update!

Elle's 2nd birthday
Elle turned 2 on Tuesday! She's filled our lives with so much joy and we are so blessed to have so many people love her too. We had a Mickey & Minnie/Tutus & Ties party on Saturday. We had some of the ballet girls perform to "The Hot Dog" song and the pinata was a huge success, even for the big kids. Here's a link to our shutterfly account and you can see more pics of her party in "march 2011". Click here.



I went for a consultation on my hip with an orthopedic specialist (not the one they wanted to send me to, but he still seems good). I have a piece of bone that sticks up on my hip joint, which when i make certain movements rubs on my hip socket and has torn the cartilage. If I don't have it repaired it will develop arthritis. So I'm going to have surgery as soon as the insurance gets everything authorized. They will do laparoscopic outpatient surgery (probably 3 incisions, but he won't know until he gets in there). Here's the scary part: There's no room in the hip so they are going to put me to sleep, paralyze me, and dislocate my hip! Then I'll be on crutches for 3 weeks and then have some therapy. Good part: I'll be able to do whatever I want after that!

media literacy monday: so what?

Why do I care about media litearcy?

*We're bombarded by media images everyday from all kinds of sources TV, movies, magazines, billboards, score boards, radio, t-shirts, etc.
*I don't want my children, or anyone else, getting wrong information from one of these sources.
*It's important to be able to think critically about messages that you hear and see. You should be able to read between the lines.
*I don't want someone else telling me what's pretty, cool, good, healthy, right, Christian, etc.
*I want to have skills to succeed in the 21st century.
*I want students and my children to have the skills to succeed in the 21st century.
*I want people to quit sending me email forwards because they believe everything they say.

Here's a quiz to find out how media literate you are:

http://clpmag.org/quiz.php

I got a 70%, which I think is because I don't follow any news source most of the time. I hear the major stuff, but don't follow the rest of the story and do my own research enough sometimes to make an educated opinion. Need to work on that. Would love to hear how you do!

hip momma

Some of you may know about my hip troubles, but this week more has been going on. And for those who don't know this will explain why Elle keeps randomly saying "momma's leg hurts." In 2004, right about the time Chris and I got married, I noticed my left hip hurting occasionally. Then it seemed to steadily get worse and it got to the point where I couldn't walk or stand for more than 30 minutes, and doing activities like swinging my leg into the car caused major pain. I eventually went to the doctor and they diagnosed me with a ganglion cyst on my hip joint. I got my first cortisone shot in 2005 {I vividly remember this because it was the day after Hurricane Katrina went through Memphis and half the hospital didn't have power.} and that helped for about a year. Then the pain came back so they tried another shot and this time it didn't work. They referred me to physical therapy. I had an outstanding physical therapist who relieved all of my pain. Well, then we moved to Waco and the pain would flare up and then go away based on how active I was. Lately though the pain has been pretty constant and for several weeks I couldn't get relief from pain meds or even sleeping. So I headed to the doctor again. Wednesday I had an arthrogram to put dye into my hip so that I could have an MRI to see what's going on. The worst part of that was getting stabbed in the hip, which has left me pretty sore, as if I needed help with that. Today I had my follow-up and they said I have a labrum tear. No word on the cyst, because I ended up having to see the physicians assistant who can't read a hip MRI. But, they're referring me to a specialist who will do a hip scope to repair the tear and the PA said they would be able to see a cyst if there is one.

No telling what the origin of the problem is. When I was born the same hip had problems and almost got me a full body cast at the age of 1. Thankfully, for my mother's sake, they didn't have to do that because my hip developed fine on its own. But, no one has really hinted that this could be related. I don't know if it's too many cheerleading kicks or what, but I just want to get it resolved so I can walk around the zoo with my daughter without being in pain.

I would like prayers for two things specifically:
1) the specialist doesn't take our insurance so there's going to be a fight to get me in--this may mean a lot of time could go by while the insurance drags their feet; and
2) they said I may be non-weight bearing for 4-12 weeks after the scope. This doesn't work for me trying to take care of a toddler.

our weekend at the farm

Over the weekend we went to the Waugh farm. Probably the sweetest people on earth live there. It's a wonderful place filled with critters, wheat, fond memories, wind, new adventures, red dirt and plenty of poop! Here's a video summarizing what Elle did on our visit.

I'm it!

I was tagged by Heather to do a 4x4 list. Here goes!

4 Places I go:

Edmond branch Metro library

Mayfair Church of Christ

Chick-fil-A

Target

4 favorite smells:

Chris' cologne

Elle except when changing diapers

bread baking

my grandma's brisket

4 favorite shows or movies:

West Wing

7 brides for 7 brothers

You've Got Mail

Father of the Bride

4 recommendations:

travel-it's good to get out of your bubble once in a while

snail mail- I have a wonderful friend who I keep up with via snail mail. I love to get her letters and I enjoy sending them. We've been able to keep our friendship and enrich it even though we're so far away. It's more personal than an email.

dog training classes- if you have a dog or plan to get one these are a great resource if you have the time and money. even if you're not having any "problems" it's fun to spend time engaging your pet in challenges and meeting other dog-people.

