The Nest

My morning and to-do lists

Posted Thursday, November 05, 2009 10:10 AM

I woke up like usual, took a shower, dressed, put on my make-up and then went to blow-dry my hair. I turn my hair dryer on, all the lights go out. Great. I guess we had too much stuff going at once because the power of my teeny hair dryer blew a fuse. Tyler fixed it (after he finished showering in the dark, poor guy...) but I decided that I could live with crap hair for a day and decided to have breakfast with my sweetie instead! All in all, a pretty good start to my day, even though I did look a bit like a drowned rat this morning as I walked into work.  

Speaking of work, on Thursdays I always have a to-do list of items that I want/need done around my classroom. I only have one class in the mornings and besides an all-school assembly and recess duty, the rest of the day is open for planning and getting items checked off of that to-do list. It's just too bad I'm always a bit too ambitious in writing and have never actually finished a full list I have a list today, though, that isn't too long and I'm hoping that I can remain focused long enough to actually get it all done! 

And I'm leaving straight from work to babysit my nephews for an hour or two and the rest of the evening is wide open. I just ordered an Inspiration Book from Creative Memories so my fingers are really itching to do some scrapbooking! I also have a birth keepsake cross-stitch for our little one that I want to get started on! I don't know why, but the cooler months are always my most craftiest... 

Alrighty, I better head out to make it to the assembly on time. I hope you ladies are having a great Thursday!  

I looked, I shopped, I conquered! (Plus questions for the moms!)

Posted Sunday, November 01, 2009 12:59 PM

Tyler and I are buying the furniture for our little one since we only want one registry and didn't see a single crib or dresser that suited our needs at BabiesRUs. So I started looking online Friday night and quickly found the crib that I want. It's a Target mini crib in white and is the perfect size for our little apartment! (Not to mention it's flippin' adorable! ) I also found a great mini crib mattress that will fit perfectly, is good quality, but doesn't cost a huge amount.

That's where the online shopping luck ran out, though...I was getting so frustrated that I couldn't find any bedding sets or extra sheets or ANYTHING for a mini crib! Thankfully, my oldest SIL is the diva of online shopping and after a quick call to her Saturday morning, I had six different websites emailed to me with bedding that would perfectly fit the dimensions of the crib and mattress we're getting! I found the cutest ivory and brown polka dot/line bumper and crib skirt with 2 sets each of ivory and brown jersey sheets! I'm hoping that the ivory against the white crib wont drive me crazy, but I just fell in love with the look of them!

Which brings us to the question portion of today's post!

What are your thoughts on crib bumpers? Necessary? Safe? The website says that it meets all regulaion standards, but it doesn't say anything about being breathable or anything like that...

And is $500 a good price for a crib, mattress, mattress pad, bumper, crib skirt, and four sheets? It seems pretty reasonable, but I've obviously never bought baby furniture before and just want to make sure that I'm not going crazy with the spending.

TIA, ladies! 

Wahoo!

Posted Friday, October 30, 2009 11:47 AM

It's Friday!

And not only is it Friday, but it's paycheck Friday for both me and Tyler! And along with my regular paycheck, I got my $1,000 reimbursement check for not taking the health insurance offered through the school! Yay for money going into our savings account! (And to dinner out tonight. And last night...)

I also finally received a definitive answer from the HR guy about my leave. I will not be returning back to school before the end of the school year. Yes, I will miss out on one and a half more paychecks, but I can deal with that. I will also definitely be getting paid during the summer. I have the email he sent me archived in my work email and also a hard copy printed out, just in case someone forgets this "exception" that is being made, haha. I will of course be returning to pack up my classroom for the following school year, so really the only downside about the situation at all is just being out of the teaching loop for such a long period of time...It took me long enough to get back into the swing of things after three months off this year, I can't imagine what it's going to be like coming back after being gone for six!

