Its official.

I remember thinking, right after I first heard Hannah cry, "Wow.  She's intense.  Definitely our last!"  Ever since that moment, she has proven us right.  She's amazing and wonderful and spirited, and we LOVE her to pieces...but she is one tough cookie.  She's shown us how weak we are, and how NOT perfect we are as parents.

Considering the fact that I only have a 50% success rate when it comes to staying pregnant* AND the fact that every day of the entire 38-39 weeks that I stay pregnant** is MISERABLE (although I do lose weight, so that's kinda nice), it seemed like the right thing to do was to shut down the baby factory.  After all, I am 34 and the hubs is 41, so we're no "spring chickens" if you know what I mean.  Why not have him get the big V?  Well, lots of reasons, but mainly because we PERSONALLY know six couples who have had surprise pregnancies after the guy got a vasectomy.  I am SO not willing to take that chance.  I wanted to make sure it wasn't going to happen.  I told Chris the ideal situation would be for him to get the V *and* me to get something done as well, but he wasn't gonna go for that.  I decided to have the Essure procedure done.  It was SO EASY and the recovery was basically just sleeping off the pain pill they give you.  No complications whatsoever.  Three months of being careful (they recommend you stay on birth control until you get the "all clear", but my body hates hormones so we chose other methods), then an HSG to make sure the tubes are blocked.  I had mine done yesterday and its official -- ain't nothing getting through those tubes.

So is it weird that I feel a teensy bit sad?  I know we're done.  I know our family is complete, and God knows we can't handle another human around here.  The whole newborn thing is just so HARD.  Our kids are getting to be so much fun and, while the ages of 3 and 5 have their own issues, there's something to be said for the ability to communicate.  We're happy, we're content...But still.  Hearing those words...the finality of it all...was kinda bittersweet.  Its the end of a chapter of my life.  But you know what?  Its the beginning of another one. I know it sounds cheesy, but I really feel like "the best is yet to come."

Coming or Going?

Wow, its been quite a month!  I honestly don't know if I'm coming or going these days...

Since I last blogged, Andrew and I both started our school year...his first year of school (Kindergarten!  Can't believe it!) and my eighth year of teaching.  I tell you what, having a kid in school is a major life change!  I am accustomed to getting up early and getting to school around an hour early so that I have plenty of time to get organized, get woken up, and get ready for the day.  No more of that!  I now have to get Andrew up @ 6:45 am, head out the door @ 7:15 to get him to school @ 7:20 or right afterwards (I still feel guilty about getting him there 30 minutes early, but I really have no choice) and get to my own school by 7:45 at the earliest.  Teachers are supposed to arrive by 8 am, so I make it just in time most days.  We technically have a planning period every day, but most days that time is filled with meeting after meeting, and since I leave as soon as I can (so I can get home and see my kiddos), I feel like I am getting NOTHING done.  I feel so unprepared, so behind already!  Not a good feeling.  I guess I am going to have to stay late a few days a week so I can get some things done and (hopefully) not have to bring any work home.  I've always prided myself on not having to bring much work home at all, but I have a feeling that may not be the case this year.

So, like I said, Andrew is in Kindergarten and doing...okay, I think.  If you're a friend of mine on Facebook, you know that he has been having a bit of a hard time adjusting to the rules and procedures of the school environment.  (He came home from school the first day telling me he had three time-outs that day.  One for talking (surprise, surprise), one for making people laugh (again, big shocker there), and one for building a Lego gun (oops).  I did talk to the teacher and she said it was only one time out, and it was because he just wouldn't stop being silly and distracting everyone when they had asked him twice to stop.  No biggie.

Andrew has been in preschool since he was two years old, but it was a three-hour program, not an all day thing, like Kindergarten is.  Also, he had some really awesome teachers there who loved him and understood him and probably let him get away with too much because they just loved him so much.  Not happening in Kindergarten.  I was a bit discouraged to see that every single day he was getting his "clip" moved.  (They have a color system going...Yippee Yellow is best, then it moves down to OK Orange, then Watch Out White, then Boo-Hoo Blue, then finally Red Hot Red.)  About three days a week he has an "OK Orange" day, and the other two are "Yippee Yellow"...I know I shouldn't worry about just moving down one step, but he's my kid and I'm entitled to overreact, ok??  I don't want him labeled as the "bad kid" or have anyone telling me he needs meds to sit still and pay attention.  I feel confident that his teacher is understanding and knows little boys, so when she tells me this is normal and he's just figuring things out, learning where the boundaries are, etc., I feel a bit better.  I just can't help but worry a little, though.

Hannah is LOVING being back in school...She is in the three-year-old class at the same preschool she and Andrew have been at for the past couple of years.  She is so good for her teachers, thank God.  She and Andrew are both so tired from the school schedule, though, that at the end of the day they are cranky and fussing over the stupidest things.  I finally started reading Siblings Without Rivalry, though, and am trying to put some of those tips into practice.  Also, they are both going to bed @ 7 pm on school nights.  Way early, I know, but MAN do they need it.  When they get tired, they get MEAN and take it out on each other.  GAH, the fighting...make it stop!!! 

In other news, I have made it through the three month post-Essure period, so I am anxious to go for my HSG to see if it worked.  I was supposed to go last week, but Mother Nature decided to throw me a curveball and send Aunt Flo a whole TEN days early, so they couldn't do the HSG.  Grr.  (That was the one good thing about birth control...more reliable cycles, man!)  Anyway, I will go this Wednesday and hopefully get the news that my tubes are all blocked up and we're officially safe from any surprise pregnancies.  Fingers crossed!

So what's new with you all??