It's been a long time

Wow it's been such a long time since I last posted.  There has been a lot going on and many changes so I've been pretty busy.  I also have a sneaking suspicion that my biological father may have found my blog and I really don't want to give him any glimpse in to my life because I am pretty much done with him.  I am really tired of him acting like he is a victim in his mess of a life when he's the one who created all of his problems.  Anyway, I really don't want to dwell on that too much.

My coaching job didn't leave me a lot of time because of the ridiculous schedule the middle schoolers are on.  I wasn't getting home until well after 5:30 and by the time I got to cooking and getting the kids bathed and ready for bed it really didn't leave any time to take care of myself or really even to have any kind of quality time with my children.  I hated the job and hated the schedule and I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to change jobs.  There was a lot of bullshit involved with me actually being able to start, but starting after our winter break I will be going back to the high school I was at last year as their Media and Information Technology Specialist!  (For those of you who don't speak Educator, I'm the new high school librarian.)  I am super excited to be in this position as it gives me the best of both worlds.  I still get to coach and teach teachers how to use new technology and also introduce strategies to help them engage their students in mastery learning but I don't have to work with the assholes who generally make a coaches job impossible to do.  These people are usually the worst teachers who think that by simply talking the students will be mesmerized by the sound of their voice and they will somehow magically learn their specific content.  I also get to work with students again which is something that I have missed dearly since leaving the classroom four years ago.  I also get to return to a school that I consider home and know most of the faculty and staff.  My sister is also a first year teacher at this school and I am SO excited to get to work with her!  She's going to be my guinea pig and in return I guess I'll co-sponsor her FBLA club.  We are also beginning to talk to architects so that we can FINALLY get a new school built!  This rebuild has been taken away from us for so many years and we desperately need a new school.  I'm excited because I get to have major input on how the new media center will look.  I am that nerd who has been looking at floor plans and trends for newly built media centers and I told the Principal that we should travel around the state to check out new schools and how they look and flow.  We are also in the process of getting IB authorized which will help draw some super smart students to our school and will help out with our school grade in the coming years.  (We did get an A this year so that is exciting as well!)  It will also help with our reputation of being a ghetto school who is always on lock down because of gang activity, which by the way there is none.

I am so excited to start this new opportunity and really see myself doing this job for a few years.  I've never felt like that with education so hopefully it all works out well for me!

VPK

My goodness I totally forgot to blog about Kaitlyn starting VPK this year.  In Florida we have a voluntary Pre-Kindergarten program that basically makes "pre-school" free to all qualifying children.  You do have to register them in the spring before they start in the fall and wait for "approval".  (I've never heard of anyone getting turned down.)  Our daycare offers VPK so of course I was just going to keep her there for convenience and not to mention we have the best VPK teacher in the county.  The program runs from 9 AM to noon.  We just have to pay for the extra time that she is there for daycare; it's a greatly reduced fee, YAY! 

She absolutely LOVES it.  I asked her before she started what she wanted to learn about in VPK and she, without hesitation, stated MATH.   I am not a lover of math so thank God this child does not take after her mother in that regard.  (I'm pretty sure it's because of Team Umizoomi...thanks Nickelodeon.)  I warned the assistant director, who also teaches the VPK class, that there better be some math in the curriculum or they were going to have a hot, sassy girl on their hands.  She laughed and reassured me there was...PHEW. 

She was so excited to start VPK.  They went back to daycare a week before the actual program started because as a teacher I have a week of pre-school myself that I have to go to.  She made sure to tell me to not feed Tyler something that took him so long to eat because she did NOT want to be late.  (He takes forever eating cereal because he does not put any milk in it and eat it one cheerio at a time.) 

I took the obligatory first day of pre-school pictures along with the cute framed printable I got from I {HEART} Naptime.  My plan is to hang the framed printable over the sliding glass door in the playroom for every year the kids are in school and stick a 4x7 picture of each child holding the frame for comparison purposes.  I sent her off with her daddy on her first day of pre-school so I could also head off to my first day of classes.  I picked her up after my school day ended and asked her how her day was.  She was not happy at all that they didn't learn math.  I told her it probably would be awhile before they got to the math part because they had to learn the rules and learn who the new kids were and also let the teachers get to know them.  She was partly satisfied with that explanation but firmly told me "there better be some math tomorrow."  (Oy vey her teachers are in for a year.)  Ms. Mary, the assistant director/VPK teacher, told me that she absolutely LOVED having Kaitlyn in her class and there was no doubt that her mother is a teacher.  I absolutely love hearing that compliment because we truly do work hard with our kids instilling values, respect and a love for learning in to them.  I work with a lot of kids whose parents do not make any of those things a priority and it's a constant struggle to get them to see the importance of a good education. 

Every morning dad gets a report from the day before on how adorable Kaitlyn is and how smart she is.  So far she has given a lesson on cylinder (string) cheese, speaking Spanish, and what fun words start with whatever letter they are learning for the week.  (This week they are learning the letter "B" and she geniusly came up with the word booger! *eye roll*) 

I am so glad that she is having such a good time and that she's learning so much.  She came home with homework last night and insisted on finishing it before she even ate.  Super impressive because we were having her all time favorite, spaghetti; also the homework wasn't due for another week.  Hopefully she will always enjoy school or at least appreciate the need for a good education.

So Far

Well I am three weeks in to this new school year in my new position and so far I'm still on the fence about this job.  Middle school is a whole different galaxy than high school.  They speak differently, have different schedules, routines, rules, etc.  It took me one whole week to figure out the bell schedule at one of my schools.  It's so confusing!  (It doesn't help that none of my schools have the same bell schedule.  Two are on block and one does a straight 7 day, however the two block schedules are totally different.) 

The thing I'm struggling most with is the schedule.  I'm so used to high school starting at 7:05 and being at school by 6, 6:30 at the absolute latest.  We ended the school day at 1:50 and I was done with school by 2:20.  First period in middle school doesn't even start until 9:30!  Classes don't end until 4:15 and teachers can leave by 4:20.  (I usually get to school by 8:30 and work until 4:00...as long as I get my 7.5 hours in I'm ok; benefits of a flex schedule.)  It usually takes me anywhere from 15-30 minutes to get to daycare, depending on what school I'm at for the week.  The middle school schedule severely cuts in to my time with Kaitlyn and Tyler.  They are so used to eating a snack as soon as we get home because that's what we have been doing ever since I had to go back to work after Kaitlyn's birth.  Now, it's not a good idea for them to have a snack when we get home because I need to get dinner started right away.  I know that they are used to eating at 5:00 and we don't get home until a little after so I feel bad for them, but I don't want to fill them up with snacks because they won't eat their dinner.  I also don't get to decompress with them and talk about their day and play little games with them before having to get dinner started so they are constantly under my feet in the kitchen and I'm  frustrated a lot and have to keep sending them out.  It's totally worse than having the dog underneath my feet when I cook! 

I also haven't been able to exercise in the evening because I'm too busy cleaning up after dinner and getting the kids ready for bed.  I'm feeling really flabby lately and really tired because I'm not getting my exercise in.  I tried working out in the morning, but I just don't have the energy right when I get up to get through any type of cardio or strength training.  I feel way too bloated if I try to drink a protein shake before exercising in the morning.  I've been trying to get some yoga in as soon as I wake up, but I'm just so exhausted to even try to get out of bed in the mornings.  I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and force my way out of bed and just deal.  The yoga DVD I have is pretty good and it's only 20 minutes.  It's a morning routine so it's not too intense which may just be the perfect thing for me as a beginning yogi. 

I'll keep trucking on this year because I'm not going to leave my three schools hanging, but this is definitely the first AND last year I will do middle school.  It may be the last year I have to work anyway :)

Welcome Back!

So I have been back at for about a two weeks now and I'm pretty much 50/50 on how I feel about it.  This year is a whole new ball game for me with my job.  I'm now in middle school and I have three different ones.  I spend about a week at each middle school working with science teachers.  I'm happy that I'm back to doing science only, but I'm really struggling with learning this new curriculum and having multiple schools.  All schools are high needs so it's really hard finding a balance to help them all.  My schedule might have to be flexible at certain times to accomodate state requirements so we'll see how it goes.  This school year is going to be full of challenges, but hopefully I get things done.


