Career Reflection

This year I have struggled a little bit with work.  There were some big changes made and I had a hard time finding my place.  With that and being so sick and tired, sometimes I have a hard time finding motivation each day to get up and go each day.

Today was a day that reminded me why I do what I do.  It's the kids.  Put all the tests, grades, observations, meetings, evaluations and formalities aside.  I love teaching and interacting with kids.  Some days it is frustrating because I feel like I am not making a difference or things aren't soaking in.  Other days I feel so blessed to be with these young innocent people every day.

I love learning about the students, their experiences and passions.  There is one student that I work with everyday that is just the sweetest thing.  Everyday I come into his class, he greets me with a smile and "hi Mrs. Barlow."  He is always prepared and works really hard.  Today I learned that he has a tough home life.  Things that I can't even imagine.  It was a huge eye-opener for me.  I would have never guessed his tough situation because of his great attitude.  He doesn't let outside factors affect what is important to him.  He doesn't come in with a bad attitude or have a feel-sorry-for-me complex.  He is there to learn and make the best life for himself.

It made me really think and hopefully change my perspective on life.  I can't let the little things get me frustrated or down.  I can't let outside factors influence how I act or treat others.  While I am trying to teach him academically, he sure has taught me a lot about life.

It is moments like this that make me grateful for my career.  It makes me more grateful for the wonderful life that I have had.  It helps me become a better person. 

Halloween

I wrote this the day after Halloween, but didn't post it yet because I was waiting on pictures.  It has been long enough so you will have to deal with the few pictures I do have.  

Halloween was full of parties and planning this year!  Travis and I had a bunch of couples over to celebrate the holiday!  We like to find any excuse to have people over!  Our back to school party was a little crazy with all the kids so this one was adult only.

We loved decorating for the party.  Travis wanted creepy and I wanted cute so we compromised with spooky.  Travis had this idea to do a black light room.  We made a fake cemetery complete with prosthetic feet sticking out, we put up cobwebs all over and turned the black lights on.  Guests went into that room to guess the weight of a pumpkin and number of candy corn in a jar.  We planned on voting for costumes in there too, but it didn't happen.

I also put cobwebs around the rest of the downstairs.  I had a lot of fun and was happy with how it turned out.  I don't think I got any good pictures though.  :(  We had lots of yummy Halloween themed food!  The hit of the party was the chocolate fountain and pumpkin tap filled with rootbeer.  I have to admit, when Travis said he wanted to buy a tap I didn't think it would be that cool.  I was proven wrong when EVERY SINGLE male made a comment about how awesome it was that we had a pumpkin with a tap.

Putting up the cobwebs.
                        

We hung out, chatted and ate for a while.  We had a few games planned.  We have never really done organized games at a party so I wasn't sure if they would be a hit or not.  I think everyone had fun and I am shocked Adelyn never woke up because we were so loud.  I wish I had pictures, but I was too busy having fun!  We did a pass the pumpkin game, halloween version of the Newlywed game and lucky 7.  Our friends are hilarious and it was a blast!!

We went to truck or treat at church on Wednesday.  We only stayed about half an hour because Adelyn needs her beauty sleep!  It was fun seeing all the kids in their costumes though!

Here is Adelyn with Clara.  They are the best of friends!

Adelyn's costume is the one Briony wore last year.  Thanks again for letting us borrow it!

 She chose coloring over doing the games.

On Friday, my friend Kristi went to help out with the Halloween parties at the elementary school.  We got to have a playdate with Cora while she was gone!  Adelyn has so many girls her age to play with.  She loves having other kids around and it makes life easier on me because they entertain each other.  She had so much fun playing with Cora, following her around and taking turns pulling each other in the wagon.  They were so fun to watch!

I am pretty sure that Halloween was the happiest day of Adelyn's life!!  I have never seen her so happy before and that is saying a lot since she is happy 90% of the time!  She was the cutest little lady bug that I have ever seen!  This is one of my favorite pictures of her! I feel like it captures her personality!

We took her trick-or-treating for the first time!  I tried to prep her by practicing saying please.  Once we were out, all of that went down the drain.  She figured out that all she had to do to get candy was smile at the person and they gave her whatever she wanted!  She couldn't have asked for a better deal!  She would not put down her bucket the rest of the night once there was candy in it! She would drag it along the sidewalk once it got heavy instead of letting me hold it! 

