Who I am

I feel like I should let you in on me and who I am before I start posting a bunch of the crazy that is my classroom.  My name is Jeremie (pronounced just like a boy. Thanks a bunch for that Mom).  I live in a suburb of Kansas City with my two adorable babies.  I guess Addie isn’t technically a baby anymore, but I’m planning on denying that for pretty much ever.  I actually never thought I’d have kids. I told my (now) husband Andrew that I have 25 kids all day and then they go home and I get to sit on the couch.  Then a month after our wedding, I got pregnant with Addie.  Well, that turned out to be the greatest thing I ever didn’t mean to do.  She is…awesome.  She is the most perfect child for me.  Stubborn, smart, compassionate, funny… She told my mother in law that the chips she bought were “gross. They taste like dirt.”  I know it’s kinda rude, but she is two and she got it from Pinkalicious so you can’t be all mad at her.  Being a mom has changed me. It is SO cliché, I know, but ask anybody.  It softened me up a little, and it made me fight like heck for my students because now I can see her face on all of their bodies. I know what I want from her teachers someday and that wasn’t what I was giving my kids before her.  Here is my Addison.   Love this girl.

Then there’s Cooper. My nice, mellow, opposite of his sister little (big) guy.  He was twelve pounds when he was born!  My OB actually apologized to me after all was said and done.  But Coop ended up in the NICU for some breathing issues that they couldn’t figure out and I changed even more than I had with Addison.  I was reminded about what is important in this world- and it is about giving all that you’ve got to the people who need you.  We spent eight days in that scary place and then were lucky enough to have a healthy baby we could bring home. And now here we are six months later. Every time I look in his eyes I want to be better. What an awesome way to grow. Here’s a picture of the sweetest little boy ever.

Geez- this post was way more mushy than I intended it to be. I promise my next post about my classroom will sound snarkier.  I just wanted to introduce the reason I do what I do before I actually go do any of it. 

Rainbows and Butterflies

Well hey there.  This is my first journey into the blogging world and I must say, I’m pretty dang intimidated. I read a lot of blogs and all of the people who write them set a ridiculously high standard.  Then I read thetattooedteacher and she made me laugh so hard I was crying. Have you read her blog? Let me just tell you- she is hysterical. She tells it exactly like it is.  And that inspired me. I think I can do this and I can just be me. Something you should probably know if you’re going to spend any time here- I’m not all rainbows and butterflies.  Don’t get me wrong- I’d like to be. I love the blogging ladies who are.  I mean, for real. Who doesn’t just want to wrap Cara Carroll up in a big hug?  But that’s not really who I am.  I don’t really hug much. 

Yes, I teach first grade.  I love first grade. The curriculum, the kids, the have-to-pretend-to-be-peppy-and-call-everyone-friend-ten-thousand-times-a-day lifestyle.  But it is also heavy and scary.   Many of my students have parents who just can’t provide the support they’re going to need.  These kids have to get it from me, or they may never get it. Whoa. What a responsibility to take every single second of my life and make it worthy of that job- those little people.  Many of my kids have a scary life ahead of them, and they deserve the BEST I’ve got.  And then I also have two babies at home that deserve me too… and a husband… and a cat... and I feel that pressure and responsibility all dang day, every dang day.  So, nope.  You aren’t going to find rainbows and butterflies on this-here blog.  But you will find a girl working really hard to do things well who loves her job and somedays just has to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. I hope you'll come back.