Women almost always become light sleepers when they become mothers.  Our bodies (whether you gave birth to your children or not) just know that we must be alert every second of the day and that includes when we are asleep.  Our master is downstairs and all the kids are upstairs.  I have woken up to a cry from my oldest daughter in the middle of the night that I could barely hear, but somehow my ears never turn off.  So with that being said I rarely get a full uninterupted night of sleep, even if it's just waking up to the sound of coughing.  But, ever since the baby had her febrile seizure, I'm nearly wide awake at every last cough or cry, yet I"m also nervouse if I haven't heard her make a sound all night long.  I just can't win.  Or sleep.  

     Men, on the other hand do not get the same must-stay-alert-at-all-times instinct because somehow they know that the women will take care of everything.  My husband is no different, and he comes from a family of great man-sleepers.  The men in his family could happily sleep through a tornado going down the street.  And, I must say it's both a gift and a curse, but it certainly depends on whose perspective you are talking about.  My husband can get up at 7am, turn on the tv for the kids, give them some cereal and happily return to bed and fall back asleep for a couple hours.  I'm actually jealous.  If the baby coughs really loud at 5:45 or 6am, and it's light outside then I'm up and there's no chance of me falling back to sleep, much to my dismay.  Once my brain starts working, there's no chance of falling back to sleep even if I was up all night with a sick baby. 

So, the other day while I was lying there at 5am trying to convince myself to go back to sleep I started calculating.  I seem to always be tired (warning: having three kids may cause drowsiness), but the husband isn't as much.  Well, if the old ball and chain gets to sleep just one hour longer than me each day for a week, he is getting a minimum of 7 extra hours of sleep.  That equals ONE WHOLE NIGHT of sleep more than me!!!  NO WONDER I'm exhausted all the time!!!  And, it's not like recovering after not sleeping for a night in college because there is nothing particularly fun or unforgettable about changing poopy diapers, making oatmeal and monitoring early morning battles over who's turn it is to pick the TV show. 

     I am sure this phenomenon occurs in many households where there are married couples raising children, and this is why most Moms can relate to Tina Fey's ultimate fanasy in Date Night - sitting alone in silence in a hotel room for an evening.  This is also why it is mandatory to have ear plugs next to the bed in the event that you get to take a nap or just decide that it's time for your spouse to take night duty.  He'll wake up eventually, right?

Summer has arrived.  We spent the first week at vacation Bible School, and our church really puts on an impressive production.  We bought the cd so we can sing and dance to all the great music all year long.  Even the baby loves the music!  This we marked the beginning of swimming lessons for the two older ones at the YMCA.   I try my best to work out a bit before, but so far this is the first day I've accomplished that (this is day 3). 

The baby's asthma/allergies have been acting up and she sounds a bit like darth vader with a slight cough.  We've given her a couple breathing treatments which seem to help, but she is still obviously unhappy about not feeling great.  I'm thinking the major drought and 100 degree weather are not helping the cause.

My oldest daughter face planted on the sidewalk on the first day of swimming lessons.  It was so bad that a couple guys in the parking lot ran over.  So, she has a huge bruise on her hip and scabs all over her knee and ankle.  Then on the second day of swimming lessons as she was preparing to jump into the pool from the side (into the arms of her waiting instructor), she got scared and slipped a bit so her shins hit the side of the pool before she actually fell in the water.  Add a couple mosquito bites that she can't stop itching and her legs are a bloody, scabby mess.  I hope I can convince her to wear tights to her Uncle's wedding in July. 

Besides a few major temper tantrums due to extreme tiredness, my son hasn't had any major dilemmas yet.  Yet.  I'm sure some catastrophe is slowing heading our direction, but for the time being I'm satisfied with 2/3 of my children having bad days :)  

And, so, our summer begins! 

Graduation was Sunday afternoon, and as always it was really nice.  I find myself so motivated after graduation, so this year I was really sad that I won't be participating next year as a proud teacher.  The students are on their best behavior, they are excited and so proud!  Even the ones who don't want to seem like it are beaming!  Several students gave speeches that brought tears to the eyes of everyone there!  We had 80 graduates and probably about 1200 or more extremely proud friends and family members in the audience.  I really am so proud of all my students!

