Many teachers use the summer to spend more time with their families, but this past summer looked different for two teachers who welcomed new members into their families. Science teacher Leslie Heise welcomed her second child, Lauren, and math teacher Adam Vogt welcomed his third child, Ava.
Heise and her family of four began this summer with a vacation.
“We went down to Kansas City to go to a Royals baseball game, and that was probably one of my favorite things. We got really lucky. The weather was beautiful, so Lauren was super happy. She loves being outside, and Charlotte absolutely loved it, so it was exciting for her,” said Heise.
Even though Vogt’s family stayed home most of the summer, they were still able to have some fun family moments.
“We got to take a lot more walks this summer because we’ve always been home. So that was kind of fun walking around Yutan,” Vogt said.
Both teachers also spent a lot of time just adjusting to a new family dynamic.
“It’s been very, very busy getting used to the third. Going from one to two is pretty easy, but two to three has been a little bit more challenging,” Vogt said.
It’s not always the newborn that needs extra attention: it might be the other kids.
“I would say challenges are staying up with a newborn but then also having a five and two-year-old that wake up in the middle of the night and want to come into your room too. So even if one kid sleeps well, maybe the other two aren’t,” Vogt said.
For Heise, even adjusting to two kids offers challenges.
“So my husband, Connor, has used the expression that now we are really parenting, and I always laugh because we’ve been parenting since we had Charlotte,” Heise said. “But what he means by that is now both of us are always busy or actively doing something, whereas when we just had one child, there were two adults, someone could take a break if you needed one, and that doesn’t happen as often.”
One advantage that has helped Heise manage was having experience with a girl.
“I feel like it was giving us confidence that we knew what we were doing because we already had a daughter,” Heise said.
A girl was a bit more of an adjustment for Vogt’s family since they had two boys.
“I would say that it’s also affected our kids because the two boys don’t get quite as much attention. They’re five and two, so they’ve been a little bit neglected, but they feel like maybe they’re not getting as much time from Mom and Dad,” Vogt said.
Despite any challenges, the positive moments make it worth it.
“I would say the best moments are probably seeing our two older boys just interact with our newborn, and now she’s starting to smile a little bit, so it’s been a lot of fun,” Vogt said.
Along with Vogt, Heise’s family has had some enjoyable moments.
“It has been challenging at times, but it’s been a lot of fun to watch our family grow and think about what it’s going to look like a year from now and five years from now, when our kids have a built-in best friend,” Heise said.
As the summer ended and the school year began, both teachers did their best to juggle this new addition and their classes.
“It’s very chaotic at times, and it’s hard to switch from mom to teacher mode quickly every day. There’s a lot of extra details that go into being a mom of a newborn in that first year of life, and so those make some of your time commitments a little stressed,” Heise said. “So it’s been busy, but it’s something I’ve done before, so I’m confident that I can get through it.”
