Happy 6 Month Anniversary Day, Kiwi!

In the month of April 2014, I turned 42 and you turned .5! Here is a celebratory selfie I took of All Four of us on Saturday morning.

And you and Mommy on Easter Sunday morning catching some added snoozes.

Last week you were singing the Star Spangled Banner with Mommy. I caught some of it.

You have been pretty chatty lately……one night last week you woke up around midnight and started babbling……just carrying on in your baby ba-bas and sharp shrieks. It would have been hilarious, except for the fact that you didn’t want to talk alone, so we brought you into bed hoping you would calm down. You didn’t……you kept babbling for another hour. Mommy and I stared at each other in the darkness. “We’ve created a monster, she said.”

You have been enjoying your Jonny Jump Up lately. This is from your first experience with it.

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A year ago at this time Mommy and I (and little embryo You) were in Hawaii. Here is a blog post from last year

Hello Little Jelly Bean,

Mommy and I are in Hawaii right now on my Spring Break Vacation. Here is the view from our Kauai, Hawaii condo.

Kuhio Shores condos in Koloa, Kauai, Hawaii

Today we visited Poipu Beach and snorkeled with a sea turtle. After we left the water, two more turtles joined the group and attracted dozens of people. 

And here is a view of you from the ultrasound (Mommy’s first abdominal, not vaginal) on Friday. Your measurements were good as well as your heartbeat and movements. You looked like you were having fun in there, slipping around like you were in a bathtub.

Love, Daddy

Happy April, Little Flower!

It is the fourth quarter of school….summer is nearly here. You’ve been going to day care for a month now. We continue to get reports that you are chatting away to all your friends during the day, telling stories, eating well, and sleeping sparingly. You are nearly SIX MONTHS OLD, little girl. Every week Mommy and I notice changes in you and progressions you make…..you are starting to grab at our ears, Mommy’s hair and earrings, and Clementine’s hair. You really enjoy splashing in the tub, and when you are on the changing table, it is hard to keep you still…..Mommy says dressing you is like trying to dress a squid. Today I raised the shoulderstraps on your car seat to accommodate your lengthening body.

You are eating well, too. We have started to introduce you to solid foods in the form of little servings of pureed sweet potatoes, squash, pears, and carrots we bought at Fred Meyer. 

Friend Ray came to visit us in Seattle. It was great to see him and have you two get to know each other.

My pear salad with shrimp scampi

One night after you had gone to bed, Mommy and I were eating dinner. We got to sharing pictures of you from our phones, rating your cuteness and “aww” ness the more we saw pictures of you. Mommy looked at me and said, “Let’s go wake her up and smush her.” You are in an adorable stage right now…..your toothless smile, large probing eyes, Michelin Man thighs, and your exploring hands and body….all fun to be with. We resisted the temptation to smush you and let you sleep until the morning.

Spring Break has come and gone, but it was fun spending the week with you. We went to the zoo on Monday. I took you to one of my dentist visits on Tuesday. We walked around Greenlake on Wednesday, then picked up Grammy Diann at the airport who came to see you. Grammy hosted a “sleepover” for just the two of you (she took you into her room for the night). Mommy was thrilled….it was the first time since you’ve been born that she’s had a full night’s sleep.

You and Grammy at the tulip festival

Next time, I’ll tell you about my AP stats dream about you. Right now it is very late and I will need to be very quiet when I go to bed because Mommy will have the pillow on her head and won’t want to be disturbed.

Love and Hugs, Daddy

Happy 5 Months Birthday, Raindrop!

This is Mommy’s first time back at work since you were born, which in my opinion has been the worst string of days.  She gets home tired and only has a few hours to hold you until you go to bed at 7:30. It is maddening compared to the time she had with you during maternity….now it has abruptly ended. But we knew this time would come and are making the best of it.

Here is one sign Mommy is back at work and needs a break…..Last week she was holding you and singing random songs. Because you have some Disney characters (notice the Dumbo on your bib) on your bibs, she started the Mickey Mouse song. When she got to the spelling part…”M-I-C…K-E-Y….she hesitated a little and finished with “M-O-   U – S – A ”   I was in the kitchen and said, “What was that?” Mommy didn’t even notice that she mixed some disney with good old American nationalistic chanting until I told her it is M-O-U-S-E  instead of U-S-A.

Here are some shots from Nana and PopPop’s visit. They were here on Mommy’s last few days of maternity leave; they hadn’t seen you since the beginning of January. They babysat you on Saturday night and let me and Mommy go out on a dinner date.

