Work

I can honestly say that if there is one reason that I have not been posting, it is work. Don't get me wrong, I love my job but it is definitely more time consuming then I ever imagined. The first semester of school for me was a little rough. I found myself questioning if what I spent so much time and effort in college for was really the right thing for me. My days would go from 7 am until late afternoon or early evening. When I would get home, I would have enough time to talk with Caleb for about 10 minutes and then it was off to get more work done for school. It felt like it was never ending. Caleb was a huge support though. I talked with a lot of teachers who said that their marriages struggled a lot because the work never ended. I can completely understand how this could happen. I, however, am really lucky. Caleb has been unbelievably helpful through all of this. Instead of just going into another room and hanging out by himself, he would join me and do whatever it was that I needed him to do. I can't tell you how many nights he would sit on the floor with me and color and cut different activities that I was preparing for my lessons. There were the occasional days he would ask me, "Isn't this what a TA is for?" but he never complained. I guess the most important thing for him is that we were spending time together. How lucky am I?
Things have gotten a lot better since Christmas. I actually feel like I have fallen into a great routine with my kids. They are learning so much and I can really see the progress that I am helping them make. I have one child who is reading and a few more who are so close to reading. It really makes me feel good. I have a new TA who is the most wonderful person ever and I love her very much. I realize now that I do not have to do everything myself. I am able to leave work at a reasonable hour and come home and hang out with Caleb without doing any work for the classroom. Yes there are still several days where I am swamped with paperwork, etc...but there are also days where I put it all aside and just relax. I guess it just took a few weeks off and a nice visit with my parents to realize that there is no point in stressing over things that I cannot control. There were a lot of downs in my first few months as a teacher and I had completely shut myself down. Thanks to Caleb, my parents and my new TA (oh yeah and Powell), I have done a complete 180 and so has my classroom. There is life again and I actually wake up (most mornings...haha) ready to go to school not work. :) I cannot post pictures of my kids online but I will post some pictures of my classroom once the camera charger returns to us.
Caleb's job is going ok. There are a lot of what if's at this point. The economy is taking its toll on Caleb's company. They are making a lot of changes that could affect job security. He now has to work Saturdays which stinks because it is less time we see eachother but we are just both thankful that we have jobs. Caleb has another opportunity that might present itself in the next few months. He is really excited about it and we hope it pans out. I will let him post about it later! :)