83 Days of Health: Day 8 ... and a few random bits & pieces...

Healthier Eating Update:  I feel better.  More pregnant & less fat. And just... healthier! :)  Which is actually a pretty good feeling!!  James has suggested I have a dessert a week, like I did back with the fitness challenge, but at the moment I'm enjoying the full de-tox treatment, so I'll keep going 100% for now, and see how I go!  I tend to graze a little at home during the day, so I've been replacing chocolate with peanuts, crackers and hommus, cheese and fruit.  It's amazing how after 3 days fruit felt like a dessert!! (like, really amazing for me!)  I also got some yummy yoghurt at the shops, and eating that with some canned peaches also feels like a dessert - weird, weird!!  This week I had to endure Halloween (that was a bit sad - we had a little party and everyone's scary food looked soooo yummy!), Tammy's birthday dinner including a dessert table with the world's best cake that Jonny and Jessima created, and pumpkin pie - one of my all-time favourite desserts!! - My gorgeous niece Jacey's 1st birthday party involving another one of those cakes, and family dinner - featuring all the leftovers!  But I found it easier than expected, because I knew what I was going to be up against before I went I guess! - Also, I feel like I should be doing this whole thing for health reasons with this pregnancy, so it's easier to say 'no'!  And I am glad I did, today!!

Pregnancy Brain has been blamed for a lot of things surrounding me lately.  I'm suffering from it badly this time! - So many silly things, and I can't seem to form many sentences the right way around!  Not to mention my complete lack of attention span.  At the beginning of this pregnancy I was making myself some toast, and I decided on a slice of honey, and a slice of Vegemite.  I made my toast, and then when I went to eat the Vegemite piece, I thought it tasted really weird - really... sweet.  But it wasn't until I started eating the 'honey' piece that I realised what I'd done, because there was nothing at all on that slice!!
But on Thursday last week, I went to make an online bPayment for our tithing, and after carefully counting James' work hours and figuring out how much he'd made before tax, I made the payment.  Only instead of paying 10%, I paid the full amount.  His entire weeks' wage.  Gone.  Which puts a bit of a dampen on our budget!!! Tithing is one of my favourite commandments to follow, because I can't even begin to tell you the amazing blessings we've received from it, but I kind of needed that other 90%!!! lol.

Ward Changes!  Yesterday we had a special 3-ward meeting at church instead of our usual meeting.  They split the 3 wards and made 4.  James and Mum had been telling me that we probably wouldn't be in the same ward as my family after the split, but I thought that was crazy - we live so close to them! - As if we'd be split!!  But we were!  I really couldn't believe it!  It feels funny to not be in their ward for the first time in my life!  And we're attending at a different chapel too, which is also a bit strange.  But it's exciting for the church! :)  And kind of exciting for us to start in a brand new ward from scratch!  And now James and I are both out of our callings - he was in Young Mens and I've been Ward Music Director and a Visiting Teaching Supervisor, but not anymore!  All new callings in the new ward, we just have a Bishopric at the moment.  Most importantly for us, Dad was released as the Bishop yesterday too - after 7 years!  He was called when James was in his first 6 months of his mission - that seems like a lifetime ago!!  He's the kindest person in the world, and he took the ward through some challenging times.  He has worked so hard, and blessed the lives of so many people.  I can't imagine a more wonderful Bishop, so even though I guess it's great that he gets a rest (he really deserves one, and it'll be nice for him to be able to be around more and spend more time with Mum), and it's been a long time, I'm really sad not to have him as our Bishop anymore!!  Not that our new bishop won't be wonderful as well - he's a lovely man and we're glad to have him in our new ward.  But lots of big changes happening in the church around Brisbane at the moment!! - very exciting.

James is Finished Uni!!  He hasn't graduated yet, but all his classes and assessment are finished, we're just waiting for his results and confirmation of passes (please please please!! - But he feels good about it so I think we're safe!) to graduate!  I booked tickets for his graduation the day they came out, for us, Mum and Dad and Tammy, and James' parents and Nana & Koro, who are flying in for it!!!  So he'd better pass!! :)  I also booked and paid for his robes, and ordered a matching frame to mine to put his degree in.  The university suggest you don't do any of this before it's confirmed that you'll graduate, because you'll lose your money if he doesn't pass, but if he doesn't pass, it'll be the least of our worries!! :P  But I'm glad we booked early cause we got great seats! :)  lol.  Exciting for the girls to see their Dad graduate too :) I can't wait :) If he gets a good job my happiness will be complete!!!