This summer seemed to just fly right by even though we didn't really do anything exciting.  We did do our annual family mini-vacation to Orlando and stayed at a Disney resort, but other than that, it was pretty uneventuful.  I think the kids are bored with bubbles, the park and swimming until they pass out though and are ready to go back to school.  Kaitlyn will be in VPK and I'm super excited about everything she will learn to prepare her for Kindergarten next year.  (YIKES!)  Tyler will be in the two year old room until January and then he moves on to the three year old room with the best teacher in the world, Ms. Stephani.  Kaitlyn got to spend a lot of time with her, almost a full year, because Ms. Stephani just kept moving up with that particular group of kids.  She is an amazing teacher and has the patience of a Saint.  I have never seen her ever get frustrated with any kid the four years that Kaitlyn has been going there nor have I EVER heard her raise her voice or get snotty with the kids.  I can't wait until Tyler gets in to her class because she taught Kaitlyn so much.

It's My Potty!

I know that as soon as I write this down I'm going to jinx it all, but I am super excited!  Today was Tyler's first day of potty training and he did such an excellent job.  He only had one accident all day.  (His aim was a little off of few times but it's ok because I put a towel under his potty.)  I put the potty in the living room to get him aquainted with it and he spent most of the day naked. I had him sit on the potty about every thirty minutes and around the second time around he peed in the potty as soon as he sat.  The first time he peed on the potty it took him awhile to go but when he did I got super excited and praised him up and down.  I did the potty dance and sang the potty song and gave him lots of high fives.  He was so happy and proud.  He now knows that if he sits on the potty, he needs to pee in it and he can force some out.  He also will tell you he needs to sit on the potty and he'll go pee a little.  He even pooped on the potty today!  He's so happy and he just sings the potty song and shakes his tush.  It's so cute!  I'm hopeful that today was not an anomaly and he really is catching on quickly.  It will make my life a lot more easy to not have to change diapers anymore and I'm going to love the extra money to spend on super cute clothes for my kids.

Enjoying My Time Off

I'm half way through my first whole week of summer break and I'm loving it!  I love the extra time I'm spending with my kids and not having to be in such a rush in the morning to get to work.  We went to the mall playground on Monday and did chalk and rode bikes in the afternoon.  Tuesday we went to the park and to Target.  I forgot to take Kaitlyn to karate in my haste to get the kids to the park, oops!  This morning we did Play-doh outside, but our afternoon plans of swimming were ruined by rain, so we drew pictures instead.  Tomorrow I think we'll go to the beach, and I'm not sure what we are going to do on Friday.  I'd like to get the kids to Sea World or Busch Gardens sometime next week and I think they will absolutely love that.  I also need to take them to the new (ok, so it's not that new) children's museum in Tampa. 

I'm also cooking a lot more fresh foods from scratch because I am not dog tired from waking up so early in the morning to get to work by 6:30.  I'm pretty much following my menu planning which is saving us money.  I don't have to worry about 30 minutes meals because I have all the time in the world right now to take my time.  Needless to say the hubs is also loving summer break. 

I'm able to work out twice a day, so hopefully that will help out with the weight loss roller coaster that I've been on for the past year.  I run in the morning and do the 30 Day Shred at night.  I can already see a huge increase in my stamina, so hopefully I'm on the right track. 

I finally got my job assignment for next year.  It wasn't my first, or second, choice, but I think it will work out ok.  It's definitely going to be a huge change for me so I really don't want to put too much thought into it right now because it gives me tons of anxiety. 

I love summer.

Summer Reading

I love reading but rarely have time to for it during the school year if it's not science or education related.  I've always loved reading and would have at least 20 pizza certificates every school year thanks to the Book-It program.  If it's a good book, I can usually finish it within a few days.  If it's bad, I'll finish the book because once I start one I have to read it to the end, it just takes me longer. 

I just finished 'Water for Elephants' yesterday and loved it.  Sara Gruen did a great job of creating such fantastic imagery that I could literally picture the circus and all the performances as I was reading about them.  I'm pretty excited to watch the movie to see how true to the book they stay, although they rarely do due to time constraints.

I finished the 'Hunger Games' trilogy a while back and am taking my sister to see the movie.  I really love how Suzanne Collins descried the scenery of the arena in vivid detail and you could really picture yourself as a person living in the Capitol watching the games live. 

These two books alone has reignited my passion for reading, but I am at a loss for what to read next.  I'm really not interested in the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' trilogy even though it's the hottest book on the market right now.  A lot of women are saying it's badly written "Mom porn" and I'd just reread the "Twilight" series if I wanted to read badly written books.  I'm kind of interested in the 'Divergent' series right now but am not really willing to pay $9 for an electronic version of the books.  I'll wait till those come down in price.  I tried to read the 'Girl with the Dragon Tatoo' but it's so slow in the beginning I'm having a hard time getting through it.  My sister is reading the 'Game of Thrones' series so I'm thinking of snatching those up from her and getting in to those.  She has a few other books that I'm want to read so I'll have to raid her bookshelf.

Still Unknown

Remember when I wrote this post and I was pretty confident that I would soon find out what I would be doing next year?  Yeah, I still don't know.  I do know what I will not be doing next year and it's a little maddening.  I know that I will not be at my current school as either a coach or a teacher.  I knew that I wouldn't be returning as a coach, but I thought I had the option of going back as a teacher.  I figured that since they needed two teachers, an IB and a regular Biology teacher, that I would be able to slip in as the second biology teacher.  We, because of a unit shortage, they will be combining the IB and regular Biology positions...major suckage for me.  I think that they also filled the positions at my old school, although I haven't really checked on that one yet. 

There was a second option that I was really interested in as a math/science support position for the area superintendents.  I thought that I would be given some thought as I had experience in both math and science this year, but again I was wrong.  Those positions were filled last week and I'm really bummed to say the least. 

A third option is to be the K-12 Science Instructional Staff Developer for the district.  I don't know what exactly I would be doing and no idea who one of my supervisors would be.  (They are interviewing for those positions some time next week.)  Not knowing the exact job description or who will be my supervisor makes me kind of nervous for this particular position.

I guess that I'm kind of preparing myself to go back in to the classroom.  It's not my top choice, but it's one that I'm definitely ok with.  I really feel like I have a bigger impact on teaching and learning in my current position.  If I can change the practice of a few teachers, it's involves many more students than I could have impacted as a classroom teacher. 

The thing that scares me the most about not knowing at this point is that today is my last day of working this school year.  I really wanted to know before this school year was over, but alas that will not be happening.

I'm a big boy now

He's not potty trained, but he's quickly becoming a big boy.  We converted his crib into a day bed about a month ago and he's doing great.  At first, he was having a hard time with the whole bed time routine and he cried every night for about two weeks when it was time for bed.  He even started to fight me on bath time for awhile there.  For the past week or so, he's been a complete dream going to bed.  I'll usually try to give him an early bath so that he can get in his pj's and just play or watch a show.  When it's closer to the time I want him to go to his room I'll tell him that he has 10 more minutes to play, or I'll tell him he can finish whatever show he is watching and then it's time for bed.  He'll say 'otay momma' and finish up whatever it is he's doing.  When time is up, I'll ask him what time it is and he'll whisper 'it's nigh, nigh time' and happily grab his blanket and go running to his room; sometimes he even waits for me and will hold my hand all the way down the hall to his room.  He then hops in to bed, I turn on his music, cover him up, read a book if he's in the mood, give him kisses and cuddles and leave.  No fussing or fighting, he just goes to sleep.  Sometimes I'll hear him talking or singing, but usually he falls right to sleep.  He doesn't even get out of his crib in the morning when he wakes up.  He can do it himself, he's just such a good boy that he waits for us to come and get him.  I think he knows that he can't get out of his room anyway so might as well stay in bed.  This is nice because I'm not worried about a jail break in the morning on weekends and can lay in bed a few extra minutes and get my bearings. 

This summer I am determined to start working on potty training.  I need to go out and get some training underwear.  I think I'm going to try to skip the pull ups with him so that he'll get the feeling of being wet and hopefully will not like it.  I also need to come up with a reward system.  I know M&M's will get the best results, but I don't want him to have all that chocolate.  I think a sticker chart will help out, especially if I get Kaitlyn in on it.  He knows what to do, sit on the potty, hold his winky down to keep from getting pee all over the place, he just needs the consistency of doing it all the time.  I don't know if I want to start at the beginning of summer or wait till closer to the time I go back.  We have a lot of stuff going on in July and I don't want his to regress with all the commotion going on.  I guess I could try start next week having him sit at home before bath, bed and in the morning when he gets up and see how he responds.  I don't want to push him, but I also would like to have him trained before going back to school.  I hate to put all that work on the teachers at school.  We'll see how it all goes.

