Moving

About 6 months ago Jake and I moved from Pasadena to Anaheim, which is the city that Jake works in. We rented our houses in Pasadena and moved into an apartment. This cut off over an hour from Jake's horrible commute (each way). But recently, my mom found out that the tenent in her town house in Brea was going to be moving out, so she offered us the opportunity to move in - and at a discount from what the last tenant was paying. We considered the benefits - a garage, plenty of parking, washer/dryer, nice neighborhood, bigger layout - and said heck yes, we'd love to move in. So on Saturday Jake and I have a truck rented and we're moving again. Thank goodness we don't have much stuff because moving sucks. What a pain in the bum. But I'm really excited about getting everything unpacked and getting the place ready for the baby. Jake will have to drive a little bit farther to work, but it won't be too bad, and my commute will be shorter for the time that I'm still at Cal Poly Pomona. There is also a high school right across the street. Maybe I can get a job there as a teacher? Wouldn't that be crazy to live within walking distance of where you worked. I've definitely never been in that situation before.

So that's the scoop. Mom called yesterday to say the new carpet is in and the place is ready for us. Mom and Jim have gone above and beyond while getting the place ready. It all looks fantastic! New carpet, paint, blinds, washer, completely cleaned (inside and out), etc.... That reminds me, we're going to have a hummingbird with her nest in a tree in the back yard. Mom told us how she was picking the leaves out of the palm tree, pulling them down one at a time. She pulled down that leaf and saw a perfect little nest with two eggs in it. That goodness she saw it because if she'd let the leaf go it would have catapulted the eggs out of the nest. Later on we saw that the hummingbird was back in her nest. We're going to have to be really careful of the tree while we are moving in.

So on Saturday I'm going to try to help Jake as best I can without lifting anything too heavy. Dad will likely come over to help too. We've already taken a few loads of stuff over and stashed it in the garage, so it shouldn't be too bad getting everything else taken care of that day. I'm getting excited!

Will I Be a Teacher in Fall 2008?

Up until this point I haven't really talked about my possible change of career because I wasn't certain if it was really a possibility, but I just found out that I passed my third test required to teach science and I feel safe talking about teaching since it's a real possibility.

I've been thinking for a long time about what I could do for a career change. I was promoted into a higher level position about a year ago and have discovered that I really don't like it. I don't have enough direction and I don't really like what I'm doing. The only students I work with are probation/disqualification students, and it can quickly become depressing seeing only failing students.

I considered looking for another position in my field, but with a baby on the way I didn't like the idea of working all day and coming home at 6pm. It's not even light outside anymore at that time.

I started think about teaching like Wendy has been doing and realized it really wouldn't be a bad deal - off before 3pm every day, summers off, and it turns out that I'd make more money than I do currently! Of course, I'm sure there is bad to go along with it, and I might regret even trying this, but I'm going to see if teaching is for me.

So I took and passed my tests, I'm just starting my credential classes, and there is only one other catch that I've got to try to work through. I've got to see if I can be hired next year as a teacher without actually having a credential. I'd have to be hired into an intern position. This is the last real barrier to me changing my career.

So wish me luck and I'll keep you posted.

Child Care

Jake and I went to look at child care centers today. We found one that we both like for a decent price - thank goodness. The only problem is that their wait list is a little bit long. Unfortunately, we might have to go with one of our other options until a spot opens up if we haven't moved to the top of the list by the time Baby Hester needs child care. We probably won't need child care until September but they said the wait list might be more than 6-9 months. I had started looking for child care a couple of months ago but had gotten so busy that I put it off until now. Thank goodness we hadn't waited any longer or it might have been impossible to find a place.

Fire Hydrant Accident?

Fire Hydrant Accident?

We were at John and Vanessa's house for the Super Bowl and someone across the street hit the fire hydrant. At least, that's what we think happened. I think that if the hydrant had come completely off the water would have been shooting really high. It was kind of interesting.

6 Months

I have been seriously lagging on the prego pictures. This is me at about 6 months. I'm starting to look quite chunky!