Changes

There are a lot of changes taking place in our household right now...or a lot on their way.

*WARNING* - This is a very long post, sorry.

Aidyn's changes:
Aidyn will be 6 months old in 10 days! Wow...that means sitting up, crawling, teeth, and more solid food are quickly approaching!

Aidyn will be changing his first tire in the next day or two. He isn't even driving yet, and already he has a flat tire! Ben repumped all of the tires 2 days ago and the air leaked right back out of his back tire. Oh no! This means no more strolls around the block, around town, or down the street.

Aidyn may have a new babysitter for when I go back to work. Originally, we had registered Aidyn for CCLC (Cherokee Christian Learning Center). It was the only place with openings for 6 month olds exactly when we'd need it, and the only place we felt really comfortable with. In his class, there would be no more than 8 students (ages 6-12mo) and 2 adults. My only concern is that due to state regulations, they are not allowed to have any sort of "restrictive" pieces such as bouncy seats, jumpers, swings, walkers, etc. All of the children sit in the floor on rugs and mats all day playing with toys. If Aidyn isn't sitting up by himself by July 27th, what will he do....lay in the floor all day?

So, 2 weeks ago, Ben found out about a girl in our town that recently got laid off and has decided to keep kids instead of looking for another job right now. After paying for childcare for her own daughter, she and her husband have "added up" the benefits of her staying at home and then keeping 1 or 2 other children. She has a 3yr old daughter, Riley, and keeps another 3yr old little boy, also named Riley. hahaha...I bet that can get confusing!

She said that Riley and Riley (ha) pretty much entertain each other and play all day. This means that Aidyn would get the attention he needs and not have to share that time with 3-8 other babies his age. He won't have to be sitting up in order to play, either. She has a Bumbo and a jumper. I may even try locating a cheap walker (yardsale) to leave at her house if all goes well. AND...she is only going to charge us $20/day! That will end up saving us $150/month. My only concern about his situation is if she or her daughter are sick. We will still need to talk to her about that. That was one of my biggest concerns about the first girl I met with. Not to mention, she was MORE EXPENSIVE than daycare and already knew of 2-3 wks that they'd be gone on vacation by October!

The biggest difference in the two is that our new person, Kelly, lives about 5 minutes from our house. Ben will be the one to take Aidyn in the mornings on his way to school. This makes it so much easier, since I won't have to worry about dropping him off on my way and worrying about traffic. It will take away my "worries" of leaving him with someone I don't really know, and I don't have to worry about their family being gone on different vacations (especially since she just got laid off). And...Ben will be able to pick Aidyn up after he gets out of school around 2:45-3pm. If he were at daycare, he would not be picked up until about 4:30pm, unless Ben or his mom drove to Johnson City to pick him up.

Regardless of how well we like Kelly, or anyone else down the road, Ben and I have agreed that by the time Aidyn is 2yrs old, we definately want him in a preschool structured program.

Ben's changes:

This Saturday will be Ben's very last EDs (Educational Specialists Degree) class. This is the degree inbetween Master's and Doctorate. He is already talking about doing the doctorate program, but he knows he HAS to wait. Now it's my turn! It will be great to have my husband back! (ha) This will mean that Ben's salary will have increased almost $5-6,000 in just 2 years thanks to his Ma and EDs. Yay!

Ben is now the Offensive Coordinator for the varisty football team in Erwin. He has always helped with the football program, but never really had a specific title. Under new coaching, great spring practices, summer practices, new (strict yet respected) expectations, I am very excited to see how this season goes!

Yesterday, as Ben was trying to leave practice, his car would not start. He's had this car for almost 9 years. It's been a WONDERFUL car! But it's a 2-door which almost makes it impossible to get Aidyn into the backseat. So, if I am going out of town or just out for the day and Ben keeps Aidyn, we have to trade cars. Ben's been wanting to look at new cars for a while (or new to him), but we've been trying to wait until I go back to work. After yesterday's adventures, it looks like we may be car shopping sooner than expected. Although, I guess 2-3 wks earlier isn't too much sooner than we planned.

My (Whitney's) changes:

Next week, Monday-Wednesday, I begin teacher inservice for this coming school year. Ben's mom will be keeping Aidyn on Monday and Wednesday. We will be leaving Aidyn at Kelly's on Tuesday to see how it goes. Even though most teaches are REALLY dreading July coming to an end, I'm excited.

This year, I'll be teaching 3rd grade. For the past 2 years, I've been doing a "split" team-teaching. I had a 4th grade homeroom class and Linda, my teaching partner, had a 3rd grade homeroom class. I taught both groups reading and grammar while she taught both groups math. Then, in the afternoons...we taught our own groups either science or social studies. Whew! Did you follow that? That's A LOT of planning! I am VERY excited to be a strictly 3rd only team this year with Linda! This means we will have half the planning since we'll only be teaching one grade. I can't wait to get started!

I will be "giving up" my days with Aidyn. As much as I TOTALLY LOVE Aidyn, I also have missed teaching and working. Being off and at home for 6 months with Aidyn has been priceless and well worth the cut in pay. However, being off and away from work for 6 months has also left me "chomping at the bit" to get back to work. It's weird. I don't want to have to leave Aidyn...but I cannot wait to go back to work. Weird, huh?

Also, in August, I'll be starting my Master's degree program. This why I said Ben has to wait on his doctorate because it's now MY turn. I have wanted to get my master's in reading for a long time. I know that going back to work August 3rd and having a new baby at home will be an adjustment. Hopefully, it won't take us too long to get adjusted and into a pretty set schedule. My master's will start the week of August 24th...and then things will get even more crazy. But once again, I can't wait! (I do realize however all of this excitement over teaching school and attending school will probably fade QUICKLY when all the work starts piling up, hahaha).