Getting Back to Healthy

That's where I am today.  After roughly three weeks of not eating right and no exercise, I'm turning over a new leaf...again.  I really need to change my bad habits, not only for myself, but for my kids.  I don't worry about Tyler because that boy will choose a veggie over sweats any day of the week and twice on Sunday.  He's always on the go and never sits still for one minute of the day, not even in his sleep.  Kaitlyn, on the other hand, will eat junk food until she bursts at the seems and is perfectly content watching Disney Princess movies all day long.  I don't want her to struggle with her weight as she gets older and I don't want her to have food issues either.  Those are problems I just don't want her to have.  I want her to learn how to nourish her body and not to ask for seconds when her stomach and brain haven't even processed her first helping.  I want to fill her plate with veggies, not just a few pieces to try and then exclaim 'YUCK' while gagging and trying to swallow.  Before I can ask those things of her, I need to show her how it's done through me.

I'm not a junk food junkie by any means.  I'm probably the only person in the world who loves Brussels sprouts and lima beans.  It's just easier when you are a busy mother who works outside the home to grab for the pre-packaged items to give your kids and yourself instead of washing and cutting up fruits and veggies.  I know there are pre-packaged fruit and veggie items out there, but they cost a fortune and I just cannot justify spending money on those items especially since they have added preservatives in them as well.  I should make better decisions about what goes in to mine and my children's mouths, but I'm just lazy like that.  It also doesn't help that the husband is a junk food junkie and is typically the one who does the grocery shopping even though I give him specific instructions on what to buy and what not to buy. 

So I have decided to get back on it and really take some stock in what I'm eating and that I'm exercising regularly.  I logged in to My Fitness Pal today, after a two week hiatus, and entered in my breakfast.  I will start the 30 Day Shred tonight and suffer on my all day field trip to Sea World tomorrow with every step I take around that theme park.  I will spend Sunday washing fruits and veggies and cutting them up and placing them into individual servings that the kids and I can easily grab out of the fridge when we want a snack.  I will go back to packing my lunches for work and cooking dinner instead of grabbing fast food.  Kaitlyn will learn to eat a new veggie each week, just like when she was a baby...one at a time until she learns to at least tolerate them and not complain. 

This summer I have absolutely no excuse to not get my family eating right and exercising.  I'm not working this summer and I'll have the kids with me all day.  My plan is to run in the morning before Jerry goes to work.  Get the kids outside as much as we can stand, and then make it a swim day if we can't stand the heat.  Fix healthy lunches and snacks thoughout the day.  Fix a healthy dinner with at least one veggie or add a salad to meals like spaghetti or lasagna.  Continue with the 30 Day Shred to build muscle and tone.  Get to bed at the same time I do during the school year so I'm not tempted to turn my alarm clock off in the morning and skip my run. 

I need to do this for me AND my family.  I will be successful this time and change my life.

End in Sight

It's almost here.  The end of all state testing, the end of the year, waiting to see what I'll be doing next year, it's all coming to an end and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.  It's been a rough month with everything going full tilt at work and the disasters that happened at home.  I can finally start to breath and relax a little which means I can finally sleep.  I no longer need a whole pot of coffee to get through the day and then fall on the couch too exhausted to even fix my family dinner.  I can now focus on my plans for summer, which is CRAZY busy BTW, and stop freaking out every 5 minutes that the other shoe is going to drop any time now. 
It feels so nice not stressing out over every minor detail of whatever is going on.  I'm getting do all the fun things that I love about working in a high school.  Prom, graduation, spring football, senior activities, field trip that can finally happen because state testing is over, field day, labs that we now have time for because we are done with the curriculum, etc.  Teachers seem to also let loose this time of year as well, except for senior teachers who are trying to hunt down those seniors who seem to think they've already graduated and need that last credit to be able to walk across that stage.  Real learning happens right now when students are able to explore the subjects they are studying and grapple with difficult material with no pressures of an End of Course Exam looming over their heads.  Its a time to celebrate that WE'VE MADE IT THROUGH ANOTHER YEAR!  (Teachers included in that sentiment.)  Now is the time to kiss our seniors goodbye and remember when they were crazy freshmen who couldn't sit still even if you duct taped their butts to a chair...I have never done that, only wished I could.  It's time to say goodbye to colleagues who are retiring and give them a congratulatory pat on the back for being able to last so long in education.  It's also time to say goodbye to new friends that were made this year because people are being transferred or are seeking opportunities elsewhere.  Time to pack up rooms and throw out all the lessons that you and your students worked so hard on throughout the year hoping that you will not find a petrified science project in one of your lab tables.  Time to watch another group of students walk across the stage, shake hands with their principal, and then throw that diploma up in the air and scream "I did it!"
Oh yes, the end is in sight indeed.

Knee Deep In Shit

Literally.  We are so screwed right now and I'm afraid we have a major issue.  Now the master shower is not even draining even though we haven't been using either one of the toilets all day.  (I think Kaitlyn used and flushed the main toilet once, but we have been going to my parent's house if we need to go.)  We are going to call a certain Rooter company to come out tomorrow and hopefully it's not a major issue and they can fix it with relative ease.  I'm hoping that it's just our septic needing to be pumped, but of course it's never the easy fix with us.

To make matters worse, my car is acting up again.  It has something to do with the cooling and it's affecting the a/c as well.  It's happened before and we had to pay through the nose to fix, which just pisses me off.  If it was just the a/c and it wasn't already 90 degrees, I wouldn't worry about it until the kids are out of daycare.  Last time we had to replace the battery, a motor, and a switch and the fluid was almost black.  Hoping it's not a big deal and it's just a switch, but again, it's never the easy or cheap fix for us.

The absolute icing on the cake is that my vacuum is clogging and the junk on our floor is not going in to the tank, it's just getting stuck in the hose.  If we weren't having so many other issues, I'd just go out and buy a Dyson and be done, but right now I cannot justify $300+ on a vacuum when all I need to do is clean out the hoses.

They say bad things come in threes, so hopefully this is it for us.  I don't know if I can take anymore shit.

Stupid Septic System

I am really hating my septic system right now.  We have a clog somewhere in our pipes, but I cannot, for the life of me find it.  It's so gross too because the sewage is backing up into both our showers.  It's worse in the master bath so I'm thinking that it's the master toilet that is clogged, although it flushes just fine and the other bathroom toilet is the one flushing a little slowly right now. 

I got brave last night and decided to snake the main drain to see if I could loosen anything and get things flowing.  I sent the whole thing in and didn't meet with any kind of resistance, although it seemed to clear up the main bath shower.  I've used two bottles of commercial grade draino, ridex, and a homemade remedy that usually works and still nothing.  I'm going to go to the store today and get some of that foam that you shoot down the drain and a new plunger to see if that does anything.

I'm at a lose right now because Jerry is in California so he's not here to fix it and I really don't want to spend a million dollars on a plumber to come out.  I can't exactly give two kids a bath or take a shower myself and that is so frustrating.  It poured last night so I couldn't even go over to my mom's house to use their showers.  Hopefully the weather cooperates and it doesn't rain tonight so if we are still having issues we can just go over there and get cleaned up.

This is the only thing I hate about not living withing the city limits.  I hate septic systems and I'm paranoid that we're going to have to call someone out to come drain the damn thing and have to shell out a lot of money for them to come out and ruin our yard.  I also hate that I can't send stuff down my disposal or the washing machine drain line freaks out.  It's just super frustrating and one more reason that I'm mad we were rushed into buying a house because our landlord was so freaking worried about rent money.  (Just makes me kind of glad that his first tenants skipped out on him after only a few weeks.)

Tyler Transitions

Well this weekend we decided to take the plunge and convert Tyler's crib to a daybed.  He's been climbing out of his crib pretty consistently and it's just too dangerous for him to be doing that with it being on the lowest setting possible.  Plus, I don't want him running around the house in the morning unsupervised because he's just not responsible like Kaitlyn and there's just too much trouble he could get in to.

Jerry took of the front crib rail and placed the bottom stabilizer piece on the crib to convert it to a daybed.  Because Tyler is a mover and a shaker even in slumber, we also bought one of those rails that you can put on any bed to make sure your kids don't fall out of bed.  (Kaitlyn has one on her twin size bed because she was falling out of bed.)  It pretty much takes up his whole crib leaving about 4 inches on either side for him to squeeze through if he wanted to get out of bed.  Since he can easily open the bedroom doors, we also put up a swinging baby gate right outside his bedroom door so he can't wander around the house.  (We have a pool in the backyard and it's my biggest fear that he's going to slip outside one morning and fall in.)  His bedroom is right next to ours, so all  he had to do is call to us from his room and we should be able to hear him.

