The Last Two Weeks: Let the Fun Begin!!!

First, let me explain that I writing this phone, so you'll have to forgive a few typos and autocorrect errors. Sorry, I'm on my way up to one of my favorite places and I didn't have time to stop and write in my blog. ;) Now I'm riding in the jeep, so I have some time to type.

It Starts

I realize I didn't get to post last week. I think I have a really good excuse. With school starting I've had a lot on my mind. 

Let's start with last week. There wasn't actually any school last week, but the district hosted a while week full if meetings and professional development to attend. Why would they want us working in our classrooms the week before school starts, right? That really is one of the more frustrating things. We were promised 3 days for teacher planning. Well, we got half a day for 3 days. Gee, thanks a bunch for the 9 hours to get ready. The other annoying thing about last week was the fact that it was the BIGGEST waste of time that I have had to endure my entire 2 years teaching. It honestly felt like they were just trying to fill the time, my time. I could have spent this time much more productively working on my own.

The Weekend

The weekend was really great because it got to spend a lot of time with my boys. It was a much needed weekend, too.

To start, Friday was Charlie's birthday (the little guy turned 3!) and I couldn't help but throw him a birthday bash. It was a lot of fun, and Charlie had a blast, but it was dang exhausting. It was definitely worth it though, Charlie was so excited to have a night devoted purely to himself.

On Saturday we had a family reunion to go to. It was fun, but the best part was just being able to have another day to hang out with my boys because we didn't go to Hale. It was very nice. 

Sunday was pretty much a normal Sunday. After dinner we went to the Great Salt Lake to collect brine shrimp for my classes. It was actually quite fun. Jayde came with us and I was so proud of Charlie for walking the whole way out there and back. He HATED the mud though. It was pretty funny, who'd of thunk he was such a prissy boy.

School

I'm just going to mention that I am frustrated now because I had finished my post and then somehow deleted everything.

Anyway. The first day of school came and went. Classes on the first day went by without any major hiccups and all of the students were very polite. It was a pretty good day. I, however, was unable to enjoy my successes. I was just too overwhelmed. I just couldn't see doing this 179 more days and have a baby in the middle of it. I'm still quote worried about it, to be honest. After school I hurried off to Hale while Jay went to the first of his classes. Joy.

The second day of school felt much better. It really wasn't any different than the day before. But I felt better. I think i just needed to get back into the swing of things.

The rest of the week passed by rather uneventfully, but indefinitely came home practically dead every day. It's an exhausting thing, teaching.

I had a rather unhappy encounter with a patron last night. It upset me quite a bit, but I right now it's really not even bothering me anymore. I'm just more irritated that it happened than anything else.

Charlie

Charlie has been a champ about Mommy going back to work. I'm so proud of him. My favorite thing right now is when he holds my hand and whispers, "Mommy, you're my best friend." It makes my heart swell every time.

Charlie had his 3 year appointment yesterday. Everything seemed to be normal, but I was flabbergasted when I heard that the doctor told us to watch his weight. Here I was thinking he looked rather skinny every time I see his ribs. Shows what I know.

Baby Red

I had an appointment yesterday as well. Yeah yesterday was a fun day.

Red is still measuring small, so I get to go have another extra ultrasound next week to check on him. It's during school, so yeah, I get to figure that out. I think I've somehow worked it out.

The Joke of the Day

I just have to tell you today's story.

This morning was extremely frustrating. Seriously, Mrs. Funk should have had a giant FAIL stamped onto her forehead.

I was planning on doing a lab with those brine shrimp I talked about earlier. Well, I got to school and all the brine shrimp were dead. Yes, all of them. So, I had to think quickly and decide what to do during first period. 

The lab was meant to sit up a rather long PowerPoint and break things up a bit. I decided that I would go ahead and do the whole PowerPoint and if there was time I was going to do the first half of the lab, the part without the brine shrimp. It turns out I only had time to finish the PowerPoint and those poor students had to sit there and listen to me and take notes for a whole hour. I felt so bad for them, how boring! Needless to say, I was really flustered and unorganized the whole class period trying to figure out how to make things a little bit more upbeat. 

The last few minutes of class I was asking the students some review questions when the principal walked in to observe my class. Great, perfect. He could have come all week, but he decides to come when I can barely think straight. Oy. Well, class ends and I got to go on to 2nd period.

I had another lab planned for 2nd period, but for some reason I panicked and decided that there wasn't enough time to do the lab with the assembly schedule. So, I spent another hour extremely flustered, trying to figure out what I was doing. I just wasn't working like I normally do. I'm usually very composed and organized.

Well, lunch freed me from my hell and I was rather disgusted with myself. I needed the break, though. I managed to find some of my confidence for 3rd period, since if be doing the same thing that I ended up doing 2nd period. So, that class was going a lot better. 

During 3rd, I took a few students down to the main office to help me carry some boxes back to my room. On our way there, the principal saw me and beckoned me over to talk to him. I thought, great, he's going to ask what was going on this morning when he observed my class. Here is what he said. Try and picture my face.

