Weekend in Blowing Rock

This past weekend we picked up my in-laws, Ronni & Steve at the airport and headed up to Blowing Rock for the weekend. We checked in to the Chetola Resort and Conference Center around 2:30. Mike hit the Appalachain Ski area that evening while I lounged at the condo watching The Devil Wears Prada (so adorable) and Ronni & Steve checked out the pub. Saturday morning Mike took Leah swimming in the indoor pool while I attended a yoga class. (How cool that this resort has all this stuff!) The we drove over to downtown Blowing Rock (love the town) and walked around and had lunch. Leah napped in the afternoon late then we had dinner at this yummy Italian restaurant named Pssghetti's. I had Fettucini Con Pancetta E Piselli (with pancetta and peas in a romano cream sauce) which was fabulous. Mike & Steve skied that night at Appalachian again (Mike tried ski boards) and I watched Monster-in-Law. On Sunday the plan was to head up to Beech Mountain so that Leah and Ronni could play in the snow for a bit but it rained ALL day! So we drove into Charlotte and went to the science museum Discovery Place. Leah really loved it this time. The last time she was there she was just learning to walk. Now she was running all over the place exploring. We had a great time. Then we dropped Steve off at the airport and headed home. Ronni is here until next Saturday! Yay!

Weekend Update

Well I had the most exhausting weekend. I flew to Jacksonville Friday morning. Saturday at noon I hosted a bridal shower for my friend and maid-of-honor Mandi. It went really well, but I was running around all morning getting ready for it. Then that afternoon we drove to Orlando for the bachelorette party. It took us 4 hours to get there! So we got there, ate pizza and got ready for the night. We left the hotel at about 11 for Pleasure Island! I haven't stayed up that late in over 2 years! It was as fun as can be for a pregnant non-drinker at a bunch of clubs. Mandi had a blast though. The fun began getting home. We were trying to get into our hotel room and the key wouldn't work. So I called information to get the hotel's phone number and the hotel has no record of our room! Finally we realize that we are at the wrong hotel! This is at 3am. The front desk threatened to call the cops because the drunk girls were banging on the door of the room we thought was ours. Turns out there are 2 Howard Johnsons within a half-mile of each other on the same road. What drama! The next morning we drove back to Jacksonville and from there I flew home Sunday night. I was so dead, I practically passed out in bed. I am NOT used to partying like that, even without drinking.

Today I had a doctor appointment with the new OB. I really like the office, the nurses (so far) and the doctor himself. He did not make me feel rushed at all and was very accomodating as far as scheduling blood work and such. We listened to the baby's heartbeat. It was a strong 154 bpm. He also taught me how to feel the top of my uterus so I can feel myself grow. The biggest news out of the appointment is that my ultrasound/sex determination is scheduled for March 14th at 2pm. I can't wait! I hope so much that the baby cooperates.

I forgot to tell about our Valentine's Day gift. Mike made us a cake! We woke up that morning and we had cake for breakfast. Mike always comes with the most creative ways to celebrate things. I love that about him.

Leah is no longer sleeping in her crib. I guess it started last week. She asked for her big girl bed at bedtime instead of her "kib" and that was that. I had always hoped that she would get used to the big girl bed if we just left it in there and that's the way it worked. Knock on wood, things have been incredibly easy with her big girl transitions so far. We shall see what happens with potty training. :)

Another step toward big girl-dom

Leah no longer uses a pacifier for sleeping! I could not believe how it happened. I had anticipated it being tough when we finally decided she had to give it up. (Disclaimer: we had NOT decided this yet. We were not even trying to get rid of it.) One night before bed she did not ask for it and did not seem to notice it on her nightstand next to the crib. So we didn't offer. It took a while for her to fall asleep, she talked to herself for a long time. Throughout the night she would wake up and cry a bit. But we never went in and she never asked for her "nuk." This happened 3 nights ago. We put away the pacifiers and she has not looked back once. It hasn't even been an issue. And after that first night, she has not woken up crying once. I do notice that she talks to herself FOREVER now before falling asleep. But that is a small price to pay to the "Nuk"ie gods. :)

On another note, I have decided to change obstetricians. I really want to deliver at Presbyterian Hospital in Matthews. It sounds more like Helen Ellis (where Leah was born) than the one I toured with Laurie. Remaining in the same room my entire stay and having enough room for visitors after the birth are more important to me than I realized. I guess I took it for granted last time. So I found an OB who delivers there through a co-worker who adores him. His office is in the hospital which is handy. :) She claims he does lots of ultrasounds! So my first appointment there is February 19th. Mike and I are both off work so he will probably come with me. We haven't decided whether to bring Leah. If I knew he was going to do an ultrasound, we might bring her. But I just don't know.

