Guess who used the potty today!

Me!!!! We are no where near potty trained, we could be if I put more effort into it. But Margot is definitely interested. In face today she did not have a diaper on, which is nothing new and she had to go...number 1 and 2 so she found a potty and went.

She is not a fan of applause or praise. It's just when a girls gotta go a girls gotta go. Love my Giddy!

His first award at big school

Yesterday when I picked up Noah at his classroom door, he had something big to tell me. I knew because of the excitement in his eyes and the way his words were flying out of his mouth so fast they were getting all jumbled.

I got him from the doorway and gave him a big hug and told him how super proud I was of him. Then it took our entire walk to the car for him to finish telling me he got the "Super Rester" award yesterday. This folks is huge! Noah is sweet, kind and compassionate to his core, but a "rester" he is not. So proud of my boy. So far no conduct circles although he did tell me the worst part of his day yesterday was listening to why all the other kids got them. He didn't want anyone to get them. That meant no treasure box. I thought for sure that he would've gotten at least one by now for his chattiness. Guess he's out to prove me wrong and be like his sister with a perfect record.

Here he is with his award.  There was also a blue Airhead taped to it, but he ate it on the way home yesterday!

The Nay-Nee

All of my children have blankets or blankies. They all got their own (all the same kind) when I was pregnant with them. Meredith has green (because she was supposed to be a surprise), Noah blue and Margot pink.  My oldest two have always slept with their blankies, but they never needed them.  It was the paci's they could not live without.  I was expecting the same with Margot, but if Margot has taught me anything it is to always expect the unexpected.

She has never liked her pink blankie.  It still sits unused in our linen closet upstairs.  She has however fell madly in love with one that was given to Meredith from a friend when she was born. I guess it's my own fault since I covered her with Meredith's old one from the day she came home from the hosptial. Mainly because it was smaller and warmer. And since she could speak she has named it Nay-nee, which is a loose translation for blankie. And honey she cannot breathe, eat or most importantly sleep without that nay-nee.

We once left it and our bag of important documents (like plane confirmations, disney tickets and birth certificates for the kids) on a monorail at Disney world. I started freaking out. Not because of all the important papers that were lost, but because I knew that no one in Orlando was going to get a wink of sleep without that nay-nee. Thankfully josh and I climbed on every monorail that passed through our hotel and we located it within a half hour. Thank God for small miracles. The documents were there too.

I came home thinking it would be smart to order a back up Nay-nee.  However our original was 5 years old then and washed frequently.  The textures were so vastly different, I knew immediately that a back-up was never going to work.  It now sits to her pink blankie that I bought for her while she was in utero.

That being said the Nay-nee is now like my 4th child. I don't leave home without it and I never leave it at a friends house without permission or without leaving my 3rd child behind with it.

So you can imagine how tough blankie washing day is. I can't just sneak off and wash it. She will then walk around the house yelling "Nay-nee where are you?" And then cry all day until we " fine it momma fine it."  And you can't take it from her when she is sleeping or switch it out for another impostor blankie.  She will call you out on it within twenty minutes.  I promise.  So I've come to learn that telling her, that her Nay-nee needs a bath and having her help me put it in the washer is the best method to go about washing it. She is actually the one that throws it in. Then we normally check on it several times until it is done and depending on her mood we can then easily or forcefully with lots of tears throw it into the dryer. However I must confess, I've been known to give it to her wet.  Margot is a great fit thrower when she does not get her way.  Re-reading that statement makes me think that I may need to take a look at some discipline issues....hmmmpf.

Back to the point....Today the Nay-nee was filthy and it smelled and I was at home waiting for a delivery and nap time was far off (see how much planning goes into the washing of the damn Nay-nee) so we threw it in begrudgingly together.

We checked on it together about 5 times. Then I couldn't find Margot and walked into the laundry room and found this....

I said..."Giddy how did you get up there?"  And I got her down and she showed me.  It's like she is spiderman!

