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We're running on fumes in the Andrews household...  it's been a busy few weeks and I think the sleep deprivation/long hours combo is taking its toll!  THANK GOODNESS for Labor Day and three-day weekends.

Last weekend Knox made his first appearance at a football game.  Gram and Pop were there to cheer him, I mean, the Wolves, on.  Doesn't Gram look cute in her Red & Black?!

And Koby made his Varsity coaching debut last Saturday at the Wolves' first game in Abilene at Shotwell.

This pint-sized specimen has taken over our queen-sized bed.  We are sans-sheets in this snapshot because he's just peed on them.

Student, after being told he can play on the computer until we're ready to take a quiz, "Can I just read?"  Me, **GRIN**.

I was really going to be organized and clean this year, but we're too creative for that.  Check out what we did today in class - really fun!

In another life, I was a fat Italian woman who wooed countless men with my irresistible shell pasta recipes.  In this life my love affair is with carbohydrates and I am faithful.

Knox and I aren't attending the game tonight because he has been having some snot issues and I am feeling the beginnings of a sore throat.  We had a chat about it and neither of us feel quite up to making the hour and a half trip tonight.  Wish we could be there to cheer for Daddy and the Wolves, though.  I hope you had a fulfilling week and that you get to stay home on Monday, too and do things that you love!

 

Two Weeks In

Our first assignment in Digital Photography was a self portrait inspired by American Express ads from 2008 like Tina Fey's.  Each kid Photoshopped a picture of themself with his/her answers to the little survey.  Here's mine.

Photographer: Christie Andrews (actually, the photographer was a rowdy kid in 7th period and I am telling him to please put the camera away and get ready for the bell to ring, but I felt this one was a good one to print and hang on my door.  It says, "Don't give me hell," don't you think?)

Graduation Year: wouldn't you like to know?

Greatest Ambition: to be a good mom  (Last year I wrote 'to be as good a mom as mine' and little did I know I'd get the opportunity in a matter of months!)

Proudest Accomplishment: being responsible for one half of the WORLD'S CUTEST BABY!

Perfect Day: a thunder and rainclouds, read-a-book day

Can't live without: Harry Potter (books)

Favorite song: 'Your Hand in Mine' by Explosions in the Sky

Quote to live by: "When  I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead."  Neil Patrick Harris

Best friend: my husband

Reason why I like Photography: It gives you the power to freeze time.

Don't let the picture fool you, I.  LOVE.  MY.  JOB.  It's amazing that I get paid to do this.  I'm really excited about this year - I have inspiring, entertaining, creative and thoughtful kids, and I have a senior assistant to do my bidding.  I love being a coach's wife because it provides yet another connection I can have with my students.  I am really, really excited about his year.

Everyone needs to check our Art Dept. blog regularly to see what we're up to - I think we are going to have some stunning work created this year.  **Link should be fixed now!**

Life couldn't be better!

Spread it Around!

Don't hoard your goods, your time, your attention, talents or encouragement.  Great to think about as I head into another week of school.  Spread it around!

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First week of school... check!

Finally ready for the high school heathens... my art room!

My Jeep is filled with new smells courtesy of Hurricane Irene and this faulty back window.  Who knew we'd get rain in all the way out in West Texas?  I thought we were in a drought?  I'm not complaining...

I'm averaging about two of these per day ... One for the morning classes and one for post-lunch kids.  Today I got through the first one by 2nd period.  Not good.

Lovie kept Knox at our house this week so Koby and I could get some extra sleep this first week of school.  We are so blessed and thankful to have such a giving grandmother for our sweet (and constantly hungry) baby.  Knox loves his Lovie!

Knox loves his Mommy too!  He had these smiles for me when I got home from school today.  Precious!  (Can you tell he's been chowing down?  Lil' chunk :-)  )

Coach Andrews and the classic first day of school picture.  Also happens to be his first day of a new career picture.  So handsome!  He is my hero - he works from 6:30 in the morning to 8:00 pm at the earliest most nights, and he's still smiling when he walks through the door in the evenings.  What a great coach/teacher/dad/husband!

 I hope you had a fantastic week, and if you live in Texas, that you got some rain too!  (Though hopefully it wasn't in your car.)

Unshakeable

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Our ISD's teachers got back to business this week. Koby and I have been attending inservice meetings, seminars, practices (just him) and have each been working in our classrooms and getting ready for the influx of kids coming on Monday.

