J's First Day of Preschool

 

Today was J's first day of school.  I was a little nervous, but surprisingly it went really well.  I woke J up at 7:15.  He had breakfast and played a bit.  Then, I got him dressed and loaded the car.  Thankfully, Aaron was able to go into work a bit late, so he was able to see J and take some pictures with us. 

 

Once we got to J's school, we walked in no problem.  After putting J's stuff in his cubbies, he realized something was going down.  He started crying.  I picked him up, gave him a hug, and tried a diversion tactic- playing with a truck on the rug.  That's where I left him crying.  I knew that hanging around wasn't a good idea, so I left quickly.  When I called later to check on him, the report back was that he was playing and doing great!!!

 

I kept myself busy doing SAHM stuff.  You know grocery shopping, making dinner for a sick friend, and lunch at the tearoom with my mom.  It was a pretty good day, but I was very glad to go get my boy.  Mrs. Rickel said he had a great day and only cried at the beginning.  He didn't eat much of his lunch or nap, but overall he did really, really well.  What a relief!!!

 

 



 

After school, we went to Yummilicious for frozen yogurt.  My mom always took me to get ice cream or yogurt after every first day of school.  I think it's a great tradition, so I want to continue it with J.  He was hungry because he ate all of his vanilla yogurt with M&Ms.  As he was finishing up, he noticed the fan.  So of course, we had to go check it out and turn it off and on.

 

This last pic he is saying "high" because he had the fan on full blast!  He was cracking me up!!!

 

All in all it was a great day.  Now, the real test is Thursday. 

Day #2?  How will you go?

Changes

We have had a lot of changes going on around our house lately.  Obviously, pregnancy has been huge!!! Starting to think about adding another member to our family of three is exciting and scary all at the same time.
Another big thing is my job.  If you remember, I posted back in June about my last day at YMLA. You can read that post here.

When I posted that, I didn't really know what the future held for us.  My hope was that an elementary counselor position in the district would become available and I would be able to go work there part-time this fall.  That is really what Aaron and I had been hoping for all summer.  When August hit, and the counselor, whose job I might be taking, still hadn't secured a full-time position elsewhere, Aaron and I began really thinking about the possibilities. 

Like everyone else, money is always a concern.  If money were no object, I really think Aaron would have insisted after J was born I quit and just stay home.  However, money is a pretty big thing, so thankfully the last two years we have been blessed by me working part-time at a pretty amazing school.  Has it been perfect? No, but what situation is.  Has it been stressful? Absolutely.  You can't be a school counselor full-time or part-time and not have a pretty major set of  responsibilities weighing on your shoulders.  All that to say, I had a great job that was part-time, yet in many ways had full-time responsibilities.

So here I stand for the first time in 9 years with no home campus.  And it is weird.  Really weird.  I don't have anyone in an educational setting depending on me to show up and perform a duty whether it be running a classroom of seventh graders or taking care of the basic responsibilities of a school counselor. 

Would I love to be a stay at home mom?  Who wouldn't?   Well, there might be some women that would prefer to work.  However, I know that my family needs me to work if just in a part-time position.  So I am now in finding a part-time job mode.  I have some possibilities that I am hoping will work out.  I have applied to tutor and do some substitute teaching.  My hope is to work on the days J is at school. 

Until then, I will be a stay at home mom with no responsibility to a campus.  It may only be for about 3 or 4 weeks until the school year gets rolling, but I am going to enjoy this little space of time. 
With the new baby coming and not feeling so great all summer, my house needs an overhaul!!!
I hope to get our house more organized and baby ready.  I also hope to have lunch with a few friends I didn't get to have lunch with this summer because well you know why.

Happy First Day of School from a New (Sort of ) Stay at Home Mom that doesn't quite no what to do with herself!!!!

Weekend Recap

We had a pretty great weekend over here.  Saturday was busy!!!  We haven't had many of those lately, so it was a fun change of pace to have plans.

We started out our morning with Meet the Teacher at Jackson's school. 
I am so in love with the school J is going to this year.  If you remember we tried a Mother's Day out program in January that I only took him to twice.  Let's just say I wasn't feeling it.  Plus, J got super sick with RSV after his second time, so that just kind of sealed the deal for me.  We won't speak of that little hiccup and move on to saying this is J's first time to go to school.  Because in all honesty it is.
If you have to go to school, this would be the place.