Snowfall here in NC!

We woke up yesterday morning to our house looking like this. We bundled up quickly, still in our PJs, and rushed outside to see what it was really like. The snowflakes were HUGE and falling fast. We got covered before we went back inside to change into real clothes and boots. When we got back outside, our neighbors had all turned out to play too. We love the fact that our closest friends live on our cul-de-sac. We never would have all gotten together to play in the snow had we not lived close like this. We made a snowman, threw snowballs, and tried to find something to slide on. We were all upset we did not buy a sled when we had the chance. After a while, it was breakfast and cuddle in front of the fire time. My school was closed and Mike worked from home so he could play every once in a while too. That afternoon, Leah and I used our painting easel to make a felt board (laid a large piece of felt over it and clipped it). Then I cut things from other pieces of felt and stuck them on there (felt sticks together). We made a boy and a girl and clothes for them. We made a rainbow, flowers, a cloud and a sun. She really had a ball putting them on and taking them off. I recommend felt boards for toddlers. :)

I forgot to update about my doctor's appt on Wednesday. There is a baby! They actually did do an ultrasound and we got pictures! In this one, the little hand is in front of the face. He said everything looks good and the due date is still August 17th even though the ultrasound did say I looked a few days further along. They don't change the due date unless they find out it is way off. It was so reassuring to see the baby. He/She actually moved and I saw the image on the screen jump. Mike was disappointed he didn't come, but we didn't know for sure about the ultrasound. The next appt is March 5 and they will take blood to screen for many things at that time. Then the NEXT appt is the big one, in-depth ultrasound and they will tell us the sex! I can't believe it is only 2 appts away. I AM still considering switching doctors. It just depends on what I think of the other hospital. We do the tour March 10th. Then I will have a better idea of what I want. Until then, I will just continue growing Baby Gallers to the best of my ability. :)

No news is good news

Not too much going on here lately. I had a miserable sinus cold so I was sniffly and headachy all last week. Thank goodness is seems to have cleared up and I feel much better today, just tired. I have my first official OB appointment today and can't wait to see what they do. I really want them to do an ultrasound but they probably won't considering it's my second pregnancy and I am very sure of my dates. I do hope at the very least they can find the heartbeat with the Doppler. I will be so disappointed if I leave with no evidence of a healthy baby. I need something to make this seem real to me besides my bouts with reflux and my slowly tightening clothes. C'mon doc, help me out!

Laurie and I toured the hospital last week. It was very clean and new, but not quite as up-to-date in their practices as Helen Ellis (where Leah was born). The rooms were TINY! There is no way people can fit in there to visit. SO, I may look into another hospital. We shall see after my appointment on this afternoon.

Other than that, life is good. We now live by ourselves after cohabiting with Dave & Rhiannon for 2 months. That is very nice. Leah is talking all the time. I love it!

Ski Beech

Sorry it took me so long to blog about our trip. I kept wanting to do it at work, but I didn't have my pictures so I wanted to wait until I got home. THEN I would forget. You know the drill. So anyway...

We had SUCH a good time on Beech Mountain. On the way there on Saturday
of course Leah wouldn't nap. We tried to get her to nap at the inn when we got there. No dice there either. We stayed at Beech Alpen Inn. It was sooo cute. Our room had 2 double beds in in with plenty of room for Leah's pack-n-play and room to play on the floor. She loved climbing up on the window seat and looking out at the people. She would shout "Hi, peoples!" out the window. That afternoon we bundled all up and decided to try out the sledding hill.

