Back to School

We've survived finished the first week of the 2018-19 school year! I remember last year what an accomplishment I felt this was as a working, newly hired, pumping mom -- and mostly I remember being very tired! This year, I'm still a bit tired, but it was a great week. I am so glad for the familiarity and confidence I feel this year. Even Open House gave me a different feeling as I saw returning students and talked with the families and my coworkers. Last year at this time I felt insecure and doubting; this year I am feeling more settled and positive. It's as if I'm afraid to say that it's been a good start to the year, by saying it out loud I will jinx it or break the spell. But I know that would mean that I think all of this is just by coincidence, which is certainly not true. I am so thankful that God is showing me more of His plan for my career and our family. I'm excited for the year ahead! 

ESHS College & Career Center

While it's been a good week, it has still been an adjustment getting back to the early mornings. Boomer and Emmy are leaving the house a little before 6:30AM, and then I tidy up and leave just after them at 6:45AM. The early morning shows on our faces in our annual 1st Day of School pictures! Daddy didn't participate, because he was in fact starting his 6th day of school. Forbush and Yadkin County started a week before the rest of us. Boomer was quite content being the photographer, which was no easy task considering his subjects. We were finally able to coax a smile from Emmy when he put the phone in selfie mode and held it out so she could see herself!

 

Throughout the week, we have managed to squeeze in some of the same activities we did during the summer, which admittedly has contributed a lot to my positive mood. It has helped to extend that summer feeling. We have gone for walks, met friends at the park, and gone out to dinner. We haven't quite adjusted back to Emmy's pre-summer bedtime, but it does seem to get earlier each night as the week goes on and she is worn out from daycare. Currently bedtime is around 8PM. Because it is about an hour later than our time in the spring, it does feel like we get some extra time together. We've been spending a lot of that time outdoors, and Emmy will have a whole head of sweaty curls by the time we are inside for the evening. I love that she loves being outside!

 

Emmy's teachers, Miss Jewell and Miss Melissa, say that she is doing well in her new class. Miss Jewell said that Emmy is pretty 'neutral,' explaining that she plays nicely with others or by herself and that she doesn't show too many emotions during the day. I suppose being 'neutral' is a good thing, right? The biggest change in this new room has been using a real cup. Over the last two weeks, only twice has Emmy been sent home in a new outfit with the dreaded grocery bag of dirty clothes. Luckily it's not anything like the dirty clothes we would get when she was younger! Based on the outfit changes over the last ten days, Emmy seems to be progressing with independent feeding and drinking. We worked on this all summer, in preparation for eating her breakfast at home before daycare. After the first few days though, it was still too slow for our very strict time schedule. We have changed breakfast to be a small cup of Cheerios with her sippy cup of milk, and then Daddy will give her a pouch when they get to the daycare. As an added bonus, Boomer said that it has helped with the drop-off -- she's not sad he is leaving because she is distracted by eating her pouch. 

This week we managed to fit in a date night (yes, on the first week of school!) On Thursday, we splurged one last time on Founder's Club tickets at the Dash, bringing our total Dash baseball count for the summer to 4. Grammy and Grandpa agreed to babysit, so we got lots of cute pictures as we chowed down on the food and doughnuts and watched baseball. We ate at a tall-top table and even kept score, two things we couldn't do if we had had a squirmy, wiggling 1-year-old with us. It was a fun evening! We've decided we really like Thursday date nights! :)

We are off to the lake this weekend for Labor Day and to celebrate Boomer's Dad's 60th birthday! I'm sure there will be pictures to post soon. Happy birthday, Paw Paw!

Update: Here are a few pictures from our weekend! We had so much fun soaking up the last of the lake days. Emmy once again loved riding on the boat and fell asleep each time on Granny's lap. We also got to spend some time with all the cousins, including the newest Kennedy, Whitlee, who is now 6 weeks old. We will miss being at the lake over the next few months. If this weekend is any indicator, we will be trading our time on the water with time watching football!

Our Summer To-Do List

The first day of school is just around the corner. I have started Teacher Workdays, and we are all settling in to the routine. Things are good, actually really good. I'll write more about that later! As for this post, I wanted to look back at our summer for one more recap. At the beginning of the summer, I created our annual summer to-do list. There are always many fun things that I hope we will do throughout the months of June and July, and by putting them down in writing, I am more optimistic that they will happen. Let's see how we did! 

