My First Time Away

This week I spent my first overnight away from Ethan. I got a tiny bit sad when I dropped him off at his grandma's, but all I had to do was remind myself that it's healthy for mamas to have time to rejuvenate away from the kids. And how can I be sad when I get to see my baby again in two short days? It's not like he's sick or dead. I don't know how anyone would get through that!

My trip was to Seattle with two of my fellow teachers, Diane and Jeremy. We attended a workshop on peer mediation and it was pretty good. We learned how to train students to use some great life skills when they or their classmates are having conflicts. Tim is so great for supporting me, especially when it means more work from him while I'm gone.

I especially enjoyed getting to know my colleagues better. I've worked with Jeremy for 6 or more years now and he's a soccer buddy of Tim's, but Diane is beginning her first year teaching at our school. It kind of feels weird because our school has a mentoring program for new teachers, and I'm supposed to be Diane's mentor. She has taught before and she has four kids, three of whom I have had in school, so I feel odd "mentoring" her, when really she has vast wisdom to share with me about raising kids and praying for them. God is good in providing someone for me to look up to right now. And it's great working with someone with a strong faith. I'm getting excited for the upcoming school year.

Stay-at-home moms are amazing! There have been times this summer when it has been hard, and I wonder how people survive when they have even more kids around, but mostly it's been a blast. I'm pretty task/goal oriented, and feel like I need to get things done, including playing with Ethan. It took four days to get everything cleaned up after our vacation, and I about went mad! But then I remembered how blessed I am to have time with my child, so I've basically just been enjoying it. We go swimming in the kiddie pool when we can and we have a game where Ethan pushes buttons on one of his toys and I dance around until he pushed a new button, then I change to a different dance. I look ridiculous, but Ethan laughs and laughs.

Anyway, I'm back now from my awesome trip to Seattle and Tim and Ethan and I are having a lazy day together.