Family of four . . . 18 weeks!

Sorry for being so far behind!!!  :(

New things about Natalie:  Natalie has decided that since we are back to work now, she wants to get up any where from 2 - 3 times a night.  She also enjoys waking up at 5 am, and being up for the day.  This past week she even did two 3:30 am I'm up for the day mornings.  Luckily for Tyler, he got up with her Saturday morning when she did this, so at least he had a relaxing day after.  Not so lucky for me, I got up with her when she did this on Thursday morning.  It made for a long morning.  Natalie has finally decided that she likes a pacifier sometimes now too.  She has been rolling like crazy, and is constantly rolling from her back to her tummy.  She can't figure out how to get back over though, so after a few minutes, she is crying, and asking for help to get back onto her back.  She is still sleeping swaddled (shhh, don't tell our doctor, Nicole don't let Jon read that!!)  It's the only way she'll sleep.  Right now, I have put a blanket over her swaddle.  I don't know if she has been too cold, and that is why she was waking up more, but since I started adding the extra blanket we have been back to waking up between 2 and 3 again, instead of this 11:30 non sense.  She is eating any where from 3 - 6 ounces at a time now too!!  I can't wait to see how big she is when we go to the doctor tomorrow!!

In our PJs to celebrate Aunt Chelsea (they have a dragon on them!!)

New things about Brandon:  I can't believe that my little boy is 2!!  Where has the time gone!?!  Brandon has started school in the last few weeks.  He has now had school for four days!!  The first day was a blast.  My dad was able to come pick me up from work, so that way we could drop Brandon off together for his first day of school.  Brandon went right into his room, sat down and started playing.  He did cry when my dad picked him up, but just because he was so confused, and didn't know what was going on.  

Brandon's first day of preschool, August 15

The second day I dropped him off wasn't too bad.

Even got to see daddy in the morning!

Last Thursday now, that was awful!!  :(  When Brandon got up in the morning he wouldn't even go to Wanda when she came over.  He didn't want anything to do with her.  He just wanted mommy to hold him.  Now keep in mind I was also trying to pack his lunch, make his breakfast, and get all of our things together, to try to be out the door by 6:45!!  My poor guy started crying the minute I walked out the door!  It was sooo HARD!!  Luckily one of the teachers in after care is a friend of mine, and she sent me pictures all day that day reassuring me what a great day he was having!!  

So thankful to Mandy that she sent me this picture, that I edited in Instagram on my birthday!

This morning when I went in to drop Brandon off, he didn't want anything to do with it as soon as we got close to the door of the school.  I was able to get him in the room, told him to go play with his dinosaurs, and then he started crying again.  :(  Luckily the same teacher was there, and sent me pictures again today!!  I seriously don't know what I would do without her!  She is amazing!!  Brandon is loving school though, and you can tell that he is learning a lot!!  Almost every day he has come home with a new word, which is amazing!  When we went in for his two year appointment Brandon's doctor told us that we should put him in speech.  I am hoping that he will quickly start to pick it up the more that he is around kids who are talking.  

Anyone see the trend in the pictures yet?!

New things about Tyler:  Tyler started school the same day as Brandon!!  Tyler is very thankful to have another teaching partner this year, but isn't so happy that he is student teaching finally.  This just means extra work for him this fall. Hopefully by Christmas though he will be all done with everything.  That will mean next year he'll have his credential, he'll be a called worker, and he'll get a raise!!  AMEN!!!

New things about Cassandra:  I too have started school, and I have never felt so behind!!  I don't know where the time goes every day.  I am being way too adventurous this year, and I am tackling all new ways to teach almost everything.  I have realized that the only three subjects I am teaching the same as I have in the past are religion, science and social studies.  Even though I say I am teaching science and social studies the same, I still am changing things, as I always go in a different order, and try to find new ideas on Pinterest or TPT to help update what I do! I have a great class though, 26 kids, and I have two awesome aides who are with me every morning.  I have been able to recruit them to do a lot of things that I have always wanted to do, but have never had enough time to do!  I am very blessed to have them, and can't wait to see what my classroom looks like by the end of the year.  Looking at next year's class, hopefully they'll get a few more and we can split the class, or I'll have an aide again next year, which isn't always a bad thing.