Every where you look it is happy and totally decked out!!! I love that!!!  To me, having bulletin boards up and brightly colored signs lining the halls say I am a school.    This is the hallway leading up to the 2 year olds class.  I had to take a pic of Jackson's jersey.  His teachers theme this year is being a an All Star on the team. That would be why he is wearing his Texas Rangers gear.  She asked her students to wear their favorite jerseys or sports team shirt for Meet the Teacher.

 

J's teacher, Mrs. Rickel, had their names on the table with bubbles for them to take with them.  J made himself at home pretty quick pulling cars off the shelves and playing on the rug.  I was so relieved because I wanted him to play for a while and get used to the classroom.  In fact, he really didn't want to leave, but because the whole campus was open, we wanted to take Daddy on a tour. 

 

 

First stop was the Nature Center and petting zoo.  J and his class will go here as a class once a week and get a lesson.  Let's stop for a second and think about that.  How cool is that!!!  Real live animals?  Yep.  They have goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, pigs, a turkey, and a llama.  Inside the nature center there are turtles, fish and a rabbit.

The elementary kids plant gardens and watch them grow.  This is that garden.

J loved the gym!!!  He was pulling balls out and throwing them around.  He will have gym once a week, too!

This is a little courtyard in the middle of the campus, and of course J went straight for the cars!!!

 

We ended our tour with a visit by his class again.  J's idea!!!  Again, I want him to want to go in and explore, so we went back in for a few more minutes.  It was nice because all the other kids had cleared out, and we were able to talk to his teacher some more.

I can't tell you how good I feel about this decision to put him in school.  I am so excited for him to go and learn.  I think two days a week is going to be a perfect start into going to school. 

 

Tuesday is his first day, and I am nervous because I think there will be tears when I leave.  I just hope that he learns to love it so much that in a week or two he will be dragging me to his classroom.

 

After Meet the Teacher, we headed with my parents to Dallas for lunch with my aunt and cousin for my aunt's birthday.  We haven't gotten together since April, so it was nice to spend some time together as a family.

 

 

We had lunch at Uncle Julio's, and it was soooooo good!!!  Seriously, there chips and salsa and enchiladas are the best!!!

 

We got home around 5, and we just spent the rest of the day being lazy watching TV.  It really was a great Saturday!!!

 

Sunday was pretty typical with church, lunch, and a lazy afternoon.  We are savoring these last few Sundays before our small group starts meeting again, and we have a gatherings in the evenings for Bible study and fellowship.

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend, too!!!

 

We're Having Baby #2!!!

 

 

We are officially announcing we are having baby #2!!! 

 

 

It's really not that big of a secret because we have slowly been telling a few people here and there over the last two weeks.  But we were waiting for the "official sonogram" today to actually make the BIG announcement.

 

 

 

Here's a timeline of the pregnancy so far--

 

June 29- We took the test the day after we got back from our beach vacation.  We got a PREGNANT!!!

 

July 1- Aug 1: General tiredness and nausea.  Then, I began throwing up.  NOT FUN!!!

I called my doctor's office halfway through the month when I began throwing up and asked for advice.  I began taking half a Unisom and a B6 vitamin every night.  It sort of helped.

 

Aug. 1-  After more throwing up, my doctor prescribed Zofran.  Yay!!!  I started eating again!!!

 

Aug. 6- First doctor's appointment and "unofficial sonogram"

 

Aug. 6- 21-  Still have general ickiness and my appetite is hit or miss.  Still taking Zofran occasionally but overall much better.

 

Aug. 21- Official sonogram-  My due date has been moved from the original March 1 to February 22.

 

 

 

So earlier this week when I said I took an unintentional blog break.  This would be the reason why.  The entire month of July I was so EXHAUSTED.  Like I would lay on the couch A LOT!!!  Like my husband would come home in the evening to me laying on the couch.  If you know me, I don't just lay on the couch.  Needless to say, napping and watching TV during J's nap times became the norm instead of cooking, cleaning, and blogging.  And sadly, J has watched more Mickey Mouse over the last six weeks than I would like to admit.

 

I still have days I don't feel 100% (in energy levels and appetite), but it is so much better!!!

 

I am hoping now that I am 12 weeks (13 weeks according to the sonogram).  I will just continue to feel better and better. 

 

I am back!!!  And it feels good!!!

