An Apple a Day Makes me a Teacher

On January 4th I became a teacher. Not in the motherly sense (although I guess I am that, too), but in the school sense. 

On that Monday I walked into a classroom with 32 kids I had never seen before and was told to observe for a day or two before beginning to teach. Come the second week, I would need to be prepared enough to do well in an observation conducted by a representative of the BYU education department. Talk about plunging into cold water! Of course, this isn’t the first time I’ve done this. This is, in fact, the third time I’ve done this in the past 1 1/2 years. Call me crazy, but I kind of like it. I really don’t like waking up super early in the morning to get ready, and I really don’t like leaving my super cute husband and darling, chunky, little girl, but I do love stepping into a classroom of kids and helping them learn. 
I could probably tell you all about my class the things that I’ve taught, but I know that you don’t really care ;) If you really are interested in my lessons or activities I’ve planned or come up with, feel free to visit my store on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Lilly is almost 5 months old!! I cannot even believe how fast the time has gone. Here are some fun things about her and her new “things” that she’s been doing lately:

1. Lilly is a talker. She doesn’t know any words, but she certainly pretends well. We don’t even need to be near her for her to start talking. In the mornings, or even after nap times, Lilly will entertain herself in her crib for 5-10 minutes by just talking.

2. Lilly is a kicker. Once her legs are free she kicks. She kicks hard, too. I suggest that you never put your head near her feet or you’ll get a good kick in the face. For Christmas, my mother-in-law got her an activity gym with a piano on the end for her to kick. This was one of the best gifts Lilly got this last year. She can stay entertain for quite a while, enabling us to get some stuff done without having to carry her everywhere.

3. She can easily fall asleep anywhere… unless it’s time for bed. Lilly has a knack for falling asleep in the funniest places: bouncer, highchair, activity mat, face-planted. We’ve also discovered that she can fall asleep with her eyes still partially open…so weird.

4. This girl can roll…but not all the way. Lilly rolls all around from side to side, but can’t quite roll from back to front or front to back. She gets stuck with her little roly-poly arm beneath her and doesn’t know how to get over it. We’ve tried helping her along, but she is really content rolling from side to side.

5. Sweet Potatoes and Rice Cereal! We got the A-Okay from our pediatrician to start Lilly on solid foods. Yes! Lilly really wasn’t so sure about the whole “spoon” thing when we first started, but she’s getting the hang of it now. Each morning we give her a small bowl of rice cereal and each evening we give her a small bowl of sweet potato puree (homemade, thanks to my awesome husband!). The only problem we face is that she much prefers a bottle to a spoon. So, we often have to switch off between the spoon-feeding and a bottle of milk. This helps make meals a more enjoyable experience for everybody…

6. Bouncer = Teething Ring. Basically, Lilly uses the door bouncer as a toy to suck on rather than something to help her bounce. Every once in a while she will use her legs to give a little bounce, but it is mostly just a teething ring for my little girl with no teeth yet.

7. She’s camera shy. Lilly is, more often than not, super adorable. She does the funniest things and I would love to have them on video, BUT as soon as I pull out my phone to take a video she stops and is too interested in the sight of the phone to continue said cute activity. So, I apologize for the lack of cute videos sent to family members and friends…



I want to use the remainder of this post to brag about my husband a little bit. Kaleb has been a lifesaver to me over the past month. It has not been easy for me to return to teaching and it means so much to me that I have a husband who enjoys being at home to take care of things. I am so impressed with his ability to clean, cook, care for Lilly, and, on top of all those things, work on school assignments. He has so much patience and helps me so much when I come home and need to plan more lessons for school. I am so grateful for this bearded man of mine (yes, he currently has a beard :)

Overall, life has been busy, difficult, and frustrating lately. But I have felt so much joy in this little slice of life.