Rollin', rollin', rollin'

The title says it all! On Wednesday, June 25th, Juliann figured out how to roll onto her tummy. At first, she didn't like it and would cry because she didn't know how to flip herself back over. That night was a long one becuase she kept rolling onto her tummy and would wake up crying for us to roll her over onto her back again. The next couple of days, as she got more comfortable being on her stomach (and once she found her thumb), she would roll over while napping and would stay that way. It worried us a little when we would walk into her room and find her sound asleep on her tummy because they drill into you now-"back to sleep, tummy to play." One night we must have flipped her back over 3 or 4 times, only to watch her roll right back onto her stomach! But we finally realized there was nothing we could do! In fact, she naps much better now that she sleeps on her tummy.

Yesterday the rolling continued while she was on her play mat. I was cleaning up the kitchen and she was on her mat in the living room. Every couple of minutes I would have to go in there and flip her back over because she had rolled onto her tummy and was screaming like a banshee. After about 10 minutes of this I decided to leave her be and see what she would do. Finally, she got angry enough that she flipped herself right back over! She did it again a little while later! Hopefully this trend will continue so that I don't have to be on tummy alert all day long!

Retired

After 6 crazy weeks of working two jobs, I'm officially done with one: teaching. I've decided that it is too hard for me to do both (I haven't felt like I've been doing either job particularly well the last few weeks) so I will not be going back to the classroom next year. David likes to tell people that I have retired, however, the truth is that I will be working part time (2 days a week from 8-2) as an SOL tutor next year. Regardless, packing up my classroom was both physically and emotionally tough. I honestly do love teaching and it was extremely hard to say goodbye to my kids, my team, and my room (I seriously had the whole tears streaming down the cheek as I turned off the lights and closed the door for the final time moment). While I've cried a bunch over the last few days, I know that staying home is the right decision-for both me and for Jules. I also have to give credit where credit is due too-Mom was a huge help. She came up for 3 days and watched Juliann but also helped me pack up all of my stuff. And boy do I have a lot of stuff-right now the attic, the bonus room, and the dining room all contain boxes or crates of teaching materials. I have no idea how I acquired so much junk over the last 4 years! I plan to go through it over the next few days and decide what I actually need to keep (for when I eventually go back full time or for Jules) and what I can throw out or give to other teachers. I can sometimes be a pack-rat so I'm sure I'll find excuses as to why I need to keep things, but hopefully we'll be able to walk around the bonus room and eat in the dining room (can't remember the last time we did this so not sure why I'm worrying) sometime in the near future. Wish me luck!

I'd like to think that since I'm home now I will be able post more, but truth-be-told, I probably won't! Just because I'm home with Jules certainly does not mean I'll have tons of time to sit in front of the computer and blog. I've been home 2 week days and I've gotten nothing accomplished. She doesn't take long naps during the day (used to before the baby sitter but now she catnaps for 30 minutes here or there) so when she does fall asleep, I run around like a crazy person trying to get stuff done around the house. The only reason I'm able to write at this very moment is because she fell asleep in her bouncy chair. Hopefully we'll be able to transition into longer morning and afternoon naps over the next few weeks. I'll let you know how it goes...OK, sleeping beauty awakes....and cries! What perfect timing! :)