1. Colorado Rockies Game

2. Pool Days at the YMCA

3. Friday Field Trips with Daddy

4. Burgers at Miller's Restaurant

5. Lazy 5 Ranch

6. Breakfast at Fitz on Main

7. Ice cream on the pier at Ocean Isle Beach

8. Dash Game with friends

9. Wet & Wild Emerald Pointe

10. Practice using a fork and spoon

11. Lunch with Daddy at work

12. Greensboro Science Center

With everything checked off, bring on the school year! :) 

In Between

As I wrote in my last post, Emmy started back to daycare this week. Although I only had to work on Monday and Wednesday, we made the decision to go ahead and start Emmy back, thinking it would give all of us a chance to ease back into the routine. While I had every intention of taking her all five days even on the days I wasn't actually working, I changed my mind after spending Monday away from her. It was hard being away from her for so many hours. We will just take next week as it comes; no need in jumping back to the routine before we have to, right?

We've had a good week of 'in between.' I feel like I am straddling work and summer right now, and it won't be long until I have both feet in the school year. The two days that I worked were good days. It was fun catching up with coworkers, and it was such a different feeling than last year when I was first starting at East Surry. I am certainly sad that the summer is over, but I think it will be a great Year 2 as a Cardinal. 

With the days that I was not working this past week, we fit in several fun activities. We've continued to progress with Emmy's independent eating; this week we tried cereal with milk! We have been rotating mornings between her usual rice cereal and Cheerios, but I think we will soon go strictly to real cereal when we use up the last of the rice cereal. 

A few of Emmy's favorite things right now are doors and books. She loves opening and closing closet doors and cabinets. I had a hard time dragging her away from one of the toddler gates at the Science Center, despite all the other fun things to see and do there. I've taught her to say "Knock, Knock" when she is playing her game with the doors, which comes out more like "gock, gock". I am amazed at how she is more readily trying new words. She is starting to repeat things even without prompting, and she is also starting to say "please" as opposed to doing the sign language. When Emmy was with Grammy earlier today, Grammy made a list of all the words Emmy can say. We are over 20 now: Mommy, Daddy, no, hi, book, bye-bye, milk, go, Grandpa, night-night, poopie, doggie, eat eat, hair bow, Bobby, bird, ball, all gone, more, yeah, and baby. There are also several more words that perhaps only I can understand, for example "ow hide" -- meaning outside. She can very clearly say "book," and she likes to have one when she is getting her diaper changed or riding in the car. We made a special stop at the library this week, and she loved reading books in the children's section. 

At the end of the week, we tagged along to 'Grammy Camp.' My mom is watching Zander during the next two weeks since my sister is back to work and Maddox is back at preschool. Zander will soon be starting kindergarten on the 27th, and Grammy has something fun planned everyday with him! On Thursday, we joined along on an outing to City Lake Park. The park is in High Point, and there is a carousel, train, and miniature golf course. Grandpa and Zander played several rounds of golf, and we rode the carousel and train many times - we definitely got our money's worth! On Friday, we went to the Science Center.

Boomer's schedule has picked up again with the start of fall sports. Emmy and I had a few evenings on our own, and I tried to send Boomer pictures so he didn't feel like he was missing too much. We are all adjusting to the late nights and early mornings once again. 

We have filled our weekend with the last of the summer activities. On Saturday, Emmy and I went to the Kernersville Honeybee Festival while Boomer was writing. It was a nice overcast morning, and we had a fun time walking around through the vendors and food. The festival was at the 4th of July Park in downtown Kernersville, so Emmy got in some swinging and sliding on the playground while we were there. It is neat to see how much more confident I am now on solo outings with Emmy. I have loved all the practice we have gotten in this summer! That evening, I got together with my Wake Forest girlfriends for dinner in Raleigh. Christina is now back in North Carolina after being in Colorado for the past year, and Amy is a new [second-time] mom to 2-month-old James -- it has been a big summer for everyone! Today, Boomer, Megan, Zander, my dad and I went to the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro. It was my first time going to a PGA tournament, and it was such a fun experience. We got to see a lot of the big-name golfers: Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk, Henrik Stenson, and the winner, Brandt Snedeker. Boomer and I mostly followed his favorite, Webb Simpson, who had a great final round to finish T2. It was a sunny, hot day, but we were able to find shade as we walked along the course. Emmy was home with Grammy, and they had a fun day, too, going for a walk and playing with all the toys at Grammy's house. I think we are all sufficiently worn-out, so hopefully we will sleep well in anticipation of our big day tomorrow. Boomer has his first day with students, and I have my first teacher workday with the opening faculty meeting. The alarm will be going off in just a few hours, and we are officially bidding farewell to summer. Thank you for your prayers as we start the new school year!