Well. We are almost there!! My last day of student teaching is October 31st. What better way to finish my college career than a party with 5th graders? I'm grateful to have a great school, mentor teacher, and a pretty good group of kids. But even though that's all great, I'm still counting the days til I'm done.
I haven't posted much in the last 2 months because it's been busy. But because this week in particular has been all GO, GO, GO... I'm taking some time to reflect. I've never loved a Saturday morning more than today. It's the little things like being able to hold, rock, and sing to Jimmie while he takes a nap. Being able to stay in my sweats and do some cleaning, moving, and organizing with Jim and enjoying one another's conversation. Being able to play with Nala and go for a walk. These are the little things I miss.
Being a teacher is hard. And even though you know that, you don't realize quite how much they sacrifice and do until you're immersed in the trenches yourself. This last week I took over the class full time. My mentor teacher has been finding things to do in the faculty room and elsewhere in the school while I run the whole day. It's a hard adjustment for the kids and naturally some of them are rebelling. It's hard, but it's been good. Still not 100% as having my own classroom because I would do lots of things differently and have a relationship started from the beginning of school. But it's a great learning experience.
Jimmie has been going to sleep around 10:30 and, as you can probably imagine, it's hard to get any planning done with him awake. So after he falls asleep I plan, evaluate, and grade til about 2-3 in the morning and wake up at 6:30. (If you know me at all...you know I'm an 8 hr kinda girl. I could get by on 6...but 3-4 hours doesn't quite cut it). I learned the hard way yesterday that those missed hours of sleep will catch up with you. My observation went pretty bad and I was just at my whits end. But you know, it's okay to have a breakdown every once and a while :) I'm grateful for an awesome husband who had the house all cleaned and watched Jimmie so that I could take a much needed nap. With a hurt back and all! It's great to know that when I drop the ball I have someone who is happy to keep dribbling it for me! Hopefully I can get a lot of planning done this weekend so that this week isn't quite so hard. 9 days left...I can do that! :) Once I'm done with my student teaching I'll have about a months worth of writing up papers but at least I can do that at my own pace in my pajamas ;) I may also substitute teach for the remainder of the school year.
Earlier this month our grade took a walking field trip through the canyon by our school. We had just studied landforms, erosion, weathering, deposition, etc and got to go experience and identify it first hand. It was a long day of walking but it was a lot of fun! I can't post many pictures because you aren't supposed to post pictures with the kids faces but these give a pretty good feel for what it was like.
Jimmie has been doing great. He's sitting up on his own mostly, though he's a little shakey and falls over a lot :) it's pretty cute. He had his 4 (and a half) month checkup and got all of his shots. He did better with the shots this time.
4.5 month stats:
Weight- 17.0 lbs (78%)
Height- 25.75 in (68%)
Head Circumference- 17.25 inches (80%)
Wearing size 3 diapers and size 6-9 month clothes (though he can squeeze into a few of the bigger 3-6).
Got rid of the crusty, guckiness in his eyes, but now have a touch of cradle cap.
We are back to not sleeping through the night...still wakes up at least twice but goes back to sleep quickly :)
Still no tooth...but anticipating an arrival any time now! Teething teething teething.
Can't push himself up in tummy time but can hold his head if supported another way. It's the arm strength not neck strength that he lacks.
We've all gotten our Halloween costumes and are excited to wear them!
He's still got a bit of a continual cold but is healthy otherwise. He does have a few pretty significant flat spot on the back of his head so we need to take him into a pediatric physical therapist. They will examine and assess the situation and let us know what to do. If it's bad enough he will have to wear one of those baby helmets. You know, the ones that I think make the baby look like an astronaut :) but overall he is a very happy and very good baby! Everyone always comments on how good of a baby he is.
Here are some shots from over the course of the last few weeks:
Happy October, friends!
He had more fun than it looks :) But I took these pictures with my big Cannon and he's still not quite sure what to think of it.
He's LOVING toys right now.
He's a pretty happy guy!
Snuggles with Daddy. Sometimes I look at the two of them and I swear they look identical.
Aunt Meg came to Visit last weekend and I didn't get any pictures!! Sorry we are so lame Megan but we loved getting to see you.
He loves mirrors or the self facing camera on my phone. He managed to snap one of himself one day!
We're all feeling a bit like this around here right now.
"I'm teething Mom!"
And he loves to stand!
He's getting to be such a big boy! Can't wait til I can stay home and play with him some more :)
Phew Em! You are amazing! And somehow you still blog. I'm glad you have less than 2 weeks left! I can't believe how big Jimmie is getting! He's so cute. I can't wait to meet him!
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