I can't believe it has been so long since I've last posted. Starting back at work has kept me so busy. I am enjoying my new school, but of course have a lot of things to figure out and work on. I am hoping things will calm down soon and I can get into more of a routine.

Andrew has been doing an awesome job transitioning into his new school. There were a few rough days and lots of tears shed by both him and I, but now he happily runs in and will hardly stop to say goodbye to me. He also received his first backpack last week, which has helped him be more excited about going to school.  One of the greatest things about his school is that they have a big indoor gym area, so when it is too hot or too cold to go outside the kids can still have a space to run around. If you know Andrew, you know he needs that every day! He is so active all the time, and hits the ground running every day. Andrew is also learning so much at his school, and has started counting and reading letters very well. It is so fun to see his brain soaking in so much.

What I love the most is that he has started to sing. Every night before he goes to bed Brian and I sing "Hush Little Baby" to him, but now he will join in with us or even sing it all by himself. I love it!

Holy Hotness!

We are living in the midst of some hot weather here. I know it's been hot everywhere lately, but it just makes life so miserable. Today, the heat index was at 90 by 8 am. Andrew and I tend to not leave the house very much, and luckily we now have more room inside our house for Andrew to run around. I've even thought about bringing some of the smaller outside play toys we have into the basement for him to be able to use. What has been frustrating is that I don't really want to go out into the heat to run in the mornings, especially when I have Andrew with me in his jogging stroller. There are definitely more hills in our neighborhood here than where we lived in Ohio, and pushing him in the stroller is a new form of torture. But he does make runs a bit more interesting, with his constant talking and observations.

I've been trying to do some activities with Andrew this summer, and so far we have visited the Museum of Transportation, the St. Louis City Museum, and were able to go see Nick Jr's Storytime Live. Andrew loved all of the trains at the Museum of Transportation, and we are hopefully going back again next week. The City Museum was different. It's a very creative, fun place, but I think Andrew was a little too young for it. And the Storytime Live show was fun, although Andrew was a bit scared by it at first.

I start at my new job in less than 2 weeks, with 4 days of new staff orientation and then 3 days of professional development. School starts August 18th, so it will be here before we know it. I did find a daycare for Andrew that I think will be a good fit. Finding childcare is not easy, especially after how much we all liked his school back in Ohio. But I'm trusting my instinct that his new school will be a good fit.

Got it!

Through all of the changes that we go through, I have tried to keep believing that life will work out the way it is supposed to be, and things will fall into place. At times it is challenging to stick with that notion, but once they actually do fall into place it's an amazing feeling.

I had an interview Wednesday at a middle school in Clayton, Missouri. Clayton is the area of St. Louis located just west of Forest Park near the Washington University campus.The neighborhood around the school is filled with amazing houses, and I drove around in astonishment before the interview. The school district consists of 3 elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. Very different from Cherry Creek!

The night before the interview I read the job description again and found out the position includes teaching not only computer literacy courses, but also something called "Integrated Arts". When I looked for more information about the course, I was a little dismayed to see that is was Drama. What was I doing applying for this job? As I drove to the interview, I had pretty much talked myself out of any hope of getting the job. But, it would at least get me in the door to meet some of the people in the district, which is always a good thing. Walking into the interview, it just felt right to me. I met with the interview team, and had a great discussion. I learned more about the "Integrated Arts" course, which is actually team taught by 4 teachers, and is an in depth look at putting together a stage production. They would like to figure out ways to incorporate technology more into the productions, which would be the role of this position.

I left the interview feeling pretty good, and had changed my mind about whether I was qualified for it. In all honestly, the drama part of the position sounded like an interesting challenge. Something new!  I talked with Brian about it Wednesday night, and really felt like it was something I would like to have the opportunity to do.

Thursday morning I had planned to take Andrew to story time at the library, and as we were leaving I got a text from a friend at Davidson who was in the main office there when someone had called to get a reference for me. Interesting....so I started really thinking about things. Sure enough, around noon I got a phone call from a St. Louis area code. However at the time Andrew and I were going into the grocery store and I had my hands full so I didn't answer. When I got home I checked the message that was left and sure enough, it was the assistant principal that I had interviewed with the day before. I was going to get Andrew down for his nap before I returned the call but then my phone rang again. They were calling again, and in a flustering phone call with Andrew shouting in the background for me to turn on "Backyard-agains", I accepted the position.

I cannot tell you how much of a relief it is to have this next piece of my life laid in place. I know a bit more of what my future is going to be looking like, and it feels good. It feels right.

Missou-rah

Things are going well here in the land of Missou-rah. We loaded up the moving van on the 25th, sadly said goodbye to all of our good friends in Columbus, and arrived in "The Lou" on the 27th. So far, Andrew has done really well understanding that now we live in the "new house". He was super excited to see all of his toys that had disappear come off the moving truck in St. Louis.

We found a house to rent in Creve Coeur, which is a western suburb. Because we didn't know how long we might be here, we decided just to rent for now. Luckily, we found a fantastic house that gives us plenty of space and is in great shape. The house is in a quiet neighborhood where we don't have to worry about cars zooming down the street anymore, and I couldn't be happier.  I am still trying to get everything put away, but have made pretty good progress on the main floor of the house. Both Brian's parents and my parents came out to help us with the move, and I couldn't have imagined what it would have been like without them. My parents even took Andrew back with them to Lawrence for a few days so that I could get a little break and try to get some stuff done. Brian and I were able to drive out to Lawrence for the July 4th weekend, and had a good time visiting everyone. Andrew absolutely loves his cousins, and has already asked several times to go back and play with them. 

I had an interview today for a middle school position. It actually sounds like a great opportunity, and hopefully things will work in my favor and I'll be able to report soon that I have a new job.

Parents of the Year!

For some reason our child does not like ice cream or cake. I don't get it. Brian doesn't get it.

So, Brian and I, thinking that this child is missing out, decided that we would force Andrew to try some ice cream. We were at DQ with some friends of ours, and Andrew had been refusing all our offers of trying it. So Brian held him, and I took a dime sized amount and put it in Andrew's mouth.

And then there was vomit. Andrew literally gagged on the ice cream. Are you kidding me?  Gagging on ice cream?!?!

I think this incident scared the pants off our friends, who are expecting their first child. Seeing what power a kid has can be a little scary at times. As parents, we have a miniscule amount of control. Andrew has the majority.

Luckily we were outside and there was a water hose that I was able to access. I apologized to the college aged couple who also experienced the whole trauma, but pointed out that it was college that helped me get used to cleaning up puke. Who knew it would be such great preparation for being a parent!

Slip n Slide

Over Memorial Day weekend our neighbors put out a Slip n Slide for the kids, and they all had so much fun. Andrew was a little tentative at first, but once he found a ball to play with on it he was in heaven!

Fire trucks

(I wanted to test out publishing a picture from Picasa, as I have recently discovered its awesome features and am trying to get more organized with all of my files and computer stuff. Hopefully this will make my life easier!)

Andrew and his friend Joey went to an event at the local emergency services center where they had fire trucks, ambulances, police cars, and even a helicopter. The boys were in heaven, along with getting stickers, balloons, and suckers. What more is there in life?