We made it

Well, it's almost been two months since last I wrote. I probably think about writing at least every day but for some reason after a certain point it almost feels like homework. I need to do it (well, want to) but I was a procrastinator then, and I still am now. I mark little notes in my phone so I at least remember some of the things I wanted to capture.


So much has happened in the last few months.....we survived a major hurricane, we started a new kindergarten, I started a new job (and mostly working from home because of the flooding), we had a birthday, we decorated for Halloween...and lots of stuff in between. When I think back on it, it's really no wonder I've felt like I've been somewhat dragging and foggy and sleeping poorly. It's been major life changes and stress.


We did not evacuate for the hurricane. For some reason I just felt we'd be fine here and it seemed overwhelming to pack up two small kids, a cat, and a bunch of stuff and drive out of state for an undetermined amount of time. So we stayed put while it rained and rained and rained. Thank the universe we were just fine and stayed safe, dry, did not lose power or water. However....the worst actual scare was one of the nights water kept rising and rising in the yard because the drains couldn't keep up. My neighbor told me he hasn't seen water come up that far in the 20+ years he's been here.  We seriously would have needed a canoe by then to get across the cul de sac to our neighbors who have a two story and offered to let us come there if we needed to.
Hard to see but on the left--view looking out front door away from house and on the right--the kids playing outside just the day before looking towards the house. Water was all the way up to the rocks in the landscaping.

We were very lucky compared to so many who lost homes and just everything. One of my friends sent me a picture of her house from the street--in a boat. What I think sent me into states of fits and panic the most was the constant emergency alarms for tornado watches/warnings. I think one night we had like 12 or more.There is no way you can sleep knowing tornadoes have been spotted. Since we don't have basements I kept trying to decide if I should wake the kids, go into a closet/bathroom, etc. That and the sounds of choppers flying regularly. I was on high alert for days....just me responsible for these two babies and our safety. It's hard to describe how it feels to worry endlessly for days about just staying safe.  Another major worry that lasted for days was that our neighborhood was just on the edge of an area that could flood by overflowing water. Ultimately it was not an issue for our section, but another section close by was not so lucky. Our Nanny was flooded in for many days too.
What really was great, though, was our little cul de sac did actually come outside, connect with each other, and we all kept updated on what was going on with each other--we all watched the drains back up and flood our street, we all wondered if we'd get flooded due to overflowing water. Our one neighbors even brought over kid life jackets in case we needed them. The thing is, once the rain started coming and coming, even if we wanted to evacuate, we couldn't really get anywhere since most of the main interstates were just shut down.
In hindsight, it probably would have been better for me to load up and go to friends out of state. It was really, REally  a lot to handle by myself......I will say that I felt very loved and cared for, however, from so many people near and far.  Local friends checking in, family, relatives, not so close far friends etc.. People were just so supportive with the 'thinking of you' texts, calls, etc..


And in the middle of the craziness, I was supposed to start my new job. I completely had a meltdown. I called my current boss and said I'm not sure this is the right move for me, I've agonized about the change for months (I even drafted an email rescinding my acceptance). He said he'd be glad to keep me if I decided not to go and understood my hesitation. He said if it wasn't right, he'd be supportive. We agreed that he would tell them that due to hurricane he wanted to keep me for an additional month and they agreed. That at least took the pressure off and I felt like I could actually breathe for a minute.


And, shortly after the craziness my girl started her new kindergarten back at her old preschool. The new school actually started a few weeks after the public kinder, but due to the storm the public actually shut down.  So, it actually worked out better for us because my girl was hesitant about starting a new class and wanted to stay with her current one. Since the storms came, the public schools were shut down so it wasn't even an option. I think it made the transition easier because there was a break in between and it also gave her some time to recover.


First Day of Kinder 1. Brother very unhappy

First Day of Kinder 2!