He's only spent one night in his new bed and so far, so good.  He stayed in bed well after he woke up this morning, so he hasn't quite figured out that he can get out of bed whenever he wants to. 

I'm pretty sad that my baby has outgrown his crib and he's getting older ever day.  It just makes me want another baby that much more.

Hell Week

The week from hell is over.  The problem is that I have two more weeks of hell to go.  We are in the middle of end of course (EOC) testing right now and since I do both math and science I'm stuck for three weeks.  It doesn't help that we have to continue on with the school day and we don't have enough people to help proctor and give breaks and cover classes, etc. 

Hopefully the biology test will be a bit better than the geometry test.  I understand that kids have to take more time to figure out word problems and solve them, but it is seriously ridiculous that some of them literally took all day long to take the freaking test!  I don't even want to deal with the Algebra test because mostly lower level kids take Algebra in high school so those kids will be taking forever!.

I'm pretty much stressed out all day and night right now and my anxiety level is through the roof.  Not to mention that we are at that time in the year where my job is in limbo and I have no clue what I will be doing next year.  I may still be coaching, I might have to go back in to the classroom or I could get lucky and get a job at admin doing some teacher on special assignment job. 

It also doesn't help that my teachers are pissy right now because of all they have to deal with and it's evaluation time and they're freaking about, especially the ones who are on annual contracts.  I try to reassure the good ones that they have absolutely nothing to worry about, but I don't think it helps alleviate their anxiety and quite frankly, I don't blame them.  This time of year just sucks all around for anyone who works in the school system and it doesn't get better until that last exam is given and the graduation ceremony is over. 

Now I'm Sick

I thought I was in the clear with everyone else but me being sick.  Kaitlyn and Tyler are on the mend with just the slightest cough still lingering.  Jerry is still a little sick and sounds like he's trying to hack up a lung.  Now I am sick, achy, stuffy and all around miserable.  I've been sucking down liquids and made Jerry run out and get some saltines and sprite.  I made some chicken noodle soup and plan to eat that every chance I get to help me feel better.  This being sick business really sucks and I feel like a crappy mom because my kids have been watching movies all day and haven't even changed out of their pj's.  Kaitlyn wanted to go to the park today, but I didn't want her to go so far away from home so instead I let the kids go out in the sunshine and help water the plants.  The fresh air seemed to do them some good yesterday so I thought it couldn't hurt today.

It's going to suck having to go to school tomorrow because we are smack in the middle of testing season so I can't even take the day off to get better.  I'm proctoring the FCAT for freshmen so it's  not like I can hide in my office either.  I'm just hoping I don't get a rowdy group of kids or I'm going to have to just write some referrals!  I will so not be in the mood to deal with asshole teenagers.

Sickies

Well Tyler is still sick from Easter.  He's not vomiting anymore, thank God, but he still has a slight fever.  He's also not eating much at all and only wants to drink milk.  I'm limiting his milk intake and giving him Pedialyte when he asks for milk.  He doesn't mind.  He's got a boogery, mucusy nose and has also added a cough.  Fantastic! 

Jerry went to Vegas for work on Monday.  He felt awful before he left and sure enough he got worse once he landed in Vegas.  He sounds horrible and has been pumping himself full of Dayquil, NyQuil and Gatorade.  He's coming home late tomorrow night and if the kids are still sick, he's going to stay home with them.

And in true form, Kaitlyn is also sick.  She apparently woke up at 4:30 last night and got some tissues from the playroom and came into my room to sleep.  I didn't even hear her come in so who knows exactly when she woke up and came into my room, I just know it was 4:30 when I noticed she was in bed with me. ( I've been having trouble falling asleep lately because of stress so it was not a great night of sleep.)  When we finally had to get out of bed at 6 AM, she complained that her head hurt.  I checked her temperature out of curiosity and sure enough she had a slight fever.  I gave her some Motrin and loaded her up on juice.

Unfortunately it's testing week so I can't even take any time off right now to keep my babies home to get better.  On top of that today was a very long day for them because I had a meeting from 3:30 to 6:30.  I had to leave the meeting early though because my daycare closes at 6:30 and they charge overage for ever 15 minutes you are late picking up your kids.  (They charge per kid as well.)  I would have just skipped the meeting, but lots of important questions needed to be answered and I couldn't miss it.  I am so stressed and exhausted right now I wouldn't be surprised if I got sick as well.  For the next 4 weeks though, I cannot call in sick because we are smack dab in the middle of testing season and I have to proctor/facilitate testing.  The joys of working in public education where other people's children come before your own!

Happy Easter!

Another Easter has come and gone.  Tyler spent most of last night vomiting.  He also vomited twice this morning and has had a fever all day.  I've been pumping him full of water and Motrin and he seems to be better right now.  I still may take the day off work tomorrow so if it's some kind of bug he doesn't pass it on.

He still hunted eggs with Kaitlyn at home and the grandparent's house.  He tried to eat every single jelly bean, marshmallow and chocolate egg that he found in the eggs.  I had to start opening his eggs to dump them in a cup to keep him from eating them all.  If he wasn't sick, I wouldn't have cared, but I didn't want him to upchuck again. 

Kaitlyn had a blast finding the eggs and made a decision that she was only going to pick up the purple, pink and blue eggs.  Silly girl.  Unfortunately for her those were the eggs that the ants found so we had to dump out all those goodies.  That's the only bad thing about egg hunting in Florida.  You can't hide them too soon or all the bugs come out in force and attack the eggs.

We ate Easter lunch at my parent's house and it was delicious.  Ham, scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, asparagus, rolls and veggies.  I had to leave early because Tyler was just miserable and wouldn't take a nap in my sister's room.  He barely wanted to hunt for eggs and only ran outside because Kaitlyn told him she was going to find all the eggs.  I wish he was feeling better because I just hate to see him miserable.

Hopefully your Easter was not full of vomit and snot, but chocolate and jelly beans!

The Unknown

I am fast approaching that time of year where anxiety strikes and the unknowns of my current position start to arise.  It is especially stressful this year because we have a new superintendent who has only been with us a few months and he is currently restructuring some things in our district. 

This year, as well as the past two years, I have been an instructional staff developer.  Simply put, I work with teachers to help them improve their practice.  I am not an evaluator by any means, I work in tandem with teachers to make sure students are successful in their classes.  I am a certified science teacher, but this year am taking on the responsibility of both math and science due to budget cuts.

Every year there has been question as to what will happen to coaches.  When we first got coaches in the district, each DA high school, 9 total, had at least 1 RTI coach, 1 math coach, 1 reading coach and 1 science coach.  (At the time a DA school was one that had a grade of D or F determined by our students FCAT score.  FCAT is our state standardized test.)  Some of the traditionally poor performing schools, SIG schools, got additional grant money to use on things like professional development, technology and other resources they so desperately needed.  Fast forward to the present, three years later, and we only have 4 SIG schools with coaches and my school with me as a math/science coach and a reading coach who is only here 1 week a month because she rotates between 3 other high schools. 

This year we are in need of a lot of support but can't get that support because our wonderful governor slashed the education budget by a billion dollars this year.  Our district has already cut 73 million from our budget the past three years and had to cut another 56 million this year!  Not to mention that new legislation passed last year and was signed into law new graduation requirements which include end of course (EOC) testing.  Also included with the new law is a new performance appraisal system for teachers.  All these things cost money and of course the state expects us to do more with less.  (I'm not even talking about salaries, benefits, etc. just resources we need for our students.)

Last year it was very stressful because we were losing 3 coaching positions which meant that 3 of us were temporarily out of a job.  It was decided that some internal restructuring had to happen and we all had to reapply for our jobs and interview, which meant compete with each other for the few coaching positions left.  At one point, it kind of got ugly, and some bonds were broken between teammates.  I am not going to go in to specifics, but I was not offered a coaching position when the school year ended. 

This year has been really challenging for me learning two new curriculums, a new school and new teachers.  I don't think that I will return as a coach, due to budget cuts, but I wouldn't be opposed to returning as a teacher.  Which begs the next question, am I ready to go back in to the classroom?  I have been out for 3 years and am rusty at best.  It's not the same, modeling in someones elses classroom, as having your own classroom and developing those relationships with your own students.  Sometimes I miss being in the classroom dearly, and then other days I don't miss it at all. 

Tomorrow is the deadline for voluntary transfers so I should know what's going to happen by then.  At least I know I'll have a job somewhere, I just don't know where.

