Thank God It's Summer Cookies

For those of you who did not already know, my husband and I are both teachers. He teaches high school anatomy and forensics (every time I say that, someone says "wow! He must be smart." and yes, he is.), and I teach middle school and high school art, though I have been on maternity leave for the past 5 weeks.

No matter what you teach, if you are a good teacher, you put your heart and soul into it. It's like parenting, except that you have 100 kids instead of one or two. It's draining
physically, mentally, emotionally and creatively. I know so many people who think we are so lucky to get summers off, and to them I say 2 things: we don't get paid for it, and also, we NEED our summer break so that we can recharge. Trust me, it's for the good of your children :)

But I digress...

Spring break rolls around and gives us a taste of the freedom that is summer, and from then on, if you do not have a countdown yourself, then one of your teacher friends on Facebook surely does, of the number of days until summer break.

The last week of school is torturous. So much to do, so many students needing you to check their grade, or grade their late work, etc. I know so many teachers who get sick the first week of summer because they have just been going nonstop for so long, the first time there is a lull, their body craters.

But on top of the huge amount of work, grading, paperwork, etc, there is a buzz of excitement. Planning every weekend from now until August... A need to make the most of every second. A need to make it the best summer ever, for yourself, your spouse and your children - and this is where Pinterest comes in, hahaha.

I have been scouring the Internet for ideas on how to make this summer the best summer yet. My upcoming posts will be full of awesome summer activities for toddlers and adults. Those of you who know me know that one of my favorite things in the world is food - as a good Baptist woman, it is how I show affection, appreciation, and love :)

If you are a little girl, what better way to usher in summer than with these cookies:

I started with a basic sugar cookie recipe that I found on the Internet. I am not going to share the recipe because I wasn't totally thrilled with it - far too much butter and just not the best recipe out there. I'd love to have a good recipe if someone cares to share!

Once the dough was made, I divided it into quarters and put each batch into separate containers. Then I used neon food coloring (about 10 drops) and colored each batch. After thoroughly mixing, I let the dough chill overnight.

*disclaimer: if you are looking for a fast cookie, this is not for you. These require a lot of chill time!*

The next day, I took each container and rolled out little balls - approximately half inch diameter. And again, I had to let them chill. (perhaps the amount of butter in the recipe I used required me to have to chill these more often, but I could only work for about 10 minutes before the dough was too gooey to do anything with!)

Once your balls have chilled again, take one of each color and roll them together like the photo below. They will look kind of like everlasting gobstoppers from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory :)

Chill again... See what I mean??

Here's where you need to dig up the old play dough skills that you spent your childhood developing.

Take each gobstopper ball and roll out into a snake like shape approximately 6 inches in length. Then spiral your snake into a cookie shape and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees - remove when they are just starting to firm up.

I recommend working in small batches so that you have some in the fridge to reduce the inconvenient chill time.

These are really impressive looking cookies, and I am definitely glad I made them, but I will wait for a more appreciative crowd than an 18 month old before attempting them again, haha. I needed some oohs and ahhs for all that hard work!!

Thank God it's summer!

One Month of Liv

When we last spoke, Olivia had just arrived into this sunshiny world. A healthy 8 lbs, 9 oz, 10 fingers, 10 sweet little toes, a good eater and a happy baby.

Since then, an entire month has passed.

Can you believe it has been a month? (Technically 5 and a half weeks, even crazier!)

Olivia continues to do great - growing like a weed, sleeping in 3 hour stretches at night already, and fits perfectly into our family. It hasn't always been roses, however. Our first couple of weeks after the grandmas went home and went back to work were pretty rough. Isabel was craving the attention she had spent the past 17 months getting used to and mommy had her hands full feeding an infant every 2 hours or less on practically zero sleep. I'm amazed that we got through it with only a couple of hits and bites (Isabel pretended to kiss Olivia once and actually bit her!).

But now we have fallen into a routine. I can not imagine my life without this precious baby girl and enjoy every single snuggle I can get. She loves to be close. When she is upset, the closer you snuggle her, the tighter of a ball she can get into, the faster she settles down. She is incredibly strong already - I know it will be just a short time before she is crawling around playing with her big sister. She also loves to make eye contact and loves to be talked to. She rarely cries unless she needs something and is such a go with the flow little one.

We joke that Olivia is koala baby because all she does right now is sleep, eat and snuggle. This is one of her favorite koala baby poses.