Our boy is due in... just under 11 weeks!!! :D  Which means Christmas is coming quickly!! And James' Birthday, and Maggie's 3rd!!  But I'm so excited for everything that's coming up! :)  And planning to have Christmas presents sorted by the end of November :) - Bring it ON!!!  Also, Maggie already knows 'Away in a Manger', 'Rudolf' and 'Jingle Bells' by heart - so we're ready :)

Last week was crazy busy, and awesome.  3 parties, a fun outing down the coast, a bunch of very late nights, and obviously my brain switched off sometime around April, so it was overwhelming in parts!  This week, we have nothing on at all - at least until the weekend!  The girls and I are ready for some 'down time'.  I think poor James wishes he was, but he's working hard and trying to get job applications in outside hours.  I am excited for when the school term finishes and he's able to have more afternoons off and have a tiny bit of downtime himself.  A job offer would also help increase his work and stress levels!  Hopefully soon! :)

Have a fabulous day!!! :) xox

Fitness Challenge: Week 3

I am 1 kg less than last week!!! :)

That makes me the weight I got down to after having Maggie. So I've lost all of my Ana baby weight, and I have 4 to lose to get down to how I was before Maggie. Sadly I was a few kg's up when I became pregnant with Maggie, so all up I've got 5kg's to lose until I reach my goal weight, or 6 or 7 before I'm ecstatically happy with my weight and can definitely fit into everything I want to :) - And 9 more weeks to do it in!!!! :)

This week when James asked me to do step-ups onto our coffee table carrying an insane amount of weight I again told him that I could not do it - but this time I was impressively accurate in my prediction. I was trying not to argue and annoy him, and to trust him, but he got sick of lifting my wobbling form up onto the coffee table and down again (he's a great spotter), so he gave me the next weight down - about 5kg's off, and I was able to struggle through it on my own. He did seem very puzzled - apparently I really should be able to do it, but I guess that I'm not as staggeringly strong as I must look!!! :) Also, I upgraded to 30 lady push-ups a session instead of 30 table push-ups. If I ever get to comfortable with these, by my very intricate calculations the next step is man push-ups, so must be careful never to divulge comfort levels to PT.

My muscle definition continues to impress me - I have muscles in my arms, legs and back. Now that I think about it, it's quite beyond me why I'm not getting any comments on my hugeness. Maybe I intimidate people.

My stomach is still quite er...swollen...and saggy. Actually it's becoming increasingly saggy as the fat under it eats iteslf. James has poked my belly and declared there's not much he can do for me there - he thinks there's still womb sticking out because (under the layers of fat which we definitely can do something about) it's hard. I think there's a possibility that it's just my huge abs chilling out under there, but we'll see. Hm, what detail!

Onto happier and less graphic pastures - all week I kept 'saving' my treat, positive that something fabulous would come up, but sadly I got to Saturday and realised I hadn't had a treat, and I had no time (or inclination) to cook anything yummy!!! James wanted apple crumble for his treat (that's practically fruit salad!) which I was not having - actually wanting a treat that isn't disguised as - and cousin to - healthy food. We grabbed some things at the shops on Saturday afternoon and I grabbed a Wittakers Peanut Slab for my treat. That's all. My entire treat. I love these, but it was nothing compared to my massive bowl of profiteroles last week, I really need to be more organised in this department to ward off disappointment. James ate an entire apple crumble and tub of cream on Saturday night. I think it helped him with his calorie count. Tonight we're having some girls over for Family Home Evening and Tim Tam slams. I am going to buy plenty of Tim Tams and Milo to make this week's treat way more the-only-treat-I-get-in-a-whole-week worthy.

3 weeks down and in all sincerity I feel awesome - picking things up off the floor, dancing around the house, walking around for hours at the family fun day we went to on Saturday, running around with Maggie - all so much easier and more fun!!! I feel healthier - making sure I drink at least 2.5L a day I think helps with this... I guess the no junk food thing miiight contribute... I really feel like joining a sports team and getting back into basketball or netball, but I don't want to wait too long to have another baby so I don't want to commit to a team and then have to pull out. Am thinking of calling an old friend whose team I used to sub for when they were down a few players. It feels good! :)

Not eating after 7 continues to be my quetzal feather, sigh.

