Klutz much?

Boy, no wonder why I provide Bryan with some laughs.

Two days ago was not...the best day :). In class I had managed to get my pinky pinched into the three ring binder, during the lecture part, so I had to bite my lip and tongue to keep from yelling out. I now have a cut, and a blood blister from it. Ouch. I then proceeded to leave my phone in my friend's car, and accidentally left my keys in the lock of our mail box. No wonder I couldn't find them in my bag when I got home, at least Bryan was home.

Yesterday, kinda hectic.
First off, the parking lot was closed, so I had to park forever and a day away (not really, but just go with me here folks), and I'm not adjusted to the heat yet. Plus...carrying Kiernan around is not an easy task (he's 21 lbs!). Anyway, I went out to the car, went to a meeting at work, that was ok, took awhile to get it started, but glad I went so I could get some things checked off my to do list. Then went to the bookstore to pick up something for Bryan. Kiernan had just fallen asleep in the car seat, and I wanted him to keep sleeping, so I took the car seat with me...SO FREAKING HEAVY. Anyway, I go in and ask if there's an elevator to the book store. THere's not, only employees can use it. I swear, I'm not lazy, Kiernan is just really heavy! Go up the stairs, and I ask the guy for a clicker (that's what bryan told me to ask for) He looks at me like I'm nuts. Then Gets to the computer, and mumbles like crazy, fills out a form and points to two spots before I can even get a word in. SO I just assume what he said, and asked if the clickers were out, and I needed to fill out the two portions, and if he would call. He looked at me like I was stupid, well, it's not my fault if you mumble every word you say. Sheesh! So got there for...nothing :)
Went to the store, Kiernan spit up TWICE while at the store...lovely (meaning it spilled to the floor...) :) I forgot to bring a check I wanted to use, lovely. Went home, realized grocery shopping was a BAD idea...still had to park aways away. Made three trips, on two of the trips, the bags ripped open, the plastic bags that is. And cans fell out, while I'm carrying Kiernan. I say plastic, because I had forgotten our fabric ones, which were sitting right next to the door, so of course, I tripped over it, but saved myself and didn't drop Kiernan. WHEW!
I then realized I left my phone at work, and had to go back and get it, lug Kiernan back out, go to far away parking place, and go there, get it, and come back. As soon as I get back, my ear starts hurting. Lovely, swimmer's ear! YAY! I took Kiernan with me to water the garden, and somehow managed to splash mud onto his face, fortunately he didn't mind too much :)
Then this morning. Bryan needed a ride to class as was using as much time to study as possible. So I went to get the car while he was getting ready, and took Kiernan with me. I quickly slipped flip flops on and start rushing out the door. I get to about halfway to the car, before I started thinking "my left flip flop feels funny! Maybe it's coming apart...it shouldn't it's new..." You would think I would've looked down after thinking that, but nooo.. after a few more steps I looked down and see one blue flip flop (mine) and one black flip flop (Bryan's). Just as I turn around, Bryan's coming out the door holding my flip flop in the air looking for me. Man...I busted up laughing, it was SO freaking funny.


No wonder Bryan married me :)

I'm a monster, are you?

So summer semester has begun, and I'm already tired. But that's not what I wanted to blog about.

Since I am in an education major, almost every class I take there's some kind of "get to know your classmates activity." I can't tell you how much I hate these. I KNOW people panic when they're "forced" to interact with me after they see that I'm the one who has a transliterator (similar to an interpreter, but for cued speech, they're called transliterators). I can just see the wheels turning in their head and their eyes starting to widen, like a deer caught in the headlights.

