All Apologies

When I wrote my last post, in my mind, it was pretty funny.

Unfortunately I think I made some of you cry along with me.

So sorry for this.

I really just thought my reaction was completely ridiculous and could only be explained by a surge of pregnancy hormones. Really, who does that?

Anyhow, Nate had a good first day at school with some ups and downs: He loved playing outside, but he didn't get a turn on the swings. He liked going to lunch, but spilled yogurt on his shirt and was told he had to learn to open all of his own lunch treats (which he CAN do, but doesn't THINK he can). He learned a new song, but did NOT want to say the pledge. He is so funny. He really liked the story and accompanying art project they worked on, but he hated putting his head on his desk for quiet time. All in all I think he gave me a pretty good report on the first day, but has made funny comments like, "I liked school, but I'm never going back." Or last night in bed, "I'm not going back to Kindergarten. I'm going to go to 2nd grade with the 6 year olds." Again, so funny. I love that little guy.


Lastly, I'm happy to report we walked him to his class this morning and we were all smiles. No breakdowns in the car afterwords, much to Emma's satisfaction.

Pregnant Moms Should Be Banned From School

So today was Nate's first day of kindergarten. (If you haven't seen below, take a look at the last post for some cute pics) All was going well. I got up early. Got ready. Made a fabulous breakfast. Helped Nate get ready. Made sure I didn't leave anything behind for my day's unusually busy schedule. And we were off.

We made it to school with plenty of time to walk Nate in and get him settled. We were in his classroom for about 5 minutes. I was proud of how I was handling this whole situation. In my mind I was thinking, "This isn't so hard." Nate quietly took his seat and I turned to confirm with his teacher the time I was to return to pick him up. As she was answering my question I felt it start.

Tiny tears were filling my eyes.

Still, I was strong.

I WILL NOT CRY in front of my child. I WILL NOT!

I crouched down and whispered to Nate that I love him and I knew he would have a good day and I would see him later.

The tiny tears were invisible to him. My voice was steady.

I WILL NOT CRY.

I grabbed Emma's hand and we walked out of Nate's class. Emma was upset because she didn't say goodbye. From the hallway she yelled, "Bye Nate!" He turned around in his chair, gave us a big smile,and waved happily to his sister. And it got worse.

The tiny tears became HUGE TEARS.

I now had to navigate out of the school without letting those HUGE TEARS come out of my eyes.

I WILL NOT CRY.

Luckily no small children walked in front of me, because my vision was so blurred by the HUGE TEARS that I would have run them down.

I WILL NOT CRY.

Thank goodness for the carpool crossing guard who guided us safely across the school drive way or I would not have seen a car coming thanks to those HUGE TEARS.

We made it to the car and I quickly strapped Emma in, returned to my seat and closed the door.

I DID NOT CRY...

I BAWLED!




Uncontrollably, like a huge catastrophe had just befallen us, like a loved one had just passed on unexpectedly, like every bone had shattered in my body. I was full on sobbing in the car.

Poor Emma in the backseat was trying to console me and was questioning my emotions. And to be honest, I really don't know what overcame me. All I can say is, pregnant moms shouldn't be allowed to take their firstborn child to his first day of kindergarten!

Nate's First Day of School

So we started off our "back to school celebrations with early morning french toast. (Nate's favorite breakfast) Don't you LOVE Emma's bed head?
Nate loved piling up multiple pieces on his fork. Yum!
The infamous "First Day of School" pic...to be cherished forever!
Emma wanted in on the action too. She was just as excited about Nate's first day as anyone!
And one more outside to go down in the history books!

First Day of Kindergarten....umpteen years ago...

Julie, age 5, West Elementary, Morristown, TN
Andrew, age 5, Old Orchard Elementary, Newhall, CA

Thought it would be fun to take a stroll down memory lane on the eve of Nate's first day of kindergarten. Be sure to check back in tomorrow to see Nate in his memorable "first day" pic.

Fires and Devils

We haven't been up to much lately, hence no blog posts. However, last Thursday as I was helping Emma fall asleep for her nap, I kept hearing sirens. I heard them over and over and they didn't seem to trail off. They would get really close, then stop. Sure enough after she was sound asleep I peaked out onto our balcony and this is what I saw.

That's right. Those buildings are across the street from us and there was a fireman on a tall crane spraying a fire! (To clarify, the buildings weren't on fire...the land next to them was.)

I could only see the peak of flames occasionally, but there was definite smoke.

There was another fireman in the distance spraying it from another direction. After about 2 hours they were able to put it all out... but it gave Nate and I something to do during our otherwise uneventful "quiet time." I guess leaving California didn't remove us from fires.


In other news, I've caught the sewing bug again and made the kids some dress up capes. I had a pattern with several options of capes and let them choose which one they wanted as well as the fabric. True to their personalities, Emma chose the queen cape, while Nate chose the devil. (Not that he is a devil, but he sure likes to play devil's advocate sometimes and get into trouble!)

After I sewed the faux fur onto Emma's she said, "Mom, this looks like a Santa cape." I still need to add black "spots."

Nate's pattern included a hood with horns...I'm contemplating making it for Halloween...we'll see. I don't really want to take this TOO far!

Ooops! I should have updated last week...

So 66% of you were right in guessing BOY! We're super excited to welcome a new baby boy to our family sometime in December. All went well with the ultrasound and both kids are super excited to have a new brother. Now the name game begins...