Our Next Big Jouney

School has started and everything has been running fairly smooth. We are officially ending week three and my students are doing a wonderful job at maintaining the routines. My new co-Teacher has also started and I think he is exactly the co-teacher I needed. He is relaxed but has high energy for the kids, and very talented in terms of picking up on students behavior and learning skills. He is a seasoned teacher so I feel as though I will be able to rely on him more instead of there being an imbalance of talent and consistency like last year.

With that being said the first two weeks of school were rough in a sense. The kids were great, my team was great, but all the energy I had this summer creating thing officially ran out. I’ve been falling asleep right after dinner and not working from home at all except on Sundays. I just didn’t have the energy and that confuses me because I have not been pulling late nights and were three months into the school year, five if you count professional development weeks.

On Tuesday my best teacher friend and I were carpooling and she says “I had a dream you were pregnant!”. Then that afternoon my mom and I were talking and she brought up that she felt like shopping for a baby. Alright two people bringing it up on the same day. On one hand I thought that while it would be awesome for us to be pregnant on the first month of officially trying but it typically takes 4-6 months for a couple to conceive. Therefore I wasn’t hopeful. Never the less I took a test early Wednesday morning. I kept looking at it and I thought it was saying not pregnant but then I’d blink again and it was still testing. I decided clearly I wasn’t pregnant and jumped into the shower kind of disappointed but hey… there is always next month and plus it was the first month and the odds were slim.

I quickly finished showering and started to get ready for work. Then I looked down at the test and didn’t see two words. My mind quickly said what??? And I picked up the test and realized it didn’t say “not pregnant” …. I was jumping for joy and wanted to tell my husband right away BUT I wanted to tell him in a sweet way.

So I texted my best teacher friend because we carpool and she was just as ecstatic as I was. We quickly developed a plan to cut going to Zumba and decided to go find a special gift after work. All day long my mouth wanted to blurt out the news but I held back because I wanted to tell Chris first (not counting my friend because she was helping me plan). We headed to Barnes and Noble to pick out a cute little book that he can read to the baby and a little stuffed animal puppy. The story behind the puppy is that my husband had a little stuffed animal puppy when he was a baby and I have always loved that story about him. So for now I purchased a tiny puppy that we can upgrade when the baby is a bit older. I also gave him a little card with a pea on the front that was blank inside so that I could write a message to him.

When I got home I gave him the gift and he was so thrilled and couldn’t stop saying “really? You’re serious? Wow!” smiling and hugging me. He really is 100% thrilled that were going to be bringing a little one into the world. Later we went to dinner and afterwards I went to bed because I was still extremely tired, with good reason.  .

The next morning I woke up and started my morning routine. When went downstairs I saw the following…

My husband took the puppy downstairs and had the little puppy sitting on his arm rest after I went to bed that night. That afternoon I mentioned it and he admitted that yes… He liked having the puppy with him because he is so excited,

So here we go… We have until the middle of May to prepare for this new journey that we are taking on. I am so excited that I am sharing this experience with the love of my life. This will definitely be a subject that I post on frequently.

My Fitness Plan - July

I thought I'd go ahead and share my fitness plan here to keep track of what I am doing and share with others. Each month I'll post my new plan for you to see. My schedule changes enough that I do have to mix up what I do at the house and what classes I attend.

Workout Schedule:
Sunday - My day of rest
Monday - Zumba with Desiree followed by A to the 3rd. (Arms, Abs, Ass)
Tuesday - Zumba with Jerry and Chris
Wednesday - Zumba International
Thursday - Zumba with Jerry followed by 3x20 with Angel (Bootcamp)
Friday - Zumba with Desiree followed by A to the 3rd.
Saturday - Zumba with Will and Zumba International.

Three days a week I always attend two Zumba classes in a row, but Saturday can be iffy. The Saturday class is very intense and on average burns anywhere from 800-1000 calories. I stay for two classes if I missed any classes earlier in the week (rarely) or If I'm still feeling super energized.

Food:
I am struggling food wise. I finally created a good food plan during the end of the school year and into the summer session but I fell off the wagon once school let out. I started buying junk food and drinking soda again. We also stopped cooking because of Chris's oral surgery and cooking healthy for one is tough. This week I'm starting fresh again.

I am going back to my Fit and Fresh meals with fruit for snacks during the day since Chris will be back at work. Then in the evening I'll be cooking for two again. The soda is officially out of the house and the junk food... Well I ate most of it :/

I'll create and post a full meal plan for the rest of July tomorrow. :)

Zumba

One of my main goals at this moment is to live a healthier lifestyle along with gaining weight.  While I did keep up with my Ensure diet plan (doctor recommended) I had trouble with the idea of gaining weight through calorie consumption only.  I also have been suffering from not having enough energy. Chris always told me that I needed to work out to have more energy. Personally I thought the idea was flawed because working out makes me tired, not energized.  I am now biting the bullet by admitting that I was wrong, don't tell my husband.

My friend D and I started going to Zumba together before school ended. We've been attending for about a month now, with a goal to attend five days a week.  At first I was very hesitant because I have ZERO moves.  I am one of those classic white girls that cannot dance.  Throw in my insanely long and skinny arms and legs and I pretty much look like a cricket trying to dance. I'm not ashamed to admit that. :)  So despite looking like a hopping cricket I love this workout because I don't feel like I'm working out.  The studio that D and I work out at has multiple classes of different types of Zumba so that you can really mix up your workout.  Each time I've gone I've left saying "That is my favorite class now!!" for all classes except one.  They even have two classes that are not Zumba related but allow you to build up and tone your muscles.  One is called 3X20 and it is more of a bootcamp class and the other is called "A to the 3rd" which really means "Ab's, Arms, and Ass"

Today we went to a regular Zumba class and then to the A to the 3rd and I'm telling you... A to the 3rd killed my abs.  I had to stop multiple times during the ab workout because my ab muscles were burning  to the point that I just had to rest.  It was painful but in a good way and I cannot wait to go back in the morning.