Leah was all gung ho the first time down the hill. Maybe if they hadn't fallen off the sled, she would have liked it. As it was she did not want to go down again. She and Daddy sat in the snow at the bottom and made a tiny snowman. She tasted the snow and said it tasted like icy water. She did like walking around in her boots though.



We ate dinner each night at yummy restaurants and then hung out at our inn for the evening. The first night Mike did a night skiing session and I sat in our inn's common room drinking hot chocolate and watching Food Network on their big screen TV. The second night Mike was gonna go out again, but he was exhausted and needed a little break. We played Sorry and Uno in the common room and watched Desparate Housewives. For out last day, Mike skiied a morning session and Leah and I met him there. He took a break and we played in a snowy playplace. Leah really liked climbing and sliding into the snow. We watched Mike come down the mountain a few times too. She kept looking for "Daddy's awnge hat".

I feel like we became our little family again after having friends live with us for so long. On that note, they are supposed to be closing this Thursday. So fingers crossed that we will have our house back next weekend!

We actually got a little sleet/rain the other night. County schools were closed (not my school) on Thursday. It was neat for Leah to go break the icicles off the cars. It may happen again tomorrow night. Here's hoping that schools (mine included) are closed Monday!

New beginnings...

Tomorrow we are leaving to go to the mountains for the weekend. I am very excited about it for two reasons. First of all, just our little family is going. We have never been on a trip that was just us. It's kinda nice to start doing things on our own. In addition, I am very excited to see how Leah reacts in the snow. We have an adorable snowsuit for her and some boots. She looks so cute and wants to wear it around the house. I am afraid she will give herself a heat stroke! But it's nice to see that she is excited. She talks about going with daddy to the mountains to play in the snow. So I will update about how our weekend went when we get back.

More news from us! We set up a toddler bed in Leah's room last night. Ever since Ian started sleeping in his big boy bed (a twin), Leah has talked about her big girl bed. So we borrowed one from our neighbor (Thanks, Tiffany!) and set it up. We read our bedtime stories in it last night and she really liked that. Then when she laid down and I covered her up, she said, "No, Mommy!" So we talked about it and she wanted to be in her crib. I really don't care one way or another (at least until the baby comes). I just figured while she was interested, we would let her play in it and get comfortable for when she HAS to switch (not for many months yet).

On a personal note, I have been reading/seeing quite a bit lately about postpartum depression. When I was pregnant with Leah, I knew it existed but never even considered I would have it. And I didn't. But with this one, I don't know. I am really scared about it. I just think the combination of a newborn and a toddler might send me over the edge. This journal on babycenter.com has really made me think. Here is a seemingly perfectly normal woman with two precious children and for several months in the beginning, she just can't get it together. Then the recent episodes of Scrubs features Carla getting postpartum depression with her first child. I just wonder if I will be able to handle it. I gues millions of people DO handle it every day. I will just try not to think about it.

And a happy new year!

I have been severely chastised for not updating this blog so here it is. :)

The weekend before Christmas, my step-dad came to visit. He took Leah into the "forest" near our house and she had a blast. She still talks about everything that she saw in the forest ("tee fall down"). It was so cute what she said one day too. My step-dad shaves his head. So we were talking about what color hair everyone has. Leah said brown for her own, mommy, and daddy, but for Pops she said "all gone!" How funny!

Then, we had a wonderful Christmas with my mom here. Leah got so used to opening presents every time she woke up (from naps and nighttime) that she continued to ask for them every time. I don't know how much Leah understood of Santa, but we left out milk and cookies and carrots for the reindeer. She liked doing that.


After Christmas, our friends from Florida Jason & Nikki came to visit for a few days with their daughter Halle who is 10 months. It was fun catching up and seeing the two girls interact. It has rained a lot this past week though, yuck. Mike is going a little stir crazy.

Next weekend we are planning to head over to Banner Elk, I think, to check out the mountains and give Mike a chance to try out his new snowboard. We even got a Leah some snow pants the other day at Target. Now all she needs is boots and we are set. Come to think of it, I need boots too.

I'm sure all of you know this by now but I wanted to officially announce it here. We are expecting another baby Gallers. I am almost 8 weeks along and the baby is due August 17th (Aunt Brittany's birthday). I have been feeling pretty well most of the time, just tired a lot. I do have bouts with a yucky feeling but nothing permanent. We are so excited. Leah now says "big sisser We-ah." It is adorable.