 

My favorite part of the night was running into Clara!  Oh my goodness!  They were so funny!  When they saw each other, they squealed with joy!  It was the cutest thing I have ever seen!  They could not contain their excitement!  They jumped up and down and laughed for no reason at all!  Clara insisted on knocking on her own door.  Jake ran inside and handed out candy to Adelyn and Clara. They were so excited about it! 

I love how they are just looking at each other with the biggest smiles!!

Now I can't wait to see how happy she is at Christmas!!  The holidays are so much more fun with kids!!

Fulton Farms

Last year we went to Fulton Farms to get Pumpkins.  I remember it being freezing, but we wanted to give Adelyn the experience.  This year it was pretty similar.  Cold, windy and it even started to drizzle as we were leaving.

Adelyn definitely enjoyed it a lot more this year.  She loved all the activities, the hayride and definitely picking out a pumpkin.  She loves being outside so she was in paradise.

I think taking a picture in front of this pumpkin will become a tradition! I can't believe how much she has grown in a year!

 

 We didn't do the cornmaze last year, but she loved it this year!  She likes feeling like one of the big kids and being independent!

 

She loved running around this teepee, going down the slides and looking at the animals!

 Heading out to get our pumpkins on a wagon!

 I just can't get enough of this cutie! 

 I love that she still has her straw to chew on in this picture.  My little farm girl!

 

Finding the biggest pumpkin!

  Travis adores this little girl and would do anything for her!

 This picture cracks me up!

 She really was so happy considering that it was cold and way past her naptime!

 She found a pumpkin just her size!  She was so proud carrying it around!

Young's Dairy

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to go to Young's Diary for a work gathering.  Travis works for a really great group of people! We were given passes to do anything there for free!

Travis went straight for the batting cages while Adelyn and I played in the kid area.  There were tunnels, a bounce house, slides, bikes and a corn pit.  She loved it!  Eventually I took a turn at the batting cages.  I can't remember the last time I picked up a bat.  I was pleasantly surprised at how many pitches I hit!

 We had a nice lunch with all of his coworkers, hit the driving range, ate some ice cream and went on a hay ride around the farm.  It was pretty cold that day, but we had fun!

 At the end of the hay ride there was a cute little pumpkin patch.

 Adelyn loved every minute of it!  I recommend going this fall if you haven't already had a chance! 

Ohio Caverns

About a month ago, we took a short drive to the middle of no where Ohio.  Travis heard about some caverns and wanted to go check them out. It was a nice little trip to get out of the house and it exceeded my expectations! 

While we were waiting for our tour to start, we checked out the little visitors area and gift shop.  There were some interesting facts about the caverns.  There was also a little area that you could mine for gems.  We didn't buy any "rough" for her to mine but she loved playing in the water just the same. 

I took this info from the website.  
The largest and most famous formation in the Ohio Caverns is the Crystal King, a pure white wonder that is one of the largest and most perfectly formed stalactites in any cave, anywhere. Nearly five feet long, weighing an estimated 400 pounds, and estimated to be over 200,000 years old; it drips once every seven to eight minutes.

 I had no idea how long it took the stalactites and stalagmites to grow.  There were so many and they were so beautiful! These pictures don't do it justice.

 Adelyn loved walking through the caves like the adults.

 I recommend going if you live in the area!  It is definitely worth the drive.  We also heard after we went that there is a castle close by that you can go see!

Here Comes Number 2!

I announced it on facebook a couple weeks ago, so I better go ahead and announce it here.  Adelyn is going to be a big sister!  I am due April 15!  I am 14 weeks so only a few more until we find out the gender!

We are super excited!  I think Adelyn will be a fabulous big sister and I already know Travis is a great dad!  It will be fun having 2 little munchkins running around and watching them play with each other! Plus I am excited to see how our genes work this time.  We got pretty lucky with Adelyn!

I am going to be brutally honest now.  Side note: I am not looking for sympathy, just jotting down thoughts to look back on.  Pregnancy is hard.  Not just for the mom, but everyone involved.  I am realizing it more with this pregnancy than last one.  The other night while we were saying our nightly prayers, Travis was praying for me.  He was praying that my migraines and nausea would go away.  Then he prayed that my energy would come back so that I stop going to bed at 8:00.  I had to giggle a little, but that is when I realized how hard it is on him.  Now that he is working in Columbus, he leaves before I wake up and we are lucky if he is home by 7.  That means I only see him an hour each day.

It is hard on Adelyn because she is attention deprived.  There are days that she brings toys into the bathroom just so she can be near me.  One day I was laying on the couch and she came over to take my hand and I told her I didn't feel well.  She then led me to the bathroom and pushed my head towards the toilet.  Luckily I have had an occasional good day here and there that I get to play with her and let her know how much I love her.  I find that we are also spending more of our free time at home with each other rather than going out.

