So Proud

Reese and I have been butting heads a lot lately. I am not sure exactly what is causing it or how to turn it around. Some days I just feel so defeated. Tonight Reese’s school had a parents night. I got to go to her room, see the things they are doing there, and got a chance to chat with both teachers. Both teachers went on and on about how sweet Reese is, what a great helper she is, and how much they enjoy having her in their class. It made me so proud! I know what an amazing person Reese is and it makes me so happy to hear other people say the same thing. Especially when her and I are in a hard place. Tonight I am such a proud mommy and I want to always remember this.

Sweet Blessings

I have several friends who are pregnant right now. Three of them are in my group of friends that get together during the week. Today the friends that are not pregnant had a baby celebration brunch for us. It was SO sweet. One mommy couldn't make it today and we definitely missed her. Out of the four of us she is the only one that knows that she is having a boy. The rest of us are going to be surprised. We are all on number three and the other two moms that were there today have always been surprised by the sex when their babies were born. They made a cute and yummy cake that had blue and pink layers inside. The cake was the only picture I got today. The kids played very well together so us mommies were able to have some fun conversation. I feel so very blessed to have this group of friends. They are truly sweet blessings in my life and my kids lives!!






- Posted from my iPhone

Our Names

So I think we are set on a girl name. There hasn’t been too much discussion or disagreement in choosing that name. However, the boy name has brought on a million discussions and disagreements. I have had a name that I have liked for months but Lance has never really loved it. He would go back and forth about liking the name…get my hopes up and then crush them. A week or so ago he sent me a text with a name he liked. I am not sure where he saw it or how he came up with it. His name choice is a little more popular than mine which is why I am having reservations about it. I like the name though! There are actually tons of people out in blog land who have sons with this name. The other day I posted a poll on a baby name website to see what strangers had to say about our choices. So far Lance’s name is winning. The few people that are choosing my name have said the same thing I was thinking. They think Lance’s name is becoming popular and chose my name because of that. Who knows if they liked my name though. I told him that since I had more of a say in the girl name that I would concede to his name. Then he said that we don’t have to decide right now. Ha! Who knows what will happen in the coming weeks. We may or may not make a decision on a boys name.

Hiccups

This sweet little Baby Gummy Bear gets the hiccups almost every day. Once they start the baby starts to squirm around probably uncomfortable. Reese also got the hiccups all the time when I was pregnant with her. Sam, however, never got them. It is fun to see the different comparisons between pregnancies. Looking back over all three pregnancies, I think this one would probably be most like Reese’s…but then again there are several things that are similar to Sam’s.

31 weeks

Nine weeks to go. That doesn't sound long but it is still two months to go. I have had several people ask how much longer and act surprised I still have that long to go. Ha! Apparently I am huge in other peoples eyes as well. I am struggling with shirts. They are starting to get a little short and need to be retired soon. I had my first baby dream of this pregnancy last week. I dreamed I had twin boys so Lance and I got to both use the name we are fighting for. Isn't the old wives tale that you dream about the opposite sex of what your baby is? What does that mean for a baby girl if it is the opposite of twin boys? I am starting to really wish I knew who this little baby is too! I know it will be so fun to find out boy or girl on delivery day but I am getting anxious about it.

Here I am today...



- Posted from my iPhone

Our Saturday

Yesterday we had a nice day. The morning was spent getting things done around the house. Around
2:30, my cousin and his family came over to visit. They recently moved to Atlanta from LA where his wife was in law school. We had not seen them since they moved. Reese and Sam enjoyed entertaining Baby Leah. Reese especially had fun with her. And I think Leah was entertained by their crazy antics.


Saturday evening Reese and I went to the mall. We ate dinner at CFA, bought some makeup, and went on a search for an outfit for BGB to wear home from the hospital. We bought a girl and boy outfit.


Lance and Sam had a boys night. CFA held a Father-Son Football Night. They said it was fun. There was a table football field, little finger footballs, and Sam got to bring home a squishy football and stuffed cow.


- Posted from my iPhone

Sammy Art

Sam drew this picture of "Mommy with a baby in her belly".



