8 Months: A Mover and a Shaker!

I am so behind on these posts. Life has been crazy busy for me lately. I have quit Dillard's and I am soooo much more happier! I have been subbing A LOT lately! I have subbed a lot at the high school level for Strafford. I have subbed a lot of elementary for Springfield. I really wish I would have been actually teaching this whole time. I Love it so much! However, I will say that I have had some crazy classes in Springfield. I have been cussed out by a 4th grader. My best experiences has been at Strafford. It is an amazing school and my kids are going to go there! Strafford has been named one of the best schools in the Midwest. It really is an outstanding school. My goal is to eventually teach there once I obtain my certification! I hope to student teach there as well. The school makes a big difference in how the students act as well. There are some pretty rough schools in Springfield. I was originally wanting to teach 3rd or 4th grade but now I am starting to think younger or even high school. The students are talking back and being disrespectful at a younger age now. It seems like it is starting in most 4th graders. It is a bit more challenging to teach the younger students because they are rowdier than high school students. However, I had 40 preschoolers one day and they were better behaved than some of the 3rd and 4th graders I have taught. I have also taken into account that I am a sub and students don't mind me as well as the actual teacher but it has given me a lot of insight.

Moving onto the kids. They have been doing well. Ben is just a growing and turning into a little hulk. He is our man child. He will play with Andi and wrestle with her. It is really something! I love watching them play and their special bond they share. Ben is constantly into everything and now since he crawls super fast, he gets into things quicker. He obeys pretty well and oh his poor head. That child falls more and hits his head than Andi ever did. He is already trying to climb things and he isn't quite walking yet. He is definitely going to give me premature gray hairs!

He eats all of the time! He has to eat table food, he will not eat baby food. He also has to feed himself. He does not like to be fed. He is really independent. He has a shoe fetish. He constantly wants to be chewing on shoes and when he sees shoes in the floor, he gets excited! He loves to clap and pound things. He loves to bounce, he literally puts bounce in bouncing baby boy! He has been standing on his own for awhile now. He has taken a couple of steps and I am just waiting for him to take off. He literally makes huge strides each week in development.

As for Andi, she is talking a lot more now. She is speaking in sentences and she uses one or more new words a day. She is very observant for a toddler which is crazy. She is witty too. She still has her outbursts but not as many as she use to have. She has gotten better at expressing her concerns through her words. Something funny she did, we went to the Apple Festival in Seymour and the FFA had some animals there. There was a chicken in a cage and she kept going up to it and calling it chicken nugget. She kept saying, Mommy look at the chicken nugget. I thought that was pretty cute!

AS for me, classes have picked up and there is a lot of work. Also I have to take so many tests for my certification, it is insane. I am currently studying for the MoGEA which is like an ACT. Everything I am studying is information I took in high school as dual credit, so I don't remember some of it, especially the advanced math. I do not understand why they require this test, the ACT should be acceptable!

AS for Matt and I, we need a bigger house. We literally are out of room and storage space. I want to move closer to Strafford but everything so far has been outrageous to buy, anything with acreage. All I know is we are going to have to do something within the next year!

7 Months

I'm late on my post since Ben is almost 8 months now. I can't believe how fast this year has flown. As for new things, I am getting my teaching certificate and Master's in Elementary Education. Classes are in full-swing and so far all is well. I really like the classes, they are thought provoking. There is a lot of writing required in master level classes, which is fine for me. I have also been hired by Strafford and Springfield schools to substitute teach all grades. This will give me good experience and they keep the subs busy. Once it becomes a steady thing, I will leave Dillard's. Yay! I am really happy, I think the happiest I have been since I am FINALLY going to be doing what I have wanted to do.

As for Ben's development, he started crawling at the end of 6 months and a week later he was pulling up. I had put him in his crib and came back in and he was standing, jumping on the matress. He is sooo rambunctious, we have our work cut out for us! Matt has said several times, he has a feeling that Ben is going to be challenging to him since they are a lot alike. He has fallen so many times, more than Andi ever did. He has hit his head too many times, but goes right back doing what got him injured. He is persistent! He has learned what NO means, although doesn't always obey it. He likes to use me as a climbing tree and loves to hang over the edges of chairs. The past couple of weeks he has started letting go and can stand on his own for a couple of seconds. He has taken a couple steps by himself as well. The rate he is progressing, I think he might be walking before Andi did. She was an early walker, 9 months. I think he will be in a couple of weeks.

He loves to be outside as well as Andi, which tickles Matt pink. Ben loves to ride Andi's 4-wheeler. Although he can't push the button, he holds on while we push him and he is laughing. As for his eating, he would rather eat people food than baby food. He eats food 4x/day and snacks 2x/day. He really likes finger foods, but he is MESSY!!! He is a difficult baby when changing his diaper. He is so squirmy, he will not lay still. He is so strong that he exhausts me. I can't believe how strong he is.