Week One... Deemed Successful

I just completed my first week of being the grade level chair.  I am happy to report back that this week was deemed successful.  My team had everything turned in three days before the deadline and everyone feels ready and excited for Monday.  This summer each team was also challenged to come up with a grade level chant for the students to say when we have "roll call" at our assemblies.  Pre-K4 - 4th grade all wrote and developed their own roll calls and guess who won..?  Pre-K4!!  We only had one day to develop and practice so in general it was a little rough but with time we'll have it down :)

Here is the first part of the video.

and here is the rest of it.... but it cuts off at the end.  I'm not sure what happened to cause that...

Monday marks the beginning of the new year (kind of).  We will have the three and four year olds in our classrooms however they officially are called "rising 3's" until August when we officially call them Pre-K4 students.  Due to overbooking issues we had to change the class list and just keep the kids from each class together but move their rooms.  While I have the kids for the summer, I will not know until August which kids are my Pre-K4 kids.  I have a good idea, but somethings may change.

I'm slightly nervous about the start but it will be fine :)

We Made It....

I said goodbye to a teammate on Friday and through the tears we managed to laugh about the events that transpired this year.

 We lost two team members to other jobs at the start of the year, gained Head Start as an entity within our grade, and had to abide by new rules that we never had to have before.  No more mini-fridges, no more cooking, no class pets, losing our ability to use the playground, assessment periods for Head Start and our own school meant we went a full months of just assessing the students without pulling small groups, dual report cards, drops in responsibility.

Megan and I (yes, two Megan's on our team) laughed while we talked about how we both prayed at night that the other would show up to work the next day.  We honestly didn't think we would be able to make it to the end of the school year with all of the changes that transpired and all that we had to deal with.   We both had difficult classes in different ways and we both cried too many times to count this year but in the end we were successful.

Our students excelled in their learning and we managed to not quit mid year.  We both honestly believe that our teaching years cannot get any worse than what this year threw at us.  While Megan is leaving to work on her masters degree, I will be staying on and was hired on to take over as grade level chair.  I honestly hope that I am as successful and supportive as she was this year to the new teammates that we'll have.  We are once getting two new team members but luckily this time it is during the summer and not at the start of the school year.

This summer I plan to teach summer school for two weeks to the new students moving up from Pre-K3 to Pre-K4.  After that... RELAX for a full month.  What a way to let the stress go before we head back into the new year.

I don't know what I'll do with my free time this summer, but you can bet that the first week will not be devoted to teaching.

Naive

... that is what you call a teacher that believes that the last day of school will be a fun day without any problems.  I honestly thought my tough kids would give me some kind of break.

BOY WAS I WRONG!

I only stepped away from my class once for a quick bathroom break and when I got back I found out four of my students decided to STAND on the lunch stools at the same time chanting. What the heck???

At the feeder wise school assembly (Elementary, Middle, and High school all in the same gym) two of my better behaved kids decided that they would chat it up while the region leader was speaking.  That's not too bad until their voices became louder and other students started complaining. I attempted to nip it in the bud with two warnings and then the third time I had to have the students come sit by me.  The fact that they had to move and sit by me finally showed them that I was disappointed and yes one of them resulted to loudly sobbing because he was upset he had to be moved.

Then at dismissal one of my students threw up and I quickly rushed him to the trash can that was literally a maximum of five feet away. That's not the shocking part.  In the time that it took me to get him to the trash can (mere seconds) another child decided to throw his own backpack in the ill child's vomit and then put the vomit on his "friends".   We quickly put a stop to that and then when it was time to go he threw a fit about having to wear his backpack.  Why? Because it had vomit on it.

Yes kids will be kids... but man mine really took advantage of the fact that they only had one teacher today and that it was the last day of school.   I was very disappointed to say the least and was definitely ready to go back to my classroom and have some caffeine (Pepsi).

Needless to say I had some wonderful  moments in my classroom Friday as well.  My girls just wanted to sit me with during center times and play hairstylist and the boys and I played parking lot math.  The students as a whole were excited to take home excess supplies, and chasing each other on the playground one last time was wonderful. :)

So now I say goodbye to the students of 2025 and hello to the students of 2026.

I have one week off before we go back and start planning for summer school.

GLC 1

Tomorrow is my first big grade level chair meeting (GLC from here on out). I'm nervous, excited, and praying that I didn't bite off to much. The agenda is massive and I don't know how we will cover it all but it will be interesting.

Tomorrow is also the Celebration of Learning. This is basically a giant two hour party to celebrate the hard work our students put in through our 10 month year from 7-5:30 daily. At my school we work hard so that we can play even harder. I signed up for this committee as well as many others this year. So what this means is that I need to get to school early with two other teachers to get the centers for the courtyard ready. Yikes...

My goal for next year... Don't over book myself. So i arrived home at 9 tonight and in a mere 6 hours I have to go back to work. Will I be staying up late tomorrow? Probably not. I will be exhausted as well as the kids.

Nap time will follow the party, thank goodness....

The End of the Year.

Here we are, the last week of school. I have completed and turned in all assessment data and I am excited to say that my kids grew tremendously this year. I am proud of them and I cannot wait to celebrate their growth this coming week.

I am quite sad that these kids will be leaving me at the end of the week but I think the way our kids change grades really helps the teachers as well as the students. After this next week our kids will have two weeks off, and the teachers will have one week off. The teachers will come back and start preparing for summer school where we will have some of next years kids for two weeks. My classroom will not be a full day class during the summer. Ipre-K4 will be a half day class with 20 students in the morning and 20 students in the afternoon. Head Start will not be with us, as they will be on summer break starting this Thursday until two weeks after the next school year starts. I'm not sure why.

Once summer school ends I plan on painting my classroom tan and leaving just one wall pink. My hope is that the calmer colors will calm the kids down. We definitely have an over stimulating color combination this year of bright green and hot pink. Throw in all the colorful accents and the room is like a paint store exploded in there.

