So this past month that I’ve been back to work, things have been really busy on many different levels. As regards to work, I’ve stayed busy with good ol’ Adams keeping me there at least once or twice each week. There have been 25 work days so far and I’ve worked 20 of them (taking 3 of them off by choice.) I’ve secured at least a 7 week position teaching 5th grade at Adams, most likely starting in October. After this, I will have taught (or student taught) in every grade except for 3rd. I also recently went to a district level job interview at San Bernardino City Unified. It went really well. I didn’t even have to think about how to answer any of the questions. They just came naturally. He asked what my classroom management plan was, how I handle behavior problems, what’s one thing I’ve learned about myself, how I’d explain to a parent why there’s never any science homework, etc…He said my letters of rec were great, as well as my experience. Unfortunately, there’s only 3 vacancies at the time, two of which I’m not in consideration for. One is for a bilingual position, one the principal knows who he wants, and a third is not an official vacancy yet–but when it becomes official, he said he will send me out to that school to interview for it.
On the work front with my husband, he’s been home on worker’s comp for almost a month now. We only get 66% of his pay, which really makes us try to be frugal as much as possible. It’s trying him insane having to be at home for so long because he really wants to be doing something productive at work, but right now he can only work for about 2 hours at a time before he starts hurting. Right now, it’s up in the air as to when he’ll return, so I need to work as much as possible.
JJ and I have recently started attending a once a month playgroup. Our first meeting was a pool party. There were two little girls and two little boys. They played with some toys, then went swimming, then dried off and had a snack. It’s a really nice get together. The mommies are all from Gymboree and everyone is within a few months of each other. Next month’s theme is Music….JJ will love it!
On the medical front with JJ, we have found a doctor who is willing to work with his possible susceptibility to malignant hyperthermia. The doctor is at Children’s Hospital of LA which has extremely good ratings for the urology department. He was very friendly and I feel like I can trust him with my baby. They will be doing his orchiopexy laporoscopically (sp.) through his belly button. It’s generally an outpatient procedure, but because of his special needs re: anaesthesia, they’ll do it as an in patient procedure just as a precaution. Most likely, we’ll be getting it done in December while I’m off work so I’ll be able to be there to take care of him.
On a final extremely frustrating note, we’ve been having major issues with our car and mechanic. We took our car in ten days ago for a 90K mile service and a possible radiator leak. Our car kept overheating and it would go back to normal after we added coolant, but that would only last a couple days before we had to add more, but we never saw any on the street. Anyhow, $875 later we were told the car was fixed….and it was for 3 days. Then the overheating went from gradually to all at once–we took the car back immediately because the radiator was supposed to have a lifetime warranty. We were told that most likely we had blown a head gasket and it would be another $939 to fix?!? Excuse me…I don’t think so. We were also told that the guy who worked on our car had screwed up other people’s and the lead mechanic had to fix a lot of his crap. Well, we managed to haggle down the guy to about half price because of the major hassle. We were told the part had to be sent to a shop to be worked on which takes two days…I called back four days later and was told the part was still in the shop. I was absolutely fuming! Meanwhile, we’ve been having to have a rental car ($140 so far out the window…) while waiting for these idiots to get their job done…who knows how long it will take, but I’m getting awfully annoyed waiting for them and it’s inconviencing a lof of my family to have to drive me around everywhere. I’m going to be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau as soon as we get the car back and I am never taking my car there again!
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…but what? I warn you right now that this blog is going to be long. I have a lot on my mind at this moment and it’s been almost a month since I’ve given an update. I went to bed over an hour ago dog tired, but found my mind wandering in many different directions. I figured since I was up that I might as well do something and here I am…ready to get all of these thoughts and ideas out of my head, off of my chest, and onto this “paper” so to speak.
