Crabby Mama

It all began on Sunday. Because we were going to miss Erin’s preschool open house on Friday, her teacher volunteered to meet us at the classroom on Sunday to sign all the papers and see the classroom. Erin’s teachers this year are Ms Heidi and Ms Jill. I was really happy to hear that academics are a big part of the curriculum in her classroom. I was also happy to hear that their “Lunch Bunch” is a drop-in thing. Any day I want her to stay until 2 instead of 12, I just have to send in her lunch and the $10 fee and she can stay. So nice if I decided to do a playdate that will run long. Ms Heidi told me that usually if a child has a birthday that week, that family will be responsible for providing the class snacks for the week. And guess what! Erin’s birthday was the only one in August. So I am this week’s snack Mom.

Yesterday we had Leah’s Meet the Teacher at her school. She had gotten her teacher assignment that morning and was assigned a MAN! Mr. Bellamy. I was a little taken aback, especially for kindergarten. But I decided to have an open mind. We arrive at the event and I immediately join the PTA and volunteer to help with the school store. We search around for her classroom and have to walk through another classroom to get to it. There is a very young girl in there, about 18 or so and an old very large black man. My heart sank a bit. He was just so OLD. I began to worry about it being a case of someone waiting to retire. Mr B told us he loves K and had been teaching it since 1972. Holy crap! I left still apprehensive about the school year.

Today was THE day. I am so glad we had 3 people to get everyone ready. It was quite the chore. It had been raining off and on all night. Just before we loaded the car, the monsoon arrived. It was almost blowing the umbrellas inside out. I was SO sad that I wasn’t going to get to walk Leah into her classroom. I took a few pictures of the girls in the house with their new outfits (SO CUTE!) and backpacks. But I have no idea where my card reader is so you do not get to see them yet. We went through the car line and the safety patrol opened the car door. Leah popped out with her lunchbox and darted under the overhang. She maneuvered her way to the door and I couldn’t see her anymore. She didn’t even look back. But she has never been that type. I have to admit I was a little teary pulling away, but I didn’t have time to cry because I had to navigate the monsoon to Erin’s school.

I realized that I forgot Erin’s change of clothes at home, so I run back to get those. Erin’s school has a car line for the mornings too. By the time we get there, the monsoon had abated and it is just drizzling. We pull up and unload all the snacks. Erin’s face is a little concerned as Ms Heidi helps her out of the car, but she doesn’t fuss.

So two drop-offs complete. I take Addie home to nap at 9:30 and start to sort out the house. 20 minutes to 12 we are off again to do pick-ups. It is drizzling again. We wait about 10 minutes in line for Erin. Ms Heidi told me that Erin “needs to work on her listening skills.” Ha ha. Don’t I know it. She had some trouble sitting in circle time. But to be fair, there is a whole classroom full of new things to explore. I am sure as time passes, she will be more about doing what they ask.

I stop and get a smoothie for lunch and get the kids home to nap. Addie cries for a LONG time before passing out and Erin never falls asleep even though I was again the Nap Nazi. Got some more stuff put away before leaving at 2:30 to pick up Leah (dismissal is 2:50).

We are in Leah’s car line for 25 minutes. She bounces in all excited and immediately picks up her Leapster. After barely answering my questions, she says to me, “Mom, can I play my game now?” I feel like I still haven’t gotten that much out of her about what went on today. But she likes Mr B and made friends with a girl named Maggie and wants to buy her lunch tomorrow. SO I guess it was a good day.

I am kinda frustrated with Leah’s school’s, or maybe it is the teacher’s, lack of communication. I wanted to send in milk money today but NOWHERE could I find the price of milk or how to send in money for lunch. Also Leah told me that her teacher said the kids could bring in towels or blankets for naptime, which I have heard none of. I know that the official Open House is next Tuesday night and Mr B said he would go over all curriculum stuff then. BUT there are things I need to know sooner. Just annoyed is all.

So Day one in the books. Hope we get used to the schedule soon. All I know is there is a lot of running around being done right now.

This is the thrid night in a row that I have been unable to sleep. I DRAG all day, so exhausted, looking so forward to bedtime. Then as soon as I turn out the light… my mind starts racing. It is 3am now and I have seen 11, 12, 1, and 2 on the clock. I think I need sleeping pills from now until the move.

On another note, it feels pretty good to know that the only stuff we are bringing with us to our new life is stuff we really use. Boxes are being sorted that have not been opened since Mike and I got married. We are not allowing “what if we need…” to come into play. Yesterday, when Mike was going through a box of stuff, he found a NAPKIN that had somehow gotten saved. There was no writing or anything on it, just a plain napkin. WTH? That dude is a ridiculous pack rat.

