Boys and their Toys!

Last night Dayton got to ride on the mower with Dad. We thought it'd scare him but he actually really enjoyed the ride. He is four months now and LOVES being outside. He is observant and looks around and watches the birds. He is sure a BOY through and through! So is Adam, might I add, he got this riding mower a few months ago and has fun mowing the lawn. As Tim Allen would say, "Arr, arr, arr, arr, arr!"

On a smaller note, I lost 3 more pounds since I posted last! 3 to go til my starting weight and 8 til my "ideal/personal goal" weight. :)

Things that have to do with wash!

First of all my new love arrived yesterday! Ya, front loader, extra capacity, maytag, energy efficient, brand new washer. I love it! It is quiet, saves water, and it actually gets the poop out of Dayton's clothes! Neat!

























This morning I left Dayton on my bed, with no diaper because I just changed him, and was giving him a bath. I know what all you mother's are thinking, bad idea! Well, I left him for about 5-10 seconds to turn on the bath water and when I got back this is what I saw.

He had wet hair, wet face, pee in his ear, and all over my sheets. I just smiled and gave him a bath and got excited all over again about my new washer as I pulled off my wet sheets. :)

I don't have the heart...

to leave my sweet boy when school starts. So I have been looking into some different options and I am posting about them for my own documentation/genealogy purposes.

Option one: Teach at an online school, k12, as a certified teacher. I will still get state retirement and benefits and my pay only drops $2,000 a year compared to teaching at Garland Elementary. I talked to a lady in North Logan, Heidi Jenkins, who teaches there and she gave me great information about it. She has done it at home with her kids for several years and it works well for her. Her youngest is 3 right now. She said she teaches 2 lesson plans a week, online via headset in a virtual classroom, and then she has to be available to her students about 20 hours a week so they can ask questions which she plans during nap times and when her husband is home. Other than that she has a professional development meeting in SLC once a month and a field trip once a month that are all day and she needs a sitter. So far, I am loving this idea.

Pro's:
1. I can still get state retirement and benefits.
2. My pay drops very little.
3. I get to stay home with Dayton.
4. Less stress because there are no discipline problems. The kids that do this are pretty much home schooled and work with the materials at home with their parents who are very interested in their education.
5. Don't have to send Dayton to another person's home who would potentially have sick children.

6. I could keep doing this through having all my kids. Retire when I'm 45-50 yrs old.
7. I can teach online and not even be ready for the day.
8. I could teach on vacation using my laptop.
9. No weening so save money on formula.
10. Don't have to pay $500 a month for child care for Dayton.
11. Save gas money.
12. Keep up at home with my responsibilities.

Con's:
1. How valid is this k12 school?
2. It could be more work than it seems. But is it more work than teaching at Garland?

Option two: Ask my new principal if I could teach half day and share my classroom with another teacher. If I did this I would teach in the morning 8-11:30 and then come home. It would cut down my prep time because I would only teach half the subjects like reading, math, and spelling and the other teacher would teach science, social studies, and writing. It would also cut my grading time which is what I usually bring home to work on. I could leave Dayton home with Adam til 8:30 and then have a sitter come to my house from 8:30-11:30 every day. This way I don't have to haul him around with me at 7am and wake him at 6:30am.

Pro's:
1. Less prep for lessons and less grading time at home.
2. Dayton can stay home and get one on one attention.
3. I spend more time with my baby.
4. Adam gets to take care of him every morning for a few hours.
5. I still get benefits for me and state retirement.
6. I could still nurse.
7. Pay less for child care.
8. I can keep up with my stuff at home. ie laundry, dishes, etc.

Con's:
1. Half the salary and benefits.
2. I still have to wake up early.
3. Stress of 26-32 students and discipline problems.
4. Possibility of not gettting along with the other teacher I share a class with.
5. My principal might say no.
6. Use as much gas as if I was teaching full time. It is only a 15 minutes drive from my house but that's a lot of gas money if you think about it.


Option 3: Do not teach and tend kids at my house. I would only need to tend 3 full time kids to make what we needed to pay the bills. This would mean I had 4 kids all day every day. Or I could take 2 full time and 2 part time kids.

Pro's:
1. Stay home and get laundry, dishes, and house work done.
2. Be with Dayton.
3. Play with others kids, which I love.
4. Set my own schedule for holidays etc.
5. Keep nursing.
6. Save money by not buying as much formula.
7. Save money by not paying child care.

Con's:
1. I might not be able to get as many kids as I need.
2. Sick kiddos at my house to be around Dayton.
3. Might wear me out, but it's be less stress compared to 28 kids.
4. We would have to get benefits through Adam's work which costs more.
5. No retirement.
6. Not guaranteed paycheck, less stable.