Anyway, back to the happiness of it being Friday! This weekend should be pretty relaxed. It's my weekend off from cleaning, so the only thing I'm doing home-wise is washing our sheets first thing tomorrow morning and remaking our bed. We're going to head out to a friend's rugby game in the afternoon and possibly go to another friend's Halloween party in the evening, but other than that, I will just be lounging on our bed with all my scrapbook stuff! It's been so long since I've spent a significant amount of time just being crafty, so I'm really looking forward to it! I'm going to turn up the iTunes and go to town on my and Tyler's couple scrapbook! I have everything bought for Piper's scrapbook, but I want to get ours caught up before I start on something new. 

Well, it's almost time for me to head out for recess duty and then I'm helping out with the big blacklight performance for the K-4th graders followed by crashing some of the grade parties for some yummy treats!

Happy Halloween!  

What makes you happy?

Posted Thursday, October 29, 2009 9:46 AM

I'm in a particularly good mood today.

Last night, Tyler and I went out to dinner with his brother J and J's girlfriend. We originally were going to go to this place called The Muse and Aquatic Lounge (Scary, right? ), but (thankfully!) the restaurant was closed and we headed over to our favoriate Italian place! It was so much fun to just sit around, talk, and enjoy a great meal together! It's the kind of place where they definitely don't rush you out so we were there for a good three hours. Good times.

I also slept really well last night! I fell asleep pretty quickly and didn't have to get up to pee until almost 4. And even after I had gotten up to go to the bathroom, I fell back asleep pretty easily as well!

Lately, I've been feeling like an absolutely horrible teacher because I feel like I'm focusing more on myself these days and not my students, but this morning, after a talk with my principal (once again, about my leave ), I'm feeling pretty good about work as well. I also only have one class this morning to teach, and some Halloween-related activities to attend before my day is over! Not to mention that I don't have any classes tomorrow due to all the holiday celebrations going on.

(And a quick update on my leave: My principal spoke to the head of school who verified the information I gave her. My principal is still so against me coming back and creating a "disturbance" for my students with another change and the head of school is now talking to our HR guy about making an "exception" to the leave policy, allowing me to remain out the rest of the year and still get paid during the summer. It's not what I really want, but as long as I get paid during the summer, can pack up my room myself at the end of the year, and still get a Letter of Agreement for next school year, I'll take it...I'll probably be wishing death upon myself in August after not working so long, of course, but it is what it is...)

So, back to the title of the post...All those things I mentioned (minus the leave) makes me happy. What makes you happy?

 Happy Thursday, nesties!

It really shouldn't be this difficult...

Posted Wednesday, October 28, 2009 9:00 AM

I've started the process of planning my maternity leave with my principal. I know that I will be taking 12 weeks (The typical maternity leave at the school I work at), which is 6 weeks paid leave, 6 weeks unpaid leave. That means that I will missing out on 3 paychecks, which is perfectly fine. We have plenty of time to plan accordingly. No biggie.

Every teacher that I have talked to about maternity leave has said one thing: Make sure to come back before the end of the school year, or you won't be paid throughout the summer. Apparently, being the private school that they are, my work can consider my summer vacation as extended, unpaid maternity leave if I do not return before the school year is over. That's literally thousands of dollars I would be missing out on, so of course I want to come back! If I take the typical 12 weeks, my expected return date, barring my leave having to start earlier of course, is May 31st. Which gives me exactly 3 weeks with my students before summer break starts. 

Well, my principal, who obviously has no clue about the school's policy regarding the whole "I don't get paid during the summer unless I come back", is concerned about how the transition is going to happen for me to return for such a short period of time. I understand that end-of-the-year reports have to be written (and obviously by someone who taught the kids during the end of the year...) and it's already a hectic time, blah, blah, blah, but I'm not missing out on that much of my yearly salary! It's bad enough that the school's regularly scheduled Spring Break counts as a week of my maternity leave, when they're not even going to have to pay a substitute to take care of my students during that time.