You are starting to eat some solids…..Mommy has prepared pears, sweet potatoes, bananas, and an avocado in the last several weeks to add to your daily boob juice. So far, after pureeing them and mixing them with water, you’ve gobbled them down with now complaints.

Last week at school was HSPE testing, which means some hours of silence where students complete the state tests for reading and writing. I have memories of 6 years ago when I was frantically working on track and 3 preps….falling asleep on my couch after dinner and then waking up at midnight to grade and plan.  That seems like so long ago…..in another apartment, in a single life and less healthy lifestyle.  I do miss being a track coach, but I don’t miss all the time I would spend at school and on the track. I enjoy coming home now after school, picking you up from daycare, and spending time together.

Here is your latest interview…your 5 month checkin. I didn’t think these audios could get any better….this one tops it for me.

 

Here’s a post from 2/19/13 last year after we first discovered you were a reality. Mommy and I had just returned from a ski-cation in Montana.

Happy Sunday, Lucky!

 It’s almost been a week, and you are hanging in there. We have another appointment tomorrow at PNF to check you out, measure you and see your heartbeat 🙂  Mommy is pretty stressed and “cautiously optimistic,” but is not counting as you as a chicken until you are “hatched.”  All signs and symptoms with you have been the same as the others, but that really doesn’t mean much. If you came from a good egg, chances are you’ll come farther than your older siblings. Because their chromosomes probably weren’t suitable for living a healthy life, they left early.

 Today Mommy and I worked outside on the front yard. We rented a U-Haul truck and trailer to transport 3 cubic yards of dirt. It looks really good. The professional architects and construction guy Mike did the hardscape; we’re finishing the softscape with plants and shrubs and flowers.

Other things I want to tell you about next time….My 1 second video a day, my first season without track in a while, salsa classes.

Love, Daddy

Happy March, Lunchmeat!

This is you and what’s left of your first taste of non-booby food….sweet potato! Mommy mashed it up and mixed it with enough water to have the consistency of breast milk. You didn’t gobble it up, but you ate it!

So many things about you to report since the last check-in.
You are grabbing our sleeves when you’re on the changing table, and you’ve also found your feet in the last week. On Friday afternoon you tried to put one in your mouth when you were sitting. Happy Baby pose is your favorite yoga move. I also noticed lately that your eyelashes have really come in. They aren’t little hairs any more. They’ve got come curl to them.

Turned around last night. How did you do that when you were straight jacket swaddled all night?

Include posts from a year ago

Here are some dreams from last week:
I was at MU, on the sidelines, watching a younger team play. The score was 140-something to 0, the opponents ahead, and MU had the ball, pushed up to their end zone. I watched the young QB who had no fear in his eyes. He caught the snap and started charging forward into an army of orcs. Then I left the game at Millikin and was in the parking lot next to Mills Hall (my dormitory my Freshman year). I was in the passenger seat of a car, when a voluptuous beauty started walking around my car. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her in the side and rear view mirrors. She was sultry and scantily-clad. What does that mean?

We were 0 for 2 with ski attempts last weekend. On Friday night we tried to have you sleep without the bouncy chair for the first time. You were restless and woke up unsettled 5 or more times during the night, so Mommy didn’t have the energy to go to Crystal Mountain with her girlfriends. On Sunday we were all ready to head up to the pass until Mike and Martina texted us that the roads were bad. So Aunt Karen took you for a while and Mommy and I came home and watched The Dallas Buyers Club. We DID end up getting to ski this weekend. Here’s me and mommy nordic skiing on the Iron Horse Trail.

This is Mommy’s last week before she returns to work. She is not looking forward to it because you and her have had such a long time to bond she doesn’t want it to end. When she returns to work, she will return home around 5pm. Since you are going to bed around 8 these days, there won’t be a lot of time with you, which makes her sad. It will probably be the toughest transition for us yet. I know that because Mommy has shown some signs that she’s frustrated by the upcoming change…….on Sunday we went to the Dog Show at Century Link Field. As we were circling the blocks looking for a place to park, when a parking spot opened up, I had driven a bit past it so I put the car in reverse and planned to take the spot. Instead, a car coming behind us honked and took the spot. Mommy rolled down the window and yelled, “Bastard,” at the lady driving. In my opinion, the lady had the right to take the spot….I had gone past it and didn’t have my blinkers on indicating that I had taken it, but Mommy felt that the parking spot was ours. I played it cool, siding with Mommy, but drove on to look for another spot.