Some other news, Adam has been doing something SO cute lately. I started counting to three and then squeezing him and grunting (his FAVORITE noise to make). So now when I count to three, he will clench his fists and grunt. He looks like the Hulk right before he busts out of his shirt. Sometimes he anticipates three and does his grunt on two. It makes us laugh.

He has also stopped wanting most baby food. He will still eat fruit most of the time and some of the sweeter veggies like sweet potatoes and squash. But no green veggies or mixed dinners. I had to buy canned green beans, peas, and carrots and lots of ripe fruit yesterday just for him! My baby is rapidly leaving babyhood behind. He is constantly pulling to standing on EVERYTHING (has resulted in a few bruises) and has been wanting to be held SO much lately, making it very difficult to pack.

Leah has been a writing and coloring fool lately. She likes to write us notes while she is in quiet time and has me read them when I come get her. Here is one she wrote for a friend (all her spelling and all caps):

Colin and Mila We are goootoomisu
bcuz we are
goin to Floodue
We are eowl
goig to moove
into Floared

How freaking cute is that? I can read most of her notes too because she is a pretty good phonetic speller. Cannot WAIT til she starts school.

On the school topic, I am stressed about that. Pinellas County requires you to have a User ID and password to register your child and you get one by going to a school to get it in person. Obviously I won’t be there until like the day school starts. And I want her enrolled before that so we get all the proper paperwork adn notifications sent to us about the first day of school. Also because we are living with my mom at first, we need to get an Affidavit of Residency notarized stating that we are residing with her. I don’t think they wanna see a NC notary on there, but we can’t get a FL one to witness it until we get there! Hence same aforementioned problem. I am going to call them tomorrow and talk it out, because I know they have encountered this issue many times before. It’s just one more think for me to thing about at 3am.

I guess I should update about Erin now. Except for today (we were out and about from 12-4) she has napped for 1.5-2 hours 3 times! Now I feel guilty, because maybe I wasn’t trying hard enough to get her to nap for all these months (years?). The afternoons after her naps have been wonderful, with a sweet little girl who listens and plays SO nicely with her friends. I love it.

Speaking of playing with friends, I am trying to figure out a way to get these girls into a camp next week (Aug 9-13) so I can pack!! I feel awful about sticking them in front of the TV all day and then they don’t get enough energy out are bouncing off the walls by mid-afternoon. And there are a TON of options for Leah, including some REALLY great full day (8:45-4:45) ones at the Y. BUT Erin not being 3 til the END of that week is really hurting our chances. There aren’t really that many options for 3 yr olds anyway and NONE for 2 yr olds. I plan to call a few places tomorrow to try to sweet talk them into taking her but I don’t know. if none of that works, I am going to call our babysitter and ask her to maybe come a few days for 4 or so hours and just keep the kids occupied. We shall see how it goes.

This past week Leah has been attending a music camp. They go from 9-12 and they learn basic note reading and piano playing. They also play music games and have a snack. There are three other little girls in the camp and Leah has LOVED it. Today was their recital to show us all they have learned. Here is Leah’s best effort:

Here is a picture of Leah with Ms. Angela, her teacher. Maybe there will be lessons in her future.

First Adam

6 months
20lbs 2oz (83rd percentile)
26 3/4 in (51st percentile)
head 43.5 cm (34th percentile)

Comparison:
Erin at 6 months
17lb 3/4oz (62nd percentile)
25 in (16th percentile)

Leah at 6 months
16lbs 8oz (52nd percentile)
25 in (16th percentile)

Even for a boy, Adam is a biggun. He got 3 shots, but now he doesn’t need anymore until he is 12 months.

Now, Leah at 5 yrs:
36.2lbs (24th percentile)
41 in (20th percentile)
BMI 15.1

She only gained a half pound since her 4 yr old appt, but she grew almost 3 inches. So the dr said that although she fell out of her curve a bit, she did the height thing this year instead of the weight thing. Which works out well for us because now she is tall enough to go on most of the rides at Magic Kingdom, even some roller coasters!

I wanted to note that going into the appt, Leah was super excited to get her “kindergarten shots” as she kept saying. I let her go first to get them out of the way. That kid did not want to hold my hand and did not flinch ONCE. I asked her afterward if they hurt and she said nope. Then she had to get a finger prick for the iron test and actually watched the tech prick her finger and siphon the blood off. She thought it was cool. I am SO proud of my brave girl, especially considering how freaked out I was about needles until just a few years ago.

Anyway, all is healthy and everyone is growing up quickly in our house. Next appt in August with Erin’s 3 yr and Adam’s 9 month.