I still can't get over how tiny she was. I barely remember Isabel being so small!

This is one of her newborn photos taken by Christy from our church. Such a sweet little bird.

Four weeks old and getting bigger every day. Already wearing her 0-3 month clothes and filling them up nicely. And don't they look cute on her?

This was the first time that we let Isabel hold Olivia. It was hilarious. We put Isabel on the corner of the couch so there was less danger of Olivia rolling off and put little sister in big sister's arms. She was so stunned that she didn't know how to react at first, but the she really got into it and started kissing her over and over. Then in an instant, she decided she was finished and was ready for Nana to pick her up again. I had to be fast with the camera, but it was a heart melting moment.

And now here we are... Five and a half weeks of being a family of four and loving almost every second of it. Looking forward to many more months, tons more photos and watching my girls grow to love each other.

I am one lucky mama.

Another Beginning

I would like to officially introduce to you Olivia Catherine.

This time, it was not a dark and stormy night. It was a bright and sunny morning. Our oldest daughter was 2 weeks early, and everything that I had read and heard told me that second children come earlier and faster than your first. So, at 37 weeks, I was prepared.

And at 38 weeks, I was prepared

And 39...

And 40!

I had been having contractions on and off for about 2 weeks, went to labor and delivery only to be sent home in a fit of tears because this baby was not in any hurry to arrive. I was 2 cm dilated at 37 weeks, and by 40 weeks, that hadn't changed. Thankfully, this time my blood pressure was awesome and I was not having any serious problems, so my doctor scheduled me for induction at 40 weeks and 4 days.

I was so frustrated by that at first, but I am so thankful to have had those days with Isabel in hind sight. The day before our scheduled induction, we took Isabel to the Dallas World Aquarium.

This is me at 40 weeks and 3 days...

I was still in hopes that walking might entice Olivia to want to come on her own, but she had other plans.

Because we knew when we would have to be at the hospital, my mother in law was able to be here for the weekend before. She helped me around the house, played with Isabel, and helped to keep me distracted from the waiting for baby.

Monday morning, we were scheduled to be at the hospital at 7 am. The night before, I was anxious. There really is nothing like blissful ignorance, and this time I knew what to expect. So, of course I stayed up far too late so that I wouldn't lay in bed thinking, and then that night Isabel cried, the cats went crazy, and Drew and I got very little sleep. But we were up and ready to go and got to the hospital in plenty of time.

After arriving at the hospital, I was checked in to a nice room, answered a thousand stupid questions like "are you currently using cocaine or heroine" and "does your residence have running water and electricity", and settled in to wait for the doctor to make her rounds.

At about 9 am, I was 3 cm dilated, and at about 10 am, I was given my first dose of pitocin. Then we waited...

My mom came to the hospital after I was all checked in and kept me company. I decided that if she wanted to be in the room when Olivia was born, that she was welcome to do so, and I think she was surprised by that.

We had lots of visitors that day - aunt Jerri, Meme and Papa, our pastor Brent and my Aunt Mary. It was nice to have some distractions since an induction can take a long time.

I was having very regular contractions, but they weren't very painful at all. Olivia did not like contractions at all, and her heartbeat would dip with each one, so the nurses had me in several different positions and even put me on oxygen to help level out her heart rate.

At about 5:30, Dr. Reyna came in and checked and decided to break my water. I laughed when I heard the nurse say "I'll say large amounts of fluid... Wait, I'll change that to copious."

Just like last time, the contraction after my water broke was exponentially more intense. A couple hours later and I was so very thankful that God had allowed some brilliant person to come up with the idea for an epidural. I went from extreme pain to uncomfortable pressure in a matter of half an hour - and the crazy thing, the anesthesiologist who did my epidural was the same woman who did my epidural when Isabel was born. Becky did a great job and I was still able to feel my feet and move my legs!

My mom decided to go have dinner with my dad at around 10 pm. Shortly after she left, Dr. Reyna came in and checked my progress again. She said I was 8.5 cm dilated and she would come back in an hour to check.

My mom got back about 11:15 and the nurse came in to check just after that. I was feeling a warm sensation and when the nurse checked, she said I was 10 cm and fully effaced and that the baby's head was very close. Nurses began fluttering all over the room preparing things for the birth and for baby's arrival. My nurse, Kayse, had me push through 2 contractions and decided that the doctor needed to be there for the next push. She told me to wait and to not put my legs up because she was afraid the baby would come out before the doctor came in!! As soon as Dr. Reyna got there, 2 more pushes and Olivia was here!! 15 minutes of total pushing time - a far cry from the 2 hours with Isabel!