And yesterday I wore a cute skirt from YSA to church, with a little cardigan which totally buttoned up without me popping out of it!!! :D

9 weeks to go!!!


PS: It turns out James thinks this fitness challenge is actually being detrimental to him - he's only working out 5 days a week instead of 6, he's not eating junk therefore not putting on as much weight as he'd like, and he's doing too much aerobic exercise and is worried that he'll keep losing weight. I hope you all feel appropriately sorry for him.

Bump

Here's me side-on at 32 weeks. Now I am 33, only 7 to go, yay!! :) Today we are going to a class where they teach me how to breathe as I experience hell, and they teach James how to hold my hand and remind me to breathe as I experience hell. It should be helpful, and they serve lunch :)

Only 1 more week of school left, and I'm getting to the stage where I'd do anything to not miss a day, because I'll miss my kids!!! THey get more fun the more I realise I'm leaving them!! I am a bit exhausted though, so I will be grateful when it's over! Lots of Christmas activities mixed with maths and english, it'll be fun :) And on Friday the kids are encouraged not to come, and if they do only to come till 11am so the staff can have a big lunch in the hall!

We decorated for Christmas the other night, it's so fun! Can't wait!! 3 weeks until Christmas!! :)

I'd better go so I can make this class, it's a 9-5 day, I hope I don't fall asleep!! :)

xo

Holidays, Birthday & Baby :)

My school holidays were fantastic, and ended two weeks ago. I spent a lot of time doing fun house stuff like spring cleaning and shopping for baby stuff. We finally got a few things done that have been on my 'to-do' list for forever! One exciting one was buying some shelving to go in a little space in our laundry which was spare. I was a bit frustrated at the 'perfect' cupboard being exactly 9cm too wide to fit in, and eventually decided on one without doors, but with plenty of depth, which we had room for and so it would fit a lot in. We've had a lot of trays, dishes, nice glasses etc that we don't use every day stored in different spaces in the house and I wanted it all in the kitchen area (the laundry is right next door). This also made room in the kitchen for more pantry space, which has been very helpful :) I love having everything easily accessible!! :)

I also finally took the blender I've wanted for years that Mum and Dad bought us on the last day of August on its maiden voyage! I went and bought all the nice smoothie stuff I could think of, and blended it up! Our blender was fabulous, but I may need a few tips on good smoothie recipes, because my invention somehow just wasn't quite right. I finally feel like a real housewife though - everybody needs a super blender, and I am sure it will get a LOT of use in the years to come :) (thanks Mum and Dad!!)

Our baby room is coming together - for my birthday Mum and Dad, the twins and Bethany all contributed to my nursery happiness, providing a gorgeous quilt set that I'd been wanting, matching little curtains and window valance, basket covers, etc., and even an adorable teddy bear for little baby girl. James went out and got a great deal on a really really really really nice cot set that I'd loved but that had been very much expensive that he gave me for my Birthday, and it will arrive in about a week! :) We also went and picked up a cot - we went for a Phil & Tedd Sport in the navy blue :) It's very easy to use and lightweight, and James put it up the other night in our early excitement, so now it's sitting in the baby room ready to go :) I loved the big sign on the box that said "Baby not included". I think it was Tammy who said she's a bit worried for the people for whom that sign may be necessary. We also have a bassinet which is a wooden folding leg one with a little canopy - that is a pov explanation, but I loved it when I saw it and James walking into the shop 5 minutes later pointed out the same one and said he loved it, and my little previously anti-bassinet mind turned 180 degrees so we got it, justifying its use as a port-a-cot becuase it folds up :) I've since had dreams where I'm asleep and that little dinosaur cry newborns do starts up and I reach over to the bassinet to get out our little baby girl - I can't wait till it's not a dream! And finally we have a bouncinette - one of the little old school woven ones which I've always wanted :) I'm not taking any pictures though until the nursery is done, and we have a few decisions to make about walls, etc. Apparently baby girl is now about 1.6 pounds and 14 inches from head to toe! Apparently her hearing is pretty good too, and she'll be ready to make her big entrance, ETA 14 weeks :)

