School Days

I am writing to you from my dance history classroom.  My students are taking their mid-term in dance history.  We have tried to cover (or at least hit the high points) of ballet from the Renaissance through 20th century (no British or European 20th century).  I just gave them 7 minutes of open notes.  I hope they do well.  

I had to go to the dentist yesterday to get a crown taken off and a temp put on.  The process wasn't painful but last night I gave up and went to bed at 8:45 in pain.  And I just took more medicine because my teeth are hurting again.

Ruth is doing well.  She is starting to show her Smith side.  She is very, VERY strong willed so this can lead to some very loud fights.  But she seems to embrace life which can lead to some great giggles and smiles.  She is walking as long as we hold on to her.  She just started doing this on Tuesday afternoon which couldn't have come at a better time since Tuesday morning I was so down my friend Heather R. got onto me at music class.  Ruth also has started the cycle where for 2 - 3 days she will eat anything and everything in sight.  Her new favorite food is eating some of my soup.  (Which I have eaten a lot of due to the teeth problem.)  Then, she will go 2 - 3 days without eating much of anything.  I don't think I have written about some of the others things she is doing.  About six weeks ago she crawled up the stairs all the way on her first try.  Now she doesn't want us to carry her up.  She can go down but that takes longer as she will start the upward motion half way down.  She is starting to feed herself with the spoon, very little.  She has great comprehension but has only a few words.  Daddy, of course, is her favorite although she did say Momma first.  She very rarely says it now.  Uh-oh, yucky, yum and something that sounds like "I done."  

Brian is enjoying his new work phone which is a palm.  Now he can do almost everything a computer can do on his phone.  

Students are starting to turn their tests in.  I should look academic now.

O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing

This blog title and blog entry is from my friend Jennifer's blog. She has twins about 5 weeks younger than Ruth. Jennifer and I were in school together at OU. She usually got the leads (with my other friend Erika who has a baby girl about 5 weeks younger than Ruth). However, as I tell my students, I was the best stander in the corps. I was. If you don't believe me just as me and I will totally tell you. (Her husband also was in school with us but was not a dancer. But a very good charades player).

From Jennifer:

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

O' For a Thousand Tongues to Sing...

Okay, so this post is mostly for my friend Natalie (see Ruth's Blog). Nat, I know you are a big proponent of "real church" with hymns. And though we attend an Open Bible church with worship that consists of mostly contemporary praise songs, we also sing hymns too. I have gone to both types of churches, and I connect deeply with both types of music.

The reason I am posting is that on Sunday, as we were getting ready for church, I had one of the "church channels" playing on TV. It was a rather traditional service (I'm guessing Church of Christ) because there were no instruments. The kids were playing in the octagon. Whenever the choir would start singing their hymns, Alec and Emma would crawl over to the side facing the screen, stand up, and stare...totally zoned-in to the singing of the hymns.

As Aaron and I watched them, I couldn't help but think of what Natalie would say. Probably something to the effect of "Now they know good church music!" in her beautiful native-Arkansan accent.

What is it about hymns that do the heart and spirit so much good? Is it the faithfulness of the words and melodies that remind us of God's faithfulness? Is it that so many are based directly on scripture, so that we can further meditate on the truth of the Word? Just so you know, Nat and others, my grandfather was a preacher, and we always sang hymns. In fact, I can remember many a time as a little girl, belting out Blessed Assurance...they always made me sing a special. And even though I love contemporary music as well, I agree that hymns have a timelessness about them. The seasoned saints who wrote How Great Thou Art and It is Well With My Soul not only understood trial and triumph and reverence, they conveyed it.

I'm glad that my children are drawn to music of all kinds, but I especially hope that as they grow their hearts take joy in worship, and that they find freedom in praise!

Money, Money, Money (Money!)

On Saturday the Berry family loaded up and went shopping. I figured it was the time of year when stores deeply discount winter clothes to make room for spring and we were planning to get Ruth's clothes for next year. Unfortunately, we were a little late - only Macy's had deeply discounted winter clothes in one of their clearance events. However, pickings were slim. I have also decided that spring clothes are cuter. I bought Ruth several very expensive dresses for next to nothing last summer that she is just now wearing. But this is how we fared on Saturday:

Christmas cord dress with long sleeve onesie underneath
long sleeve layered look top with pants
awesome black velvet "dance" pants (mommy wears these all the time)
turtleneck sweater
short sleeve velvet dress with tights (the color matches her eyes)
zip up faux velvet jacket
dressy skirt with cardigan and sweater shell underneath

All of this at normal price BEFORE tax would have cost $226.48. We paid AFTER tax $60.70

Rock on. My mother taught me well. We very rarely pay full price for anything. To some that would be an embarrassment. I have heard people say when I tell them how little I paid for something say "don't tell anyone that" like I should be ashamed to buy clearance. I say why would I pay full price just to because I am too prideful to shop clearance? I LOVE getting a good deal and love bragging about it - hence this post. I also want to encourage others to shop clearance (as long as you aren't shopping for little girl clothes in my market).

