First Day as a Substitute Teacher!

Yesterday morning I was finally called to be a sub! At 6:15 a.m. (lovely) the sub caller for Pickerington Local SD called and asked if I'd be available to sub at Pickerington Central HS, my old stomping grounds.
It was a little weird to go back to high school, I'll be honest. I kept feeling like I should see Amanda M. pop around a corner with her hair in two twisty buns on top of her head, waving her hands and saying "Holy crap, Caitlyn! I totally just saw Mark Playko and Gina Hatfield trying to gag each other with their tongues!" and then burst in to hilarious laughter when I responded "Ew."
Anyways, the class I subbed for was Physical Science A, which most of you know is probably the worst thing other than Math that they could stick me in. It was ok, though, because the regular teacher left me a DVD to show. You know, I never realized how much subs have to go through to earn their money. It was the MOST BORING thing I've ever seen, and I had to watch it FOUR TIMES. Lovely.
Initially I was a little nervous that I wouldn't be able to maintain control over a class... it wasn't that long ago that I was in high school, and I remember how some of the students can be. Plus it doesn't help that they all, without exception, thought that I was between 17 and 19. When I told them no, I'm older than that, they upped their guess to 19 and 1/2. Super fun.
All in all though, they were great kids. I probably would've enjoyed the day more if I hadn't developed a full-blown cold sometime between 6th and 8th period. I just wish I could've done something a little more challenging than show a video.
I did run into Mrs. Mallory and Mrs. Turley, who love me still even after six years. When they found out I was a sub, they were very excited. They said, "Great! You can actually teach our classes! And you know about Senior Projects!" Oh, yes, how could I forget those lovely, life-consuming things. So maybe if I ever get called for one of them it'll be a better lesson plan.
Not only was it fun, but I already have three days lined up to work next week, one full day and two half days. Score!

Oh, and those of you who know and love Jordan will be happy to hear that he's still popular. Some kids in my last period class started talking about him. When I told them he's my brother they freaked out a little. "SERIOUSLY?! Are you SERIOUS?!! Jordan McFarland?!" Uh, yeah. There you go, Jord. You're still a celebrity.

October Update

Hi everyone. I figured it's time for an update, since it's been a long time since a real post.

I am now 14-ish weeks pregnant. I've decided to delude myself into thinking that the dates on the ultrasound are valid, and I'm personally changing my due date to April 19th, even though the doctor's office won't. So that makes me 14 weeks as of Monday. Yay, me! Morning sickness seems to be fading slowly, ever so slowly. I haven't felt great for the past two days, but I think it's because my stomach stopped demanding to be fed every 30 seconds, so I stopped feeding it as often as I should. I've got to start trying to eat more again.

Will finished his first semester of college, and we're fairly sure he got A's in both of his classes! Congrats, love, I'm SO PROUD of you!! His next semester starts on Monday, Oct. 26th, so he didn't get much of a break. He's excited about one of his classes next term, because it's all about this history of video gaming and how to design games. It's funny that a lot of the things he's studying are things I've done research on as an attempted author: character development, world-building, plot, etc. He's not so excited about his other class, Psychology, or the fact that he'll be full-time instead of part-time, but we want to get him graduated ASAP.

Chaela is doing well. She doesn't have a clue about the baby, which is fine, since it's still about 1/4 of her life so far in the future. I'll try harder to explain it to her when she can feel the baby kicking. We'll really get down to it about a week or so before he/she is born, because that's plenty of time for a toddler to prepare and wait for something, in my opinion.
She has also added to the long list of movies she loves, which now includes "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown," and "Ichabod and Mr. Toad," which mom pulled out for Halloween. The weather here has been nasty, so we haven't been outside much, but it's supposed to be pretty nice in the next few days, so I'm hoping to take her to a pumpkin patch/corn maze/hayride thing if we can. We'll see.

Also, tomorrow is Will's and my third anniversary. Woo hoo! Happy three years, Will. I love you and I'm so grateful and glad to be married to you! Let's do three more, ha ha! ;*

Slacker.

Sorry, everyone, I just haven't had it in me to blog lately. I'm going to blame it on the pregnancy. It really takes a lot out of you. I have no energy to do anything creative at all... I haven't worked on my writing in months, I have no desire to sew, I hardly even want to pick up a book and read. Oh well, it seems to be getting better. Today I felt really good, and I am on the verge of the second trimester. Keep your fingers crossed for me that the morning sickness will go away at 13 weeks instead of 22 like it did last time!

So it's not a Hysterical Pregnancy...

Yup, there's a baby in there. Surprise! For some reason I always think I'm going to go to the first ultrasound and the doctor is going to say, "So... you're not actually pregnant." But I am. And, as you can see from the dates at the bottom I'm measuring five to six days bigger than my original estimated due date. Sweet. Except they're not going to change it, because they don't unless the difference is more than seven days. That's ok, babies come when they come no matter what the due date is.

Anyways, I just thought I'd share. Yay! A baby!

Finally, After Four Tries...

I made a hat for Chaela! When we went to Memphis at the end of July to visit Jason and Jana, Jana's family was down, too. Her mom is awesome at making crocheted stuff, and she was making sweet hats for Addie and Macie. She was teaching Jana to crochet, so I sat down and she taught me, too! The hat I started in Memphis turned out HUGE, so I tried again. The next one was way tiny. My mom and I decided to go out and buy some yarn to match Chaela's coat, because I figured two practices was plenty, even if they hadn't worked out yet. So I tried again. Halfway through, I realized it was going to be big enough to fit me, so I pulled out the entire thing and started all over again. Sigh.

