Don't Stop...Believing!

I'm officially 9 weeks 1 day today. I had my first "real" ob appointment yesterday afternoon. All went well. One thing of note - my first internal exam. Yikes! I'm telling you, it wasn't possible for that doctor to put her hand any further up my vag. And yes, I said her HAND! Or at least that's what it felt like. The funny thing is I'm used to being violated by magical wands and random RE tools, but THAT I was unprepared for. Just thinking about it now makes me shudder.

I also just found out that a good friend of mine is pregnant. We ran into each other at a local restaurant tonight and my DH and I asked her and her hubby to join us. She was asking how I was feeling and I was going on and on...next thing I know, she tells us, "I'm pregnant. No one else knows yet, but I was dying to tell you. I'll be 10 weeks on Tuesday." Me = totally shocked and psyched 'cause I'll be 10 weeks on Wednesday. Yep - we have due dates one day apart. Crazy, right?

Also, work today was downright inspiring. I haven't really posted EVER about this group of kids because most of the year has been a struggle with them. But I recently introduced a poetry unit during our Writing period and they've created pieces that I would have never dreamed possible. Today they were performing their two-voice poems and some of them wrote raps. Their writing actually gave me the chills - it was THAT good! I have to end with a snapshot of the last 5 minutes from the class. Here's a little background. The story involves a boy - JC. JC was in the resource room for pull out special ed services from grades 1-4. He still goes out for Math but was placed in an ICS (in-class support teacher present) classroom. Yes, that would be mine. Anyway, his home life is tough - to put it mildly - and he has struggled to fit in. That all changed today. He asked if he could perform a multiple voice poem and of course I said yes. So he grabbed my mic (used for the hearing impaired students in my room) and stood in the center of our neatly formed circle on the rug. As 26 pairs of eyes looked upon him, he began with the following phrase:

Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world...
And at the exact right moment, the rest of my class chimed in with
She took the midnight train going anywhere
And then they were stuck for a second too long, so I belted out
Just a city boy...
And that was all it took - we performed what I think to be the best freaking rendition of a Journey song ever! It was one of those teaching moments - I looked at this group of kids who drove me nuts all year long and I was totally moved. I've been thinking about it all night and I can't stop smiling. In spite of the many troubles they had this year, they've grown. They've improved. They believe in themselves. I don't think I could hope for more.

Have a wonderful weekend ladies!