Fabric Eggs

So I am in love with these cute little scrappy fabric eggs I made.  I bought these paper mache eggs from Michael's last year after Easter and they were 70% off.  I've been dying to add to my Easter decor around my house and was rummaging through my decoration stash and rediscovered them.  I didn't know what to do with them when I first bought them but got this bright idea to cover them with some scrap fabric.  I absolutely love how they turned out!  I'm thinking of doing more but just using some plastic eggs since I'm out of the paper mache ones.

I just cut some scrap fabric into strips and then modge podged them to the eggs.  My hands got really messy, but it was well worth it.  I did two layers of fabric to make sure I covered the dark brown of the eggs.  I'm pretty addicted and might just have to find some more fabric in my stash to cut up and cover more eggs.

 All four eggs

 Close up

 Another close up

 Their final resting place in an apothecary jar

The "mantel" display

Spring Break!

So the major benefit of being a teacher is of course the breaks we get.  We get a week off for spring break, which is the only relief we get second semester.  Things get really crazy second semester with all the testing that we have to do because of No Child Left Behind and all the new EOC's thanks to a certain house bill that got signed in to law last year.  Needless to say the students and teachers are going a little crazy by the time spring break rolls around.

I'm not planning on doing anything this year because the kids will be in daycare since we used all our vacation days in December.  I do want to go to Sea World and pick up my teacher pass and the kids' passes and I think my sister and some of her teacher friends want to go.  She will be able to get a fun pass which is the price of admission but you get to go all you want for the entire year.  It pays for itself the first time you use it's totally worth it.

Jerry left for Canada today and won't be home until Tuesday, so it's a good thing that I am on break.  I don't have to shuffle my kids to my mother's house and have either her or my sister drop the kids off at daycare, I can do it myself.  I can also get a lot of cleaning done that usually gets neglected because I am just so exhausted from work.  Maybe I'll even tackle some freezer cooking, shopping for groceries one day and then doing the prep the next.  I'm really looking forward to sleeping in and actually getting a good nights sleep!

Hockey

Last night my parents invited me to go to the Lightening, our local hockey team, game.  I'm not a huge hockey fan, I don't even really like hockey, but I do like to go to live sporting events so I went.  My dad had his company tickets and they were the bomb.  We had seats on the PNC Bank floor and as my sister said last night, "this is where rich people go to die."  It's so true though.  The seats are those nice, comfy, plush, leather seats that feel oh so good on your tushy.  We had an amazing view of the arena.  We only spent about 10 minutes in those seats though.  Why you ask?  Because behind the seating area, there is a massive buffet of food and drinks.  They had Chinese food, sushi, flat bread pizza, philly cheese steaks, beef kabobs, meatballs, crab cakes, a dessert bar with all kinds of cookies, cakes, pies, ice cream etc.  It was also all you can drink beer, house wine, soda and water.  Not too shabby. 

Last night was not my first time in this area.  The first time I was pregnant with Kaitlyn so needless to say I was in heaven.  The running joke of the night was "follow the pregnant woman, she knows where all the good food is."  It's really nice that we get to be spoiled every once in awhile because my dad and husband both for for two different amazing companies.  We would NEVER spend that kind of money on hockey tickets, so it's nice that we get to have those experiences.

I'm super excited for baseball to start because my hubby's company bought a suite so hopefully we get to go to a few games and enjoy them in style and comfort.

Vent

I really want to vent about my job right now, but I can't.  I am just really frustrated at work right now and want to yell and scream and throw a tantrum, but I can't.  I just have to keep doing what I'm doing and hope for the best.

Big Boy Bed

We got a toddler bed for Kaitlyn when she was about 19 months old because we needed the crib for Tyler and I wanted to give her plenty of time to get used to a new bed before he came.  (We just moved into a new rental house too.)  She did very well as I only had to spend a few nights sitting by her until she fell asleep.  She also stayed in bed until we came and got her for the longest time before she finally figured out she could get out of bed herself and play in her room.  (She couldn't open the door to her room and run around the house because she had a pocket door she couldn't open.) 

I don't know when we will transition Tyler to his toddler bed.  He has a lifetime crib that converts to a daybed, then to a full size, so he's not getting a whole new bed.  He doesn't know how to climb out of his crib, and I don't think he could if he knew anyway since his mattress is set to the lowest setting and is almost touching the floor.  He is very capable of opening every door in the house and that makes me nervous to transition him to a toddler bed.  He gets in to everything and I'm afraid that he will get into something and get hurt or even worse, get in the backyard and fall into the pool.  I don't want to get all overprotective and lock him in his room; I think that would kind of traumatize him.  If I felt like he would just come in our room, then I'd be ok with it, but I'm quite positive that he wouldn't do that.  I also don't want to deal with him not wanting to go to sleep and coming out of his room 100 times a night. 

I think the plan for now is to keep him in his crib until he stops resisting bed time, which is one of his favorite thing to do right now.  Maybe we'll do a trial run this summer when it's not such a big deal if I don't fall asleep by 10.  We can always just put the crib rail back up if it's not working out.

Weight Loss Frustration

I am really frustrated with my weight loss right now.  Granted, I had a not so great weekend with Jerry being away and eating out with the kids, but I have been really good ever since we stopped doing the fat flush and I have only dropped about 5 lbs in a month.  I guess I should preface that loss by saying I am hovering at about a 5 lb loss and seem to lose and gain that same 5lbs. 

I don't know what I am doing wrong.  I track my calories on My Fitness Pal and make sure I am under my calorie goal everyday.  Sometimes I am under by 100-200 calories of my 1300 allottment.  I run everyday on my parents' treadmill using the couch to 5K app on my phone and am on week 4 day 3 and will be starting week 5 on Wednesday.  I have been really good about not eating sugar and I have dumped diet coke pretty much all together.  I try my hardest to get 64 oz of water everyday, and only fall short about 20 oz any given day.  We have switched to whole wheat bread and pasta where we can, and I try not to eat too many carbs.  I get two servings of fruit everyday and at least two servings of veggies.  So what the hell am I doing wrong?

I'm going to try to start taking some vitamin D since I read that that could help with weight loss.  I am also going to start putting benefiber in everything I drink since I seem to have a problem in the regularity department.  I know this summer I'm going to make a commitment to run in the morning before Jerry leaves for work and will do the 30 day shred at night, but I might just start that little bit of craziness next month if I get really desperate.  I guess I really need to buckle down right now and not even give myself one get away day like I have been, although I haven't been going too crazy with that either.  We shall see.

Watch This...Do Something

Watch this and take action.

Double Standard?

I don't make it a secret that it took us 7 years to have Kaitlyn, but it's also not the first thing I tell people.  (I don't think my family realizes this little fact.)  I never worried about getting pregnant or having a baby.  I was really very ignorant to the fact that many women suffer silently from infertility.  I'm in no way an expert on infertility, but I do know a lot more now than I did a few years ago, mainly from reading blogs. 

I do empathize with women who desperately want to have children and are experiencing major hurdles along their journey to becoming a mother.  I can't imagine, nor do I pretend to understand, what it must feel like to be stuck in that situation.  I love my children dearly and could not imagine a life without them.

I do have one major gripe with the IF community, however.  I've read multiple blogs where the blogger is spewing rage and hate towards "fertile" women who announce their pregnancies on Facebook, twitter or through other social media outlets.  I've also read some IF bloggers state that no fertile woman could love their child(ren) as much as an infertile woman because the "fertile" woman did not have to struggle or fight for their child(ren).  They also spew a lot of rage and hatred when a "fertile" woman slips up and has a human moment and gripes about how how motherhood is, but in the same sentence will gripe about how hard motherhood is!  What kind of BS is that?  It's almost as if they are saying that "fertile" women can't celebrate pregnancy and motherhood and that they are the best mothers in the world.

I get that infertility is a tough road to travel.  It isn't fair that healthy, stable, mature women have to struggle with becoming a mother, while at the same time, MTV slaps us all in the face with 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom.  I wouldn't wish infertility on my worst enemy, but it's also not fair to throw venom in the faces of those of us who don't have to struggle.  It especially enrages me when someone implies that I'm am not as good a mother as they are because I didn't suffer for my children.  Who the hell are you to tell me that I am not as good a mother as you?  I love my children with every fiber of my being and would walk to the very ends of the Earth for them.  Do I get annoyed with them?  Of course I do!  I am a human being and am not infallible.  Yes it gets annoying when I've struggled all day to meet the needs of a two year old and he still wants to fight me on whether or not he wants to go to sleep at night even though he is clearly exhausted.  Do I get to express that?  Abso-freaking-lutely!  Does it mean I love him any less?  HELL NO!

