Okay - it has been a while!!

I know, I know, it has been almost a lifetime since I last wrote and a lot has changed. Last time I was gripping away about not having job and trying to be patient  - and no surprise here - but God provided once again!! (apparently I am loving the exclamation point today!)

I am working in exactly the kind of school and grade that I was hoping for. And although it is not a permanent position it is a full year term. It is an inner city school and I am teaching grade 4/5 and the kids are great. They all come with their own set of challenges (as we all do!) but they are a great bunch. The staff at the school is great too - I am meeting a lot of other colleagues that have very similar philosophies so that is very refreshing for me professionally.  I also love that the school, especially the principal, reminds us that although it is an important job, it is a job and that we all need balance and family always comes first. That makes everything so much easier as they realize the sometime stresses of having a family (and the joy as well).

As for Kat - she is a runner now and is doing so well. She loves to tell stories to us and is starting to use more and more words. She is always on the go and doesn't stop!

Trying to be patient

Okay - so those who know me know that I struggle with trying to be patient. I would love to be able to know what is going to be happening in my life. I am working really hard on realizing that things always end up working out and usually better than I could have planned - Thanks God but I would still appreciate a heads-up!

So I am currently looking for a job - AGAIN! I have been looking for a job for every single September since I have begun teaching in 2004 and I would love to find a permanent teaching position someplace so that I can just get in there and do what I do. However it looks like this year may be a toughie as most schools are declaring surplus - which totally sucks for me. 

But I know that something good will happen - I just have to hang on there and try to be patient, but I sure wish that it would hurry up!

Forgiveness of a Child

I have a lot to learn about forgiveness and God seems to want to teach this to me through my six month old baby girl. 

So she was going through a bit of a growth spurt just a little while ago which meant that I got to wake up every 2 1/2 to 3 hours during the night for about a week to feed her. She would wake up starving - so her cries told me, eat, then go back to sleep. While this was alright with me for the first couple of days but after about day 5 my patience was seriously waning.  At one of these 5 am feedings I was feeling particularly frustrated and just looked at her and said, "Seriously Kathryn, it is time for sleep" in a more frustrated tone than I would have liked. As soon as I heard myself I apologized to her (hey, it is never to early to humble yourself to your little baby I figure -- I messed up) telling her I was sorry and that I loved her. 

Well, she must have understood me more than I thought - or I was still delirious from lack of sleep because she grabbed at my face, gave me a big slobbery kiss and laid her head on my shoulder. 

Wow, talk about instant forgiveness. I know that sometimes I will tell people "it's okay" when they say sorry yet I don't feel that in my heart, but not this little girl. She forgave her Mommy for messing up and didn't hold it against me at all. That night she really taught me about how God will forgive me to when I am able to humble myself to Him. I know that I will still mess up but I also know that I am still doing well and on this journey. 

Night-Night

So Kathryn is not a sleeper - not at all. In fact she only usually takes 2 half hour naps a day but she is pretty good during the night - mostly just waking up once to quickly eat then back to bed, but sometimes it can be draining as I would like a nap longer than 30 minutes! When she does take longer naps I have to go and check on her to make sure she is okay. Like today, she took 3 45-60 minute naps and I had to call Jake to tell him because I could barely believe it.

When I am feeling tired and as if I will never get to sleep, especially after this stupid daylight savings, I need to remind myself how incredibly bless I am. I have a very happy and healthy little girl with tons of energy - hey, she just wants to dance all day...no worries! The times that it does get to me is when I am trying to put her to bed especially now that she is on different time than the rest of Canada. Sometimes she will just talk herself to sleep (I think she is chatting with all of the animals on her bumper pad but that may just be me thinking that) but often she will need to be swaddled (I know - still!) and cuddled till she is almost asleep then into the crib she goes. 

Even though I may be exhausted by what the day has been, I love those moments. Her tightly swaddled in my arms, her tinny head resting on my arm, her brown hair tickling my nose as I give her chubby cheeks lots of "night-night" kisses. She then will often giggle then close her eyes as if to say, "Yay, you figured it out Mommy!" That makes the whole day worthwhile. 

Not a musical bone

Okay it is official, I am back being the most unmusical person in our family, and this is including Kathryn. She takes after Daddy with her music. Every time we go to church, Kat is just singing along and dancing. I love it that she is already worshipping in her very own 5 month old way! As soon as the band goes up to sing, she starts going, chatting away and kicking her toes. The worship leader will often pray or read a verse in between songs and Kat still can't tell the difference when they are singing and when they are praying so we are working on not disturbing the whole congregation during this time. 

Any time Jake practises Kathryn just watches his hands so intently and tries to play the guitar - she loves the vibrations on her little fingers. Surprisingly she still loves my off-key made up songs about pretty much everything that we see, although I don't know how long she will think I have a beautiful voice. I should be able to squeeze another month or two out if her...

Working outside of the home

I am starting to get really excited but also anxious about going back to teaching. I love being at home and I know that I am going to miss being at home with my little baby girl, but I also love teaching. In the last little while I have gotten some kind of rude comments about the fact that I want to go back to work - weird - I thought we lived in a world where women could work and have a family...I just don't get this!

I know that I am a good teacher and that this is a talent that God has given me, I also am a good mom and that this does not change just because I want to go outside the home and work.  I think that even if we won the lottery I would still work with kids outside of the home - let's not be crazy - I wouldn't teach full time!

Just had to vent because I got one comment to many this last week!

The best kiss ever

The last couple of days Kat has been sucking on my chin and cheeks, I thought that it was her telling me that she was hungry - nope the are kisses. She has started the big, open mouth, oh-so- much slobber kisses. If Jake or I are kissing her cheeks she will grab our face,  open nice and big and start sucking on our cheeks and chin and all the while go "mmm, mmm, hhhaaa, hhaaa". I don't know where she got that from - I don't think that we make that noise when we kiss her. 

In two places at once

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to be a guest speaker for a conference on multiage education. I was speaking on using the arts to engage children in their learning. I was so pumped as using the arts to teach the core subject areas are one of my passions - I would one day like to create a classroom where this is done with autistic and other special needs children (my other passion when it comes to teaching). I was asked about 2 months in advance so I thought that I would have lots of time to prepare - boy was I wrong. 

Kathryn is not a typical sleepy baby. She only likes to take about 2 - 30 minute naps a day, sometimes not even that much. So I originally thought that I would be able to prepare an hour and half presentation during her naps, I soon found out that this would not work with her sleeping schedule. I felt like I had to rush to get it all ready so it was not as well done I as would have liked, but I did get it done thanks to Jake watching her on most of his days off. I hated not hanging out with them but I also knew that it had to get done and that it was something that I am passionate about and believe more teachers should do so it was important to me. 

Then came the day of the presentation. Kat was super cuddly that morning and I did not want to leave but my mom came over and watched her for the day. For the whole day I was there thinking about her until it was my time to speak, even though I felt it was a disjointed presentation, I was loving it. I didn't realize how much I missed talking about all of these topics. But as soon as I was doe, I couldn't wait to get home and find out all of the things that Kathryn did - turns out she had a  2 1/2 hour nap - seriously!