My first hope for 2010 is that it brings Brian a job!  Maybe the subbing will help and Brian can have a job lined up for next school year with lots of subbing this semester!  He had to jump through numerous, money spending hoops to get here so I’m hoping it brings only good things.  Brian had to get a drug test, a physical, and a chest X-ray because he was exposed to TB once upon his working in the factory days!  All clear and ready to sub so keep your fingers crossed for him!

I hope that Gwyn can get back into a great daycare this year.  Gwyn was at an in-home daycare which is what I prefer and Tanya was just wonderful!  But she could fill up again before we know for sure if we need her.  I have been looking at preschools and am considering hiring a college student to run Gwyn to and from preschool then keep her after if Brian is working.  So we will just have to wait and see what happens with Brian and preschools.  Luckily I’m finding that we are getting Gwyn into preschool at an age prior to when it becomes competitive.  She will still be in the 2 year old class since she has a November birthday!  Most people apparently don’t think about preschool until their child is 3!

I hope that the New Year brings my family all they want and hope for.  I hope that my Mom finds peace in her new adventures and I think that only good things can arise from these life changes for her!  I hope that my Grandma builds her strength enough to go to rehab rather than a nursing home.  I hope that Ashley, my sister-in-law, finds herself prospering in her new business of Real Estate and I have no doubt that with my mother-in-law as a mentor that she will flourish!

I am confident that my year will be another great year teaching and working for the Stallings.  I truly am a very lucky person to have such great jobs that are flexible and supportive!

Now for an update on Gwyn!  She got a kitchen and lots of kitchen accessories for Christmas.  She loves to pretend she is cooking up something good and serves a lot of tea.  She also got a lot of new books which she loves to read over and over again.  When we are reading to her, she will just sit and look at the pictures for an hour!  We also found some of Brian’s old books which she has enjoyed reading and looking through.  We had to clean out her room of old toys to make way for the new toys.  We are putting them away in the barn for now given the chance of a sibling one day for Gwyn.  Granted that will be a while off in the future when I’ll probably be of “advanced maternal age” but we are keeping the toys none the less!

Gwyn is talking up a storm.  It is fun to have actual conversations with her now.  Like the other morning, Gwyn says “Turn on light, momma” and I turn on the light for Gwyn to say “thank you, momma”.  Then last evening she was helping me give the dogs their fish oil pills in peanut butter which the dogs lick off her fingers.  She said “Tess, you tickle Gwyn!” and was laughing the whole time.  There is still a lot she says that we are trying to figure out exactly what she is saying but for the most part we can understand what she is saying.  She is so much fun at this age and for the most part is a perfect little girl.  We couldn’t ask for better but as Brian says after the first 2 1/2 months of colic, we earned this good little girl!

I leave you with some pictures as usual… or should I say that Brian will leave you with some pictures!

Finally we have Keegan, who decided when Gwyn was away at Gymnastics tonight, he would take advantage of an unoccupied Princess couch…

Update on Me – The semester is almost over and I can’t hardly believe it.  I’m down to my last chapter and only one more full week before Thanksgiving.  Next semester, I teach 2 classes of Financial and 2 classes of Managerial Accounting.  The one down side to next semester is that they have me teaching 3 out of the 4 classes in Brewster which is an older building with limited smart classrooms and of course my classroom is not equipped with a projector.  So I will toting around a projector if I can get one everyday!  Other than this small down side, I’m looking forward to my next semester!

I got back into running but am sad to say that with the rain and sheer laziness on my part that I haven’t ran in about 2 weeks.  I hope to get out some this week.  I finished a 5k (3.1 miles) under 30 minutes a couple weeks ago which is pretty good for me since I usually run a 10 minute mile.  I came 6 out of 20 in my age group.  I’m running another 5k on December 6th so I need to start preparing again.

Update on Brian – Brian is waiting to get into Substitute Orientation for Pitt County.  He is going to the offices tomorrow because numerous calls has led no where.  We can probably get Gwyn daily care if needed between now and January.  In January, we may be able to get Gwyn back in daycare while a mother pulls her child out since she is having a baby.  I’m still hoping for good things!  In the mean time, Brian is selling more stuff on Ebay and we are thankful that we seem to sell everything we put up whether we have to list it twice or not.