As for sleeping, not so much. I moved him to his crib about a month and half ago. He did well the first 3 weeks, now he wakes around midnight and will not go back to sleep in it. He is sleeping with us which means I hardly get any sleep. He is constantly eating through out the night and I have to watch that Andi doesn't role on top of him. He lets you know when she does and she is a crazy sleeper as it is. The bed is crammed with Matt, Ben, Andi, 2 dogs, and I. I am usually only allowed to sleep on my side right on the edge, if you push me I would fall off. We need 2 king-size beds. Hopefully we can get Andi to sleep in her bed this winter but I am not going to hold my breath on it! 

As for Andi, she is such an AMAZING big sister. She is so loving and looks out for Ben. If he gets something he isn't suppose to have she will say, "NO, NO, Ben" and take it away. She will cheer him up if he is crying and if he falls she runs over and helps him up, patting him on the back. I can't believe how much love she has to give. She is all about giving hugs and kisses. She has to give them when you leave. She is a wonderful, heart felt little girl and I hope she never changes.She is talking more and more each day, saying sentences. She loves to tell stories. Sometimes it is hard to tell what she is saying, but she knows. She loves to talk about moo cows. Nothing gets past her. She is very observant and also has good reasoning skills, which is early.

 This is what happens when she plays with makeup!

I can't believe the summer is almost over and Christmas is just over 3 months away. The downfall of having children in December and January is buying extra presents. Andi really likes Doc Mcstuffins, Daniel Tiger, Elmo, and absolutely loves Ariel-The Little Mermaid. I have no idea what we are going to get her yet, but I like to start shopping early to get it over with. Until next time......

6 Months and Back to School

Well I have finally made up my mind and will be taking classes next month towards my teaching certificate. I keep getting pulled in that direction and as long as I have my marketing degree, I will be working jobs that I don't care for. I have my substitute certificate but it is hard to do that and only be available a couple times a week. I am ready for a change, especially from Dillard's. I'm am probably going to go to Drury and take their evening program. I will work towards my master's. I am going to go part-time so take only 2 classes a semester. It will probably take me 4-5 years to complete it, which once I am done, the kids will be in school and I can go to work full-time again. Elementary is my focus area, preferably 3rd or 4th grade. I am really excited....it will probably be challenging with two little ones, but I can surely do it! I am going to see how 2 classes go at first, if I can handle it then I might take more the following semester.

Moving on to Ben. He is 6 months old. I can't believe how fast time is flying.  He had his check-up and weighs 18.8 lbs and 26.75 in. He is in 50th percentile for both weight and height. His head is 26.5 cm which is 25th percentile. He is where he needs to be developmentally as well. All is good! He is getting so close to crawling. He moves himself all around on the floor and he loves his walker.

He and Andi play bumper cars together. He is dangerous in it though, plowing over everything. He absolutely loves to play with empty, plastic water bottles. He gets soooo excited when he sees me drinking from one, that he has to have it and will throw a fit for it. It entertains him for a long time, which is nice so I can get things done. The poor guy wants to be running around so bad. He can sit up by himself just fine now, he hasn't learned to get up to sitting from lying down yet. He still does the crunch up.

Earlier this month, I got Andi a swingset, a big swingset and she loves it. If it were up to her she would swing ALL day and night. She hasn't figured out how to pump her legs so we push her. She has had a lot of melt downs because it has been extremely hot lately or raining and she hasn't gotten to swing a lot. She is always asking to swing or to see kids in the swimming pool. She desperately is wanting friends. She has started talking in sentences now, and loves to tell stories mainly about moo cows.  She gets in more trouble over using my phone. I can't believe how well she can use it. She gets on youtube and watches videos, mainly of animals or Barbie. She can get into my contacts and find people to call. It is crazy how she knows how to operate it. We have been working on her name and finally she says her name and working on her last name. She is still having issues learning her colors, everything is pink or blue still. She is definitely a DRAMA QUEEN. She throws a fit if she gets dirty or if she has a boo boo. She is very sensitive. I don't know where she gets it from. I can't wait for the teen years, I can see the drama now. She loves to wear make-up and I dolled her up one day, and all I have to say is we are in trouble when she is a teen!

The past couple of weeks the kids have had ringworm. Not sure where they got it. Sam had a spot on him, but not sure if that was what it was from. Andi had a big one on her butt cheek and Ben has had 5 small spots. He keeps getting more. We are getting him some prescription cream cause Lamisil isn't helping. Andi was outside and we looked and she was taking her clothes off to show her ringworm..lol

Not much else has been going on, just watching the summer go by fast. We took Andi and Ben to the 4th of July parade and she really liked it. There were so many people there, That's the first time I have been and watched since I used to always be in it. Ben had a lady crush. This little chubby one year old girl was infatuated with him and he was flirting with her. It was really cute. He is 6 months and knows how to flirt with women, no matter what age. He is a ladies man for sure! I am thinking of taking Andi again to the fair, hopefully this time she won't be so scared of everything.  She is getting better at being more adventurous, but she still is pretty cautious.

One thing that has been fun to watch is Ben and Andi playing together. Now since he has gotten more mobile, they will entertain each other. She will act goofy and get him to giggling, I love it!!! I love how close they are and how strong of a bond they have. I can't wait to watch them grow-up together.