Speaking of my birthday - sorry I got a little ahead of myself - I had a lovely brunch, courtesy of James! I went to bed early and got up late, and during those times he got extra chairs and an extra table in, put lovely tablecloths on, decorated with a birthday sign, balloons, even did little name tags for everyone at the table including 'Maggie Girl', and cooked chipolatas, bacon, eggs, toasted turkish bread with egg, tomato and asparagus, juice, coco pops, etc. :) We had my parents, Tammy, Jonny, Jess & Jenna, Beth, Ben and Oliver over - James' parents had to work last minute. It was lovely! Tammy took some pictures which I know she emailed to us, but James in his clean inbox thing has deleted it and I can't find where the pictures are saved! :S It was wonderful though! :) I'll try to add some if I find them soon.. And as well as the quilt set Mum and Dad arrived with a bunch of other little presents, including nice hair products that I love using and try to buy on sales, lovely face creams that I'm afraid to use in case they run out, a little bit of make up, chocolates, etc. James bought me some pretty earrings and a 7 lucky rings necklace as well as the cot set which he rationed out to me over the day, Jonny and Jessima gave me a beautiful home-covered special box which will go nicely in the nursery with something baby inside, Tammy of course took me to Melbourne on the best little trip ever to see 'Wicked'! I got some lovely home-made jewellery from my teaching partner, cards and chocolates from some of my kids (with instructions to 'give at least one piece to Mr E' lol), cute pink PJ's with a stretchy belly bit from James' parents, and overall little baby girl and I got completely spoiled!

I am glad to be 23. It is a much nicer number than 22.

Now I am back at school with only 8 weeks to go before holidays which will last for a looong time, even though they will grow to feel less like holidays and more like 'mum' life before too long :) Our baby girl keeps kicking like crazy, sometimes I worry that maybe she's stressed or something cause she kicks so much, but hopefully she's just really very active and keen to come out and meet us! :) I am getting funny pains in my back and legs, which hurt and make me walk like a weirdo, but which I secretly don't mind, because I'm growing a baby.

My kids at school are so cute and interested in the whole pregnancy business. It's a really nice age they're at (10-11), they're really sweet, and all starting to show their big personalities and growing up. Yesterday I walked to the front of the room to find they'd put a chair out for me to sit on so I wouldn't have to stand and my 'ankles won't get as fat'. They dive to pick things up if I drop them and look horrified if I start bending down on my own. One student drew an uncharacteristic (for him) picture of me with a basketball-looking belly saying "My waters have broken", and 'Mr E' next to me, saying "Oh NO!". I am constantly asked if I have cramps, and if I'm really hot, and I wonder what their parents are telling them at home lol. Yesterday one of my girls said "Mrs E, if it wasn't for your big tummy sticking out, you would look really pretty today!" I said "Thanks R, if it wasn't for your...". They want to know middle names, how I'm going to get to the hospital, how I'll know when I'm in labour ('heck, good thought! - I have no idea! I assume it will hurt?'), if I'll have to get my stomach cut open, whether I'm going to punch Mr E when I'm in pain in labour or not, exactly how dissapointed Mr E is to be having a girl ('Boys - it's not a tragedy for Mr E to be having a girl! He's quite excited!'), whether I'm going to paint the walls to the nursery pink or not, am I craving chocolate, is the baby really eating my brain ('Yes!'), do I feel her kicking now? And now? And now?, etc. These questions are usually blurted out in the middle of calculating compound area or something like that, sigh.

Anyway, James still isn't home so I can't probe him for the location of the pictures of last week's birthday brunch, but I'll post this now and maybe add them if I find them.

Hope everyone is having a great SpRiNg!! :) xo

Bits & Pieces

We used to have 'Bits & Pieces' for dinners sometimes. We'd pull out cheese and nuts and dried fruit and meat pies and dim sims and leftovers and kabana (which we'd grill...mmmm) and whatever we could find, and eat it. Like our Boxing Day breakfasts, but less yum...

I had a dream the other night in which we had a baby and it was really cute and everybody liked it! I have a complex that we all love my adorable niece so much that nobody will really like my baby when I have one, because how could it compare with Jenna?! This dream was very comforting.

My kids make me laugh, a lot. They are so funny! Especially when they're not trying to be. One of my favourite moments of camp was when one of my students who feels constantly that the world is against him (sometimes for good reason at home I think) refused to come out of his cabin. I went and knocked on his door and asked him to come out. He came out with one of his grumpiest expressions on. I asked him what was wrong, and he explained that he'd really hurt his head (he said it like someone was to blame for it in a BIG way). "Oh no, J", I said "What happened?" "Well," he explained, "I was jumping on the table in the middle of the cabin, but I hadn't realised the fan was on!". I cracked up laughing (a somewhat unintential reaction), he couldn't help smiling, and we went to breakfast.