It all started with my husband starting a political discussion in bed. He said he didn’t think it was fair that people who do not have children have to pay taxes to support education. This, of course, I wholeheartedly disagreed with, being a teacher and all. I thought of all the ramifications of this…like how everyone who does partake of the educational system having their taxes raised and, heck, while we’re on the topic, why should anyone have to pay taxes to support anything they don’t partake of–for instance, the welfare system. The only people who partake of that system don’t pay into it…the system would totally collapse if we used the same reasoning my husband had for education on everything else. Anyhow, enough politics. That’s just what got my brain going and it hasn’t stopped since then.
I’m a busy mom, like all other moms. I work full time outside of the home. I have a one year old at home to take care of, a husband and a household. That doesn’t leave me much time for anything else. Most days I’m able to handle the stresses pretty well, but occasionally, I just break down. I’ve always been a list person and I find great personal satisfaction in marking things off my list. It’s been so difficult to get anything marked off my list anymore. I seem to find more and more things being left undone and it’s very frustrating to me. Our home, for example, sometimes gets to the point where both my husband and I are disgusted with the messiness and unkemptness of it all before we do anything about it because we are both so busy. I’m out of the house at least 9 hours a day and my husband 11, so after we get home, make/eat dinner, and shower, we are wiped out.
My husband has always been the type of person who is very affectionate. He believes in letting others know how he feels often. He tells me how he loves me numerous times during the day–sometimes to the point where I tell him that I haven’t forgotten and that he doesn’t have to let me know any more that day. Granted, I tell him I love him every day too, just not 400 times a day. I never knew why he felt the need to do this until I had my baby. It’s funny…it’s like the emotions just pour out and the words follow. I tell my baby I love him more times a day than I can count. It’s like there’s just this need to verbally express the overflow of my heart. I can’t NOT say it. I totally, totally, understand how he feels and why he needs to say I love you many times a day. To the one who taught me that you can never be told I love you enough, I love you.
I guess there’s really only one other major thing on my mind at this time. It’s my work. I have so many conflicting emotions right now and I don’t even think that there’s one in particular that trumps all the others at this time. I feel stressed, jipped, excited, sad, and joyous all at the same time. I am so excited to see how well my students have done this year. They have grown so much and they have made me so proud with all of their accomplishments. I am joyous because I know they are going to be doing well when they go on to first grade. I am confident that I have prepared them for the academic challenges they will face next year. I am happy because I love coming to work each and every day and getting the opportunity to affect other people’s lives in a profound way. I am also happy because I get to see their smiling faces each day and they are (mostly) happy to see my as well. I am sad because this year is coming to a close and I will be saying goodbye to my first class and because I don’t know when or how long it will be until this opportunity comes my way again. I feel stressed because it’s the end of the year and there are so many things going on–benchmark testing, report cards, filling out cumulative files on each kid, skills day, spring program, packing up all textbooks, tearing down my classroom and that’s only the half of it.
My last emotion is feeling jipped. It’s an emotion I try and fight because I know that it has the capability of taking over and I start to feel bitter when that happens. I have worked my behind off this year, doing a job that very few people would do for the pay I have been getting for it. I feel jipped because I was promised something that didn’t come through. I know I have been given a wonderful opportunity this year. Everyone tells me how dedicated and determined I’ve been this year and how I’ve been such a trooper…easy for them to say. Their salaries are fair…I guess I wouldn’t mind so much, but that fact that our superintendents who already made over 6 figures a year gave themselves a 15% raise during this “budget crisis” just plain pisses me off because I couldn’t be hired on a temporary contract for 3 months that would have cost less than 3 grand total. I’ve actually thought about writing a letter to the superintendents or to the editors of newspapers complaining about what I consider to be an injustice, but then I just think of how it could possibly affect my future and my ability to get a job anywhere else and I stop myself. I just can’t help but wonder, when will I ever catch a break?