Other than job hunting, Brian is staying home with Gwyn and they are learning lots of new things.  We are working on colors, more animal recognition and sounds, more body parts and features, and pretend play.

Update on Gwyn – Gwyn turned 2 on November 1st!  So hard to believe that two years has gone by so quickly!  We had a party on Halloween for her birthday.  It was extremely low key which is what we wanted.  We had pizza, chips & dip, and some applies with caramel dip.  When I said really low key, I meant it!  We had cake and ice cream for dessert.  It really was just family and close family friends!

Later on that evening, we went to Ashley and Sunny’s new house for a Halloween party and trick or treating.  I made Gwyn’s costume again this year.  She was a lion while Layla was Dorothy.  We were to have a tin man and scarecrow but that didn’t happen.  At any rate, Gwyn was not happy at first about her costume but I can’t say I blame her.  It was 70 plus degrees still at 6 pm and she is hot natured anyway.  But once we got the costume on her, she was happy to wear it; however, she doesn’t look very happy in any of the pictures we took that evening!

Gwyn is learning so much every day.  She loves to read so we are always looking for a good deal on books.  She talked grandma into reading for 45 minutes one evening when she put Gwyn to bed!  Secret is that she talks me into almost every day!  She just loves to sit and look at the pictures and she is starting to remember the books.  Aunt Bonnie bought her some books last year that are short and easy for Gwyn to carry around.  The one is about an elephant that sneezes at the end and she remembers that the elephant goes “Aa-a-atchoo” at the end and says it now when she looks at that page.

Gwyn is still in gymnastics and loves it!  She loves to roll and jump.  She is getting to be such a good jumper now that she isn’t scared and is even learning to do seat drops on the trampoline.  She also mastered the ladder this month.  She used to step over the rungs onto the floor until she couldn’t reach anymore then I would lift her up.  Now she knows to use the side for her hands and the rungs for her feet to get to the top.

Here are some pictures from Gwyn’s birthday and more of Halloween!  Hope you enjoy until next time.

And my favorite… “Cheese!!” (from Brian)

You would think this would open up more teaching opportunities, but not so much.  I was trying to become a substitute teacher here in Pitt County, much like I did in Charlotte and Cary, but there was a hiring freeze until recently.  Now our slot in daycare has closed and we are back to square one.   I love spending time with Gwyn and teaching her new things, but I miss being in the classroom and the relationship with my students.  Gwyn and I saw some of my former students this past Saturday at the ECU Homecoming Parade (they are in the band, which played in the parade) and it made me miss it that much more.  People tend to leave/retire in December, so keep your fingers crossed that a position (like the one last year) opens up and it’s back to school for me and Gwyn.

We have been busy despite the job hunt, driving up to Durham to see Tori Amos for Rachel’s birthday, then taking a trip to Charlotte to see our friends beautiful baby girl in September, multiple visits to Kinston to see my family, and this past Sunday, we went to a farm/pumpkin patch here in Greenville.  Below are a bunch of pictures from our visit, and as you can see Gwyn is getting bigger and bigger.  She is talking a lot more and almost always surprises me with her wisdom and skills.  A couple of weeks ago Gwyn and I were sitting in the living room when a jet flew over the house – she looked at me and pointed to the ceiling and said, “Airplane!”  This was new because we had never taught her that word or association, which I thought was cool enough to merit a Matchbox airplane toy at a trip to Target later that night.

While I don’t necessary think she will be a tomboy, she loves some Thomas the Tank Engine, which we watch through Netflix Instant Watch via our Xbox 360.  Now when we walk towards Barnes and Nobles (every Tuesday morning at 10:30am) for story time she yells, “Choo choo!” from the parking lot, through the store and finally back into the children’s book section. (which has a Thomas train table)  Santa recently bought her some choo choos at Toys R Us, which had a sale on some of the sets.  This past Friday we went to Toys R Us and I bought her some new Hot Wheels and five sections of track… the same exact track that I played with 30 years ago.  We put it up on the side of the chair and she rolled them down the track for over an hour.  (and here I thought we would have to have a boy for me to have cool toys to play with again)

Pictures below:

Here are the pictures from Sunday. Gwyn rode a pony for the first time!! Until next time (probably an update with Gwyn’s 2 year birthday party)…

And this is my favorite one from the day… they were having so much fun!

