The main reason I am having a hard time tonight... I am getting ready to leave my kids again. I am so very fortunate to have the summers off with Sam and Ally. However, if I had went back to Western I wouldn't have been going back to work until August 10th. Franklin, however, is on a balanced calendar which means school starts August 1st and I'm back to work for orientation and to learn the new computer system tomorrow. I just want to cry. While in reality it is only 1.5 weeks earlier to go back then I had planned, it is just making me so sad. This year we also have to take Sam to daycare two days a week. It might be more depending on what Mary can handle. But the thought of just leaving him and him asking someone Where's mommy, Where's daddy, just breaks my heart. I tried to cram as much as I could into today's activities as I could. We built a huge train track in the main room this morning. He got to finger paint for the first time while Ally took her nap. And after lunch I took them to my mom's pool to swim for two hours. So many changes in our lives, and I so want time to slow down so I can enjoy it more.
Highlights of the summer:
- Vacation with my mom, sister, brother-in-law, Emma, and Luke to Nashville, IN. We rented a very nice four bedroom cabin that had it's own private pool for a week.
- Several trips to Children's Museum and Zoo.
- Trip to Myrtle Beach with Paul's brother and sister-in-law and their two girls plus Paul's mom and dad.
- Trips to my mom's pool
Changes for Paul and I:
Paul - received the title change from Graphic Designer to Sr. Graphic Designer that came with a pretty nice raise. Very proud of him and we are so thankful for his job. Graphic Designers seem to be one of the first to get let go at companies and not very stable (which we have first hand experience with) and Paul has now been with a great company that really treats it's employees well for four years.
Me - After five years as a high school guidance counselor for Western I am leaving to take a job closer to home. It will also put me into a bigger school corporation which if I end up not liking the school will give me a better chance of jumping over into the bigger school corporations within 10 miles of home. However, going to a commute of 40 minutes (which includes my morning stop for a fountain diet coke!) from the 1 hour and 15-20 minute drive home will be amazing. The new hours that I will be working are 7:30 to 3:30 so while I won't be home that much earlier, not having to be at work until 7:30 means I can leave the house at 6:45 and actually sleep in until 5:45! At Western I would have to get up at 4:30 in the morning (and when I was nursing Sam and Ally I'd have to be up at 4!).
What's new with the babies:
Sam:
- His speech is growing like crazy. I am amazed every day at how many new words and sentences he will say. He has always been a talker, he is never quiet, but it's only been within the last 5 to 6 weeks that you can actually hold a conversation with him and it doesn't sound like he is talking in another language. He will repeat everything you say and we really have to be careful about what we talk about around him now.
- He can say his own prayer before eating. If you start him with the first three words he will finish up the rest. It is the cutest thing to hear him say and also very humbling to have your 2.5 year old remind you to pray if you have forgotten and taken a bite of your food. I can say there has been a time or two where I have taken a bite of food and Sammy goes "pray, pray" and he's sitting there with his hands folded looking at me to start his prayer.
- He still loves his books. He has started repeating the sentences to us as he reads.
- He was moved into a toddler bed on Sunday, July 22nd. The first night was a bit crazy with how he just adjusted to being in his big boy bed. He was a bit scared and wanted one of us in there next to him while he fell asleep, but it never crossed his mind to get out of bed. Monday was also a relatively smooth day of him napping in bed (my mom was here watching him) and the night went well. Tuesday however was another story. My poor mom got the day that it finally hit him that there was nothing keeping him in bed anymore. He kept getting out and testing what he could do at nap time. She finally convinced him that his place is in his bed though. He got out once on Tuesday night and Paul put him right back in and he stayed there. Then for me at nap today I had to get on him once and he fell right asleep. Part of that could have been the two hours we were at the pool today. On Monday night we did hear a thud on the baby monitor and we go upstairs and Sam had fallen out of bed. But he was so tired he didn't even wake up from the fall. Or when Paul put him back into bed!
Ally:
- Ally got her two first teeth at the exact same time. She waited until a week before her first birthday to get them and decided to be an over achiever and get the bottom two in together. She handled it pretty well though.
- The month of June and July she did not want to sleep, at all, except on me. Ally is a great baby, she's so happy all the time, but sleeping for long stretches has vanished since she hit 5/6 months old. A lot of it is that she hasn't been getting enough food. She can't take formula because it upsets her stomach and she didn't except baby food until she was 10 months old. So she was wanting all her calories from me at night with nursing. In her defense she'd eat in 10 minutes and be fine to be put back down in her bed. But the getting up every 2 hours was pretty rough! We are just now getting to the having 4 to 5 hours at a time and a lot of that is due to the fact that we are transitioning her over to people food and whole milk.
- She is going to walk any day now. She had her 1st birthday on July 18th and her first birthday party was July 21st. She can cruise around furniture, stand up in the middle of the room without any assistance, and dance by bopping up and down. Ally - please don't take your first steps while I am at work!!!!!
- Ally likes to sing. I also swear she says words to us now. I am pretty sure she knows Kitty, Bye Bye, Dada, Mama, and Night Night. I think we have to count Kitty as her first word on July 4th. She pointed to a blanket behind me that had a cat on it and said Kitty clear as day. I'm not over exaggerating her ability, my mom and step mom heard it too!
Well... I'll post updates from all of our summer adventures later, just needed to get some thoughts out while I was thinking of it!