Olivia arrived at 12:25 am on April 4, weighing 8 lbs 9 oz, 20.25 inches long.

This is Dr. Reyna with newly born Olivia.

And a very proud and excited Nana who got to witness the birth of her second granddaughter.

Daddy was able to cut the cord again and was a proud, happy daddy with a tear in his eye.

The pushing went so fast and the delivery seemed so much easier than my first. It was like night and day! If my first had been like this, I would not have had a bit of anxiety about childbirth again! 14 hours from the administering of pitocin, but the easiest delivery I could have asked for.

We are so thankful to have our sweet Olivia Catherine. She is a joy and such a wonderful baby. She is a lucky little sister, even though her big sister is not quite sure what to think just yet - but that is a blog post for another day. :)

I am an overjoyed Mama to have the 2 most beautiful daughters. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Things We Learn from the Fresh Beats

Some of you aren't lucky enough to know about the Fresh Beat Band, and for that, I offer my sympathies. Any parent of a kid 5 years of age or younger surely knows of the magical properties of the Fresh Beat Band and has, on multiple occasions, had one of their songs stuck in their head for days on end. For you unlucky souls, let me give you a quick background:

The Fresh Beat Band is a brightly colored, musical show that airs on Nick Jr. You can also find season one on Netflix instant, thank goodness! This show is about four friends, Kiki (guitar), Marina (drums), Twist (DJ) and Shout (keyboards) who live in an apartment building where they each have a room on the bottom floor and never lock their doors. They go to music school every so often, but spend most of their time singing and causing a ruckus in the town. Their antics are purely accidental as none of them have a truly mischievous bone in their body. They have friends like Reed, who owns a music store and routinely gives them musical instruments for free, and Melody, who owns a smoothie stand and also gives them smoothies for free. Obviously this show is not intended to teach children about real life, but about sharing, helping others and some groovy dance moves...

This morning, Isabel and I were watching an episode while eating breakfast where the Fresh Beats are asked to babysit two chimpanzees. Obviously, you can see that this is not going to go well...

Today's episode taught me 3 things:

1. To babysit, all you really have to know is to say "No!", "Stop!" and "Watch out!" - advice given to them by the owner of the pizza stand who asked them to babysit the chimps in the first place. Granted, I haven't babysat in a while, but I remember it being a little more complicated than that.

2. Even the Fresh Beats know about the Saturday Night Live cowbell skit. But it is just not as funny without Will Ferrell.

3. Monkeys throwing fruit at people really upsets Isabel. At one point, when saying "No!" and "Stop!" had failed, the chimps got into the smoothie stand and started throwing fruit at the Fresh Beats. This made Isabel really upset and she puckered her bottom lip and tears filled her eyes. It was the most endearing, ridiculous thing I have witnessed all morning! Of course, the Fresh Beats got everything under control, and Isabel climbed in my lap for a little mama love, and now everything is alright in the world again, but it was touch and go for a minute.

Even though this episode was a little far fetched, we generally dig the Fresh Beats and their groovy tunes and their sweet dance moves. Isabel will literally get up and dance to each and every song, and she is a GOOD dancer :)

Long live the Fresh Beat Band... No matter how many Marinas they go through.

A Teenager's Fascination with Pregnancy

By now, I am about 47 months pregnant, or thereabouts. Giant, whalish, and uncomfortable, and I think the little girl inside of me must weigh about thirty pounds.

Before I had children, I would look at women in my position and think they looked so cute. Now - I understand their plight. I think it is nearly impossible to feel attractive when you are 40 lbs over your normal weight and can't see your toes. And getting out of bed - forget it. I have to sleep close to the edge so I can roll off when I have to wake up 30 times at night to pee.


But even though I feel this way, my students are still completely enamored with pregnancy and with my growing belly and the baby who moves visibly inside my stomach. Their excitement is contagious and fascinating to me. I answer a hundred questions everyday about pregnancy, fetal development, birth and related topics. I try to be as honest with them as possible while keeping my miserableness out of the equation.


Every. Single. Day. I answer the following questions:


1. Is the baby moving? Can I feel? Will you tell me when the baby is moving so I can see?
This is so funny to me. During my yearbook class, I will have 10 girls gathered around trying to feel Olivia move. They are either totally creeped out by it, or they are so fascinated and ask a thousand more questions. Inevitably they want to know what she is doing, what are they feeling. I can usually feel and tell if they are feeling her back or her legs moving - they always want to know where her head is, but it feels as though it's so far down my pelvis that it could break through at any moment, haha. I think Olivia already likes the attention.


