Spring Break

We had our Spring Break two weeks ago and we had a great time. Monday was a bit drizzly but other than that the week's weather was beautiful. Oscar's sister and her family were in town at the beginning of the week. Oscar took Monday off and we all met up at the zoo for the morning. The rain wasn't bad at all, just some sprinkles on and off. The best part of the rain was that it scared off all the people and the zoo was pretty quiet. The animals were easy to spot and we actually went into a few places i hadn't been in on my other visits to the zoo, like the invertabrit house!

The kids had a great time running around and being together. It's really nice getting the cousins together so they can have good memories and grow up knowing each other. When we left the zoo we were off to Mama Eisha's for a yummy Mediterranean lunch. Before we left we took some cute pictures of the kids in the Zoo sign.

Other fun Spring Break activities (that I forgot to bring my camera to) were: Tuesday I brought the girls to the school I work at so they could see and know where I am. Yes people do work on Spring Break at schools, most office personnel and all administrators work even when the school has snow days. Another thing I learned on the job! In the afternoon we all had our Dentist appointments. For Fiona it was her first time, and she did great. She actually had to do it all by herself because I was at the same time, very brave gal! On Wednesday we went to our friends house for a playgroup, which was actually a surprise Baby Shower for one of our preschool mommy friends. It was a lot of fun, and so great to get to see all the ladies (and kids) again. Thursday was a big day for Luli, she had her 5 yr well check up which meant her kindergarten shots. She was very good, took the hearing test, vision test and blood pressure. She answered all the doctors questions and then cried for the shots. I have never cried for the girls shots, I've always just felt they were necessary. But I cried this time, it was heartbreaking to hear her begging to stop. But four shots later and a quick hand-off of the present bag from the nurse and tears were gone- well Luli's tears were anyway. Then we were off to lunch with Daddy. Friday we ended the week by going to the movies to see How to Train a Dragon. It was really cute and a fun little adventure for us.

I didn't have any pictures from Spring break, but this pic of the girls laying in my bed together is really adorable, and totally unstaged, this is how they cuddle. And then another in their St. Patrick outfits.

A lot to catch up on!!!

Ok so the blog has not been priority one lately. There are multiple reasons for this the biggest two are my job, and the weather. I also have so many posts planned in my head that it seems a bit daunting to start it. For example this post was supposed to be something about it being my 200th blog post, who knows how many posts I did on the website www.lourdesjoli.net. But it's not, so we're moving forward and going to play catch up. I guess I'll chat up the job here first and then get to the other posts today and this week...

The job is going well. I'm working hard at it and trying to do the best I can. I came into the position only to find that the woman prior to me had basically not done any of her job in the months that she was there. I found stacks of hundreds of discipline reports hidden in different places. I had to input them all into the students records, sometimes write letters home (some of them were too old to write letters home about) and then alphabetize and file. Sounds like fun, right?! Well it was work, and they paid me overtime, so that's good! People seem relatively pleased with my work and I think in the end it'll help me find a teaching position. It is kind of hard to be in a job day in and day out watching other people do the job you really want to do. But I'm biding my time and taking whatever learning experiences come from this job to help my teaching. You may not think there could be too much from this job that would change my teaching, but you'd be surprised.

Have I given details on this job? Hmmm, well I'm basically the discipline Admin Assistant, so I see all the disciplinary incidents that happen in the school, input all the incidents in the records, write the letters home, get them translated if need be (another thing no one else had done), and other office duties. There seems to be the same kids getting in trouble, but it's not just the same kids, it's the same teachers sending the kids out. At some point the teacher needs to adjust how they interact with the student...now I know there are some bad seeds but they can't all be that way. And frankly a lot of them are very sweet and respectful to me when I deal with them. I'm a firm believer in respect begets respect. Anyway, there's a trend. And there are a LOT of teachers that NEVER write any incident reports and they have these kids too...so?

The people at work are really lovely. I have a lot of fun and really enjoy being in the school. I do not enjoy waking up at 5:25am though. I don't see the girls in the morning at all, though rumor has it Luli wakes up just after I leave. "Someone" says when I close the door it wakes her up. Oh well, can't leave it open! The girls had a bit of an adjustment period, but seem to be doing really well now. Luli used great communication to tell me how she was feeling and it was a bit heartbreaking. I felt really badly for her, but at the same time I did not feel guilty for going back to work. Now they are great, back to their old selves. They go to school and off to the sitter. It's a lot more work for Oscar bringing them to school, then picking them up and bringing them to the sitter. But it's working out really well.

Ok one post down! Happy 200th POST!

