1 more month

The day is slowly creeping up on us. February 9th, the day in which I will be the mother of a....2 year old ::shudder::. A mixture of fear and sadness has built up inside of me. First of all, let me tell you that Logan has the terrible two's down to a science, yet he's still not two. Does this mean that the terrible two's will be even more horrible than the last month of his life? I'm not sure if I can handle this. I do take some blame for trying to move him up to a big boy bed. That was a FAIL. Sleeping through the night was gone, taking naps was gone. Logan: 1, Mommy and Daddy: 0. However, the rest of the brattiness is on him. Normally I will ask him a question and I get, "NO!!". Please pretend you hear this with the attitude of a 13 year old girl, because that is exactly what it sounds like. Yet I still want a girl...

The sadness does linger inside of me though. Sometimes I will look at his baby pictures and realize that he used to be so very small. I could cradle him in my arms. He fit on his changing table. He's such a big boy now. He's independent. He has an ENORMOUS vocabulary (without any swear words thank you! I had to cut some out of my own). He knows some numbers, some letters, colors, shapes. Basically he's a genius. I know that he's going to start having his own hobbies soon...ones that include cars, and sports, and all things non-mommy. I'm still trying to push in the arts and crafts, perhaps a little dancing, dress up, maybe a tea party? And the next thing you know he'll be 18 and moving out, and then getting married...things just need to slow down.

For now, I'm thankful for this:

Magical

Hands down, Christmas is WAY more fun when you have children. Last year Logan was too young to be feeling the whole Christmas thing, but this year was totally different. He loved meeting Santa. He actually opened presents. He baked and decorated cookies with me. His eyes lit up on Christmas morning. Absolutely perfect. To top things off, we were able to wake up in our own house on Christmas. The cherry on the top for me this year was that I have a mantel to hang our stockings from. I know I'm a dork for getting so excited about this.






Andy I joked that since we've moved back to Michigan, the weather has been peculiarly warm for winter. We didn't have a white Christmas, and there have been no school closing for me yet. However, it did snow the weekend before I went back to school and Logan took part in his first ever sledding adventure. For those that don't know, Logan did not take to snow very well last year. In fact, he face planted in it and screamed. This year he couldn't wait to get his snowpants on and ran outside to jump in the fluffy white stuff. We sledded down the hills in our backyard and had a good old fashioned McKenna snowball fight. This may have been his favorite part.

Although I'm still missing all of my friends that I left behind in AZ (A LOT!), Andy and I talk daily about how this move was right for us and it's proven with every new experience we've had in the short 6 months we've been back.

Thankful

The McKenna family has a lot to be thankful for this year. In the past, Thanksgiving wasn't really a highly celebrated holiday in our house. We didn't have the money or time to travel home, so we usually just stopped into Boston Market and picked up dinner (which is actually pretty good). This year...completely different. It's amazing to be a part of both of our amazing families. I'm thankful that Logan has been able to get to know both sets of his grandparents this year. He is constantly asking for them and gets so excited to see them, I love it. I'm thankful that Andy and I both have jobs doing what we love. This is a miracle in many ways, especially for my profession. I'm thankful that our little family has found a new town to call home. I'm thankful to be reunited with friends from my past that I have missed so dearly and can now see on a more regular basis, as well as staying in touch with those that I miss in the desert. I'm thankful for all the support Andy has given me this year. Did you know that moving is really stressful? And trying to find a job? I'm thankful for all the memories we've been able to make with our families in the short time we've been back in the mitten. I may complain about being busy all the time, but I secretly love getting together with both sides and catching up on all the activities we've missed out on. I'm thankful for an adorable son that amazes me every day. We can't help laughing when we see little bits of ourselves jump out from him. I'm thankful that this Thanksgiving, we weren't just driving to Boston Market and picking up our dinner, but spending time with the family we have missed.

Andy and I have officially decided that we LOVE this phase of Logan's life. It's perfect. No longer does he scream for things that he wants, he actually has mini conversations with us. Love it! Everyday, I pick him up, he screams "Mommy!", and then immediately says, "Daddy, now". Adorable. He tells us when he wants to go outside, when he wants a snack, when he wants more of something and what it might be (also I might add, he signs "more" and "please". Genius). He actually helps pick his toys up, and he loves learning new things. I caught him walking backwards today because he saw me doing it. Best of all, he enjoys going to bed at night. He tells us "lu loo, ni ni Mama" and lays sweetly in bed. Ahh, I want him to be this age forever. Can we just push the pause button?