So now I'm waiting not so patiently to get this information verified by the head of school and the HR guy before going to my principal once again to talk endlessly about my leave. What a pain in my arse!

Blech. This is why I just teach and am not interested in the least in being involved in the all the administrative aspects of a school. Just thinking about it all gives me a headache  

I love our tiny home

Posted Saturday, October 24, 2009 11:24 PM

Especially on cleaning days, I really appreciate our little three room apartment .

It's just big enough where we can spread out and not feel like we're constantly on top of each other, but it's small enough that I can still get it all cleaned in a short matter of time. Once the baby comes, I'll have to create a game plan of what's going to get cleaned on what days, but for know it's great to be able to just forget about cleaning of any sort and then scrub the place from top to bottom in just a couple of hours (And that's with me moving at a snail's pace since my ever-expanding belly seems to be getting in the way more and more these days)

The weekend has been extremely low-key and tomorrow will be more of the same. Last night we met up with my FIL at church to watch "Facing the Giants" with some of the members. I had seen it before, but Tyler and his dad both love it so I willingly tagged along. This morning, we got up, I made breakfast, and then we got ready for some shopping. Nothing major, I just picked up some stuff at Williams Sonoma, two scarves at Claires, and a few odds and ends for home at KMart. I started cleaning around 5:30, we ordered pizza for dinner, I continued cleaning, and now I'm just sitting on the couch watching Tyler play some super violent game on the XBox. It's been pouring rain here off and on all day so it's been nice to just be snuggled into our home together

Tomorrow, we'll head to church, do some grocery shopping, meet up with the extended family for lunch, and then just hang out at home again. I need to plan for the work week and I'm hoping to get some more pictures hung on the walls and maybe even get some scrapbooking in! Should be a nice relaxing day, just like today.

Alrighty, I've rambled on about nothing long enough. Hope all ya'll are having a great weekend! 

A horrifying night and a WONDERFUL afternoon :)

Posted Wednesday, October 21, 2009 6:34 PM

Work yesterday was horrible. It was just one of those days that I drove away from the school thinking only of the negative. And I really, really don't like thinking about only the negative...I gtt over it after some hugs from my honey, made a nice dinner, and Tyler left for a meeting he had to attend for work. He was gone maybe half an hour when I went to the bathroom, wiped, and the tissue was bright red. Lots of blood, even one small blood clot.

I was terrified.

I called the on-call service at my OB's office and the doctor on call calls me back pretty much right away. Knowing about my low placenta, she explains that it could have just slipped a bit closer to my cervix, causing all the bleeding. The bleeding stopped shortly after, with just a little bit of spotting that lasted until early afternoon today. I made an appointment this morning, via doctor's orders, to get my cervix checked and to take a listen to baby's heartbeat and thankfully my MIL agreed right away to pick me up from work to take me so I wouldn't have to go alone. I was pretty sure everything was okay because I felt her move a couple times both last night and this morning/afternoon. I know it's pretty early to feel consistent movement, but my little girl is a mover and shaker, I've felt her squirm around every time I've sat down since Saturday, so it was nice to feel her little pokes as I went about my work day. So I go to the appointment, the doctor took a look at my cervix (closed, no blood, looked great) and took a listen to the heartbeat. Now, I've always been happy to be pregnant, even if it was a surprise and it's going to be tight having three people, even if one is very small, living in our little apartment, but today, I absolutely fell in love with the little person growing inside of me. I heard her little heart beating away and just wanted to cry. My baby girl is just fine and showing no signs of wanting to make her grand entrance anytime soon. I still feel like I'm floating on cloud nine and I just keep smiling as I feel her stretching and moving!

Now I'm going to end this wonderful day by picking up some take-out with my hubby, parking myself in front of the tv with my feet up, and filling myself up with yummy food and lots of fluids! And being that I somehow lost 2 lbs in one week, I'm not going to feel bad at all about indulging in the oreos we have in the pantry