Busy, Busy, Busy

Sorry I have not updated my blog in a while. i have been so busy that I barely have time to breathe. This fulltime teacher, fulltime coach, and full time mother thing is just too damn hard. I thought I was superwoman and could do it all but I am slowly realizing that it is a bit too much. Dylan has homework 4 nights a week, and has soccer practice on thurday evenings. They have gymnastics and soccer on saturdays, and Alex has gymboree on Saturdays. I am so exhausted I can barely keep my eyes open at school today. Getting 3 children dressed, fed, and out the door each morning by 630 is really taking its toll. I love the weekends but they are jam packed too. My schedule for Saturday is as follows

745- kids are dressed, fed and ready to go to the gym with me. 8am arrival at the gym. 25 minutes of hard cardio followed by 60 minutes of weight lifting. I leave the gym at 925 to drop Dylan and kenzie off a gymnastics at 930. John will then take Alex to his 10am gymboree class. At 1030 I pick Dylan and kenzie up and then take them to soccer practice for my HS team, which goes from 11-1230. We then have to be a Bodman Park for Dylans soccer game by 1245. His game starts at 1 and ends at 2. I will finally arrive home around 3-4 pm after we eat. Some break huh? There is one silver lining though.... Samantha is coming to babysit so my husband and I can go out and party on saturday night. I plan on going out until 2am( I hope), but guess what will still be calling at 6am-- Alex--- so guess what, I can be a Zombie on Sunday until my practice at 4pm... and then its another week of craziness. My life is very difficult

9/11/06

I started my lesson today talking about Flashbulb memories. These are the memories that are so powerful that they are etched in your mind forever. The morning of September 11 2001, was so sureal. I can still remember that day as if it were yesterday. I can remember exactly how I found out. I was off periods 2 and 3. Sp basically I did not have students from 851- until 1029. This is when everything went down. After the first tower was hit, the school was unusually quiet. Little did I know that a major life changing event was happening. When I heard that a plan hit the tower, I just assumed it was a small plane and there were very few casualties. Then I heard about plane number two. As soon as that happened I realized something was terribly wrong. I went into my friend Annes room, who was teaching her period two class like nothing was out of the ordinary. Little did she know. She had a radio in her room , and I told her we had to listen. So there we were glued to the radio for 90 minutes. The kids could not bellieve it was happening. I remember hearing a womans voice as the first tower fell, she was in disbelief as she said, it is all gone, it's all gone. I can remember feeling such a profound saddness, that it is impossible to measure. John and I both showed up at the babysitters house to pick up Dylan, just so we could hug him. I remember thinking that I need to protect him from all of the saddness in the world. I can remember for the first time feeling vulnerable, really vulnerable. September 10, 2001 was the last day that we as americans were completely free of horrible thoughts of a catatrophic event happening. Now we have that twing of fear every time we watch the news, ot get on a plane. September 11 changed the nation, but it what does not kill us, makes us stronger, so lets hope that old adage rings true. These were just some of my thoughts about today

The toughest first week ever

Well I just completed my first full( well almost full, we had Monday off) week of school. Tuesday was just nuts. Having to have 5 unique individuals dressed, fed( yes a pop tart does count!) and ready for school was a challenge. John and I started our first full week with the kids in class ready to learn bright and early Tuesday morning. Besides having between 25-31 kids in each class. Yes you read that correctly. I teach 5 classes so i have about 130 students this year. Last year I had about 95. My work load has increased dramatically. When it comes to grading their work, I will be putting in an extra hour or so with each assignment. We do not get compensated for what we do at home either, but that is a totally different subject so we can discuss the fairness of my job at a later point. I have soccer practice each day until 430 or so, by the time I get home each day it is between 530-6pm. Next week will be ven worse because I have a game scheduled on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. I wont make it home Monday night until well after 7pm. The kids will already be in bed when I walk my tired ass through the door. ( Away games are the worst). My baby sitter told me on weds that her father in law passed away, and his family plans the wake for Thursday and the funeral for Friday. I know it is a shot gun service. She is shocked at the planning too. Basically I am left scarmbling for a babysitter. My sister in law came up huge today. I attended the funeral service while she watched Alex. It was very nice to see Alex playing with his little cousin Jake. It was so starnge when Jake smiled at me when I walked in the door, because all I could think of was my brother Justin. In that one instant it appeared Justin was reborn as Jake. She did a great job, she managed the fights over toys, and both kids were happy when I got back. Thanks again Elana, we will be calling again soon! Now I have 2 hours of [peace until I have to get back to school by 230 for practice, then I come back home. again and as long as Dylan and Kenz napped after school, I am taking them to my HS football game. Dylan is so excited. Home- school- home - school---- That is our life!!

No more Monkeys jumping on the bed!

I wake up John at 830 this morning like usual and then proceed to tell him that I am leaving to go to the gym to take a spin class. As he is brushing his teeth, I am waiting in Dylan's room with Alex and Dylan who are on the bed. Then out of the blue I see Alex start to tumble and then ouch... his little head hit the headboard. I immediately assume he is going to get an egg on his head, so I scooped him up and started to apply the ice pack. As I opened my eyes, I saw blood(bright red!) everywhere. I could not believe it. As I was trying to control the blood I ask john for the phone and proceed to call 911. There was no way we could have driven ourselves with having to apply pressure on Alex's head and the 2 other kids. It would have been too much. The police arrived at my house within 5 minutes. They offered to drive Alex and I to the hospital because the first aid was busy. So we hopped in the police car. As we were in the police car, I called my plasticsurgeon( hey who would have known having one of them would come in handy!), and was told that the PS on charge would take care of Alex. The cut was in the middle of his forhead, so I wanted a PS to do the work. After 2 hour in the hospital, Alex had his wound sewed up. i would guess that he had a few stitches underneath the skin and about 6-8 that we will have to have removed in 8 days. We had to swaddle him and hold him down during the procedure. That is the hardest part about being a parent. Can you imagine having to hold your 16 month old down while a doctor is about to sew him up like a pair of ripped jeans? The fact that Alex's wound was in the middle of his face, right at his eye line could not have made it any easier for him, thats for sure. After screamimg his little head off for about 10 minutes he fell asleep. Right in the middle of his stitches. He lay there sleeping so the doctor could finish the job undisturbed! He proceeded to sleep for 3 more hour or so and is now playing with his big sister like nothing happened! What a trooper. I learned an important lesson today. Childrens songs hold important messages. 2 little monkeys jumping on the bed, 1 fell off and bumped his head, went to the doctor and the doctor said.... No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

September in like a Lion!

Well September did not makes it's entrance in silence. It came in with a bang. On the first I had my first day of school for the 2006-2007 school year. Dylan is starting kindergarten and had his orientation, and Mackenzie also had her pre school orientation. My babysitter raised her rates and we had a huge storm. Wow! Now the tough part begins. After being home all summer, it is such a shock to go back to work in September. besides rasining 3 kids, I now have to caoch a varsity soccer team, plus teach 125 students the ins and outs of psychology. All of this in a mere 24 hours! The first month of school is always the hardest , there is always an adjustment and the kids are a bit out of sorts. Once October hits it gets easier, oh wait... then the sick season rears its ugly head. Okay... It is always hard. These are the times where I wish I could stay at home and just take care of my kids, and not work so much. But I guess if we want to eat and drive, I have to work. Oh well there is no sense complaining about it.. It is starting. hello wor world.. here I come!