I have also learned that every pregnancy is different.  I got pretty sick with Adelyn, but nothing compared to this little rascal.  It started early and has not gone away yet.  Isn't the 2nd trimester supposed to be the honeymoon stage?  Every time I start to feel better and get my hopes up, I get knocked back down again. 

I remember last pregnancy people saying how they were having a hard time gaining weight and I just wanted to hit them as I gained my 60 lbs.  This time I am in their situation and it is miserable!  I don't know the last time I went all day without throwing up.  I think I am one of the "lucky" ones that gets to experience every pregnancy symptom known to man.

We joke around all the time saying that the pregnancy will be a reflection of the baby's personality.  If so, we have a trouble maker on our hands that is going to give us a run for our money.  I just have to take comfort in knowing that this will only be temporary and it will be TOTALLY worth it in the end!
Motherhood is one of the greatest gifts I have been given!  I love having these little lights in my life!  It truly is a remarkable (and sometimes stressful) work!  I am so blessed to be able to have children of my own, to have a loving and supportive husband, to have great jobs so that we can support ourselves and amazing friends that are willing to help lighten the load.  I really do have such a blessed life!

Adelyn-18 Months

First, I have to thank Nathan again for saving the day!  As soon as my computer got fixed, my power cord stopped working.  It has been a rough month with electronics in my house!  Hopefully we are good for a while now!

This post is a little scattered because I want to make sure and jot down as much as I can so I can remember what she was like.

My little munchkin turned 18 months old yesterday!  I can't believe how big she is getting and how much she is learning and growing!  I have said it before, but I never understood the term "a mother's love" until I became one myself!  I love Adelyn so much that I can't even describe it!  I think I fall more in love with her every day!  She really does make me so happy and is such a light to our family!

Adelyn is still the sweet little baby she was the day she was born.  I have been nervous about her going through a bad streak but she hasn't yet.  She really is happy almost all the time!  She hardly ever gets upset or whiny unless she is getting sick.  She is content playing by herself and she loves playing with others.  She just makes the most of whatever situation!

She is a very busy baby and is always on a mission.  I don't know how else to describe it.  She is always moving and always doing something!  Most of the time it isn't playing with toys, but rather moving things from one place to another.  She will gather objects and move them from place to place.  That being said, she is starting to play more and more with her toys as she is getting older.

She still loves to eat anything and everything!  She definitely takes after me and loves sweets!  She can be in the other room and as soon as I pull out something chocolate she will be at my feet begging for some!  It is like she has a sixth sense!  Last week we finally found something she doesn't like.  Hawaiian haystacks.  So random!  She loves chicken and rice so I don't know what happened.  It was kind of funny though!  

We go to the doctor next week so I don't have her 18 month stats, but I am pretty sure she is still short for her age.  People comment all the time on how little she is.  And by little, they mean short!  She still has some chunk on her even though it isn't as much as she used to!

She has been walking since 10 months, but has now progressed on to running and she is starting to jump even though she barely gets off the ground.  She still loves to climb on everything!  She has also gotten very girly!  She loves to sit at her vanity and put on as many accessories as possible!

She is FINALLY starting to talk.  I thought she would never say a real word.  She jabbers all the time, but you can figure out some words now!!  Her babysitter comments on how much she jabbers!  It is funny!  She says please, thank you, dog, hi, bye, mom, dad, roar, meow, woof, and one, two, three, whee! I am sure I will think of more later.  She communicates a ton more even without talking.  She will grab our hand and lead us to what she wants and then point and say please.  It is pretty adorable!

She is also starting to get interested in the potty.  She always wants to sit on it and go through the routine.  She hasn't been successful, but I mostly let her sit there for exposure.  I haven't tried teaching her yet just because she is still pretty young.  I figure let her sit on the toilet now so she isn't scared later!

She is still a great sleeper and goes down so easily!  I am blessed to have a baby that loves sleep as much as me!  One of her favorite things to do is play outside and especially at parks!  She is fearless! She also loves to dance!  As soon as any music comes on, she starts moving.  Sometimes it is a full out boogie and other times it is just a head bob. 

She loves people and has started waving and blowing kisses to everyone she sees!  She sure knows how to get her way...especially with her daddy!  They love to play chase and hide and seek.  She has also figured out that if she wants some of his ice cream, all she has to do is give him a kiss!  Oh, and she gives the best hugs in the world!

We love you Miss Adelyn Jane!