Yes, I'm still here....

I've been kind of bad with blogging lately....but I do have good excuses, mainly named Max and Harley. Life with a toddler and a puppy is double trouble! We've been working extra hard lately on the walking with Max...and although he IS making progress and showing improvement, my ever so impatient self is still hoping he starts really walking SOON. In order for him to walk 1o-12 independent steps, my hubby and I will bribe him with either the remote control, our cell phones or the computer mouse (three of his faves!). When it's just us working with him, most of the time he's in a good mood and will cooperate for awhile. When his physical therapist comes, though, Max SCREAMS for me the entire time she's there....making it quite difficult for her to work with him. Although Max is showing more confidence in his steps, he has yet to stand himself up in the middle of the floor and just either stand or walk. He just turned 16 months, and our goal is really for him to be walking by 18 months...that means April 21st, people! Moving on to the next baby in the house, Harley and her "puppy stage" are in full swing. She is biting everything and everyone. We do have her in one-on-one puppy training classes once a week, tomorrow being our third class out of six. Our trainer assured us that by the time our classes are over, she should be a lot calmer. She really is a smart dog and fast learner....at 12 weeks old, she's pretty much potty trained, knows how to sit, fetch and walk pretty well on a lease. She's getting into a little bit of a barking stage right now too, which we're working through. I can't wait until the summer when she's able to run off all of her energy outside and at the lake....she will be in 7th heaven!

In other news, the weather SUCKS. I've gone back and forth with the idea of getting out of here and going somewhere warm for an extended weekend or even Spring Break. We thought about taking Max to Disney World since we really wanted to take a vacation as a family of three before another baby comes along (no, I'm not pregnant...yet)....but we do think that Max would still be a little young, and it'd be kind of a waste of money since he wouldn't really be able to do much yet. We also tossed around the idea of going to Vegas since my hubby has never been there....but everything I've looked up regarding Vegas is so dang expensive, plus all the money you'll spend once you get there! There's also the issue of us tossing around the idea of trying to cut back and pay off my husband's car in order to get that payment out of our monthly budget. I'm really not too happy about the idea of spending our entire tax refund on paying down his car loan....as selfish as this sounds, I would like to see a little bit of that money go towards something fun. Although I guess an extra $325 in the montly budget would be fun as well, but my impatient self is all about immediate gratification though. We'll see. Also lingering over us right now is my husband's impending shoulder surgery. Although it doesn't sound like too complicated of a procedure with a quick recovery period, he will be off work for 4-6 weeks due to the intensity of his job. We'll still be receving 80% of his paycheck though, so it's almost like a mini-vacation for him and I, so I'm kind of happy with that :) We're currently debating when to schedule the surgery, in the Spring or Summer. When he does go back to work, he may have the opportunity to get on a better shift, which would be AWESOME...keeping my fingers crossed for that one!

Anywho, in the work department, I still have some time until I know my fate with my current position. Formal evaluations are due at the end of March in which I will find out if my contract will be renewed with my corporation....then in late April I will find out if I am being laid off from the coporation. With the current cut in education funds by Indiana, several school corporation are laying off several teachers and cutting school programs. Since I am quite low on the seniority list (third from the bottom, to be exact!), I have much reason to believe I will be laid off. Since I am in a unique position, though, there is a chance that the lay-offs may not touch me. Regardless, I have been exploring other avenues of employment and will be employed either way the cards fall...so, I'm not stressing like a lot of others are :)

That's all I have for now! I hope everyone's keeping their heads up in this crappy weather.....hey, it's almost March, maybe we'll see a few 40 degree days in there somewhere!