I got a NEW ROLLY CHAIR, which may have caused a near indecent amount of celebration on my part.  It is so smooth and rolly that it is almost a little frightening to sit down on it: I have visions of it rolling away while I crash in a heap on the floor.

Knox was visited again by Ross and met Pecos for the first time on Monday.  Ross and Pecos are two of Koby's childhood friends from Graham and it was good to see them for a few hours.  Knox was a little fussy when they got here, but a Pecos + porch swing combo knocked him out for a good while.

Knox turned four weeks old on Wednesday and today his umbilical stump FINALLY fell off!  Miss Cheryl informed me of that happy fact when I picked him up today from her house. I was really happy when she told me, but in the next few moments after I was visited with the thought that over the next year I'll probably be picking him up and she'll say something like, "He took his first step today!" and I became a little sad...

Koby and I are so grateful to have such a wonderful place for Knox to be taken care of while we work, and I think it speaks volumes of Cheryl that I have not been a basketcase this week. 

Koby observed that in hundreds or thousands of years from now, when the United States is settled under a cloud of dust or debris from whatever has happened to our planet and there are some sort of futuristic alien archaeologists digging through what's left, they'll find the hundreds (or thousands) of pictures of our son and will be forced to conclude that Knox Andrews was some sort of West Texan prince.  (Which he is.)

I hope you had a good week, too!

Glad!

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Here's what we've been doing this week-

Koby's been getting up around 5:30 every morning for the past two weeks to attend his two-a-day practices. But he always has enough energy to help with Knox when he gets home - our little boy gets so much love!

As you might have noticed from this post, I get a little bit excessive with the photo-taking while Koby isn't around to keep things realistic. But I think it's essential that we capture each new expression Knox makes.


I've been letting Knox nap in our bed if he happens to fall asleep there. I'm really hoping he doesn't get "sleep confusion" ... or whatever you might call it. I'm terrified that he won't embrace his crib as his nighttime place anymore... but it goes against everything in my brain to wake him up when he's taking a nap! Even when I'm cursing myself at three in the morning.


On Wednesday Knox turned THREE WEEKS OLD, and so we celebrated with... another photo shoot.


Koby is the BEST husband in the world. He kept Knox on Wednesday while I drove to Abilene to get my hair done (NOT a quick outing). It was amazing - after leaving the salon I actually looked like myself for the first time since pregnancy. Or, at least since BIG pregnancy. And THAT felt good!


Teacher inservice begins on Monday, which means these are our last few days with Knox before we start taking him to his home daycare. I'm getting pretty anxious about it. My little boy! I've really loved laying around with him, getting things done while he naps just a few feet away, and being able to comfort him the moment he cries. Wednesday (hair cut day) was the longest I've been separated from Knox since he was conceived. (Oh yeah, I'm definitely including the nine months I carried him around in my belly.) And it felt strange. But soon, it will be goodbye to summer, goodbye to all day with my son, goodbye to all day in slippers and pajamas.

Mythical Shopping Trip

My postpartum journey of weight loss has been fairly... uneventful. Somehow, I found myself just two pounds above my pre-pregnancy norm within about a week after Knox's birth without really 'trying' to lose the excess. (Thankful for it too! I've still got the lazies and I'm not really sure how committed I'd be to a new exercise regimen right away.) But, despite what the scale says, my clothes are NOT fitting like they used to. I'm alright with it, fully aware that it comes with the territory of motherhood. But... I'm gooshy in places that didn't used to be gooshy and I'm not sure when it'll officially go back to normal.

Until then, I've compiled a visual (and unrealistic) shopping list for that happy day when there's no longer a strange bulge peeping out from the waistband of my fat jeans.

Red for Colorado City!

A fox for Knox!

All clothing can be found at Anthropologie.com. Yes, I've included shoes, and no, my feet are not fatter than normal. But the shoes were awesome and needed to be seen.

Bebe dans Seau

Koby dangerously leaves Knox in my care for hours at a time while he works two-a-days... Left to our own devices, we engage in some crazy hijinks.

I call this session Baby in Bucket.

*DISCLAIMER* I know these shots are traditionally done with diapers off (who doesn't want to see a cute baby booty?) but Knox was pretty stinky and I had a decision to make. I chose to let him sleep - the wipes usually wake him up.