Anyway, we had to do a meet and greet activity. We had two minutes to interact with someone we did not know, and for me, that meant ANYONE in my class. These girls are all elementary education majors, and getting their bachelor's. There's only two of us getting a master's, and I'm one of them. I'm also the only one in the SPED major. This means that pretty much everyone knows everyone...but me. The first girl was pretty cool about it, she's just as anti-social as I am, it was great :) The next guy....he's doing an intern, and isn't in a major anything, just doing this class for professional development. He's a SPED teacher....and well, talking with him is interesting because he doesn't finish his sentences, but he's a nice guy. Third girl...this is the typical response I get in these activities, and it always seems to get to me a little. Here's how it goes (please note this is a memory, so not everything may be said exactly the way it did happen, but it's a close approximate):

I spot a girl, make eye contact with her, and start walking towards her.
Girl looks around, realizing...too late, she's stuck with me walking towards her.
Girl twiddles thumb, looks down, looks up at me and gives a *HUGE* smile...a polite one if you will.
Girl sees transliterator following me.
I see small twitch in girl's expression.
Me - "Hi, my name is Emilie, what's yours?"
Girl - "Oh good! So you CAN speak and you CAN hear some."
I just stare at her.
Girl - "you can hear me right?"
Me - "No, there's too much background noise going on, and I really don't have that much hearing. That's what my transliterators are here for, to help me out :)"
Girl - "oh...well, you speak very well, and that's not ASL is it?"

Then the conversation leads into cued speech for the next minute or two, and we sit down.

I swear, I am NOT a monster. Even if I couldn't speak or hear, I'd still be able to successfully interact with you. I just hate knowing that I'm "imposing" on to another person's comfort zone because they know I have a disability, and aren't totally sure what to do. I admit, when I see someone in a wheelchair, it kind of freaks me out. I go through the whole "I hope I don't say anything offensive, I hope I don't make them hate me, I hope my legs are ugly today so they can say 'I'm glad I don't have HER legs'".

Then I have to remember the thought process I go through when people are meeting me. "Here we go, I'm sure she/he's nice. Let's see if they can get past the fact that I'm deaf." That's usually it, I then go on to "judge" you like any other normal person would.

So believe me, I don't notice whether your ears are ugly or not. I just see you as a person, just as I hope you can see me as a person.

Six months

That's right, he's six months! He turned six months on Wednesday, the 20th. Crazy!
Kiernan had has six month check up yesterday and the stats are:
20 1/2 lbs (90th percentile)
28 1/2 inches (95th percentile)
and his head circumference is the 90th percentile as well, though I don't remember what the number is.

A couple of pics :)

He was really interested in what I was doing and wanted to eat the camera.

From 6-7 months

I think this picture shows just how big his lips are

From 6-7 months

Our very big boy!

From 6-7 months

A rare photo where I'm in it as well

From 6-7 months

Oy vey

I'm almost at my wit's end, anyone got any baby sleeping books for me to read?

My new favorite photo

I think this just kind of captures Kiernan as a whole. :) Plus it makes me smile.

From 5-6 Months

I'm a wuss

In talking with my husband today, we talked about one of my greatest fears. Water. Yup, that's right folks. I failed swimming in middle school because I couldn't swim. I can somewhat swim now, but I still hate going under the water. I refused to go off of a diving board until I was...15 or so? That was also the only time I ever actually dived off of a diving board. Now, the only way I'll jump in to the water is cannon ball style, and even then I swim as fast as I can to the surface. I hate being dunked, hate it. My heart always skips five beats, yes that's right, five beats. This led to a discussion of the lake versus the ocean. Despite my fear of water, I absolutely LOVE boating. It's probably the number one way to get me to relax, and just breathe. Nothing like just flying over that water. My family likes to go to lake powell when possible (but man gas is pricey!), and I absolutely love it there. Now the ocean...I *HATE* swimming in the ocean. I love wading, I don't mind sitting in the shallow part of the ocean, but I *HATE* wave jumping, wave riding, wave swimming what have you with waves. When I turn around and head back to the shore, I cannot hear the waves coming, and thus, I go into a severe panic attack when I get caught into the undertow (who wouldn't? It's a hecka scary!). I also seem to be a complete gimp/wimp/weakling. The waves manage to knock me over...often, and I hate it. Thus, I hate swimming in the ocean, but I have no problem swimming in a lake (especially if I have a life jacket on...which you will see me in the majority of the time :) ). This is because lakes do not have waves. Oceans do, waves are scary, lakes do not, lakes are not scary. Simple. Bryan, however, still thinks it's completely bizarre that I love one and hate the other.

So tell me folks....what are you afraid of?