Babies Born ~ September 2007 #70

I know MD! External students rely on the information the lecturer gives them and she wasn't giving us the same info and instructions that she was for the internal students even though we were getting the exact same assessments which was grossly unfair. To cap it off she is refusing to provide us with a marking rubric so we have no idea at all what constitutes a pass! She keeps telling us that it's not about HD's or Passes, but about our work, but she doesn't understand that we don't even know what the bare minimum IS! We could think we have done a good assignment but in her eyes it might be a fail. And it's music too which I think makes it even harder because you can't fake it kwim? I hope this year you rock their world with your brilliance and poo to the bad lecturer you had last year.

Trill, that's atrocious. Sounds like she's there because she's escaped from the real world into the refuge that is academia, rather than any teaching skill. What a twit. Many of my lecturers are themselves studying or have recently studied and so they have a much stronger sense of what it's like to be at the other end of the PC. BTW you're too kind, no brilliance to see here, everyone move along. One of the group members I'm workign with on this assignment is exactly the same kind of smarty pants that I used to be... streets ahead of all of us... and I'm just plodding along like everyone else LOL.

Don't sell yourself short MD! I'm sure you still have plenty of brilliance left :hug: The lecturer we have though was thrown in at the deep end with it - she usually teaches the high school music teaching units and is a classically trained musician herself so this is the first time she's had to 'dumb it down' for primary level teaching. Not only that, last year they used to have a 4 day intensive school for this subject, but now that they are moving to fully online they canned the res school, but obviously haven't allowed for the difficulty of teaching the unit without one. But there are other things too like her lack of forum support for us and answering our questions, so despite not teaching this unit before, she could be doing a whole lot more to help us.

My sister ended up with a Csection late last night after presumably any sign of progression. A little boy (as I was expecting) to join their family. His big sister turns 4 on Sunday. No details on size or anything else yet.

Trill - studying music fully distance ed sounds so hard! I'm sure L did well with his exams.

Cass - enjoy your camping, that sounds like the sort I'm into - I'm a bit like Arte with regards standard camping!

ARte - enjoy your little trip to Rotorua.

congrats on your new little nephew cally!

congrats on the nephew! woo hoo! :dance: newborn snuggles! :bluecheer:

Trill: oohhh that would suck having a lecturer like that. i found open ed so tricky when i was in fiji...you just dont get the same amount of important info, and it is just inherently hard to know what your teachers want compared to internal students; so i reckon you are doing brilliantly! but tell me, how does one do music external?! is it like music theory or something?

MD: dude, you are describing me while doing the phd. i watched as young, bright things with a full nights sleep and a fashionable wardrobe 'engaged' in lively debates at seminars and papers while, moi, sat back and yawned and wondered if diaspora was spelt with a capital :rofl:

Arte: oh the family trip is exciting! they are the stuff of making memories!

AFM: we are baackkkk! only stayed the one night as planned :( both DH and i were keen to stay another night, but we felt committed to coming home...it was GORGEOUS! santa barbara will be my place of choice when i win my millions. i already found my perfect home just outside of town in montecito...a 10 acre equestrian lovers ranch...for a mere $16 million lol. DH told me that if we had money like that there is no way on earth that he would move here lol. ah well, a girl can dream! the tent was luxe! with dimmer lights and all lol. we even ordered a 'bbq' pack that included: marinated chicken breasts, hotdogs for the girls, garden salad with a choice of dressings, marshmallows, marshmallow sticks (!), hershey chocolate bars, garlic bread and pinto beans! they even included the utensils, the firestarters and wood lol. ahhh all the thinking taken out for us! my kinda camping :lol:

of course, the midnight visitor was less than welcome....a skunk! it managed to unzip the tent just enough to squeeze on in and sniff around to see if it could find some goodies lol. i turned on my light and looked at her and we both stared at eachother. i swear she was telling me to switch off the light, get back into bed and pretent that i didnt see anything, but i looked harder at her and she sighed (yes, really lol!) and stormed out. ANYWAY, so i woke DH up and told him to zip the tent properly this time and he did and the little terd of a skunk hadnt even waddled away!! she was waiting for me to switch the light back off and go to bed hahahahaha. once she saw that alcatraz had been enacted she finally went away (stomping loudly across our verandah hahaha)

:rofl: Cass, that would have been hilarious! So glad that she didn't show you her disapproval for keeping her out!