So the great clean up begins. The end of year two as a lead teacher and the start of year three.

Low Weight Issues

Reality hit this week when my husband and I found out that my low weight was costing us financially.  We went into serious mode very quickly and hit up Costco to restock and restart my Ensure "diet".   I'm naturally very slim, but it doesn't cause my health to have any issues because naturally I was just built this way.  Everyone on my fathers side was built this way, so it was a shock to find that that we were having to pay double in an area of our life just because I'm about 10 pounds shy of where I should be.

Why Ensure?  I've tried those "Weight Gain" powders and I never found one that tasted good enough for me to stick with it.  Then the year before my wedding I was very sick and had a ton of kidney issues as well due to constant infections.  My doctor wanted me to gain ten pounds to try and boost my immune system and suggested Ensure.  I tried it and liked it which means I stuck to the plan.  I ended up getting my weight up to 123 pounds by the time my wedding came around.

So my goal is to gain 10 pounds this year. Honestly I don't think it'll be that hard.  I've been working out three times a week and adding in Ensure will help me gain muscle weight instead of fat weight.  Hopefully I'll be halfway there by the time we are actively trying for a baby.

Speaking of having babies that person pictured below is my husband.  Being the superhero junkie that he is he clearly FLIPPED out when he saw these backpacks.  He quickly passed his phone to me and said "Take a picture!!!!" and I did.  Then I pondered whether or not I really want kids because clearly I already have one.  ;)

Another One Bites The Dust

Two more marriages have suffered a breakdown and the couples are separated. It's really sad, and scary at the same time. I have only met two couples in our age group that has stayed married. Everyone else is breaking up. What is going on?

It makes me thank God that Chris and I have survived some pretty tough moments. We have had some tough arguments but we always come out ahead. We made a vow last night to always put each other first. Even when we have kids we will try to put each other first so that we have a healthy and strong relationship that will enable us to care for our kids properly and lovingly.

Divorce is scary, and I hope we never cross that path. Prayers are going out that those that are separated can work it out if they truly want to. N

Where we are

Currently things are on the up and up.

Home Life: We have started the process of our foundation repair. At one point our driveway disappeared and was officially a mountain of clay. Luckily the crew took that two days later and now we just have cement holes covered with planks of wood.. Once the bell piers cure then the team will come back and install special jack type things to adjust the house. It is an expensive fix due to the recent droughts but I feel that this will also be a selling point due to a house lifetime warrantee that is transferable.

Work: We have one more week left until the last unit begins. It is bittersweet because I am so excited over the growth of my students as well as having the joy of having four students for two grade levels now. The bitter part is that despite how crazy the kids can be, I don't want to let go of them :) This has been my toughest year yet due to the changes that occurred in our grade, but we came out on top. Next year looks extremely promising as the bugs have been worked out of our collaboration with another early childhood program. The new leadership structure also looks strong and positive for teacher and student growth. I still don't know if I'll be grade level chair next year or not but all of the applications are due Friday. We will also be receiving a raise this year, meaning the pay freeze is over!! Last but not least I will also be going to a huge PD conference this summer. Our company throws massive annual conferences and unfortunately last year nobody in Houston could afford to go. Our leaders even stayed back to show that if we couldn't afford to go then they were not going to go. This year only teachers that have not had the opportunity to go will be allowed to go. Excitedly that means almost our whole Pre-K team!

Nothing else is really going on at the moment. We're holding off still on the baby front so that I can get my wisdom teeth out. I need to schedule that on Monday if I can remember.

Doctor Update

Apparently going to the doctor on your birthday can make some pretty magical things happen. My doctor knew what happened with the office mix up and the cancelled pre-conception appointment and actually went ahead and combined the two appointments so that I wouldn't have to take off again! After looking at my medical history, talking about prenatals, and checking out my shot records, we were given the green light for TTC as soon as we feel ready! :) Yay! I did mention how we want to try for a specific time frame due to my job and she brought up charting. Given how early we started charting she said we should have a pretty good idea on when to time everything. To be honest I haven't done a great job at charting... which I need to work on. It is just really hard to remember to take my temperature before getting out of bed. Once I wake up I know that if I lay there for another minute then I'll be out like a light again. So this I need to work on.

Then I headed to the dentist (which I hate) to have my x-rays taken and a cleaning. Once again they pressured me about getting veneers and that my wisdom teeth must come out this summer. Of course I'll have the wisdom teeth removed pre-pregnancy because one has a cavity and I don't want it to start causing issues once we're pregnant since your teeth become weaker during pregnancy. As for the veneers... I don't think so. Simply because while my smile may not be perfect, if someone is looking at me and all they can think about is how my incisors are not longer than my other teeth then that person clearly has OCD issues.

So I now have a pregnancy to-do list:

1. Get my wisdom teeth out.

2. Get better at charting.

Disappointment

And less than 24 hours prior to my preconception visit... My visit is cancelled. I am still going in for my yearly but the preconception visit has to be rescheduled. I was looking forward to starting this TTC journey on my birthday (yes, tomorrow). I wasn't planning on just getting a pap and then a teeth cleaning on my birthday. Those were just extra needed appointments that I squeezed in given that I was going in for the TTC appointment.

I waited three months for this appointment... Hopefully I don't have to wait another three months. :(

Clearly I Lied...

A few post ago when I said I wouldn't chart. I'm five days in and honestly it is kind of fun building this graph. Then again I've always had fun making charts and such. I am using a hand iPhone/iPad app that allows me to put in my information and it graphs everything for me so the error margin is hopefully less.

My reasoning for starting this is our time frame. My career is blossoming and if I want to be in a leadership role next year then I'd rather not have to take off for maternity leave. We're going to attempt to aim for a specific window of time but granted of that doesn't happen then so be it. I'd prefer that if we get pregnant that the baby would be due during the tail end of the school year but more so summer. However with our school calendar that leaves just July. If we can have her early July then six weeks later school starts up. Perfect! But our second best timing would be mid to late June. I have a co-teacher so relatively things would be okay once she is there. However I'd rather not have to be out during the school year at all. So our months would be...