What's happening with work...

Subbing proved to be very unsatisfactory. I received one phone call, that one that came at 7:51 for biology. I did have a very good interview for an English Language Learner position, I went through two rounds of interviews and was their second choice for the position. I asked the principal for feedback on my interview and she had really positive comments, basically it came down to my ESL license not being complete yet and the other candidate was.

During this process I had contacted the Asst. Principal at the middle school I had done my internship at. She's one of my reference letters and has always been very supportive. When I sent her an email giving her a heads up that someone may be calling for a reference check, she emailed right back for me to call her. I did, and she offered me a clerical position at their school, the idea being that hopefully a position would open there that I could move into, or at the very least I'd have a more consistent job until I found a permanent teaching position. In the end I did take the clerical position and I think it's the right thing. The school where I interviewed at is undergoing a lot of changes and made me a bit nervous. Whereas this school that I'm working at now has a very confident, comfortable administration.

So it has been my first week at work, and it's been unusual. The work is easy and definitely not stressful. They are very flexible if I need to take time to take care of the girls, etc. The unusual part is the Monday was a teacher work day, so I didn't work. Tuesday was my first day, Wednesday was a snow day, Thursday I worked, and today is the blizzard of the century - so who knows when I'll work again.

The girls seem to be adjusting well, they love going to where they are being cared for. And we're really happy with the situation. Though this morning Fiona made two pictures 1. a picture of Princess Lourdes and Princess Fiona and 2. "This is a picture of mommy at work, she's not with the princesses" hmmm, at least she was chipper telling me about it.

The Call

I had trouble sleeping last night, all that anticipation and excitement for possibly my first day of work. But I did sleep a bit here and there. I'm perfectly aware of when it turned 5:45am though, and hadn't received a call yet. So I figured I probably wasn't getting one. Then I fell asleep pretty well. The phone did ring though! WOOHOO! Oscar said "that's for yooooouuuu." He's very supportive.

I checked the clock, 7:51am! ugh, a little late I think. It was a high school biology position (and if any of you went to school with me you KNOW science and math are not my thing!) at a high school that was going to take me at least 40 min to get to, add on time for getting dressed, getting some food together and just getting out the door. Start time was 7am (yes I got called at 7:51a not a typo). When this happens you have 30 min from call to start and if you can't get there you should not accept the job. So I had to decline it. Kind of a bummer to my start. But I would have been so frantic trying to get there and stressed out that it would have been horrible.

We'll see how the rest of the week goes, not subbing tomorrow - got something going on which I may discuss at a later date - but I'm hoping for something this week! Fingers crossed, wish me luck!

A Journal of Going Back to Work

Have you heard? I'm going back to work! Pretty exciting, scary, nerve wracking, etc. Nothing too serious but hopefully something permanent will follow. I am a substitute teacher for ESOL and Social Studies. My goal is to work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and remain home on Thursday and Friday. But they're going to call when they call and I will probably take whatever I can get. Tomorrow is my first day getting calls, so far there have not been any postings online so I'm skeptical for any calls tomorrow. The girls seem ok with the prospect of going to the place where they'll be cared for. I'm most worried about the days when Fiona will have a full day there while Luli is half day at school and half day at the place they are being cared for. Of course them seeming ok while talking about it and being ok when it actually happens could be two different stories. So we'll see.

Personally, I feel ready to go back to work. I love teaching, and frankly I'm a good teacher. I do really look forward to having my own room, my own students and really developing the lessons I'll use. I look forward to being a part of an adult professional world again. And I really look forward to a bit more flexibility in my bank account. And having two incomes will certainly be a nice addition to the family.

I have loved being home with the girls. I have seen everything they've put out there to be seen. I've been with them for their first rolling over, their first crawl, their first unassisted sit, their first teeth, their first steps, their first cuts, their first fights, their first friends, their first days of preschool. I've been there for everything and there isn't anything I would change about any of that.

Of course the past few weeks getting ready for this big change has been emotional at times. I think about the parktime with friends that we'll miss, playdates that we'll miss, cuddles that will have to wait till I get home, thinking about someone else telling me an amazing story about my own child that I didn't witness makes me sad. But these are all things that are going to happen if I go back to work tomorrow, or when they leave for college. There are a ton of things I'll miss about being a stay at home mom, but there are a ton of things I'm so excited for ME and working. It's been a long time since part of the day was about ME, my work, what makes me a professional, something that is Jennifer the teacher, not Jenn, not Mom, not wife....something that I do, on my own and that I'm GOOD at.

So here's hoping I get a call tomorrow!