Well, that's all the news for now. Hope everyone out there had a wonderful holiday season and I wish much happiess in the coming year for you and your families.

Counting to twelve

I don't think I mentioned in the last post that we closed on our house December 1st! Now we are officially single-home owners. Glad to have the $ here before Christmas too. Mike is already in the process of purchasing a 50" plasma TV for our living room. And we will be building a shed in the backyard shortly. So there goes our earnings. :)

My genius baby is counting to twelve lately. She skips five and nine, but, hey, who cares?!? She is counting! Also, I have to tell a Dora story. We were watching an episode we had never seen before (there is such a thing?). Backpack opens up and they ask the kids to find something to slide down the snowy mountain. They point to a pair of binoculars and say is this it? Leah says "No." They point to a pair of skis and say is this it? Leah says "YES!" How the heck does she know what skis are? Geez, what that child DOESN'T know!

Last week of work before winter break. Can't wait!

The Theriot Adventure

This photo is of all the Theriot girl cousins except one (who was having contractions at the wedding and had to leave).

So Leah survived another fun-filled installment of the Theriots. We flew to New Orleans on Friday with a short layover in Atlanta. Leah was great, she watched her Dora videos on both flights. When we arrived, she was super spoiled by her Mimi and Pawpaw. Saturday we drove to our hotel and got ready to attend my cousin Katie's wedding. It wasn't until 7pm so Leah was already tired when we got there. All of my aunts and cousins of course wanted to play with her and hold her but she was clinging to Mommy & Daddy. She danced with us some and liked sitting on the step in front of the cake. After a while we just put her in her pajamas and she settled down.

On Sunday we enjoyed lunch with my sister, her boyfriend, and my brother. They gave Leah such nice Christmas gifts. They were amazed to see how verbal she is. She chatted about her colors and her new Pooh Bear stuffed animal.

Monday, we had a birthday party for my step-mom. Several of my aunts came from New Orleans to my dad's house along with my grandparents. Leah warmed up to everyone pretty well in a more familiar environment.

Then on Tuesday night we took Leah to see her first movie, Happy Feet. She talked about it for days beforehand. Once we got there she settled right in. She was so cute sitting there in her own little seat. They had a booster seat for the chairs that worked for her. In the beginning she was great, watching so intently. Toward the middle she started getting antsy and saying "pen-gin all done" and trying to climb out of the seat. Then she got interested again and sat all the way through the end. I can't wait to do a scrapbook page of it. I even took a picture of her in her seat!

So lovely vacation and it's back to the grind. This weekend we have our Progressive Dinner and then only 1 more week until I am off until the New Year.

Happy Turkey Day!

No closing on the house yet. We are now being told probably on Thursday (nothing like cutting it close for next month's mortgage). Cross your fingers that it closes by the end of the 30th!

I just re-read the last post and realized that I forgot to say my mom had been with us. We had such a great visit with her. For the first time, there were no distractions around, so she really got to play with Leah and get to know all of her little quirks. After we dropped her off at the airport, Leah kept saying, "Gammy, airport." While she was here, my mom bought us a webcam so we can talk to her on it. It was so easy to set up using Skype. We already talked to Keri & Keith on it and it works great! You can make the picture full screen. The camera itself has the microphone and the sound is pretty clear. So that is one of our new toys.

We just got back from Virginia yesterday. The trip up there was awful! It rained and we sat in traffic for 9 hours! Leah was a little trooper though. She watched too many episodes of Dora and Diego to count on our new portable DVD player mounted on the back of the headrest. On Thursday we had a yummy turkey dinner and watched entirely too much football for my liking (although I got all of my picks right). Friday morning was spent in DC being tourists with Mike's dad. See our website for pictures. On Saturday we got portraits taken of Leah & Landon together and they were really cute. Then we watched some of the Gator/FSU game at a sports bar. THEN we took Leah to Chuck E Cheese in the evening with her Nana & Papa. She seemed to have lots of fun and slept really well that night!

