Thanks for the reminder...but I didn't need one.

For those of you following along at home...

Yes, that says 3 weeks late.  I am so beyond frustrated.  And tired of sex.  We are trying to catch the ovulation but it's just seeming a bit impossible.  I mean, it's been weeks of "it could be any day now!"  And well, we're still waiting and trying.  Yeah.

And ovulation tests don't work for me.  I tried them one cycle in the past and had over 2 weeks of positive results and still no period. 

And I think that someone with a mean sense of humor sent me this from Enfamil.  Not that I've ever used formula, or would consider it, but still.  Not funny, Enfamil.  Thanks for the reminder that I'm *not* pregnant.  Anyone need Emfamil checks?  They sent me those too. 

Bitter Baby

There is nothing like a good old pity party to bring you back to your blog.  I'm just going to cut to the chase here....someone got pregnant and it wasn't me.  Story of my life, or so it seems in this self pity state.  Let me preface this by saying that I know how blessed we are to already have one.  A wonderful, beautiful, healthy little girl (who is three now, by the way).  I don't take that for granted (and I hate when people say that they take something for granite.) for one second.  Neither of us do.  And yes, I was all "one is enough" or "we are satisfied as a family of three" for a very long time.  That, has now, changed. 

I want another baby so bad. 

Kinley wants another baby, so bad.

She wants a "brudder."

We've been "trying" for a few months now.  But after the first couple, we realized that we weren't really trying but more hoping. 

I mean, we've never prevented, but we weren't really trying either.  Without getting all TMI on you, lets just say that we didn't do things as often as someone would if they were in fact "trying."

So on a whim, I got this text from the hubs that says, "I think we need to actively start trying again."

Ummm, wha huh?

I responded to him that we were, actively trying.

It was him that reminded me that we in fact, weren't.  And he was right.

So here we are back on the band wagon and on month cycle two.  If only I had regular cycles.  No joke, my cycles range from 96-ish days to 35-ish days.  Yeah.  How am I supposed to work with that?

I have the app that is supposed to help us know when those special days are...but according to the app, I was fertile three weeks ago--and I'm now fertile again for the next cycle.  Ugh.  So frustrating.

According to this app, I am 18 days late.  Normally, that would have every woman running for the "Family Planning" aisle at the closest Walgreens. 

For us, it's causes zero concern. 

And that makes me mad. 

I want the excitement of the "what if!?" and I want to anticipation of OMG, I'm late!  But nope, no cause for concern.  I have the log of all of my cycles and my cycle this time last year, was 96 days long.  So yeah.

I have zero symptoms of being pregnant, and zero symptoms of starting a period any time soon.  I have so had it.

I recently celebrated my 34th birthday, and Kinley just had her third birthday.  Our window of opportunity is closing, quickly.  We truly don't want a huge gap in our children's ages.  And I don't want to face the health risks of an ahem older pregnancy.

So back to my pity party....another blogger just announced her pregnancy.  Baby #2.  They decided four months ago that it was time to expand their family.  Boom, bang.  Done.

Must be nice.

I am bitter.  Allow me to be bitter.  I'll get over it sooner than later.

Where to start...

My last blog was posted July 31.  Almost four months ago.  Wow.  You don't even know how many times I had something happen that made me think, "wow, that would be an excellent blog!"  and then life continued happening and it never got written.

I guess a good place to start would be to look back on the last thing that I updated...but who has time for that.  I have my {almost} three year old in bed screaming at her babies to "lay down and go nigh-night!" but forgetting to take her own advice.  Yeah, I know that it's already 10:30 and I'll have one heck of a morning fight tomorrow when it's time to rouse her for day care.  We got in from a three night stay away from home only about two hours ago.  Since then, it's been mad dash cleaning and preparing for the week ahead.  It's a short one indeed, with thanks to Veteran's Day, but the short weeks always seem longer.  I traded my rare "alone time" with the hubs for thirty minutes of blog time.  Good trade-off?  We'll see.  I guess it will depend on how well my thoughts flow from this jumbled mind of mine onto the keyboard.

So, I got a job.  I am teaching 5th grade in the same school where I student taught.  I was hired about two weeks before school started.  From the second I got the phone call, I have been working non-stop.  The room was in disarray when I was hired.  The teacher that I replaced moved to Florida and only had time to grab her most personal belongings.  I fared well with that because I walked into a nearly furnished classroom.  Well....nearly.  I still had so much work to do.  Because all that she did leave, was scattered EVERYWHERE.  So in the matter of a day, we had to get Kage back into a day care and me into work.  Huge life change.

After two days of cleaning.

 

I had the best moving crew!

Once I met my students, I realized I had my work cut out for me.  Twenty-eight fabulous students all in my hands....and I love every minute of it.  But, being a first year teacher (at an unfamiliar grade level) leaves me busier than ever.  I work about 11 hours a day.  And weekends. 

Hence, the lack of blogging.

Any spare moments that I find, I give to my family.  My evenings are precious.  My baby and my super supportive husband deserve more of me than the blog did.  That's what it comes down to.

You understand, right?

It's almost impossible to fill you in on the last four months.  Impossible.  But here's a run down of a few things that come to mind:
(if you know me at all, you are so not surprised by the bullets)

• We moved.  We now live about 15 minutes from my school, 10 minutes from her day care.  It's a nice(r) three bedroom/two bath/2 car garage home.  Still a rental but one stop closer to buying.  And we're out of our cracker box apartment.
• Kage is now in a home day care.  And we love, love, love it.
• Kage has fully potty trained.  (yesssssssss!)
• We took our first family "vacation" to the Wisconsin Dells in October.

