.) But it's one of those things you can't appreciate until you've done it! The school year starts mid-July. Then, after the first quarter, there is a 3 week break, also known as HEAVEN! Now, typically, this last week of school, we often have Spirit Week, with different "dress up" days for the staff and students. Thursday before the break was "Multiples Day." In other words, find a friend and dress exactly alike! So the brilliant Kindergarten Team at Cottonwood, (1/3 of which happens to be Aunt Mary) decided to come as the Bunch Triplets! They made Iron On shirts and everything! So to honor their creativity and come be part of the fun, we made the trek out to school to visit briefly! And oh what fun we had! **And if you're wondering about the rest of the school schedule?? After the 3 week break in Sept/Oct., we go back to teaching until the typical 2 week Holiday Break in December. Then back to school in January with a 2 week break in March. The school year ends at the end of May!

Left to Right:

Aunt Mary & Colton, Mrs. Fisher (Jaymee) & Hunter, Mrs. Lofgren (Jen) & Ethan

They let me be in the picture too, since I did BIRTH them and all!

Aunt Mary (Mrs. Montes) & Colton

Mrs. Fisher & Hunter

Mrs. Lofgren & Ethan

Many of the kinders who LOVE to see the Bunchkins!

Look who else happened to be dressed like TWINS?? "Auntie Sarah" & Hunter!

Even Mrs. Chris and Colton happened to be doing the Twin thing!

"Kindergarten is hard work," says Colton, as he snuggles Mary Stott!

What do you do when babies start crying and kids are supposed to be learning about Apples? Combine the two! The kids were absolutely adorable singing their "Apple" Poem to the boys...

Ahh...what a day! Time to go home babies. But not for long....we're off to the Pediatrician!

3 Cottonwood Coyotes in the Making!

Ok, so Thursday, May 21, it was decided that the babies HAD to go to Cottonwood to meet the people who'd been rooting for them the entire time they were growing in mom's belly and, let's be honest, even before that! Some of their biggest supporters are right here at Cottonwood, a place very dear to mom's heart and a place I miss tremendously! And my kindergartners who had been waiting SO patiently finally got a chance to meet the babies!

I'll just apologize up front to the administration about the decrease in productivity at Cottonwood on this day...(though it would appear that they also found their way to baby town...) Much of the staff had taken up their new posts as baby holders in the library. I just hope no one missed their duty, left students unattended, etc. :) The bottom line is, the babies had a WONDERFUL time meeting ALL their Cottonwood Aunties and they will continue to practice their howling so that they too can be Cottonwood Coyotes one day!

A big thank you to Jen Corbelli! She came along with me to help carry babies in car seats since I obviously can't carry all three! THANK YOU JEN!

Of course it has to be raining on this day...my mom apparently thought it was snowing, thus the hats :) It's ok, Mom, they are cute, and thanks for helping us all get dressed!

Hunter putting on her pretty girl clothes, and yes, we did a polish change on her toes so she would be freshly pedicured!

Seriously, the expressions on the adults is just priceless. What is it about babies that turns us all to mush? This was before I gave the "go ahead" to take them out of their car seats! So let's see who we've got here...L to R....Ms. Bryson, Dawn, Molllie, Pattie, Kristine in the background, Lisa

Again, half of Deb Gunderson, Deborah, Dawn, Bobbi, Mollie, Kristine, Patti with an i, Lisa

Hooray! The babies have been unleashed! Wasn't it nice of me to have triplets so no one has to wait too long to hold a baby?!

Colton is kissing up to the asst. to the principal, Bobbie here!

Stephanie, Mollie and Ethan, and Deborah

Dawn, Patti and Hunter

What a troop! See what I mean about the decrease in productivity here? Seriously! Does anyone have work to do??

Shorty and Colton, Deborah and Ethan, Nicole and Kristine

Ahh, it's like those rocking chairs were put there just for us! Ethan is in heaven with Deb, and Colton is checking out Kristine!

