I've been remiss

Obviously it has been a ton of time since my last post and I can't possibly update all that I have missed, but I will put several pictures up to document the time a growth. That last semester was probably the most challenging one I have ever experienced in terms of balance. It was definitely a great learning experience figuring out how to give time to everything that needed attention. Brett was gone 5-6 days a week often from early morning until late evening because of track season, and I was taking a graduate course as I am still working toward my MA in English. (I took the fall semester off so that I could ease into the balance of working and making sure I had enough time with Phoebe--although I don't know that any amount of time is ever 'enough.') Of course some things suffered--I taught well overall, but I definitely was not as focused on my teaching as I normally would be. Most important to me was that I didn't lose much more time than I already lost by working full time with Phoebe, so I did my homework during nap times on weekends and after she went to bed at night and I tried to do most of my grading during my plan periods although I still had a good bit to get done at home. So Phoebe got the bulk of my time--as it should be, and the other two things suffered a bit, but it all went well in the end. The thing that suffered the absolute most was my house--I have never lived in such unapologetic filth as I have in the past 6 months. I have never been neat--things have always cluttered and been unorganized, but I have always cleaned the bathroom once each week and did general cleaning as needed, but this has not been the case in the recent past. I guess you can't do it all--but I think I need to find a slightly better balance there. I guess maybe this year will be better (I hope) because Phoebe is more able to occupy herself with play, so we can be in the same room and I can clean and talk to her while she does something else--or maybe she will even want to at least play like she is cleaning something and wipe things off with a damp cloth, we'll see. I'm certainly not a proponent of child labor and am in no way suggesting that her chores should begin, but perhaps I will be more diligent about getting things done in that manner and she will learn some lessons about cleanliness--we'll see. Speaking of her being more self-occupied, she has grown an incredible amount mentally in the past month or so. She is very verbal and generally quite decisive. We had an entire telephone conversation today, in fact. I left for class before she woke up from her nap, so I called to talk to her before going into class. She said "Hi, Mommy." and then proceeded to tell me that she slept well and had sweet dreams and that Grandma and Papa Shobe were coming over (which they were to eat some leftovers and gather up their belongings that we borrowed for Phoebe's birthday party). How fun is that? A whole conversation! She amazes me everyday and I know it is going to be just as hard to go back to school in August as it was last year.