It’s depressing…I’m a college grad with two bachelor’s degrees, a teaching credential, and half of my units towards a master’s degree and I’ve never held a job paying more than 20 grand a year. Top that off with 9 years of student loans (and a few credit cards) and I’ve amassed over 67,000 in debt. It’s really sad. I love what I do so much….why can’t I get a job? What can’t I take some of the pressure off of my husband? I just want to make what I’m worth. Is that too much to ask? I’d really like another baby, too, but with all of the extra expenses that having a baby brings (especially the new home and vehicle that would be required to house and tote around a two little ones), it’s not going to be feasible for quite some time.
I just get through my days by knowing that I come home to an amazing family each and every day and even though we have our share of problems, we’re happy and mostly content and right now, that’s more than some people can say. I’m thankful I’m healthy. I’m thankful for wonderful friends and family. I’m thankful for the roof above my head and the food in my refridgerator. I really do have so many things to be thankful for…I just need to reminder to count my blessings more often than I throw my pity parties.
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Okay, so my title is a little hick-ish if that’s even a word. I used to be a devoted blogger, blogging a little each day. Now, I rarely have time for stuff like that. Heck, I rarely have time for much of anything these days. My days begin at 5 am—well okay, okay. You got me. They really begin at about 5:40 a.m. by the time I really drag my butt out of bed. I’m out the door by 7:15 and return home between 4:15 and 5:30. Most days, I’m not even in bed until 10:30 p.m. Feel sorry for me yet? Ha! I know what most of you moms are thinking. That’s what being a mom is all about. You think you get to sleep? Give it up. That was over the minute you gave birth.
Anyways, we took a trip up to Tahoe, Chico and Sacramento last week. Boy were we busy?!? The baby and I flew in Tuesday to meet John who had been up there since the previous Friday. Our first stop was out to Chico so JJ could meet his grandpa, auntie, and great-grandparents for the first time. We did a lot of visiting. JJ also got to visit his 2 year old cousin Aubree while we were up there. He took his first ever bath in big tub and boy did he like it. Too bad we don’t have a big tub for him to take a bath in here. The sink just isn’t the same. (We know this because we also tried a sink bath while up in Chico.) We spent Thanksgiving with JJ’s great aunt and family. Loads of people came. JJ got to try turkey for the first time and he loved it. (Well it was turkey and sweet potatoes and it went over way better than the plain turkey we had earlier this week.)
After Thanksgiving, we decided to skip the sales. (Too dang cold for a mama and baby to be out before the sun comes up.) We drove out to Sacramento to watch John’s brother get married. Never thought that would happen! (Just kidding, Steven.) Anyhow, we’re all glad he’s making such positive changes in his life. He’s a much different person than he was a few years ago when I first met John. I’m excited for he and his new wife who are expecting a little girl early next year.
We decided to head on out to Tahoe to spend our last day of vacation with friends and family. We visited with Steve, Sissy, and the girls which John was super excited about. We also got to spend a little bit of time with JJ’s grandma and Nana. Everyone seems to be doing decently.
On a completely different note, I just found out that I won’t be getting a contract from Adams. As long as a leave of absence is filed and not a letter of resignation, then the position must be filled by a long-term sub and not a newly hired teacher. Sucks for me….but what do you expect with all the budget cuts? Why would they want to fork out the extra money for benefits and salary? But, I’m getting lots of professional development courses out of the way and if I stay here all year, then I will have my first year done for clearing my credential. That takes a little stress off as I’ll have 3 years to get my last year of clearing done. I can’t wait. As soon as I get my clear credential, we’ll start trying for baby #2. Plus my resume will be amped up with all the extra work I’m putting into this.
A little math for you: A full year teaching at a sub salary–approximately 21,000. Lowest starting teacher salary–approximately 47,000. Per my principal, the state of California would have to cut 160,000 teaching jobs or close every school in California for 25 days to be able to meet the budgetary demands the state is thinking of putting on California. Get real! Sheesh.
Anyhow, there’s been a lot going on, but I’m running out of time and energy to write anymore. Hope you enjoyed the latest installment of MY LIFE!