Unpluggits- a place in Edmond for kids to play with nothing that plugs in and inspires their creativity. 18 months-10? years are $7 and adults are free. You can take food in or they have snacks to buy. Kids can play with paint, chalk, play-dough, puppets, crafts, etc. They can paint ceramics, but these cost extra. They also have a huge jungle gym in another room with a pirate ship, dress up clothes, sand table, a smaller tree/jungle gym for little ones, and air hockey. I recommend going when you can stay for a while and picnic lunch.

4 people I tag:
Chris, Casey, Nicole, and Justin

con$igning tips

Tis the season for consignment sales. I recently went to my first Sweet Repeats sale and am gearing up for Just Between Friends OKC. I missed the Pass it On sale, but it looked similar. I have consigned several times with JBF and have gone to many of their sales. I've also consigned with a children's store in Waco and have learned some things along the way. If you're a consigning newbie here's some tips that might be helpful:

*You're more likely to sell items and get the price you want if you consign through the sales events rather than a store. Stores usually price the items for you.

*Set up a tub (or more--one for spring/summer, one for fall/winter, one for keeps) in your child's closet to store items you want to sell. Then you don't have to scramble before the sale to decide what you wanted to get rid of or keep. If you have the space, hang up clothing.

*Save the plastic hangers you get from the stores. Check your local sale, but most let you use these hangers and you don't have to get rid of your nice ones.

*Prep your merchandise before you put it in the tub. Group similar items in plastic bags or (if required) safety pin clothes to hangers or multiple items.

*Tag early! Each of the three sales mentioned above have online tag making. Go online and fill in the tag information before you put it in the box and it will be saved until you're ready to print. If you already have 6 or more items (to save paper) prepped print and attach early.

*Each sale and each sale location is different so read all the information carefully.

*Check your clothes for stains under fluorescent lights. Your normal lights at home can be deceiving. Most sales are held in churches, gyms, or large buildings with fluorescent lighting. You don't want to have spent time prepping an item and have it pulled, and some sales will drop you as a consigner if this happens too often.

*Consigning and volunteering get you the most bang for your buck. You usually get to shop early and get a bigger percentage back. However, it has to be worth your time. I've never been able to volunteer because the times didn't work for my schedule due to nursing or having to get a babysitter.

*If you want to consign or volunteer, sign up early! The larger sales only take so many consigners. And if you need a specific time, get on the mailing list early to find out when they start signing up so you can get the time you need.

*Be honest with yourself about what to keep and what to buy! This is something I've really had to try hard at because all those baby clothes seem too special to get rid of. But, we don't have the space to keep everything and who knows when and if the "not yets" will be here. Most sales only sell two seasons of clothing so think carefully about what your kid will be wearing.

*It's really worth it! I can get a ton of clothes for 1/2 or even a 1/4 of what I would pay in the stores. Especially for the more expensive brands like GAP, Gymboree, or The Children's Place. You can find other great deals too. This weekend I found this spring horse for $30 and it's in excellent condition. Retail price = $150. Cha-ching!



Anyone have any other suggestions?

media literacy mondays

This is a day late, but I wanted to go ahead a post it.

A little over a year ago I had the opportunity to take a class on media literacy at Baylor. It was a life changing experience for me and since then I've felt a calling to promote awareness about this topic. When I started the class I had no idea what "media literacy" was or what it had to do with education. Since then I constantly find areas where media literacy could be helpful (even in Christianity) and ideas of how to incorporate it into the classroom. It's one of those things I wish someone had told me about when I was in a K-12 classroom. So I've decided that on Mondays I'm going to share something about media literacy. Today I want to give a brief description of what media literacy is, hopefully giving you the general idea, but will expand on it each Monday.

Henry Giroux claims the term "literate" can no longer mean to teach and learn the culture of a book. When was the last time you went to a newspaper or book for information about a topic? Most likely you went to the the television or internet. Increasingly we are getting information from sources other than print, but we're not learning how to critically "read" the messages those sources, or media, are putting out. Therefore, in order to be considered literate you should not only be able to read and write print, but also be able to "read" and "write" media messages.

What is media? Here's a short list, but is not exhaustive:
media = TV, movies, radio, Internet, print ads, commercials, t-shirts, bumper stickers, magazines, video games, newspapers, bill boards, graphic novels…even my blog!

What's a definition of media literacy?
media literacy = the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and produce media; critically consume and create media (New Mexico Media Literacy Project)

What's up with media? Media concepts:
• All media messages are constructed.
• Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules.
• Different people experience the same media message differently.
• Media have embedded values and points of view.
• Most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power.

What does it look like to be media literate? First, you can deconstruct media with these questions:
1. Who created this message?
2. What techniques are used to attract my attention?
3. How might different people understand this message differently from me?
4. What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in or omitted from this message?
5. Why was this message sent?
*Then you can create your own media.

Here's some media literacy resources:
• Media Awareness Network
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/index.cfm
• New Mexico Media Literacy Project
http://www.nmmlp.org/index.html
• National Association for Media Literacy Education
http://www.namle.net/
• The Merchants of Cool video
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/view/
• PBS kids
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/media_lit/

This is a brief introduction, but, hopefully, it gave you a good idea of what this topic is about.