Can I just say I LOVE her kinder. It was hands down the right/best decision. The teacher is great, she has made so many friends, she's learning so much--over the past several weeks she's learned how to READ and write sentences. Oh my big girl. Now when I go pick her up the little girls have a 'thing' where they like to play outside in the courtyard after we sign them out.....they all hug each other when they see each other in the morning and when it's time to go. It is just so darn sweet. There is a 4-pack of them. Madison, Ava S., Skyler, and my girl. Although now she says she's also friends with Bria too. It's just awesome to see. She is so happy and back to the kid who simply loves school. I just had her first parent teacher conference and the teacher exclaimed 'we just love her'. Oh that made me feel so good. Good report all around.

Now, it's not all roses.....we've stepped into normal 5 year old behavior of testing out lying. She came home w/ a hole in her shirt the other day and at first said she didn't know how it happened. Then she said her friend Skyler did it. That seemed kind of odd, but when I pressed her on it, she maintained that Skyler did it. Well nanny told teacher, and teacher brought my girl and Skyler together and when teacher started asking my girl about it, she turned red, then broke down in tears and admitted she did it herself. Even though I was bothered that she lied (and did a ton of surfing to see if it was normal, how was I supposed to handle it, etc..) I was more worried about her dealing with such big feelings of being embarrassed and ashamed.  I talked to her about it on the way home from school (teacher told me what happened) and she at first didn't want to talk or admit to what she had done, but I pulled over and told her we needed to talk. She did finally tell me she did it.....then it took her a few more minutes of quiet to say that she was worried I would be mad at her if she told me she did it herself.  I was very calm and tried to explain how I know she will make mistakes, but I want her to know I need her to be truthful. I said I loved her and that I didn't care about the shirt. I just cared that she was honest.  If I'm being honest part of me felt hurt wondering if she somehow didn't trust me enough, was I not doing something right in parenting her etc....but felt much better after reading that it IS normal for them to go through this. Whew.

As an fyi it is the greenish shirt she has on in her first day picture. In fact she chooses to wear that shirt and owl pants about 3 days/week.

I forgot to capture a funny story from soccer this past summer where I was on the bleachers yelling for their team. I noticed my girl seemed upset and sure enough during break she runs over to me, crosses her arms, and says one of the boys said I was cheering for him.  She looks at me and says, " "I'm your children. You are supposed to be only yelling for me!".

The other not so funny thing in soccer is I am amazed at how many parents are not present and on their phones. This one little girl would often look at her mom when she did something and the mom barely even looked up the entire practice. So sad.

She also learned how to jumprope. She's wanted to jump rope since she was two I think.

It's also still great to see things through a child's eyes....I had put on a shirt so we could go somewhere and she looks up at me and says, 'mom, that shirt looks beautiful'. It really made me stop, pause, and smile. It's nice to hear that every now and then--especially from your child.

She's also learning how to sound things out and spell them. I came out of the room and she had drawn a robot and put the word ROBOT on the top (with hearts all over of course). She did it all by herself. I was surprised and so proud.

She's really into imaginary play with her little weebles and play things. She more and more will play on her own and make up stories/conversations, etc.. She also likes to invent/create things....she took my phone charger cord the other day and slung it over the couch and tied it around her waist. She told me it was her 'rock climbing equipment'. Okay then!

She still has sass.....we were at the park not long ago and it was the one w/ just baby swings and not big kid swings. Her brother was in the one swing and I asked her to come over and sit in the other one. She says, "Are you kidding me?  I'm five".  This one made me laugh outloud.

And just when I think her growth physically, socially, and emotionally is going so fast.....she still uses the word TINK instead of THINK.  Mommy, I tink we should go outside. I think it's the cutest thing..

I can not believe how long her curls have gotten!!

My son.....I'm thinking three's might be a bit tougher than two's. At least what I've seen over the last month.

He's grown a ton. We tried on last year's pants and they look hilarious. Like serious highwaters. Some are about 4 inches too short.  He physically looks much different now at 3. I think it's been a bigger change from 2-3 than from 1-2. He's just such a little boy now.

And with that, napping is coming to a close I think. It started with him not taking naps for me on the weekends, but now, he is not napping about every other day with nanny too.  And boy is that showing in his demeanor. He's much whinier and fussier....and of course it's because he's tired!! We still put him down for one, and usually he can handle it for one day, but by the second day he's just so exhausted he usually just falls asleep.

