And yet, it'll all work out in the end, just like it always does.

So, I was reading more of one of my favorite blogs this weekend, and I came across a post that was inspired by another Blogspot blog. The point is to consider your life as it was one year ago today and as it will be one year from now. I might do this a few more times in future as I really dig this idea. I'll probably utilize it as a writing activity when I go back to teaching too! :)

So, one year ago today, I was SWAMPED! I was a second-year teacher (which was almost harder than the first) at Sierra. Now, usually, this just means that you feel a little more comfortable in developing your routine. But since my mentor had left to take an AP job out at Falcon, I found myself moved (albeit by my own volition) into a position of ensuring curriculum alignment both within the department and across the district. This was not any official position, but it needed to be done and as I was the most comfortable and most knowledgeable (yes, as a second-year) teacher as regards the Spanish curriculum. Therefore, in district-wide collaboration meetings, I was setting forth pacing schedules and ensuring that curriculum maps were being utilized. I was also the one who spent the time to familiarize our two new department members with plethora of supplementary materials that comes with this series (it's practically astronomical, let me assure you!). I was also serving as advisor for the sophomore class, which included meeting after-school every Friday afternoon for SGA meetings. Lastly, I was tracking the libero position statistics for the volleyball team home games. This made for long days and evenings, but thankfully, it made the time fly by. Chad was deployed at this point, so it was just me and the cats, so I figured what was the point in coming home right after work everyday to just sit in the apartment and twiddle my thumbs.

Personally, Chad and I had started discussing having kids, so I had gone off birth control (I'd been on birth control for like 10 years, so I figured it would take forever to get out of my system and for my regular body systems to take back over).

One year from now, we're going to have a 10-month-old son! I'm so excited by this I can hardly stand myself. I mean, sure, it's scary - we're going to be COMPLETELY responsible for the health and well-being of a little baby human! But the more I read about the personality of children as it develops and all of the milestones that they hit, the more excited I get. I'll probably be back at work by then, which is a double-edged sword. I miss my students and I miss teaching, but at the same time, I don't really want my son to grow up in front of someone else, you know? It's currently something that Chad and I are still discussing, but I guess that it all depends on where we are next year. We'll still be working on the house - we've got lots of plans for the yard and for the interior as well, like replacing all of the interior doors, closets, knobs, and woodwork. As for outside, we want to get rid of all of the lava rock (EW!), pull out the rail-road ties that a previous owner has utilized to terrace the backyard and replace them will probably bricks. We also want to tear up and widen the driveway and tear up and re-pour the back patio, making a larger sitting area. I'm sure at that point we'll be discussing Baby #2 - i.e. when we should think about trying for Baby #2. We've started talking about spacing and we want our kids to be close in age. As we're both only children, we definitely know we want to have at least two.

I can still hardly believe that I'm going to be a mother. A MOTHER! Then I start worrying about trying to strike a balance that will make my kids independent but not too independent. I want to be there for them without smothering them. Will know when to step in and when to sit back? It's all so far away, and yet it's not too far away. Currently, I've only got six weeks left in this pregnancy. I'm really thankful for that right now because the nausea seems to be rearing its ugly head again and I'm so uncomfortable that when I need to change position during the middle of the night, I literally need to wake up, sit up, and heave myself over to my other side. I'm waking up multiple times to go to the bathroom - that's probably the most frustrating as I never used to wake up in the middle of the night before. I feel like I spent waaaay too long in first position in dance class. That's about as close a description as I can muster for those of you who aren't already in the know.