Maternity Leave Musings

Not sure if I have any regular readers (or if I did, do I still now after my extended posting absence).  To those of you who are still here, bravo!  To those of you that got bored waiting to hear from me, my apologies for not posting in a looong time.

On August 13th, I gave birth to the most beautiful, wonderful, sweet baby boy a mother could ask for.  He is my first child, so I've embraced my new role as "mother".

Before he blessed my life, my two major roles were "teacher" and "wife".  It's always crazy that it seems there aren't enough hours in the day to be a rockstar at everything you do.  But now I will have to add "mother" to my list of roles.

I go back to school a week from today (November 4th).  I have known since January I'd be off this long, but it's hard to believe it's almost here now.  I did teach summer school until July 4th, but I haven't been in my classroom to teach my regular students in FIVE months.  This blows me away.  Since I started teaching, I've never gone this long without being in front of a class of students.  I've been in mommy-mode for what feels like ages now, so how do I know I can get back into teaching mode?

A part of me is so scared.  Will I be able to balance my life roles together?  To be a good teacher while being a good wife and a good mother?  To be a good mother while being a good teacher and a good wife?  To be a good wife...you catch my drift.

I am excited, though, too.  I'm excited to see my old students.  Excited to meet my French 1s.  The French numbers grew a little from last year so I am hoping they grow a little more this year.  I am currently a .8 (which is probably a blessing for my first year as a mom) but if I get enough 1s and 2s to continue on to 2s and 3s next year at one of my schools, my 2/3 class can turn into two classes and hop me up to a 1.0, which I would love.  I want nothing more than to grow this program back up to what it used to be.

Anyway.  My apologies for my extended absence.  I promise to post more regularly again :)

This Friday I will be headed to WAFLT.  I'm very excited.  If you're anywhere near Wisconsin, I highly recommend checking it out.  It's like Christmas but for language teachers.