LOL Cass, sounds like you guys are having a great adventure!

MD, I have been meaning to thank you for mentioning the extra feeds - she put on 500g over the last month which is a big improvement on nothing the month before. About 3 days ago she stopped sneezing 11's, and now today A and E are both full of snot again! It is unreal! If this could takes hold it will be her #6 in 6 months! Sleepwise she is better, not great but better than those torture nights.
You have probably been lots of places in NZ that I haven't. We didn't go anywhere when I was growing up and atm we don't tend to travel very far - I seem to have a two hour travel radius since we got back to nz (apart from the odd trip to Southland but that never counts lol). I haven't even been to Auckland!

Trill, I think it is around the $600-700 mark per subject. I don't really look, it is all stacking onto my student loan for future me to worry about lol How much did you pay for subjects before the rise?

Cally, congrats on the baby! Does your sister live close?

Looks like my brother is moving in while we are away. He lost his job and couldn't pay rent anymore so he and his girlfriend are moving up here. Hopefully they can get some seasonal work. Plan is for them to stay with us for a few weeks and then stay in this house when we move into town. I won't charge rent but they are happy to help us shift and clean the house after we are gone which is fantastic because I was dreading coming back to clean with kids in tow. Funny, cos we fought like cats and dogs when we were kids (5 year age gap) and now we get along pretty well.

arte- thats good about your bro. nice of them to help clean up.

cass- that skunk is so bold! what a crack up.

md- yes there are scooby doo live concerts, but unfortunately we'll be in sydney when the melbourne ones are on and in melbourne when the sydney ones are on, so just can't make it work! grrr L would've loved to go to that.

dh and i are having major fights at the moment. we have made friends with a new couple this year who live nearby. i get along well with the wife and we have been seeing a lot of each other, but there is some issues with their ds. his behaviour is a little strange sometimes, and to cut a long story short, dh doesn't want me to see them anymore. he doesn't want L around this kid. he thinks that his behaviour is starting to rub off on L and that i am doing the wrong thing by L. it is quite upsetting. she called me the other day and i met her at the park and dh absolutely cracked it at me. now we are having major tension.

What sort of behaviour is it G? Violent, disrespectful or hyper? L is about to start school where he will be exposed to lots of different kids and not all will be good influences. It is definitely easier to avoid the kid, but long term it is better to teach L why the behaviour isn't acceptable and encourage him not to do it iykwim. It isn't that easy to make friends and you have good judgement, I am sure you are aware of the situation better than your DH. I am not really in a position to give behaviour advice though, so my words probably don't hold much weight. I hope you can sort it out xx

Trill, that's probably the main point of difference between my course and yours - mine is delivered entirely on a distance ed basis. Means they've pretty much refined the process and if you get a numpty for a lecturer then every one else gets the same level of numpty too. :) I keep thinking this study gig should be easier than it is (because it seems a lot harder than it ever was in the past) but I guess i've probably got more balls in the air now than I did when I was younger. I don't know how you handle that study load, Trill.

Congratulations Aunty Cally! :cheer: Have they picked a name yet?

Cass, Oprah lives in Montecito! (I know this because I was getting lots of hits from CA to my blog so, well, I had to check, right?) So when you get your millions I'll pop over to visit you and who knows if we hang around we might accidently "bump" into her in a neighbourly fashion :rofl: Your skunk encounter was pretty cool.... it could have ended much, much worse!

Arte, it might be worth putting all the kidlets onto some probiotics - it might help keep the snots away. Glad to hear E is gaining again, one less thing for you to worry over. :) That's great your bro is moving in, hope it works well for everyone. My sis and I used to fight bitterly as kids and now we're closer than close.

Ginger that's a tough one. I guess it depends on how strange "strange" is... and how exactly the behaviour might be rubbing off on L. Maybe the compromise could be that DH chills out and you offer to see her/them a little less often.