Soo Sweet! Debby and Ethan! He's dreaming about powerschool. :)

Kristine is doing the LSF (Letter Sound Fluency test) with Colton :)

Colton and Jill....this guy could not have been more alert this day! He was fascinated with the bright lights and all the things around him!

I love you Jill!

And joining our baby party here is Cathy with Ethan, and Jenny, Mary with Hunter, & Charlotte (and Jen C.) in front

Colton is trying to convince Jenn that he doesn't need a behavior plan...yet.

Hunter and Melissa..no Melissa, she's too little to work at Vail Pride Day next year! :)

Colton and Jenn again

Now enter...Becca with Hunter and Amanda

Margaret is beginning speech services early with Ethan :)

Becca and Hunter again

An hour later...Colton is STILL loving on Jenn!

Rocking out....Gail and Ethan....Sarah and Colton

Monica is telling Hunter that she can be in her 1st grade class someday
SURPRISE! Nurse Lori was also at school today! Colton was snuggling up with her saying "look how fat I'm getting!"

Nurse Lori and Colton

This is a baby swap in action! Now Lori has Ethan and Gail is getting Hunter

Alanis Morrisette said it best....

Hello friends and family! (our fans, as Brian likes to think). It's Saturday, December 20 and wow, what a day it has turned out to be! This blog turned out to be much longer than I had anticipated, but PLEASE READ TO THE END! IT WILL BE WORTH IT, I PROMISE!!!

So I am officially a "stay-at-home mom" now. And frankly, I don't know if I like it! Teaching is all I have known for the past 8 years...I do kindergarten! That's what I do! Now what?? Clean? Bake? (Yeah right...) Ah yes, find a job I can do from home and work on hatching my three little babies! Thursday was my last day of school with my funny little kindergarten friends and when they left, I felt somewhat lost...but also relieved that I would finally have the opportunity to stay home and be off my feet all day, because let me tell ya, this belly isn't gettin' any smaller! To say my back has been aching at the end of the day would be a vast understatement. I felt better about the decision when I went to visit my favorite funny man doctor at UMC later that day and he confirmed the absolute need for me to have ceased working for a while...so for now, I will live out my kindergarten life vicariously through Mary, Michele and Anabelle...I even promised to all their busy work from my couch!

But ahh, I digress. Remember the title of this blog? About Alanis Morissette? And how she said it best? Yes, well, let's get to that. I'm thinking specifically of one song, that I don't hear as often any more, but often enough that it immediately came to mind at about 2:00 in the afternoon yesterday....let's all sing along.

The title is "Ironic"...here are the lyrics...

An old man turned ninety-eight, He won the lottery and died the next day
Its a black fly in your chardonnay
Its a death row pardon two minutes too late
Isnt it ironic... dont you think?
Chorus:
Its like rain on your wedding day
Its a free ride when you've already paid
Its the good advice that you just didnt take
Who wouldve thought... it figures
Mr. play it safe was afraid to fly.
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye.
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down he thought
Well isnt this nice...And isnt it ironic... dont you think?
Repeat chorus
Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
When you think everythings okay and everythings going right
And life has a funny way of helping you out when
You think everythings gone wrong and everything blows upIn your face
A traffic jam when youre already late
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
Its like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
Its meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isnt it ironic... dont you think? A little too ironic... and yeah I really do think...
Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you

So I'm sure you're now asking, "Ok Ami, how exactly does this song apply to you?" Ahh, let me tell you. And if you happen to be standing up right now, please, I'll give you a minute to go ahead and find your seat.....Ok, good. Let's continue. This Wednesday, at school I was absolutely blessed by my 2 kindergarten classes and the Cottonwood Staff with three separate BABY SHOWERS! So adorably decorated with BLUE, BLUE and more BLUE! We received over 2,700 diapers to get Brian and I started on our stinky journey with the 3 Bunch Boys. The generosity people showed was just overwhelming! People making handmade, personalized gifts for little Colton, Ethan and Hunter.... blankets, t-shirts, picture frames, necklaces, etc.) I was just so moved....(The 4th picture down shows the personalized gifts....)

