I can't believe it is already mid-September. Where did the first half go?! Since I'm typing this close to my bedtime, I'm going to make this short and sweet.
Reece has decided that September, which is also the month of his half-birthday, was going to be his month to just take on life. It started with the teething of his two top front teeth. His two bottom teeth have been around since his 4 month mark. I guess they were lonely because here come the top two! They are just breaking through the gums now, so hopefully they will be fully through in no time. As if getting his two top teeth weren't enough, he decided to start crawling. Real crawling. No more belly/scooting/army crawl for Reece. He finally got his arm/leg coordination down and is on the move.
Now one would think for a 6 month old this would be enough, but not for Reece. Apparently, he has a lot to accomplish this month because just a day after crawling, he decided while at school, he would pull himself up and stand at one of their kiddie tables. Yep, he pulled himself up. And stood there (holding on of course). It's official. My child is out of control. I have asked him before to please slow down because I'm not ready for all of this. He can wear us out as it is, but now…oh my are we in trouble!
I wouldn't trade it for the world though. Each one of his accomplishments is met with smiles and praise from mommy and daddy…so much so that little boy must think he just won a gold medal in the Olympics. He sees our excitement and just BEAMS!
So, while we still have a couple of weeks remaining in September, I'm hoping Reece is done learning new stunts for now. I need him to take a time out and let me catch up to him because he is just moving through this world way too quickly!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
Channeling Martha Stewart
It's official, Carlos and I are parents. Yes, I'm aware we have had our baby now for 6 months so this new found parent label really should not be quite a shock for me, but the realization of what this means for the next 18 years took effect the other day. This is what happened…
After work on Wednesday, I practically skipped into Reece's school for my favorite part of the day…the picking up of my child. Reece is always so excited to see me when I come through the door and the smile that greets me is just ear to ear. LOVE IT. Anyway, I was gathering Reece's belongings when Miss Rosie, one of Reece's teachers, handed me a slip of paper (see photo of said paper). My eyes briefly scanned this sheet of paper and what stood out to me were the words "project" and "due date." I continued to smile as Miss Rosie explained we would be given some art materials on Thursday and that we could be as creative as we wanted. Well, if you know me, you know one thing and that is creativity is not in my blood. That gene skipped over this girl. I finished gathering up Reece's things and walked out the door as fast as I could. As I was driving home the reality of what just happened began to sink in…Carlos and I were given a homework assignment. Homework? Didn't we already earn our degrees? More reality…we will be doing homework for ANOTHER 18 years as we help Reece with school. I guess I just didn't think a 6 month old would be getting homework assignments and we had at least a few years to relish in a non-homework lifestyle…WRONG! Sure we've been doing basic parenting from the day Reece was born, but now the reality is sinking in that we better start showing up with our A-game because Reece will look to us for guidance on assignments and such. We most certainly can't take this family tree project lightly. It could make or break us in the long run with how we will deal with homework assignments in the future (I'm saying my prayers to the Math Gods now that Reece will be a mathematical genius and NOT need our help with math homework).
And in true Missy Kennedy style, you know that I floundered for a bit asking Carlos what should we do and how should we do it and blah, blah blah. Yes, I was getting spun up over what is basically an art project for a 6 month old. Like if we messed it up, Reece would fail to get into Harvard in 17 1/2 years…you never know. They may just ask to see his first ever homework assignment during an interview… :)
I laid out all the "art mediums" that were given to us by Reece's teachers and started to think…
what exactly does one do with a fuzzy pink ball for a family tree? All I knew was that I had to keep Reece away from that fuzzy pink ball or else he would try to eat it. So with paper, pipe cleaners, fuzzy balls of various colors, string, and popsicle sticks, I quickly decided what I might use and what I would have no use for (translate that to know idea what to use it for). I sat down at the table with Carlos across from me, Reece in his bouncy next to me, and said "let's just get this over with." Great attitude for my child's first homework assignment, right?!
Quickly, an idea began to take shape in my mind. At this point I told Carlos he was excused to take Reece and do whatever he wanted because we both knew, this "family" project was turning into a "Mommy" project…not that there were any objections from my husband, mind you. But seriously, how was my darling Reece supposed to help besides tasting all of my art mediums? Off they went and I got down to business with a momentary pause as I realized my (yes, I just said "my") project needed a bit more flair and I had to head to the store to make this happen. This is what I left in waiting for the flair….
Please don't judge me. I do realize that Reece probably could've made a better tree if I would have just let him play with the scissors. On the positive side, I was able to use 6 of the fuzzy white balls eliminating 6 of the potential choking hazards from entering my son's mouth.
