Much to celebrate!

Today, I have so much to celebrate!!

1. It is our 4 year wedding anniversary! It has gone by so fast and has been an amazing four years. I couldn't ask for a better match in life. I can't wait to see what the next four years bring! No more children, that's for sure! ;-)


2. I found out this morning that I passed my comprehensive exam for my Masters Degree. I am OFFICIALLY a Master of Education Reading Specialist from UVA. I can't believe it is really over. What am I going to do with my time?? Oh, I know....have a new baby boy!!

UVA Master of Education, Baby!!!

This weekend was the last class of my Masters Degree!!! I am soooooooooo relieved and excited to have reached this milestone. We have all become such good friends after taking all these classes together. It's going to be strange not seeing them as often, but we are having a Christmas Party in December which should be fun. I should be receiving my degree in the mail within the next month or so....wahoo!!

Cost of Tuition and Books - $10,000
Time Spent Away from Family - Thousands of Hours
Graduating with 30 Friends - Priceless!!

New Opportunity!

We had a busy weekend!



It all started Friday morning...I was feeding Riley breakfast when the phone rang "City of Salem" on the caller id. I didn't know what it was about so I thought I'd screen it and see if they left a message. The message went like this, "This is so-and-so from Salem schools. Your name was given to us by so-and-so. We wanted to speak with you about a reading specialist position. Call us back at your earliest convenience."



At this point, I was freaking out a little! I thought it may be a position for next year which would be perfect! So, I call them back. Come to find out, they needed someone for the rest of this school year (about 8 more weeks) to tutor a 9th grader who is reading on an elementary level for 2 hours a day! "Would I be interested?"



The answer to this question is ABSOLUTELY.... (a) It's Salem schools which is the hardest school system to get into around here! and (b) it's two hours a day of my life, I still get to spend most of the day with Riley, and it's a perfect way to get my foot in the door for next year!



So, I had an interview at 2 on Friday. I was so nervous and stressed, my Crohns almost flared up...but the interview ended up being easy and I got the job! Pray for me please as I begin something new!

Friday night, we went out with the Jones family. We had the best time together! We've really missed them lately! Saturday, I had class all day, then got my hair done, then we had Ken's (my father in law) retirement party. It was a fun time with amazing food catered by Jane, my mother in law. The only picture I took of the entire evening was of me so that I could see how my stylist did my hair! How come it's so hard to re-create what the stylist does to your hair?!

On motherhood

As I mentioned in a previous post, I quit teaching (temporarily) Oct. 3rd to stay home with Riley and finish my Masters Degree. It's probably one of the best decisions I've ever made. I think anyone can tell how much happier and stress free I am. Although, some days, I do miss seeing a bunch of smiling faces coming in to my classroom ready to tell me everything that's going on in their lives. But, then I'd be missing a lot of what's going on in Riley's life!

As I put Riley to bed tonight, I held her for a few extra minutes after she was finished with her bottle. She's grown up so much in 8 months...it's amazing. Today, she learned how to lean in and give a kiss when you ask for one...it's ADORABLE!

Anyway, I was reminded of those first few weeks after she was born and how crazy it was. Emily D. always put it perfect, "I WAS JUST SURVIVING." For one of my class assignments, we had to write 3 personal writing pieces on anything we wanted, so of course, Tony said I had to write about him, Riley, and Maize. My piece on Riley was the hardest to write because I wanted it to be just right. I ended up doing a reflection piece on those first few weeks with brand new Riley. I won't post the whole thing, but the "jist" was that at first I felt like so much had been taken away from me and I didn't feel an immediate bond w/ my new baby. I wondered if those feelings were normal and if they would ever go away. Then, gradually, things started to return to normal and I got out of the house, and I found myself emerging as a mother. 8 months later, I can't imagine my life without Riley. My life is full of joy and "my cup runneth over."

So, on the days like today, when nothing gets done around the house even though that's pretty much my job now, I'm not going to worry about it....I'm just going to treasure these precious moments I have with my baby girl. Pretty soon, she'll be asking to go on dates with Sam and Jackson!

As a side note, due to Tony always being busy and on the run, we have started a date night once a week, rotating who picks the activity, and it can be any night of the week. So, the first date night was pumpkin carving and there have been a few others (including going to Gander Mountain...hmm, I wonder who picked that date night) and the other day we went "deer scouting" and we hiked the STEEPEST hill I have ever seen!!! It was excruciating, but we got to see an old iron mine that still had the railing tracks on the outside....pretty cool! For this week's date night, we're going shopping for Christmas pajamas for a Christmas picture!!
Emily, get your camera ready!!!