Our Girls

Allie looking regal and beautiful in her Renaissance costume.  She dressed up in this beautiful Renaissance gown for her History presentation at school.  She did her report on Queen Elizabeth I.

Pretty Maddie wanted to ride her scooter in her ruffly dress.

These two girls spent today dressed up as twins and made a mess of the kitchen making Blueberry Coconut muffins or cupcakes as Maddie called them.  Allie is growing up too fast -- she is starting to look like a teenager already (yikes!) - & luckily still thinks boys are yuck!  With a slender, tall frame like her Dad, she'll be drop-dead gorgeous. Maddie is also fast outgrowing the toddler stage - both Kevin and I are still enjoying the way she says things: Zame (Zane), feeder room (theater room), beanarito (bean burrito).  I love how she still has to be "kissed better" when she's hurt, and somehow that kiss still magically makes owies go away.  Magz is our cute petite girl with a spunky personality to boot.

Day 43: Baby & Teaching Preschool

"talking" to Kevin after he got home from work

2/3: This week was my first week back in preschool.  This little guy was great on Tuesday and slept thru the first class then woke for a little while to nurse during my break before the afternoon class started.  The preschoolers were happy to see me back and it was good for me to get back to teaching, although I enjoyed my time off very much.  I had serious questions about how the day would go with a new baby, if I should shorten preschool time, etc., etc., but I was pleasantly surprised to have the day go as normal as can be.  Maddie attended morning preschool and and was into "working" and the rest of the kids were calm as well.  Maddie went on a little girls' play date at my friend's house at lunchtime so she was gone for the afternoon preschool.

Today Zane decided he was going to be awake during preschool and fussed for the first few minutes of the first class.  I had him in my bedroom and every time his pacifier fell out of his mouth he cried so we could hear him so loudly we couldn't ignore him.  Especially when I was trying to get a birthday celebration underway! I finally brought him into preschool and he quieted down - he just needed the extra hugs and rocking to help him calm down.  10 minutes of fussing seems like an eternity when you are trying to do circle time with the kids!  After my student's mom left, and the boys and baby Zane finally calming down, we got thru circle and work time in a much more normalized pace.

So, I learned he couldn't be in a different room and just needed to be in class with me (that's what I did on Tuesday).  He stayed awake for the most part of preschool, but just looked around and once in a while would doze off.  For the afternoon class I just had him in his car seat and sat him by me while I taught. He was much calmer, and after 20 minutes of being awake, he fell asleep.  I moved him to my bedroom then.  The kids actually did better with him there - they were more quiet because they didn't want to wake him.  And the music made Zane sleepy. Win-win!

I was expecting the worst coming back to teaching preschool - but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was about the same as before I had the baby.  Only this time there is an extra little person in preschool and in a way it is a bit easier than teaching with a big huge belly...I guess as long as he stays calm :).

Student of the Month

Collin is ALA's 1st Grade Student of the Month, I found out this morning.  He gets to eat lunch with all the other grades' students of the month and their director, Mr. Sinclair.  Too bad he missed the announcement over the intercom since he was at the dentist this morning.  His teacher, Ms. Mitchell emailed me and told me to "Let Collin know that I am proud of his excellent work habits and the character traits he demonstrates in class".  

This of course isn't so much of a surprise - one time I volunteered at the school another parent, a father, approached me and told me that he was just impressed with how well-behaved and responsible Collin was in class.  Good things for me to hear. Keep up the good work Collin!

Day 42: Binky Face

Kaden loves his binky! And we love his hair -- look at it!

Day 41: Camera-shy

 

first morning nap after nursing at 8:30 a.m.

Day 40: Got some sleep

Allie & Kaden-Zane

Last night was a good night.  Kaden slept from 11:30 to 3:30 a.m., woke up to nurse for 20 minutes, then went back to sleep and didn't wake again til 7 a.m.  I hope he does well tonight since I start teaching preschool tomorrow.  My dear visiting teacher offered to take Maddie for a few hours tomorrow to help me feel out my first day back teaching.  Thank you!

Day 39: Busy Sunday

Maddie & Baby after church

So tired again after Zane woke up at 2, 3:30, 5 a.m. and then again at 6:30 a.m.  but I was determined to attend Sacrament meeting.  I have missed going to Church these last two weeks, but Kevin and I decided to keep the baby home until he is at least 2 months old, so we are taking turns attending our meetings. There is a lot of sickness going around, and we hope that this way the odds will be higher that he won't catch them.  

Kevin fed the other three breakfast while I hurried and got myself ready - I was still so groggy from being up in the middle of the night into dawn and having just gone to bed at 11:30 the night before!  But I did it! Kevin stayed home with Kaden, fed him a bottle right as I left. Today was definitely was an "I-know-you-need-to-nurse-but-I-have-to-go-right-now" day!