Are you ready to see the flair? Before I show you, I want you to know this wasn't done with any hidden anger or aggression. I simply had to make a family tree…
So I cut off your heads :)
Don't worry, Carlos and I had our heads cut off too. See, no anger…all's fair in tree making :) Now, I must also explain that Reece has quite a large family, especially on the Kennedy side, so in order to just do a family tree and not a family forest, we chose to do immediate family only. So if you are reading this and wondering why your head didn't make the cut (ha ha ha…I may not have the creative gene, but I sure did inherit the "John Sproull sense of humor gene."), please don't be offended. Again, it's a project for the infant room and we really didn't want it to be all consuming.
Reece's project is finally complete and will be turned in on time (of course, because Mommy hasn't ever turned in a homework assignment a day late…EVER). We obviously aren't getting graded for this, but I'd give Reece's tree an "A" if I were a teacher. However, I would grade us a "B" on our immediate attitude toward the homework assignment. That attitude quickly turned around though oncewe I got started. I actually had a lot of fun doing this family tree and I plan on saving it (once I get it back from the school down the road) so Reece can see the hard work his mommy put into our first homework assignment. His daddy put in the hard work entertaining Reece so mommy could get the project done, so he deserves a shout out too :) Here is to many, many more years of projects and assignments, may they all be as easy as this one (translate that to no math). Harvard, here comes our Reece!
And in true Missy Kennedy style, you know that I floundered for a bit asking Carlos what should we do and how should we do it and blah, blah blah. Yes, I was getting spun up over what is basically an art project for a 6 month old. Like if we messed it up, Reece would fail to get into Harvard in 17 1/2 years…you never know. They may just ask to see his first ever homework assignment during an interview… :)
I laid out all the "art mediums" that were given to us by Reece's teachers and started to think…
Quickly, an idea began to take shape in my mind. At this point I told Carlos he was excused to take Reece and do whatever he wanted because we both knew, this "family" project was turning into a "Mommy" project…not that there were any objections from my husband, mind you. But seriously, how was my darling Reece supposed to help besides tasting all of my art mediums? Off they went and I got down to business with a momentary pause as I realized my (yes, I just said "my") project needed a bit more flair and I had to head to the store to make this happen. This is what I left in waiting for the flair….
Are you ready to see the flair? Before I show you, I want you to know this wasn't done with any hidden anger or aggression. I simply had to make a family tree…
Don't worry, Carlos and I had our heads cut off too. See, no anger…all's fair in tree making :) Now, I must also explain that Reece has quite a large family, especially on the Kennedy side, so in order to just do a family tree and not a family forest, we chose to do immediate family only. So if you are reading this and wondering why your head didn't make the cut (ha ha ha…I may not have the creative gene, but I sure did inherit the "John Sproull sense of humor gene."), please don't be offended. Again, it's a project for the infant room and we really didn't want it to be all consuming.
Reece's project is finally complete and will be turned in on time (of course, because Mommy hasn't ever turned in a homework assignment a day late…EVER). We obviously aren't getting graded for this, but I'd give Reece's tree an "A" if I were a teacher. However, I would grade us a "B" on our immediate attitude toward the homework assignment. That attitude quickly turned around though once
Friday, September 2, 2011
Big Navy Day!
As some of you know, yesterday I was promoted to my new rank of Lieutenant Commander (LCDR). I have pics posted on Facebook, so if you haven't seen them, check them out! If you don't have FB, then I will also include a few of them on here as well.
This promotion is somewhat bitter sweet for me. See, in the military, when you start off as a direct accession as I did, you get commissioned as an Ensign (O1), the lowest man on the Naval Officer totem pole. After two years as a Butter Bar (yes, this is the unfortunate term used in reference to an Ensign because of our lonely little gold bar that denotes our rank), you then get promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade (O2). This promotion is given after two years, without having to do much for it except your job and not doing anything wrong in the military. From the rank of LTJG, you then get promoted to the rank of Lieutenant (03) again after two years serving as a "JG" without messing up. This is where it starts to get interesting…
Once you get promoted to lieutenant, you know spend more than two years in this rank. You also now must "prove" yourself worthy of being selected to your next rank of LCDR. You are supposed to hit the ground running as a LT, racking up as much experience possible, volunteering for numerous command and department collaterals (basically one person doing three full-time jobs…and by "volunteering" the term we use in the military is actually "volunTOLD"), and doing whatever possible to make it "look great on your FITREP." Side note; a FITREP is our annual performance evaluation (to put it in civilian terms). It's used to compare us/make us competitive with our fellow officers of the same rank. This quote is one of my favorites and is used more often in the Officer community than I care to think about. Basically it becomes known as the wooden stake in the heart.