And then we went to another formal ultrasound yesterday at 1:30...(formal meaning they measure every body part, find the weight, etc.) And my goodness, those are 3 very busy boys I've got in there! Let's just say they lost their hard earned title as being "very cooperative little boys!" When you want to see a face, they show you a butt, when you need an arm bone, they give you a leg! Ahh, boys.

And then we received some momentarily scary news...you know that feeling when the sonographer leaves the room abruptly and comes back with the doctor and they both peer at the screen? Yes, that's what happened. My heart immediately sank...what was wrong? What are we looking at? Turns out, Baby A (Colton) likely has a bilateral cleft lip and palate. (Bilateral meaning both sides of the nose...Whew! Ok, that I can handle! Apparently all babies start out with cleft palates and lips and they eventually fuse, but in Colton's case, they have not yet. But that is a problem that is easily fixed with surgery and one which can be done early on. It will no doubt make my heart skip a beat when we see it for the first time, but that's ok. He's our baby boy and we love him more than we knew we could already. So please include Colton specifically in your prayers. Thankfully, other than that, everything looks just fine with all three babies!

They weigh 10 oz., 11 oz., and 11oz. ("Big heads and big bellies", she said!) Hmm....my finger is pointing at Brian right now! (I took the credit for the ears we saw on one of the babies...he owned up to the big head and belly part.)

So anyway, we thought we were wrapping things up at our ultrasound, when the sonographer asked us, "So do you have names picked out yet?" "Of course we do!" I say..."Colton, Ethan and Hunter!" She liked our choices! And then, she made another quick look at each baby and as she got to Baby C, and did that same kind of "paused.." look at the screen, my heart started beating quickly again. "Oh God...more bad news." I thought.

And then she says calmly, I think Baby C is a Girl."........

WHAT?? WHAT DO YOU MEAN C IS A GIRL?? He can't be a girl! I just had 3 baby showers 2 days ago and got so much stuff for three BOYS!!" (Now do you see where Alanis Morrisette's 'Ironic' comes in???) Just for confirmation, we called Dr. Funny Man back in and yes, all 4 of agreed that C's parts do NOT look like A and B's parts. As Dr. M. put it, "Well, either she's a girl, or a very disappointing boy." hee hee...Now I'm gonna be honest, this WAS the original "Perfect Scenario" for us....2 boys and a girl. But when you get your heart set on 3 boys and you plan everything for 3 boys, (and you HOT GLUE letters to your babies' nursery saying "BABY BOYS") , it takes a moment to re-adjust. I looked at Brian, and said "Am I happy about this?" And the obvious answer from him was "YOU BET!" OMG! A girl!!

To everyone who gave us baby boy stuff, I want you to know that not one bit of it will go to waste! We'll obviously be making some "readjustments" to the nursery, etc. and the name thing is a topic that keeps coming up....Originally, we were going to call a baby girl Berklea or Olivia...but we have so many cute things already made for Hunter....(and it would feel kind of strange to have Hunter sort of disappear....SOOoo...

Though I cannot confirm with 100% certainty just yet, (and I would not recommend having anything embroidered just yet) I believe, we will call our new Baby Girl

Hunter Olivia Bunch

We realize it's more of a boy name, but in the time span of 1 day, we have recalled the famous supermodel Hunter Tylo, as well as about 6 separate friends who each have female friends named Hunter. Hmm? It is kind of cute, we think. And frankly, as she grows up, if she decides she hates being called Hunter, she can go by Olivia instead :) But for now, I think we've just introduced the world to our baby girl Hunter. :) (Much like Baby Girl Chandler for all my F*R*I*E*N*D*S watching friends!)

So go ahead, take a day to absorb that, and tomorrow I'll put up some ultrasound photos! Take care!