So that was our Thanksgiving. I ate turkey dinner 3 times that weekend and it was super yummy every time. Next year it will be at my house. I just have to buy a bigger dining room table and get my new stove before then. Hope your holiday was fun and delicious!

D-Day

Our closing is scheduled for Nov. 27th. That's less than a week away! We are so ready to be done with that house and move on. So wish us luck that everything goes as planned.

We went to Monroe's Christmas parade on Sunday. It was cute for a small town. There were Little Misses and Princesses for everything (Elks Lodge, schools, sports teams, businesses). Those girls looked like they were freezing in their fancy dresses. Leah did not like when the big trucks honked their horns. But she did like the marching bands and dance troops. Fun for the whole family! :)

I am almost finished with my Christmas/Channukah shopping. I know, you are like, Hello, it's not even Thanksgiving yet! BUT we see Mike's family for Thanksgiving and I don't know when after that. So we are bringing all of their presents. Then the next weekend we see my dad and that side of the family. So I have to bring all of those presents. That just leaves my mom's side and our little family. I figured while I am out shopping for everyone else, I might as well get as much done as I can. So out of 13 people we have to buy for, I am finished with 7 of them and have ideas for 2 more. Leah & Mike are pretty much done too. So no holiday stress for me.

We are going this afternoon to take Leah's Christmas pictures. Then this weekend Stacy made an appointment to get Leah & Landon together. Can't wait to see those two cuties in their holiday gear!

Our FL house is SOLD!

We signed the paperwork on Monday. Now we are awaiting inspections (supposed to be this week), but the buyers want to close as soon as possible. We are hoping to close before Dec. 1 to avoid paying another month of double mortgages. So YIPPEE!

This past weekend we went to the Carolina Renaissance Festival in Huntersville, NC (just north of Charlotte). We went with Bryan & Laurie and we met Nicole & Min there. Leah absolutely LOVED the music. Every time we encountered another musician, she would stop and dance around. There is some video of her dancing on our home website. We also watched a joust and our knight won the battle. There was a fairy lady there who did not speak and only played music on a double recorder thing. After her song, she would give out stones to the kids. Leah ran right up to her and was given a quartz-like stone. Then Leah did the sign for thank you and the fairy was surprised. She looked inquiringly at me and I said, "She knows a few signs." The fairy smiled at us and clapped for Leah. It is always neat when people appreciate the signs. Thank you is one of the only ones she still uses. She has started saying welcome to herself (thank you, welcome) when I tell her to say thank you. It is a riot!

I have been having a good week at home with the 2 kids in the mornings and at work. Ty has napped two of the last three days. Even when it is only 30 minutes, like it was today, it gives me a few minutes with Leah AND to get myself ready. At work, I feel like I am actually teaching something to a few of my students, which is always a plus in the education field. :) So life is pretty good.

My mom is coming on Friday to stay until the day before Thanksgiving. Then we drive to VA that same day to spend Thanksgiving with Mike's family. THEN on December 1, we fly to New Orleans to visit my dad and attend my cousin's wedding. Mike comes home on Sunday, but Leah & I stay until the 6th. So we are busy bees once again. I love spending all the time with our families though. Hope everyone out there in blogland has a wonderful and filling Thanksgiving!

Finally, a date night!

On Saturday night, Mike & I went on a date. His mom was here and she watched Leah. She even put her to bed so that we could leave at 6ish. We made a reservation for 7pm at Maggiano's! It is absolutely my favorite restaruant ever! We ate Mushroom Ravioli al Forno and Rigatoni D, among other things, and drank a bottle of Riesling (well, I drank most of it, not being the DD). It was such an awesome night of just being together without Leah and enjoying our time. Thanks so much to Ronni for making it possible. :)

I have been watching Rhiannon's son, Ty, since last Wednesday when she started job sharing with me. He is 8 months old. Ty is not always a very good napper and fights sleep like a champ. I have since learned that my nephew Landon who is 6 months is the same way. I know Leah is a great sleeper now, but I remember when she was about 5 or so months she was a terrible sleeper and we struggled with every nap and every night. Maybe it's an age thing? If you have any thoughts on this, please let me know.