And this picture was drawn at school. It is of "Sammy and Reesey". The orange circle with several legs is a "ladybug on my shirt". The brown oval is Reese. I am not exactly sure where Sam is on this picture.


- Posted from my iPhone

My Sweet Little Man

Since school started for Reese, Sam and I have had a lot of time together. It has been so fun to have this special time with him. I know in a couple of months BGB is going to be taking up a lot of my time.

This was the first day of school. Sam (and I) couldn’t wait to get Reese from the school bus. We played outside for a little while before the bus came.

Lunch time alone with Sam is always interesting. He loves to talk and be silly.

He always wants his picture taken…with anything and everything.

After his meet and greet we went to the mall to play for a little while. He saw this empty space and wanted to climb in there. He was being silly.

He has been such a big helper. He loves to help me with vacuuming the floor after I sweep.

And he is still coming in to our room early in the morning and going back to sleep in our bed. It seems to be getting earlier though. One morning it was 2:00 and one morning it was 4:00. Most mornings it is closer to 5:30 or so. I really don’t know why he is doing this but he is a pretty good sleep buddy and I know it won’t last long.

Princess

Sunday, Reese went to a birthday party for our sweet little friend Mary. It was her 4th birthday and was celebrated with a Princess Ballet party. When they first arrived they made their own princess crown.

Once the crowns were made they were allowed to pick out a princess outfit to wear for the rest of the party. Reese, of course, went for the Jasmine outfit.

Sweet Maddy chose the same outfit and they looked so cute.

They got to dance to a song from each princess’ movie. They swept the floor for Cinderella.

Flew on Jasmine’s magic carpet.

Worked in the mine’s with the seven dwarfs.

And had fun dancing to Rapunzel.

After all of the dances they had a “Royal Ball” where they danced with the lights out and a disco ball spinning. They were too cute. There was also cake and presents. The party was so cute and Reese had a blast celebrating with Mary!

*These pictures are from my phone so they are not great. I have misplaced my small camera (for a while now) and I really wish I could find it. I am going to have to buy a new one before BGB comes if I can’t find it.

Picture Comparison

Here are pictures from Reese’s first day of two year old preschool versus Sam’s pictures.

Reese was two years and one month old. Sam is two years and nine months old.

 

Sam definitely looks older but I think they are about the same height. They are both potty trained but Reese was very recently potty trained. I think I sent her to school in pull-ups for the first couple of weeks.

Sam thinks it is so funny that Reese is in “his carseat”. They both did so well going in on the first day!

  

Sam’s 1st Day of Preschool

Sam started preschool today!

I think he was excited to get to do something like Reese.

I told him I wanted to take some pictures of him before we left so we headed out front.

He kept posing. When I asked him to just stand and face me he said no. He said, “This is what Reesey was doing.”. I was finally able to get this picture which is still a silly pose but it is my favorite.

So sweet!

I also wanted to get pictures of him inside in the same place that I always took Reese’s first day of school pictures.

He decided to just be a goofball while I was taking these pictures so I didn’t get any serious pictures.

He makes me laugh though.

Seriously he is so silly!

This one turned out pretty cute. He was making a silly face and I squealed to get him to laugh.

I got out to unbuckle him and snapped a picture of us together.

He was excited. He wanted to get out of his seat but I told him to stay put. I was afraid he would get away from the door and then the teacher wouldn’t be able to get him out of the car.

His assistant teacher ended up being the one to get him out. She was holding him and he looked like he was getting upset and wiggled himself down. Once he was down, he had a smile on his face. I think he just wasn’t sure about a stranger holding him. He did hold her hand walking in though. I can’t wait to pick him up and see how his morning went!

30 weeks!

• How far along? 30 weeks.

• Total weight gain: Oh goodness. I think I am up 20 pounds or so. Uggghhh! And I read this morning that I should gain about a pound a week from here on out.

• Maternity clothes? Yes. I feel like some of my shirts are getting a little snug and for sure don’t fit in any pajamas now.

• Stretch marks? Nothing new

• Sleep: It is ok. Not horrible but not great.

• Best moment this week: Sam is so cute when he feels the baby. His eyes getting really big and he takes a deep breath and says, “I feeled him!”. Also, we got to spend time with my best friend from high school this weekend. She is due about ten days before me so it was fun to catch up and talk about these babies.

