New year, new changes!

As we start a new school year, I reflect on how different the start of this year has been from last year. When school started last August, I was still very early into my pregnancy. The construction was still in progress and I was already getting anxious about having to change classrooms at 8 months pregnant.

A lot has changed so far for me this year. I've always been one to arrive around 7:00am, now I'm pulling in at 7:30ish (even though I'm up between 4:30 - 5:00am)! I definitely took for granted how quickly I could get myself up and out the door before having a child. Luckily, my new room is amazing and the space is much more open and inviting than the old room. While I'm rushed in the mornings, I look forward to watching to sun rise and the music ringing.

This year, I've felt overwhelmed - like I have more on my plate than I can handle. However, I'm also running on half the hours of sleep that I used to get.I've always had a work/personal life balance, but now that I have a baby, I've realized how much extra time I used to spend at work. Perhaps I wasn't efficient with my planning time during the day? Or I thought that to be a good teacher, I had to stay hours after school, even when I didn't have anything I needed to do. I'm adjusting to this new work - life balance, but it's taking some time to figure it all out! I'm looking for strategies to be more efficient during the day so I can get home to this cute little peanut!