I switched blog providers while Mommy was pregnant with you, so I’m looking back a year ago to posts I wrote on that other site. Here are some from February 2013

JBM is sad because my brother and sister in law just sent word that their third child is due in July…a boy. She’s feeling low because it hasn’t worked for us yet and IVF is not a sure thing. I’m trying to remain positive and encourage her to do the same, but it often feels like it is an uphill battle. Here’s hoping this IVF works wonders for us forty-somethings.

Dear #3,

We are stunned and hopefully optimistic. Mommy and I were all set to do IVF to make you, which would help avoid a miscarriage because we’d now you were a “good egg.” But, as luck would have it, Mommy is pregnant with you! Just a few weeks after second miscarriage, we are pregnant again. Mommy called me on my way to work today….I thought Clementine had escaped or there was an intruder….I was so scared. It turns out, we’d been waiting for mommy to get her period…and waiting…and waiting….but it never happened. So she took a test today and it instantly gave the “pregnant” indication.

So what does that mean? It means Mommy is stunned that this happened…..we were actually on birth control and using physical barriers, too, if you know what I mean. It means the IVF drugs we ordered will have to wait. It means the appointment we have next Monday that was to show us how to give shots and the time line for IVF will turn into an ultrasound to look at you. Crazy, huh?

We are cautiously optimistic. You are another experiment in what is becoming a track record of failed attempts. We will breathe a lot easier when we get through the first trimester.

But I am happy and excited…again…that I’ll be your father, and hope that this miracle will come full term.

All my love and hope.

Dear Lucky!

Yes, it has happened again, Mommy is pregnant. We came back from Montana impatient with wanting her to get her period, but nada, nothing, no periodio. Well, come to find out, there won’t be a period because she has a lucky inside her!  We had it confirmed today at the fertility clinic….5 weeks and 5 days.

That puts your due date to October 23rd 2013. So we’re hoping that you are a good egg and can follow through on your magic lucky date this time…..October 23rd….a few days after our first wedding anniversary.

At the ultrasound, they measured you at ?? millimeters; that’s how they predict how old you are. Your heart rate was 110 beats per minute, which the nurse said was healthy. You should have seen Mommy, shocked but allowing herself to be a tiny bit happy. Now she will be in wait and see mode probably until you arrive. I know our track record is not good so far, we’re old, our bodies may be “stinky” by medical standards, but we’re trying for you and will go to great lengths to see you through.

Today is the first day of track season and the first day I haven’t been out there coaching in 5 years. It feels good; I’ve got other things to think about and projects to complete, it was time.

It is time to take your doggie sister Clementine out and then turn in for the night. Good night, little one.

Daddy

Good night from 2014, Lucky. Love, Daddy

Happy March, Tweedle Bug!

You gave us a tough night last night. We’re trying to wean you off sleeping in the bouncy chair so we’ve swaddled you and put you in the crib for the last several nights. Last night was a doozy…..you went down swaddled around 9pm, but then woke up at 3. I bottle fed you and got you back to sleep, reluctantly, by 4. But then you kept crying out every half hour or so until Mommy fed you around 5:30. Unfortunately, Mommy had to cancel her first ski trip of the season because she didn’t have enough energy to make the trip to Crystal Mountain. That, of course, made her sad, so it has been a mellow and tired Saturday.

When Mommy went in to get you in the early morning. You had wrestled your hands out of the swaddle enough so you were “jazz-handsing” her with your open hands down by your hips while still being in the straight jacket swaddle. That makes us laugh thinking about it…….during the daytime.

Grammy Diann and Chuckles were here last week. You were very chatty with them the whole time; it was fun for them to see you so different since only Christmastime. We packed in a lot of activities and cuddling time during their visit. Chuckles and I put up the mobile (in two parts) and a black out shade in your room on Saturday.

During the night, the shadows of the shapes is fun to look at.

School for me is going fine. We will see how things change after March 17, 2014 when Mommy goes back to work and you start daycare full time. Over the past week I’ve had some episodes that tell me I need to take a deep breath and relax a little.