 



Jackson Hole 2014

In an effort to get caught up, I have another vacation post for you.  Every summer I (now we) go to my parents cabin up in Idaho, just across the pass from Jackson Hole. 
It really is one of my favorite places in the world, and I am so glad J will be able to experience this as he grows up.  The thing that I love most about going is how relaxed it is.  Now, having J living out a suitcase and in a hotel room on a vacation just isn't as easy.  It is so great to be able to go to this home away from home and be able to spread out with a baby/toddler.

J and I left on a Tuesday afternoon.  This was J's fifth airplane ride in his short life, but the first one he has had in a year.  He has changed so much since this time last year, so I was a little nervous as to how he would do.  Why do I worry?  He did great!!!  As my mom says, he is the perfect little traveler.  He is so portable and really adapts to his surrounding so well.

 

 

I honestly didn't take that many pictures.  We go every year and we don't do a whole lot, especially since J is still little.  The main thing we did with J was swim lessons.  Because I wasn't that impressed with the ones I got him at the beginning of the summer, my mom arranged for J to get some private ones at the resort swimming pool.  J had one swim lesson with Ms. Ruth last year, but this year we were able to get in 5 private lessons. 

 

As you can see, my dad went in with J during his first lesson.  However, the last three lessons J was getting in just with Ms. Ruth.  He loved her!!!  She really has the sweetest way about her.  It helps that she has three of her own under 5, so I think she knows a thing or two about working with toddlers!!!  J really is a water baby.  He has no fear of it!!! He was going under the water no problem.  Ruth told us at the last lesson that if she could work with him for one more week he would be swimming by himself.

 

J LOVED the splash pad at the pool!!!

 

 

One night we drove into town (Victor, ID) and went to the weekly outdoor concert.  They have it every Thursday night during the summer.  It is the coolest thing because everyone from town and surrounding areas bring their kids and set up chairs and blankets and hang out.  They have food trucks lined up.  It really is so much fun!!!  The best part is that the nights get chilly up there so you aren't sweating at 7 pm like you would be here in Texas.  I looked at my phone while were sitting there, and it was 67 degrees!!!  Needless to say, we all had to put on sweatshirts!!!

 

Another day we drove back into JH to go to the new children's museum.  The funny thing is that the museum is where the original church of Christ was until they relocated about 3 years ago. 

J had the BEST time!!!  He played and played and wanted to play some more.  In fact, we broke for lunch, and the GPa and J went back to play for another hour, so we could go shop the square.

We met at the park with a picnic.  Jeane, a lady and friend of my parents from the local church, met us for lunch.  She is the sweetest!!!

Like I said, the girls went and shopped for a bit and GPa took J back to play.  Then, we went back to get them and played another 30 minutes because J didn't want to leave.

 

I really wish we had something so small and fun in Texas.  Yes, there is the FW museum, which is great, but it's big and crowded.  The great thing about the one in JH is you can tell it's mainly the locals that take their kids because it's so relaxed and not crazy busy.

 

 

Another afternoon J went on the last 7 holes of the golf course with my dad.  I have a feeling my dad will be teaching him golf before too long.  From what I hear, J had the best time riding in the cart and getting out at each hole.

 

 

Another evening we met Jeane and Charlie for dinner at Warbirds Café in Driggs.  This is a little restaurant inside an airplane hanger, and it is probably the best food in the Teton Valley.  It never disappoints.  We ate on the patio.  As luck would have it THREE small planes landed during dinner.  J loved seeing the planes!!! 

 

 

And here are some more swimming pics from later on in the trip.  We LOVE Ruth!!!

 

 

 

And J in 2013 at swim lessons-

 

 

 

 

 

One day after swim lessons, we stayed and had lunch.  Can I just say that I love pool food!!!!  Maybe not all pool food, but resort pool is really good!

 

 

And look at J in 2013 eating his lunch-

 

 

 

 

And every year, we take a picture by this sign.  I think it will be a great marker to see J growing and changing over the years.  Unfortunately, the sign was not up J's first year because it was being repaired.  Here are this year's pics.

 

 

And last year (2013)-

 

 

 

 

 This is us at the airport heading home.  It was 6:45 am and J was delirious having been woken up at 5 am!!!

I took this last pic on the plane ride home.  He was sitting there looking so old watching a Mickey Mouse episode on my Kindle Fire.

 

We had another amazing trip to the cabin!!!  We are so blessed to have opportunity to go to the mountains every summer.  I hope it's a tradition J looks forward to every summer.