Tackle Her!!!!!!

I promised Mike before he left that if Shannon started trying to walk on her own, I would tackle her or throw a shoe at her to knock her down. He wants to be there for her first steps. Unfortunately, I was not in the position to tackle her this evening, when she took 3 steps on her own at a friend's 1st birthday party! She walked from my legs to the back door, which amounted to 3 real steps. My bebe is getting so big! I can't believe she will be 1 year in less than 2 weeks! Ack!!!! No! Quick! Someone give her coffee and make her wear a heavy backpack!

Various Updates

Shannon:
She has been taking a couple of steps on her own at daycare. She started on Monday. She lets go of the baby gate, and step, step, sit. I can't get her to do it at home. Possibly because we don't have cool foam tiles for her to walk on.

I am so tired of Mike being gone. Today was the worst example of how much we miss him. When I picked up S at daycare, the father of one of the other girls came to pick his daughter up. He is taller than Mike and wears a firefighter's uniform that is dark blue, and Mike wears a dark blue uniform. As soon as he walked in, S's face lit up and she had this HUGE smile on her face. I knew she thought it was Mike. Then she reached out for him. At that moment, he picked up his daughter, and Shannon looked at him with the most hurt face I have ever seen. Her bottom lip started trembling, and she watched him until we left with a very confused and sad look. As soon as I strapped her into the car, I burst into tears. I felt terrible for her. The look on her face was one of ultimate disappointment. I wish I knew whether she realized it wasn't Mike, and I really hope that she did because I don't want her to think Daddy loves some other little girl more than her.

Me: I interviewed (again) at my favorite school for the 4th grade position. I felt like I did really well, and rightly so! I had just answered the same questions a week & 1/2 ago! But I felt like I gave good answers and was prepared. I got a call today from the principal, who wants me to go in on Friday to teach and be observed, and then teach the entire next week to have the grade level teachers observe me, also. I'm fairly confident that I'll be getting the job.... assuming I don't suddenly develop Tourette Syndrome, that is.

After venting to a lady I work with, I felt much better about the situation. Much less pissed off. And boy, was I pissed. I'm much calmer now. Stupid woman hormones.... They get me every time.

I've Incinerated My Eyebrows While Jumping Through Fiery Hoops

Just what the heck is going on here!? I did as the principal asked. I shadowed, I planned, I taught, I performed like a little show dog. I would have won a bone-shaped trophy. And Friday, I find out they want me to do it all again next week, but with competition. Are you freaking kidding me? So where does that leave me? The teachers want me. The kids respect me. The Asst. Principal likes me! Just hire me!

I understand that they need to go by the book. They need to play fair. They can't grant special favors and have to look out for the best interest of the kids. OK, so why so I feel like Stretch Armstrong? Why did they ask me to interview last week if they were going to have to ask me to do it after they looked at the application for the 4th grade position? Why are they putting me through this Hell? Why are they compromising the position I have, which I am relying on in case they don't hire me?

Why?

Because they can.

Because they know I will jump through their fiery hoops.

Because they know that if they say "bark," I will bark as loudly and as well as I possibly can bark.

Because they don't want me nearly as much as I want them.



Woof.

4th Grede, Here I Come!

I ALMOST HAVE A TEACHING JOB!! I interviewed at my fave school on Thursday for a 2nd grade position that I knew I wouldn't get (I interviewed WITH THE GIRL WHO WAS ALREADY TEACHING THE CLASS!! Can we say AWKWAAAAAARD!!??). A friend of mine called me the night before and told me "don't get discouraged tomorrow," (gee, thanks) and that one of the 4th grade teachers would fnd out on Fri if he will be becoming an administrator, so that position will probably open up, and a 3rd grade teacher was trying to do the same thing. So, I interviewed, felt like an idiot compared to the other girl (who was great and super nice). I got a call last night from the principal, telling me that he has a "curveball" for me, and that he wants me to teach 4th grade. I have to go in on Tuesday & Wednesday to collaborate with the teacher and teach some lessons as teh 2nd part of my interview. So basically, unless I suddenly develop Turret's (sp?) and can't control my expletives, after Tuesday, I will be working there for the rest of the year... WITH A CONTRACT!!!! Sa-WEET!!!! I'm so stoked!!!! And now I'm scared. And excited. and nervous. and giddy. and nervewracked....... Hahaha!

I'm even more nervous about going to work on Mon and seeing the principal, b/c I know my new one will have already called him to tell him I'm not coming in on Tuesday or Wednesday.... or after that, hopefully.

