YIKES!!!

To say my life has been crazy would be an understatement.. I think Insane would probably be more appropriate. I went from being a stay at home mommy who's biggest worry was getting the beds made everyday; to a full time teacher, student, mommy & wife..and the transition has been very overwhelming. I had mentally prepared myself but I could never have prepared for this. My days are long and I am physically and emotionally drained (and it's only the 3rd week of school). YIKES!! I feel a tremendous amount of guilt sending the kids off for long days at school/daycare and not making all of Nathan's baseball practices. I could barely fit in making it to his game this past Sunday because the essays I had to grade were piling up, but at some point I just have to sacrifice some sleep and make sure my kids know that they are my number one priority. It's just so hard (the sleep part that is)!! I am one of those people that needs a good nights sleep to function and I'm not just talking 4 or 5 hours but like 8 or 9. I know.. I know that's not the reality when you are a mom but honestly without it I am literally a walking nightmare and that has been the hardest adjustment. I can't just tell my crying baby who is ready for a bottle, or my little man who has a question about his homework to wait. I chose to have children before finishing up my education so I am the one who needs to make it work. I am really struggling with finding balance in my new crazy life and being one of those people who is super organized and lives by her day runner every hour of the day I find that I am just making myself crazy. I love my master teachers and have an awesome schedule teaching Juniors & Freshman and luckily what gets me through each day though is knowing that in just a few months all of this will be over and I will have finally reached one of my biggest goals...my dream...my teaching credential. I guess the hard part though is the sad reality that now a days a credential doesn't equal a job and it will probably just hang on my wall for a few years and collect dust. SIGH..That's OK though because I can go back to staying home and enjoying my kids. By the time Alexa starts school the job front in Education should be much better.

Enough about me.. I will get by and I will bust my ass everyday to make sure that I am giving the kids in my classes the education that they deserve. Teaching is truly my passion and this whole process I have to go through to finally reach the end will all pay off.

I can't believe Nathan is really in Kindergarten it still hasn't hit me how fast time goes. I'm so sad I missed his first day that is the downside to being a teacher on the first day of school, but Daddy took the day off work and did a great job capturing pics of his first day.

Although Nathan is all smiles here he has had his share of adjusting issues as well. He is a very smart boy so I wasn't worried about what he would or would not know going into kinder but I never could have imagined that the same issues that we dealt with when he started preschool two years ago would come up again. Yep you guessed it "Bad Ass Nathan" was back and in full force. Picture this if you will... It's the first day of school and all the parents are eagerly waiting outside the classroom door to see their babies come rushing out of their new classroom beaming with smiles on their faces. My eyes were welling up just standing there outside of the door as all the kids were coming out to reunite with their parents. I was getting so excited to see my little guy and hear all about his big day that as each kid came out the butterflies in my stomach were getting stronger and stronger. As his classmates ran by I started to wonder what the heck was taking him so long?? Eventually all the kids were out and all of the other parents were already walking away. I found myself standing there looking around when I saw the teacher calling me over with her finger and Nathan standing next to her with an unhappy look on his face. "Nathan had a rough day today" she said. NOOOOOO was all I could think, but I looked her in  the eyes and assured her that this would not happen again. Well by day 2 I was proven a liar because it happened again, and again for two weeks straight...different issues but all behavior problems.

The teacher and I have been sharing daily emails and have teamed up to ensure that Nathan understands we will do everything we can to prevent his little behavior issues from arising. After implementing a daily behavior chart and trying a bunch of different methods at home for reinforcement and consequences I am happy to report that just today he received all smiling faces on his chart and it was time to celebrate. Let me just tell you that we did it big at the Baca house! We had Ice Cream Sundaes and told Nathan that we were having a celebration party, we sang, danced and kept congratulating him for his day. Hey I had to make it soak it and I can only hope that this is the beginning to the end of that those behavior issues (fingers crossed). Every day is a challenge but I know that Nathan is a very bright kid and once he gets the hang of this new school business he is gonna shine!! Until then I will talk any and all donations of wine, excedrin, and massages. LOL 

Alexa is growing like a weed and is crawling anywhere and everywhere. She's got 4 teeth already (three on the bottom and one fang on top) and many more on their way! It's funny how their little personalities start to develop so early. I can already tell she is much more daring and feisty then Nathan was...GREAT! I can only imagine her first day of school and her beating kids up for their lunch money! Ha Ha Then again Nathan was an angel of a baby it wasn't until the toddler years that the "bad ass" was unleashed. So for Alexa I'm just going to hope for the best. She is so inquisitive and just like her mama never misses a beat on what is going on around her..God Bless Her! LOL She is eating 3 solid meals a day now (baby food) and the bottles are few and far between. She is cuing and laughing daily and is such a little pistol. I just love watching all the new things she does. The best part of all is that the babysitter raves about how easy she is and such a joy to take care of. Sigh of relief for one well behaved kid...for now anyways!

I have so much more to talk about but it's late and I have my never ending grading to do so I better run..Until next time...xoxo