Meet Our Little Man!!!

Our lives have been absolutely crazy for the past two weeks, which is why I haven't really been posting. I had to pack up my classroom and move it to my new school (which really isn't an easy feat almost 8 months pregnant...), and then turn around and pack up our house, and move to a new one. The timing was awful, but we know there's a bigger plan in play we aren't aware of so we are just rolling with it as best we can. I'm happy to say that my classroom has been moved (but not set up... oh well!) and our belongings are in our new house (still in tons of boxes... I'm slowly working through them the best that I can!) so I don't have too much to complain about I guess! :)

We were supposed to sneak a peak at our little man last Thursday night, but had to cancel because a) all schools in my district closed(for the entire summer) at 5 pm and we thought we had later (plus we had some other issues that prevented us from driving 45 min from our new home to my old school to finish packing...), b) our appointment was at 4:30 and my dr was 20 min away from my school, c) our sonographer had to be at the airport by 6 pm (which is close to an hour away from the dr office), and d) we were still moving at 4:15. :( Luckily, my sweet, amazing hubby got on Google when I started to break down that we were going to miss our 4D window (my dr cuts it off at 32 weeks and I was almost there!) and found a place close to our new house that would give us pics of our little prince as well as a DVD of the entire session so we could share with family later. Woo hoo!!

We got to go to our appointment last night and... *drull roll please*... here's my absolute most favoritist picture of our little guy from the whole sesson!!!!!

He was so incredibly active I'm surprised we got so many good pictures! He kept chewing on the umbilical cord, playing with it, with his hands, sucking on his fingers, yawning, and drinking. It was crazy! We even got to see him a couple of times with his eyes wide open!! :) The sonographer kept joking with me that I must have eaten something he really liked because he was drinking so much, and all I'd had in the few hours before the appointment was a Del Monte Strawberry Chiller. If you've never had one, they are totally amazing when it's 100 degrees outside and you're feeling like a human oven!! ;)
Hope everyone is enjoying their summers!! Stay cool!! :)

Torn. Advice please? Please?? :)

I've been debating all afternoon whether or not I should post this, but I figure I don't have anything to lose... so why not?

Brief highlight on my work situation: Our district, like so many others, has had to make decisions to RIF and move employees to accomodate the budget (or lack thereof). It decided to make these movements before Spring Break. Before people turned in retirements, before they turned in resignations. They asked that people *please* turn those in, but offered no incentives like so many other districts around here. So, I was pulled into my principals office, the day I got back from being on bedrest for an entire week, to be told I was moving to another school. I was later informed that I could apply (yes, apply) to the school I'm currently working in if a position came available. This would also be true if a position opened at another school.

Our deadline expired last Friday, but then was immediately extended. Until this Friday, May 20. A 4th grade position came open at my school, so I applied for it thinking that this would be a great opportunity to broaden my horizons - I student taught in 4th and loved it. Plus, I'd have my kids from this year again and I'd be totally happy with that. I've never heard a peep from my principal. Not one.

I applied for two other positions within the district. Again, no peeping. No returned e-mails. Nothing. I've emailed my new principal (at the school I'm being moved to) to ask some questions about the possibility of being able to move my things to my new room before summer since I'll be out at the beginning of the year (obviously this whole situation wasn't planned) and no repsonse there either.

I'm thinking it's my hormones, I'm not really sure... but I'm really starting to get paranoid. I know my e-mail works, my e-mails to my co-workers get sent back and I get new e-mails daily. But none from any administrators. Yes, I know I'm pregnant. No, it's not ideal for anyone. But I'm good at my job and I love my job. No matter how frustrated I get with teaching, I can't imagine doing anything else. So why on Earth is no one giving me the time of day concerning job possibilities? I mean, not even my new principal will respond to me. Is there something stamped on my forehead?? Is there a hidden message in the footer of my resume?? We don't know our TAKS scores yet, but I had 100% passing and 15 of 21 commended students on our March benchmark. Come on, that makes me marketable in this area... doesn't it??

So herein lies my biggest problem, aside from the fact that I've made myself full-blown paranoid overthinking and over-analyzing this situation... A 2nd grade teacher at my school resigned on Monday. The position isn't available on the district website yet, but I already have an application in with my current principal (does this seem like overkill to anyone else??) and can't figure out for the life of me why I can't just be moved back into this position. I'm literally the only one being moved from my school (due to years of service in the district and RIFing) and we now have 3 positions open: the 4th grade math, my position in 3rd, and now the position in 2nd. Does this not seem like a no-brainer to you?!?!