1. When working out a trig problem in Math Analysis, I wrote “sex” instead of “sec x” for the secant of x. Brendan, a student in class, raised his hand and said, “Uh, Mr. Peabody, the secant needs a c”

2 During my prep period, I swung by the main office to check my mailbox, then get lunch. As I was exiting the office and walking in the courtyard, I was on a mission to get my lunch and be super-efficient, so I was walking fast. An ex-student and track athlete, Nathan, was hustling toward a door near me to get to class. As he passed me, he shouted something that I interpreted as “I’m getting ready for track,” so I shouted back at him, “Good for you!” As I continued walking quickly, I realized what he said…….”Miss you in track.” As I kept walking, I felt badly knowing that I snubbed a student who just complimented me.

Nathan: “Hey Mr Peabody, we miss you in track”
Me: “Good for you!”

I felt like an ass.

3. At home before dinner last week, I turned on my netbook and felt it wobble. I instantly got really angry at Apple for selling me an inferior product, then got angrier because I knew the computer was old enough that I didn’t have instant support for it any more. I told Mommy but she didn’t have the energy at that moment to support me. Minutes later, when I moved the computer to make space to set the table, I found that the cause was a crumb under the pols emac.

4. I knocked over one of the bamboo plants in my classroom last week. Fortunately, it was when I was working with a student after school. All year I’ve worked around the plants in my room adroitly; I guess it was time to

It is Saturday night. I’ve just left your room after seeing that your eyes are both closed. You are wrapped in the special Miracle Blanket lying in your crib. We’ll see how you do through the night. I am hopeful, and loving you and Mommy so much.

Daddy

Happy Four Months, Artichoke.

I’m adding a post from my mobile phone! A great addition to help me stay Connected! It is a bit awkward this way, but it looks like I can do most everything I can on the regular computer

For Midwinter Break we visited the California Milmans in LA. Uncle Jeff, Aunt Lee, Tessa, Raylin, Ari, and your second cousin Christiana. Here you are after meeting for the first time.

And here you are meeting Tessa for the first time. Mommy calls what you are doing in this video, “chirping.” It is my all time favorite video of you so far.

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I hadn’t been in Los Angeles for over 20 years, so I was eager to see what I could of the city. We spent time in Thousand Oaks (where Uncle Jeff and Aunt Lee live), the Lemon Groves in Camarillo, Highland Park (Tessa and Ari), and Santi Monica where your Great Grandma Rebecca lives. Gramie is in her 90s.  Unfortunately she doesn’t recognize anyone and can’t really string together a logical sentence these days, but it was good to meet her for the first time. Right when I saw her I could see her eyes, and Pop Pop’s Milman eyes, in you. 

On the plane trip home you took the rattle in one hand and put it into your mouth, the signs of a new developmental stage for you. You also love to grab my arm hair when I’m holding you and lately you’ve been grabbing my sleeves when you are on the changing table getting a new diaper.

On February 7th I flew home by myself to be with my family and see Great Grammy Nell Sterrenberg put to rest in Crescent City, IL. It was good to be with my family even though it was because of her death, we celebrated the life of Grammy Nell and how much she was a part of our lives. Her casket was open for the visitation, where her friends and loved ones could see her one last time. The Spenns and Peabodys stood in a line greeting the guests, accepting their sympathies, and hearing the good things they had to say about her. At the funeral, the officiant Chris Lentz had each of the four grandsons share memories we have of Grammy. Andy told a story of how, when Andy and Jacob saw a snake in the garden, Grammy took a shovel and hacked the poor snake to pieces. Grammy would do anything for us. Jacob shared how Grammy had a life of significance as opposed to some who choose to have lives of success over significance. Jonathan told how Grammy and Grandpa were good models of saving and living below one’s means. I shared my Top 5 memories of Grammy.

5. Looking at the Atlas: Whenever I would see Grammy, we would visit about where in the world I (or others in our family) had been. I would get the large atlas from under the cushion of her chair and we’d sit at the kitchen table and just look at the atlas.

4. Pizza Parties and Pancakes: I have many memories of blueberry pancakes and family pizza parties at Monicals. Most times it was to celebrate something like a birthday, graduation, anniversary, but I remember having pizza as a family often. The pancake tradition I have continued with our family.

3. Getting Letters from Grammy: Grammy was a great letter writer. She sent birthday cards to us all with checks or cash in them. She also just sent random letters that shared what was happening in Crescent City. I’ll include one sometime. I loved the letters, but I loved the stickers on the letters and checks even more. It was simple, but it was a way to add a little more color and joy to an ordinary envelope. I also try to continue the sticker-sticking tradition in everything in my life…..papers to my students, letters to people, and notes to Mommy around the house.