Finally, months after I set out to make this hat, it's FINISHED!! Here is a picture of it before I put on the flowers.



And here's a picture of it 100% done with the coat! Yay!

Apple Picking

Last Friday, mom, Chaela, and I went to Lynd's Fruit Farm, because we heard from a woman in our ward (who may or may not know that we heard it) that the Honeycrisp were in season and they were delicious.


I love apple picking anyway, so we went. It was fun! It really doesn't take long to fill a 20 pound bag, but that suited us just fine. You're allowed to eat while you pick (probably because that bag doesn't hold quite 20 pounds unless you STUFF it). I'd never had Honeycrisp before, and I have to say, that first bite stopped me in my tracks. If you like crisp apples, these are heavenly! Especially fresh off the tree, one side slightly warmed from the sun. Sigh. Afterwards we went over to the open-air market and bought some sweet corn, also delicious.

So that was our adventure. The best part is that this type of apple lasts from now until April, according to the website. They're more expensive than other apple types, $20 for 20 pounds, while I think other types may be as cheap as $10 for 20 pounds... but these are worth it! In fact, we're going back this Friday to get another bag!

Politics.

Alright, I'm going to risk talking about something I don't completely understand, but I'm pretty darn sick of the circus that politics/the media are making out of our country lately.

Here's the thing, I vote in the Republican primary, but lately I've been feeling rather non-partisan. In the past eight years, both parties have shown a mind-boggling disunity and resorted to blatant fear mongering through the media. Apparently, our country is going to come crashing down around our ears no matter who is in office. Honestly, that may happen sooner or later, but it has less to do with politics and more to do with the values of every-day Americans.

Anyway, it seems that since Obama has been in office, the Republicans and their respective news media outlets are doing the exact same thing that the Democrats were doing to Bush.

"Neiner, neiner Democratic party, how do you like it?"

Grow up politicians/media people! These stupid playground politics are bogging us down. How about we focus on the real issues and not take our kids out of school because the President of the United States is giving a speech telling them that learning is important! Of all the stupid, ignorant crap to do, honestly.

Of course, now the Democrats are wounded. How could those Conservatives be so obtuse?! Well dang it, look back a year an a half and see what was being said about Bush. The President is the President, for goodness' sake. Show the man some respect, whether you voted for him or not!

Of course, outlets for us "normal people" like facebook (and blogs, ha ha) are just making things worse. I can't count the number of paranoid crap I saw on facebook today about Obama's speech. Calm down, everyone! Just because the President is in a different political party than you does not make everything he does wrong.

Personally, I think the government is supposed to be like behind the scenes machinery in a play, quiet, but with visible and spectacular effects. It's not a perfect analogy, though, because it's not like "we the people" are the audience, there for the show. I think we're supposed to be like the crew, a knowledgeable and active part of what goes on backstage. The rest of the world is the audience. They have their own plays to run.

Anyways, I'm not thinking straight lately. This may not have made sense, but I'm mad about all the stupid stuff that went on this week. Let the President tell kids to stay in school, because in some places, no one else is.

Lindsay's Blog

Hey everyone!

I just wanted those people who know my sister, Lindsay, to know that she has a blog and it can be reached through my blog list. The title is "Schenk'd." Also, for those of you who don't know, Kristin's blog is over there under "House of Jacob." Yup, that's all!

Pregnancy Update: I <3 Unisom

So since the last time I posted about not being nauseous, I've barely been able to function a lot of the time. Apparently my morning sickness was playing a small joke on me, lulling me into false hope and then BAM! It's back with a vengeance. I haven't thrown up so far, but I feel like I spend every second of my day trying not to. I had my first doctor appointment on Tuesday, and the OB Coordinator gave me quite a few ideas to help keep the nausea away. I tried them all, and they worked temporarily, but none of them made it better.

Finally, I went into the garage, where all of our stuff is stored, and found the Unisom (a sleeping pill, active ingredient doxylamine) I was told to take when I was pregnant with Chaela. Let me just say, it still works. Thank goodness!!! Yes, taking half a sleeping pill makes you drowsy, but it's so much better than feeling like I'm going to puke any minute!

Anyways, this post is kind of pointless, but that's what happens when you take sleeping pills and don't go to sleep. Yup.

Recent Happenings

It's been a while since I've posted much about the things we've been doing lately. Here are a few pictures so you can see what we've been up to.

Enjoying the last month of summer

The last few weeks of hot weather are here, and Chaela has been spending the time in her pool. Mostly naked.

We've also been enjoying the produce from the garden my parents grew. My dad makes pickled cucumbers (not quite real pickles, but close) and tomatoes every year around this time, and this year Chaela got to help. Mmmm...

Wibbip

My dad found this big, fat toad in our garage one day about a week and a half ago. We put him in a terrarium and have been feeding him crickets from the pet store. He is officially Chaela's first pet. When I asked her what she wanted to name him, she yelled "WIBBIP!" So that's his name. He's kind of expensive to feed, though, so we'll probably release him into the wild again soon.

Sisters in town

Kristin and Lindsay were both here for Lindsay's wedding. It was a lot of fun for all of us to be together again!

Lindsay's Wedding

Very fun, successful, but way too much work. No more weddings for me until Chaela is all grown up!