We are in a cold snap. Bring on hot chocolate! :)

I haven't been well lately, and James has been an angel. Every morning for the past week he's gotten me breakfast in bed!

I have received 3 bunches of flowers in the last couple of weeks, and all are still alive and in vases at home. Tammy bought me some, James bought me some, and my basketball teams at school bought me some today. I inherited a great love of flowers from my Mum. They are so beautiful, what wonderful creations!

Today we ran some sports day heats at school, and I was starting the 200m. At the end we stacked up all of the cones we'd marked the starting positions with, and the pink, white, yellow and green cones ended up in a cute rainbow patten.

Ben and Oliver will probably be ON their missions in 2 years. They've always wanted to go to China, even though it's not open yet. I heard the other week that a new ambassador from the USA to China has been appointed and he's a church member. We've said before that maybe the twins will be in the first group of missionaries sent to China, but at this rate it might be there before they are!

Air fares are soooo cheap! A friend of my mother-in-law just went to England for $400 return! We could hop across to NZ for that price!! Dad saw return tickets to the USA for some insanely small price, and there are $200 2-4-1 tickets to Japan! Global Financial Crisis + Swine Flu?

Yesterday I was waiting in the car as James ran into the shops for something, and there was a lady in the car next to me with two kids. She had a little boy on her lap who was probably 1, and a little girl next to her. The little boy was leaning back funny, and each time the lady and the girl laughed. The boy looked quizzical at first, but soon recognised it as a game, and starting 'playing' - leaning back funny and waiting for the laughter. It was cute :)

My little sister Bethany is studying primary school teaching. She didn't enjoy her first year much, but she just had an awesome prac and 2nd year seems to be going better. I hope she loves it because I do, and hopefully I'll go off and have babies and she can have all of my teaching 'stuff' until she goes off and has babies too! :)

James is doing well at uni, and loving it :) I'm so glad!!!

A principal at another school called me to see if I was interested in teaching at their school for the second semester. I went and checked it out and met the principal yesterday, and spent the whole of today being grateful that I'm at such a wonderful school with such wonderful kids! I don't want to leave. The only thing that really dampens my opinion of our school is the tuckshop. A sandwhich is about $5, and it's not that good. As my teaching partner put it, 'If you want to buy tuckshop, you're pretty generous to donate all that money to the school'. Even at private schools they're much more reasonably priced. I don't know how this tuckshop isn't more infamous.

I've always wanted a pair of black stiletto boots, really nice quality ones. Last year I said to James that if we didn't have a baby by this winter, could I have some? He laughed and agreed. Earlier this winter I bought some. They were obscenely priced and they're beautiful. They're just really hard to walk in. Sometimes I practice. I've only worn them out once, under jeans on a date with James. They don't seem to go with anything in my wardrobe... Maybe I'll spend the rest of my life wearing them around the house. I love them! :)

I recently read 'The Host' by Stephanie Meyer - Twilight author. She has a way of making really messed up things sound perfectly normal and excessively interesting. I like telling James about them and listening to how messed up he thinks they are. It's funny how normal it seems when you're reading it! I really enjoyed it! I am looking forward to reading the Twilight series and The Host again in a few years when I've forgotten them :)

I'm feeling very 'What a Wonderful World'. What a great song that is, too! When you start brainstorming nice things to write about, I guess it's like "Count your Many Blessings" and it will surprise you what the Lord has done! It does every time! :)

James and I are going out to get kebabs and a movie. I love Friday nights!!! :) I love chicken!!! I love everything right now :)

xoxoxoxox

I'm soooo tired!!!

For the sake of the privacy of my lovely class I can't really tell you much of what's been going on at school, but I'm sooooooooooooooo tiiiiiired!!! :) Yesterday was a very crazy and a little disheartening and sad day!

Didn't go on strike today. I am so grateful to have such a well-paying job when so many people all around me are losing their jobs. It is a pretty innapropriate time to be rallying for a pay rise when people need whatever money can be spared sooo much more than us well-paid lot! It is a little sad that we're behind other states, but not THAT sad! If I have a serious issue with it I'll move interstate - the pay rate is public, so you know what it is before you get into it. That's my banner lol :) I just babysat the few kids who turned up to school, sorted out issues from yesterday (seerious issues - sad!), and caught up on a lot of marking and planning.

