Sometimes it's hard to believe that I have already been away from teaching for 6 months. I still find myself thinking about school a lot...not missing it exactly, just thinking about it. It might be because I pass by my school every single time I leave my house. It was my life for 6 years so it's hard to turn off the "teacher brain" sometimes. I think about things like what the kids are probably learning this time of year, the busyness and stress at the end of a six weeks, the preparation for the week before Christmas break. I even still have "teacher dreams". I've realized over the last few months that while there are many differences in being a mommy and a teacher, there are also a lot of similarities!
Here are a few that come to mind:
- At the end of the day you find interesting things all over your body. As a teacher it was usually marker on my hands, chalk on my pants, or unidentified stickiness on my arms or clothes. As a mommy it is usually spit up, baby food, or again, unidentified stickiness! :)
- Your day is a continuous series of quick decision making.
- You are always picking up after somebody (or 22 somebodies).
- You are always "on". There is always someone depending on you.
- You carry around a lot of bags of random stuff.
- SO MUCH preparation goes into being away from your job even if it's just for an hour.
- There is always, always, always something to learn. You never reach your peak and you can always improve!
- It never gets old to see your students or baby grow and learn something new.
- You question yourself all the time because someone else's well being is affected by how well you are doing your job. You lay awake at night wondering if you are doing enough no matter how hard you work.
- You are challenged and stretched in ways you never knew possible!
Decorating for Christmas took a lot longer this year than any other year. I had to do it in several small increments instead of spending a few hours all at once. I wanted to go for a more whimsical look this year which turned into an obsession with deco mesh.
This afternoon we went back to the mall to get a picture with Santa.
At 8:30 we headed over for a little play date with our walking buddies Jessica and Grayson. I forgot to take a picture, but we had fun playing and visiting! :) Reid went down for a nap at 9:3o when we got back. I was up 6 times with him last night (I'm not sure what was going on with him) and was really tired, so I napped too! He napped for 2 hours! This is the longest nap he has EVER taken. I guess he was tired from not sleeping last night. I fed him when he woke up and then we headed out to run a couple of quick errands.
We got back around 1:00 and ate lunch. Reid had green beans and squash. After lunch we played and read books.
He was being SO silly and smiley!!! You can see his teeth in some of these pictures!
He went down for another nap around 2:00 and slept until 2:45. While he napped I tried to put a dent in our huge mountain of laundry. I fed him when he woke up and then we rocked in the chair for a while. He was being super snugly, which I loved. I was planning to get dinner ready while he was napping, but since he took a short nap, I didn't have a chance. Luckily what I was making didn't involve a lot of preparation, so I got it ready really quick after he woke up. I try to get dinner prepared in the afternoon sometimes so I can just stick it in the oven when Chris is on his way home. After I got dinner ready, I bundled Reid up and we headed to the park to swing for a few minutes.
Mumsie stopped by after school for a short visit!
They played for a few minutes together while I went out and got a little bit of exercise. When I got back we ate dinner, played some more, then gave Reid his bath. We have so much fun at bath time! I fed Reid before putting him to bed around 8:15.
On Wednesday my wonderful friend Sharon insisted that I drop Reid off at her house for a couple of hours and go do something for myself! It was really sweet. It was my first time to ever leave Reid with someone other than family. She is like family though, so I guess that doesn't really count. :) I went to get a pedicure and it was wonderful! When I went to get him, her girls were home from school. It was one of those "full circle" moments. I met Tiffany and Amanda when they were in first grade and used to babysit them and their brother every summer in college. They are now beautiful seventeen year olds and it is so special to see them with Reid!
It's also fun to wear Daddy's hat!
This morning Reid and I went to a little music class called the Gingerbread Jamboree! It was ADORABLE! The teacher did a great job. We had so much fun!
His favorite part was the "sleigh ride"!
He also enjoyed chewing on his jingle bells! 
He wasn't too sure about the ribbons at first, but then he got pretty into it! :)
We tried to go get Reid's picture made with Santa today, but Santa was "on a break" (for an hour!) when we got there. Babies aren't really into waiting an hour for something, so we are going to try again another day. Reid (and Sophie, of course) had a little photo shoot in front of the tree before we left.
