exhausted.

YO. Words cannot describe to you how tired, busy and occasionally stressed I have become. I have a whole new respect for working mothers, considering the fact that I am now one. I am up at 5:30 to get myself ready, then to feed Eli so he doesn’t yell at me on the way to one of his 3 babysitters of the day (my mom, Zach’s Grandma or Jessica…a girl I went to High School with that’s watching Eli 2 days a week, she is heaven sent..Eli LOVES her.) All to be out the door by 7 to make it wherever Eli is going that day, then off to 9 hours with Kindergarteners. I am liking the job more and more each day. It has its moments where I have to close my eyes and take a deep breath, but I am enjoying it for the most part. I have to write my own curriculum, which is very challenging.

In the morning I only have 6 kids at most, the afternoon is a different story, completely. I have about 15-20 kids that get off the bus at noon, from their day at morning Kindergarten at their respective Elementary schools. I have to feed them all lunch and get my 6 morning kids out the door and on their bus by 12:30 so they can start their day. THEN I get about 5 to 8 kids from other classes that don’t nap, because their parents don’t want them to. Then those non-nappers leave me at 3, and about 3:45 I get a heap load more children that are school agers getting done with school. A lot of names and attitudes to remember in a day, that’s for sure. It is so challenging to find different things for me to add into the curriculum for these kids—especially the afternooners---because they have been sitting for most of their day, and they do NOT want to listen to anything I have to teach/do/plan because they want to play, NOW. So it can become very stressful. But I make it work. Sometimes things that are supposed to get done simply don’t get done, and I am ok with that.

Me and Eli make it home around 6 or 6:30, only for me to make dinner (Zach has been awesome and had dinner ready a few times when I got home!!), play with E, and see Zach. I try really hard to fit in my DVR Ellen and/or Oprah, with some SpongeBob in between for E. (Not sure how I am going to handle Dancing with the Stars, Greys Anatomy and a few other shows we watch next week, I am not going to be able to wake up!)Then it’s off to put Eli to bed. He HATES being held or rocked to sleep, which makes me so sad, b/c it used to be the only way he would fall asleep, but now the only way to get him to sleep is to lay with him, sometimes I sing to him, other times I just lay there with him and he falls asleep, with me close behind with heavy eyes. 3 nights last week me and Eli went to bed at 8:30, leaving poor Zach lonely. . . I tell him I’m sorry, but I am BEAT by like 4, so to last for 4 or 5 more hours is a huge accomplishment. Hahaha.

Eli is doing wonderfully. FINALLY sitting up on his own. He doesn’t do the full blown knees up crawling, but this kid army crawls like a CHAMP he is EVERYWHERE and into EVERYTHING. And please don’t try to tell him no, b/c you will become extremely discouraged when he looks at you and literally says “HA HA HA HA HA” really loud. He gives hugs and kisses and loves attention. The rash on his face is back, it was gone for a few weeks, but he’s been slobbering like crazy, so I definitely thing it’s that. He has an ointment we put on it to make it better. It doesn’t bother him at all. He loooooves TV, Penguins of Madagascar and SpongeBob are among his favorites. He is so much fun, but I miss his baby stage (although I not the first 2 months when he screamed his face off b/c we didn’t know he had reflux).
So here are some pictures from the last month….enjoy! :) Sorry for the long wait!

Olivia. a beauty.


O not happy about being in btwn Eli and Carter


Best friends forever. no choice.


Visiting Morgan at IU.


Not sure why this is sideways, but whatever. Eli in his new Harley gear from Zachs cousins.


So who needs to play IN the exersaucer when you can play with the tag UNDER it.


Best time ever, apparently.


E's new Jeep from my parents. he loves the thing


so changing eli's diaper is like wrestling Hulk Hogan. And the only thing to get him to stop for a second is to sing the alphabet or happy birthday to him, its weird, but true. so here are my mom and aunt kari singing to him. hilarious.


EEEEEli.


getting some lovin from Danielle.


cousins


Uncle Tom and Cam




Danielle and Tom


love this picture. eli rocking his new hatt from my mom.


and sideways again. rashface in his rockin shirt from WALGREENS. no shame. hahahaha.


AWESOME wedding Zach and I went to. It is our friend from High School (I became great friends with her when we worked together in our early 20's). She grew up on a farm with her family, and decided to have her wedding in the middle of a cornfield. Her dad didn't plant a big patch of corn, and laid down grass and had an awesome wedding reception. It was beautiful and so much fun!


Z walking to the reception.




The Bride and Groom! Ash and Jeremiah


Ashleys little girl Maddi was the Flower girl and she wore Cowboy boots with her dress. LOVE it.


Alex rockin his helmet.


Eli staying waaaay up past his bedtime at Aunt Chris' 50th bday party (stephs mom)




Me, Steph and Randi.


Z and E


Uncle Matt, Auntie Em and Eli


GO COLTS






"why do you keep taking my picture mom"


With uncle matt again!


Love this.


cousin Erica.


not happy about the photoshoot. but i thought he looked cute. he never wears shoes and we made him. he didn't seem to mind.



adorable.


That is it for now. I promise I will try not to be gone for a month again. Hopefully since I am slowly getting into the swing of things I will make more time to blog.
Hope all is well!
xoxo
Tay