Cuddle Bug

My daughter is weird. 

Every time she goes to sleep she takes an inventory of the things she likes to sleep with. It takes a while, and here's why:

She needs her regular pillow, pillow pet, a stuffed Tigger, Pooh, frog, dog, Olivia, 2 Taggies blankets, a yellow receiving blanket, a dish towel, and 2 cloth napkins. 

And that's not even the weird part. Sometimes I find spoons in her bed. And then the other day I got her a play bake set complete with metal cake pans and metal cookie cutters, and rolling pin. She keeps asking me if she can sleep with them too! Seriously,  a rolling pin... who would want to sleep with a rolling pin?

So long, and farewell

Tonight makes the end of an era.
7 years ago I started working for the Sylvan Learning Center in Virginia. I started just as a sort of assistant, who assisted the teachers while they tutored the students. It was a good job for someone in college getting a degree in education. Eventually, over the next 2 years I acquired other roles, and finally moved up to being a teacher after I graduated.

Then came my decision to move to NJ. I decided the easiest way to gain employment was simply to transfer to another center. So I started working at the center in Philadelphia. I worked at a teacher/program manager/trainer/assessment test administrator/secretary/and just about every other role within the center. Sadly the pay just wasn't cutting it, and the commute was a killer, so I quit to become a preschool teacher.

But then I decided to try my hand at tutoring online with the Sylvan Online program. I worked as an online tutor for over 3 years. I stayed with the company as they worked through all the kinks, changed their name to Educate Online, and worked to get contracts with various large cities in the country. I enjoyed my job and stuck with it through 2 maternity leaves, and 2 summers of no hours and no pay whatsoever because summers are the slow season.

But now it is time to end my job as a tutor. I need to focus on being a mom and a wife more. I'm sad to be leaving, but so glad that God has provided us with enough so that I don't have to work anymore. And I'm so glad that I have a husband who would rather have his kids be raised by their mom, instead of earning a little extra spending money.

So, so long tutoring, it's been nice knowing you

I just un-quit

So I quit my teaching position, which I am thrilled about. But, I still have my second 5-hour a week job that I wanted to try and keep because now that I'm not teaching it will be a whole lot easier to squeeze 5 hours into my week. Plus, the job project ends in June, so it's only temporary anyway. Well, after much debating by the higher ups in the company they have decided to allow me to keep that second position.
So for now my resignation is put on hold. So I am still technically employed, but this job is one that I can do whenever I have free time in the evenings, so there's a lot less pressure. The pay is still ridiculously little, but as we're preparing to buy a house every little bit helps!

Busy, busy bee

I don't have time for blogging lately cause I'm so busy.
If I'm not changing diapers or feeding Ryleigh or Xander then I'm planning stuff for my sister's shower, or planning stuff for our house.
I'm mostly excited about the house stuff. After several trips to Lowe's and Home Depot we think we have nailed down the paint colors we want for each room, and the flooring we hope to put in on the main floor. I've also chosen some wall stickers I would like for some of the rooms because I figure they will be easier to stick on than trying to securely hang things on the plaster walls. (Ryan does not like wall stickers, so I kinda have to push him on it)

The only room I'm stumped on is ours. I would love to actually make it look romantic, unlike the bedroom/office/drum studio we have now. It's a very bright room since it's on the 3rd floor and has lots of windows. Ryan wants to do dark red, I'd rather keep the room a little more bright and airy. I can't think of a good solution.

My other problem is Ry's room. We chose a nice light purple color for her walls, and I know how I want it to look... but I want it to look like a Pottery Barn catalog.... but at a Walmart price, and I'm just not finding anything I like within my price range.

But despite my difficulties I am so excited about moving!!

                                                     Dreaming ^

Rainforest Cafe

Today we decided to take Ryleigh to the Rainforest Cafe. Ryan and I had never been there either, and I had a coupon, so we figured why not go spend the morning in A.C.
Of course Ryleigh loved it. I was afraid she might be scared by the animals, but after we explained that they were just big toys that moved she seemed okay with them.
So, here is our day in pictures.

 Most kids would be scared by giant animatronic (sp?) elephants... not Ryleigh. She just wanted to pet them

                      Xander was not all that impressed... maybe the waterfall lulled him to sleep

Here's the love of my life who ordered us a giant volcano full of ice cream, chocolate, and caramel! This came after the delicious mushroom stuffed ravioli in a creamy lobster sauce that I had for lunch. We absolutely had to walk the boardwalk to burn off the thousands of calories we consumed!

I hate making decisions!

Today was technically supposed to be my first day back to work from maternity leave. But, since the boss of my second position doesn't actually know when I'm supposed to return I decided to postpone it till tomorrow. Mostly because Ryan didn't even make it home till 7.

However, I'm thinking of quitting my job. I was planning on working until the summer, when my hours pretty much disappear anyway. But, now with Ryan on a new route at work he gets home later, and will not always be home in time for me to work. It was super stressful when I used to have to juggle one kid while trying to work when he wasn't home..... it would definitely be impossible with 2 kids, one of them being an infant.

Plus, Xander won't take a bottle, so on nights when I have to work for 3 hours he wouldn't eat. It's not that he refuses bottles. He tries to drink them, but ends up having swallowing issues and just spits everything up. And I don't want to push a bottle if I don't have to.

Plus, the pay is so not worth the stress.

However, I am so nervous about actually quitting my job. It will allow me to finally be a strictly stay at home mom like I've always wanted. But I am stressed that it will depress me. I don't actually want to work at all. I've never wanted a career. But, having a college degree makes me feel important, and smart, and accomplished. What if I give that all up and no longer feel good about myself?

I just pray that I can find a sense of accomplishment in being a mother. And hopefully the work we'll be putting into the house will occupy my time so I don't go insane with boredom!

One Fish, Two Fish

Ryleigh loves the book One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. We end up quoting parts of it through out the day... actually, we quote a lot of books because we both love reading.

One page in One Fish says:
I do not like this one so well
All he does is yell, yell, yell
I will not have this one about
When he comes in I put him out

Well today after a very stressful day I ended up yelling at Ryleigh for spitting food out of her mouth. I realized I shouldn't have yelled, so I apologized for it. She looked at me and said, "put mommy out".

A perfect Monday

Here's a pic of Ryleigh riding a pony at the zoo. She absolutely loves riding! I think this was her 5th pony ride, which is a lot considering she's only 2, but I just love seeing the look on her face, so I keep treating her to more rides!

Yesterday was so wonderful. After 3 weeks of Ryan only being off on Sunday he finally got a 2 day weekend! I have been going insane dealing with 2 kids all the time, and not getting a break, so it was extra nice having him here.
We spent the day at the zoo and had a very nice time together as a family. It was our first fun outing as a family of four. Of course Xander slept through the whole thing, but that kind of made it easier.

After the zoo we had more paperwork to sign for the house (does it ever end?), and we went grocery shopping. Those were not so fun, but it was a relief to get that paperwork signed because it puts us one step closer to actually owning our house!

I just love having my husband home, and spending some good quality time with him yesterday made me appreciate and love him even more!