Capitalism is built on producing a good product at a price that people will pay. I am merely taking advantage of a capitalist society - while we have one.

Before I get on a soapbox about how I can see our society turning into one similar to China and other countries that aren't Christian or allow Christianity, I should go. Ruth is at school and I have limited time to work on choreography for my students.

I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt

The above pictures are all from the end of January and are just pictures of Ruth in cute outfits. I buy all her clothes on clearance or at a second hand store so she has really cute, cheap clothes. Plus, many have been wonderful gifts.

Wonderful Words of Life

Here are some pictures of baby dedication. I will try to post a video soon. Ruth was dedicated at church on January 25th. For those of you who don't know what baby dedication is, it is a simple and quick ceremony where we, as Ruth's parents, present her in front of the church and promise to raise her in a Christian home and to pray for her. The church in turn pledges to provide us with support. Our dear friends Connie and David Schnuelle came up from Pine Mountain to be with us and Rick, Kathy and Emily Scott attended our service to watch Ruth. How nice to have support. Our families were with us in spirit.

Ruth turning her back to the camera and congregation and trying to see the speaker.
Ruth being held by Anne Wright (preacher's wife) and having the preacher Bryant Wright talk to her about her theme verse. (For more on the story, see entry from January 25th)

Ruth actually looking out to the "audience".

Kathy and Emily Scott with Connie Schnuelle holding Ruth at our favorite Sunday brunch restaurant: J Christopher's. The Scott's didn't get to stay for brunch due to rehearsal. Dancers and their rehearsal!!!!!

I don't know about Emily either, Ruth.
Poor Emily tried so hard to get Ruth to smile and accept her. Face it, Emily, Ruth is smart and knows not to trust a Scott!!!! ( I have taught Emily's older sister and brother. They are a great family, by the way. But I will never say this to them in person!!!)
Enough said.

Ruth and Connie. Connie helped out so much before she moved. She even let Ruth throw up on her!!! And would always bring us sweet tea. Brian misses her lemon squares (and everything else she cooked).

Connie and David.

Ruth with David.

A glimpse of Ruth's evil smile. She may look sweet but she knows what she doing.

I'll try to get the video posted soon.

Somebody Kill Me Please

For those of you new to the blog, we title our blogs after song titles. This song was made famous (to me) by Jennifer James Davis as she would sing it after pointe class at University of Oklahoma. Very fitting both then and now.

Ruth has been sick off and on for almost three weeks. She has taken 2 rounds of medicine and been to the doctor three times. I kept her home yesterday from "school" and am hoping we are finally done with this.

But what makes me really want someone to kill me is how tired I am. Ruth has not slept well for some time (due to the cold, fever, cough or whatever it is that night) so Brian and I take turns with her at tonight. Two nights ago she was up every hour, almost on the hour. I half expected her to say at 5am that the British were coming. (Although now the fear would be that the socialist are coming to rid us of guns, health care, our money and all the other things that freedom and a capitalist society allow you to buy). Needless to say, we are very tired here at the Berry house and looking forward to spring.

It is official. I turned in my letter of resignation to both the DCS company and school (the studio where I have worked for five seasons now) in September and my employer announced it Tuesday that I would not be returning to the studio next year. I feel just a sense of relief that it is finally announced. I do not have a job yet next year and am okay with that fact. I hope that KSU continues (semester contracts) but if it doesn't, then Ruth and I will just have a lot of time together.

Brian was officially announced as the Business Partner in Pharmacy for two districts in Atlanta this week. This is a promotion. The job that he was hoping to get and had been interviewing for was actually dissolved. This is the new position created by the company. So he was promoted and we were allowed to stay here. We feel so lucky that his career is going so well in this downward economy.

Ruth is up for promotion as well. She will soon be promoted to a toddler and leave infancy behind her. She turns one on March 6 and we couldn't be any more in love with our sweet little daughter. She is really letting us know her likes and dislikes which seem to change daily.

I fear she will be waking soon so I should get a few things done before that time arrives.

