Winter Break!

I worked really hard from November 19th to December 19th, and am proud to say that I took 8 cases from evaluation through to the IEP - for those of you in the school system, I know you're impressed. For those of you coming from the Children's system, 8 in one month is still pretty cool, considering the fact that I was also seeing kids. And, being in the school system means that I get a break for a couple of weeks! I am starting to get a little more tired, and the belly is getting quite a bit bigger, so this break is coming at a good time. I don't know how much sitting around doing nothing will occur though. We finally opened the last of the boxes last night, so while we have opened all boxes, our apartment is a MESS- I have spent several hours working on it each day, and it will keep going.

Oh, and by the way, the in-laws are coming. While it will be fun, I think it will be busy also. My goal is to have the apartment in neat condition by the New Year, and to rest as much as possible. Wish me luck!

Working, at last! And, a life update...

Sorry it's been a while...
I did get my license, the day before my birthday. Since then, I have been extremely overwhelmed working on the many backlogged evaluations, IEPs, therapy sessions that had just been waiting for me. Work is going well with the exception that about 3 times a week, I feel like there is NO way I will be able to complete everything I need to. But, then, it falls into place, so overall, I am happy.

Personally, we finally moved out of my parents house. It was just too frustrating to have James leave the house at 5:25AM and come home at 7:40PM. By the time he ate and got comfortable, I was ready for bed. We settled on Belmont, a mid-way point for us. His commute has been cut in half (from 2 hours to 1 hour) and my commute has increased by 5-10 minutes, depending on traffic. I will take it. We are still in boxes - for those of you who have been to our house, we moved from that to a small 2 BDRM apt. so trying to find a place for all our stuff is hard. Goodwill and the Salvation Army have benefitted - we are actually donating really nice stuff, but can't use it. We really like our apartment, and although we have only signed a 6 month lease, we would feel comfortable staying there longer. Please come visit!

I had my last birthday BC (before child- hopefully!) so that was fun. I got an ipod nano from James and he got my old ipod. I also got some gift cards, which will be WELL used, a board game that we look forward to using once we have a horizontal area to use (tables are full of stuff), and some home decoration goods. I also got some birthday cards and notes from Reuben Lindh-ers which was really nice. And, I got some cool post-its with one of my birthday cards.

The baby is moving- a lot! We decided not to find out the gender, so we have been going about 3-4 weeks talking about he then she - right now, he is a he. He is dancing or playing soccer with my internal organs - I can't tell, but it does feel good to know he's still moving around in there. We are both pretty excited about him, although knowing about friends losing children during pregnancy, shortly after and later- I find that I am probably more cautious and worried than the average pregnant woman. James does a good job of acknowledging my concerns as valid, but bringing his typical optimism into it, which helps.

The belly is growing so much that I now look pregnant and just this week went maternity shopping - the pants are SO much more comfortable than buttoning the pants below the belly. At some point, we will finally upload pictures and I will post some. We haven't taken pictures lately of my belly, but if we can clear off enough space to take a picture,we will do so this weekend. Did I mention that we are pretty crowded and still in boxes here?

Hopefully less time will pass between this post and the next one!

AARRGGH

These last few weeks have been stressful at work - My fingerprint saga continues. It all started in August (8/2), when I got my fingerprints done for my employer and the state board. I applied for state licensure mid August (when we got back from Maui), and was not allowed to contact the state licensure board until 5 weeks after submitting the application. When I contacted them, I was informed that they had never received my fingerprints. MANY, many phone calls later, I found that the fingerprints had cleared and had been sent to the wrong organization. The ones to my employer, however, had been processed. Which is nice, but doesn't allow me to work with children in the state of California. So, last week, I went to get fingerprinted for the FOURTH time. A phone call this week showed that my fingerprints had not been run for some reason, so they are being manually run, which means that it may take 2-4 more weeks to get fingerprint clearance! I hope they are this thorough with all people who work with children...