It also peeves me that because some women suffer from infertility, the rest of the world can't celebrate the conception or birth of a child.  I understand that some of your closet friends need to be a bit more sensitive and maybe tell you first and break it to you gently, but they get to celebrate and be happy for crying out loud!  They shouldn't have to walk on eggshells or worry about posting their ultrasound pictures on Facebook without first consulting their IF friends.  I'm sure they are not wishing and praying that you don't get your happy ever after while they get to bask in all the glory of being pregnant. 

I know, I know, I wandered into their world, it's their blog they can do whatever they want, blah, blah, blah, but I think that a different point of view needs to be seen.  (And of course not all IF bloggers are spewing rage and hate all over their blogs, but I really hate when I come across one who does.)

Tyrant Tyler

I think the terrible twos has struck our house yet again.  It really wasn't that bad with Kaitlyn, but it's getting to be unbearable with Tyler.  He's always been a little more sensitive and will cry at the drop of a hat.  I'll be the first to admit that I get really exasperated with every time he cries because he doesn't get his way, but I usually ignore it and he's fine until you tell him no again.  Lately though, he has been a train wreck.  His tantrums are turning into fits of rage.  He doesn't just cry anymore.  He's moved on to bigger things like kicking, hitting and screaming.  He also will run and throw himself on the floor if he's really peeved about something. 

The thing that really sets him off these days is eating at the dinner table.  He absolutely refuses to sit at the table.  At first I thought it was because he didn't want to sit in his highchair anymore, so I put it in the garage and put Kaitlyn's old booster seat on a chair for him.  No go.  He doesn't want to sit in it either.  We do have a little kiddie table in our dining room and I wouldn't mind him eating there, but he will not sit still.  He usually gets up, bothers Kaitlyn, pushes her out of her chair, etc.  He tries to steal his plate away from the table and take it to the living room and it's such a battle taking it away from him, him throwing a fit, and then trying to get him to come to the table, repeat ad nauseum.  I'm just so exhausted I usually don't fight with him and remove his plate from the table and put it on the counter where he can't reach it and wait til daddy comes home to try and feed him.  Usually this works, because I leave for my run, but I'm so over the tantrum.

He's also big into fighting bedtime.  Sometimes he fights the bath, even though he loves to play in the tub.  Sometimes he gets upset when I take the toothbrush away from him, even though I ask for it right before he gets in his crib.  The other night he wouldn't let me read to him so he ran screaming to his crib and then screamed because I put him in it.  I try really hard to keep his bedtime routine consistent, but it's just not working. 

I'm hoping that this phase will pass as quickly as it came, but I fear that my strong willed boy, who unfortunately inherited my temper, will break me before I break him.

Yummy Honey Chicken

I am always looking for yummy, quick, easy chicken recipes.  I found this one and am absolutely in LOVE.  The first time I tried it, I was having a luncheon with some of my teacher friends and I wanted something that I didn't have to slave over all day, but looked like I did.  I tried it in the crockpot because I love my crockpot.  Problem was, I didn't have enough honey to double the batch of chicken like I wanted to do.  I had enough honey to do one batch and then was super happy that I could also turn it into a 30 minute meal.  I did the first batch in the crockpot and went to the store and got more honey to do a second batch in the oven.  To be honest, I will probably never do this recipe in the crockpot again.  It turned out much better in the oven; it was just more tender from the oven for whatever reason.  All of my friends loved it too and were impressed with how easy it was to make.

I do make a few changes though.  I use onion salt instead of chopped onion or onion flakes, only because I'm too lazy to chop an onion and I don't have onion flakes.  I also omit the red pepper because I think it would be too hot for my children even in such a small amount.  I use low sodium soy sauce too  and it doesn't seem to affect the taste...probably because I add in onion salt.

Anyway if you need a yummy chicken recipe, use this one!

Lucky

This is probably one of my favorite projects that I've done so far.  I'm also super proud of the fact that I got it done before St. Patrick's day, instead of after.  (I still haven't finished my Valentine's day framed artwork.)  I got the idea off of Pinterest from this Valentine's day canvas.  I liked the idea of putting the MDF letters on a canvas, but I wanted to jazz up the letters with scrapbook paper and some embellishments.  My only complaint is that there are not enough cute little embellishments for St. Patty's day at Michael's.  More reason to open a Hobby Lobby where I live :)

Please excuse the quality of these photos.  I'm working with a point-and-shoot and not some fancy camera that most people are using these days.  I couldn't figure out how to take a direct shot of the letters without getting the glaring flash, but oh well.  I love it!



I Hate Traveling

I don't dislike traveling myself, just when Jerry has to travel for work.  Before we had children, Jerry traveled a lot for work.  It didn't bother me then as I was a first year teacher and was crazy busy with work stuff.  It also gave me a chance to hang with my family without feeling guilty that I wasn't at home with my husband. 

Now, it's just a royal pain in the ass when he has to travel.  I have to be at work no later than 6:50.  (I usually get to work around 6:40 to beat the busses and the drop off traffic.)  Daycare does not open until 6:30 and is roughly 25 minutes away from the school.  This means that I need help getting the kids to daycare because it's a scramble to get myself and two kids ready and out the door before 6AM, not to mention it is a major change to what they are used to.  They normally don't get to daycare until almost 9:00 when daddy drops them off.  When Jerry is on a trip, I take the kids to my parent's house and let them sleep over there.  It's just easier for everyone this way.  My mother doesn't mind because she loves to spoil those kids rotten, but I feel really bad that she has to take on such a huge responsibility.  She has my sister's help now that she's home from college and taking a full year off before she goes to grad school, so I'm sure that's a huge relief to her.  (My mom works full-time as a hair stylist, so she's on her feet all day long.) 

I know my kids have a really great time at my parent's house, but I still feel really guilty about leaving them there.  They are my children and my responsibility to take care of.  I definitely could not do it alone and am grateful that my parents are so close to us, 5 houses away to be exact, and they are so willing to help us out when we need it.  That's just how my family is though; we are expected to be such a huge part of each other's lives.  This is our normal.  If we were in Indiana we would not get the help we get here with my family.  Jerry's family just doesn't work that way.  I don't know why, but it is what it is.

Shopaholic

Hello, my name is Christy and I am a........SHOPAHOLIC.  Phew!  That feels so much better.  To get that off of my chest is just so liberating!  (Just being a little dramatic.)  But I do like to shop; not for myself really, but for my kids, my home, my family.  I especially love to shop for my kids.  They are easily the best dressed kids on the block.  I'm pretty good at only buying sale items, and with kids clothes, they come cheap.  But I still spend a lot of money on their clothes. 

I think the biggest reason I buy them so much clothes is I want them to look cute!  We live in a very judgmental society and I don't want my kids to look like I don't take care of them.  I get a little embarrassed if I have to take them to the store after daycare and they have food stains on their clothes.  I know that is really superficial, but whatever, it is what it is. 

The second biggest reason I buy tons of clothes is I hate to do laundry!  I buy enough clothes for the kids so that I don't have to do laundry for two weeks.  I always buy a few staple items, for each kid and coordinating outfits that I can mix and match so they're not wearing the same thing over and over.  This really cuts down on my chore time too because I have to set out a weeks worth of clothes since the hubby gets them ready in the morning.

The third biggest reason I buy tons of clothes for them is because it's fun.  I have two life size dolls that I get to play dress up with.  I hate shopping for clothes for myself because I am really unhappy with how I look right now (working on that one) so it's fun to dress my kids up in cute little outfits and stick bows in their hair, or on his neck in Tyler's case.  Plus, it's really not fair that they make kids clothes so dang cute!  I am drawn to the kid's clothing section like a moth to a flame. 

Gymboree if by far the biggest part of my addiction.  It's so easy to buy a few pieces there to mix and match and have a gazillion outfits for the kids.  I wasn't super impressed with their winter outfits this (last) year, and I'm not totally taken with their spring stuff so far.  They are constantly coming out with new lines, so it's only a matter of time before I go buck wild in there and drop a Benjamin.  I blame my grandfather who got me addicted to Gymboree buy gifting the kids with gift cards of $100 each every Christmas.

Target is my second biggest addiction.  How can you pass up clothes at $5 and under?  The circo line also has a line of mix and match clothes that I can stock up on as well, not to mention that is my go to present for my little cousins because all they care about is ripping open the gift and playing with the box.  No need to clutter their houses with toys that are just going to get lost or broken.