-Conception in September and born in June
-Conception in October and born in July

Therefore that gives me 6 months to chart and get the timing just right.

If we miss that set then our next plan would be March and birth in November. After that... I'm throwing the plans out the window and I'll say when it happens it happens. My lesson so far in life has been patience so hopefully God sees these next 6 months of preparation as planning with extreme patience. ;)

I know some people will say I am a fool for planning a time frame and that its putting too much pressure on myself but honestly if it didn't fall in one of those months then I'd feel extreme personal guilt from leaving my kiddos mid-year for 6 weeks. Plus it's not the end of the world if we don't meet the two time frames because after that it's whatever.

I just know that a huge change like that is tough on 4 year olds and I don't want to put them through that if I can help it. They are not my kids but at the same time they are very much my kids.

So anyways, once my first month chart is done I'll post a screen cap on here in case anyone spots something I don't.

I'm off to bed before our busy Friday starts. Goodnight :)

Visiting Home

I had the most wonderful drive home on Thursday. As I headed back up to my parents house, leaving behind the hustle and bustle of the city I couldn't help but miss country life. I drove the whole way with the wind in my hair and my radio blasting. Smelling the sweet wisteria in bloom, passing the fields of cows, and going up and down the hills of east Texas with nothing but trees and blue bonnets on the sides of the roads. It was heavenly.

What awaited me at my parents house was pure bliss. The front of their yard has a line of wisteria bushes that filled the yard with their beautiful perfume. The house was filled with the scent of a chocolate kalua cake and for dinner we (mom, Jane, and I) prepared a delicious mixture of kabobs containing shrimp, steak, onions, plums, and nectarines. The guys (Don, dad, and Alex) grilled the meat while we finished the salad, baked potatoes, and bread. Then we all sat down to an amazing dinner followed by several rounds of dominos. I was able to get some photos during the game but of course I'm not in them because I took them. This is why I need to bring Chris :)

Seriously I wish life was constantly like this. I would move us back to our home town in a heartbeat. This was definitely the best ending to my spring break.

-----
In other news, you know how your parents say that you'll always have your room at the house even after you move out? Apparently that expires after they realize they can use that room. I'm currently laying on a plastic wrapped mattress on the floor of the storage room. Hmm... If they were not great parents then I would totally guilt them for this. ;)

I love coming home. :)

Before Your Pregnancy - Book Review

I've stated several times in the past that I'm a planner. I planned my whole college career out each semester, I planned my wedding over a two year time span, and I plan everytime we rearrange our house to figure out what arrangement I'd like first. Sure it drives my husband crazy at times but it has saved us in so many situations that he doesn't complain. :) Clearly this skill comes in handy being a teacher as well. Now imagine how surprised I was when I was questioned by a friend (of 15 years) about "over-planning" for a baby because I mentioned that our preconception doctors appointment is coming up. Haha... hello? Do you remember me? Fear of judgement set aside... I want to be as knowledgeable as I can be because it eases my over-worrying mind.

With that being said here is my first book review! I bought the book from Amazon for my kindle/ipad. First off I questioned why the kindle version is more expensive than the actual book, but this book has click-able links inside that lead to a website where you can download forms for planning along with links to jump to diagrams and other chapters. That won me over quickly.

This book hits most of the key topics that I was left wondering about after reading a few pregnancy books. While other books merely devote one chapter to preconception, this book is loaded with everything I could have ever wondered about. It really is an over-planners dream guide. This book is geared for 90 days of planning, which is three months. That is how long doctors typically suggest you to be off your birth control for before officially trying even though some studies suggest otherwise. The authors accept that some people are on a faster pace and there are little picture guides to help guide you through if you're ready to hit the ground running or if you have the time to take three months to plan.

Topics Addressed: Readiness emotionally and financially, lifestyle habits that may need adjusting, home and work environments, preconception visits, past health issues that could cause issues, ancestry and genetics, conception friendly medications and herbs, what your SO can do to prepare, vitamins and minerals, using MyPyramid.gov (now myplate), diet tailoring, body weight from both sides of the issue, getting in shape, keeping the romance while ttc, and infertility.

I couldn't find an issue that I didn't question to be honest. This book is honest and will tell you that studies regarding certain issues have said one thing, but that other studies have showed another side without really confusing the issue at hand. The authors wrote this book in a way that makes it sound like a good friend or very honest and respected doctor is talking to you without judgement for issues that you may be facing. Above all of their information they do frequently mention that your doctor will know what is right for you in certain situations and that their book is now one to tell you that you have to do this or that.

I would without a doubt recommend this book to any couples that are thinking about TTC and would like to look at what they can do to try and help the process and their future baby as well.

Knowledge

Genetics are a funny thing, growing up I looked so much like my dad but we were not that close really. While I was a daddies girl, I was more of a mommies girl. Now my looks are closer to being even and trait wise things are split as well. One strong trait my dad always had behavior wise was his ability to research the hell out of anything that he was interested in. I definitely picked up that skill/habit. So now I am researching the hell out of preconception. I have the vitamins down, but I still worry about illness and genetics. Catching strep really made me nervous so all I can do to calm my nerves is read.

My newest book is called "Before Your Pregnancy". This will be the first actual book I'll have read that is about preconception. After looking through my kindle to try and relax my nerves I realized that I only had a pregnancy book which just had a small snip-it about preconception.

My other concern is my PMDD. While I did not plan on getting off of my BC this early I actually have now been off of it for one month now. We are not at the "whatever happens happens" phase yet because we haven't been to the doctor but it has already brought up some concerns. It's just the first month and already my PMDD has reared it's ugly head. My doctor mentioned before that there were other medications that we can try during preconception and that once pregnant that the hormones will level out and I will not need the medication during the pregnancy.

We have three weeks until the doctor appointment, so until then I'll just keep reading. Maybe ill stumble upon some PMDD research for maintaining symptoms.

