Update, part 2

Okay, let's see where we left off...

October: October was a CRAZY month around here. We had visitors, birthday celebrations, sick days, and who knows what else. In celebration of Hannah's first birthday, my sister, Shannon, flew out early in the month. It was so nice to have her here for a little over a week. She was able to spend some quality time with Hannah and she also designed and made an amazing cake for Hannah's party. My mom also flew in for the party. She spent a few days with my other sister, Heike, before coming to stay at our place. This was after the party and Shannon's departure. (This is important to know, as our house is very tiny and having everyone here at the same time would have been a little bit crowded.) We had Hannah's birthday party and she had a wonderful time. She enjoyed the wrapping paper and tissue more than the actual gifts, but that's okay. I think she still had fun. Plus, the present opening was good practice for Christmas.

After Hannah's birthday (and the departure of all visitors), things took a turn for the worse. I came down with a really nasty illness (a virus was the official diagnosis). I was at the med center twice and missed two days of school. Right when I was beginning to feel better, my school closed for three days because we had so many students home sick - some with the almighty H1N1 and some sick, like me, with other viruses. I basically quarantined myself in an attempt to keep Hannah and Jeremy healthy, which was successful.

November: Another crazy, busy month. In the "school" world, November brought report cards and parent/teacher conferences. Thankfully, almost all of my conferences went well. Conferences were the same week as Thanksgiving, so it was nice to have conferences end and go right into a few days off. Sadly, November brought us Hannah's first ear infection. She was a trooper and eventually decided that her medicine was okay. Her ear infection led to a cold, which led to constant nose wiping. She was not such a trooper about that. We spent Thanksgiving with Jeremy's mom and dad. It was nice to be able to just sit and relax. Hannah loved most of the Thanksgiving foods - especially pumpkin pie. She ate half of my piece and wanted more!

December: What a fun month! I had three snow days, which are wonderful surprises. They helped the time until Christmas vacation pass a lot faster. Over Christmas vacation, my parents drove out from Oregon to visit for a few days. Hannah loved having her "Oregon grandparents" here for awhile. We hosted Christmas at our small little home - we had our family of 3, my parents, Jeremy's parents, Jeremy's brother and his girlfriend, and my sister and my niece all crowded together. It was loud and crazy. I think Hannah and I were both a little overwhelmed. :)

Hannah also had another ear infection (this time in the other ear). She did not handle the medicine as well this time. Each dose was a battle and was almost impossible to do alone. She mustered all the strength she could to fight us off.

Okay - that's a lot of updating. I think I'm done...again...for now. :)

Has it Really Been Six Months?

So, I realized today that it has been SIX MONTHS since I have updated this blog. That is quite simply ridiculous. But, in my defense, a lot has happened. Let me just take you on a whirlwind tour of the past six months.

July: I found out my dear friend and teaching partner was leaving my school. While this was incredibly sad (and is still very sad), it did open up a full-time teaching position, in my grade level. After a few days of waiting and hoping, I was offered the position. Rather than teaching 4th grade 2 or 3 days a week, focusing on science, I now teach 4th grade full-time and focus on writing. Quite a switch, but one that I am loving.

Hannah started crawling in July - this certainly brought a lot of changes to our life. Constant vigilance became our new motto. Molly (our faithful beagle) had to adjust to this new moving person. Thankfully, Molly is super patient and has continued to be wonderful with Hannah.

August: It turns out I don't remember a lot from August. I believe it might be because I was completely overwhelmed with getting my new classroom ready. I know a lot of things happened, but truly, I don't have a clue what they were. Perhaps I should have updated the blog that month. :)

September: Jeremy started classes again this month - taking a chemistry class at Grand Valley. He was in class 7 hours a week and was working 42 hours a week. Needless to say, he was busy and exhausted.

Hannah started learning more and more. She started figuring out how to blow kisses, which is quite possibly the cutest thing ever. We also worked really hard on some important signs. Hannah became really good at "eat," "more," and "done."

My school year started and I instantly remembered how tiring the first few days/weeks of school can be. I'll be honest, it was a hard adjustment - going from part-time teaching to full-time teaching. I had a new subject to create lessons for, we adopted a new math curriculum, which required a lot of attention, plus I had 26 students to try and get to know - oh, and figure out how to be a full-time teacher and mom.

Okay - that's three months of updates, so I'm going to quit for now. We'll focus on October, November, and December (and maybe even January) later today or tomorrow...or maybe six months from now. :)