Exhaustion has set in

It's official. I am a teacher. I mean, yes, I landed myself a job with my stunning teaching skills and have actually starting planting information into the heads of little second graders, but the exhaustion did not set in...until this week. You're not actually a teacher until this happens. I had been going through my days as a happy go lucky Rachel. Spending my nights grading a few papers, watching all my new TV shows from the fall season. Having a jolly good time. But, slowly but surely, the needing of naps started, the up late writing lesson plans, bringing home piles and piles of work to grade. All that jazz. Sigh.

So, with that tremendous amount of complaining out of the way, I can't happily say that it is 9:38 pm and I am finished with all of my lesson plans for next week, I've typed up spelling words, and all papers are corrected. Yet...I'm trying to find something else to do that relates to school. Addiction? I think so.

Also, my birthday is tomorrow. I'm way old. Way close to 30. Need way more presents because of this.

This weekend was perfect. I really can't think of anything I would change. On Friday, we met my in-laws in Kalamazoo to do the trade off for Logan's first sleepover weekend at their house. Andy and I realized we would need to be quick about this, in case they realized 10 minutes away that they made a mistake. Apparently he was good, so they decided to keep their plans with him :) While he was there, he went to see his Nana's horse, went to a birthday party, and was simply spoiled by his grandparents. This is why we moved back to Michigan.

Andy and I, however, did what any other married adults would do when their children are away....slept in. Get your mind out of the gutters people, I know what you were thinking. Sleeping is my favorite hobby. I love to sleep in until double digits, meaning at least 10 am, and I did. Two times this weekend. Pure bliss. We also had a huge date day on Saturday.

After getting dressed at oh, about 1 pm, we headed out to lunch at a place where Logan would never eat because they don't have a kids menu. Then, off to AJ's family fun center, where we played Putt-putt. Pretty nerdy, but Logan's not old enough to do this yet, so we took advantage of our time. I lost (even after I cheated), and then gave up on air hockey because I was sick of losing against Andy. Basically I'm a sore loser. We then headed over to the movie theater and took in a flick. Afterwards, another restaurant for dinner. Ahh, the joy of not having a bedtime that we had to stick to.

Today, we headed up (over?) to Kalamazoo to do another swap and take the babe back. I'll admit, I kind of missed him. Since we were already in Kalamzoo, we decided to head over to the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, because it's free. They've added a way cool kids room and Logan LOVED it. We then left the museum and took a stroll on WMU's campus. Andy and I had fun talking about all of the places we had classes, the memories we had together, and then pretty much gawked at all the changes they've made since we were gone. The most notable change was the lack of Andy's old apartment building. Apparently there was a fire 2 years ago and his building is gone. Vanished. I think he was pretty stunned. Logan had a ball walking around campus, trying to climb the stairs, and of course taking in the sights of what will be his future college. Not that I'm pushing him into anything...

So, once again, perfect. Days like this remind me of why I love living in Michigan. I love being able to take a short drive to where Andy and I met and have so many memories together. I love being able to share stories about the times we visiting certain places together. Perfect.

Oh my, I had forgotten how completely draining school training is. The last two weeks have been a bit of a blur, but in a good way. Being in a school that is K-12 is very different than K-8. Some of the trainings didn't make much sense to me, but then I realized what they were talking about was directed to the high school and not the elementary. I almost feel as if I'm starting my first year of teaching all over again, not knowing as much about the curriculum and the general list of things I am expected to complete. I've come to the realization that a lot of my lesson plans won't be used again, mostly because they were on the smart board and I don't have one in my room (which is surprisingly kind of nice). However, I've also come to the realization that I will have about half the number of students that I'm used to having. I'm not sure what it will feel like to work with 18 students everyday instead of the usual 25+ that I had in AZ. Right now it's hard to contain the excitement!

I have to admit that the best part of these two weeks is being able to meet other teachers that I can call friends. I've felt pretty lonely in GR, and I know that Andy feels the same way since he doesn't have any colleagues to talk to during his work day. It's been so nice meeting people, seeing what we have in common, and just enjoying other adults (yes, I know that I've been around Andy all summer and I love him, but sometimes I just need to talk to a different adult). My second favorite thing: getting back into the classroom and unpacking all my junk. Yes, I know, I'm strange, but I do like to organize and unpack for the upcoming year. Packing it back up at the end of the year is another story.

So, my room is completely organized ::for now::, my lessons are done for the week, and my copies are ready to be handed out. Watch out GR, Mrs. McKenna is back!