• We fell off of our budget band-wagon, but are slowly climbing back on.  Ugh, this has been a difficult one to face.
• Kinley got her first bicycle (or Ride-a-cycle, as she calls it.)

• We celebrated Halloween with the cutest Minnie Mouse you ever did see!



 



In addition to all of those highlights, I feel like I have changed so much since I last considered myself a "blogger."  I have been allowed the opportunity to reevaluate my time with my family.  I feel like Richie and I get along easier, or maybe that depends on the day.  :)  But overall, I guess I just feel more settled knowing that I'm doing a job that I love, and one that I worked so hard to get.  The time that I am "off" is more valuable than ever before.  Stay-at-home moms have it rough, but so do working moms.  I've been blessed to play both sides and I honestly couldn't tell you which one I enjoy more.  They both have their perks!

 

I'm not sure when to say that I'll find time to blog again, because I honestly don't know....but I am hoping to get back to it more regularly.  I miss my little therapy sessions!  I look forward to reading up on my favorite blogs to see what everyone has been up to since I've been gone!

 

Till then... 

Jumping Up and Down and Screaming A Little

I just got called for an interview!  I am so excited, I could scream!  It's for a 5th grade position...and while I don't have experience in that grade level, I am so ready for the challenge!  Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers!  It's next Tuesday morning....let the preparation begin!

In No Particular Order

You know how it goes, I get busy and take a mini-hiatus on the blog thing and then the only way to ease back into things is by bulleting.  There is so much to say and my mind (and Type A) surely can't tackle the organizing of thoughts this early in the morning...so here we go....

• Had my family in town Friday through Monday.  Kinley is now thoroughly spoiled rotten.  It was cramped quarters, big time, in our cracker box apartment, but we survived.
• I had an interview for a teachers aide in a school district where I really, really, really want to work.  But I don't know how confident I feel...my interviewing skills suck.  But I'm working on that.  And I think what will really hurt me is that I want to be a teacher and therefore will not be a long term person for their position.  And they want long term.  :(
• I have got to buckle down on my budget.  I was We were bad with our finances in July.  Well, the end of July, anyway.  We were using our debit cards and that is such a no-no.  I am tempted to take them out of our wallets to reduce temptation.  
• I just realized that it's after 9 and Kin is still sleeping.  Guess that's expected when she was up till 11:00 because "a wolf was trying to get her in her room."  Uh huh.  That's started.
• The yard sale that we're joining with friends is this weekend.  I have to buckle down and finish going through our stuff.
• School starts in roughly 2-4 weeks in our area.  Ugh!  When do the interview calls start?
• My hubby took Monday off to watch Kinley during my interview and now my days of the week are all jacked up!  I even commented yesterday that I was shocked that the bank inside the grocery store was open on a Sunday.  He kindly reminded me that it was in fact, Monday.  So today is my Tuesday Monday.  
• I am so excited that today is ballet day!  I love going and socializing with the other dance mommies!

So What!

This week, I'm saying "So What!" with Shannon at Life After I Dew...

So What if...

• I hate my dog right now for getting me up way too early, and now she's snoring.  in my bed.
• We almost bought a damned bird last night.  Thank God the voice of reason spoke louder than Kinley's, "I want a green one!"
• Yesterday was the first time that I actually blow dried and ironed my hair--all summer.
• I threw a monster toddler style tantrum last night because I had to go out at 10:30 for dog food.  See the first bullet.  
• My husband is interviewing for a position today that I so badly want him to get.  Okay, so this isn't so much of a so-what....but wanted to put it out there anyway.
• I have family coming in this weekend, and my house is totally trashed.
• I was in such a mommy meltdown mood yesterday, I said to screw the budget and ordered pizza.  Some days, mommy just needs a break{down}.
• Yesterday was my sister's birthday, and I mailed her card yesterday.  I have to get better about this!  I mean, luckily I was motivated enough to get the card...but for some reason I can't manage to actually mail it on time.  
• Yesterday, I seriously questioned this whole baby #2 thing.  Kinley was an absolute nightmare.  

Pictures Do the Talking

1.  Kinley has decided that she's ready for a "ride-a-cycle", and surprisingly, she can reach the pedals!
2.  Loving my baby girl!
3.  With her Uncle Paul after his bike rice.
4.  Checking out a fire truck.  We saw the firemen out washing it and asked if she could check it out.  They were more than happy to let her sit in it and put on a helmet!
5.  Sitting on daddy's shoulders--she was saying, "mommy, I a monkey!"
6.  She loves her Trunki.  She looks like a homeless person singing for a dollar.
7.  I love when she lets me do her hair.
8.  Got her all situated for breakfast yesterday morning.  And her Monsters, Inc dolls came in.  They don't leave her side.
9.  Monsters, Inc in the car.
10.  I feel like the odd man out having a car and not a minivan.  I'm so not ready for a minivan.
11.  Mikey on the train at the farm.
12.  In the pioneer cabin at the farm, Mikey again.
14.  Mikey on the carousel.
15.  My husband melts my heart.
16.  She's thinking that she's something else.  A phone in each pocket!
17.   Her first fat lip.  "Slide do it!"