Updates

I feel like I have been away for so long. In reality I think it has only been a few days, but there are so many things I want to record.

As I type this I am sitting at my desktop, which means, yea, the computer is fixed. Finally I can get back to tutoring. This leads me to my first update. I am in the process of possibly joining a different tutoring company, tutor.com, which I think I will be happier with. My fingerprints for esylvan have still not gone through, and I continue to work maybe two hours a week. Plus, it is not the most convenient job because I have to be in an area where there is no background noise. With tutor.com, there will only be typing, no actual talking, so I could be in the room with Scott and Ada while I work. Plus there are no fingerprints required, so hopefully I will get more hours. And the last reason why I think I will like tutor.com more is because I would be working with students who have questions about literature and writing--my favs. With esylvan, I was working with elementary students helping them with reading and math, not really what I went to school to do, and it was sometimes comical to see me try to help students with math. I have no training in teaching math!! I don't know all the math lingo involved with multiplying triple digit numbers and things of that nature. So that is update number one--a new job may be in the works.

Update number two, Ada is walking all over the place. With the walking comes many falls and, therefore, many bruises. Bless her heart, she is so accident prone these days. She is fearless, and this results in lots of tears after she knocks her head into yet another wall, bed post, floor, etc. But she is really taking off. I have also devised a makeshift playroom in our otherwise empty dining room. I have blocked all entrances with furniture, and thrown all of Ada's toys into the room. I can put her in there, and there is nothing dangerous or breakable that she can get to. It makes it easier for me to do things like clean the kitchen or dry my hair. She doesn't stay in there for very long without me before she gets fussy, but it does buy me some time to get things done. Whatever works, right?

As for her sleeping, we are sort of back at square one. All the traveling and company over the last couple of weeks messed us up, and she has woken up in the middle of the night for the last several nights. Sunday night we let her cry for an hour before we caved and gave her a bottle. Last night was even worse. We were so tired, we gave in immediately. We have got to go to bed earlier so that we can actually stick to the plan and not give her a bottle. The other sleep update is that she is officially down to one nap a day. I have tried to hold on to that morning nap, but it is just not happening, but she is taking a longer more consistent afternoon nap as a result, so the new schedule does have its perks.

As I type this, Ada is in her room crying at the top of her lungs because she doesn't want to go to bed. She is usually fairly easy to put down, but tonight she is putting up quite the fight. It is after eight, though, so there is no giving in to those cries. It's never fun to listen to your child cry, no matter how much you know you're doing what's best!!

And last update--Scott and I have jumped on the Dave Ramsey bandwagon. We are fairly excited about this, though it means the already tight budget just got even tighter. Our first step in the Dave Ramsey plan is to save an emergency fund, so we have begun to save. Our plan is to deposit money in the account any time we want to go out for dinner instead of eat in or buy a new outfit, or whatever situation arises. We are trying to have fun with it, and we know that in the end, we will be so glad we did this. We are kicking ourselves that we didn't do this plan back when we had my paycheck. It would make gathering the emergency fund so much easier. The final step in the plan is paying off the house, so it looks like this is a lifestyle, not a one time thing. I feel like we just started this really strict diet, and I am wanting to lose weight within a week--not going to happen!! So, I will keep you posted on all the fun ways we are saving money.

Finally I will be back tomorrow with fun pictures from the week with Ann and her kids. We had so much fun hanging out, playing at the Atlanta children's museum, and just enjoying the company.