34 Weeks: Tooth Fairy

Well Little Miss Millie is 34 weeks today and her first tooth started coming through on Tuesday of this week!  That little thing is sharp!  She has been her usual happy self through all of it.  We only had one night this week where she woke up crying and wanted to cuddle for a little.  (Which Mommy is alright with from time to time! Don't tell Millie that!)  It is just amazing to watch her grow and change so much from week to week.

I am still working at the middle school, which has been such a change from my 4th graders I was working  with last year.  I am enjoying it more than I thought I would.  I am working with the gifted students so they come to be during one of their class periods throughout the day.  They are working on a wide range of things from creating solar cars, getting ready for a natural disaster e-mission with actual NASA employees, to learning the physics of roller coasters and other amusement park rides.  The teacher that I am subbing for hds surgery last week and is planning on being out until April 5th.  We don't know too much more beyond that.  (Whether she will return on time and if she does if there would be something else for me to do at the middle school.)

While I am at school, Millie is spending most of her time with Ba (my step-mom Ann) and her cousin Callen!  We can't forget Pa (my dad!) who comes to meet me each morning and helps Ba during the day.  She seems to be adjusting well and all is good.  (Hate to say it but it does make me a little sad that she can go wit on without Mommy there!)  :)  But I'm also very glad that she is so well adjusted and is happy no matter where she is!  My Mom also helped out this week and stayed here at home one day with Millie.  I love that she is getting to spend the time with family and we just feel so blessed to have all the help!  :)  Callen is doing a great job with Millie, he is working hard to teach her how to crawl and all about trucks and diggers.  I'm sure he is very entertaining for Millie, much more than Mommy and Daddy!

We had a little Easter Egg Hunt for the kids in the development yesterday and the Easter Bunny was even there!  We took Millie along with our nephew Regen.  They had a blast.  Millie was very interested in the Easter Bunny and always was watching him.  She didn't quite know what to do with the eggs on the ground but Regen was an egg hunt professional!  :)  Just like his Aunt Niki used to be.   :)  Here are a few pictures.

32 Weeks: Momma got a Job!

You read it right... I got a job!  Just for a few weeks, but it's a foot in the door if nothing else!  It is at the same school that I interviewed at 2 weeks again, just a different position.  As the gifted teacher!  YIKES!  I start on Wednesday when I will shadow the current teacher for a week and then she will be out for 2 weeks.  The director of HR said that if she needs to be out longer, I will stay as long as she is out.  But he also said that if she returns after the 2 weeks, there may be another long term position for me to slide into as the Title I teacher.  So we will see.  I'm glad it gets me back into a school and working with kids.  Even though it is at a middle school and out of my "comfort zone" I think it will be great and I'm really excited about it!

On the other side of the scale is the fact that my daily time of feeding, playing, singing, dancing, and acting goofy is take a vacation while Millie spends her days with her Ba and Cousin Callen.  I know she is going to have a blast and is going to learn so many new things, but I'm going to miss my little bugger.  If I think about it for too long I start to get a little emotional because, I mean come on, who wouldn't miss something so cute!  We will both be great but could use some prayers to make the transition on the first few days smooth.  :)

Hanging outside on a beautiful day.

Learning to ride a skateboard like Daddy!

Woah!!!

7 Months: Catch up

Ok I realize it has been about a month since I have updated our blog and there has been a lot going on in our little family!  Let me start by saying Little Millie is growing like crazy and is doing new and fun things everyday.  She is "talking" more, mostly saying "la, ya, da"  :)  She continue to be very curious about everything around her.  She wants to touch and taste everything that she sees.  We try to allow her to explore safely and have found that she will eat just about anything that we eat.  (Keep in mind we have only let her have a little lick of something to get the flavor, but we haven't found anything that she doesn't want more of, including lemons and limes!) She isn't crawling yet, but is doing the barrel roll to get from point a to point b and is becoming pretty proficient at it.  We try every day to get her gut off the floor and to get up on her knees, but she quickly does a face plant into the carpet and just continues to roll to where she wants to go.  It is pretty crazy how big she is getting and how fast it has all happened.  I get a little sad to think about taking her "little girl" clothes out of her drawers to put "big girl" clothes in!

My Job Hunt:  As most of you know I have finally after 10 long months received my PA teaching certificate! Woo Hoo!!!  What a process and a pain in the neck!  I have actively or some might say obsessively been searching school districts online for open positions. At the beginning of Feb I expressed interest in a position with a local school district for an Instructional Support Teacher.  However, I didn't hear anything back from them for a couple of weeks, so I didn't really think any more about it.  However on Feb 22nd I got a call to come in for an interview on Monday the 25th.  That day I met with the principal of the school and the HR director and found out more about the position and told them a little about myself and my employment history.  The interview went great, even the two of them said I would be a great fit for the position.  The next day I got a call to come back for a second interview on Thursday the 28th.  (There were only two of us called back for 2nd interviews.) At the second interview I again met with the principal and two of the reading specialists at the school and I was reaffirmed that this would be an amazing opportunity for me!  However it is now Tuesday March 5 and I haven't heard back from them.  I guess it is safe to say it wasn't meant to be. It is disappointing for sure, but it was great to get back into the swing of interviewing again.  I am just try to keep reminding myself that it is a blessing in disguise and that I get to spend more time with Millie Raine now!  :)

Grammy Schantz (Big Millie):  I have to start off by saying my Grammy is such a strong lady!  She is always trusting in God and positive no matter what comes her way, she really sets an amazing example!  Well as you know she had open heart surgery last August after falling at her house.  Well since then she has been in and out of the hospital mostly for a wound on her knee that just will not heal.  She has been cut open several times and each time not hearing very good news.  She finally went to Philly to get a second opinion and they told her mostly the same thing that her doctors at home were telling her.  (The options aren't great!) After much praying she decided to have surgery to take her prosthetic knee out and have an immobilizer put in.  (Knowing that in doing this they were going to say and see if the wound would heal and then try to put another knee in.)  However during surgery they had a very hard time to get the prosthetic knee out and broke her Tibia in the process.  So now she has to be off of her leg completely for 6 weeks and there are a lot of unknowns after that!  So please keep her in your prayers.