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So I’ve been wanting to get JJ an exersaucer ever since we went to Alicia’s house and he got to play in Mateo’s. He loved it! However, it cost between $50 at the low end and $100 at the high end. Right now, that is definitely not in our budget. I’ve been looking on Craigslist and have seen them for $15 to $20 which is a really good deal but I never got around to emailing someone about them. Today we were driving and we passed this yard sale, and what do they have? An Exersaucer. I was prepared to pay up to $20 for it (I actually had cash on me, which is pretty rare.) I asked the guy how much he was asking and he said, $7. Wow! $7 and it was in pretty good condition. It was clean, but I do think it was missing one or two of the toys, but it had most of them which makes it a great deal!
Then as we were taking it to my dad’s (because we were going grocery shopping and had no room for it in the car), we passed by a yard sale and they had a jumperoo. It was in good condition too and the lady said her daughter only used it for about a month before she got tired of it. She sold it to us for $5. These normally run between $50 and $100 as well. Lucky us! I can’t wait to set them up for JJ. I feel so bad keeping him on his tummy or his back all day. Now he can sit up and play and I can get things done while he’s awake. Yay for me!
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I don’t know how families with stay at home parents do it. It seems nearly impossible to survive on one income once you have children unless you are willing to cut back a lot. I never realized how much my income meant to our family even though I make less than half of what my husband does. These past 4 months I’ve been off of work, we’ve been able to make it utilizing some of our small business income and our savings, but both of those are getting low. We’ve been really blessed though, as we have not had to buy anything at all for our baby since he’s been born. Also, my mom has been able to give us tons of food from her work which has helped out a lot, especially with the cost of groceries rising as they do. A gallon of milk is over $5 and a dozen eggs is $3. Ridiculous! Thank God I’ll be going back to work in the next month.
Personally, I’m a bit frustrated. I have 2 college degrees, graduate work, and a teaching credential and I can’t get a job. I’ve been trying all summer since about early June and have yet to even land an interview. Sure I can sub, but I would make 1/3 to 1/2 of what a regular teacher would make. That’s what I’ll continue to do until I can land a permanent position because I think it is very important for me to remain in the field and get my name out there. I must say, I’m kind of jealous. Almost everybody I know that is an elementary school teacher got into it because they knew somebody. Up until about 2 years ago, I knew someone but she moved and I don’t have a current number for her. I know I’ll feel more proud of myself by getting a job the old-fashioned way, but a little help can’t hurt. You can bet I’ll be hitting all the job fairs once they start out again. I really don’t want to drive more than 25 miles each way to work though, but I am on a time crunch. I have to work at least 2 out of the next 4 years to clear my credential.
I just want to thank everyone who has helped us get through this summer knowing that finances have been tight for everyone. Thanks to my husband for going to work every day. Thanks to my mom and stepdad for giving us extra groceries. Thanks to my cousin and grandma who have offered to provide childcare to us so I can go back to work and thanks to all of these people plus Aunt Linda and a few others who helped us get everything we could ever need for the baby! We appreciate it!
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So I’ve figured out one way to save money on groceries is meal planning. I’ve never been a big fan of it, mostly because I’m too lazy and would rather go out to eat than make decisions about what to eat. Many a night has passed when my husband has come home and says, “What’s for dinner?” and I say, “I don’t know” and we sit around for about 30 minutes and say, “Where do you want to eat?” It’s not good for our budget or our waistlines.
Lately, though, I’ve started making menus as soon as we go shopping. That way we have options and we have no excuse when it comes to going out to eat. We only go shopping about once every 3 weeks or so, with the exception of staples like milk, bread, etc…I think I’ve become pretty creative when it comes to figuring out things to eat. It’s amazing how many different ways there are to cook chicken on a budget. From chicken fettucine primavera to chicken enchiladas, to green chili and pepper jack cheese chicken. Yummy! A good thing about being on a budget is that I am using things in our cupboard instead of wasting them and throwing them away.
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So I realized that when my son went into the hospital for a UTI at 2 1/2 months old, that we as parents, are never really in control. We can do everything we think is right and things can still go wrong. Some things still will happen regardless of what we do to prevent them.
