growing babies

I have a few photos to post, but I haven't had a chance to get on a computer for a while. I can't post pictures from my phone onto Blogger. I can, however, write a blog from my phone. So I'll just write today.

Ethan surprises me every day with new stuff he knows. Recently he's started saying, "I'm 2, Momma. I'm 2!" I don't know why his age clicked with him just now; I haven't been emphasizing it. But anyway, so I'm teaching him how to sign "I'm 2!" I was sitting there struggling with him, trying to help him get his fingers to work correctly to show "2" and I looked up and see that he's doing the perfect hand shape on his other hand, his left hand, while I'm struggling to make him do it on the right hand. Ha. Left-handed boy.

Ellie seems to be ambidextrous, but on a weekly basis. She uses her right hand exclusively for several days, then she switches and uses her left for several days. Not sure how that will turn out.

We've started talking about letters with Ethan recently. I've just been drawing his attention to the fact that letters are everywhere. A couple of days after I started talking about letters with him, he says "Remember this song? A-B-C-D-E-F-G..." He sang the whole song by himself! I've sung that song to him about 4 times before that. I'm not sure how much Brett sings it, though.

He's learning to spell his name. The first phase was "E-T-8-9-10" and now that's become "E-T-H-9-N". He'll get it soon. Ha. He already recognises several letters: D for Daddy, I for ice cream, O for owl, and T "lives in In-N-Out". Hmmm. Momma eats chocolate shakes a bit too often, perhaps. But cool that he noticed the T on the sign!

Ellie is going to crawl any time now. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks a bit, trying to reach more stuff to put into her gaping mouth.

I'm working at the college now and enjoying it very much. It's nice to see my friends that I haven't worked with for a long time. I'm missing paid holidays and sick leave, though. Or, I am anticipating missing them. I haven't had an opportunity to not-use anything yet. I miss my friend April, too. But it's nice to have a set schedule and nice to be home so much now. We're all trying to get used to me being home. Things are a little crazy right now, but it will settle down soon.

beautiful girl (and Daddy)

An update: They still aren't "guaranteeing" me any hours, but they now say that during the summer when there isn't enough interpreting work, I will be paid for going to professional development workshops, mentoring educational interpreters, etc. That's guaranteed enough for me! I was talking to Brett about it today after I got this news and he said, "Those other interpreters are lucky to have you on their side. When your job did this whole thing, I thought, 'oh they've gotten her started!'" Ha.

bummer

Well, we had our meeting this morning. The meeting in which to discuss the status of our staff interpreter positions for the upcoming fiscal year. They've decided that they can't continue our guaranteed hours, claiming silly things like they can't pay us for hours we haven't worked, that it is falsifying our time sheets to have guaranteed hours.

They are, however, fine with us cutting our availability to them. We agreed to be available during work hours, four days a week. No more on call, no more nights or weekends. That will be better for my family.

And although I was furious and indignant (How could they?! Don't they know who I am?!) throughout the meeting, I'm not sure if I need to be so worried. Granted, starting July 1st (that's this Friday--what are we going to do!), I have absolutely no income. That's a slight exaggeration; I will have some work. Not enough to pay our bills, though. But I’m not sure that this is completely a bad thing. The limited availability is going to be very nice. They are continuing our benefits, that is important. And taking away my guaranteed hours also takes away all the guilt I feel. When they call me at the last minute and expect me to jump, I won’t feel guilty telling them to find someone else. This may give me some control over my schedule again.

I came home and freaked out to Brett, ordering him to get a job and sell everything he owns. But then I ate lunch and had a long shower. (-sigh- I could tell that Brett was being patient with me while I ranted about not being able to pay our bills. At one a pause in the scolding, he asked when I’d eaten last. Ha.) I’m still not happy, and I’m anxious about making ends meet. But we’ll be okay.

wordy updates

I had some videos to share, but it seems that blogger won't accept them because they are from my phone. So we'll just do an update.

I feel like I've been working a lot lately. It's been really hard to be away from my babies. But, we do what we have to, right? At least I enjoy what I do. The Powers That Be decided to cut my pay and my guaranteed hours as a staff interpreter, so Brett and I have been trying to decide what to do now. The other staff interpreter and I wrote a memo back to negotiate a reasonable compromise. If they accept our proposal, it will actually be better for me. But we'll see what happens. We have a meeting on Wednesday, hopefully they will have decided what to do by then.

