Week One Done.

And we survived. We drove late into the night last Friday night and arrived in our home state and we made it. We had clothes, toys, and TONS of things for work (mostly me. like 85-90% me.). We were weary, tired, and excited. That hasn't gone away yet at all, and I don't anticipate it going away for quite some time.

We weren't sure about the KinderCare we ended up going with even though it is the most economical across the board (of the 7 in the GB area). Looooong story short, we're feeling much better about it after Adam talked to the director Friday and everybody's feeling like this is going to work out for now. The girls both cried when I left them Thursday and Friday which made me want to vomit and cry all the way to the car/work, but each day I picked them up I had reports of "she had a MUCH better day today."

We're having some SERIOUS TERRIBLE TWOS issues with Hadley and she's significantly regressed with potty training (which makes me furious even though I shouldn't be). I also realized yesterday that she's FINALLY popping through 3/4 molars she's missing which may be contributing to the fuss. That said, the kid will cry for 20 minutes straight, forced even, after she has run out of A) real tears and B) forgot what she was crying about in the first place. We're praying it's a phase thing and related to the huge transition we just threw them into. If it's not, I'm going to be an alcoholic by the time she's 8. (ok I won't be, but I might try to sell her a few times. Ok, not that either. I'll just lose my sanity. That might be more "fun.")

So work. Work. Wow. I can't BELIEVE the difference between two states. It finally dawned on me this week that the question I bombed with Appleton? The one where they asked, "What IEP system do you use?" and I fumbled like an idiot b/c I was all, um, don't YOU use the one your STATE makes you use and since I live in Iowa clearly I don't use whatever system you are using? Nope. Not even close, folks. All you educators, especially those in special ed, are going to audibly gasp when you read this - Every district gets to choose their own IEP system (someone out there makes tons of cash creating IEP systems!). So, if Jonny Smith lives in my district but then moves down the street down to Ashwaubanon, his poor special ed people have to enter his IEP into a whole new system! Now, this happens when a kid crosses state lines and that's fine. But no matter where you go, you have frequent fliers who change districts multiple times a year (unfortunately for the poor kid) and I can't imagine the paperwork! Oh good Lord.

I could go ON and ON with the differences. Some are shocking. Some make me almost fall off my chair. Like this one - my caseload has taken a huge hit and dropped significantly....however, the kids have TONS of minutes compared to Iowa so my schedule is almost as packed. I like the idea that I am part of the school because I was hired by the district, too. My dept is still 50+ strong and I like that, too, although the dept as a whole is much older than my the AEA I was in. After talking with another SLP Friday, she said that the district was at a point where they were requiring SLPs to have at least 2 years' experience before being hired! I was so sad - our rookies are some of our strongest people in our AEA and I value their fresh eyes in the field. Plus, they grow with you and the relationships formed are hard to break.

Don't get me wrong - I know I'll like it here, but it will take some getting used to. It's not just GB as a district - it's statewide things that I'm going to have to get used to. I am so VERY EXCITED to have plans in place to create communicatively engineered contained preschools at this school, but since I've got all of the new going on that's threatening my sanity, I'm going to give myself 2 years to really have it awesome and all figured out. And then I'll revamp it and make it more awesome. I can't wait.

Ok, so just to let you know, we're hanging in there. Adam's first week home officing went well - he said he's super productive since Maddie and Jessie don't come to talk to him about their weekends between business happenings ;-) although I'm sure he's missed his colleagues. I was so very sad Friday when I went to a SLP dept meeting and knew no one. I always knew everyone (almost) and had too many people to sit by (by the way, I struggle with sitting places alone - I'd rather eat in my car than eat at a restaurant alone). Thankfully, I ended up next to a really nice girl, around my age, who it turns out was my Aunt Laurie's intern a long time ago in Two Rivers. (small world)

And for the record, the house has had 5 (I think? Maybe 6?) showings. The last one might come back with her hubs/parents. Either way, I'm still terrified we're never going to sell and we'll be stuck not in "our house" forever (shouldn't happen...). Thinking positively. Trying hard. And still so glad to be home.