More Babies

No, I'm not pregnant.  Sorry to disappoint.  And, just so there is no confusion... We are not trying to get pregnant any time in the very near future.  There.  Now...

Allow me to summarize the last few years/months of my mind recently.  (At least related to this particular topic; trying to summarize my mind in general would be impossible.)

Before pregnancy:

"I want to have FIVE kids.  I will settle for four but not a single one less than that.  Whatever it takes.  I also want to be a young mom - one that looks cute at Back to School night and her kids' friends think she is 'cool.' I also want my kids to be closer together in age.  Sure, it will be hard to have five kids under ten; but, it will just be a crazy season of my life.  I will survive it, and it will all be over at once; plus, my kids will be best friends and will be SO thankful when they are older that I selflessly 'popped' them out one after the other.  We'll handle college costs when that time comes.  We will not think about things like that right now."

During pregnancy:

"I do not want to be pregnant again for a VERY long time.  [Given the above convictions], I will allow myself ONE year to 'recover' before starting this cycle again."

With a one-month old:

"I think I'll be fine with just one baby.  Maybe I'll adopt when Sam is 30."

With a six-month old:

"Ok, this has gotten a little easier.  I think I can handle two (or maybe three) kids; but, a year is NOT a 'very long time.' Sam really needs all of my attention right now; and, I still have A LOT of weight to lose before I want to gain 40 pounds again. Three or four years between kids seems reasonable.  How old will that make me for baby 3?"

With a one-year old:

"Oh gosh... WHAT is going on with me?!?!  I kind-of miss the teeny-tiny baby stage.  Sam is SO fun; but, he is just getting WAY too big.  He will make SUCH a good big brother, and he would LOVE having a playmate.  I kind-of want to decorate a nursery again. We have all this really cute baby stuff that we barely got to use.  Plus, I think I'm finally 'getting' this mom thing a little bit.  I mean, I'm still a hot mess; but, I'm starting to be ok with that.  I'll be so much better the second time around. Oh gosh..."

"I still have A LOT of weight to lose."

Ha!  In all seriousness, something has come over me recently.  For probably the first nine or ten months after Sam was born, I lived in constant fear of seeing a little pink line on a pregnancy test.  (I'm sorry if that sounds awful, it is just the truth of where I was.)  But, as time passes, the idea is (strangely) seeming a lot less daunting and a lot more wonderful again. A woman's ability to forget is perhaps her best and worst quality simultaneously, isn't it?

Although I'm totally confident in our decision to wait a little longer before growing our family again; I'm starting to 'get it.'  I think I understand now why two years is such a common span between babies. (That is how much time is between my sister and me, Jeff and his brother, and several of my friends have recently added baby #2 around the 2-year mark.) At one year, you don't feel like you have baby anymore.  Plus - with breastfeeding over and the return of other things, hormones are starting to send really crazy mommy-vibes to the brain again - the same ones that made me a crazy person approximately two years previously.  Seriously, if you had told me even three months ago that I would have ever considered getting pregnant again so soon; I would have thrown something at you.  Now, I just get it. 

Don't get me wrong, I still think Sam needs a lot of my attention.  And, I'm not exactly missing sleepless nights or looking forward to five more years of changing diapers; but, maybe a big family is still in the cards.  Maybe not.  I guess only time will tell...

(Source) Adorable photo, but... WOW.  Now this, I cannot imagine!

Can you all relate to this sort-of evolution of thought?  How much time do you want between kids?  How much space did you put between the ones you already have?  What do you think is the ideal distance?

Just feeling curious and maybe a little (baby) feverish today.

My Classroom

Well, I finally got around to taking some photos (albeit horrible phone ones) of my classroom.  I really wish I had taken "before" shots so you could see the transformation, but you will just have to take my word for it when I say that I did NOT have much to work with.  I seem to have been blessed in my career so far with exceptionally hideous, oddly shaped, and outdated teaching/office spaces.   Alas, I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds myself in this predicament year after year; so, maybe someone out there will draw some inspiration at my humble attempt to "make the best" of a terrible space. 

Anyway, welcome to my home away from home/little shoe-box of a classroom. Come on in and I'll show you around!