My amazing birthday presents!

I have fallen off the bandwagon of working out though.  As soon as school started it got harder to work out in the morning, and be ready to leave by 6.  I have to be ready to leave by 6, because as soon as Tyler leaves, I have to be ready in case one of the kids get up.  If I get the kids up before I am ready to leave, then I know I will never make it in time.  Most days I don't leave for work until 6:50ish, thanks to my awesome ride Ellen, but it makes it harder to justify getting up earlier than 5, when I know I won't be leaving until around 7.  If only I could go to work smelly, then I would totally have enough time in the morning.  Hopefully as it starts to get nicer I'll be able to work out in the afternoons, and then I'll just push Brandon in his stroller, or Natalie.  I know that this is just an excuse for now, but it is one that I have to live with for now.  I did hold on strong, and I made it to the 15th, I just haven't done so well since then.  I haven't been back on the scale since I lost 3 pounds in the firs week either.  I don't want to know how much I've put back on already.  I have stayed away from the soda, but I have had the coffee, and smoothies to make up for it.  I have had a lot of carbs this past week too.  :(

I found this on Pinterest or Instagram, I don't remember which one right now

September will bring new changes again, and I look forward to eating healthy, and staying fit!!  I am going to try and find a system to make sure that I am updating the blog frequently too!  I may not get all four posts in every week, so I will try and come up with new catchy names so you know when I'm going to post!!

Daily Five

1.  We have termites . . . again!!  YUCK!!  This is the third time that the have appeared in our bedroom wall, so instead of calling our same warranty company I decided to finally go with Terminix.  I was so happy with their service, and how prompt they were.  Now granted it is going to cost me a lot more than the warranty I was paying for before, at least I know that they will repair something if there is more damage!!  When I told them what our other company did they couldn't believe we waited so long.  If only I knew more about what people should do to treat termites!

2.  Our athletic banquet was last night.  It was fun to go and see everyone, and even more fun that a couple of us went out for a drink afterwards.  I forget by not going to work how much I miss my friends at work.  I love staying home with my kids, and if I could I know that I would stay home in a heartbeat, but I do miss them!

3.  I reread Lord of the Flies this past week.  I read the book while I was in high school, but as part of our bucket list this year we are reading 24 books.  I have almost reached our goal, but part of it was that we had to read some classics.  We agreed that a classic was anything that an English teacher might make you read.  I forgot how disturbing Lord of the Flies is.  It's crazy what would happen to a group of kids if you left them alone without adults, and what they could do.  I would recommend it, it is a great book.

buy here on Amazon

4.  I have started planning for next year!  I know it seems crazy, but we will be gone for a big chunk of June, and I have a lot to look into for next year.  Plus I will have 26 kids, so I am trying to figure out how I can best accommodate all of them, and still teach everything.  I have started working on my teacher planner first, and have found some that I really like on TPT.  I am too cheap though, and don't want to pay $8 for a document that I'm going to have to edit any ways, so I'm working on creating my own!  Who knows, maybe I'll even set up a TPT store this year!

This looks like a great planner, and where I got a lot of my ideas!

5.  Looking into next year, I have also checked out our new science standards for the state.  They are very different then the ones that we've had for the past five years I've been teaching, so it's time to look for all new material for science too!  It should be a fun year!

Friday Five

1.  My precious baby girl always wants to be held. I love this, but it makes for getting things done quite hard. Brandon was okay sitting in the swing, laying on the boppy, or on the floor. Mrs. Natalie loves laying on mommy. I'm going to have to try and figure out this baby wearing thing.

2.  I finally managed to get my wedding rings back on today!! They aren't as lose as they once were, but they're on!!

3.  My mind has been tossing and turning with ideas for school. I know I missed the TPT sale earlier this week, but I'm going to look through tons this next month, and hopefully they'll run a big summer or back to school sale.

4.  We tried two new Pinterest recipes this week. Both were shrimp recipes, and we probably won't try either one again. The scampi just didn't turn out good enough for how long it took, and the other shrimp was okay.  (I'll look up recipes when I am on the computer and not on my phone.)

5.  I'm excited for my dad to come visit this weekend and for him to be able to spend more time with the kids. Brandon loves his grandpa!!