I was off with the other three at 7:35 a.m. (woo hoo!) and even got a soft bench.  I was glad to not miss the meeting today because Ros (one of my favorite ladies at Church and Collin's music teacher) and her family were speaking today.  I was so happy to get to take the Sacrament.  This sacred ordinance makes me feel whole again after a week of busyness and craziness.  I took Maddie home with me after the meeting since she was coughing and having to blow her nose every minute, and that wasn't going to be good for primary.

On the way home she pointed to the Catholic Church on the corner of Galveston and Williamsfield, and asked if we could go there sometime.  I said she could visit, but that she will probably decide that she wants to go back to our church.  She asked why and I said because we belong to the true Church of Jesus Christ.  and she gets to go to Primary.  She repeated that over and over back to me, and I was glad that on our short 2-minute drive home from Church I got to testify that the Church is true and that it is the church of Jesus Christ.

Kaden was half-asleep when we got home.  He was such a good baby to not be picky and took milk from a bottle.  Kevin left to go to Church and I spent the next hour nursing and pumping, and getting dinner started.  Then the afternoon was spent making yummy Lion House rolls (they were so soft) and a salad and hash browns to go with the parmesan garlic pork loin for dinner.  While the rolls were rising, we picked up Allie's Elizabethan get-up from the Miller's, and I helped Collin and Allie straighten up their rooms.  After dinner, we sat down to read the scriptures with the family before bed.  Maddie went to bed at 8 p.m. and Allie and Collin spent time marking their scripture charts before finally falling asleep well before 9 p.m.

Day 38: Talk with Dad

  I love this series (under 50 seconds) of Kaden and Kevin early on a Saturday morning (8:08 a.m. 1/29).  Kevin always gets our babies to talk and smile like this, even laugh, much faster than I can.

Glasses

Last night my mother in law Lorraine was telling us a story about Pop that should have been included in the book I made him years ago.  When Pop was in grade school, he wanted to wear glasses so bad that he for a few days took his mom's glasses to school - then while at school he would get them out during nap time.  I think the story ends with him just tossing them in the trash because he didn't want his mom to find out about it.  We all got a laugh out of that one.

Today I got up and though it was a Friday and should have been a fairly un-busy day for me (relatively speaking of course), it was turning out to be a little trickier than usual.  First Zane woke up at 3,4,and 5 a.m. respectively so by the time 6:45 rolled around, I was so tired still.  The older kids got up late - and didn't finish dressing for school until 7:30 and hardly even ate their breakfast before their carpool knocked on the door.  Scriptures were skipped as a result, and I felt like the day did not start out right.

Then right on cue, Zane woke up during all this morning commotion (it seemed like it was anyway) and cried nonstop until I picked him up to nurse (it had been almost 3 hours since he nursed last).  But I made him wait a little longer since I had to get Maddie dressed for ballet at 9 a.m. -- I figured 10 minutes wouldn't kill him.  So finally as a neat and dressed-for-dance Maddie sat down to eat her waffle breakfast, Zane nursed and it was finally peaceful at home.  It was a good thing we carpool for dance once in a while.  Today I was picking up and Mindy was taking them to dance.

Maddie asked for her "Han Montana" bag and thankfully didn't fuss when I couldn't find it - I was lucky to find a small blue silk purse hanging in the mudroom.  In it she packed her ballet shoes, a wad of toilet paper for wiping her nose, and a pair of Build-a-Bear glasses.

After Mindy came to pick her up, I had about 40 minutes to vacuum the floor, make our bed and dress myself and the baby for the day before picking Maddie and her friend Mayzie from dance.  I was starting to feel a little tired from the non-sleep too!  When I finally got over there and peeked in, her teacher asked me if/when Maddie started wearing glasses.  I told her they were play glasses.  She laughed and said that...

Maddie got them out during dance and wore them during dance!

When I heard that I just had to laugh.  That made my day.

I don't know if Maddie remembered the story of Pop from last night.  Now we have our very own "glasses" story to tell.  When Kevin heard about it tonight he made the comment that Maddie was too shy to dance at her recital but she was goofy enough to wear those play glasses during dance. I of course had to have a picture of her and the glasses in question, for memories sake.  I love being a mom - there are always little funny incidents like these that make regular busy days not so regular.

P.S.  She wore those glasses to See's Candies too.  The ladies at the store thought they were so cute on her as she looked up at them to tell them she wanted "Ba-nella" lollipops.  They thought they were real glasses and got a kick out of it when I told them they were just play glasses.  They put some extra chocolate in the bag!

Day 37: Glasses

1/28/11

Maddie put glasses on Kaden - and he did not like it! He cried and made the glasses all foggy.