• Miss Anything? Not being tired. Walking up the stairs without needing a nap.

• Movement: Yes! Lots of big, strong movements. I am pretty ticklish on my hip bones and this past week the baby some how kept tickling me there.

• Food cravings: No real cravings.

• Food aversions: Any thing healthy?

• Gender: It is going to be a surprise!

• Labor Signs: No. But I have noticed a few (not painful) Braxton Hicks. My stomach gets super tight for a bit.

• Symptoms: Nothing major. Just easily tired.

• Belly Button in or out? Out!

• Wedding rings on or off? Off. I took them off a couple of weeks ago and put them on my necklace. It was so hot in church one Sunday and I was playing with them and they just felt a little too snug. I decided I might as well take them off since it has been so hot lately.

• Looking forward to: Sam starting school this week. I told Lance that the first two days he is in school I am going to come back home and lay on the couch. Probably go back to sleep!

• Concerns: We still don’t have names. We really try to avoid talking about it most of the time. I know we will eventually find that perfect name but it is just a lot of work.

Quick Reese update: She did great going to school this morning. I was a little worried about having to start Monday again after the weekend but it went much smoother that I thought it would. I am so proud of her.

Good Day!

Reese went to school with no tears today!! So there might have been a little bribing involved…a promise of a surprise when she got home.

Kindergarten Update

If there is anything we know about Reese it is that she is emotional, dramatic, and irrational for Lance and me. She saves those traits just for us. For everyone else, she is polite, well behaved, and agreeable. And that is how this week has gone. The last two mornings Reese has been grumpy and has not wanted to get up or go to school. She cries and cries getting in the car to head to school. I am not sure if it is that I am not taking her to school or if she is just going to school.

Yesterday, I texted a friend of mine who works at her school (and her daughter is in Reese’s class) and told her Reese had a hard time getting to school. She said her daughter had a hard time too and that she was going to have lunch with them. Later she let me know that they both seemed a little wide-eyed and overwhelmed but were happy. When Reese got off the bus she seemed like she had a great day. She had a big smile on her face and told me about her day.

Some points from her days:
*They receive tickets for doing good things or behaving, etc. She has received six tickets total.
*She said her favorite thing on the first day was rest time…which I highly doubt. She said she actually fell asleep on day two. 
*There is a baaaaad boy in her class. She said he had to go to the principal’s office on the first day. He seems to disrupt class and is disrespectful to the teachers. Reese dislikes hearing people get in trouble. When Sam gets in trouble she runs to another room. I think this little boy getting in trouble is causing her some stress.
*She is super tired in the afternoons. On Monday, Reese and Sam had a hard time getting along once she was home. He had been ruling the roost all day and didn’t like her coming in to take over.
*She is having a hard time waking up in the mornings.
*She has enjoyed riding the bus in the afternoons. We may need to try this in the mornings to avoid the crying getting in to the car. We will see…
*They had a fire drill yesterday while in the computer lab. She was mad because they didn’t get to actually play on the computers because of this and having to learn all of the rules of the computer lab.
*She has not eaten all of her lunch yet. I think she is still trying to figure everything out. She is not much of a breakfast person too early in the morning so getting her to eat breakfast before school has been hard. They get a snack around 9:30 (which is when she is used to eating breakfast) to take the edge off and then eat lunch at 10:45.

I so wish I could be a fly on the wall in her classroom. I think she really is doing great once she is actually at school. It is just getting to school that has been hard. I know this will ease over time…well, it better. Hopefully by next week we will be in a better place emotionally with school and that she comes to grips with this new schedule.

First Day of Kindergarten

The day finally came. One that I had figured out in my head and dreaded since the day Reese was born. One we have been talking about all summer. One we have been praying over. Reese’s first day of kindergarten has arrived. She came in our room around 5:20 this morning and asked how much longer she had to sleep. I told her she had about thirty minutes and she went back to her room only to turn right back around and ask if she could snuggle in our bed. The three of us never went back to sleep but just snuggled and talked. Finally around 6:00 we started getting ready. While I was getting her breakfast ready she colored some pictures for her teachers.

