It's been a year and a half???? REALLY???? Holy sh....crap.

I love to write in my blogs. I know you wouldn't be able to tell it from the frequency of my posts, but I really do. I know that this blog saw me through some lonely times when Patrick was already in Greenville, and I was still in Finger, and we thought it would be a good way to keep in touch, to document then next big adventure. Then we found out I was expecting, and it was a great way to share in that fabulous, wonderful, my-God-did-she-eat-a-watermelon?, exciting time.  Then Noah came along, and again--the blog was a great way to document all the little things that were going on (when I wasn't too sleep-deprived and had 5 minutes to type on a computer, anyway). And I'm glad I did all those things, and I am so sad that it's been nearly 1 1/2 years since I've updated this. I am not sure if anyone still reads this, but I'm going to try to keep up with it, if nothing else, it's a great snapshot on what's going on in the day-to-day life of, well, me.

So....let's see. Took a small step back from Real Estate (though I am maintaining my license, so if you've got any questions, feel free to ask!); we realized that money does NOT grow on trees, so I put on my big girl panties and started flooding the temporary and permanent markets with my resume. And keep in mind that I was not sending out identical copies of my resume. Oh noooooo....I was tailoring it to EACH job that I was applying for or being sent on an interview for. Yeah, it sucked. But, as a result, I've got about 15 different resumes, should I ever need them!  (Yes, I try to save EVERYTHING. You never know.)

I ended up with a temporary gig at Extended Stay (downtown Spartanburg, about 5 minutes from Noah's school!) at the end of March 2011. I could really see myself there--the people were nice, they seemed duly impressed with my mad secretarial skills...then 2 weeks after I was hired, they announced they were moving to Charlotte. In August. *Sigh* All was not lost--they thought they would use me until the end of December. Yay! So, I plugged along, trying to make myself indispensable. Met a great bunch of people along the way, people that I really would (and do!) miss. They talked to me briefly about moving to Charlotte, but it just wasn't in the cards, and though they loved me, my assignment was ending at the end of August. NOT December.  I called my temp agency again, and basically said, in the nicest way possible, "You've got to find me another job. NOW. NOWNOWNOWNOWNOW!"  Which they did (Office Team, downtown Spartanburg--fabulous people!). I worked at a roofing company for a bit--again, met some really great people. In September, I got The Call. I was finally getting an interview at one of the many State jobs I'd applied for. It was perfect--a paralegal position, very much what I used to do with DCS in Jackson. I interviewed for it; they called me as I was on my way home and asked me to come back and fill out the background check information. This was a good sign!  I got the call that I got the job in late October, and could I start in two weeks?  ABSOLUTELY!  So, State Retirement, here I come!

I really enjoyed the job, and learned a lot, and again--FABULOUS PEOPLE. Wonderful benefits, an office that really got along...I was in heaven!

At the end of February (February 20, 2012, to be exact...), we got a bombshell dropped on us. Noah's teacher thought she saw some regression--lots of spinning around, playing with the puzzle pieces, rather than actually doing the puzzle; playing with the laminated sentence builder cards, rather than DOING the assignment. She'd direct him on some work, walk away, and when she came back, he'd done the one question the two of them worked on, but then was just staring into space. We were floored. We heard some pretty terrifying things:  regression, "maybe you should think about seeing a specialist," "screening for possible issues," "I don't think he'd be able to make it in public school." We left the school, and I was just thisclose to sobbing. I may have been. It was not what we expected at all. I called Dad, and asked if he noticed anything serious--not behavioral issues like Noah was just being stubborn, but real issues--I trust Dad and his experience, and even though I knew that if he HAD seen anything, he would have told us. He hadn't. He gave us some tips to try--stringing gradually increasing task lists, seeing if Noah could focus on those (he could and did). We really started working with Noah and his focusing. We took him to a pediatrician, and her diagnosis was the same as ours--he most likely was bored. We following through with the screening, where they basically asked us, "Why is he here?" All was fine, and they, too, agreed that Noah was probably regressing a bit, because he was in with younger classmates, and that he was probably bored. We went back to the school, and gave them this diagnosis. I asked if we can try 1st grade, see if that challenges him. They told me, basically to keep it on the down-low (which I am SO not doing by publishing here, but we pay a lot of money to that school, and I reminded them of my ONE CONCERN when we were touring the school:  What will you do if he gets bored? "Oh, he won't get bored. If he does, we'll bring material from the Elementary school and we'll make sure he's challenged."). I was terribly disappointed in his teacher, who said that they could, but "he probably won't do any work." At this point, I need to say that Noah's teacher is a very nice woman, who has a lot of experience with teaching. I'm sure a lot of kids do great in her class. But at this point, I felt that she was trying to label my child and tell me what he's capable of, when in my eyes, she wasn't being a very good teacher. I expect a lot from a Montessori school--I expect them to work well with children at all points in the learning spectrum, and to be outside-the-box thinkers and to try alternatives. I DON'T expect them to try to label my child as ADHD and tell me that he's not going to make it in a public school, and that he won't do any work if we do try to send him down to the Elementary school. So, we sent him down. I did get a favorable report from the Head of the School (and the Elementary school teacher) that Noah did do work, he was focused and that one of the other students, and older student that was Noah's guide for the day, looked at the Elementary teacher and said, "He needs to be down here now."   So, we stuck it out for a few more months, and in that time we thought that maybe my working in downtown Greenville, which necessitated dropping off Noah at 7:45 (or before) in the morning and not being picked up until 5:15 in the evening was leading to very long days. We all agreed that it seemed that Noah just wasn't happy, which let me tell ya--it broke my heart.

