Better late than never!

It has been entirely too long since my last post, but I have a really great excuse! I got a teaching job!! The whole thing happened really fast and extremely unexpectedly, but I know that just means God was completely in control of the entire situation. Now if I could just keep that going through my mind as my days continue to get longer and my temper shorter. My teaching position is 6th and 8th grade English at Snook (my Alma Mater). Because Tristan is still working down south, Ryder and I have moved in with my parents, and we'll be staying with them while we try to find a house in this area.

The past two weeks have been the craziest, sleepless nights I've had since Ryder was born, but I can at least say that as each day has passed I feel a little bit more at ease with my decision to make teaching a career. I honestly decided I wanted to teach because I really just didn't see myself doing anything else, but liked the idea of helping kids and having summers off with my own. Being in the classroom has truly shown me this is definitely, without a doubt, the job I was called to do at this time in my life, and that's not because it's been easy, but because I can just feel it in my heart that God has placed me in a classroom, more specifically in Snook, for a reason. With all of that being said I would greatly appreciate all prayers this school year as I'm embarking on what I know will be one of my greatest journeys!

As for my little man, I missed blogging about his 7 month birthday, so I have lots of catching up to do! He is 10 days away from being 8 months, but thinks he's much older! He is still continuously on the move...if he's awake someone is constantly running up ahead of him to block him from getting into something or right behind him to ensure that he doesn't get 20 more bumps on his head in addition to the hundreds he's probably already achieved! Two weeks ago he started crawling completely off his stomach (he had been crawling a few feet on his hands and knees, then a few feet on him stomach). He's been pulling up for awhile, but within the past week he has learned how to squat down from the standing position to get down - this is a huge accomplishment because before he would just fall straight backwards! Also in the last week, he has decided that he can walk (he's not actually taking steps unassisted yet!)...as he cruises furniture he will let go and take a step towards me, and then dive in my direction. As for teeth Ryder officially has 2 bottom teeth! The first one finally popped through Thursday morning, and the second one just yesterday. I was perfectly fine with him having no teeth, but I do feel a little bit better that he has something to show for all the crankiness we've all had to endure the past few weeks. I have so many mixed emotions about all these physical milestones...pride, fear, anxiety, and excitement, all wrapped up into one big emotional ball!

He loves bath time!
(This was taken Friday night.)

With me starting a new job, Ryder started at daycare. He is going to one that I worked at, so I felt and still feel so comforted in knowing that he is being well loved and taken care of every day while I'm at school. He has done great, except of course for nap time because probably at my own fault, he still does not put himself to sleep!

Ryder's first day of daycare

 I made the horrible mistake of letting Ryder play with my phone without a cover on it, so my camera lens is shot to h-e-double-hockey-sticks! So if some of you have wondered why I haven't texted pictures or been adding much to Facebook and Instagram, that is the reason! I could very easily go get another one with my upgrade, but I'm trying as hard as I can to hold out for the iPhone 5! Until then I will try to remember to break out that old thing we call a camera.

On another note, Miss Jansen Sloan Teat has finally made her appearance into this world! We had to wait a few days to see her because of my new job, but she was of course worth every second of that wait...Ryder will be one lucky guy if he gets to call her his girlfriend one day! ;) We are so proud of Skyla and Jonathan, and I know they are already amazing parents to that sweet, beautiful baby girl! Now the waiting game starts for Ryder's very first BOY cousin, Brice, to get here any day now!

The Sopishes with Baby Jansen
(This is as close as we let Ryder get to her this visit!)

I'll post pictures of my classroom once I remember to take my camera to school! Hope everyone has a great week!