I was impressed, but I knew I had to nip that behavior in the butt immediately.  so I took her down and told her no-no.  And that it was dangerous and as I was pulling her off she grabbed the lid and tried to force it open.  It didn't work.

When she realized the lid wasn't budging she peered in and in the softest voice said "Nay-nee I wuv ooo!"

Fist day of school - 2012/13

6 a.m. came early.

Real early.

In fact when Josh woke me up I asked for 5 more minutes and then realized I had two small people in our bed with us.  And then I realized that school didn't care how many times I snoozed.  It was going to start on time regardless and I couldn't be the mom that got us there late on the first day.  Seriously.

I jumped out the bed and showered and then promptly threw up.  My nerves were on edge.  Noah was starting BIG school today.  Like real school.  The real deal.  And I wasn't sure how that was going to go.  I was a ball of nerves.  He got up at 5:30 with excitement and got in our bed.  He couldn't wait!  I was hoping school exceeded all his little expectations.

After my brief moment of panic, it was 6:30 and luckily everyone was up and in full swing.  After our summer days of sleeping in until 9 and 9:30am, we were on it!  We had time to eat, get dressed, and take pics.

And my did they look cute!  Josh was inside dressing Giddy so she missed the photo-ops and it's cloudy because my camera had not adjusted to the hot Mississippi weather outside.  So please excuse the crummy cloudiness.

I even had time to make my own cheesy signs.  Thanks pinterest for the idea.  Although it doesn't look half as cute as the ones I saw there.  Oh well.  It happened right?

After our photo-op we loaded into the car and headed to school, chatting about it the entire way.  We turned onto the street the school was on and it was a MADHOUSE.  Oh my word.  There were cars and kids everywhere and no parking spots to be had.  I had forgotten about that.  Luckily we found a spot and were able to grab a picture in my favorite location, one that I have made a tradition each year.  Now Noah is in that picture too.  Sniff, sniff.

It's not the best, because I had a camera and a baby in the arm.  We hadn't found Josh yet in the sea of cars and people.  It was crazy.  We then headed inside and to the first grade hall first.  Of course we bumped into tons of friends and moms along the way so it took us some time navigating our way.

At some point I looked at my Noah and grabbed his hand and said "Don't worry buddy, I know you are nervous, but it is going to be a GREAT day!"  To which he quickly replied "I not nervous Momma."  And he wasn't.  He rocked Pre-K!

When we got to Mere's first grade room it was pure chaos.  Lots of parents milling around, which made dropping Mere off so much harder.  She wanted us to stay, but we still had to get Noah to his class and we knew staying would just make leaving harder.  This is my third year dropping her off, I knew what to expect.  She never shed a tear, but she got damn close.  She ran into a friend and that made it so much easier.  Here she is with her best little friend.  It's always awesome to see a familiar face.

We then headed in and started depositing all her stuff where it needed to be.  Her supplies that were added at "Meet the Teacher" day and the ones we got wrong to begin with.  We also dropped off all my homework and her lunch box.  I then left her with her teacher with a quick kiss good-bye.  I knew my big girl would do just fine. 

When we finished our good-byes with Meredith, I picked up Noah and literally ran back upstairs to his room, Josh towing and running with Margot behind me.  We made it to Noah's room in the nick of time and said our good-bye's at the door.  His teacher sent out a sweet email reminding parents that was her policy.  It's a good policy for good reasons.  Of course I had to grab one quick picture outside of his door, although he was done with pictures at this point and ready to join his new friends.  

Noah gave me the biggest hug and kiss and told me not to forget to pick him up and that he loved me most.  He then headed in with his teacher asking questions and following directions on what to do.  He did not even come close to shedding a tear.  Neither did I.  It warmed my heart to see him so happy and so confident.  I love that boy and that girl.  

When I finished dropping Noah off I ran back down to peak in on Mere one more time.  She was sitting at her desk, doing her work and talking to her little friend with a smile on her face.  I knew it was time to head out with my littlest tike.  The two bigs were going to survive their first day.

