Back to the grind

This post may not have happened as soon as I thought it might, but it is my second one this month!

We returned to school and work the first Monday of this month and it's hard to believe we're finishing up our fourth week back already. Abram is taking classes only in his field this semester and working three days a week after school. He's taking a night class on Wednesdays, so Annette and I get to spend some quality time together that night. I went back to work the same day and I'm continuing to work hard at building up my music programs. One thing that has been "solidified" about next year for me is that I will no longer be teaching choir. I will only be teaching orchestra. When I graduated and was looking for a job, I thought that my dream job was to teach orchestra and choir and do after school drama at a small school. I found just that. Well after a year and a half at that, I've learned that that's too much for one person to do. I don't know how I did it as a first-year teacher while pregnant. I also have realized that while I'm adequate at teaching choir, I'm not great and the choir program could be much stronger with a "real" choir teacher there. Plus, my orchestra program suffers because I can't spend all my time focusing on just that. So I'm excited to welcome a new choir teacher in and hand them that program in the fall.

Annette is growing so fast! She's already 9 and a half months old and we're starting to look ahead to her first birthday. She loves spending time with her grandma during the week. She has gotten to be a pro at clapping, standing and holding on with just a couple fingers, and crawling up and down stairs. She has also gotten smart enough to know how to be sneaky. We're working on standing. She doesn't trust that she can balance herself but sometimes we get a second or two before she starts to go down. At her 9 month appointment a couple weeks ago she measured between the 75th and 90th percentile in height but only the 50th to 75th in weight. I don't know what that means for the future yet, but she seems on track to be taller than mommy.

And now that I've gone through the boring stuff, here are some pictures for your enjoyment:

 She was happy to be on a walk at the memorial park

Boo from Monsters, Inc! 

I don't know how it ended up on her eyebrow 

Helping daddy pack for a weekend drill 

She does her own laundry! 

Addicted to TV already 

Sometimes eating just makes me tired

Happy New Year!

It is my goal to write on this blog more often this year. Not so much for you as readers (sorry), but for me and Abram as a record for our family. So if you don't see a post for awhile ever, bug me about it.

The fall semester came and went for us really quickly. We're glad that Abram passed his classes and is prepared to move on to more. He's looking forward to an internship (hopefully at the place where he currently works!) next summer and I'm looking forward to a fun second semester in my second year teaching. I actually get to finish the school year this year since last year I left at Easter on maternity leave. My school is in the process of trying to get a bigger campus. It has been promised to us but we don't know if it will happen next fall or a whole year later. We're keeping our fingers crossed for next fall!

Annette is a happy, cute baby. She is the joy of our lives. We have enjoyed spending the time with her during vacation. She's 8 months old and starting to get where she understands how to play and laughs at the silly things we do.. She crawls all over the place (has been since she hit 7 months), stands up on everything, and is starting to throw big tantrums! Welcome to the next 18 years of our lives.... :)

Christmas was tons of fun. My brother and his family came in from Utah two days after Christmas so we had Christmas with my family on the 28th. So the celebration went on the entire week. Annette got tons of new clothes, a high chair, an entertainment saucer, a walker, some toys, and some neat dolls and stuffed animals. Just what a baby likes. Mommy and daddy got new sheets, some movies, accessories for the truck and some great decor pieces.

We are excited to see what 2013 has in store for us and the blessings we will receive!