I'm No Superman

No you aren't delirious or drunk, you really see a picture of Ruth and Natalie with Laverne from Scrubs. Actually, Laverne's real name is Aloma Wright but I had to look it up because we only know her as Laverne.
Natalie and I are on the hunt for new vanities in the bathroom. I tell you that to tell you this...We were at a surplus hardware store looking for vanities when we walked past a doorknob display and thought we saw a familiar face. When Natalie looked back, I asked if it was Laverne and we decided we needed to look closer at the doorknobs. Sure enough it's Laverne.
Natalie, being the more aggressive of the two of us, asked her if she was Laverne and she very politely said yes. Apparently, she doesn't get much attention around Atlanta in her Obama shirt and Scrubs fleece. Natalie introduced herself as if Laverne would recognize her and they would forge a lifelong friendship. For a second I think Natalie had visions of a sitcom pen pal. And then went on to ask her if she was going to be back on the show (her character was killed off at the end of last season). She didn't reveal any juicy plot points but she did allow us to take her picture.
Anyway, Laverne was buying a doorknob because someone had broken into her Atlanta home. I long to see the day when I have to refer to my houses by their location. I can't wait to tell people about my 'down the street' home. In fact, I will select my home based solely on how cool it sounds to say 'my ________ home'. But I digress.
Laverne was nice enough to give the doe eyed groupies a picture with their daughter (who she referred to as Ruthie) before she left to finish her repairs.

We didn't find any good vanities but we came away with a cool story that, so far, no one really cares about but us. And we can tell Ruth that she met Laverne...I bet she will be the talk of the prom after that. Should you be interested in reading more of her 'interesting' story you can check out the Wikipedia information at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laverne_Roberts .

Music and the Mirror (from Chorus Line)

These pictures were taken on January 20, our first day of music class this semester. Ruth did music in the fall and had a great time. Brian was able to go to class this day and seemed to enjoy it as much as Ruth. We haven't gotten to go back this semester since I teach on Tuesday at KSU and can't get there in time if I have to drive Ruth back home. Ruth does love music and dancing.



Ruth and Mommy listening to how God made the animals.

Ruth and Daddy getting ready to sing.

"I like to Wiggle...(do do do)"

Ruth and her friend Stella. Stella is going to get Ruth....(pay backs, if you go back to a September blog you will see a video of Ruth giving Stella "kisses")

Ruth and her friend Ava playing egg shakers.

More egg shaking (and some eating too!).

The babies of the mommies that I know in music class. Ruth is eating my keys. Her favorite toy next to our cells phones and the remote control.

It is hard to get a picture of four baby girls all looking at the camera. Looks like Stella (second from left) and Leanna (third from left) have spotted Ruth's keys. Ava (far left) couldn't care less. By the way, Baby Leanna is only about three months old in this picture and is sitting by herself!!!!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Tonight I fed Ruth the late night feeding. Right or wrong, Brian and I give Ruth a bottle around 10:30 or 11 to get her through the night. She usually doesn't wake up and it is a nice time to hold her close and think.

Tonight as I fed her I thought back about the events of the day. Ruth and I went to a trendy neighborhood of Atlanta to have lunch with two of my friends from OU that I recently reconnected with via facebook. These two girls are prettier now than they were in college, and skinnier too. As I listened to their exciting lives (Giselle just recently got married and still dances with a ballet company; Jessica has been living and dancing in New York for the past 7 years) I felt ever so plain. My life hasn't taken the same risks they have nor has it held the same glamour and fame. Both girls are so very pretty (and skinny, did I say?) with their long, healthy hair and clean skin. I couldn't help but feel a little jealous of their youth (they are younger than me since I was a graduate student when they were in undergrad) and their hipiness (meaning: being hip).

I had to drive around to find a place to park and got to see the cute houses and shops in the neighborhood and was reminded how much I loved living in much the similar, although smaller, surroundings in Little Rock right after undergrad. Staying out late and hanging out with friends was common. I had to park a few blocks from the restaurant and hauled out my bag, a diaper bag, a portable highchair (who knew if this cute restaurant would have high chairs) and the stroller. I felt a little out of place as I walked past bungalow houses and budding tulips. Ruth, of course, did great at lunch allowing us to talk as she entertained herself with cheerios and Debbie the Duck.

As Ruth and I drove home in the rain and farther away from the city and to more trees and less noise, I realized how entrenched I am in suburan life. And I realized that although I need to lose weight, if I had to stay this same size in order to keep Ruth, I wouldn't even bat an eyelash before saying yes.

After feeding Ruth tonight I put her on my shoulder to cuddle a moment before putting her back in the crib. Her warmth radiated into me. I listened to her snore and felt the small little arms draped across my neck and I thought, "I am so lucky." Pointe shoes may no longer be a part of my daily wardrobe and the big stage and bright lights things I read about and see in movies, but my life is very glamorous. I am the star in this anything but plain life that has a wonderful leading man and the best sidekick. Others may see my life as boring and predictable. I see it as a gift and a blessing.

School's Out for Summer (or just starting for this one)

On January 19, we started Ruth in a two morning a week mom's morning out program. Brian had been begging me to do this for some time for Ruth to get social interaction with other little kids and for me to have some down time. I finally agreed when I started teaching at Kennesaw State University this semester. I needed time to do my lectures and prepare other classes. Here is sweet Ruth on her first day of school.