Our busy life...

I am once again falling into the routine of not keeping up with my updates...I really need to try to get better about this. Needless to say things have been rather busy in the Bayer household. Adjusting to a newborn is a feat in itself, add in 2 older children and the fact that the newborn is a preemie, well you've made it near impossible. So, we have been adjusting, we are still adjusting. We are all still learning that little Margaret is very different from either of our other children...
May is the last month of school here in Florida, today is actually the last day. A newer experience for our family since when we home schooled, we continued with some schooling, very relaxed, through the summer. This allowed us to make more disruptions in our schedule during the 'school year'. I have found quite interesting the amount of material (or lack of) that has been covered since the infamous FCAT tests in February. Yes, there has been learning, but everything has moved into field trip/science experiment/party mode, and this last week of school, nothing has been accomplished (Monday was off, Tuesday was a regular day, Wed/Thur/Fri all early dismissal, all party days, why were they in school this week?). What I find the most disheartening about this switch, is that these events rarely took place before February, there was too much test preparation going on. In my opinion, 3rd grade should be about the fun stuff, not about stressing the kids and teachers out over a test. Makes me think more and more how much I would love to pull the kids out of school again to home school, but it would not be possible in the next 2 years, more on that later. Anyway, Elisabeth did really well on the test (this was her first experience with a standardized test) she learned all the test-taking strategies really well. She did learn a lot of other stuff this year, in math, science, etc...as well as socially, like how 8 and 9 year old girls can be really mean, she made some good friends, some not so good, and she got over some of her anxieties, and added some new ones (like her new fear of 4th grade). So all in all, it was not a bad year, I would have to say it was a good year. And now we have experienced public school with our kids. I could go on and on...but that would be a post of its own (maybe I'll do that soon).

Back to this week...Elisabeth has had quite a week...She bridged from Brownie to Junior Girl Scouts on Wednesday and yesterday had her piano recital, yesterday was also water day at school! This is also Joseph's last week in preschool. On Monday he goes to summer camp at the Y like his big sister, and in the fall he starts Kindergarten (yes, they will still be in the public school). My baby is not a baby anymore.

Last weekend we went on our first trip as a family of 5...something we will not be doing again for a while. We went to Orlando, not for Disney but the other things we like to do there. We planned to visit Gatorland, the Science Center, Old Town Orlando and maybe Downtown Disney. Mitch's idea was we could stop so I could nurse Margaret when she was hungry, he was thinking 20 minutes at a time, not realizing that she is eating every 2-3 hours still and taking about 40 min to an hour. I was pretty sure I had communicated this to him, but apparently there was a breakdown somewhere. He also forgot that she wakes up every 2-3 hours at night, and is not quiet about it. So he was stressed, which made me stressed. The kids had a blast. But Mitch realized that even though Margaret is 2 months old, she is really on the level of a newborn, especially in her feeding schedule. She is just getting to the point where she is nursing exclusively, with some supplementation.In other news, I am finishing my 2 classes...slowly, it is really had to get focused to get stuff done. My deadline is June 22nd, so I'm plugging away. I have also applied to grad school. I was going to wait, but the opportunity arose that my tuition could be paid for, I could get paid to teach and we qualify for childcare assistance for the youngest two, plus I feel like I am appreciated and well liked in the French department...I have had several professors ask me to continue my studies. Also getting my MA will allow me to teach community college, a much more flexible schedule than secondary ed, a lot of work can be done at home. And career opportunities at the local community colleges are getting better as the schools grow. So I put in my application, I take the GRE on the 12th, they will review my application when the scores arrive, then I interview for a TA (teaching assistant) position. Hopefully I will know by the beginning of July.

Well Margaret is up again and begging to be held, so I should go...I might get a shower by noon today, if I'm lucky :)