Ingenue Mom

So I've been back to work for 3 1/2 weeks! I can't believe it's already been that long! It's flown by! For those of you who don't know, I teach 4th grade. I absolutely love my job. That's one thing that has made it much easier to go back. I would hate leaving Isis & Lux if it was a job I didn't enjoy, but I do! It was so great to come back and see all my kids at school! I have such a great group of students this year and I really missed them!    I started back on the Wednesday after New Years when school started back after Christmas break. It was good to start back mid-week because it wasn't as overwhelming in terms of time away from Isis & Lux. But it was a little overwhelming overall. I had been nervous about pumping because with Isis when I started pumping, I quickly noticed a drop in my supply. After about 3 weeks, it was drastically less. The first day I went to pump for the first time at 9:00. Can we just stop for a minute & me...

I started back to "work" (student teaching) at the end of August. I've been there for almost 3 weeks now. Unfortunately, the schedule & pumping has caused me to have a drop in my milk supply. I first noticed a big change when my normal 10:30pm pumping session abruptly stopped one day. Couldn't get a thing. Then I noticed that when I pumped at school during lunch, I got less. So now here I am 3 weeks in & I'm having to adapt to do what is best for me & for Isis. I'm still getting something, so I'm going to continue to pump at school & after school on the days I have to stay late for staff meetings or team planning. I'm not getting enough for full feedings for Isis, though. She eats about 6.5 oz from a bottle if I'm not feeding her & I'm not getting that much. So we are going to start mixing breastmilk with a few oz of formula to get her bottles to 6.5 oz.  This is a little emotional for me because it just seems like the beg...

I walked in graduation in May & now just have my student teaching to complete! I'm in the middle of my last full week at home with Isis before I start student teaching next Wednesday. I am both excited & scared. I'm also a little sad. I have such mixed emotions about this. For one, I have always been the woman who knew that she wasn't cut out to be a stay at home mom. As much as I adore spending time with Isis, I also have a passion for teaching & I can't wait until the day that I have my own classroom & my own group of students. I also know that we are not at a point where we can prepare for the future & have me stay at home. We get by fine in the day to day, but we want to save for college & we would love to go on vacations & mission trips & we would love to give to organizations in need beyond our normal tithe & have more babies!! Not to mention the fact that a teacher's health insurance would far exceed what we have right now...