One of my classroom dreams has always been to have matching desks, and this is the year, folks.  It's the little things, you know?  Anyway... This is the view from one side of my classroom.  You probably recognize that cutie little banner from Sam's birthday party - multi-tasking at its finest - and the colored "word wall" from my old room that I spent way too much money having laminated to not hang up. Eventually, I'd like to have student work and "Current Events" to post, but for now this will do. (Note: The empty bookshelf in the back is patiently waiting all the crisp new novels I ordered this summer.  Dream #2 come true!)

Hideous cabinet = Excellent for storing EVERYTHING.  Hideous filing cabinet = Perfect for adding a little chevron to the room! I'm not opposed to a little vandalism of school property when necessary ;)  (Chevron contact paper/drawer liner from TJ Maxx.)

My desk area and more brown desks.  (There are 25 total desks in this teeny little room!) The bulletin board is covered in fabric (pay no attention to the wrinkles) and the poster is from the movie The Ides of March - an allusion to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar/ a good excuse for Ryan Gosling and George Clooney to make a classroom appearance. 

My little work station in the front of the room with Yellow Sheets, attendance records, weekly plans, and my make-up work binder.  (See details here.)  Also, how cute are those flower pens I found for 50 cents each at Walgreens?  I haven't had a single student ask to borrow one yet! Haha!

The little fabric covered boxes are from my laundry room and hold things like paper clips, scissors, glue, etc.  Below, there is a labeled crate for each class to store their journals.

Martha Stewart stick-on calendar for keeping up with block schedule etc. and little bucket with dry-erase markers et al.

My desk with my beautiful new MacBook Air and Shakespeare bobble-head.

And, finally, a little *bonus* sneak peak into my "Classroom Organization Binder" which was inspired by this post from Stephanie at Eat.Write.Teach. The "To Do" List on the front page is color-coordinated by day (but, of course) and is my LIFE LINE right now.  (It is available as a free printable here.) The other tabs in the binder are: calendars & checklists, class rosters, lesson plans, parent communication, syllabi, standards, emergency, team-teacher, meeting notes, and other.  This is the first year I've ever made one of these and, so far, I'm loving it.  I don't know how I ever survived without it. :)

So, what do you think? I hope the end result of my extreme-makeover classroom edition is a happy, bright (it needs to be for a class that starts at 7:30AM), comforting, and inviting space for my students. Mission accomplished?

*See this post for photos of my old classroom. Different space, same style (+ or - some red and teal).

Clean House

For the last two days, Jeff and I have been in a sort-of "funk" where we are noticing every speck of dirt, dust, and grime in our 96 year old house and feeling like it is totally disgusting and overwhelming.

We get in these funks about once every six month and promptly decide to move.  Too bad the last time we just threw our house on the market without doing one thing to "ready" it wasn't so successful.  Ugg.

Owning an old house is hard.  Even when it is clean, it isn't.  Add a baby and a long haired dog to that mix, and you've got yourself an anxiety attack waiting to happen.  At least in my world.

Heck, owning a house period is hard.  You know my battles with it.  There is still a big part of me that just wants to donate everything and move to a sterile loft downtown and never look back.  BUT, now, there is also the part of me that appreciates the space we have for our boy (and his ridiculous amout of stuff), and the importance of having a home more than ever.

So, it's a dilemma really.

Which brings me to this... How do you handle your house cleaning responsibilities?

Source

With my new position, we have - obviously - gotten rid of our bi-weekly cleaning lady.  :( And, I'm feeling a lot of pressure (self-inflicted) to keep my house neat and spotless all the time now that I "have time."  Of course, the irony of that is that I'm also in my house a lot more these days.  And, Sam is just a hot mess.  Anyone that spends one second in our house during his waking hours suddenly has a new appreciation for the fact that there are dishes/clothes/whatever ALL over the place.

Then there is the fact that we have a babysitter coming into our house every morning.  Oh how I love her (by the way), but I can't let her think we live like pigs. 

But, I really don't want to be so focused on chores and cleaning that I don't take advantage of this precious time to be with Sam and nap do things I really love.  So, what's a girl to do?

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I've tried weekly cleaning schedules (like this one, currently); but, I'm not sure it is my thing either.  I like the feeling of a totally clean house way too much --- Like, I'd rather just spend one whole day cleaning and be able to enjoy the totally clean house for that one night.  (Am I crazy?)

I'm leaning towards adopting more of this approach:

Printable from my talented friend Erika here.

But, it stresses me a little too - if I'm being honest - because I'm not cool enough to be into sticky floors.

Tips?  Advice?  Let'em roll... :)