My Office Progress

We have moved as forward on this office as we plan to for now. We bought two chairs, a side table, lamp, and two be beautiful vases. I finally hung up the paintings that have been waiting to be hung up for awhile. My next move was going to be reprinting but we decided to hold off until this summer when we try our hand at installing hardwood floors. We will be pulling up the carpet and trim so rather than have to paint again at that time we are just going to wait do it once.

Health wise the strep is gone! Yippie!

March!

Everything is on the up and up here!

I have my "game" on at work and have been on top of all everything as needed at work. This year is not even over yet and I'm already excited for next year. I will be piloting a writing curriculum that I've loved every since I found out about it during student teaching. The program is called Units of Study by Lucy Calkins, I loved it so much that I was able to talk the curriculum director into getting the program at my last school because I believe in it so much. Not only is it set up in an amazing order, but the writers wrote this book in a way that helps you break down writers workshop into skills. The skills build upon themselves and the curriculum is flexible enough that you can extend the lessons to last a multitude of days depending on your students needs. Truth be told we will not be using the full curriculum because technically the curriculum is for Kinder-2nd, but I want to bring the first half of it down to Pre-K because really our Pre-K students are doing what most schools consider to be kindergarten work. At the end of the year we'll take writing samples from this school year, and compare them to the pace of the class at the end of next school year to see if it is affective enough for our little ones. I'm just giddy about this!

On the home front things are going well. This week ended up being a major car week for us as Chris and I both had to get new tires. I hit a horrible pot hole that somehow blew out my tire. I am extremely grateful for Hyundai's roadside assurance as they quickly arrived to my location and towed my car to the nearest Hyundai lot for me. Their roadside assistance will cover my car for 5 years which gives me a peace of mind, especially given that the new Elantra does not come with a spare tire and the tire mobility kit did not work on my tire given the type of damage. As for Chris, he hit the same pot hole (before me) but he had to get two new tires due to the damage on one tire and the age of his tires as it was.

In other news I'm switching out the color of my office from purple to turquoise. I love my grey purple wall, but we saw some amazing pieces for the office that use turquoise as an accent and both fell in love. So next weekend we will spend the weekend repainting the room which we knew we needed to do anyways. This will also accomplish two goals, as we are trying to make the room guest, and nursery friendly despite it being an office right now.

That leads us right into where we are on the baby front. In exactly one month (also my birthday!) I'll go to the doctor for our pre-conception appointment. As long as the doctor gives the go ahead then we'll begin our adventure into possibly becoming parents. We're not going to actively be trying for a baby but we will not be preventing a baby. The reason being is that because I've been on BC due to extreme cramps since I was 16. That means I've been on BC for over 10+ years and while not true in every case, if you've been on BC for that long then it can take longer to conceive. To avoid any added stress we are going to let nature takes its course until the end of the summer when we actively start attempting for a baby. I don't know if that means I'll try charting or anything, but we'll see as time goes. My other possible reason is that if we get pregnant around the end of the summer and start of the school year, then the due date would fall in line with school ending for the summer.

So life is good :) No complaints at the moment ;)

Two Weeks Later...

I gave up for now and went Back to regular vitamins. While not necessarily prenatal vitamins, i am getting the same amount of recommended nutrients but just about half ofthe recommended DHA. I picked up a child's vitamin that has DHA in it and so far so good as far as supplementing it. The students don't complain of any fishy smells and I'm not self conscious. This will tide me over until I see the doctor. I have been really sick lately. nauseousness and headaches which of course makes my friend at work think pregnancy right away but I definitely am not. :) it would be too soon anyways and she knows this is still a hush hush topic at work. Not many people at my job have kids due to the long hours and hard work.

Work wise things have been tough but there seems to be a shining beacon of hope towards next years schedule. We will see how everyone feels after a survey goes out to the staff in the next week or so. In the meantime I admit that I have been applying to schools a bit closer to home. Once the news about raises and such comes through then I'll know for sure if I am taking this job hunt seriously. Unfortunately I'm not sure how that will go. My family wants me to leave teaching but honesty I love the kids and don't want to leave. If I worked the regular teacher hours then I could at least have time for my masters degree.

Whats meant to be will be.

4 Year Olds and Honesty

*written two weeks ago BUT I forgot to hit publish*

As you know, unless you just started reading... I teach Pre-K. I love my little kiddos even on the toughest days. The great thing about four year olds is their innocense and honesty. You know when your student says "You look pretty!" that you really do look pretty that day. They give you hugs, they say "I love you" and they make you laugh by connecting odd facts together. I honestly would probably stay in Pre-K forever if I can, as long as I don't go below age 4. So why did I cringe when one of my more blunt students talked to me the other day? Did he complement my dress? No. Did he compliment my stick figure drawing? No. He said, and I quote...

"Ms. White... your mouth smells funny"

and that was when I knew I needed a change. The darn pre-natals that I bought last week have been making me burp. Now burping in general I can handle because I was raised by a mother that taught me to burp indiscreetly. However these were not just regular burps. These were horrifying FISH burps. I HATE fish... I will not eat it.

On the way home on Friday I stopped by the store and picked up a different type of pre-natal that I'll start tomorrow. I'll keep you updated and post what I find once we discover one that will not cause this horrible odor.

Health

It is not a huge secret that Chris and I probably lack quite a bit of nutrients. First off, Chris is semi-vegitarian. He has a texture issue with meat like steak, chicken breast, ribs... pretty much everything delicious. He will however eat ground beef in various forms where we can sneak it in. Sadly that would be the least healthiest kind to eat right? We're working on this, and I sometimes wonder if this is just an issue from growing up or what. Either way, I love him. :)

As for myself, I'm working on just making sure I eat enough. With my job and my lifestyle grab-and-go is pretty much the only thing that works for me in the morning and at lunch. Typically I do not eat breakfast, and in the past I was horrible at making sure I eat my lunch due to how busy I am. To be honest I don't have a lunch break scheduled into my day, so my team and I do what we call a "working lunch". If I can find something that I do not have to heat up, then I find that I actually get to eat my lunch each day.

