Life has become quite different around the Taylor home in the last few weeks! Here are some updates:
Matthew
After months of job-hunting & working with a job-recruiter, Matthew got a new job! :) It has been a long-awaited move for him. He is now commuting down to Rocklin (about a 40 min drive), working with Oracle, a big software company. His job is in the corporate offices, where he calculates the commissions earned by the sales reps. The biggest change for Matthew is that his mornings now start MUCH earlier! Despite the lack of extra sleep, he is coming home much more relaxed and much happier at the end of the day. And even though there is a commute, he's home earlier than when he worked in town!
Katie
Monday brings work again. It is absolutely a bittersweet change for me. I have LOVED every second that I've been at home with Ryland and Sophia over the last 8 weeks. I love my job as a mommy more than anything. Sophia is such a silly girl right now. Her little personality is really, really blossoming. She is so creative and imaginative. It's amazing to watch her mimic us, and to be a "little mommy" herself. She continues to love, love, love her brother. I just want to bottle it up!
But I do miss my silly 1st graders too. Especially this time of year. Spring is when you see the hard-work that you've put in all year really paying off with the students. So many of them come into 1st grade knowing letter names, but maybe not knowing all of the sounds. But at this point in the year, they are READING! Such a rewarding moment to see!
I have been LOVING the recent AT&T commercials, because they absolutely remind me of the fun moments in the classroom. If you're in for a giggle, watch these:
Faster or Slower
Nicky Flash
Pickle Roll
Sophia
Going back to work for me, means Sophia goes back to preschool full time. We know how much she is a creature of routine, so we started her back full time this week. We figured with 2 kids to get out the door each morning, we would start her early. By having this week to "practice" being ready each morning, hopefully next week will run a little more smoothly. She is already loving that she has "a school day every day!" :) It's such a relief to know that she is happy, well cared for, and excelling while she is there!
Ryland
We had a bit of a health scare with Ryland in the last few weeks. Long story short...We noticed that his pupils were different sizes. Dr. Midha, our pediatrician, wanted to see him right away. And after a long exam, decided that this was definitely something he wanted explored further. He explained that often times when this happens in babies it can be a brain tumor. When he said tumor, I didn't hear anything else. I just stood crying, holding my little man, and wanting to make everything ok. So he made us a referral for a pediatric ophthalmologist. The referral however, would not get us an appointment until May. When you tell a parent their child "may have" a tumor, it is very scary. We really didn't want to wait so long to get answers. Carly made a phone call to Fran, her mother-in-law, who works for an eye doctor, and asked her if she'd seen anything like that before. The doctor she worked for said that he probably wouldn't wait that long to get things checked. this created another level of fear. If the doctor wouldn't wait, then we needed to get an appointment soon. Fran called a former employer, and he was willing to get us in sooner. We had our appointment this last week, and everything checked out fine. Big sigh of relief. We know that lots of people were praying for Ryland and we thank you so much.
On a lighter note, Ryland will be having a big schedule change this week. As much as I'd love to be able to take Ryland to work with me every day...that just isn't an option! I only have 7 weeks of school before Summer Vacation! 7 weeks!!! So my mom has offered to watch him during that time. I am so thankful for her offer to watch him for us. And I know she is so excited to have her time with him, too! Even though I'll be leaving him with my mom, I'm pretty sure I'll still be shedding some tears on Monday morning. Hopefully the next 7 weeks fly by. I keep telling myself "7 Mondays" and somehow it makes my time away seem so much more manageable! Then this summer we'll start the hunt for daycare. So Ryland won't officially start daycare until August. At that point he'll be 6 months old. So crazy how the time flies!
So here are some pictures of life over the past 8 weeks!
Our Smily Little Guy!
Gardening Day! Sophia tells us "We're growing dinner!" Squash and Green Beans, yummy!
SUCH a happy little guy!
Saturday Morning Cuddles!