I wonder how tomorow will go!

Goodnight, I'm going to go to sleep on the couch watching a DVD while I wait for James to finish rugby training :) xo

Slim Pickings

On the very first teacher development day at my school, which was my first ever day of work, I was sitting at the 'year 6' table, getting ready to start work. I had just met the year 6 teaching team, and could barely remember their names. I was very shy and nervous. There's one guy on our year level, a nice family guy, who asked if I liked sport. I said I did, and then he said the staff were forming a touch footy team to play in a club competition, and if I was keen they'd be happy to have me. I said 'OK', and suddenly I was eagerly trekking down a path that would lead me through embarressment, then onto ... hopefully fitness and new skills.

In highschool I played netball, basketball and volleyball. I danced a LOT and was pretty fit overall. I am very bad with sports involving bats. As soon as there is a third party involved, my hand and the ball begin to disagree. I end up looking like an idiot, as I make contact with tennis balls at the part of the raquet enclosed by my fist. I have a hard time judging the distance and where to make contact when something other than just my hand is involved. Touch, however, does not involve much besides players and the ball. I have cheerlead for leage, union and AFL a lot in the past, so I thought had a bit of an idea about footy games in general... Touch, as I understood it, simply required fitness, and as I have had fitness in the past, I figured I'd pick it up quickly.

Little did I know the 'fitness training' aspect of the lead-up to games would be quite so public and humiliating. On the last day of school last term we had a scratch match against the best touch players in the school, including a few district players and a kid who just made the state league team. I jokingly asked if we couldn't just have training after school somewhere where nobody could see us, but I wasn't joking at all.

It was a little bit of a disaster for me personally. Here are some things I learnt:

• I am unfit.
• There are 6 players on each team.
• I am... excessively unfit.
• When you are touched with the ball, you simply place it down on the ground between your legs, and if necessary roll it backwards a few inches. If you throw it backwards between your legs, your teamate will end up running backwards to pick it up, cursing you all the way.
• Impressively unfit, even!
• Touch has a whole other language! If you don't understand it, the excessively fit woman beside you who is twice your age but could run 20 laps around the oval for every one of yours will at intervals between speaking this language at the top of her lungs suddenly burst into action in front of you, murmuring 'don't worry Ab, I'll just do it myself!'
• If there were a word, which meant 'unfit', but more, that would be me.
• In touch, you basically have your own player to mark. If you don't realise this and start running in the opposite direction, they will get past you (despite the hasty attempts of cranky teamates) and score a try for their team.
• If unfit were a competition, I would actually be in the running for first place!
• You can sub anytime you want. The only catch is that if you decide you're going to sub with a teamate when you are back on your line in defence, as you obliviously stroll off the field whistling, you're leaving behind a rather conspicuous gap, through which the other team will inevitably score. When I explained to James the way I learnt this rule he looked at me as if I were crazy. How was I supposed to know??!
• I am so unfit that when I run, my face turns such a peculiar shade of red, that my class and other students in the school think I have a rare disease.

I learnt all of these the hard way, in front of the entire school. My class were so cute and hilarious. They were soooo supportive, screaming "GO MRS E!!!" over and over, then as the game went on and it became increasingly apparent that I was incredibly unfit and had no idea what I was doing, they seemed to become almost embarressed for me, and the encouragement became constructive critisism and instruction, and "Don't worry Mrs E, we'll teach you the rules!!!".

Our first game against an actual team of people who are not 11 years old, is on Tuesday night. We are wearing shirts, in which we will glow in the dark. Although I laughed out loud when I first saw them (much to the dismay of our team captain who ordered them) and asked whether we were doing community service or playing touch, I am grateful that I will probably be able to recognise who to pass the ball to in the dark. I am number 3. James just got released from YM and into Ward Mission Leader so he has Tuesday nights free and can come and play too. I am excited for this because I will feel more useful to my team, as bringing him along will compensate for bringing me along! :) I will let you know how we go :) xo

Still mostly alive!!!

Hi!

