A New Year

And now here we are, in the last half of January 2013.  We're back in our routine of school, preschool and work.  I've been preparing for my maternity leave from preschool by making sure I have basic plans for the whole semester, that way if things don't go as planned I won't leave my assistant {who will take my lead teacher spot} and the sub totally winging it.  Though I know my amazing assistant could.  There are 7 more school weeks until Spring Break, which is just when Baby Alison is due to arrive.  I will plan to take off 6 weeks and then get cleared with my dr at my 6 week check up and finish out the last 5 weeks of the school year.  Hopefully it will be pretty manageable since I'm only working MWF from 845-115.

We're also changing things up in the house a little.  Owen and Alison will share a room for the first couple years, though of course she'll be in our room for the first 4-6 months.  When Owen got his new bed at Christmas we rearranged his room and he knows the crib is waiting for Alison.  I've always wished for a playroom so that the kids' rooms could just be for sleeping and a few toy items.  Well, I had to give up my "formal" living and dining room, but we're trying to make it work.  We just started moving things around this weekend.  We're still playing around with it.  I don't think it is my favorite set up, but I think it will work better overall.  So in the front of our house our "formal" living and dining area will be our family/tv room along with the piano, a bookcase and some seating {that we don't have yet} for a little sitting area.  But the rule is still no toys in the front room, so at least I'll still have a toy free area of the house!  We tossed our tiny old kitchen table that only had seating for 4 and moved our big dining table with seating for 6 into our kitchen.  The adjoining family room area will now be the kids' zone {playroom} along with some bookshelves and our computer.  The best part is that we will get our bedroom back!  It will just have a bed, nightstands, dresser/mirror and armoire. It sounds so relaxing just talking about it!  Now when the adults are watching a movie on the big tv, the kiddos can still watch a movie on the little tv but it will be in the kids' zone and NOT in our room where their snacks get all over our bed and they can't resist jumping on it a few times during the show.   It will also be nice to have more room for baby things like swing, jumper, etc.  And I can still keep an eye on them while cooking dinner, etc.

What else is new this year? 
Owen started a sports class with Gilbert Parks & Rec.  Last summer we did a Mom/Tot one and this time I put him in a class with older kids {3-5} and no parents allowed!  It will be good for him, he needs a lot of chances to be away from Mama!  Even though he is in his own preschool class 3 days a week!  Week 1 they did football and dodgeball.  He had fun and the coach seems very enthusiastic with the 10 kids in there!

Audrey loved Talent Team, but wanted to try something else for this semester.  So, she's trying soccer for the first time.  We registered and she had her first class this past Saturday.  We got her soccer cleats {with pink on them!} and other soccer gear.  She is using Owen's soccer ball for practices.

Paul still works for SEC Electrical Contractors, but the past few months he moved from being a foreman who did lots of extra service calls, to being just a service guy.  Right now he is the entire Service Department there.  He stays busy and has worked a lot of Saturdays and later hours since this new position started.  But if things keep going the way they are, his boss said they hopefully can hire more people and have a real Service Dept. and Paul can be the manager.  He's very excited for that possibility, so he's putting in all the effort.  He was just told recently that at his yearly review he will be getting a raise.  So that's great!  He deserves it and it makes me feel a little better since I will be taking {at least} 6 weeks unpaid when baby comes. 

Baby Alison is about 33 weeks along...still too soon to come, but we're excited for her to get here and are praying for a happy, healthy and strong baby girl.  As my dr says at my appts, she's a wild child in there!  She's always moving like crazy and kicking that doppler when he listens to her heartbeat.  :o)

All caught up for now!  Thanks for catching up with the Neerings!

P.S. I forgot to add these cute pictures of Audrey in the November update.  Thanksgiving weekend Paul finally took Audrey out to really teach her how to ride her bike without training wheels.  It only took a couple days and she got the hang of it.  She loves it and finally feels big like all the other kids who can ride without training wheels {which is a LOT of kids her age around here}.