Spring is in the air!

Well it has really felt like spring this week! We've had a day here and there in the past month or so where we've had spring weather, but this has been the first week where it's been consistent. Yesterday it even got into the 70's! I love spring; it's my favorite season. I love it when the temps are in the 60's and 70's, and I love to see the flowers start to bloom. Our grass has turned green again which is also nice. The trees are still bare though.

And of course today I hit the 26 week mark. WOOHOO! The third tri is very close in sight now! I am so thankful my little girl has made it this far! Only 3 more months until I can hold her in my arms!!!

Today I am going to start the process of trying to line up babysitters for the fall. Unfortunately my 8:00 class is still up in the air. Hopefully my fall schedule can be finalized SOON as I want to have the babysitters lined up before they leave at the end of this semester. I do know I'll need babysitters from 9-10:50 MWF so I guess I'll at least work on that. How it goes in the fall will determine whether I work FT or PT next spring.

One motivation to keep working FT (particularly if my plan of hiring a babysitter to watch her for 9 hours a week in my office works out) would be that if I work FT until she's 22 months old, I could then take a year off (at half pay) fall 2010-spring 2011. I wouldn't be eligible for a sabbatical if I use parental leave between now and then. My sabbatical application would be due in January 2009 if I want to have off in 2010-11. I could take one semester off at full-pay, but I think I'd rather have a full year off at half-pay. I would have to accomplish some sort of project in that time, but I wouldn't have to be on campus At All. I would feel like a SAHM during that year which might be wonderful timing if baby #2 is born or adopted in 2010 like we are hoping although of course since this baby took 6 years we know that we have no clue as to when a second child may become a part of our family. Yes, there are folks out there who decide they want a baby and get pg within a few months of when they started trying, but that hasn't been the case for us by any stretch of the imagination! I remember once a friend was trying to show empathy for my situation (this was a few years ago). She said she could relate to how awful it was emotionally to stare at a one lined hpt. I tried not to scream or laugh because the reason she thought she could relate was that it took her TWO months to conceive (so ONE month she had to see a BFN). Oh my goodness - she thinks she can relate to seeing bfn's for years after seeing them in one month?!?!? Oh well I know she meant well. Anyhow I think I want to mull over some ideas of what my "project" would be just in case I decide to do a sabbatical as it would be nice if I already have some of the planning done in case I decide to go that route so I can devote a shorter amount of time to my sabbatical application after she arrives. :-)