I do a little shopping at H&M, which usually has pretty good deals and Children's Place.  I used to go to Old Navy all the time, but their clothes usually run too small and because they're cheaply made, don't last as long.  I've never found ANYTHING at Baby Gap, but the kids own a few items from their because my cousin Lindsey is also a shopping addict and tends to spend WAY more money that I do on the kid's clothes.  (She only buys them stuff for Christmas and birthdays so it's ok for her to go overboard.)

My husband never says anything to me about my spending habits because I usually don't go overboard often and tend to only buy stuff if it's on sale.  I never use a credit card so it's not like I'm going in to debt because of my little addiction, so I guess it's ok.  I'm just dreading having to buy them new clothes when all they will wear is Hollister, American Eagle, Aeropostale or some other teenage crappy brand.

Valentine's Day

Here is a tutu that I made for Kaitlyn for Valentine's Day.  You can google tutu tutorial, (ha ha, I love alliteration), and there are tons of easy tutorials to make your own.

 Here are the Valentines Kaitlyn and Tyler will be taking to school.  I downloaded the free printables from Shindig Parties TO GO.  I love all the cute freebies she posts on her site not to mention she has an Etsy shop and she customizes printables for all kinds of parties.

 Each of little kisses and hugs has a cute little sticker on the bottom!  I die!

Fat Flush Finish

So I am done with the two week Fat Flush and I must say that I am a little disappointed.  I was really excited when I wrote this post, but I must have jinxed myself when I hit publish because I did not lose anymore weight after that day.  I'm really not sure what happened because I followed that detox pretty much to the letter.  If I did anything wrong, it was that I wasn't getting enough calories during the day.  I always ended the day with about four to five hundred calories left to eat so my only thought is that my body went into starvation mode therefore the weight was not going to go anywhere.  I did lose an inch, but I was pretty hopeful that I would lose much more than that. 

I did do some before and after photos and I can definitely see a difference, so that's a major plus in my book.  I can also feel it in how my pants fit.  I'm not quite down another size like I had hoped, but I'm definitely closer than I was when I started. 

Right now I am eating normally, as in I'm not doing phase 2.  There is no way that I can continue on with eating bland food anymore.  I need flavor!  I'm just hoping that eating the right foods, in the right amount and exercising will help me continue to lose weight.  I'm also using My Fitness Pal religiously to track my calories and my exercise and I make sure I'm under my allotment for the day.  (Just an FYI, My Fitness Pal is projecting me to lose 10lbs in 5 weeks if I continue eating and exercising like I have been so I'm pretty excited about that.)

My husband, who also did the flush, lost a total of 16lbs.  Now, I don't monitor him at work, but the first day off the flush he says he gained back 4lbs.  I do have to say that while on the flush we were both limited to 1200.  Now that he's off, he can have 2000 which will lead to him losing 2lbs a week.  I am limited to 1300 which is close to the calorie limit for the flush and is why I believe I have maintained my weight loss.  (I don't get 1300 a day, I usually have a few hundred leftover after I run.)

I'm glad we did the flush, although at about day 4 & 5 we were snapping so badly at each other, because it shows that we can do this IF we put our minds to it.  It also gives me the jump start I needed to continue with my weight loss.  I'm also going to keep doing some of the things from the flush like drinking at least 64oz of water, eating at least 2 fruits a day and loading up on the veggies.  I also like having smoothies for breakfast because they are so yummy and keep me full for a long time, especially with the added protein powder. 

I'm going to keep up with my couch to 5K program for now and may add in a morning run if I hit a plateau again and need another jump start.  Hopefully this will be enough to keep me eating healthy and exercising regularly.

Tyler is Two!

Well, he turned two a month ago and I forgot to do a post about it because I was in the throws of planning a birthday party and getting back into the swing of work after winter break.  (For those of you who are jealous of teachers because we get "so much time off" don't be, it's so damn hard to go back to work.)  Anyway, Tyler is two and I really can't believe it because time is just flying by!

I have to admit, I was a little worried about his development.  Of course you can't help but compare your child's development to other children and naturally I compared his to Kaitlyn's.  She said her first word at 9 months and has never stopped talking.  (Seriously, the girl is never quiet.)  She knew how to count, say her ABC's, speak in full sentences and knew all her shapes and colors by 16 months and has always been advanced when it comes to language.  Tyler was not so sophisticated when it came to any of that stuff.  He would say words and he knew how to sign the important stuff, thank-you, please, more and milk, but he definitely was "on-par" with Kaitlyn.  I am not worried about him at all anymore.  Last summer, when I took the kids out of daycare, his verbal skills just exploded!  He was speaking in short sentences, repeating everything we were and just became an overall chatterbox.  I was very pleased with this sudden burst.  I guess when kids are ready to talk, they will.  He currently speaks in full sentences, can count to ten, and can sing quite a few songs.

I am just amazed at his motor skills.  This kid is going to be something special on some type of field or court!  He can already kick a soccer ball while running!  How many two year olds can do that?  I was flabbergasted a couple of weeks ago when he put his soccer ball down and just started to run and kick it down the field.  I couldn't believe my eyes!  He also is trying really hard to master the scooter at daycare and I'm pretty sure he's going to do it soon.  I may just have to see if I can find a wee scooter for him to have at home so he can have more practice.  He also has a great throwing arm and can dribble a basketball better than Kaitlyn.  I'm not sure what sport he's going to play as he gets older, we'll just have to put him in everything and see what he excels at. 

He has started to call us all by our full names and it's so stinking adorable.  He calls me "Mommy Wolfe", Jerry is "Daddy Wolfe", and of course he calls his sister Kaitlyn Wolfe.  He doesn't refer to himself as Tyler Wolfe too often, but every once in awhile you'll catch him say it.  My favorite is when he asks for my help with something, "Can help me opy (open) it Mommy Wolfe?"  Cutest thing ever!

We always call the weekends, or other days that I have off "mommy and daddy" days so the kids know that they don't have daycare and we don't have work so we spend those days together as a family.  (The weekdays are called daycare days.)  Tyler knows that when I'm home in the morning that it is a "mommy and daddy" day because I leave well before the sun comes up in the morning for work.  He gets really excited and jumps up and down when he sees me in the morning and will yell "mommy and Tyly day!"  (Sometimes we call him Tyly...it came from my cousin Ashley because she used to end names with y.)  Also if I mention that it is a "mommy and daddy day" he will yell "mommy and Tyly day, mommy and Tyly day".  He is definitely a mamma's boy and I love it!

Speaking of mamma's boy, he has his days where he will refuse to do anything I ask and will only do it for daddy.  It's usually only when I want him to clean or go to bed or he's mad at me.  He'll tell me "No daddy do it!  Go away mommy Wolfe!"  I am only happy to oblige him when he's acting like that and hand off the tiny terror to his dad.  Sometimes he gets mad that I walk away and then he's sweet as sugar giving me hugs and kisses, but other times he stands his ground.  It's really funny and I try not to laugh at him because it just encourages him to do it again, but it really is cute that he's trying to assert his authority.

He is such an amazing little boy and I look forward to seeing his shining, handsome face everyday.  I love him with my whole heart and couldn't ask for a better son.

Fat Flush

About 6 days ago, Jerry and I started the Fat Flush diet.  Basically it's a detox diet and the first phase lasts two weeks and you are supposed to get dramatic results.  Of course we wanted to do this because two weeks is a drop in the bucket and we were going to get big results.  The diet is pretty strict.  You have to cut out all carbs, including veggie friendly ones like peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, corn, etc.  You also have to cut out all sugar, salt, fat, caffeine and dairy.  Also not allowed, beans of any kind.  So what can you eat?  Plenty.  The first, and most important thing, is to increase your intake of water.  Not just any kind of water though; cran-water.  What is cran-water?  It's 4 ounces of UNSWEETENED cranberry juice and 28 ounces of purified/filtered water.  You have to get 64 ounces a day.  I supplement with regular filtered water throughout the day because even though I'm getting more than normal, I still feel thirsty all the time.  You also have to increase your protein.  You can have 2 eggs, 2 scoops of whey protein (sugar and lactose free), and at least 8 ounces of lean protein; chicken, turkey, lean beef, seafood, lamb and tofu or tempeh.  (You can only have two servings of tofu a week.)  Then you can have two servings of fruit a day limited to 1 small apple, 1 small orange, 1 pear, 1 peach, 1/2 grapefruit, or 1 cup of any berry.  Veggies are unlimited and include broccoli, peppers (green, yellow, red), yellow squash, onions, mushrooms, artichokes, spinach, cabbage, water chestnut, sprouts, romaine lettuce, kale, chard, leeks, and one carrot a day.  (I'm sure I'm leaving off some veggies you can have but those are the ones I've eaten so far.)  Then there are other things you can have like limited types of spices, cayenne, turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, garlic, and you have to take two servings of flax oil and some supplements and don't forget the lemon water you have to drink hot before you eat breakfast.  It's a very time consuming diet and it does become ritualistic eventually.  There are parts that are hard, like I am constantly preparing food or water so I have no time to myself.  I also got really dizzy the 5th day (yesterday) and had to have an extra protein shake to feel better.  I am tired all the time and running is taking a lot more out of me than it usually does because I can't fuel my body with carbs.  I've also been tracking my calories and am getting nowhere near the 1200 daily allotment that you get with this diet, which may attribute to the fact that I was tired and really woozy yesterday.  I'm going to add an extra protein shake mid afternoon so that should remedy that problem.  You get plenty to eat if you like veggies, which I do, so there is no problem of feeling hungry for me.  So far, in 6 days, I have lost a total of 9lbs.  The first few days I was losing a pound a day, but right now I'm averaging about a pound and a half to two a day.  I think I'm losing it mostly in my butt and thighs because that's where my pants are getting loose.  My goal for the end of this diet is to drop one pant size, which is totally doable because I was almost there on my own, I just had a muffin top with the next size down.  I'm pretty excited to be losing all this weight, but I'm also ready to be done and get back to some normal, HEALTHY, eating habits.  (Also normal cooking habits, because cooking two meals a night is not fun!)