Options four: Keep teaching at Garland full time. Have 28 plus students and teach all subjects.

Pro's:
1. Stable income and more money than we really "need".
2. State retirement and benefits.
3. Be around the kids every day which is fun for me. I do love teaching.
4. Get lots of Christmas gifts form my students. ;) wink wink

Con's:
1. Leave Dayton every day all day long.
2. Weening.
3. Pay more money for formula.
4. After school trainings and meetings for new teachers at least once a month til 5-6pm.
5. Pay $500 for child care.
6. Miss all the small milestones with Dayton like learning to crawl, sit, walk.
7. More money in gas driving every day.
8. Waking Dayton early and hauling him place to place.
9. Getting home with lessons to plan, papers to grade, and little to no energy to be Mom to my boy.


Questions I have asked myself over and over for the last week.
What would my Mom do?
Am I just making a big deal about nothing?
Would a change be better for my family?
Is Dayton really going to know if I'm gone all day?
Do I really want to teach?
What would I do when I have another baby, there is no way I'm paying $1,000 a month for child care.
Will blessings come for staying home and in a small way taking a leap of faith and hoping (although they already said they will extend him a full time offer when he graduates) Adam gets on salary in Janurary?
Should I just teach and get the extra money so we can build a garage (which we both would really like, especially in the winter) and get lots of savings?
Am I being selfish?
If I have to, does leaving my baby make me a bad mother?
Why can't this just be easy?

Tending Taysia

On Tuesday I tend Taysia, age 7, all day while her parents work. She is one smart cookie! She is a fun girl to talk to as well. This week we went to Willow Park Zoo. I took pictures as always. Dayton loved it although I don't think he could really see any of the animals in the cages. However he could see the ducks (pictured below) and he kept a good eye on them while Taysia fed them fish food. He smiled and talked to the ducks. I think he is really going to be an adventurous little man. The weather was really nice for us, yeah!

Finished!

What a relief, we are done! Here is the finished product! It was a lot of work for both of us but especially for Adam. He took on a lot of things like plumbing that he had never done before. Thanks hunny! The inspector came last night and we PASSED! It can be occupied now. Yeah! Below are pictures...
Laundry
























Front Room

Bathroom

Bedrooms

Kitchen

Adam is at Lake Powell this week with the Priests for their scout trip. He left at 7:30am and won't be home til about 8pm Saturday. I don't know what I will do all week. I guess keep busy with Dayton and visit my Mom lots.

Bath Time!

Dayton LOVES the bath! He grew out of his baby bath so now he gets to take a bath in the big tub. He lays in it and kicks and giggles like crazy it is so fun to watch! He kicks hard and splashes himself in the face and he gets really excited when the water splashes on his face.

Drying off after the bath is fun too! Often we play peek-a-boo which Dayton also loves! These pictures are to die for, LOOK AT THAT FACE! OH AND THE EYELASHES! HE IS GONNA BE A HEARTBREAKER!

The stage he is in...

Dayton is into sitting (which within a weeks time he has gotten better at) and sucking, on everything lately. It's so fun to watch him learn and grow. I might be biased but I think he is the cutest baby ever! Sorry for the picture overload I just have to document them all.

780!

That is how many diapers we got from our diaper shower Mama Sue threw for us last month! I have already used 2 packs of 42. We are so grateful for the diaper shower because it will save us tons of money. I figured I average about 6 diapers a day so 6 into 780 equals 130 days or about 4 1/2 months. So hopefully we won't have to buy diapers until October. Yeah!

Thanks Mama Sue and everyone who came it was fun!

Reading books during tummy time.

This is becoming one of Dayton's favorite things to do. He looks so dang cute doing it too! Yes, I know what you are thinking, why did I have to post 4 pictures of him doing the same thing? because he is charming and I couldn't pick just one to post. Typical first time Mom, I know. Dayton loves this book that he is looking at called I see a tractor. It is one of his favorites because of the bright contrasting colors. We read this one almost every day.

Side note:

Today I went to walmart and got cute pants for $1! Screaming deal!

I also got a can of formula since Dayton is a chunk and eats more than I can give him, $15. Not a screaming deal!

This is what happens over two days...

when you are working on finishing your basement, have a 3 month old baby, and other life happenings are still happening (i.e. callings, being a wife, grocery shopping, wedding receptions, fathers day coming up, etc.)


















Side note: I really am not a slacker!

Family Pictures!

Michelle Hansen took our family pictures about a week ago and we loved her! They turned out so perfect! Thanks Michelle!