I feel like I should be introducing myself - I've been deep in the pit of new teacherhood. It's a deep, long, all-encompassing hole, and I hope to graduate to the less encompassing pothole of confident, established teacherhood shortly. I won't go on and on and on about school (well I'll try not to!) but a few highlights:

• I have just survived my first parent-teacher information evening. That's the one they have at the start of the year so that parents can come and learn more about the classroom routine, homework expectations, extra-curriculars, units we're studying, upcoming camps (yay!), and the school in general. That's the official reason. The real purpose is for parents to come and suss you out (especially if you're new - I was like a celebrity), then grill you, try to intimidate you, ask ridiculous questions, question your ability, and for the lady in the third row with the purple shirt to try to melt through you with her eyes (never figured out who's mum she was! - this could be a problem later on... :S). Then at the end all the cute concerned parents come and talk to you about their kids (and I adore my class so I was happy to!) and offer to come and help out with reading rotations - great!
• Today after lunch when they were coming into class, one of the kids absolutely slammed one of the other kids from behind at he sat at his desk! It was huge! I almost burst out laughing, but it was not funny. Poor boys! The 'slam-mer' was furious as he stood there in rage, chest heaving, eyes boring into the back of the 'slam-ee' muttering threats under his breathe (his glare was not even in the same league though, as the woman in the third row tonight..)(there was some hurtful name-calling at lunch and as they lined up to come in), and the 'slam-ee' was distraught - from physical as well as emotional upset. It's a call to the deputy and parents etc. when there's physical stuff that goes on so that all happened, but it was okay in the end. Grade six is a bit of a hormonal age, but the boys are waaay worse than the girls right now, surprisingly - with 'he said' 'she said' 'not friends' sort of stuff. (Apparently by the end of the year the boys will be more settled and the girls will be catty...)
• I'm the girls' basketball coach (yay! :))
• I'm a panel judge for 'Our School's Got Talent!' (hahaha - I'm sort of looking forward to this one too! :))
• I don't have a single morning or afternoon free from meetings this week with someone else to train me about something else - but my brain is full to capacity, because the same thing happened last week, and I haven't had time to process anything, because there's school inbetween, and I have to sort of me teaching during those hours... It sort of almost feels like I live at school a bit...James is afraid I'll burn myself out, but I think I just need to keep to early-late hourse for a few more weeks and I'll have it all a bit more down-pat. I do have an awful lot of extra stuff to do being new to the school as well as Ed QLD, and everyone I meet has got something else to tell me about or train me on which I never even knew existed! (sigh)...
• I love my class! My girls are all angels in behaviour except for one who is a bit crazy but okay. My boys all have MASSIVE personalities and vie for stage time.
• So far... 3 boys have been moved away from their friends to tables full of girls (their behaviour has been excellent since :) - I told them I might even let them sit back with their friends if it continues this way for ... oh... a few weeks or so - but they double check if it's been long enough every single day, and I do admire how hard they are trying! 2 boys have been sent to the deputy principale (well, the deputy sent to them - that was my boy being taken out today...). And 2 boys have received warnings (it's only the first step on the school behaviour plan... and one of them was bumped off it again for good behaviour :))
• They're great! We all get along really well and they forgive me for having to make them do actual work! Even if sometimes it's boring :) We're not the most quiet class in the school but we get the work done and mostly enjoy it! Yesterday my partner teacher (1 big classroom, 2 classes) turned around and had to rouse on her class for being too loud and it's hilarious how happy I was that for once we were the quiet ones! High fives all around. Every time we go to library the librarian gets them in trouble for every little thing (I'm not being biased - one of her rules is that you're not allowed to tie up your shoelaces in the library! - That's insane, and um, unsafe.), and I get sorta cranky about it, but I can't act like it, because that would be unprofessional (sigh). I wrote a note to self though next time they're about to go to library to remind them of the insane rules and not to make us all look bad, cause they're not! :P
• I really am happy with my class - even my crazy kids. There's background to every single kid I've got who behaves badly, and I just hope I can help them have a better time at school, so that not every part of their life makes them sad.
• It's going to be a fun, maybe a bit draining year :)

Haha I just remembered I said I wouldn't go on about school! :)

I'd better start a new blog entry for other stuff I want to say, or you'll all be bored at hate me! This way if you want to read my blog bit by bit, it'll be easier to find your spot... :)

Happy Days! :) xo

A good alternative for now.

So if I can't be a mum right now and I have to work in a professsion instead (and this certainly seems to be the case right now), teaching is a good alternative for now.