The day flew by.  Of course Margot and I stayed busy.  We went to the gym, the doctor, lunch and then a quick visit to see Poppa and before we knew it, it was time to get the big kids.  While I thought about the two of them often throughout the day and wondered how they were doing.  My baby girl asked for them ALL day.  "Go get O-wah....go get sissy!"  "O-wah at kool...me kool momma!"  "GO get O-wah!"  "SissY"

When we pulled up at 2:45pm and I said let's go get the kids she screamed "YAY get O-wah....get Sissy!"  I think she might have missed them just a touch!

I was nervous on how the first days were going to go.  While I was sure Meredith would do fine and knew what to expect, I hope she liked it.  She did, but she said they did A LOT of work.  She missed Kindergarten.

Noah came out beaming.  It is no lie when I say the first words out of his mouth were..."I FREAKING LOVE SCHOOL!"  If you know my Noah, you can practically hear him saying it too.

He absolutely had a blast today.  He even told me that he didn't have to nap or rest his eyes.  He just had to lay quietly and listen to the story and music for a little while.  His teacher explained that nap time was the one thing that worried and concerned him all day.  I'll be honest it worried and concerned me too.  She helped him by saying it would pass by super quick and then they would have snack time and go home, to which he asked her "How quick?" and "How many minutes?"  She said that it the only time in the day that he got a little teary, but he recovered quickly when she told him super quick.  He was beaming as he explained that he did not mind nap time anymore in his own Noah way.  He was so excited about school.  He just kept repeating " I LOVE SCHOOL MOMMA!"

Their days could not have gone better.  They were beaming and smiling and declaring their love for school all the way to the car,. while waving and smiling at all their friends, new and old.  Let's hope tomorrow goes as well as today.  And now I'm off to bed, because 6a.m. is kicking my ass.

The Summer....A letter of apology

Dear Children,

The summer is over and I'm not sure if I should rejoice and celebrate or cry.  It's been a summer.  Our house has been re-listed, which meant loads of cleaning and showing and this momma stressing.  Your Poppa had a really big surgery and had a very rough recovery.  It stressed me, Nanny and Mimi out.  There were ups and downs and all kinds of bumps in the road.  The good news he is home and now driving Mimi crazy while on a road to a full recovery.

So I guess those things were stressful and I admit I was a little stressed, and therefore I let your summer down.  I let you stay up late and then woke you up early for the gym.  I did fun things with you, but stayed on you correcting you like little soldiers the entire time we did the fun things. I never got into the moment.  I was always sort of removed and my mind somewhere else.  I hardly ever enjoyed or seized the moment.  I was tired and lazy.

We had our fair share of days at the pool.  We took 2 vacations, although one as shortened and rainy the entire time.  You had a lot of babysitters and days home.  You didn't seem to mind.  It was probably nice to not have me breathing down your neck yelling to keep the house orderly or stop fighting.

We skipped out on the summer reading program at the library, even though I had the best intentions and signed us all up.  We only made one trip and one event.  I didn't even get the books we checked out back on time and we never checked any out again all summer.  You still read at home though.  Meredith you read to everyone.  You did your workbooks and you painted with watercolors and you cut and glued and used all sorts of pipe cleaners.  But I always fussed about the mess.  We had movie nights, but the popcorn wasn't there.

I bought cup cake mix and lots of icing and sprinkles and declared on the first day that we were baking them on the first day off.  The mix and icing and sprinkles still sit on the pantry shelf.

We did playdates, but not as many as we normally do.  We went to the pool and we did camps, and we stayed busy.  We fit in the children's museum and waterpark, but I always felt overwhelmed.  We went to the movies and jumpy places.  We did chuck-e-cheese and maybe we did Gattitown, I really just can't remember.  We ate out a lot, like all summer and you often asked for home-cooked meals.  You spent a lot of nights with just your dad, while I sat with Mimi at the hospital.  I missed you.

