mrs. barnum, can you help me?

my three least favorite words are "back to school" because it officially marks the end of summer. oh well. good thing i love my job :) last year i worked at south elementary with a boy who was severely autistic (we will call him...joey). it was by far the hardest job i have ever had in my life and i ended up having to quit a month earlier than planned because as my pregnancy progressed "joey" became obsessed with my growing belly and was constantly trying to push on it. i loved "joey" and i loved teaching him but i was relieved when my time with him came to an end. his parents decided to move him to self containment this year which meant something new was waiting in my future. after 7 months of bumming around at home i went back to work at south and i am SO EXCITED for this school year! my main student is a girl who is super smart but just can't read (she is in 4th grade but only on a 2nd grade reading level). she is really sweet and i cant wait to work with her more. the teacher i am working with is in my ward (so was the teacher last year...how random) and she is actually our friend's mom...she will be a blast to work with. i think my favorite part about this year is that i get to work with the WHOLE class instead of just my student. before i worked at south, i worked at east elementary for 2 years and i got to do assessments, help with reading, and grade papers...i wasn't attached to just one child and i really enjoyed myself. last year i was with "joey" constantly because he needed so much help and i'm not going to lie; it was a challenge. i don't think there will be many, if any, days i go home crying because of my frustration. at first, i was a little worried about leaving mason and becoming a working mom but things ended up working out really well. my mom will watch mason for most of the time but curtis' schedule allows him to pick mason up early on thursday and friday and wednesdays are early out so my mom will only have mason the whole 3 three hours on mondays and tuesdays. as difficult as this child has been those three hours are as precious as gold to me! it is SO nice to get out of the house and do something that i really enjoy. eventually i will be a stay at home mom but this is just right for the time being. curtis has been really supportive (he is great!) and me working is giving him the chance to spend some one-on-one time with mason. have i ever mentioned how much i love my life :)