Hospital Zone

Tanner is on his third round of antibiotics in 6 weeks (repeat ear infections) and Jake woke up with a 102 fever on Friday night. The fun never stops around our house! Tanner didn't seem bothered by his ear infection this time, but school wouldn't let him come back until he had been on his new antibiotic for 24 hours. So I spent the day at home on Wednesday. Luckily both boys are (knock on wood) healthy and happy this morning. Jake's fever spiked at 104 yesterday afternoon, but he slept great and woke up asking if we could go play miniature golf today. Brian and I are pretty sure the boys were just trying to get in as many dr. visits prior to our health insurance kicking in (as of today, thank god) as possible.

I had my overnight fall trip with my class on Thursday night. For a woman with a bird phobia, I did pretty well, I think. I will attach some photos of me holding the horrible beasts as soon as Robbie forwards them to me. It was a good trip, but I don't recommend trying to sleep outside next to an owl call that goes off continually from 7PM until 6AM. It consisted of a fake owl doing ten low pitched "whooooos" followed by ten high pitched "whoooooos" at an alarming decibel. Needless to say no one got a lot of sleep. Combine that with the fact that whenever an owl was actually caught in the nets, one of the workers would come wake everyone up to watch it be "processed and tagged" and you can guess that I would probably have gotten more sleep at home with two sick boys! Still, I returned home with as many students as I left with, which is all I could ask for, really.

I am definitely experiencing a "crisis of faith" with teaching at this school. The hours, the commitment, the "extras" that are required of the teachers, the fact that you have to find your own subs, all combine to make me realize that as much as I believe in the philosophy and feel like I fit in here, I may not realistically be able to do it next year with three kids. My sanity and family life need to come before my career-and if that means teaching somewhere less stimulating for a few years while the boys are young, then I think that may be what I need to do. I am definitely feeling "buried".

The boys, other than recovering from their respective illnesses, are doing great. Tanner is saying "da-da" now and we are pretty sure he says it with meaning, not just at random. He is pulling up to standing and itching to walk. Jake continues to be his entertaining (and demanding) self. He is loving school and his teacher. Miss Pam. I was less than thrilled when she referred to him as a "perfectionist" the other day, however. I told her I would rather hear almost anything else about my son than that! But he is happy to go to school and happy when I pick him up and is learning lots, so that's good enough for now.

We had a wonderful visit with Grandma Mary and Auntie Sue last weekend. They swept into town loaded down with treats galore for the boys. It was like a magic suitcase- they kept opening it up and bringing out new goodies. Jake was so happy to spend time with them and kept them busy from morning til night playing and singing and reading and chattering up a storm. They took the boys to Build a Bear on Sunday and Jake now has a new buddy- a stuffed frog named "Benny" that is dressed like Superman. They are so wonderful with my boys and I am so grateful to have them be a part of my life and my family's. We are now on a quest to get Auntie Sue to move here to Boise :) when she retires. They also graciously babysat one night for us so Brian and I could go out for our anniversary. We went out to a great dinner and, ironically, spent the night at a Residence Inn where we SLEPT IN, luxuriously kid-free.