I don't know this because it's my first day at school with children - I know this even though it was a boring PD day without kids! It wasn't really boring - it's really good stuff to be trained further on, I think it was just the all day sitting in a room listening to presenters speak and speak and speak that I'm using as an excuse for my bad attitude :)

Anyway I thought I'd post a couple of pictures of my humble little classroom (please note the ikky green walls!!!) :) I can't wait for this weekend to be lazy and relaxing! And then Australia Day on Monday!!! And then school on Tuesday :) Will let you know how all goes... xo

This is my fun hippy desk area... :)

This is the Mrs Easthope 'Tag' James put on the whiteboard, see the little DJ in the corner? Yeah...

This sort of shows some of my boardspace and posters too...

Here's the red couch James bought me for Christmas :) Aw... I love it!! :)

And here's the view to the front of my classroom! The blue pinboards used to be the horrible pinky-purply that their frames still are (if they show up looking better than they really are in the photo, just take my word on them being awful. Same with the walls...), but we covered them in cheap blue tablecloth plastic! :) I can't wait to cover the hideous walls with posters and artwork!!! :)

And I put all different coloured smiley faces with each student's name in the front window, but I can't post that because of privacy etc :P but it looks cool :)

xo

My Enabler

All is well and right with the world. Deepa - my banking enabler who I met today fixed my internet banking account (happy sigh) :). She had to delete my whole account and give me internet banking all over again, but it was worth it :)

Other happy things of note:

Yesterday (yes, this is a happy thing that happened to me yesterday but I was too busy wallowing in my lack of internet banking that my priorities messed up and I didn't mention it...) I went to a discussion with James and the missionaries in our ward :) I am always deeply nervous of these things and only said 'yes' out of duty, but it was wonderful :) It was 2, then 4, then 5 girls who live close by, and who are here from Kiribati to study nursing at Griffith on scholarship. They were beautiful and I felt the spirit strongly. When the missionaries were teaching about the Gift of the Holy Ghost I really wished I was teaching, and could tell the girls what I felt about the Holy Ghost, and then the Elder turned the time over to me to tell the girls what I felt about the Holy Ghost lol :) I told them how he makes me feel happy, and like I just love everyone and life so much I want to burst with gratitude, and how I feel warm inside, at the same time. I told them how sometimes I get up to a nightmare and find it hard to get back to sleep, so I pray to Heavenly Father to bless me with peace so I'll be able to sleep, and I feel the Holy Ghost come and bring peace to me so I can sleep. I told them about how sometimes the Holy Ghost reminds me of things that are important, and how you can come to recognise the Holy Ghost as opposed to your own thoughts. One of the girls wants to come to church this Sunday so I offered her a ride since we live around the corner. I hope she comes, and I hope I get to see them again, they were beautiful.

Today I went shopping with James, where we got cute things like bright red,pink,purple and blue folders, a bright pink rubbish bin, a bright red rolly-teacher chair, bright yellow flowers, a bright green photo frame/clock, and bright blue plastic tablecloths then went up to school to my new classroom to create! :) We went in yesterday to meet my teaching parter (she's lovely) and check out the room, and I'm so excited! Yesterday my main impression was that the pinboards that cover most of the walls and are painted a horrible pinky-purple had to be covered up! Today I was stoked though, as we covered them with the blue would-be tablecloths, my whole classroom transformed! I put up our beautiful Edsco posters, put out flowers, fastened brightly coloured material that covers other miscellanious ugly things, etc., etc., I can't wait for school to start! This is way fun!! :) Tomorow is my first official day - teacher planning and professional development during school hours, and I'm excited! We're also moving my red classroom couch (thanks James! :)) in tomorow afternoon :) I've been going through all my teacher things, and picking out resources from previous experiences to take in, ideas for lessons, etc. I'm really excited :) Like, really :) I'll post photos when I remember to take my camera in! :)

Made a yummy chicken dinner tonight :) It was already marinated so I just chucked it in the oven, but isn't it fun when you take it out and can't help picking at your own meal cause it's so nice?! :)

Happy 2nd Wedding Anniversary Jonny and Jessima!!! :) I got to babysit angel Jenna for a bit while they played tennis and basketball at our place, lucky!! :)

I'm really excited for school to start.

My internet banking is working.

All is right with the world, once more (happy sigh). xo