A whole lot goin’ on!

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!

To Amway or not to Amway? That is the question.

Every mom knows that it is expensive raising kids. I heard on the news the other day that for a child born in 2008, that it is going to cost 221,000 to raise that kid. When I think about that, that’s like 4 1/2 years worth of our gross combined salary! Dang, I better start making some more money. Somebody give me a real job! Anyhow, we started exploring other options to increase income and one of John’s co-workers approached him with the idea of Amway. The concept is built on multi-level-marketing and therefore, the more distributors that you recruit, the higher your income is because you receive payment from Amway based on their sales as well.

Now, in the past couple weeks, we have both done loads of research on the company. We thought that if we could build a business off of sales only that it would suit our needs better because neither one of us have a salesperson mentality. However, in order to get to the first level of bonuses (3%), you have to sell roughly $375 worth of product. If you don’t sell that much, you don’t get anything. Some of the research we found stated that the average monthly payout for all “active” members was only $115 per month. That’s gross because you have to subtract any traveling expenses or supplies you might have.

Anyhow, I’m not sure if we’ve made our final decision or not, but we are definitely leaning in one direction. The recruiters are definitely agressive in getting people to join, but it all seems too scripted. There’s an answer for everything. So, I’m wondering. Does anyone have any personal experience with Amway? I know we all have personal opinions, so feel free to express those as well!

Working, working, working!

So, I have been busting my butt this summer so that I can find a job for the school year. This is a rough time to be a teacher though. I submitted applications to two districts (the only two that accept applications without open positions posted). That was to Riverside Unified and San Bernardino City Unified. I also sent in applications to a charter school in Riverside and to Alta Loma School District, even though the position they had listed was only temporary. I just need to get that one more year out of my way so that I can clear my credential.

This summer I’ve been working as well–as a stay at home mom. The thought had crossed my mind to get a job, but given the economy I didn’t even try. JJ and I have been doing lots of activities–Gymboree 3 times a week and swimming lessons in the beginning of the summer. I’d say, on average, I probably do about 1-2 hours of housework a day. I’ve also picked up a couple of tutoring clients–a second grader, a fifth grader, and a fourth grader. It’s been going well and it gets me out of the house for a little bit. JJ gets to spend time with nana and grandma when I go tutor because they come to watch him.

Something’s gotta give…

…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.

Update #2 (Four Stages of Weaning)

As I posted before, JJ has successfully gone from 2 feedings a night to one. That was a while back when that happened. About a month or so ago, when he was ten months old, we stopped night feeding all together and that has worked out wonderfully. So we are 2 for 4 on successful weaning.

One of the other stages, sleeping all night in his crib instead of our bed, has been absolutely successful in the past 3 days. However, I believe it is due to a couple of factors. First and foremost, he has been able to sleep as late as he wants in the morning because it is my spring break. He goes to sleep around 930 or 10 and sleeps until 7 for his morning feed and then back to sleep until 8 or 9 am. He’s rested and not over tired so it’s easy for him to stay in his crib. Secondly, I haven’t been putting him in our bed on his first wake up. I give him the binkie first and if he’s still crying after a long while or wakes up again, only then will I put him in our bed…but it’s been a while.

The last stage, putting himself to sleep, well that has worked for 3 out of the past 4 days. We get him relaxed with us in our bed…not asleep mind you, just relaxed, and then stick him in his crib. He whines for a few minutes–1-5 minutes, then crashes and sleeps all night. I don’t think this stage will be fully met until I stop with the bedtime nursings and I’m not sure when that will happen.

Currently, we are on 3 nursings a day–wake up, get home from work, and bedtime. During the weekends, I add one more in. My supply is decreasing dramatically. The past two weeks at work, I’ve only been able to pump less than an ounce each day. It’s sad. This week I’ve been trying to pump during spring break so that I don’t have to pump when I get back to work and it’s been disappointing–I pump 3 times a day for 15 minutes at a time and I got a grand total of 2 oz….I’m so close to my goal–JJ will be 1 in 14 days. I don’t have enough frozen milk to get him through that time. On his birthday, we’re cutting out all feedings except wake up and bedtime and who knows when those feedings will go. I know I’m going to miss it though. It’s nice having those mommy and baby bonding times.

How will it affect me?

So, most people are probably aware of the severe budget cuts affecting the state of California. It’s hitting education pretty hard with a proposed budget cutting 8 billion from education at least. That being said, the budget is hitting our family pretty hard. As you know, I have to have 2 years of full time teaching through a teacher induction program called BTSA in order for my credential to be cleared. I have only until September of 2012 to have this accomplished. If I don’t, I could lose my credential. This year I am fortunate enough to have obtained an almost year long subbing position for a lady who most likely will not be returning. I am going to have at least the first year’s requirements fulfilled which takes off a little of the stress.

However, with the budget cuts comes a hiring freeze and layoffs. Almost all professional development days have been cut and what may happen when newer teachers get pink slips is that administrators and certificated personnel with more seniority who are not in the classroom may have to go to the classroom to fill those spots. Class sizes in K-2 will most likely be increased which will decrease the need for teachers. To put it lightly, I picked a lousy time to be an educator.

How does this relate to mommyhood you ask? Well, I definitely want at least one more, if not two, more children. I don’t want to have one until A)I have a full time teaching position so that I can get paid for my maternity leave and B)I have my credential completely cleared. This means that it may be 3 more years until we have another one. If that is the case, then the next two will probably come fairly close together. I guess by the time JJ is four, he’ll be able to be a good helper and will be fairly independent anyways. I definitely want to be done having kids by the time I’m 35 though and I’m turning 30 in a couple of months which doesn’t leave me much time. Truth be told, we can’t afford another kid right now, but I don’t want JJ to have to be an only child. Sure, it’s cool being able to be the center of your parent’s attention all the time and being spoiled rotten, but I want him to be able to have a forever friend.