Anyway, most days I have been successful at putting him down for a nap (he is currently asleep). The only thing is I feel like in a matter of 2 weeks I have changed my whole life, first working, now not being able to go to the gym in the mornings. So I am stressed about such a big change in such a short time. I feel like maybe I didn't really think it through. I just have to keep thinking that I am doing this for our family. My paycheck will pay the mortgage on our FL house until it sells and then it will help with our bills we have racked up because of having 2 mortgages. Next year it will be different... I hope.

Dancin' Dora Days

We finally took Leah to Paramount's Carowinds! They have a section called Nickelodeon Central (Nick is where Dora, Blue's Clues, and Diego are created) with lots of rides and shows for young kids. We went on the carousel, Dora's train ride and the Lazy Town Sporticopters. We tried to go on Boots' Balloon Race but someone had gotten sick on it. Maybe that was a hint that a 17 month old should not be on that ride. :) Anyway, there was a show called Dora's Sing-Along Adventure and Leah LOVED it! She was a little wary at first, but then she started responding and dancing. She would sit on her bottom and bounce her legs. At the end of the show they did the chicken dance. Leah really tried to keep up but of course she couldn't. It was so cute to watch her shake her bottom and flap her arms. I will post a picture as soon as I upload them.

On another note, Rhiannon West (a good friend) will be starting a job share with me on November 1st. I will watch her son, Ty (almost 8 months) in the mornings from 7:30-11:20. She will come home and I will leave and work from 11:40-3:30. We live 5 minutes from work. She will watch Leah in the afternoons. I am hoping it works out and it is easy to switch at lunchtime. I will let you know this weekend how it went.

Another week in the Gallers household...

This picture was taken at the Aw Shucks Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch. We went this past weekend. There was a general store with snacks, a hayride, a hay bale "maze" for the kids to climb, two corn mazes, a pumpkin patch, and a mini-log cabin. The kids had so much fun running, climbing, and rocking in chairs on the porch of the cabin. In between the two corn mazes there was a path through the woods. Along the path was an outhouse looking building. We stopped to take pictures and this was one of Leah peeking out of the hole in the door.

Yesterday was my first day at work. It was a teacher workday, so I didn't meet my students yet. But the person who had my job before me kind of left things in a disarray. Things were incomplete and disorganized. So I spent yesterday organizing and finishing. Today will be the day I meet some of the kids (I have different ones on different days) and get to know what they are capable of. I have 5th-9th graders. It will be interesting and fun to work with these older kids, Maybe it will push me to work with them when I go back full-time one day.

Just a word to tell you how amazing my daughter is. :) Today she was talking about bananas. The conversation went like this:

Leah: Nanas?

Me: No baby, there are no more bananas.

Leah: Daddy?

Me: Yes, Daddy ate all the bananas.

Leah: Mommy eat?

Me: Yes, sometimes Mommy eats bananas too.

Leah: Mommy eat nanas.

Three word sentence!!!! The kid is brilliant! She is getting to know colors a little too. She can pick blue out anywhere (just like her momma). The other colors get called out randomly until she lands on the right one. If I say "One," she will say "Two, Tee." She can climb up the 3 ft wall with holes in it at the playground with minimal help (we remind her to look at her feet and put them in the holes). She interacts with the TV now, saying yes, no, map, and backpack to Dora when they ask the kids to call it out. I love watching her do and say things everyday because you never know what will come out of her mouth. Those of you who haven't seen her in a while, wait til you do! You will not believe how much of a little girl she is now.

P.S. Right as I finished this entry, Leah said "Poo poo?" (I think everything is a question) I put her on the potty and we read her monkey book. I couldn't see anything in the potty while she was sitting on it, but when she got up, I saw she had peed! She apparently knew something was going on down there. :)

A day to remember

When Leah woke up from her nap, she said "Poo Poo?" So I thought she had pooped and I took her to change her diaper. Her diaper was clean and I was about to put it back on when I noticed she was starting to go to the bathroom. We ran downstairs and I put her on her potty. She didn't really want to stay there, but we read Eight Silly Monkeys and by the end, she had POOPED on the POTTY! I took a picture of the actual poop too (such a first time mommy). This picture was taken after everything was all over. She had been running around while I looked for the camera. I asked her to sit back on the potty and say cheese and she did. It showed a little too much for comfort so I blurred out the inappropriate areas. :)

My baby is so big now!