1)  We moved if you didn’t know prior to this notice.  We moved from Cary, North Carolina to Greenville, North Carolina at the end of the year.

2)  I got a new job as a teaching instructor at East Carolina University in the College of Business teaching accounting.  I absolutely love my new job and I love the new hours I keep.  I teach Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and have office hours Mondays and Wednesdays.  I start my day at 8 am and end it at 3:30 pm on my “long” days and on Fridays, I’m done at noon.  I will start doing tax work tomorrow on Tuesdays and Thursdays and half day on Saturdays.  I’m looking forward to this work as well and learning new things!

3)  Brian got a new job.  He will be teaching social studies at North Lenoir High School, which is actually his alma mater.  He starts as soon as he gets through all the paperwork which he is currently trying to expedite along by driving what he has completed to the Board of Education tomorrow.

4)  Gwyn started walking, about 90% of the time.  She has been walking for a while now, like since Christmas… holding someone’s hand or the wall.  She has progressively gotten more confident and hasn’t fallen too much.  She was flying around the house last week but was still leery to let go the wall, until this weekend when she just took off walking all over the place!

5)  Gwyn is going to be either a belly dancer, football referee, or an engineer when she grows up.  She LOVES to dance and I don’t think it could ever be the ballerina type dancing… she’s got way too much rhythm.  My guess is that she will be a belly dancer or something along those lines… see video at the end of the post!  So if she isn’t a dancer, then maybe a football referee as Brian has taught her to signal a touchdown.  So if you say “TOUCHDOWN!”, Gwyn puts her arms straight up in the air over her head!  Too cute in my opinion.

And if neither of those two occupations work out, then she is sure to be an engineer.  I was worried about having a girl… I wouldn’t know what to do with a girly girl.  Well, problem solved (or I hope so) because Gwyn doesn’t seem to be a girly girl!  She LOVES to examine things and anything new that she hasn’t seen before.  She will spend 30 plus minutes examining something new!  She doesn’t care too much for stuff animals or dolls.  Brian put a stuffed animal in her stroller she got for Christmas.  She immediately chucked the stuffed animal across the room and tried to put things like building blocks in the seat instead.

6)  Gwyn started daycare today.  I really like this in-home daycare facility that we chose and I’m looking forward to her time there.  Today was her first day, so nap time didn’t go too well considering how she has never had to nap at any certain time and has always done so in her crib.  Today was from noon – 2pm and on a cot.  I think that she will get used to it by the week’s end.  We have at least been trying to get her to nap from noon – 2 pm this past week in preparation.

7)  We are still unpacking and probably won’t post pictures of our new digs for quite some time.  We are hoping to get a storage building this weekend to help make room for storage type things outside and room for normal type stuff inside.  I’m sick of having a mountain bike in our dining room!  I’m also quite sick of eating on the couch!  This place is tiny!  I miss our old house.  The dogs and cats are always under our feet… and now add to that a 1 year old who is starting to walk.  Did I mention this place is way too small for 2 grown people, a one year old, 2 dogs and 3 cats?

So with that… you can see that we are extremely busy and trying to get settled in, and why it has taken us two months to post again.  We are enjoying being closer to Brian’s parents and sister’s family.  We have already taken in a very exciting youth basketball game, in which both teams were undefeated and Lexie was the only girl player on either team.  Lexie’s team won 36 to 35.  Needless to say, I was on the edge of my seat the entire game.  To boot… Gwyn loved to watch them play!

In other news, it snowed here last week.  So the great schedule I have for work was even better due to the snow – only worked 1 day last week… oh poor me!  However, now I am behind in class and trying to figure out where I can make up the days.

Here are a few videos of Gwyn and all her new adventures!  Also some pictures of the snow… until next time!



