Around Here: Week 9 2024

 {February 25th-March 2nd}

My cousin Savanna's baby Alanna

Weekends... are for laundry. I bust my butt starting Friday night and wrapping up Sunday night to get through everyone's laundry so that during the week it's no big deal if I don't get any done.

Blogging... makes me so happy. I was glad to get some done this weekend. Being so busy with school, life and field experience, blogging definitely fell to the wayside in the last year, so catching back up and taking pictures of life fills me up.

Reading... A Little Life, which is so good. Thinking of when I get to read the next chapter consumes me!!!

Finishing... Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and watching the movie with the boys on Sunday night. I enjoyed the movie very much, but I would say that all four of the other movies would rank over it for me personally. 

Getting... medicine for Maggie, whose eye is infected.  Hadley was also suffering an eye infection earlier this month, so I knew what it was right away. I also got them L-lysine supplements. 

Taking... Carly to the eye doctor for her yearly check up.  She got new glasses (purple instead of pink this time) and her prescription actually went down. That made me happy for her. She wanted these cute glasses with rainbow hearts all over them, but I thought they were too "loud" for her cute little face. So I talked her into the purple ones. 

Changing... out the play stations in the classroom, swapping out the doctor's office for a vet clinic and swapping the sensory table for new items that the kids were thrilled to experience. 

Showering... 2-3x per work week, usually on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays, but sometimes on Tuesdays & Thursdays. This is both because there's not enough hot water for all four of us (Josh, me & the twins) to comfortably shower, and because blow drying and doing my hair every single day takes up so much time. Josh and I have said that one of our first purchases when I get a teaching position will be a tankless water heater. If you're a working mama, what do your mornings look like? On shower mornings I get up at 5:30am. On other days I wake up at 6:00am. Wyatt and Carly shower in the evenings. Lots of logistics to work out when getting all six of us out the door five days a week.

Grateful... that Carly has truly adjusted to my student teaching schedule beautifully.  Two months in, she is really good at entertaining herself while I'm lesson planning in the mornings or afternoons, and when I have meetings, she often brings her tablet and watches The Baby-Sitters Club or Bluey.  I had worried about her, but she's doing beautifully.

Panicking... about parenting the twins as we deal with grades & teenage freedom. Letting go is so hard. Hoping their undeveloped teenage brains don't make any rash decisions with dire consequences and that possibility feels scary. It's just heavy and hard.

Laughing... at George as he helped himself to Josh's seat at the dinner table one night. Lately his begging at dinner is as bad as the dogs! Hah!

Loving... bedtime with Carly.  Snuggling her while we read The Boxcar Children and play songs from her bedtime playlist.  Her favorites right now include This Is Why I Need You, Perfect, Thinking Out Loud, Never Grow Up, Fire and the Flood, Someone You Loved, and Last Dollar (Fly Away). 

Admiring... the way Carly asks for snuggles all the time.  She wakes up asking for them, wants them whenever she or Josh get home and also asks for them at bedtime. She is so good as making certain her needs are met, and I love it. I also admire the way that Josh never says no to her. He will sit on the couch or pull her into his lap in his chair any time she wants some hugs and snuggles. What a loved little girl she is. 

Fond... of the way Carly always says "meant to". For example, she asked if I had done her laundry yet and when I said no, she said "But you were meant to!" Or when I asked if I was doing something right with her math she said, "Oh yeah, you're meant to do that!" 

Visiting... with my GCU supervisor about my second observation and feeling really proud of how it went. I presented a lesson on Martin Luther King, Jr and it went really well. 

Staying... late at work to do homework (because it's quiet there) and feeling so excited that I got all my lesson planning done during my breaks & before work. Finding that work/life balance is no joke, and I am happy to attempt at figuring it out. 

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Love this movie. So much.