I've had several people tell me that I should go talk to my principal: the 2nd grade team really wants me on their team and I'd love to not have to move school. There are obvious pros for being able to stay at my current school: I already know the staff, admin, curriculum, etc... I could set up my room and it would be ready for next school year at this school. This would seriously be the most ideal situation ever for me. In 2nd grade, there is no state testing... *sigh*

And I'm absolutely terrified to go to my principal. I really think that the fact that she never responded to me about the 4th grade position freaked me out - I'm really starting to wonder if she just wants to get rid of me.

Do I talk to her? I only have 2 days before this deadline is up. If I talk to her, what do I say?? Am I crazy for feeling so paranoid about the lack of responses I'm getting?? I feel so lost, I just don't know what to do.

I mean, I know the worst thing she can say to me is NO. And then I'll be moving to the same school I was moving to in the first place to teach 3rd grade reading and social studies. I love reading. I love 3rd grade. I don't love that my new principal doesn't follow through on things she says and is apparently avoiding me. I don't love that I have no idea how I'm going to set up my room and yes, that's super important to me. I can't deal with someone I don't know doing it for me...

So again: do I talk to my current principal, or not? If yes, what do I say and how do I approach her? I feel like I have so much to offer, but all of a sudden I'm scared to bring any of it up and "toot my own horn" if you will. I'm majorly qualified for this position: I've taught 1st, 2nd, and 3rd so I'd fit in perfectly in 3rd grade. I'm already trained in guided reading (which is new to my school if you can believe it) and have done Daily 5 in my room for 4 of the 5 years I've taught. She needs me! How do I make her see that??

Thanks for all your advice in advance!! In case you can't tell, I'm making myself a little crazy over here...

Let Me Introduce Myself!

I started my school year with the full intention to document my entire 5th year teaching. I even started a blog and got 7 whole posts done. After September, I literally was too overwhelmed to deal with it. To make an *incredibly* long story as short as possible: I went from 18 to 14 kids by Labor Day, inherited 6 children in one day the 5th week of school, had a child terrorizing (literally) my room until December, was being trained in a new curriculum as well as training other teachers, found out I was pregnant with my first child in December, was on bedrest for a week in March, and I've already seen the inside of the ER and had an overnight hospital stay due to a freak issue with my dear son and my kidney inside of 6 weeks.


Yes, I realize this a slew of excuses for falling down on my blog, but the last thing I wanted to do was come home and document all the things I *wish* I was able to do in my room but was unable to do due to circumstances beyond my control. So I'm going to try to make the best of what's left of this school year, especially after we survive TAKS next week, and hopefully I'll be able to pick back up next year! I love the idea of posting and sharing ideas... I stalk enough blogs that I should be sharing my own. >>Insert blushing yet widely grinning smiley face here!<<


Like I mentioned before, I'm pregnant with my first child and my husband is completely over the moon. I wake up in the middle of the night with his hands on my belly feeling our little monkey, Liam, entertain himself in the wee hours of the morning. Haha! We already have 3 "kids", and it absolutely blows my mind how much they pick up on! Our girl lab, Daisy Duke, is so gentle with me... we just can't get over how much her behavior has changed. Our boy lab, Maximus (after the Gladiator character, guess who named him?!) is super protective and follows me everywhere I go until my husband gets home from work. Our beagle, now she's a completely different story. She's incredibly sensitive and is taking this whole baby thing very personally. Ever since we discovered that my right kidney is basically backed up due to my breech son sitting on my ureter (the tube that goes from the kidney to the bladder) I've had to sleep on my left side. I'm a right side sleeper and Adriane normally curls up next to me. However, sleeping on my left side also came with a full size pregnancy body pillow that inhibits her from sleeping next to her momma. So I get lots of glares these days, and find surprise puddles of pee on my side of the closet so she can let me know exactly how upset she is with our new situation. If you've ever had a dog, you understand!


Now that I've talked in circles (I'm already ADD and pregnancy has done nothing to help that situation!) I'm going to sign off and say I'm excited about this new adventure! Thanks to everyone who already had a blog going that I was able to stalk, cultivate new ideas for my fabulous 3rd graders, and hopefully I'll soon be posting about my classroom and contributions to the blogging community!


Happy 3-day weekend starting tomorrow afternoon!!! :)