After breakfast we went outside to take some first day of school pictures. She was being so silly and doing all kinds of poses.

Reese had picked this outfit out to wear a week or so ago after we went school shopping. She has her whole week of clothes picked out.

Sam, of course, didn’t want to miss out on the action so he jumped in some pictures with Reese. I asked him if he was going to miss her while she was at school all day and he said no. We will see how he feels later in the day.

As we were taking pictures we saw the bus pull up. We watched the kids get on the bus. One of the little boys at the stop is in her class. Once the kids were on the bus and it pulled away I saw his mom drop her head, cover her eyes, and her husband wrap her in his arms. I had to go inside and pull myself together after seeing her do that.

We all drove to school together to walk her in. She was a little nervous but did great. We talked about some last minute things like making sure she brought her lunch box home with her, what bus she rode, follow directions, etc.

Finally, after a long walk, we made it to her classroom. As we got to her class we stopped for one last picture and then she walked right in to her class. I had to ask her for a kiss. She smiled as she walked in and waved goodbye to us. She was so brave.

I cried the whole way back down the hallway and tried to pull myself together. Once we got in the car, Lance told me I did a great job and I started crying again. I just can’t believe Reese is in kindergarten now! I can not wait to hear how her day goes!!

Meet and Greet

Today has been a great day of learning about kindergarten. This morning our school system allowed all kindergarteners to have a ride-along on their bus. We weren’t sure if we were going to do the bus or take Reese to school. With much consideration we have decided that she will definitely ride the bus home in the afternoons because school is out right in the middle of nap time for Sam and eventually Baby Gummy Bear. In the mornings she may ride the bus or Lance may drop her off at school. We will just see how it goes. Reese was a little intimidated by the bus ride but enjoyed it. Her bus driver was a very sweet lady that turns out to go to North Point Community Church. Since we go to a campus of NPCC, I noticed something she had that was handed out at all of our churches. I asked her about it and she was so excited to discuss. Seeing her excitement and care with the kids really put me at ease about having Reese ride the bus.

For weeks Reese has been very concerned about knowing other kids in her class. Several times she would cry and say she wouldn’t go to school if there were not any friends from preschool in her class. There are five little girls from preschool that will go to her same school. There are six kindergarten classes. We knew going in that there was a very high probability that she would not be in class with any of them so we had been discussing this quite often. Well, this morning when we went to Meet and Greet we found out that not only does Reese have a friend she knows in her class but it is her best friend Hallie!! She was beside herself with excitement. She also got the teacher that we had heard over and over again how great she was. She actually did Reese’s assessment a couple of weeks ago so Reese knew her from that.

As school has been getting closer, I have been dreading the unknown. I was so worried about how things were going to work out. Today I have been able to see God’s hand in all of this. He worked everything out just the way he knew it was needed. He was able to put this crazy mommy and daughter team at peace about starting this whole new chapter. I know Reese is going to have an amazing school year and we are actually excited about school starting now.

Last Hoorah!

Yesterday, a friend and I took our kids to the American Girl Doll store for a last hoorah before school starts. We had 2:00 reservations for tea. My friend has three girls (one being Reese’s BFF). We all piled in the van together and headed to North Point Mall. The girls were so excited! Sam was feeding off of the excitement and was excited to go too.

All of these pictures are from my phone so they are not that great.

Reese and Hallie all set up at the table with their dolls.

The store has it all set up so nice. Each doll gets her own high chair and tea cup. Even though Sam didn’t have a doll our waiter gave him a high chair and tea cup because he wanted one.

Lance’s mom took Reese shopping last weekend for American Girl doll things and she decided on a matching outfit for her and Megan. That is what she decided to wear yesterday and it was super cute.

We ordered our drinks and food and couldn’t wait for them to come. There were so many yummy things on our trays but I think the overall favorite was the brownie ball on a stick. It was sooooo good.

We all enjoyed our tea time. My friend has twin eight year olds and after the tea they got to do a scavenger hunt through the store. While they did that we ran a quick errand in the mall before leaving.

We had such a fun afternoon and once we were in the car everyone was so tired! School is getting here so fast and I can’t believe summer break is almost over.