Perhaps it is difficult for me to focus on one specific theme because my brain is fried. It is fried for a good reason, people. That mass of ooey gooey nothingness up there has very little in it because I have been a marking/planning madwoman the last few days. I spent a good chunk of both Saturday and Sunday sitting in my favorite local Starbucks marking, marking, and marking some more. I had a lot of assignments to complete, and I got most of them finished. It felt good...darn good. My goal is that when I walk out that door on Friday that will be it, close the door, walk away, don't think about work again until February 2012. That may be a lofty goal, but that is the goal that I have.
Speaking of walking out the door on Friday, I have just three and a half days of work left, officially, as of this very moment-since I am writing this on my lunch hour on Tuesday. I have been told that Friday is a bit of a write-off, as we have chapel and gingerbread house building competitions, so what that really means is that I have two and a half official days of teaching left. Two and a half. Wow. Remember way back here in September when I said I had 14 weeks to go? In retrospect that fourteen weeks went FAST. I actually really enjoyed looking back at that post today. I have to say, things continued to go pretty well over the last fourteen weeks. There were times of great stress, for sure, but overall we held it together and I did it! I managed to be a pregnant, full-time working mom and wife. I got through it! A little update regarding that post. In that post I said:
- Rusty was doing great at daycare. This continued to be the case. He has definitely been one of those kids that has thrived in that situation...so much so that we are considering keeping him in one day a week if the finances of it work out. He loves his little friends so much and talks about them all of the time. He has learned a lot there, so many songs, colors, and just things about life that are hard to teach with just three people. He is better at waiting in lines, he is better and understanding how to interact socially with a group of people...he is better at a lot of things. My incredible fear that he would hate it turned out to be entirely untrue and now I have this fear that when he is home with just me and the baby he will be bored! He also loves all of his teachers and sometimes when we are at home he will ask if they can come over. We feel really blessed to have found such an incredible, caring place for him.
- We had real, home-cooked food every night that first week. Although this was NOT the case the entire past 14 weeks, overall I am proud of myself. I managed to cook for us and to cook healthy on a regular basis. We rarely went out, and we only had a few frozen pizzas sprinkled in there...seriously, only about three! Most weeks I managed to meal plan, get the food over the weekend, and often made up several meals on a Sunday afternoon for the rest of the week. My friend, Marilee, was a huge help in this, as we had a cooking day one Saturday when we made up two chicken casseroles and four roasts that were crock pot ready for the freezer. Those came in so handy! I have used my crock pot more in the last fourteen weeks than in the entire time we have been married...I think I just may have a new love affair with it!
- I made it to work on time or early every single day! This stayed pretty true. I was never late, not once and almost always here by 8. There were a few days that I arrived at 8:15, but considering school doesn't start until 8:30, that was ok. The one exception was Thursdays. My Thursdays start with a prep, and there were about four times I totally took advantage of that and arrived after 9. I loved those days. I was able to sleep in just a bit longer, linger with my boys over breakfast, and even have time to grab a yummy drink on the way to work. Since our school figures we are good on our own time, they don't mind that slightly late arrival, and 9 still gave me plenty of time to get work done during that time, but to still relax and have a restful morning. I love my commute! Most mornings it is less than 20 minutes and that seems like such a huge blessing to me after the commute I had when working out in the valley.
- I stayed pretty caught up with the house! This was probably the hardest part, thus the reason Kevin and I contemplated a housekeeper once every two weeks before I started working. I never did get that housekeeper, but my husband stayed true to his word and really pitched in. There were definitely moments where our house seemed to have a bomb that had gone off inside of it, and little things were left alone-I still need to organize the closets!-but overall, we did ok. I credit Kev for a lot of this. The man chips in, seriously. I cannot claim to be one of those wives whose husbands does nothing around the house. My guy is a gem in this area, and is willing to do whatever I ask to keep our house running and to keep me running! It IS a bit of a dream though, to have a professional come and DEEP CLEAN our entire house before the baby arrives. I have a feeling that professional will be me.
- My students are already comfortable with me and we have had some great chats already! This went from good to even better. These kids have totally blessed my life in the time that I have had with them. We have laughed...a lot. We have experienced many great discussions. They have shared little pieces of themselves and their incredible minds with me every single day and there has not been ONE single day that I have thought that I wished I wasn't teaching full time in my own classroom again. I love it.
- I feel like I have still had good time with Rusty every day, despite working. I feel like this stayed true for the most part. The hardest times were those times when I had a work function in the evening. I also had a lot of friends wanting to schedule time with me in the evenings, since this was really the only time I had free, and it was a struggle to balance them and my boys. Usually my boys win out, as they should, but then I always felt bad for not being there for my friends. Sigh...you can't make everyone happy. Rusty, however, still calls for Mommy first almost all of the time and he is just as snuggly and sweet as ever. We have made some things our special things-reading lots of books, playing with Playdoh after dinner, painting numerous "art" pictures...I am so thankful to have been able to work and still have that bond with my special, amazing little boy. I also do feel that it has been a bit of a good learning time for him...realizing that Mommy cannot ALWAYS respond to him the moment he requests it. I think it has been good preparation for him and his future as a big brother.
We started our 12 days of Christmas stocking tradition on Sunday. When I was a kid my mom always filled our stockings to the brim-and even overflowing!-with fun gifts, and we got to open one gift every day up until Christmas. I bought Rusty 12 gifts and from Sunday until Christmas he will open one each day. So far he has opened a book about Christmas-which we have already read about 20 times!- and yesterday he opened a Dora sticker pack, which was a huge hit! I can't wait until his book from Usborne about the Nativity arrives so we can read that to him too. He loves to take the little Baby Jesus from the nativity set and carry him around.
Rusty has also definitely decided what he wants for Christmas. ANY time that anyone asks him what he wants he says, "a train set." Without fail. His Papa has asked him several times and every time it is the same answer. Yesterday at the mall we were in Children's Place and the cashier asked him and he said, again, "A train set!" I guess the train sets he has played with at his friends' homes have made a real impression on him!
The baby is still moving and grooving in there. I must admit, I'm much more uncomfortable this time around than I was with Rusty. I'm not sure why, but I just feel bigger and heavier, even though I still actually weigh less than I did with Rusty. Last night I had the hip pain in bed. Rolling over from one side to the other was pretty painful. I am thankful that I have four or five weeks left. Now that work is coming to a close my excitement at meeting this little one is rising. I really look forward to holding this baby, seeing its precious face, hearing its cry-although hopefully not hearing the cry too much!
Better get going...the crazy life calls! Hope your holiday season is as filled with fun as ours!
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