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School is winding down and summer is on the horizon.

Have I mentioned yet how excited I am about summer?

Yes? Okay. Moving on…

With summer a-comin’, it’s time for lots of you to say goodbye to your child’s teacher. As a teacher myself, I thought I’d share some ideas for popular teacher gifts around my school. Even if you don’t want to spend a lot, or if your child has multiple teachers so you can’t do something big for all of them, it is still a really nice gesture to send a little thank you gift to a teacher. Even if it’s just a note. Often times, teaching is a pretty thankless job. Our students very rarely appreciate their school years, so it really means a lot to hear from a parent that your classroom has made a difference because at the end of the day, that’s really all a teacher wants – to make a difference to someone.

Here are a few fun little gift ideas for teachers, organized by category:

Gift cards are a super choice because they are easy for you to buy and fun for your teacher to spend. But if you can make it personal, it makes it seem more like a thoughtful gift than an “I-am-giving-you-money-because-you-taught-my-kid-to-read” gift. Try to connect the location of the gift card to your child or the teacher’s subject in some way. As an English teacher, I have my own class library that I personally buy books for. A Barnes and Noble gift card would be perfect for my classroom. A teacher supply store card is pretty great, too, since most of us have to purchase our own classroom decor and necessities with our own money. My favorite gift card, though, is for an office supply store because in my school, we have to buy our own ink cartridges and reams of paper that we use for the year. Any extra help buying classroom supplies is greatly appreciated!

(SIDE NOTE: If you’re wondering what supplies your teachers have to pay for, simply call the front office and ask either the receptionist or the bookkeeper what supplies your teachers are provided at the beginning of the year.)

1. An office supply store gift card
2. A bookstore gift card
3. A teacher supply store gift card (jackpot!)
4. A Dunkin’ Donuts gift card
5. A Starbucks gift card
6. A Target gift card

Practical but fun gifts for daily use (either in the classroom or out) are always a big hit. For a secret Santa exchange at my school one year, another teacher gave me a box full of desk supplies – paper clips, post-it notes, pencils, pens, red pens, etc. It wasn’t anything expensive, but it was all stuff that totally saved me a trip to the store for myself. Another big one I love are acrylic cups. These are pretty popular these days, so you can find them anywhere. But they are super helpful for teachers who can’t leave their room during the day to get to the drink machine. Just about every teacher I know has an acrylic cup and straw on their desk at all times. You can fill these with just about anything – candy, gift cards, tea or coffee, colored shredded paper, pencils, erasers, dry erase markers, etc. Super cute and not terribly expensive.

7. Acrylic cup filled with goodies
8. Acrylic monogrammed cup
9. Basket of small desk supplies
10. A big pack of fun colored pens, markers, or Sharpies
11. Personalized notepads
12. Personalized note cards (“From the Desk of Mrs…”)
13. Fun stamps and ink pads for grading papers (Michael’s sometimes has these in their $1 bin)

Bean and Gracie each have three teachers in their classrooms at daycare, so we really can’t afford to do elaborate or even personalized gifts for each of them. Instead, I go for clever and crafty. For Teacher Appreciation Week, I got each teacher a multipack of Extra chewing gum ($2.00 a pack at Target), printed a few clever little tags (“You’re EXTRA special to me!”), tied some curly ribbon around it and voila! A little something to tell them we appreciate what they do for our kids. I got the idea from this website and they have a lot more little craft ideas if you’re looking for something clever.

I think the trick with small gifts is to make them thoughtful and personalized. It doesn’t take a lot to make a teacher (or anyone!) feel special. Just as long as it is sincere and makes them feel like you were thinking about them.

14. Candy with a message (“OWL miss you”)

15. Personalized pencils (“Mrs. Brown’s Classroom”)
16. A houseplant (“Thank you for helping me GROW this year”)

If your child only has one teacher, or if there’s someone special you really want to go above and beyond to thank, I think summer-themed gifts are a great end of the year option. Teachers are just as excited about having summers off as students are, so most of us are ready for sunshine by the end of the school year. Themed gifts are a pretty great way to go, no matter what time of year or what theme, actually.

17. Summer survival kits (beach towel, sunglasses, magazines, sun screen, flip flops, etc.)
18. Gardening kits (gardening gloves, seed packets, spade, watering can, sun screen, etc.)
19. Summer scented goodies from Bath and Body Works
20. A gift certificate for a pedicure at a local nail salon
21. Poolside fun kit (inflatable pool float, drink coozie, freezer pops, beach towel, etc.)

Another option besides large gift baskets are to get smaller items that you have personalized or monogrammed for the teacher. These are extra awesome if they are practical gifts that are just so snazzy a teacher probably wouldn’t buy them for herself.

22. Monogrammed hand sanitizers (these are surprisingly affordable!)

23. Personalized lunch bag
24. Personalized key chain
25. Personalized lanyard for their school ID

If you’re looking for clever ideas for packaging, try giving your gift in something that your teacher can reuse in their classroom.