I guess in a nutshell, I'm apologizing.  For being a mom who was missing from the moment this summer.  I promise to always do better.  You guys were 6,4 and 2.  I expected and demanded you act a lot older.  It wasn't fair and this Momma is sorry.

I love you guys and I'm already sad that school is back in, but I promise, come 3 o'clock I'm going to the bestest momma in the world.  And next summer....it's going to freaking ROCK!  Thanksgiving Break, Christmas Break and Spring Break too!

Love,
Momma

Back to school - Meeting the teachers

Today was "Meet the Teacher" day at my oldest two tikes school.  That's right I have two tikes going to big school.  Part of me is so freaking excited....woohoo....the bickering at home is ending.  And part of me is so sad....oh how I will miss those two boogers.  And part of me is overjoyed to get some one on one time with my littlest and I am pretty sure she will enjoy it too, even though I know she will shed many a tear as we drop those big ones off.

Noah excited to finally be going to big school.

Yes, Noah is going to big school and that is very bittersweet for me. Mainly because my boy is still so baby.  He needs me to dress him, brush his teeth, put on his shoes and wipe his little heiny.  And yes, those are all things he can do and is perfectly capable of, but things he still prefers his momma to do, because he is my baby.  His wife is going to love me one day.  He still uses that baby talk and baby voice and he is still so perfectly innocent.  I'm afraid big school is going to make him grow up a little and change some of those baby things.  However I know he needs gain some independence and a little bit of self-control (okay a lot) and I know it's time.  At least that is what my husband tells me.  And most importantly I know he is ready for school.  He loves to learn and he is so inquisitive.

He was a littler nervous, but once he went in to his classroom he was right at home.

And his teacher Mrs. V and her assistant Mrs. R seemed great.  I know he is going to have a great  year.

Meredith was pretty excited about starting first grade.  She loves her school and has had two fantastic years here.  She also loves her friends at school so she was more than happy to be going back to see them.  So yes, she was pretty excited about starting back, although I am sure she won't be come 6:30 Wednesday am.  Today though she was all smiles.  She was also excited to be moving to a new floor in her school.  She is going to the 1st and 2nd grade floor, which is a very BIG deal.

She was little shy when she went in to her classroom.  We located her desk and her teacher went over a few things with her.  Like what will happen first thing in the morning when she gets there.  Where she will sit, where her mailbox will be and how she will choose her lunch for the day.  I also realized she will be using real text books this  year, not just work books, but state issued text books.  She is very excited about accelerated reader, since she is reading anything and everything.  She has her own desk now, not just a table and she will have homework every single night.  It's the real deal now...spelling test, vocabulary words, math test....1st grade.  I know Mrs. G and Mere will have a great year.

After we met the teachers and dropped off the supplies we left with big smiles on our faces and a lot of paperwork/homework for me.  Noah cannot wait to go back.  He wanted to know how many sleeps until Wednesday and then told Mrs. V he would see her then.  I'm pretty sure he would have stayed with her all day today.  Meredith listened to all the homework rules, her weekly writer's suitcase assignment, the various tests and other work and decided that she wasn't so sure about 1st grade.  Josh and I had a good laugh and assured her she would be just fine.

It's been a while...

I guess I unintentionally took another summer off.  Blogging has been one of those things that I have not wanted to do.  The thought of even logging into Blogger has scared me.  Seriously.  I've been overwhelmed, between my dad being in the hospital, trying to sell the house, selling the house, un-selling the house and now trying to re-sell the house.  Yeah I guess you get it.  But I want to record as much as my kids life growing up as I can and how I coped and handled it all.  Let's just say I've been swamped. So I'm back and I'm going to do my best, to blog every week day.  Especially since I now, well as of Wednesday, will have 2 in school full time and one that still naps!  FREE time!  I have no clue what I will do with it.  Woohoo!  I'm also going to go and back-blog a little.  Try and at least hit highlights, like birthdays, anniversaries and the vacations.  We shall see!