"Brooke, that was the most awesome teaching I have seen all week. It was great. I'd like to have the production team come in and take a video of your class sometime next week. I want to show it to everyone at the next faculty meeting. " He then went on to explain how that would work. My expression must have been pretty clueless because he seemed to be thinking I wasn't understanding him. It probably would have been even better had I kept my mouth shut, but I had to explain the very confused expression on my face. So, I explained to him how my morning really went. He went on to say how he was happy to have a teacher who can teach so well even on the "bomb days."

I walked back to class, laughing the whole way . I nearly forgot my students at the office. 

Oy.

Last Week

Well, this was it, the last week of summer. It's been a pretty good week, I guess. Very relaxed, I think. I'm going to do this a little bit differently to continue the "week" theme and write about each day.

Monday

Not much happened on Monday. I took my brother's dog to and from the vet. That was the plan for the day, anyway.
I also decided that Charlie needed a trip to the park and a slurpee, so we did that. Other than that, it was a pretty boring kind of day. It's dark week, so we didn't even have Hale. It was a good, relaxing, Masterchef kind of night. 

Tuesday

On Tuesday I went to school and made copies of my 1st unit of AP Bio. I thought it was going to take me all afternoon, but I had the copier all to myself and it only jammed once, so I got all of the copying done in about an hour. Then I went to my classroom and started unpacking my room. I had everything all put away because I didn't want it out for the summer school students to destroy.
I also talked to the secretary about subs. This has been a subject that has been scarring me all summer long. I have to find a sub that is willing to kind of clear their schedule for when Red comes. I've been putting it off a bit. More on this later.
Then I went home and I finally, after two years of wanting to do it, vacuumed out Charlie's playhouse. I've known it was dirty and I've never really felt comfortable letting him play in there. I feel much better about it now, especially since Jay sprayed it for spiders.
I thought it was going to be a lame, watch tv all night kind of night again, but Jay convinced me to take a walk. As soon as we got outside it started pouring rain. It was lovely. We were all drenched and I LOVED it. More walk in the rain, please.

Wednesday

I went back into school on Wednesday to finish putting my classroom back together. Way too much crawling and climbing around for a pregnant woman. Needless to say I was EXHAUSTED when I got home.
We still managed to go for a walk that evening, though.

Thursday

Yesterday I stayed home with the kid all day. I love him, but he really can drive me up the wall sometimes.
I decided to sleep in as long as I possibly could and was woken from a fairly fitful sleep with the door slamming open and "HI MOM!" :) It made me smile. The best part? It was 9:00, a pretty good time to sleep in to.
I went out and played in a certain playhouse for far too long and was kind of grumpy and restless most of the morning, though. I wanted to go shopping for Charlie's birthday and for his playhouse so badly. But, we're kind of poor at the moment, so I had to restrain myself, which made me a little grumpy.
When I got the kid down for a nap (ha ha as if he was actually sleeping) I finally got up the nerve to start calling substitutes for October (ish). Well, lucky me, the first person I called was a gold mine. She has a teaching license for California and has a biology background. WIN! She's also pretty darn flexible, emails and texts. TRIPLE WIN! She seems very willing to work with me. So, yay, job done. Kind of. We can only have a sub for a maximum of 4 days a week, so I need to figure out a Monday sub. But, honestly, I'm thinking of just calling in a random sub for Mondays and giving them a very simple lesson. I don't know, but now that I found a main sub I need to talk to the secretary and ask how to report it. That'll be where I start anyway. Then I can think about Mondays. Yes, I'm proud of myself.
I had a doctor appointment yesterday afternoon. Things are looking ok... there's some extra fluid on Red's kidneys and we've done an extra ultrasound scan to keep an eye on it. Things have pretty much stayed the same, there wasn't an increase in fluids, but not really a decrease either. There isn't enough fluid there that the doctor is super worried, he's just made a note to tell the pediatrician when the baby is born, and they might do an ultrasound on him when he's born. So, I'm a little bit worried, but, at this point there's not much to do about it.
The doctor also isn't too happy about my weight gain. Yeah, I gained one pound in two weeks. So, I'm a little small. I'm a little worried about that, too. I just wish I had more of an appetite. Oh well, I might start gaining once school starts and I'm less stressed (I know that statement might not have made sense to most of you. Just go with it). Charlie was measuring small for a little bit of my last pregnancy, too, so it might be nothing to worry about it.
Last night I got to go hang out with my friends. I got to see Setar! I haven't seen Setar for a very long time. She's been in California (darn California). I was so happy to see her again. She better not be away so long again.
Then, Jay was really craving Olive Garden, so we went there after hanging out with my buddies. We were out really late and pretty much went straight to bed when we got home.

Friday

Today is a lazy day. I got the stuffed bell peppers in the crock pot and haven't done anything but watch Frozen with my cutie-pie and write in this blog.
I don't know that we have any plans for later, either. I know we need to watch Big Brother (he he), but there's not much else. I think I'm going to make us go shopping for Charlie and maybe clean up the porch as well.
  

Saturday?

No real plans for tomorrow. I was thinking we could go to Antelope Island or something (YAY Darkweek) because I need to collect some brine shrimp for school anyway. It'll depend on how late we sleep in.