2. Christmasses: On most Christmas Days, after our respective families exchanged gifts and went to church, we would all go to Crescent City for the big family get together. The stockings were bulging with trinkets for all of us, and we’d go around opening presents, usually from youngest to oldest. Then Grammy would lay down pallets of blankets in the living room and the four grandsons would have a little sleepover next to the tree. There were some days when we would be snowed in and couldn’t make it back to Watseka the next day. Those were the best……building forts, being towed in the sled behind the snowmobile, and digging tunnels.

1. Waving Goodbye: I described the way Grandpa and Grammy waved goodbye to us in an earlier post, standing together as we drove away, waving with both hands. I will remember Grammy Nell the most that way, standing at her door waving goodbye.

It is hard to understand the finality of death, especially with Grammy Nell who has been alive for so long and been a part of my life since before I was born. I know that everyone has to die, but the fact that I can’t talk to her anymore and won’t get any more notes from her still makes me sad. I am glad I called her often, sent letters, and made my visits as frequent and valued as I could. Life goes on, and my life is better because of the love that Grammy shared with me. I hope I can give the same to you, little Busy.

Love, Daddy

OOPS….THIS POST SHOULD HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER 2013, BUT I JUST DISCOVERED IT NOW.  It is a bit out of order, but oh well. It was a sleep-deprived time for all of us.

Good Morning, Button. You just finished feeding; that’s why I’m up at 4:30am and we have been for the last 5 days. You need to eat about every 3 hours. You’ve been pretty aggressive, and Mommy has asked you nicely to take it easy on her boobies, but this morning I heard her sternly ask you to NOT rip off her boob. I hear it takes a while to adjust.

Before we return to your pre-story and Mommy’s labor in and out of the hospital, let’s add some color to these words with the most adorable little baby.

After a long Saturday of a McDonald’s drive through breakfast, a morphine mornings, asleep sitting up afternoon, and contractions-every-5-minutes early evening, we returned to the hospital at 8:30 pm, nearly 12 hours after we left the first time. When Mommy had her exam and the nurse said she was at 5, we cheered because she could be officially admitted and getting closer to your birth.

Happy Mid-Winter Break, Little Leek!

On Monday morning, I was getting ready to go to work and take you to day care. Mommy was feeding you while I was taking a shower. While I was leaving the bedroom to fix my breakfast, I peeked in your room to see how you and Mommy were doing. She was standing at your changing table giving you a new diaper, but missing something! Instead of her long pink pant jammies, she was in only her undies! I said, “Mommy, where did your pants go?” She said, “Baby girl pooped all over them.”

Mommy is the target for many of your emissions, but this one I had not seen before. It was kinda funny….Mommy standing at the changing table looking glum but hiding a smile when I walked in. You are notorious for your spit projections……just tonight we had Chris, Lara, and Lucas (from PEPS) over for dinner and while they were still in the foyer greeting you, you greeted them with a white liquid that splat on the floor just missing poor Clementine!

We just returned from a Mid-winter break visit to LA to see the west coast Milmans. We visited Uncle Jeff, Aunt Lee and cousins Tessa, Raylin, Ari, and little cousin Christiana. It was fun to be in sunny and warm Los Angeles, away from rainy and cold Seattle. I wore my shorts and flippy floppys all weekend. More on that visit in the next post.

On the trip home on the plane, you took a toy rattle and put it in your mouth. It was a major developmental milestone for you…..grasping an object and putting it in your mouth. We were stunned and proud of you!

Good night, munchkin.

Daddy

Hi Sweet Radish,

I left work as soon as I could today just because I really wanted to hold you. The custodian at work, Daniel, asked about you and how I feel about working when you are at home. I said it is hard to be away from you….it urged me to get home and see you.

Marcus and Anastasia visited yesterday and Marcus held you while you sported a new look.

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Your Great Grammy Nell Sterrenberg passed away early in the morning yesterday. She was 97 years old……97 years older than you! But I’m glad she had the opportunity to meet you when we visited in December. Services for her will be in IL next week, so I will fly back to be with my Mom (your Grammy Diann) and Aunt Carmie and our family. It is frigid cold there now and will be, so you and Mommy are staying home.