26. A brightly colored plastic crate
27. A solid color, simply canvas beach tote
28. A metro basket (this link is to one at Target, but I’ve found them much cheaper at Walmart and Home Goods)

29. A picnic basket
30. A wicker basket

Whatever you do – whether it is big and elaborate or small and sincere – you should know that the greatest gifts I have ever received were hand written notes. One from the student is really sweet and a great memento for a teacher, but be sure to include one from yourself as well. Parents who explain ways they have seen their child grow because of their education can articulate what a child cannot. I love knowing that parents see the same growth in their child at home as I see in my classroom. Whatever gift you give, or even if you don’t give a gift, be sure you include a note from both the child and the parent. It will make your teacher’s day!

Most of these ideas – and about a billion others – can be found on Pinterest. Either check out my “Gift Ideas” board, or search Pinterest for “teacher gifts.” You’re bound to find something that floats your boat. (For things I found on Pinterest (all of these pictures), I tried to link up today when I could, but some pictures didn’t have links available.)

Happy summer from a teacher who is counting down the days!

2 comments | posted in Around the House, Fun Things, holidays, Just for Fun, Marriage Confessions, Parenting | tags: teacher gifts

Yesterday we took Gracie in to get tubes in her ears. I was a little worried going into it, but mostly I was excited for her. Gracie’s ears have been such trouble for her, and I was so ready for them to be cleared up. She’s getting to the age where she’s trying to form words and we can tell that she’s having trouble doing that because she can’t hear very clearly. It was time for tubes.

We had to be at the surgery center by 6:00am, so we got the kids up and going at 5:00 and headed out. They checked Gracie in and we waited for almost an hour (which really irritated me because they made us get there so gosh darn early). The hardest part of waiting was that Gracie hadn’t been able to eat breakfast that morning, and so we made Bean wait on his breakfast, too, until Gracie went back in to surgery. Otherwise, Gracie would have been really mad. So, we had two tired and hungry kids to keep entertained. It was a little tough. I brought a backpack full of activities, so we all four sat around and played games and colored until it was time to go back.

When they finally called Gracie back, it went relatively quickly. We had to put her in a hospital gown and sit her in the big hospital bed. She was not happy with any of that. She didn’t want anything to do with the hospital. She pretty much cried from the moment we went back to the moment we left. We did as much as we could to keep her happy, but it was hard to blame her. I don’t like hospitals either.

When it was time for her to go back with the doctor, a team of nurses came to get her. Gracie had been infatuated with one of the surgical nurses from the moment we got there. I don’t know what it was about her, but Gracie just stared and stared at her the whole time we were there. Whenever this nurse came into the room, Gracie would actually stop crying and stare at her. When it came time for them to take her from me, that nurse came and got her and Gracie was so distracted by staring at this woman that she didn’t really notice that she was leaving us. I’m sure she cried when she got back to the operating room and realized we weren’t there, but I just try not to think about that…

We waited for about 15 minutes and then the doctor came out and brought us back to a little private waiting room to tell us about the procedure. She said it went well, but that Gracie’s ears looked awful when she was in there. There was so much fluid in them and both her eardrums were inflammed. The doctor said she cleaned and drained everything out, but she still put her on an antibiotic and ear drops to clear up any infection. Overall, though, she said it went great.

“She’s a feisty girl!” the doctor told us.

The nurse told us that Gracie might be sensitive to sound for the next couple days because she isn’t used to hearing at full volume. They told us to try to keep things a little quiet that day to help her adjust. With two dogs and two small kids, our house is anything but quiet. Turns out, Gracie ended up being the loudest of them all! By 10:30 that morning, Gracie was back to her normal self. She was babbling, yelling, laughing, playing, walking, and just generally enjoying life with her newly improved ears.

So far, she has been perfectly fine with her tubes. The only time we’ve noticed anything different was this morning. Normally, Gracie is the last of the family to wake up in the mornings. We all get loud with getting dressed and having breakfast around 6:30, but Gracie sleeps through that and doesn’t wake up until I go in and get her until 7:00. But this morning at 6:30, I heard her start crying in her crib, which was another difference because she never cries when she wakes up. I found her sitting in her crib, mad as anything. She wasn’t even crying, she was yelling with her hands over her ears. It was such a clear message: “WHY ARE YOU ALL SO LOUD?!?!?!?”

And then tonight, she woke up several times when the dogs started barking or when Bean started yelling, and she has never done that before. I think she is just able to hear a lot more now and it seems to make her a little bit lighter of a sleeper. I’m pretty sure she just has to get used to her new ears and then she’ll be just fine with the volume in our house.

At least, I hope so because I keep looking for a volume button for our household and I have yet to find one…

So far, the tubes have been such a blessing for little Gracie. It was a super easy procedure with so very little recovery time. I’m so happy for her. New ears are so fun!