Sunday?

Probably church... that is all.

Well, that's it. I didn't really like the format of this post, so it probably won't happen like this again. I'll talk at you next week. ;) Hopefully I'll have more to say after school and district meetings.

Summer, Summer, where have you gone?

The end of the summer is drawing nearer. In fact, two days this week I had school meetings. I have pretty much all of ext week that is uninterrupted (except I'm probably going to go in and make some copies of all of the stuff for the first few weeks of school) break time. Then, it's gone, over. My time with Charlie will be shrunk to whatever we can manage to squeeze in between school and Hale.
Okay, okay, so it's not all that bad. I do end up getting a few nights a week with Charlie. I just always get that "bad-mom" feeling creeping back in when I think about it. (I know, I know, don't give me the whole providing for your family is not a bad-mom move lecture... I know I'm not being a bad mom, but it still feels like it)
And I am excited to get back to teaching. I can't wait to get going, really. I have the hardest time being home all summer. Not because of Charlie, definitely not because of Charlie, but because of the lack of things to do that doesn't involve house-work or spending lots of money. I hate the idea of spending my entire break cleaning the house, so I don't do it (even though... ugh my house). I also can't go to the zoo or to Lagoon or the aquarium because of a lack of funding. Well, funding and I know that Jay would want to come do something like that with us, so I don't want to go without him (though, I don't know when we'd all be able to go together, either. I want to take Charlie to lagoon again, but I wouldn't be able to ride with him, so who knows if he would ride anything by himself... Oh, and who wants to pay that much to sit and watch? Maybe October, depending on a baby.
Anyway, that was a long rant session. Shall I tell you what's been going on?

Charlie

My little Charlie... he's just perfect. I love him, I love him, I love him.

That said, he's stopped taking naps and I want to bang my head against the wall. Need I say more? :) I think he'll get back to naps when I'm waking him up at 6 in the morning again. Coming soon!

School

Like I said before, I am excited to get started. If I could just get going and stop worrying about what's going to happen I would feel about a billion times better. 

I've got my 1st two AP units planned. I'm hoping to start working on the third unit as soon as next week, but I need to get things copied off and my other classes planned out a little bit better before I can start that again. I also need to get lab supplies ordered. That's kind of the next scariest part. I'm too afraid to even start.

My PLC team seems to be starting out okay. We're a little rocky, it's hard to change, you know? But, I think if we can manage to stay positive and get through the first cycle of teach, assess, and intervention that we'll be okay. Fingers crossed because I don't want this to fall apart.

I am still not certain what's going to happen when the baby is born. It's hard to figure out these details. I guess step one is finding a sub that can manage to follow directions. Someone make me do this next week? I can start by asking the day in charge of all of the subs at Granger. Surely she knows a few good longish term ones. I'm still thinking 1 to 2 weeks is all I'm going to take off, though (Don't judge! I have my reasons, and you won't understand unless you really know me and I don't feel that I have to defend myself on my own blog right now (yes, I'm defensive about it. But if you want to talk about my reasons, feel free to talk to me in person)).

Preggy Brooke

Ummm, I'm an emotional mess right now. Ups and downs and ups and downs. There are various reasons things that get me upset, but I think my inability to control my emotions stems from hormones, lack of sleep due to pregnancy discomforts, and just plain feeling useless. 

I'm serious about the sleep thing. I think Ive gotten about 6 hours of sleep over the past 5 days. I won't even mention the weekend... blug. 

I want to go on walks, but by the time Jay gets home and it's cool enough to take a walk, I'm too tired. I know what this means, it means I need to get off of my lazy butt and take a walk. It's just hard, you know. I can't take one every day, due to Hale, and that's what's tough. I'm not able to get into the habit of doing it. But, I need it. I'm an active person, normally, and I can't be happy unless I get out of the house and exercise. Jay, take me on walks, please! Force me! Kicking and screaming. We can even drink a slurpee while we walk.

I just realized how negative this post has been. I'm sorry. It's the sleep thing. I'm really not all that unhappy. Please don't stop reading my blog because all I do is complain!

Raspberry Dayzz

We had a really fun weekend with my Aunt and Uncle up at Bear Lake.We went to Raspberry Dayzz. Really the only way we actually participated in the festival was going to the craft fair. We spent the rest of the weekend up at Hidden Haven, my Aunt and Uncle's property. We had a lot of fun up there. It was mostly just sitting around kind of fun, but it WAS fun. Charlie loves camping and he got very spoiled with time with Aunt Pam. He also got to sleep in a trailer, which was incredibly exciting to him. He's so cute. We rode 4 -wheelers, and Jay even took Charlie a few times. I am sure that was the most exciting experience that child has ever had, at least from the child's perspective. :) (No lectures on children on 4-wheelers, I have complete trust in my husband's driving ability and caution when he is driving with his precious little boy)

I also learned a fun new card game while we were camping. I am dying to play it again, if anyone wants to. I get really excited about card games. 

Anyway, not much else to tell, really. I will try to be more positive next time, but I'm not going to rewrite my entire blog post just to sound happier. Here's some pictures from the week.