Most often the scenarios play out like this:
Department Head (who over time has become groomed on how to delegate unwanted/excessive work load) comes to you and says "LT Kennedy, I have a tasker that I know I can trust you to take charge of. You have shown me you are more than capable of multi-tasking and have exceptional organizational skills, and along with your sense of responsibility, make you more than qualified to complete this" (yes folks, this is really how it goes down…LOTS of smoke up the a** to make you want to puff out your chest and have a momentary lapse of reality as you just got 3 weeks of work handed to you with the understanding you will have said tasker completed within 3 days. You really do lose temporary sight of the bullsh** flag waving a mile away, attempting to flag you down and make you run, run, run!!!). Now here it comes…are you ready? Insert wooden stake through the heart because the conversation always ends with "and you know LT Kennedy, it will look great on your FITREP." Ugh…slow, painful death.
Ok, so the time you spend as a LT can vary based upon the number of "openings" so to say to the next rank and when your name becomes "in zone." If I tried to explain all of these military shenanigans to you guys, this post would be two days long, so pardon me if I skip a few explanations. I became in zone after 4 years as a LT. Fortunately, during those 4 years I had quite the job (and life!) experiences and various other assignments that really made me competitive amongst my peers. Low and behold, ranking board convenes, results come out, and I was selected! Sigh…now I must wait almost one year to actually be promoted to my new rank…again, this could take 2 days to explain why, but let's just say that for the most part it has to do with the government and money because with a promotion to a new rank there is a pay raise…and of course they have figured out how to regulate the promotions to spend fewer dollars in the long run.
So why bitter sweet? Well, there is a sense of pride from within that knows I busted my bum (I'm done with the profanity for now) to get where I am. My last job at my previous command was by no means easy and for a moment in time I was holding down a job that was billeted for an O5 (yep, as an O3 I was doing a job designated for someone who was one rank higher than my new current rank!). I'm not patting myself on the back by any means, but knowing I had all my checks in the boxes and then some when I was looked at by the ranking board, I felt very rewarded by being selected to the next rank…the first time I actually had to EARN my next rank.
That was the sweet. The bitter? An 04 in the Navy gets you noticed a little differently. By this I mean what is expected of you is 3x that of before (if you can imagine). As a LT, I was already sacrificing a lot of personal time and a lot of sanity, but my husband was equally as busy figuring out the ortho world so it was easy to throw our support to each other, high-five each other on our way out the door, and see each other when we see each other. Now that we have Little Man in our lives, the idea of losing any precious time with him that is being taken away all so that I can make things "look great on my FITREP" doesn't really jive with me. I certainly don't mind doing my job, but I'm not gunning for selection to the next rank or higher. It may sound like a poor attitude, but some people are die-hard military and will do whatever it takes to keep making rank. I, on the other hand, want the balance of doing what I do, but not at a loss of valuable family time. Too many people in the military are working from 06:00-19:00 or later (that's 7pm for you non-military time folks), and sadly, these are people with families. And these same people go to work on the weekends and holidays to get "caught up." To me that is just sad.
So, while I will relish in knowing that I am now a LCDR and I didn't get here by sitting on my tush, I will now have to see how things play out and try to find the balance. It will probably be a good 5-7 years before I would even be in zone for the next rank, Commander, so I have some time to figure all of this out.
The best part of being promoted to LCDR? Being able to have my husband be my Promoting Officer. I didn't have to hold an official promotion ceremony since all officers have to do is sign the paperwork saying we accept our new rank, but this time I chose to do the ceremony…with the only reason being the opportunity to have LCDR Kennedy promote the new LCDR Kennedy :)
This promotion is somewhat bitter sweet for me. See, in the military, when you start off as a direct accession as I did, you get commissioned as an Ensign (O1), the lowest man on the Naval Officer totem pole. After two years as a Butter Bar (yes, this is the unfortunate term used in reference to an Ensign because of our lonely little gold bar that denotes our rank), you then get promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade (O2). This promotion is given after two years, without having to do much for it except your job and not doing anything wrong in the military. From the rank of LTJG, you then get promoted to the rank of Lieutenant (03) again after two years serving as a "JG" without messing up. This is where it starts to get interesting…
Once you get promoted to lieutenant, you know spend more than two years in this rank. You also now must "prove" yourself worthy of being selected to your next rank of LCDR. You are supposed to hit the ground running as a LT, racking up as much experience possible, volunteering for numerous command and department collaterals (basically one person doing three full-time jobs…and by "volunteering" the term we use in the military is actually "volunTOLD"), and doing whatever possible to make it "look great on your FITREP." Side note; a FITREP is our annual performance evaluation (to put it in civilian terms). It's used to compare us/make us competitive with our fellow officers of the same rank. This quote is one of my favorites and is used more often in the Officer community than I care to think about. Basically it becomes known as the wooden stake in the heart.
