July

Well, after a long period of inactivity, I am back! I am very sorry for the lack of posts lately but life has just caught up with me!

I am full into my job now and it is very interesting. I definitely know that I am a secondary educator but I am enjoying my time with the little ones. At the youth center on an average day we have about 72 kids divided up among staff members. I am assigned about 12-20 children to keep track of during the day as we go on walks to parks, field trips or just play at the center. Getting this job was easy, filling out the paperwork and doing the training, thats a whole different story! Because I am working on a military installation, I have to get intensive background checks and security clearance which means the Air Force talks to pretty much everyone I ever knew and wants to know everywhere I've ever been! I have also had to go to a few different briefings with active duty servicemembers on equal opportunity employment, harassment, food safety and hours and hours of training. I have also had my fingerprints taken 3 different times. They are not messing around here.

I am used to 12-18 year olds and 5-9 year olds have many surprises that I definitely did not expect. I am quickly learning that just because someone cries, it does not mean something is seriously wrong. On a daily basis I think I have 5 little ones have crying fits because someone did not share toys, someone said shut up, someone doesn't want to be friends or someone skinned their knee. At first this terrified me! I thought children were dying in my hands but it turns out, they all bounce back surprisingly well. By the end of my second full week, I am more comfortable handling crying but the fluids that they leek are a much different story. I am not used to nose picking or noses leaking and the first day someone threw up, I had to run to the other side of the youth center to avoid throwing up myself. I may have made great strides dealing with little ones so far, but I am not quite ready for that yet. Baby steps.... I have been working about 30-40 hours a week and I finally feel comfortable there. I still don't know the answers to a lot of questions but I am getting much better with the little ones. Hopefully all this will prepare me to be a great aunt to my little niece when I see her! Who knows, I may even be prepared to change a dirty diaper! But not quite yet.

The major adjustment that I had to make since taking this job is the difficulty of having both me and Anthony working full time.  I was used to seeing him all the time when he was home but since I started working, we have not really had a lot of time together. It doesn't help that he doesn't get regular hours or weekends. Oh well, just one of the many joys of working! I think we just need to get a feel for my schedule and hopefully we will get some time together soon!

Anthony is doing well at his job, even though it has been quite intense lately. On a very positive note, he was awarded crew of the quarter last week and got a lovely glass plaque for it! I think there is more to it than what I understand but as far as I know, it is a big deal and he did something good! I am very proud of my husband!

As you may have seen on my recent blog post, we now have a home. We have couches, a dining room and a lot of Anthony's stuff from his house in Minnesota. It is so nice to have a place to have dinner and friends over. I feel like we are finally settling in here and now that it is nice outside we are able to walk to many of our friends houses whenever we want. A few days ago the power went out for 5 hours and we walked to our friends house and played monopoly by candlelight. It was a ton of fun!

I now feel more comfortable living on base and I am not always on edge, worried that I will do something to be arrested. I know the hours of the commissary, where to get new air filters for the house and what the different security levels mean. I am falling in love with living on base. Yes, the speed limits are slow, the exercises make it difficult to travel, and everyone knows all of your business but we also have made true friends here, I feel very safe and most things are within walking distance. In my experience, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I would definitely recommend new couples to the Air Force live on base.

Well, coming up we have a base pool party and the farmer's market tomorrow! I will try to do better at keeping things updated and I hope all is well in your world! Nighty night!