30 comments | posted in health, Marriage Confessions, Parenting | tags: baby development, health, tubes for babies

Tomorrow morning at the butt-crack of dawn, we’re going to be heading to the hospital so that Gracie can get tubes in her ears. I feel really good about it. Gracie hasn’t had a doctors appointment since Thanksgiving when she hasn’t either had an ear infection, a double ear infection, or fluid in her ears. I am so happy that she will have some relief from the constant ear aches, and that we might have some relief from the constantly missed work.

This afternoon, I had a voice mail from the doctor’s office asking me to call them back to answer a health questionnaire for Gracie. Since I teach, it is really hard for me to step out and take a personal phone call, so I sent Chris a quick email and asked him to call the doctor’s office for me. He emailed me back an hour later and all his email said was, “That was hard.” When he got home from work, he once again told me how hard the questionnaire had been. Finally, when he said it again over dinner, I asked him straight out, “What exactly did they ask you?”

Following is the question and answer session Chris told me he had with the nurse. I dare you to read it and not wet your pants.

Nurse: How old is Gracie?
(Correct answer: thirteen months)
Chris: She’s still a baby.

Nurse: How much did Gracie weigh when she was born?
(Correct answer: 8lbs, 2oz)
Chris: She was medium sized.

Nurse: How much does Gracie weigh now?
(Correct answer: 21bs)
Chris: She’s about the weight of a watermelon.

Nurse: How tall is Gracie?
(Correct answer: 29in.)
Chris: She’s pretty short.

Seriously. These are the things my husband knows about our daughter. It’s frightening. I told him that we have to get there early tomorrow so that I can correct our paperwork so they don’t dispense the anesthesia for a short, medium-sized, watermelon weight baby.

46 comments | posted in Around the House, Dads, Fun Things, health, Husbands, Marriage, Marriage Confessions, Parenting | tags: dads, Family, humor

Late in my pregnancy with Bean, the advice changed from how to survive my pregnancy to how to survive the first few months as a new mom. Without a doubt, the most frequent advice I heard was, “Sleep when the baby sleeps!”

Hearing that before I had any children, it seemed a little silly. Of course I’d sleep when the baby slept! What else would I do? But within one day of having Bean finally in my arms, I realized how much there was to do!

For one thing, I’d had a c-section, and so I had to take care of my own healing body, but that would have to wait until he slept because I couldn’t change bandages with a newborn in my arms.

And there was the laundry. Oh, Lord! The laundry! Epic amounts of laundry because I insisted on changing Bean’s clothes every time he touched anything and because we went through so many blankets and burp cloths on a daily basis.

And there were other tasks, too, like sending thank you notes, cleaning up the house for the next round of visitors, and preparing meals. I started to understand very quickly why everyone gave that advice, but I still didn’t know how to follow it. With so much to be done, when would I ever sleep again?!

It really wasn’t until Gracie was born that I finally figured out how to sleep when the baby slept. The first thing I learned was to lower my expectations. I learned to accept that my house wasn’t going to be tidy and neat every day. Some days I managed it, but other days I didn’t. And on those days when the house looked like it had imploded, I just let it go. Because in the grand scheme of things, dishes in my sink or laundry piles on my floor weren’t the worst things to happen.

Another tip I learned was to get “close enough.” Gracie was a colicky baby, and on days when she cried for hours straight, I settled with getting the laundry “close enough” to the washer, and so I’d collect all the dirty laundry from around the house and throw it into piles on the floor of the laundry room. And then (this is my favorite part!) I’d shut the door and walk away. I did the same thing with dishes. We bottle-fed, so I had bottles everywhere. And we ate when and where we could in those first months, so that always left a trail of dishes.

Then there were the guests who were stopping in to visit, which meant there were coffee cups and snack trays sitting out. Dishes were everywhere, and when I had a few minutes free, I started getting them “close enough” to the dishwasher. I’d make a sweep through the house with Gracie in one arm, collecting all the dishes and throwing them into the sink with the other arm. I’d get to them later.

Getting “close enough” made my whole house feel neater and organized because at least the messes were contained in specific areas, and the rest of the house could be salvaged. That did wonders for my new-mom psyche.

In the evenings when Chris got home from work, he and I would work together to actually DO the laundry and WASH the dishes. Having that extra set of hands to help was such a blessing after long days at home with a newborn!

The last thing I learned was to let people help – and not just Chris. When my parents offered to come over and help for an afternoon, I asked them to do some laundry. When my Grandma asked if she could come bring us a meal, I said yes (and I even let her do the dishes!). Before I had kids, I would never have asked someone to do my chores for me, and even with my first I had a hard time. But by the time Gracie was born, I learned that that’s just what people DO. Anyone with kids knows what position you are in as a new mom, and it makes us feel useful if you let us help. We feel like we’re passing the torch, and what a heavy torch it can be!

Using these simple little tips throughout your busy days as a new parent will actually free up some time for you, and you’ll be surprised that by the time the baby is ready for a nap, so are you!

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