Months ago I won a blog giveaway that sponsored by http://www.easylunchboxes.com/. They make these little coolers with compartmentalized containers for lunch. So far they have been a God send. I am able to pack my food into the containers on Sunday night and then each morning I just reach into the refrigerator and grab my meal. Throw in a piece of fruit, a fruit smoothie, and a sparkling Izze and I'm ready to go.

Breakfast however... it not so easy. I need another grab and go option and I can't exactly get what I need by going to Starbucks anymore unless I switch to their fruit smoothies. So I'm back to making Green Monster smoothies each morning. A green monster is a smoothie made with spinach. Before you say EWW hear me out. These smoothies do not taste like spinach but rather like whatever fruit you put in them. Personally I stick to the original recipe and I use a banana because I love banana smoothies. A girl named Angela blogged about these smoothies way back when and then created a pretty cool website that allows others to post their versions. I tried it once thinking I wouldn't like it and it turned out to be amazing. Then I disguised it in a colored cup with a lid and had Chris try it and sure enough he loved it. Despite the color and the thought that it has spinach in it, its actually pretty amazing. Check out the recipes at http://greenmonstermovement.com/.

Lastly I decided tonight to go ahead and buy prenatal vitamins. I struggled with this because I'm not a pill person. Just thinking of swallowing a large pill and I shiver all over. I bought the One A Day women's prenatal pill with DHA. Let me first just say that the size of the pill on the box is not the actual size of the pills. If they had been then I wouldn't have any issues. These pills have a mixed review about them so I figure that I'll try them out and if I have a horrible time with them then I'll just go back to the original plan that I have of trying the Bellybar brand or wait until I go to the doctor. Cross those fingers!

Addiction and Pre-Conception Update

It has been four days since I quit my addiction. Last Saturday I decided that enough was simply enough. I used it multiple times a day and probably went no longer than two hours using it except during work. What did I quit? Facebook. I quit because of this new Timeline thing Facebook has going on. I started Timeline thinking that if I didn't like it then I'd switch back. Well apparently that is not a possibility. While Facebook has made what sounds like a generous claim of being able to remove anything you like during a window of 7 days... I honestly think that is fairly lame. First off, you cannot do a mass delete, you have to delete each item one by one. Not only that but I've been on Facebook since 2005, do you know how many stupid random post there are? It is impossible to sit there and complete the three steps required for every post you delete to remove over 5 years worth of posting. So instead I took the steps required and just deleted the darn thing. It has been odd turning on my phone to go and check only to realize that I deleted it. I do not want to start over on the 14 day deletion period, so checking in just one more time isn't really worth it. Will it last? Maybe. My worst case scenario is that I open a new account and keep it severely limited. The only reason I want to use Facebook still is so that I can talk to my friends from college that are also teachers. I use the chat function quite often and it is easier to talk in a chat than text messaging back and forth.

In other news I finally heard back from my OBG and I have my Pre-Pregnancy Counseling in April. Ironically the only dates available were my birthday and a few months later. Of course I went with the earliest appointment which is April. Could this be a good sign? Meeting with my doctor about getting pregnant on the anniversary of my own birth? Hopefully! I'm crossing my fingers that it is a good sign of what's to come. :)

Moving back in

For the past 6 months my brother moved in with us so that he could try to find a job down here as the job market dried up back home. He found a job and after working there for 6 months he was able to transfer to another branch back home. What this means for me is that I now have my office back!

I have spent the day moving most of my stuff back in with many thoughts as to why I have so many heavy books. Why??? I have them because I am addicted to GOOD center planning books.

As I rebuild my office I'll add pictures because we are making some exciting changes. One of the changes that we have started is painting/staining my desk. We completely took it apart today and began stripping the old stain off. I feel this will be a two weekend project because we have to do the bookcase as well. I haven't figured out what color to paint or stain it as of yet. My source of inspiration is Pinterest at the moment so we will see.

A few of my projects include the following...
- A picture frame message board
- Finally framing my degree
- a comfy seating area and coffee table to use as a desk
- curtains for the closet that no longer has doors.

Genetic Testing

The idea of genetic testing has started creeping into my mind. Normally I wouldn't have thought about this, but lately I received a diagnosis that explained a very old problem that I had and given that it was passed down to me I'm now trying to arm myself with information to see whether or not my own children could get this, and if so to what degree.

Growing up I always had something different about my skin. In some areas I have dry, puffy, scale like skin, in others places I have soft raised dark skin, and in other places I have barely noticeable skin that is just slightly darker and has a matte finish to it. This skin condition drove me nuts and made me feel a bit self conscious because my hands always felt rough and scratchy as opposed to soft and smooth like most people. When I was younger my pediatrician diagnosed it but 10 years later when I finally started asking about it, nobody could remember what it was. All my mother remembered was that it had to be watched when I hit puberty to make sure tumors didn't form. Now fast forward to this year. In December I finally sucked up my worries and made an appointment with Baylor Dermatology Clinic. A wonderful doctor there looked at my skin, assured me that I don't have to worry about it doing any harm to me. It wasn't related to cancer, tumors, or anything of the sort.

I have Ichthyosis. At first the doctor thought it was Keratosis Seborrheica, but as soon as I mentioned that my mother has the same skin problems the diagnosis was quickly changed to Ichthyosis. Before anyone googles, let me first say that the google results are EXTREMELY rare cases and flat out scary. There are SEVERAL forms of Ichthyosis. I have a very mild version of one form, but another skin issue that I have may fall under one or two of the other forms. So we haven't completed my full diagnosis just yet.