Most often the scenarios play out like this:
Department Head (who over time has become groomed on how to delegate unwanted/excessive work load) comes to you and says "LT Kennedy, I have a tasker that I know I can trust you to take charge of. You have shown me you are more than capable of multi-tasking and have exceptional organizational skills, and along with your sense of responsibility, make you more than qualified to complete this" (yes folks, this is really how it goes down…LOTS of smoke up the a** to make you want to puff out your chest and have a momentary lapse of reality as you just got 3 weeks of work handed to you with the understanding you will have said tasker completed within 3 days. You really do lose temporary sight of the bullsh** flag waving a mile away, attempting to flag you down and make you run, run, run!!!). Now here it comes…are you ready? Insert wooden stake through the heart because the conversation always ends with "and you know LT Kennedy, it will look great on your FITREP." Ugh…slow, painful death.
Ok, so the time you spend as a LT can vary based upon the number of "openings" so to say to the next rank and when your name becomes "in zone." If I tried to explain all of these military shenanigans to you guys, this post would be two days long, so pardon me if I skip a few explanations. I became in zone after 4 years as a LT. Fortunately, during those 4 years I had quite the job (and life!) experiences and various other assignments that really made me competitive amongst my peers. Low and behold, ranking board convenes, results come out, and I was selected! Sigh…now I must wait almost one year to actually be promoted to my new rank…again, this could take 2 days to explain why, but let's just say that for the most part it has to do with the government and money because with a promotion to a new rank there is a pay raise…and of course they have figured out how to regulate the promotions to spend fewer dollars in the long run.
So why bitter sweet? Well, there is a sense of pride from within that knows I busted my bum (I'm done with the profanity for now) to get where I am. My last job at my previous command was by no means easy and for a moment in time I was holding down a job that was billeted for an O5 (yep, as an O3 I was doing a job designated for someone who was one rank higher than my new current rank!). I'm not patting myself on the back by any means, but knowing I had all my checks in the boxes and then some when I was looked at by the ranking board, I felt very rewarded by being selected to the next rank…the first time I actually had to EARN my next rank.
That was the sweet. The bitter? An 04 in the Navy gets you noticed a little differently. By this I mean what is expected of you is 3x that of before (if you can imagine). As a LT, I was already sacrificing a lot of personal time and a lot of sanity, but my husband was equally as busy figuring out the ortho world so it was easy to throw our support to each other, high-five each other on our way out the door, and see each other when we see each other. Now that we have Little Man in our lives, the idea of losing any precious time with him that is being taken away all so that I can make things "look great on my FITREP" doesn't really jive with me. I certainly don't mind doing my job, but I'm not gunning for selection to the next rank or higher. It may sound like a poor attitude, but some people are die-hard military and will do whatever it takes to keep making rank. I, on the other hand, want the balance of doing what I do, but not at a loss of valuable family time. Too many people in the military are working from 06:00-19:00 or later (that's 7pm for you non-military time folks), and sadly, these are people with families. And these same people go to work on the weekends and holidays to get "caught up." To me that is just sad.
So, while I will relish in knowing that I am now a LCDR and I didn't get here by sitting on my tush, I will now have to see how things play out and try to find the balance. It will probably be a good 5-7 years before I would even be in zone for the next rank, Commander, so I have some time to figure all of this out.
The best part of being promoted to LCDR? Being able to have my husband be my Promoting Officer. I didn't have to hold an official promotion ceremony since all officers have to do is sign the paperwork saying we accept our new rank, but this time I chose to do the ceremony…with the only reason being the opportunity to have LCDR Kennedy promote the new LCDR Kennedy :)
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| "I, Melissa Kennedy…" taking the oath again |
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| Being promoted in my work space |
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| The changing of the shoulder boards from one rank to the next…this is tradition with a promotion ceremony |
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| Ha ha…I had to shake Carlos' hand…too funny, but it is customary! |
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| Look who was watching his Daddy promote his Mommy…in his blue cami (NWU) onesie of course! |
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| Now there are 2 LCDR Kennedys! |
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