Goodbye 2008!

As I look back at how much my life has changed in the past year, I am absolutely amazed. This time last year, I was 5 months pregnant and just barely showing. This time last year, I was working as a day to day substitute teacher. This time last year, we had a Christmas tree because we had plenty of room in our living room. This time last year, our living room had a couch, coffee table, and dining room table in it.

Flash forward–I now have a beautiful 8 month old little boy named JJ who brings absolute joy to my life. I am teaching kindergarten in a school that I love. We have no Christmas tree, but instead have a baby swing, exersaucer, jumperoo and various other baby toys in our living room.

It’s been a heck of a year. JJ has been through a lot, having lots of little illnesses, including a UTI that he was hospitalized for. Despite it all, he’s been thriving. Sitting at 5 months, crawling and standing supported at 6 months, cruising at 7 1/2 months. Now his latest endeavor is knee walking which is adorable. He’s got a gorgeous little smile and laughs all the time. He talks a lot too, although his favorite word is dada. We’re still working on mama.

John has turned into a wonderful father, just like I knew he would. It was a little rough at first, because I think he didn’t really know what to do with him when he was tiny, but now that the little guy is bigger and moving and active, he and daddy are playing all of the time. Plus, he is an expert putter-to-sleeper. Mommy has a hard time with that.

Needless to say, although my hours are longer, I find myself wanting to come home sooner so I can be with the little love bug. I’m glad to be back at work, but I certainly am enjoying the time I spend at home too.

What will next year bring? Hopefully a permanent position where I’m currently at. Hopefully, a little less in debt that I currently am. Hopefully becoming an even better wife and mother. Hopefully a raise for John and a little more respect at work. I have a feeling it’s going to be an amazing year. God only knows….We’ve got about 8 more hours until we find out. Hopefully our first night’s sleep of 2009 will be a great one! (By the way, JJ. That was a hint for you! Ha-ha!)

So stinkin’ busy…no time for NOTHIN!

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!

Life is Busy!!!

So life has been really busy lately with my new kindergarten position. I’ve been so busy trying to keep things together at home, work, and with the baby that I haven’t had much time to blog lately. Well, this weekend was a 4 day  weekend, so I’ve finally found some time to catch up and put some new pictures up. We recently went up to Tahoe because we found out that John’s grandma was in the hospital with an infection and that her cancer has moved up into brain. Our visit was nice, but incredibly busy. The baby was not all that cooperative the second night. He woke up 5 times that night. But we woke up to snow. Not very much, but it was there. It sure was cold. We got a lot of visiting in. It was the first time we had been up there in 6 months.

Halloween was fun. JJ dressed up as a lion and boy was he cute. He didn’t really care for the hat all that much, but I just left it loose and he was okay with it. We had some friends come over from church. They have a 4 and 5 year old and just found out their new little addition will be a girl. JJ’s new little playmate will be born in March.

Being a teacher is HARD work! I’ve been subbing and or student teaching for the past 5 years, but I tell you my notions about what a teacher does during the day were so wrong! I thought for sure as a half day kindergarten teacher I would have plenty of time during the day to get things done. NOT the case. I stay from about 7:30 to 3:30 or 3:45 each day and until about 4:30-5:30 on Fridays. I’ve gone to a few trainings already, administered math and language arts benchmark assessments and will be doing report cards and parent teacher conferences in the next 2 weeks. All of this within my first month of being there! That’s why I’ve been so overwhelmed. I can’t wait til Thanksgiving break and after things should be back to normal.

As for the baby, he has now tried oatmeal, bananas, carrots, and sweet potatoes. He likes all of them for the most part, but won’t eat carrots mixed with cereal. He keeps his mouth wide open during feedings. Just like his mommy and daddy, he loves to eat! Also, he had his 6 month appointment a couple of weeks ago. He was 15 lbs 14 oz and 26 1/4 inches. What a big boy!

Anyhow, here’s some pictures of our recent adventures. Enjoy!

A Big Week—Post 100!!!

So my husband is excited because this is my one hundredth post. Yep, I’ve been blogging since June and I have reached the 100th mark. At first I was doing it every day, but then as I went back to work I’ve found it harder and harder to keep up, but I am managing to get 2 or 3 posts a week. There are so many things going on these days that I’m finding very little time to do anything.

We are having an exciting week. This Friday is Solids Day. That’s right. We are starting JJ on solids on Friday. We went shopping yesterday at Whole Foods and bought a few organic veggies so that I can puree up some yummy goodness for him. We bought a yam, carrots, and peas. I’ll probably start him on oatmeal though. I’m sure he’ll do great with it as I eat 3 or 4 times a week myself and he doesn’t seem to have any reaction to it.

Another major milestone that is happening this week is JJ is turning 6 months old. I can’t believe he’s been with us for that long already. He has brought so much joy to our lives. He’s such an amazingly happy little baby. God has definitely blessed us with him.

It’s a big week for me too as I’ll be starting my kindergarten long term sub position at Adams this week. The teacher I am subbing for does not plan on returning, so there’s a good chance that I could get hired for her position. It won’t become available until at least January, but as long as there are no contracted employees without positions, I’ll most likely get it.

Who knows what else this eventful week will bring? Crawling might be happening this week as he’s been on the verge for about 2 weeks now. Today he also halfway got up to a sitting position on his own, so that might also be in our near future. Whatever it brings, I’ll welcome it. Each day brings with it its own adventures!