Fantastic Fours!

*This is posting two days late, but was started on your birthday! Oops!*

Dear Kaitlyn,

Happy fourth birthday baby girl!  I cannot believe that four years ago today you came rushing into our lives 2 weeks early!  I remember it like yesterday and couldn't believe how easy it was to have you.  You are the most amazing child I have ever met and I love you more and more everyday.  You are also the smartest child in the world and I love watching you grow and learn.

Per your request, you and Tyler had pancakes and strawberry slices for breakfast.  You opened your present that mommy held on to from your Great Aunt Kaye and Great Uncle Dick.  They got you the game sequence and you wanted to open it right then.  You also opened your birthday card from Great Grandpa and Grandma Dafforn.  They sent you a Sleeping Beauty card with $10!  We'll just put that in your piggy bank so we can save up to go to Disney this summer.  We went and bounced at Planet Jump until you were tired and your feet hurt.  Then you wanted tacos for lunch and daddy got you some cinnamon twists as an extra treat.  After nap, because with all that jumping you really needed one, we went to your favorite park!  You played soccer and ran around that playground with wild abandon.  Your daddy noticed that a man brought some pigs to the park and you wanted to go see them.  We went over to see the pigs and you thought they were awesome.  you couldn't pet the pigs because mommy did not have any hand sanitizer but you wanted to really bad.

All-in-all I would say you had a great day!  I'm so blessed to be your mommy and am looking forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you!

Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaarrrgggghhhhh!

Upon request from the princess of the castle, we did a pirate themed 2nd and 4th birthday party for the kids.  I wasn't going to throw a party for the kids this year as I thought I would get to take a two year break from throwing parties until Kaitlyn had her 6th birthday party with her kindergarten friends.  Jerry's mom asked me, back in November...yeah I said November, when I would be what weekend I would be doing their party so she could fly down.  She caught me off guard by asking so early that I just threw out a date instead of just saying there wasn't going to be a party.  Oh well.  I actually had a great time planning it.  It didn't hurt the old ego either that everyone loved that party decorations and set up, not to mention the food.  I told everyone that I'm not going to do a party next year, but I will probably cave and do one anyway.  I just always feel so guilty doing parties because both birthdays are so close to Christmas, but I don't want my kids to get gypped because of that.

Anyway here are the pictures from the party.

First Stitches

Neither one of my children are graceful.  Unfortunately, they get their clumsiness from me.  Also inherited from me, the ability to be overly dramatic (Kaitlyn), and hyperactivity/attention deficit (Tyler).  I seriously don't know how I survived my childhood from all the stories my mother and aunts love to tell me over and over again.  I also remember being hurt A LOT when I was little. 

Anyway, Kaitlyn has luckily survived her (almost) four years on this planet relatively unscathed.  (I am sooooooooo knocking on wood right now.)  Of course she has suffered from her fair share of falls, cuts, scrapes and bruises, but nothing a little cute band-aid or ice pack can't fix. 

Tyler, on the other hand, received his first trip to the urgent care doctor and got three stitches on the left temporal side of his noggin.  I am quite certain that this will not be the last time he will get stitches and I fear this will not be his worst injury either.

The back story....Kaitlyn and Tyler were playing with a leftover mylar balloon from their pirate party.  I tied on to a toy watch and let the other float off.  Of course they both wanted to play with the one they could actually get their hands on.  Tyler, never wanting anything until his sister has it, went after that balloon like it was the buried treasured he had been waiting for all his life!  Katilyn thought it was funny that Tyler kept missing the balloon every time he reached for it; of course she was yanking it away at the last second and kept on doing it.  The last time she yanked, he must have lost his balance and took a header into the corner of the wall.  Had he just hit the wall, we would have heard some wailing, but he had to go and hit the corner and split his head open.  I jumped up from the couch, literally within arms reach while Kaitlyn was profusely apologizing and turned him around to give him some TLC.  (I clearly did not know how badly or how hard he hit his head.)  All I saw was blood dripping down his head when I turned him around.  Kaitlyn instantly burst in to tears and I began to cry as well.  I jumped up trying to grab a towel and immediately felt ill.  Thank God Jerry is not bothered by the sight of blood and he quickly scoop Tyler up and took him to the kitchen.  I was trying to help both Tyler and Kaitlyn, who of course was hysterical at this point, and was running around like a chicken with their head cut off.  Jerry was yelling for the alcohol so he could clean Tyler up and assess how deep the cut was, I knew better and grabbed the peroxide.  He had a pretty deep gash on his head so we decided to drop Kaitlyn off with my mom and take Tyler to the urgent care.  Let me tell you that boy is a trooper.  He occasionally complained about his "ouch" on his bonked head, but he never cried once after the initial pain of going head first in to the wall.  He also never once flinched or pulled away when he got his anesthetic shot to numb the area or when he was getting his stitches.  Both nurses were so impressed with him.  I was super proud of him and am very thankful that his injury was much worse.

To Craft or Not to Craft

So I get bit by the crafting bug every now and again where I'll want to craft like mad.  I got a sewing machine for my birthday, per my request, and once I learned how to load the bobbin and top thread, I wanted to sew everything in site.  I have so many ruffled headbands you would not believe.  So that lead me to "pin" projects on headband holders because OMG I have sooooooooo many.  Then I see other projects that I want to do and I go buy the materials for them but I can't get all my supplies at once because I don't want to drop a Benjamin at Joann's and Michael's doesn't have everything I need and the closest Hobby Lobby is over an hour away!  Thus I have about 20 unfinished projects laying around my house and then the craft bug that bit me in the first place goes in to hibernation. 

My craft area looks like a category 5 hurricane ripped through it and the aftermath is a pile of empty canvases, fabric scraps, pins strewn about, scrap paper all over the floor, thread everywhere mess.  I try to keep my area clean and organized but it doesn't help that A) my craft area is in the playroom and therefore Tyler has made it his sole mission to touch every.single.thing. on, in, or around my craft table and move it to where he sees fit and B) I have no proper storage for my craft area and am not willing to spend any money on more storage.  Now, I have a different craft dilemma.  I start "pinning" craft storage ideas which means I need more supplies, which means I have about 10 unfinished craft storage projects lying around my house.  It's truly a vicious, viscous, cycle.

I really need to get my butt in gear and go through the unfinished craft piles I have and buy the rest of the materials to finish those before I try to start new projects.  My only problem with that is Valentine's Day is fast approaching and I have already bought most of the supplies to craft both Tyler's and Kaitlyn's Valentines for their daycare classes.  Yes I am that mom who has to show her undying love for her children through the creations that she stole off of Pinterest and is taking all the credit for created in her own beautiful, crafty mind.  The good news is that I have plenty of time to pick everything up and finish them.  The bad news is that I have to order the sticker paper online and wait for it to arrive, drive to iParty to pick up enough shovels for all the kids in Tyler's class, buy a small paper punch to make the stickers for Kaitlyn's treat bags, buy said treat bags from Joann's, grab a paper punch while I'm there and make some gift tags on my Cricut.  Easy right? 

Oh yeah, did I mention that Kaitlyn is doing ice cream sundaes for her party at daycare?  Oy vey.