davejenbarnes

The Cedar Park Middle School Bands will host their Sudler Cup Award concert on Monday, June 2 at 7:00 p.m. in LISD’s South Performing Arts Center. The Cedar Park Middle School Band was the lone middle school band selected this year for this prestigious honor – out of a possible 40,000 middle school bands in the U.S., Japan and Canada.

The Sudler Cup recognizes superior band programs, which over several years continually achieve the highest standards of excellence. The award is sponsored and administered by the John Philip Sousa Foundation and was created by Louis and Virginia Sudler. The Sudler Cup presentation by the John Phillip Sousa Foundation will occur around 7:40 p.m., with a reception to follow after the concert.

Nominees for the Sudler Cup award are asked to submit a recording, in addition to letters of recommendation from three or more outstanding music educators who have heard the band perform. Bands were also asked to submit concert programs, press clippings, and results of all-region auditions and solo/ensemble competitions to determine the winners.

LISD is proud of the accomplishments of these outstanding CPMS students and their directors – Manuel San Luis, David Barnes, Jessica Gonzalez, and Manny Maldonado.

-source-

This boy LOVES his “new house” like you would not believe. Everything we do here is his favorite thing to do here, especially if it involves being outside. We usually spend the evenings between dinner and bathtime outside putzing around the lawn, pulling weeds, playing in the dirt and drawing capital H’s out of chalk. Those H’s then become a 2 car parking lot, as you can see with Chick and the blue hot wheels above, though the H is barely visible because James drew it with that itty bitty chunk by his right foot.

Jason Gonzales
7 pounds 15 oz
born 5-27-2008

Don’t you see the little trombone?

The baby has his/her arm up by his/her head and is looking off to the left. This little bean did not move one iota during the quick peek ultrasound and appears to be around 12 weeks along. We have a guesstimate due date of December 6th and will get a more accurate due date around the second week of July when we have our diagnostic ultrasound (the one where we don’t find out the gender, yeah, that one)…

Heart rate was around 160. Momma (me) is perfectly healthy. Stats are starting weight (according to my care at AABC) is 117, low blood pressure 108/68… normal normal normal.

I finally figured out why I’m not taking/posting any pictures… batteries of all sizes need to be charged.  I will get on that pronto.

21 pounds (10th percentile, he’s a lightweight)
32 inches tall (90th percentile, he’s TALL)

Slow in every way except height.  Still not walking on his own, though he is starting to experiment with standing and not holding onto anything.  They wanted him to have 15 words (he does if he keeps saying Bye-bye over and over and over… haha…) and point to two body parts (he can find his pee-pee twice, does that count?).. all the other things he can do.  Stack two blocks?  Play peek-a-boo?  Follow simple commands?  Respond to his name?  Share toys?  Well, we’re working on that last one…

He got 3 shots and has been grumpy all morning.  It doesn’t help that we’re out of food and I need to go to the grocery store to be able to make anything for lunch that he will actually eat.

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In other news, I’m obsessively refreshing Damian’s blog for news on David’s co-worker Jessica’s progress.  Hopefully everything will remain uncomplicated and she’ll have a best-case-scenario hospital birth!

I have been wondering for quite some time about fitting three car seats across the back seat of our Saturn LS. I gave James’ infant carrier seat to a friend who had twin boys so I don’t have the infant carrier seat to judge how wide the car seats will need to be… but I don’t think I want to worry about that. I don’t think I want to even use the infant carrier seat with baby #3.

I’ve had many discussions with friends over the years about the “conveniences” of the portable infant seats but I have never, ever liked them. I’ve always thought they looked like a piece of luggage - heavy, awkward to carry, bumped around, placed on dirty drafty floors. But everyone I talked to thought “not waking the baby” outweighed anything bad about them. I finally found an article that expresses EXACTLY how I feel about those portable infant car seats.

I’d rather wear my babies. I think I will be investing in more baby carriers over the next year. :-) Maybe, just maybe I will find some time to make my own, you know, between the unpacking and the yard work and the playtime with my boys and knitting a new soaker stash… haha

I have a prenatal appointment!  Well, sort-of.  I have a tentative appointment with the on-call midwife next Wednesday.  That means if a woman is in labor, I won’t be seen, but if not then I am in luck.  I will probably be around 11-12 weeks along.  That is my guess, of course.  If I go “by the book” then I am only just now around 9 weeks.  But I do not think this pregnancy happened “by the book” or it would have been impossible.  Two weeks earlier is the only time it could have happened!  The midwives will be able to tell soon, when my fundal measurements are easier to take.  I hear that they have an old ultrasound machine, too… but we’ll see if they break it out for me or not.  I’m guessing that they won’t but we’ll see.

I was excited to learn that AABC is expanding to take over the entire first floor.  They only had about 2/3rds of the first floor of their building when I had Lowell.  They’ll be opening the new section for prenatal visits sometime this summer.  I wonder if they’ll convert some of their “old” space into more birthing rooms?

Lowell has his 15 month appointment on Tuesday at 8:30 AM.  Not looking forward to waking the boys up but hopefully we’ll be able to spend the rest of the morning having fun at a park before it gets too hot.  That is… if we get out of there before 10:30… Judging by the last time we were there, that might not happen.  Hopefully the “well” baby visit will be shorter than the “sick” kid visits.

I will be sure to return to the blog to post his stats, small though they may be.

Lowell and I are headed up to spend the weekend with my side of the family while David takes hundreds of 6th-8th graders on a band trip all day tomorrow.  Those trips used to be fun for us as a couple… with kids, though, there’s no way the whole family is going.  David says that all the babies he’s seen at Six Flags look MISERABLE.  We’ll wait until they boys are good and grown (so they can ride the rides!) and don’t need naps anymore before we send them with David on these trips.  I just can’t imagine taking little kids to Six Flags when the weather is already hitting the 100º’s.

for the grandparents

They’d look much worse if I let myself rub them.  I’m exhausted from being sick and pregnant at the same time…. Oh? And we’re not out of the duplex yet so, technically, we’re still moving.  You’d think that moving and being pregnant would be quite enough to handle but God thought I could handle a viral double eye infection (not to mention a yeast infection too — ICK!) on top of it all.  Maybe I should consider that a complement from Heaven?  Maybe I should eat better and keep things cleaner?  Maybe I should go to bed?  Hmm…

Just thought I’d add that the music in the background is TMBG, Here Come the 123’s Triops Has Three Eyes.

James started showing symptoms of being sick on Thursday.  I noticed his eye.

Yesterday (Monday) I felt achy and thought I might be coming down with something.  This morning when I woke up, my eye was all swollen, pink, and crusty.  Guess I’m coming down with it, too.

I’m putting this here so I have a record of the information and don’t forget it in case Lowell comes down with it, too.