One of the greatest moments for me as a teacher is to see the students graduating, especially when so many of them believe they wouldn't have made it without our little school!  I am proud to have been a part of their education, and I hope they take a little bit of science with them on to their next adventure.  I work the students hard, and they often complain about all the work, but in the end I hope they appreciate the effort I put forth in doing my best to prepare them for life beyond high school.

I will miss the students and my daily interaction with them.  A huge part of being able to teach a student is to understand them a little bit, and that comes from interacting with them every day - the good and tha bad.  I will miss being a huge nerd in class in an effort to instill a love (or like) of science, and I will especially miss having classes with which to share all the cool science news that happens every day.  I know I will return to teaching some day because it is truly my calling and my passion.  Until then, I will really miss it.

And so begins the next chapter of me being a mostly stay at home Mom.  I do plan to sub and tutor here and there, but I will have the freedom to do what I want and do things like be a room Mom in kindergarden!  And so the adventure begins . . .

It seems that universally people support teachers - it is often said teachers are underpaid and overworked, but more quietly people often say how lucky teachers are because they get the summers off and their workday (at least in high schools) ends by four.  It must be so easy!  Why do teachers complain??  Well, I thought I"d give my two cents on that while I'm still employed as a teacher.

It's true that teachers get the summers off, but often times they spend at least some of it in unpaid trainings and workshops, planning and working in our classrooms.  We do this because we want to be better and want to be able to prepare well for the upcoming year, but again it is all unpaid.  There are few people who would accept a non-teaching job that boasted as part of the job description several unpaid weeks of work in the summer.  But, that's all part of the deal when you become a teacher.

I've also taught with people who are basically teaching just so they can have the summers off, and they have been eaten alive by the job.  If your heart is not in the right place, the 2 1/2 months of 'free-time' in the summer cannot sustain someone all school year long.  Teachers are salaried, and the usual paid workday is 8 hours.  At my school our paid hours are from 7:30am to 3:30pm, and classes run from 8-3:10.  We are alotted one 45 minute planning period.  However, it is impossible to do all one's planning, grading, paperwork, copying, meetings, etc . in 45 minutes, so teachers regularly work several extra hours a day.  Sometimes I would like to clock in and out to see how many hours we actually work because then people would really see what a great deal taxpayers are getting!  If every teacher works 8 extra hours a week at $25/hr (general going rate for tutoring, etc.) for 36 weeks of the school year, that adds up to $7200/year.  Some teachers at my school are there regularly until 5:30 and most others go home and do some kind of work at home.  Many other jobs cannot say they work so many extra unpaid hours on such a regular basis.  And, yes we sometimes complain, but who doesn't complain about their job sometimes?  And, at the end of the day we do the extra time because we care about the students and want to do our jobs well.

And that brings me to my next point that teachers are public figures held to a higher standard than many others.  Our jobs can be in jeapardy if we have a facebook picture of us drinking a beer or glass of wine (even though we are of age) - even if we didn't post the picture or if our FB page is totally private.  In addition to teaching the curriculum and standards, we are expected to be moral and social role models and supports.  We are counselors, mediators, private tutors, a shoulder to cry on, medical doctors and general knowers of all things.  We must keep an eye out for suspicious situations (drugs, abuse, etc.) and monitor the needs of each student we have.  The power of a teacher is great.  How many times have you said or heard someone said 'But my teacher said. . ."  We have a huge responsibility to be positive role models to our students, to be correct in our information and to not let our students down in any way.  How many news stories are there of teachers who did not take that responsibility seriously? 

Please don't get me wrong - I LOVE being a teacher.  I love the successes of students.  I love seeing them graduate.  I love seeing them learn and enjoy something in science.  And, I really love when they come to me sharing how they used their new knowledge outside the classroom.  There is nothing more fulfilling than a thank-you note from a student whom you've impacted in some way or a hug from a student you never thought liked your class.  But, those little moments come after long, exhausting planning, meeting, teaching, testing, encouraging (and sometimes begging) in the trenches for 9 months (or longer if you've had that student more than once), and sometimes people don't realize what that actually means.  But, at the end of the day, there's nothing like knowing you've made a difference in someone's life.