He's continued to grow significantly in his language. He actually put 3 words together this past weekend. He said "Park my car". AWESOME! He's obsessed right now with cars--he's got matchbox ones, and also a big purple little tykes one that he can sit in and move forward with his feet. He drags that thing everywhere and says "purple cah". The other thing he's obsessed with is 'car wash'. He makes everything a car wash. He crawls through my legs when I'm standing--says car wash. Crawls through the space in the coffee table--car wash.  Put the footstool up on the recliner and drape a blanket over it--car wash. We drive by something that resembles and he's back there 'Car wash'.

His other favorite is 'be back'. He holds up his finger like he'll be right back. He runs away, then comes back w/ a big ole grin.

Another game we've had is:

Boy: Go?

Me: Where you going?

Boy: Pool.

Me: Pool's closed.

Boy: wah. wah. wah.

Usually when he leaves the room and I ask where he's going he says....pool.

He has made a lot of progress w/ speech....whether it's due to the therapy or it's due to just normal developmental growth, I haven't figured out yet which is the real driver, but hey....I figured speech therapy could help. He used to say ssssss-sssss for his sister and now he says 'sissy'. That is not my favorite term of endearment for a sister, but nanny uses that word a lot so okay.

His therapy will end w/ that group probably mid November. We get 60 visits during our plan year and going twice  has added up. We do have the possibility of going through the public school and their speech therapist but I have yet to fill out the paperwork. We may just take a break after he meets his quota and just see how things go.

We are working on potty training.....he's goes regularly and the nanny was using m m's for reward. Well, I think at some point we need to stop because he really is getting a lot of candy from it. maybe we should switch to stickers. He still isn't staying completely dry in his diaper and doesn't always ask to go...it won't bother me one bit to stop changing poopy diapers. I still think we have a ways to go on this one.  He still is pretty wet in the morning and even with using an insert and nighttime pullup, he sometimes leaks through still. Kid drinks lots of water.

He is still sleeping in his crib and I prefer to keep in that way for now. Although that will soon come to an end because just the other day he crawled out for the first time in the morning and came running into my room. My girl looked at me and said, 'I didn't do it!". He hasn't done it since, but I know it's only a matter of time. I'm not ready for the, 'Hey get back in your room.....hey you need to stay in your room' constant conversation we will for sure have.

One of the things we do in our nighttime routine lately is play a cute little game. A few weeks ago we were reading a book about animal homes and we were talking through all of them. After hearing some of them he plain as day said,  "Iceburg".  Well, I guess I made such a big deal about it that now when he goes to bed, after we say nigh-night his little voice pipes up.....'Ice. Burg'. with a giggle. I come over and tickle his head, etc and he says it over and over while I tickle and tickle. It is so cute and warms my heart to hear him belly laugh over our little game. Now that's a way to end the day.

And if he doesn't fall asleep right away, he's into singing himself to sleep....I'll hear his little voice.."Ah off. Ah off. oooo....oooo....". He's obsessed with this swift song and asks to hear it all the time. I still need to video him singing it because it's just so cute.

I do think he's going to be 'into' music because he really loves to sing and dance and asks to hear songs all the time. Much more than my girl used to.

One last funny story is our lawn guy was over trying to figure out something w/ the sprinklers. Well, my son ran outside when I was talking to him. He ran down the little sidewalk and pointed to something and said, 'Daddy!...Daddy!".  I guess to him, men are daddies so he wanted to get his attention. t's the first time I've seen him do this.....I wasn't sure what to say at first but then just laughed it off and explained to our lawn guy that my son thinks all men must be daddies..

I'm proud of myself that I put all of our Halloween decorations inside AND outside the house. We went to a local pumpkin patch where it is small, fenced, and not a lot of fuss....just my speed. The kids loved running around, picking up different ones, making our pumpkin family.....and of course I continue to want the perfect photo....I took like 50....in this one, at least their enthusiasm comes through and their eyes aren't closed!

I still have a birthday to update on but that will have to wait for another update. 

I now have a 5 and 3 year old. wow.