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!