Grammy Nell and Grandpa Fritz Sterrenberg were a big part of my life. When I was only a few weeks old and my Mommy went back into the hospital, they took me and cared for me. Grammy taught me how to cook, and Grandpa taught me how to find four-leaf clovers. I spent countless hours at their house playing, hosting campouts in the orchard, and having lots of pancakes in the kitchen of their house. When we would leave them, they stood outside and waved us. Grammy waved with both hands. Then, when we moved past view of them, they went to the other side of the house so they could wave some more until we were out of sight. Even when she moved to the assisted living apartment in Watseka, Grammy still would go to her balcony on the upper level, look down, and wave to us as we left.

Grammy was a model grandmother, giving unconditional love and support to me and the four grandsons forever. I will miss her, but I am grateful for the memories I have of her and hope I can give the same to you, little polka dot, throughout your life.

Grammy was born in Minnesota and met Grandpa at a dance. She was a teacher at a one-room schoolhouse near Fulda, MN, until she and Grandpa married and she moved to IL to be a farmer’s wife. I remember going to the fields with Grandpa and riding in the combine, then meeting Grammy in the barn south of town when she brought us soup and homemade bread for lunch.

I remember…. using Grammy’s recipe to make my own noodles, mashed potatoes, and bread, getting Valentine’s Day checks with heart stickers on them, visiting Grammy and bringing her an elephant from the country I had just visited. She has a vast collection of elephants from many countries…..a jade one from China, wooden carved one from Japan, one made of amber from the Dominican Republic, and others from Ecuador, Alaska, and The Czech Republic. It was fun to visit with her and haul out the atlas to show her where I had been or trips the other grandsons had taken.

She told me that, when I was very young, I would talk to her on the phone. This was at a time when she and Grandpa still had sheep and cows, and I had a “pet” sheep named Beulah. The conversation would go.

Me: Hi, Grammy

Grammy: Hi, David.

Me. How are you?

Grammy: I’m fine.

Me: How is Grandpa.

Grammy: He’s fine, too.

Me: (long pause)….How’s Beulah?

Even this past Christmas of 2013, Grammy would provide all the family with stuffed stockings full of trinkets, stamps, snacks, tools, and a Christmas check. I loved Christmastime.

Toward the end of her life, Grammy had aches and pains that wouldn’t go away. She had to take a handful of pills that she didn’t like, and it got harder for her to live without support. My Mom and Aunt Carmie did a lot of caring for her the last several years, with constant trips to her house in Crescent City when she lived alone, her apartment at Kingdon’s, and finally her room in the nursing home where she was for the last 2 months of her life. Mom and Aunt Carmie were there with Grammy when she took her last breaths early in the morning on Sunday. I’m glad they could be with her because I’m sure it comforted her.

Rest in Peace, Grammy Nell. I am so thankful for knowing you and am a better person because you loved me. I will miss you.

Love, David

Happy Three Months, Little Turnip.

You are home right now with me and Clementine while Mommy is eating sushi with her girlfriends for a late birthday get-together. You were screaming when Mommy left but now you are swaddled and asleep on your bouncy chair.

Here is a three months interview with you, little princess.

These days, you are chirping and going nuts on the changing table; I love it. Two nights this week you slept for 8 HOURS! This made Mommy very happy. That means, though, that you need to be fed every 2 when you are awake. You’ve been a very good sleeper in the nighttime, with just the occasional binky crisis. Your hands are very active now, stroking my arm hair when I’m holding you, grasping at some of the dangling toys on your play mat, and getting tied up in your binky leash. Tonight I saw you touching the felt on the head of your infant butterfly toy. You are soaking it all in with your hands.

And now you are wailing again….probably hungry. I’ll be right back.

90 minutes later…..You were hungry, so I fed you and then fed myself some quinoa chili Mommy made this week. Then we played around a little. Now you are back in your bouncy chair…I can tell you are ready for a rest when you turn your head away from stimuli….our faces, music, lights, that means it is time to help you get some sleep.

Here are top stories in the news this week: The Seattle Seahawks will play the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50, the city is excited, peace arbitration talks have begun to end the Assad Regime war in Syria, the Winter Olympics are set to begin in Sochi, Russia in a few weeks, Hilary Clinton hasn’t announced yet that she’ll run for president in 2016 but it is thought that she will, the Republican favorite Chris Cristie, is now being defamed for a bridge closing scandal his aides created to punish a NJ mayor who did not support him, the drill that has been boring a new tunnel hole under Seattle has hit a snag and no one knows why.

Today was the last day of finals at my high school, so we are halfway done with the school year. I received a kind e-mail from a parent of a student I had in M.A.T.H. (Math in Art, Technology, and History) class. Here is some of it:

Hi Mr. Peabody,

Grammy Nell