Long- at least read item 11! in Watching Life Fly By

2017 is ending…
1. We only have 1 child. Chloe is 3yrs and still no successful pregnancy to bring her a sibling. I have seen a reproductive specialist and discussed options, tried medications and had numerous tests. He said IVF is next even though there is nothing “wrong” with me. I am not ready for IVF…. it is a lot of money that I don’t have and Mike would HATE to spend. It hurts my core to not be pregnant.
2. Our accounts are still separate which causes me some animosity. I feel like his mother pushes him to keep our money separate because she does all of his bill paying online. She has access to his accounts and not me…she likes it that way. It’s her little piece of control.
3. I want another dog since I cannot get pregnant. We have a large black lab (indoor dog) and I’d like a small dog. I want a Boston Terrier because I’ve wanted one forever. My neighbor had one named Bubbles when I was about 3years old and I adored that dog. Mike calls small dogs “oxygen thieves” but he is starting to cave. Chloe still cries for Penny, our dog we put down early this past June. I cry for her too, but only in private. Chloe doesn’t know she is dead, she cries for her to come back from her new home.
4. Work is flying by. This year has gone very fast. My students did well on their state exams (SOLs as they are called). Everyone always considers the 11th grade Reading and Writing exams to be the most difficult because they occur in the same semester, same class and require stamina. I’m proud that many of my lower ability students made it through 1 if not both of those exams. I also had 2 different co-teachers this fall. 1 was my usual and we did okay (she’s having some anxiety issues and her medication needs adjustment I believe) and the other was a teacher I’ve never worked with and just knew of her, not really knew her. Well, we hit it off in and out of the classroom. We are true friends now and our students did amazingly well. Administration was shocked that they performed so well, many coming up over 100 points (on a 600point scale) to finally pass their exams they had failed 3-6 times previously. Not too many teachers have quit so far. We lost 1 over Winter break (he was terrible anyway) and we had 1 transfer over break. The transfer is fine because we are swapping him for our other dual enrollment teacher in the county (we have 2 high schools). We are also filling an empty position with a new teacher next week when we return from break. So although we have a few new faces, we are not in a worse position than we were. Last year at this time we had lost more teachers than I can count (total was over 20 by the end of the school year, but I think 12-18 by this point).
5. Chloe is doing so well. Her sitter has been a game changer. She’s been there over a year now and hasn’t had strep throat since leaving our awful sitter. She does get some stomach things, but most of them began with me and my students, so that cannot be blamed on her sitter’s house/cleaning etc. She also is learning everyday. Her sitter counts with her and sings ABCs (Chloe’s stubborn about her ABCs). She is trying hard to educate my stubborn child. I had her evaluated recently because a few family members said she wasn’t speaking clearly. She has all sounds a 3yr old needs, most for a 4yr old and ½ of the 5yr old sounds. She also speaks in complex sentences and has a vocabulary between a 5-6yr old which causes her to lose some clarity because she cannot produce ALL those sounds together yet. So basically, she is ahead verbally and sounds unclear at times because she is wordy (like her mama). She also is “hyper” according to my mother-in-law. However, she is not hyper, she is “high energy” according to the therapists and doctor. They said she does not show signs of attention deficit disorders, but is just non-stop engaged unlike most couch potato kids. She plays hard when she is awake, and rarely watches TV. She’s never played a video game and plays a computer related learning game maybe 1 time a month for less than 15 minutes. She loves to be read to, she loves art, and outdoors, and playing pretend. She’s a great mother to her dolls, and can build a castle with blocks to rival most adults within moments. She sucks at puzzles and refuses to sing a children’s song most days. I’m okay with that. I plan to introduce her to board games soon. She received a few for Christmas. She wants a sibling. It hurts my heart when she begs for one. She’s a great child overall- healthy, happy, hysterical, and stubborn!
6. We want to buy a bigger house- specifically the one across the street. It is a house more than double our current house in size with 10 acres (mostly wooded). Our neighbors plan to sell, but they are just taking their time. We need to really walk through it and see what we are willing to offer.
7. I submitted my paperwork for college loan forgiveness. That is $17,500 off my loans if it is approved in 60 days. I am praying there were no issues with the paperwork. I know I’ve done my time in low-income schools, so I should qualify without issue.
8. Marriage is going well. As long as he stays away from alcohol we are fine. Drinking causes me insane anxiety and causes terrible arguments. He cannot handle himself drunk and I cannot handle the un-predictableness. We’ve talked seriously about it, and he realizes he was close to losing our child and me. He has stopped drinking and it is so much better. He can have a beer or two on occasion, but he’s limited that as well.
9. Christmas went well for Chloe. She was spoiled. She even got a 10ft trampoline from family friends. However, they put it together and surprised her…and the net doesn’t zip close. I tried Google and YouTube to the rescue, but it didn’t fix my issue. Tomorrow it’s supposed to be warmer out, so I will see if I can fix the issue myself. Chloe asked Santa for a Doc McStuffins toy hospital care cart. She is in heaven. She uses it constantly. She also got an easel with a whiteboard and chalkboard side. She adores it and spends the majority of her time between those two toys, teaching her dolls and caring for them as well. She received two new babies to care for with a new doll stroller. Chloe hasn’t gotten into most of her other toys because she is so busy with them!
10. We have a mouse issue currently. We found a ton of mouse droppings in Chloe’s room a few days before Christmas. We put out traps and caught 10 mice so far. 4 adults and 6 babies have lost their lives. I’m not sure if we are done or not now. I’m thinking we may find a few more. We always get 2-4 mice in the winter in the attic. A few traps and they are gone. This was the first “home invasion” and they put a hole in her stuffed animal and took out some seeds that were inside (it was an animal that could be used as a comfort/heat pad by microwaving it). They harvested the seed and built a nest with insulation in a hamper of blankets she had for her and her dolls. I washed EVERY stuffed animal and blanket in the house, cleaned out all the closets and reworked her entire room to prevent any comfortable living spots. Mike caulked up all holes/cracks by the window frames and such. Chloe sleeps with a toy gun and a flashlight so if she hears a trap she can “protect” herself until we get there. It’s terrible and I’m praying it’s over.
11. I have signed up for a Polar Plunge in February. The first Saturday in February I will be plunging into the Atlantic Ocean with 6 co-workers to raise money for the Special Olympics of Virginia. The money is returned to my county and to my state (65% to my county and the rest to my state in general). If anyone wants to donate, please message me and I will provide a link to do so online. I don’t want to post it here because it has my full name and county, but if you want it, I’d be glad to share. It is tax deductible! Please donate :-)

I will stop here with my rambling and leave you with my begging to donate!