Having a Baby Aged Me By 30 Years

I just realized this afternoon why my left leg has been killing me for the past two months. I have sciatica. Awesome. The day that I realized my hips had suddenly shrunk quite a bit and that I could fit into many of my pre-pregnancy pants was the day that it started. Wonderful. Wonder if I should go to the Dr or just look up some exercises & take Advil? Hmm. I'm sure carrying her on that side isn't helping.

Oh, by the way, Shannon started crawling on July 27. I forgot to mention that. Now she's all over the place and ridiculously fast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow. I hate today.

I'm sick. All I want to do is sleep. I have a headache, and merely attempting to breathe makes me lose my breath.

Shannon is...... sick? I don't know what's wrong with her. She's taken 3 naps, all less than 30 minutes long. She woke twice last night. each time she has woken up, she has been screaming like something is very, very wrong. She acts like her legs hurt. Every time I touch them, she shies away. Of course, they might be tired from her learning to stand on her own today. No fever. Ear infection? Teething? Her 5th & 6th teeth just came through the other day. I don't know! It's Sunday, of course. After 4:30. All of the clinics are closed. I called the after-hours provider number, and she thinks S is just catching my cold and is uncomfortable from being constipated (which she is). So, I get to give her Tylenol all night and if she doesn't get better, I am to call tomorrow for an appointment to have her seen at Peds. Great. And of course, I have no idea where to take her if I get desperate tonight and decide to take her to urgent care. Wonderful.

It's Quiet, Shannon Must Be Causing Trouble..."

Nope, she's just reading! All day, I keep wondering what she's up to when I don't hear anything out of her for a while. Each time I go looking for her, she's in her room with some book or another. So cute!!

I taught Shannon how to push the button on the little spinny light thing my grandparents gave her. It's all she wants to do when she's in her play pen.

Thank You SO MUCH, Elementary School Kids!

I hope the sarcasm in the title is apparent. I'm too out of it to really know any better. I'm sick. Shannon, too. Awesome. The perks of teaching, right? Woke up with a sore throat and, despite what Airborne claims, I am not feeling any better than I would had I not immediately started downing the stuff by the gallon. Poor Shannon looked so cranky when I picked her up from daycare today, I just knew something was not right. And when she smooshed her finger in the fireplace gate and sobbed for 20 minutes, I knew she was not feeling well. She took an hour-long nap right away and went back down for the night an hour & 1/2 later. Poor thing also dropped the shampoo bottle on her foot in the bath. She's had a rough night! I hope that we both start feeling better over the weekend. I was so looking forward to spending these next two days with Shannon, having all sorts of relaxing fun. I miss her like crazy during the week, and with both of us being sick, I'm afraid that we won't get to enjoy this weekend as much as we would have if we were feeling better.

I suppose I should update on the wedding weekend. Kristen's wedding was on aug 1, and it was one crazy weekend! Shannon, Dargan, and I left on Wed morning. I gave S some teething tablets to help keep her calm so she would sleep on the drive up to Bakersfield. About 10 minutes into the trip, Le Amber called to tell me that Mike's boat came back. Great. No idea when or for how long, so I turned around and went home. Shannon had fallen asleep, and slept for 3 hours total when we got home. She would have made it the whole trip. Crap. We ended up leaving around 2 or 3 when Mike finally emailed to tell me they probably wouldn't be getting leave. Turns out, he DID get leave, and decided to drive up to Cambria at 1:30 the morning of the wedding! He got to Grandpa and Barbara's at 8 am!

The wedding was gorgeous, as you will see in the (copious amount of) pictures I've posted below. As it turns out, Mike's mom was BFFs with Adam's (groom) aunt, and I was intended to walk down the aisle with her son. Instead, I was partnered up with his other cousin. Jane was disappointed that she didn't go, as she would have liked to meet her son and her Granddaughters. My dad went with me as my guest/babysitter.

Some recent pics:
Layne's first birthday: Layne, Shannon, and Lindsay.
















Gossiping at the party.

















Feeding mommy lunch.

















Jealous much, Dargan?






















Checking out the elephant seals.

















Someone LOVES the elephant seals!!






















Meeting Grandma Melinda for the first time.
















Waving "bye bye" to Grandma.

















Great-Grandma Barbara taught her how to pull her socks off.





















Erin, Janeatte, and Me at Ragged Point.
















After getting our hair did at Diva Day Spa in San Simeon.

















The lovely bride and groom, Kristen and Adam Dobyns.
















Janeatte & Me after the wedding.

















Now THAT'S how you enter a room!!
















Snuggles.

















The obligatory "newlyweds with a random baby" picture.
















See, Mike DID show up! And I had a bit too much wine, as usual.
















Shannon and her favorite manny.

















BFFs!

















Cutie pie at 10 1/2 months.























This is what I get when I ask her to "show me your teefers."