First Day of School

Monday was Abby's first day of school! We had an open house early on Monday morning where I got to meet her teacher, some of the other parents, and all the kiddos. As hard as it is to leave a 2 year old in 'school' it is also SO exciting for me because I know Abby is going to grow so much in her speech this year while she is there. I know this because Seth Robert attended the Toddler class at St Joe's 2 years ago when he was 2. He was a hearing peer for the hearing impaired kids. He only went 2 mornings a week but by Christmas, he had grown so much with his speech. I know part of it was normal development, but I also credit much of it to the great therapy he got by being a part of the class at St Joe's.

Anyway, back to Abby's first day......I couldn't believe how easily Abby let me leave her in her new class. When I had to leave I said 'bye Abby' and she said 'bye Mommy' and ran off to play. I was worried about nap time as she has never slept on a cot, but apparently she was great with that too! She has been really tired at night and I even had to wake her up this morning at 6:30 (she's normally up by 6am like clockwork). Tonight I put her to bed by 6:30pm...and she was asleep by 7pm. Hopefully she will be fully rested tomorrow!

Back to school has been tiresome for me too! Probably because I stay up way too late watching Olympics : ) Last night I was up late watching USA win the gold AND silver for balance beam...it was awesome. Anyway, getting the kids and myself ready and out of the house on time is a little stressful. I am very thankful that Seth's hours have changed and he is here until 7am and does a TON to help me get the kids ready for school.

Seth Robert starts school 2 weeks from today. He will be in Jr Kindergarten from 8:15 to 11:30 then extended care from 11:30 to 3:30. He is so ready to go to school. His aunt Faith has been watching him the last few weeks and he is going to gymnastics on Thursday's so that is a really fun treat for him this last few weeks of summer.

I will post a pic of Abby on her first day of school later this week. I think she was most excited about her Princess lunchbox and her book bag than anything. Ahh, the simple joys in life!

Lots to talk about

I haven't posted in a while so I have a lot of catching up to do.



First, here is a really sweet picture of Abby in her Big Girl Bed.


And here is big brother snuggling her to sleep one night. The pictures are a little grainy as we took these with the lights off. As you can guess it ended up with lots of giggles and no sleep until we broke up the party.


Next week starts the first day of school for Abby. After thinking about how hectic our schedule is going to be we decided to make a few changes. Seth has school from 8:15 - 11:30, and he will stay in extended care from 11:30 - 3:30. Abby has school from 9am to noon. She will be in extended care at her school from 8:30 - 9am, and then from noon to 3:15. I have gone back down to part time hours. 35 hours a week/ 7 hours a day, and will just work while they are in school.

So going to school is quite the experience. I had a ton of forms to fill out and had to get Abby's immunization and other Dr records. I have to take time off work just to get all the right forms signed by the right Dr's : )

I'm excited about Abby starting school, and I'm so glad we made the decision to keep her there for extended care everyday. She will be with speech therapists and other deaf educators all day long. It really is the best place she could be!


Seth starts school Sept 3. I know that's really late, but they lengthened his school day by 30 minutes so they will still get out by late May.


Exciting, busy times!

Where's my baby?

I have been asking myself this question all week. This week it seems Abby has suddenly gone from a baby to a very grown-up, Big Girl! Here are all the Big Girl milestones that she has accomplished within the last week.
1. Moved to the Big Girl (toddler) bed. This was a bit traumatic, as Abby does not like change. She was fine with the toddler bed coming into her room, but was VERY upset about the crib leaving. She got over it pretty quickly and now gets into her big girl bed at bedtime and stays there until she falls asleep.
2. PeePee on the potty! This was a one time thing, but Abby was so excited about it. She is well on her way to potty training. I think as soon as we take the time to work on it with her she will be trained in no time.
3. No more Paci. Abby hasn't taken her pacifier during the day for a while, and all of a sudden this week she decided that she doesn't need it at bedtime anymore.
4. This is my favorite! Abby got her ears pierced last weekend! She has little pink diamonds and she looks so cute with them. The experience was not as traumatic as I thought it would be. She did cry for just a minute after the first one, and of course then knew what was coming with the second one. But, once she saw them in the mirror, she was very proud!
So, no more babies for me! They grow up so fast it's unbelievable.

I'll post some pictures of Abby with her new earrings later this week.