Ichthyosis-Vulgaris - This is the most common version, and 95% of people with ichthyosis have this form but it can have various looks to it so google search didn't even help with this. Basically your skin doesn't shed its layers as quickly in the areas that I have this. On my own body I have this on my left hand and a little bit on my left foot, and a small amount on my left elbow. I use to have this in the same areas on the right side of my body but with time it cleared up. In some people it goes away during adulthood, and returns during old age. I'm crossing my fingers that it just doesn't come back. For the most part my hands are not as rough as they use to be thanks to a special lotion that my doctor gave me. Ammonium lactate cream 12%. I consider myself lucky because there are hundreds of people out there with this skin condition that have it way worse than I do.

My main concern now is if my children inherit this skin disorder, will they have it worse? What would be the worse case scenario? Could they develop another form of ichthyosis that is harder to deal with? These are questions I would like answers too, but I'm still fairly new to researching this. From what I've read I think things would be okay, but I would love some reassurance because there are some terrifying forms of ichthyosis out there but I know they tend to deal with specific genes.

I am lucky enough that Baylor Dermatology has a program called MyChart where you can see your test results, ask for refills, and send questions to your doctor specifically. I sent my doctor a message today asking whether or not I need to come in regarding having a child and possibly passing this down given that my case is genetic.

What will happen? We'll see. Depending on the answers from my doctor we may do genetic testing, or we may not have to. It would definitely put my mind at ease, so I've brought up the idea with Chris so that if my doctor suggest it then he'll be ready mentally.

A Day In My Life

Chris sometimes wonders why I am so tired at the end of the day which has prompted me to make him come to school with me ONE day so that he can see what I do. In reality taking a day off to visit my classroom isn't quite as easy as one would imagine. Therefore I've made the following so that he can see just how the day runs for me.

5:00 - the alarm goes off and I snooze it for fifteen minutes
5:35 oops! That was too much time... Quickly jump in the shower
5:45 get dressed and begin fixing my hair and makeup.
6:10 pack up my stuff for work, grab my lunch, feed the cats and rush out the door at..
6:25- begin my commute to school
7:00 open my classroom door, set up my laptop, set out morning stations, and say good morning as the children and parents trickle in while also checking folders.
7:25 call clean up and grab the morning papers.
7:30 send regular accident prone friends to the bathroom and start calling roll.
7:35 go over the schedule for today and our job chart.
7:40 send the girls for their coats, then the boys for their coats, and rush the students that are still trickling in.
7:45 walk to the cafeteria, pass out lunch cards and help the students pull down their lunch tray. Tardy time, make last changes to the tardy roster.
7:50 get asked repeatedly to open food packages and milk cartons but instead I encourage the students to open the items themselves, which all of them can.
8:00 encourage students to eat and grow their bodies as well as their brains.
8:15 call the 3 steps. Close your milk, stand up, grab your tray. As we head to the front to dump our food trays. Constantly remind friends to look forward and at their trays to avoid spills.
8:17 clean up spills.
8:20 arrive at class, remove jackets and join together on the rug.
8:25 good morning routine.
8:30 literacy: read a story, two letters of the week, learn a poem, learn about alliteration (bee, baby, bubble) and play an alliterative game.
8:45 go to literacy centers, pull small groups, have a student dictate a story
9:00 co-teacher arrives
9:10 play cleanup song
9:15 Calendar, weather, and daily news
9:20 math whole group followed VGA check for understanding through a game.
9:30 math centers, small groups, and story dictation
10:05 clean up and official attendance
10:10 Spanish and my planning time which sometimes i fit in lunch
10:40 music and movement
10:50 social skills lesson
11:00 dramatic performance and bathroom for any child that needs to go, but more specifically accident prone kids.
11:10 second dramatic performance
11:15 go to lunch, same procedure as breakfast
11:40 clean up
11:45 recess
12:15 go inside, use the bathroom, lay out mats.
12:25 students are laying down, start calling two students at a time to brush their teeth.
12:35 all student are done, everyone's resting, and now lesson planning with co-teacher.
1:15 wake kids up, deal with two criers that never want to get up, all student must go to the bathroom. Tell two students that they have to go to the bathroom otherwise they will have an accident, two students cry and that they don't want to because they want to sleep.
1:30 head to excellence (P.E., music, art, or technology)
1:35 take a child to the nurse for daily medicine then race the child back to class
1:40 grade level meeting
2:35 meet kids back at the room, mode journal writing and send the kids to their journals.
2:40 color behavior charts, put new papers in folders
2:50 check journals, kids read a book quietly until everyone is finished.
3:00 students grab backpacks and we pack up.
3:15 head to the playground and play our hearts out with teacher tag, monsters vs humans, and other exhausting but fun games.
3:40 head to the front of the school for dismissal.
345-4:15 load kids into carseats to go home.
4:15 Either planning time or 5 Pm duty.
4:15 five pm duty - teamed up with another teacher - take forty kids to the cafeteria for snack, songs, and games, or to the classroom for a project and snacks.
4:40 take the bus kids to their bus waiting spots then head back to the car riders group.
4:45-5:30 wait outside for parents to pick up their kids.
5:35 call parents
5:40 pack up my stuff, sign out, and leave.
5:49-6:30 call parents regarding various issues, answer calls from parents while driving home. Definitely stop by Starbucks for a drink to keep me awake.
6:30 greet husband, stretch out for a moment.
6:45 start dinner
7:00 eat dinner, afterwards watch a tv show,
7:30 change into work out clothes and chat with hubby.
8:00 head to the gym to work out while watching an episode of Desperate Housewives.
8:50 pack up and head home.
9:00 have a smoothie or fruit as a snack and then shower
9:30 read
10:00 go to sleep and start all over again.


Weigh in: August 125, December 117, January 115. I need to make sure to each lunch every day, but it's a struggle most days during school hours. Back to adding ensure to every meal.

Friday The 13th??

Today I had a pretty good Friday the 13th. However, I was not so lucky on Thursday, the 12th.