2. "What would happen if your water broke. Right. NOW?"

This is probably the top question that I get. I swear, there is someone in every class who asks me this every day. I think it is hilarious.

My student, Kat, is particularly fascinated by the thought of my water breaking in class.

So, last week, we had an end of the month fire drill. My high school class walked outside and stood across the driveway from the school waiting for the all clear. In this time, for some reason, one of the kids from the class next door poured out her water bottle on the concrete. You can probably see where I am going with this...

We got the all clear to enter the building, and as we were walking across the street, I stood on top of the water puddle and shouted "Oh my gosh, Kat!!" and pointed at the puddle. She got SO excited thinking my water had broken and was pretty disappointed when I had to tell her it was a joke, but everyone else within hearing distance thought it was pretty hilarious, and I have laughed about it a lot since then, haha.

Another concern, especially among my middle school class, is who has to clean up the mess if my water breaks in class. I love telling them whoever has the lowest grade in the class has to clean it up, muahahaha! But honestly, I would feel so bad if someone else had to take care of that, so I am sure I would be on my hands and knees with paper towels yelling at my students to sit down and behave, haha.

3. Can I drive you to the hospital?
Ha!! Like I would let a 16 year old drive me to the hospital. RIIIIIIGHT!

They think I am crazy when I tell them I will be driving myself home to wait on my husband before going to the hospital. I am pretty sure they think giving birth is a 30 minute process and that I will have to be rushed at 110 miles per hour to the nearest medical facility so that I do not deliver a baby in the floor board of the car. No concept of a 16 hour labor...

4. Have you had your baby yet?
This one makes me roll my eyes a little. This question usually comes from the boys and always has the same answer "I will not be here after I have the baby," which is equally confusing to them, even though we have discussed that they will have a long term sub 17 times. It's sweet though, when it is met with "but who will teach us!?" Glad I am needed :)

It is funny to think of my pregnancy from their perspective. I found out on the first day of school this year that I was pregnant, so they really have not known anything other than pregnant Mrs. Dodd. I swear Nick thinks I have been pregnant my whole life, and I certainly feel that way sometimes.

Getting excited to meet Miss Olivia and welcome her to the world. For now, waiting as patiently as I can, trying my hardest to enjoy these last few days as a family of 3 and soak up all the time with Daddy Drew and Isabel that I can.

Stay tuned for exciting news...

A Picture Post

Isabel's new tent for her bedroom. It's a lot bigger than mommy thought, so it has to wait to go in her room until we do some re-arranging. The cars, however, like the tent a lot more than Izzy.

Hey Isabel, where's your belly?

She knows where Olivia is, too!

My sweet girl :)

I adore this picture - I found Isabel rolling around behind the curtain playing with Clark. They are such good friends!

Isabel got to color for the first time today! She loved it and I did too! I for see lots of art projects in our future!

Two Things I Learned Today

1. Isabel's playtime logic could prove to be very beneficial to me :
We had one of Isabel's buddies over tonight so his dad could get some work done on their new house. Isabel was tired and a little whiney and wasn't so sure about Daniel playing with her toys. So, instead of pitching a fit about him touching her stuff, she began picking up all of her toys and putting them where they go. Selfish induced cleaning? Never heard of it before, but it worked, and our living room didn't look so much like a disaster :)

Putting away her things didn't work every time, though, so those items were tossed under the couch in a "If I can't play with them, no one can" last ditch effort.

She may have this a little messed up, but she's a smart girl who gets what she wants :)

2. Melted crayons are SO pretty :

I had an urge... A craving, one might say, to be crafty tonight. It doesn't happen often, so when I feel compelled, I try to go with it. Tonight, I decided to make new, fun, pretty crayons out of old crayons. I saw a pin on Pinterest where someone made Valentines by sticking a home made crayon on a piece of paper and writing something cheesy like "Valentine, you color my world." I, of course, thought this was genius, even if it were a little cheese ball. I had a great time crushing up crayons while watching Fringe with Drew an melting them in my oven. Had I titled this entry "Three things I learned today," number 3 would be that using your oven for something other than food is really fun!

I'll show you the finished product when and if I actually finish. I'm bad about that, you know...