Having a baby has definitely changed my life. It’s brought lots of joy and laughter watching him reach those baby milestones. I love seeing my husband interact with our little one and seeing the little guy look over at him and give him big smiles. I love the tenderness I see when they’re truly bonding.
Some things are definitely harder, especially in the financial department. That was to be expected because, as a teacher, I can’t go back to work until school starts up. We’ve been doing pretty good, but it can be hard changing old habits and giving up things to save money. This has been a struggle for us. My time’s almost up and it’ll be time to return to work. I’m looking forward to bringing home a paycheck again so we can get things back on track. However, I wish I had the stability of a permanent job and not just on-call subbing. It would bring us 2-3 times as much as I make as a sub. I know I’ll make a great teacher; but I’m just not getting the interviews, even after 6 applications. I’m keeping faith that God will bring me to where I’m meant to be and that he continues always to watch over our family, whatever the circumstances will be.
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I’ve determined that I love having a baby around the house. I love being able to be a housewife and stay at home. While I’m fairly certain that being a SAHM for the rest of my life is not in my future (nor do I want it to be, I think), I do know that more kids are in my future-albeit not the immediate future. I want to be able to give my baby plenty of time just for him to let him be the baby–to be the one and only. To have a baby too soon after his birth I believe would be to rob him of his time with mommy and daddy.
I’ve figured out that it is financially too difficult being a substitute teacher to have a baby during the school year since I am not entitled to Paid Family Leave as an on-call employee. If I am unable to secure a permanent teaching position, any future babies I have will be in June if I can help it. That way I get the whole summer to spend with him/her. However, if I can secure a full-time teaching position, I would like to have my kids about 6-8 weeks before the end of the school year (paid as a permanent employee) and then have the entire summer to bond.
That being said, I think we will probably start trying again maybe in July or August of 2009. If we have one more after that, it will probably follow soon after as I don’t really want to be more than 32-33 years old when I am done having kids. As it stands now, I will only have 1 kid before I turn 30. That gives me about 3 years or so to have 1-2 more.
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So my little guy is 11 weeks old today. He’s still over three months away from eating solids, but I’ve been doing lots of research on making my own baby food. There’s a lot of reasons to do it. Number one, it’s cheaper. Pureeing a piece of fruit or some vegetables can make 10 or 12 meals for baby. That’s less than 10 cents or so per meal. Compare that to the 69 cents or so each jar of baby food costs. Number two, it doesn’t take up much time. It takes about 10 minutes or so to make a weeks worth of meals. Number three, it’s easily stored. It can be frozen in ice cube trays and then you can take out only what you need. Number four, it’s healthier. When you make it, you know exactly what’s in it. You can never tell what sort of preservatives or additives are in each of those jars.
Now, I’m all for making his fruits and veggies. Now his meats and proteins, I’m sorry but I just don’t think that I could puree meat. Just the thought of it makes me want to gag. I’ll splurge the 69 cents a jar for those. I can’t wait for my little guy to start being able to taste other things. However, I know he’s not ready yet. That tongue reflex of his is still going strong and I don’t want to clean everything up. Ha!
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The other day I heard an astounding number. It said that the cost of raising a kid from birth to age 18 (not including college funds) is $200,000. That means if you have 5 kids, you’ll be spending a million bucks not including 30 or 40k a year per kid for college. That’s ridiculous. That equates to slightly more than 10,000 a year per kid. Wow. Is it any wonder that people go broke and bankrupt? I guess you can’t really put a price on a child though. All of their growing up moments sure are priceless.
Well, for me the first year is going to be relatively cheap. We’ve spent pretty much nothing so far (except $100 on pictures) on our baby and he’s going to be 11 weeks tomorrow. We’ve definitely got enough clothes and diapers from our baby shower to last throughout the first year. Plus all of our big baby supplies like the swing, bouncer, car seat, etc… were all given to us as gifts. I suppose we’ll more than make up for it once he becomes a teenager.
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