Sleep and Cloth

   The past few days have been great!  Parker has slept 7-10 hours every night and we also made the transition to cloth diapers.  I was kind of putting it off because I was nervous about whether I would really like doing it or not.  All summer I researched cloth diapers and tried to convince so many people that it was a great idea, and once he was born I wasn't sure whether I was up for the challenge.  We've been using cloth 100% for the past week and it seems to be working really well!  The diapers hold everything in, they're totally cute, and I just love putting those fuzzy things on his little bottom.  They seem so comfortable!  We have been washing them every other day.  Even that doesn't seem too horrible yet.  We are hoping to get a few more so we can stretch it to every two days, but for the most part we are really loving the cloth diaper world. 

See, he loves them ;)

     I have been going in to my classroom almost every day to plan and get things ready to go for January.  Tomorrow is the last day with the current teacher and then it's mine all mine, haha.  She is a wonderful teacher and has told me everything I need to know for the rest of the year, so it should be a pretty smooth transition.

Picture Update

Blessed

     Do you ever take a step back, examine your life, and have to convince yourself that it's really yours?  I have been doing that all week for a few reasons.  I cannot believe that I am old enough to be married and have a baby.  Yes, I got married young and consider myself a young mom, but still...where did the time go?  I think since I was the baby in the family, I always viewed my older cousins and sister and brother as so much older than me, and now our lives are the same.  I just started laughing the other day after I found out I got the Kindergarten position, because that means someone trusts me to be in charge of a classroom and is paying me money to do it!  It's always been a dream of mine to teach part-time Kindergarten when I have kids, and now it's happening.  And not to mention the fact that I have an amazing husband that makes me laugh uncontrollably every single day, is the best dad, and loves me so much.  It's so humbling to know that I don't deserve any of this and God has graciously blessed me with so much! 

Yay for Parker!

    Parker had his 2 month check up on Nov. 30.  He was almost 12 lbs and 23 inches long.  He's just getting so big!  (And cute!)  Not only was that his 2 month Birthday, but it was also the day he rolled over 3 times!  He can lift his head up so high off the ground when he's laying on his belly.  Then he just tilts it a little and over he goes!  It's so fun to watch him learn and discover new things.  Now he is rolling over a few times a day.  He's also wearing new clothes everyday because he's just starting to fit in to the 3 month clothes.

     And the biggest news...(I'm sure you've already heard about it on CNN;), Parker slept 10 HOURS STRAIGHT the past 2 nights!  I'm sure that now I've written that, he will begin to wake up every few hours again, but I had to let the world know.  Ryan and I are so excited!  He still stirred a little bit at the hours he was normally waking up, but he went back to sleep right away.  Then, when he wakes up around 7 he is so smiley and happy!  So... if Parker sleeps 10 hours, that means I slept at least 8, which means it was the first time of sleeping 8 hours in 10 weeks.  It.felt.phenomenal!  I didn't even get out of bed all night...the last few months I was pregnant I had to get up to go to the bathroom 3 times, haha!  I guess you could say I'm a little excited to be getting sleep again, especially since I'll be teaching in the mornings.  Yay for Parker!

     I went in to school 3 days this week to start working with the current teacher, learning the curriculum, and getting to know the students.  I feel pretty comfortable with everything.  I just need to memorize some poems and Bible verses that they already learned.  That way I can review them.  I also have a good start on January's planning.  The curriculum is pretty rigorous, but there is still room for creativity.  Signing my first contract was pretty cool. 

Behind again...

     Man, I'm behind on blogging again...so much has happened since my last post!  Here's my best attempt to catch up.

     The school that I interviewed at the week before (Naperville Christian Academy) asked me to come in and teach a lesson the next week, Wednesday.  They gave me the topic "Changing from Fall to Winter" and a half an hour to teach.  I started brainstorming on Monday, and then Tuesday I was getting a little overwhelmed because I needed to go to the library to find just the right book, but I was too nervous to bring Parker because if he fussed, I would have to leave.  Luckily, Ryan saved the day.  He stayed home from work and we looked up every possible book on the Fall, Winter, and everything in between.  Then we went to the library and checked out about 40 books!  It was pretty funny.  I took all the books home, found one that was age appropriate, and found a good poem book about Winter, too.

     I went in all day on Wednesday and got along with the current teacher right away.  I started my lesson by asking the kids what they had already learned about Fall.  Then I put up the words Fall and Winter and we figured out which months were in those seasons.  I also had pictures that went with each season.  The students came up, picked a picture, put it under the right heading, and made up a sentence about it.  Then I read the story, talked about migration and hibernation, and then read a silly poem about a mom bundling up her child for winter.  I was pleased with how everything went, and the Principal told me I would hear back on that Friday.

     I don't remember what I did last Thursday...Friday I went over to the Knapp/Martinez residence and hung about with some of my best friends.  I am so thankful to have amazing Christian friends to encourage me!  We are all in a similar phase in life, but have very different circumstances.  It's so great to get together and talk, laugh, eat, and watch Kate dye Joei's hair brown.  haha. 

     Friday was also the day I was 'supposed to' hear back from NCA and I never did.  I was trying not to let it bother me, but in the past if I haven't heard back when they tell me, that means I'm getting a reject letter in the mail.  I knew they had observed other candidates, but I really felt like God lead to this position.  Ryan kept reassuring me that they probably hadn't offered it to anyone yet and I just needed to be patient.  (Impossible!)  I emailed the current teacher and asked what the status on the position was and she said they were called references and had not offered it to anyone.  Yay!  Sunday night they called and offered me the position.  Praise God!