Brett has been doing a lot of music lately. He's joined a couple more bands and is out a lot jamming and bringing the awesome to everything he touches. Now, if only we could figure out how he can earn money doing that. -sigh- He's still mostly staying home with the babes, being the Best Dad Ever. But, because of my tenuous job situation, he's looking for work also.

Ethan is talking talking talking! He's starting to use "I" and "me" about half the time now, instead of only talking in the 3rd person. He's always telling stories about the things he's done or would like to do. He's sweet to Ellie and is learning how to gently put her binkie in her mouth and hand her toys when she drops them. He's running and jumping and swimming and getting so dirty every day!

Rayen is a mover! She's rolled over once, but mostly she scoots around kicking and rolling. She's using her hands a lot now, trying to shove everything she can reach into her giant mouth. She laughs and smiles all the time.

I love my sweet little family.

back to work?

I did an hour and a half sub job at SLCC today. It was really nice. I enjoy working. However, I also enjoy staying home with my babies. I wish I could stay home AND work. And then as I was driving home after only 25 min because the job got done early to take a nap because both babies were asleep, I realized once more that I do have both. I have the perfect job that enables me to be an involved mom and a satisfied professional. I love it!

I PASSED!!!

I am now a Professional Interpreter in the State of Utah!!! I finally passed my test!!

i am calm...i am calm...

I have been trying to pass this interpreting certification test for the past 3 (or so) years. I have taken the test some 10 (or so) times. I took it again about 2 weeks ago. There are 5 parts to this test and I have passed 4 of those 5. I have until the end of October to pass the final part, when my current certification lapses and I will no longer be able to work as a sign language interpreter.

Needless to say, I think about these facts at least one time every second of every day. I visualize joyous celebrations after receiving positive results. I imagine myself calling, or more likely texting everyone I know to tell them the great news (in all caps)! I daydream about a trip to Hawaii, graciously given to me by Brett's parents as a congratulatory gift. I think about the moment I read my results and it sinks in that I will never have to take that test again!

However, there are times when I begin to let myself think about what will happen if I don't pass. And I think about the feeling I have when I realize that I have failed and all the work I have done and all the time I have spent will be for nothing. But I can't think about that often, because it would paralyze me.

This test, honestly, is a bigger deal to me than my Masters degree. This is what I have been working toward since the time I took my first ASL class in 2001. I had a teacher ask me recently what I would be doing now if I weren't an interpreter. The question freaked me out. I love interpreting. I want to interpret for the rest of my career. This is what I do.

Okay, so my point is to ask everyone reading my blog to send their positive energies my way. I have a good friend who likes to ask those people important to her for prayers when she's feeling overwhelmed. I figure it can't hurt, right? So I'm asking for mental help right now. When I was preparing for this last test, I had 2 affirmations for myself: "I have many options available to me"; "I am prepared to accept whatever turn my life takes". Whatever happens, I will be fine. I will move on and keep doing whatever I need to do in order to live a fulfilling life. I can sit and think rationally about this situation and know that I will be happy no matter what happens. But I really super duper badly NEED to pass this test. So if you could please send me support in whatever form you feel--affirmations, prayers, thoughts, money, songs, etc, etc.

I will let you know as soon as I do how it all went. (suppress the panic induced hyperventilation) I am calm...I am calm...

forgotten already

Remember how last night I was talking to my mom about my interpreting certification testing and I got all freaked out because the State is taking longer to get results out and so I think I'll only have one more time to take the test before my certification lapses and I can't interpret anymore?

And remember how Brett and I are really struggling financially and I need to pass the test so that I can still work because he's in school but he recently started working another job so that we can try to pay our bills, but he can't work two jobs and go to school so I am going to be working full time this fall...if I can get any hours, that is. And if I'm still certified, that is.

But then remember how I was telling Brett about it and starting to freak out again and he said, "Or you can get a job bossing people around because you have an MBA." Ha. I had forgotten that I just got an MBA. Granted, many of my classmates are still unemployed and many people are looking for work. But me having an MBA helps my situation more than not having one. Whew!

school/work/real life...bah

School started last Monday. I'm still trying to get used to the new schedule, which mostly means taking naps every spare moment I have. My schedule is relatively less crazy than it has been in the past year. I'm only taking 9 graduate credit hours, working 20 hrs a week, and napping the rest of the time.