Gwyn can walk! from Brian Brassine on Vimeo


Shake Shake Shake from Brian Brassine on Vimeo

Christmas in Kinston and a few pictures from our short time in Greenville:

Bath Time with Gwyn in her new bathtub:

Remember that you can click on these Slide.com slideshows and see bigger versions, including each individual picture.

Students leave a mark on you that words cannot describe, a new life experience each and every day you step into the classroom. I really enjoyed my experience student teaching, and was verbally offered a job by the school system where I worked, but we had already decided to move closer to family in order to start our family.

But then August came and went with no teaching job offers for myself, something that is both very disappointing and frustrating since moving to Wake County almost two years ago. Now that another school year has started without any job offers, with word that Wake County, “hardly ever hires anyone without anything less than 2 years experience”, I find myself looking elsewhere.

August was a fun month despite the lack of job offers, with trips to Topsail Beach to visit Rachel’s family, a trip to Kinston for my niece’s 1 year birthday party and a trip to Louisville, KY at the end of the month to visit friends we met while living in Charlotte. Rachel has posted about all of these events, but I wanted to say that it was a lot of fun and look forward to more of the same next summer, though maybe it will be a little cooler in Louisville the next visit.

I have been trying to find time to read again when I am not hanging out with family or friends, or playing Rock Band or (released yesterday) Rock Band 2 with friends via my Xbox 360. I read the Watchmen graphic novel while at Topsail Beach and was blown away by the story and artwork; the movie (coming out early next year) looks to be amazing by early accounts. Kevin Smith saw an early viewing and said, “I saw Watchmen. It’s f*%@ing astounding.” ‘Nuff said, indeed.

I have also started to re-read book 11 of the late Robert Jordan’s ‘Wheel of Time’ series, A Knife of Dreams, a book I started when it was released in October of 2005. I could never find time to finish it with graduate classes, student teaching, moving and eventually the birth of Gwyn. I am looking forward to the last book of the ‘Wheel of Time’ series, to be written by another fantasy author named Brandon Sanderson, handpicked by Jordan’s widow. Sanderson will have Jordan’s detailed notes, audio recordings from his hospital bed and a ton of help to fill some very big shoes in tying up a great series that started over 16 years ago!

I mentioned gaming and politics, one being easier to talk about with friends and family, but both interests of mine as a 34 year old self proclaimed geek. You might be saying, “No, Brian… you aren’t a geek!” but then you would see our computer desk fitted with a Star Wars desktop daily calendar, a Spider-Spud Mr. Potato Head, Troll the Skull from PvPOnline.com fame and a Star Trek coffee mug full of pencils and comically nod to yourself.

A couple of weeks ago Rock the Vote! started a very interesting campaign that allows, “Xbox 360 owners to register to vote, participate in presidential polls and voice their opinions to the presidential candidates.” Xbox 360 owners can download a “gamerpic” of their candidate of choice, or even one that says you are undecided.

You can see my gamertag here, my candidate of choice should have been obvious to most, but I am not one to beat you over the head with the why and how of who I support, but I do suggest that if you think something being said is questionable on both sides of the campaign, to go here and read for yourself: http://www.factcheck.org

I think this is remarkable, and if I were actually teaching right now I would use this in one of my lessons. The 2008 election is not only historical in that we are guaranteed either a female Vice President or a black President; it is reaching out to people in new and exciting ways to get them to be a part of the whole election process. Something I believe is far more important than a “Power of Pride” bumper sticker or a ribbon car magnet made in China.

Finally, what you truly came here to see and read about is Gwyn, and I will not disappoint what small readership we have here at our little blog. Gwyneth is getting bigger every day, still giving “kisses” with a gentle headbutt and still having trouble with separation anxiety when we put her to bed at night. She is starting to cruise more along the couch, ottoman and cabinets in the kitchen, and has recently started to “dance” when listening to music (80s channel) or when Scott and I play Rock Band here at the house.

Tonight she was crawling around the floor when Rachel got home from work, and I was lucky enough to catch her having a grand old time when she set her sights on the cats in the kitchen. (I apologize for the quality – this was taken with my cell phone)

Make sure your speakers are turned up to hear what has become my favorite sound of all time…

Gwyn and the Cats from Brian Brassine on Vimeo.