Various & sundry items

This past week I did not follow Weight Watchers at all. I just ate what I wanted when I wanted. At the weigh-in today I was nervous, I thought for sure I gained 5 lbs. Only 0.4! I am back on the horse as of today so I can keep losing and meet my goal before Christmas.

In other news, I had a job interview on Monday at a charter school called Union Academy. I know you are thinking, job? I thought she was staying home with the baby. Well, all my thoughts on that are in a previous post if you are interested. AND we just had to lower the price on our FL house (yet again) another 30K. So money will be tight for a bit. Anyway, the position was described to me as a full-time 5th grade english teacher in a middle school setting, which would be really fun because I loved teaching middle school. I spoke with the assistant principal on the phone and she asked several times, "Are you sure you are interested in coming back to work?" I convinced her and we set up the interview. Over the weekend, Mike and I got to talking about me working again and I got really sad about it. I really DON'T want to work full-time and leave Leah all the time, especially now that she would know I was gone. I don't want all the stress and pressure of that kind of position. So I called the AP before the interview and said all of these things, but also said I am still looking for possible part-time/subbing work. She said to come in anyway.

SO I go to the interview. They really liked me. They even entertained the possibility of splitting the position so that I would only have to work half-days. During the interview they brought in a lady who is in charge of the Exceptional Children department (EC). She needs people to co-teach in classrooms to help those with learning disabilities and also possibly pull small groups. She is willing to take part-time or full-time.

In the end they found someone to take the full-time 5th grade position, but they still want to talk to me about the EC position. I haven't discussed it with the EC coordinator yet, but I think it might be fun. She had said I could kind of set my own schedule. I am looking forward to hearing from her.

That has been my crazy life this past week. We had a wonderful weekend, playing in the cul-de-sac, laying by the fire, going shopping, etc. Mike got to spend lots of quality time with Leah and allowed me to do my own thing quite a bit. I LOVE my husband! :)

Update: I have a job! I took that EC job from 10:45-2 everyday. Leah will either stay with Laurie or my other neighbor Kim. I love the hours and I love that everyday will not be the same AND that there are NO sub plans to write when you are out! I start October 18th (Wed) and I do three days of shadowing/learning before I officially have to deal with kids on the following Monday (23rd). So there you have it. The best of both worlds, as long as the job works out and I enjoy it. Keep your fingers crossed!

Next on ER...

So this weekend has been an adventure, so to speak. As you all may or may not know, Laurie is pregnant (due in MAY). Long story short, she has a history of blood clots. She went on vacation last week and spent many hours on buses and planes. She noticed pain in her leg that seemed to move around. I suggested it may be a blood clot and we were off to the ER Friday night at about 7pm. Got home at midnight. It was a clot but they said superficial. So she is watching it now and back on her blood thinners. First night of fun.

On to the next story. A few days ago Leah's left eye was had yellow/greeney goop coming out of it non-stop. Then she started coughing at night. She threw up a bunch of mucus one night. Had a low grade fever at night for a few nights. Then yesterday (Saturday) the other eye started gooping and she was complaining about her ear. We noticed a yellow crust around the opening of her ear. Of course I started researching and came up with ruptured eardrum. So I took her to the urgent care clinic (Mike finished watching the Gator game). Turns out to be a sinus infection. No ear infection. So we have meds now and hopefully she will be better soon. She slept well last night after we finally got home at almost 9pm. We shall see.

That was my fun with sickness weekend. It HAS been very nice cold weather here and rainy too. We had a fire going in the fireplace ALL day yesterday, which was so cozy. The rain is kinda nice too, makes you want to cuddle up. I hope all of you Floridians get to cuddle up sometime this winter!

The Halfway Point

Just a quick note to tell you all that I have lost a total of 12 lbs, reaching halfway to my 25 lb goal. I can't believe with the weekend I had, that I lost any at all. But I think with all the exercising, something has to give and that is FAT! :) Thanks to all of you out there giving me support every week. It's nice to hear the encouragement.

On another note, congratulations to Nikki for her completed triathalon. I am so proud of her.