Mostly I am excited because I have just a little more than 9 weeks to go in my pregnancy. The reason why this makes me excited is because I am taking 4 classes right now and they are all done before my due date. That means I have less than 9 weeks of school left! And then I only have 6 credit hours left to take before my MBA is COMPLETELY DONE!!! Oh, the thrill of that thought.

Our Christmas break was so nice; to have a solid month off of school and work was just plain great. It was pleasant to spend all my time with Brett. Now that real life has started up again, I feel like so much of my time is spent on trivial activities that don't really make any contribution to the "big picture". That, I think (although I really don't have any idea) will change with a baby addition. Our lives will quickly be simplified down to diaper changing, feedings, and soothing infant agony. We will be forced to focus only on the things that are most important to us: family and home. I'll let you know how it turns out.

work...bah

I am so stressed out about my job right now that I can't do anything else. I can't think about anything else. I am trying my best to help achieve solutions for the problems we are having and I feel like I'm hitting wall after wall after wall.

Typically, when a job gets to this point for me, I quit. Interpreting has never felt like that to me before. I am so stressed and tired from work every day that I can't do anything else. And that makes me angry.

certification test...(insert dramatic music)

So next weekend I am taking my interpreting certification test, the one I blogged about a few times back. I'm excited to take it. I had a dream the other night that my close friends and family came to the test with me, to support me. And when it was my turn to go in and film my test, everyone came in with me. It was very heart-warming, but people kept standing in front of the camera and getting in my way and being too noisy. So I had to ask if I could start the test again, because I was having problems with all the people in the room. Once I finally got everyone out of the way and started testing again, I had totally lost my energy and I completely botched the test.

Very interesting. Aside from the foreboding dream, I'm very confident about my scheduled test and looking forward to getting it taken care of. I've been working as an interpreter for some time now and I have gained a lot of experience and knowledge. I'm sending my positive affirmations out into the cosmos: I am so happy that I passed all 5 parts of my test and that I am now a permanently certified interpreter!

the first week of school

The beginning of a new semester always throws me off. Especially since my professors have started emailing the class before the semester has actually started, with homework and readings to complete before our first class. Who knew that having email could bring such negative responsibilities with it! Of course, I never do the pre-semester homework, and so I feel slightly overwhelmed and behind from day 1.

Professionally, a lot of things are happening in the coming year for me. The one foremost on my mind is my interpreting certification. My Level 1 Certification will lapse in October 2009. This means I now have one year remaining to pass my test. Since my boss at the University asked me to learn a new interpreting system last year and I started graduate school at the same time, my focus has been somewhat spread out, and unfortunately diverted from this priority (the Level 2 Certification). Over the summer, I met with several mentors to work on professional development and getting closer to passing my test. I will continue working with those mentors. I also told my coordinator at the University that I couldn't do much work in the new signing system this semester, because I want interpreting to be my top priority right now. Happily, I got a lot of hours, and the vast majority are classes which require me to interpret (I'm only doing one cueing class every other week). I feel confident and excited about taking the test this year.

So, although I am still taking classes toward my graduate degree, I feel that my focus is shifted away from that, and so I am only taking 13.5 credit hours this semester. hee hee. I realize that I say only 13.5 graduate credits, but this really does seem like a light load--especially compared to my 18 credits per semester last year. The classes I am taking are interesting and my professors seem great so far, so I am excited about proceeding on with them.

We haven't had a lot of time to chat about it, but as far as I can tell, Brett is enjoying his classes as well. He's getting a bit stressed and overwhelmed because he feels behind already, but I think he'll do really well and enjoy his classes a lot. He's trying to figure out if he can fit an ASL class into his schedule for his non-technical credits. I really hope he can do it.

Because this blog has been pretty information intensive, I'll leave you with some kitty photos to make it a little more interesting.

excuse me?

I just placed a classified ad on KSL Classifieds and I got this very interesting message after the site accepted my ad:

"NOTE: It is recommended to have a potential buyer contact you via telephone before making a sell. You should be VERY suspicious of anyone calling from overseas, out of state, or via any form of relay service for the deaf."

According to KSL, Deaf people and relay interpreters must not be trusted! Very strange.