G: we had a friend like that. except it was me telling DH not to have them around and try to minimise contact. in our case the little boy was really quite violent and the mum always turned a blind eye...even when he had L in a headlock and was trying to kick her :o. so i called that one off lol. i guess it depends on what is irking him? I reckon Arte has a point though, that it is about teaching our kids how to handle some situations, and if what is irking him is a sometimes thing than it surely can be worked around?

MD: you meant to say that i like totally was in the 'hood with Oprah! awesomeness! i can see why she lives there. it is gorgeous beyond belief.

Arte: that is pretty awesome about the arrangement with your brother...love how some things fall into place like that!

AFM: all good here. we went to LACMA (art museum thingo here in LA) and the girls had a blast in teh korean painting room; basically they get to paint lol. it was a messy, fun affair. i am so so nauseus it aint funny. i hope that it passes soon...not having fun!

Hello everyone
Cass - your adventures sound great. you had me v jealous of the camping AKA glamping - til i read about the skunk. eeew
Hope the morning sickness abates soon - how many weeks are you now? (oh just read your ticker so no need to answer my stupid quiestion)

Trill - thats crazy re your teachers. i am just trying to get a leave of absence on my course at the moment, there is no way i can study on top of my new job. if i have to i will do 1 subject but it would be better to get a leave of absence.

Arte - how you going?

Cally - the wedding pics look divine. and congrats on your nephew. exciting few weeks!

G - hmmmm i think it depends on what he behaviour exactly is. if your dh is really concerned (i dont sense he is totally over protective) i guess it is worth considering if there is good reason. but i do agree on the idea of teaching them to make choices and learn to adapt to all diff people.

afm all is well. we had our 9 yr wedding ann on friday - boys sleps at the ILs so we met in the city after work and had massages, went for dinner and to a movie. was lovely. sat night had my SIL 40th which was fun. and next weekend we are aawy for the weekend (m,um staying with boys ) - getting a real glimpse of some life back LOL!!!! Boys are great... N is testiong a few boundaries atm, but i think it is a good thing. he had a party on sun and in the evening he asked to have some of the lollies from the treat bag. i said after dinner. next thing i know the boys are in Noahs room eating them. hmmmm... had to do mass discipline so i threw the whole bag out. felt mean but he has to learn! resulted in tears from N and shock from J! i thihk the sugar got to them as later i had to throw out the yoghurt they were having for dessert when i fouind them paintingt heir faces with it!! LOL!!!!!!

mp- my boys have done a similar thing- stole a packet of biscuits from the pantry and then took it out to their cubby and had a little stash of biccies in there that they kept sneaking out and eating! lol
congrats on 9 years

re: the other kids behaviour. well, its hard to explain, but its more than naughtiness. we can handle naughtiness (j is pretty naughty most of the time). no, its more strange- sometimes it can be a bit sexual. and he also has an over inflated perception of himself and thinks he is better than all other kids- refuses point blank to share and is super sooky if things don't go his way. there's obviously more to it than that, i can see where dh is coming from. its just so hard to make close friends with kids. i have agreed to back off and only see her occasionally. i think dh just thinks it was getting to be too much every week.

G I can see why he'd feel a bit funny about the boys spending too much time with this kid. But it sounds like you've reached a compromise about it anyway. L has a friend similar to that kid in that he is ultra ultra competitive and it's unhealthy the way this kid fixates on beating the other kids in the class.

P's surgery is tomorrow and I think I'm more nervous than she is! We have to be there (Wagga) by 7.30am so we're leaving at 5.30. Luckily she is one of the first to go in.

Good luck with the surgery. I will be holding your hand from afar while you wait for her. xxx

Best of luck for P's surgery. I was so nervous, anxious and upset when it was L, but I'm so glad we did it now. Thinking of you xo

Good luck with today Trill, sure it will go well.

We have another hearing test and ENT appt today for Miss K. Will find out if she needs grommets.

Probably should go and get dressed though... Even though we will have 4 hours in the car today, I do enjoy the relaxed mornings (and Miss K waking up at 7:50 - lucky it wasn't a work day!!)