Anyways, all with the baby is well so far. We met with the doctor this week and she seems nice and competent. We have decided not to find the gender of the baby, and not to get the screening tests. I dont really want the stress of false positives, the risk of amniocentesis (SP?), etc. We will get an anatomical ultrasound in about 3-4 weeks. This should rule out most obvious anatomical defects. They will look at internal organs, and bony structure.

Hopefully, the next post will be better.

We got a comment!

I have been wondering if anyone is reading this blog - It was really exciting to see that we got our first comment! Hooray! Today marks the end of our first trimester. We are planning to celebrate in some way, and in the midst of brainstorming how to celebrate. Since I swore off tea for the first trimester, one present I get to buy myself is jasmine downy pearls tea (it's green so the caffeine levels are safe). I have narrowed down the doctor choices to two, and I know the hospital I'd like to go to. I don't know about anything else. Oh, we did decide that as of today, we will be surprised as to whether I have a little boy or girl growing inside. That may change, but I thought you'd like to know.

Thanks again for the comment, Kim!

Back to the grind!

Oh, by the way, let me preface this entry by saying that on Sunday, we told most of the family that we are pregnant! I think many people were surprised, but many people suspected.

So, I started my new job this week. It is interesting, but I am still definitely trying to find my way. The setup is designed for people to all start work the week before school starts, and so any informational courses were already taught. I have no idea how to run some of the programs, and I feel very ill-prepared. People at both sites are very friendly, and helpful, so hopefully I will catch up soon. In addition, I don't know where I will be providing services at my school site. It is chaotic, but I think it will be a good opportunity. It does not compare to my old job. I miss my old kids and co-workers.

Tomorrow is Friday, and the end of my first work week. Wish me luck!

Home again!

So we're back in San Jose...the road trip was filled with long drives, but on the way we got to see some great people. We stopped in to visit a good friend Nick who has leukemia, and he played some songs on his guitar (when I say his guitar, I mean the one that he made by hand). We planned a sing-a-long/jam session for later this winter.

Iowa was very pretty, but Nebraska was LONG...

Colorado was beautiful as usual, we stayed with Pat and George (the in-laws) in Eagle. We got to play on Heidi's gymnastics equipment (there is a rule - no adults on the gym floor, but since we're kids at heart, I guess it was OK)...

For our last road trip evening, we decided to splurge (with the relocation guidelines of reasonable lodging ang food) and stayed at Mandalay Bay Resort! Due to a housekeeping snafu, not only did we end up upgraded to a 2 bdrm suite with amazing views of Las Vegas, but it actually ended up being our least expensive hotel room for the whole trip (unless you count staying with the McCollums) We couldn't figure out how to turn the lights off, so you'll have to imagine the rest of the view:

When I got home last night, I received a pleasant surprise from MN - a beautiful card from Terri! It was a nice homecoming.

Tomorrow, we get the family together to tell them the big news!

Road Trip!

Well, we finished packing the car around noon, had a nearly dry-eyed goodbye at Jamie and Mark's house and headed west - to Omaha. We are officially 'somewhere in middle America'. The drive today wasn't too bad, but tomorrows will be a couple hours longer. No near death experiences, but we did find that nearly every Harley Davidson dealership in Minnesota is closed on Sundays :-(

Wish us luck on tomorrows trip.

On the road again

James is back in San Francisco and we are working on trying to pack, sort, move, sign up for health ins. cancel subscriptions, change mailing addresses, work on licensure in CA, decide what to keep/get rid of, rent out our place, getting ready for a road trip, and deal with other small and large fires...

It is just starting to get hectic! This week will be VERY busy.

Welcome to 'the blog'

Good evening Y



So, yesterday, as I was sitting with friends at the Riverview Wine Bar, a good friend (Jerry)commented that it surprised him that I didn't have a blog since I was so 'tech-savvy'. So, of course, I immediately had to go out and create one. Since we will be in the middle of life-changing events, this might be a good way to maintain communication.

So, as a quick intial post, welcome to our blog, where we will do our best to keep you updated on our life's journey! Thanks for reading ~