Yesterday we had Leah’s 5th birthday party. A few weeks ago, we were set on a princess party. Then I saw aprons in Oriental Trading magazine and I got the cooking idea. Leah immediately loved it and we went from there. The next week I found Cricut cartridges on sale for 50% off and they happened to have one called From My Kitchen! Leah and I brainstormed which images to use to make the invitations and came up with this one:

We decided to do a lunch party so that the kids could prepare the lunch items and then eat them. I found a recipe online for make-your-own lasagna. We thought fruit kebabs would be a fun but simple preparation activity. And I wanted to do something with cookie cakes. I found these small foil pie plates and knew we could do decorated cookie cakes.

This was the bulletin board in the playroom made using the new Cricut cartridge:

Here is how the party went:
First the kids arrived and they got on their aprons. Everyone sat down and colored some food related pictures until all of the guests had arrived. I put bowls of lasagna makings (three kinds of cheese, ground beef, homemade spaghetti sauce) on a tray on each table. Each child got a small foil loaf pan and I gave instructions on how to layer the lasagna, handing out noodles at the correct intervals. I have to give credit where credit is due though, I could NOT have pulled this party off without the help of my friend Carrie. She totally rocks!!! Once the lasagnas were created and labeled I popped them into the oven. I had made a full-size lasagna the day before for the adults and that had just come out of the oven so it was all preheated and ready to go.

The second activity was making the cookie cakes. I had made chocolate chip cookie bars and cut them into circles the day before. On party day, we put one cookie into each foil pan and gave each table a container of frosting and plastic knives. While they spread frosting, I handed out mini-marshmallows, mini-chocolate chips, and sprinkles to decorate with. We put the covers on when the kids were done and labeled them. These cookies were take home gifts because we still had regular cake to eat.

The last activity before eating was to make fruit kebabs. I cut up strawberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, honeydew melon, red grapes, and blackberries. The kids got skewers and went to town eating and making the kebabs.

All of this was finished before the lasagnas were ready so I sent them off to wash hands and play in the playroom. When everything was done, I put their lasagna and fruit kebab on a plate and put the plates at their places. They all came running when I called and declared the lasagnas delicious.

The adults ate lasagna, fruit salad (leftover fruit all dumped in a bowl), and salad with lettuce from my garden and homemade balsamic vinaigrette. Everything was devoured so I guess it was good.

Then it was cake time. The cake was actually very simple to make. I baked a 9×13 pan of strawberry cake (yes, from a box mix) and cut the top corners off to look like an apron and frosted it with cream cheese frosting. Then I outlined the edges and made the tiebacks with Twizzlers. Aunt Stacy wrote all the words (I am not that coordinated) and I made the pocket out of fruit leather.

The cake was also devoured and then it was present time. Leah got SO many things that she could create or do art projects with. But you know what the hit of the gifts was? These:

Thanks, Ian, for the Silly Bands. They made Leah’s birthday complete.

The kids took home their cookie cake, coloring pictures, and a doggie bag with a kid-size wooden spoon and rolling pin in it.

All in all it was a great time. And the best part? It was over by 1:30 and we still had the rest of the day to play and relax. Oh no, wait I forgot the very BEST part. My friend Carrie cleaned my entire kitchen! There was no clean up for me to do after a COOKING party! How awesome is that????

Leah did a great job reading us one of her bedtime stories. Here is video of one of the pages.

Adam has learned how to roll from back to front now. He does it EVERY time he is on his back (except for naptime so far, thank goodness). Unfortunately being on his tummy causes him to spit up, especially if he has just eaten. So I have to put him in upright things for a while after each feeding or I am cleaning up a lot of messes.

Adam is also in LOVE with the Johnny Jump-Up right now. He has really figured out how to get it going and bounces like crazy. This also seems to induce spit up, so he can’t go in there after feedings either.

Erin is on her 3rd day in big girl underwear during the day. Yesterday had 2 accidents, one in Leah’s room and one in the car (but not in her seat, she was getting out). It’s going about as I expected. One cool thing is that her diaper has been dry both mornings so far. So we might be able to move to panties at night sooner than I thought.

We also bought Leah a booster seat. Awhile back we bought an inexpensive Graco booster so that we could keep carpooling to school (needed four seats). But I had always wanted Leah to have a Britax Frontier when the time came to move on from our Marathon. The plan was to get one when Adam was ready to move into the Marathon (Adam gets Erin’s, Erin has Leah’s, youngest gets the newest for safety reasons). But I fouond a great deal at diapers.com. The Frontiers run about $280 but the Pink Sky (the one Leah would have picked anyway) was on sale for $200 with free shipping! All the other designs were not on sale, only the pink one. So I grabbed it. There are several reasons I wanted the Frontier. It has a five point harness. Leah is only 35 pounds and most shoulder belt booster seats are rated for 40 pounds. But the Frontier is like a regular car seat that converts to a booster when she is ready. It goes from 25-80 pounds in the harness mode, then will last until 100 pounds in the booster mode. Leah will be able to use this seat until she goes to college.