On my way to work I was driving on the tollway and traffic suddenly stopped. I braked hard and the car behind me apparently couldn't figure out what my red tail lights were trying to say. In case you are reading this... STOP YOU IDIOT!... but no.... he hit me from behind. The suck is that when he hit my car, it sent my car forward and into the SUV in front of me. If that wasn't horrible enough, the jerk quickly drove off. Luckily nobody was hurt, and the car in front of me was fine other than some paint transferring. She said she will not be filing it with my insurance but none the less we exchanged anyways. A police officer did show up, but because the other driver sped off, there was minimal damage, and no witnesses stayed... I'm pretty much SOL if she does file. Had the other person stayed then they would have been held responsible for both of us. I'm worried though that the person my car hit, will go ahead and file for the paint transfer.

I'm looking up into the sky and pleading.. Please let this be a good karma pay off for the time that the guy at the gas station backed into my car and I let him off the hook for the dent he put in my focus. And for letting my brother off the hook when he put a MAJOR dent on the driver side of my Focus. :( please? please??

Pre-Pregnancy To Do List

A long time ago I was inspired by the following blog... Baby Makin(g) Machine as she wrote about the quest to pretty much research everything imaginable regarding babies. She worked hard to not only bring herself up to speed on current trends, tips, and tricks, but also health. So after reading her blog for over two years, I'm finally on that path myself.

Now that we have our house to ourselves again, Chris managed to surprise me by suddenly being gung-ho on us getting pregnant this summer. So the process begins and I am developing list of things to do regarding the pregnancy and things i want to do before this pregnancy:

1. Get into my doctor regarding stopping my BC pills and pre-pregnancy counseling. Now you would think this one would be easy right? Finish the pack and then BAM no more pills. It would be that easy except I have PMDD. My doctor also wants me to stop taking my BC pills three months before we are officially trying to get pregnant because I have been on HBC for YEARS. While some research says that you can stop HBC and be pregnant the next month, we have figured that it couldn't hurt stopping earlier. By the looks of my school calendar hopefully I can get into the doctor in March or June. Otherwise I'll have to use a 4th day from my vacation this year and I'm attempting to avoid using as many days as I can.

2. Research Pre-Natals. I absolutely hate taking pills. I have no problem with advil, tylonol, bc, and things of that sort. Vitamins however are another story. They are typically large, and if they have iron in them then I usually end up with an upset stomach. So I want to find a chewable vitamin that a) Taste good, and b) actually satisfies the levels that my doctor wants me to take. There are quite a few pre-natals out there that clearly leave out various vitamins that they should have in them so I have to be careful about this one. I have been taking folic acid for the past two years, but I need to find a new method because my current folic acid vitamin is included in my HBC.

3. Pay off my student loans: Luckily we have been in a pretty good financial situation since we both started working our current jobs and we've paid down my student loans by two years. If we keep paying on them as we are, then they should be paid off completely by August. Earlier if we use things like our tax refund and my summer school pay. This one is totally do-able but it would be great to have it done earlier than we have planned.

4. Plan a vacation for this sumer: This year will be our 9th anniversary since our first date! Next year will mark our big 10th anniversary and awhile back we talked about doing something big for that anniversary. Plans have since changed and since we are hoping to have a baby by our 2013 anniversary, we decided to have a big celebration trip this year instead. Chris is heading this project while I research up on our other project so I am excited to see what he plans for us.

As I think of more things for this list then I'll expand it.

Back in the groove

School is back in session and so far things are going well. We have started a new unit called Healthy Me and my kids have taken over the dramatic play center that is now a doctors office. In return for setting up an awesome doctors office I received a clean bill of health from the Panther Family Clinic. Well as healthy as can be when you get over 30 shots. :). My coteacher asked one young doctor if I cried and she quickly told her that I didn't cry because I'm a big girl. :) my heart melted because of that. I love how the kids completely engulf themselves in play.

On a side note there was an awful storm stalled over our city today. Several areas flooded and tornados formed. Luckily we were fine and while we did spend about an hour inside the kinder hall, the 1st graders there weeee wonderful and acted like big brothers and big sisters to my kids. On a worried note two of our sister schools were stranded due to flooding. They are hosting an overnight at the moment for the students that were unable to be picked up due to families that are stuck due to the floods. School has been cancelled for the which is a blessing. They school children were rescued by dump trucks (what an experience!) and are staying overnight in a church. I think I an going to have our kiddos write thank you letters to the church for taking care of a branch of our school family. I always get a warm feeling in my heart to hear when people step up and help out in times of need. As for our house, things are fine. We are in a 500 year flood plane and we definitely did not even get close to flooding. Thank you to those that planned this community with an excellency draining system many many years ago. :)

On another school note... Our school is creating decision making groups with a representative from each grade. Guess who signed up? Me! I'm slowly going to try and move up in leadership and helpfulness within our school. I don't want to move towards a principal role but I want to stand out more in terms of being a teacher and make a bigger impact while getting to know my teammates since wee are typically back in the portables all of the time.

Family wise things are going well on my side. My mom comes down on Wednesday for an appointment regarding the next phase in her cancer treatment. I'll be taking the day off to be with her.

Things are iffy on Chris's side of the family. There have been some horrifying post on Facebook by an immature married-in member of the family and blood member. It has a lot of us heated up quite a bit. I am sure it will pass but once you act a certain way towards those that have helped you then you cannot expect things to go back to how things we're before. I wouldn't have dreamed of doing what is going on even at my maddest moment. It irks me.

Chris and I are doing remarkably well and he is looking after me very well lately. He understands that my job is difficult and calls for late hours some nights but still encourages me to come to bed at a reasonable hour. He told me about the first time he knew he wanted to marry me. It was back in 2005 (4 years before actually getting married) and he had stayed the night. The next morning when he woke up he thought about how he would have to go home and for the first time ever he didn't want to go to his place. He wanted us to have our place and wake up together every morning. My heart melted. A year later he proposed and two and a half years later we were married. That made me completely giddy. I swear I have the best husband for me. :) I love him. :)

Alright well it is now 11:34 and I have a ton of stuff to do in the morning so I need to go back to sleep. Till next time :)