So...I received word that a part-time position with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in downtown Spartanburg (7 minutes away from Noah's school!) was a possibility. I had talked to them in the middle of my interview with the State, but before I accepted it, and let them know that if offered the State position, I may have to take it (benefits, you see....). However, when all this started happening with Noah, I realized that my ongoing conversations with MSSB may have been for a reason...  And so, with a heavy heart, I handed in my resignation to the State, and shed a LOT of tears. It was scary. And I was leaving a great job, with great people.

Patrick and I did a lot of thinking and a lot of budgeting--we knew something needed to change. It just wasn't good for Noah to be in school, in an environment that he obviously wasn't happy in, for that long, and we could make it on the part-time salary that MSSB was offering. So, on April 23, 2012, we made the jump.  I must say, I feel like home at MSSB--great people, and I really like the job, and it's challenging, and interesting and I'm really happy there!  We also enrolled Noah in the Kickin' Kids program (recommended to us by one of Noah's school friend's Mom) and he started doing karate twice a week. In just a couple weeks of doing that and me working part-time, it seemed that the sunny Noah we adored started to come out. We stuck with Kickin' Kids for the Summer, and he's had a fabulous time. By the way, Spartanburg Martial Arts and their Kickin' Kids program? I can't say enough wonderful things about it. The people and the program are absolutely wonderful!  We have seen such a positive change in Noah, and he really enjoys it so much!

It is now August, and Noah starts 1st grade on the 13th. We're a little apprehensive, and Noah has said more than once that he doesn't want to go back to school. We keep telling him that he's going to the Green House (the Elementary school), and it'll be with a new teacher, and he had fun going to the Green House, so it'll be okay. He seems okay with that... We're also keeping him in karate, too, and I think that's really helped. We must say that the screening really opened our eyes to some other possibilities--a couple of the screeners were from Abner Creek Academy and one of our neighbors' kids went there, and we'd heard it was a great school, and we really liked the screeners. They also mentioned Wellford Academy. Whereas Abner Creek is a magnet school focusing on the arts, Wellford is a magnet school focusing on science. AND, there's a Charter school across the street from Montessori. We're looking at all possibilities--we hope that Montessori works out, but if it doesn't, we want to have a Plan B. As much as we are dedicated to Noah's education, we can't afford to pay what we pay if Noah's not taking advantage of it. Heck, we'd rather go to Disney! 

But, back to that "Noah starts 1st grade"--he turned SIX this past June. He starts FIRST GRADE. Where did the time go????  I look at him and can still see the little baby, but now he's getting so big--going to the bathroom and shutting the door, playing with Legos--the small ones, not the Mega or Duplo blocks, and building ships and buildings, not just taking the heads off the mini figs....though he still does a LOT of that--lots of decapitations going on at our house! He can operate the remote controls to the TV/DVD/Satellite/Roku better than I can. He is playing Patrick's computer games....  He's getting so big, and while I appreciate the growing he's doing, he is incredibly stubborn and sometimes I feel it would be nicer and easier if I could put him in the magical swing and he'd just stay there.

But then, he wouldn't be the incredible, wonderful little boy that tells such awful jokes (of which I can't remember any right now, but I promise that I'll write them down the next time he tells any....) that I love more than life itself.

That being said, it still doesn't make nights like tonight, where he's refusing to be still and quiet and screaming that "I'M NOT TIRED! I WANT MY LIGHT!" which, of course, tells us that he IS tired and makes Mommy reach for the box of wine.

But, that's the glamorous life I lead, and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!