Now we have to buy Adam a new cover for the Marathon. I don’t think Mike wants him in a pink flowered car seat. I plan to move him into it when he can sit up. I want him to be able to sit in shopping carts and high chairs so I have a place to put him when we are out.

Last thing. When my dad was here last week, I was talking to him about how I really wanted a one cup coffee maker (Keurig) because I hardly ever drink coffee but when I do, I only want a cup. It is such a pain to get out the whole contraption and try to figure out how to brew just one cup, then I have to wash the whole thing. It’s just they are so expensive. The one at Walmart was $110. So when Dad went home, he checked out Bed Bath and they had this one on sale for $50! They even gave him free shipping! So it is on the way here along with a 60 cup sample pack of coffees, teas, and hot chocolates. Thanks, Dad! Love you!

I feel like I haven’t updated this in FOREVER with a real post. Let’s see, what’s the haps?

Adam: It got a LOT easier for a while. He was napping 2+ hours at a time and sleeping 6-8 hour stretches.

I interrupt this post to bring you a poop story. Erin just knocked on her door (she was in quiet time) to tell me she had to poop. So we rush to my bathroom. I whip off her diaper and notice a little smear. She finishes her business on the potty and we cheer. As we are exiting the bathroom, I notice my shoe making poop-tracks. I trace the tracks back to the toilet where unbeknownst to me a poop nugget had fallen from the diaper and gotten stepped on. That was fun to clean up.

Back to Adam: So things were going well. Then they were not going so well. Not as bad as they were before, just not quite as smoothly. He was napping a little less and not sleeping as well at night. I suspected growth spurt. He seems to be getting over the napping issues, but I am ready for some better night sleep again. Part of it may be that we are breaking him of sleeping swaddled in the papasan. He was starting to bust out of the swaddle and once Mike went in and it was wrapped around his neck! So we cut it out. And the papasan was purely for his congestion, which is better, so there wasn’t a need for it anymore. It was just a habit to strap him in and quite frankly it kept the swaddle firmly in place. So once the papasan went, the swaddle had to go too. Hopefully once he gets used to sleeping on his back and with free arms, the nights will get better again.

I am SO over breastfeeding. Not because I don’t like it, just because I am tired of stressing about the amount of milk Adam is getting. I solely pumped one day to test it out and he ate 26 oz from 7a-7p. This did not include his two night feedings. I think maybe 6 oz of that was formula. As a result, I am not really worried about it anymore. It’s just mentally exhausting.

Adam is talking a TON now. I have caught him throwing a few consonants in there on occasion too. He can reach very definitively for what he wants and bring it to his mouth smoothly now. On his tummy, he “swims” a lot. I haven’t seen him roll over in a long time, now that I think about it. He must be practicing something else.

Erin: For a while, Erin could have been the death of me with her tantrums and demands. But I must say, things are getting SOOOO much better. She is turning out to be a real sweetie and cracks me up on a daily basis. The secret to Erin is ROUTINE. If she knows what to expect when, we hardly have any issues. AND I suspect she is becoming a bit more empathetic because she is not nearly as rough with other kids as she used to be.

Erin is SO imaginative. Today we were walking in a parking lot. She said, “Oh no, it’s melting!” I asked her what was melting and she replied, “The ground! Quick we have to get into the store!” I REALLY need to write down those things more often, I will love to reread them when she is older.

In a little more than 2 weeks, we are getting rid of Erin’s daytime diapers completely and only using them at night. I remind her everyday. She keeps asking for Super Why and Little Einsteins underwear, which of course I can’t find. So I ordered a bunch of plain white ones from Children’s Place and I plan to do iron-on transfers to make her the ones she wants for Easter.

Leah: She is SOOOO ready for kindergarten. I bought a K math workbook and so far she is capable of doing it all herself with me reading the directions. This is her favorite thing to do while I am cooking dinner. I just have to pop over every few minutes and tell her what to do and she is off and running. I also bought her the Jump Start Kindergarten game for the computer. We haven’t spent enough time on it yet (it caused my laptop to overheat, so we have to install it on the other computer) but I am sure she will love it too.

Both schools that she may go to next year are year-round and have uniforms. So I may be taking my 30% off coupon for Old Navy and applying it to school uniforms. AND year-round school means she starts the last week in JULY! Talk about sneaking up on you. On one hand, I am giddy with anticipation for her because I KNOW she will love it and I LOVE shopping for school supplies. But on the other hand, I am sad to think that she will be gone from me all day every day from now until forever. Life as we know it is about to change for good.

So that is my kiddo update. I have a few more things I want to blog about, but they will be getting their own posts soon.