Aidan's first day at preschool

Ray took him to drop him off this morning and I cried after they drove away. He was so happy to be going "bye bye" with daddy, but I know he wasn't prepared to be dropped off at school all day w/o one of us there. Ugh... Ray said he did fine until he realized daddy wasn't there anymore, then he was really upset/crying (Ray was still in the bldg so he could hear him).

During naptime I talked to his teacher, she said he ate a good lunch, drank his bottle by himself at the table then laid down on his mat at naptime and they rubbed his back and he fell asleep (along w/his "must have" blanket and paci that we sent along for him). Then he woke from his nap and was sitting on his mat quietly with another boy looking at a book together. (SO wish I could see that!)

I have to say that I thought it would have gone MUCH worse than what she described, based off his last experience. I'm so glad that he seems to be doing much better than I had anticipated.

She said that day 1 is rough, day 2 is worse and then the rest of the week is rough. So I just need to be strong a little bit longer. But from what she described to me, I think he'll be fine in a much shorter time frame than I gave him credit for. I'm just so glad to hear that he ate, napped well and is not constantly crying (at his MDO experience, he did not eat, did not nap well and cried all day).

When I got there to pick him up, I watched him for a bit before going in. He was sitting on the floor with his teacher and 3 other kids doing some kind of activity and looked like he was having fun; I saw him smile and clap a few times. Then the girl next to him pulled his paci out of his mouth and he started crying. So the teacher made her give it back and held him. I waited for him to calm down before going in. Boy was he glad to see me! He got a little whiny but I acted excited for him and started to get his stuff together and after talking to his teacher, asked him if he was ready and he said "GO!" and headed for the door!

Once home, he played outside for a bit, watched his favorite cartoon (Little Einsteins) ate dinner, got a bath and went down with no issues. So I don't think he was traumatized this time like he was the last time we tried daycare/preschool. We'll see how tomorrow goes, but I think we'll all be fine.

Place your bets!

I'd like to go on record and guess our daughters birth weight. Assuming she's born on Nov 7th, I think she will weigh 11 pounds. That's right, I said ELEVEN pounds. Aidan weighed 9.6 and I think she will be bigger and I had a dream that she weighed 11 lbs, so we'll see if my dream was right. Anyone else care to make a guess just for fun??

Maybe it's because this is my second child, or maybe she really is just big, but I am feeling like I was just before I delivered our son. Very achy down low if I'm standing or walking too long, getting winded very easily, even needing to take breaks while I'm showering and sit on our shower bench. Oh, and picking up things off the floor is just mean to make me do right now. It takes a lot of effort and I try to get Aidan to "pick that up for mommy" as much as possible. Sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn't. My hands are very swollen today and yesterday it became uncomfortable to wear my wedding ring; plus I was scared it might have to be cut off, so I took it off just to be safe. I have heartburn and reflux at night and according to my husband, I am snoring like a freight train all night too. Pregnancy induced snoring. I had it last time too. Never snored before that and it stopped once Aidan was born. My poor husband has moved to the sofa almost every night to get away from all the racket I'm producing. Rolling over in my sleep to switch sides has become a monumental task now. I'm up a total of 33 lbs now.

In other news, we have chosen Aidan's new preschool and registered him and he will start in one week. I am anxious because I anticipate it will be a hard adjustment for Aidan (ie crying, separation anxiety) but I hope the transition comes quickly for him and that he has fun and enjoys making new friends. Both Ray and I really like the place and their philosophy and feel he'll be learning a lot and hope that he'll develop social skills and get a boost on talking. He'll only be there 3 days a week, but we think it'll be good for him. His teacher is young and sweet and seems like she's really good with the kids and his classmates all seem well behaved and interested in him. Crossing my fingers that he ends up loving it soon! Being away from mommy will be hard on both of us.

Long overdue belly pic

Not sure why we've never gotten around to taking pics of my growing belly with this pregnancy. Guess we've been busy with day to day life! So here's a pic of me and Addison at 30w4d on Sept 4, 2008 - still have 2 months to go! I'm also including a recent photo of Aidan; we love this pic, it makes us laugh!!

Good bye August!

I will not miss you August. I will not miss all your 105 degree days for weeks at a time. I will not miss that you force me and my son to stay inside to avoid your suffocating heat, even though my son wants nothing more than to be outside. I am very pregnant and you seek to make me melt each day. On some days, I would try to brave the heat so my son can go outside to play, but within minutes he is whiny because he is so miserably hot and his playscapes are too hot to play on. Some things cannot be explained to an 18 month old. Your heat and lack of rain, have also delivered the perfect opportunity for ants to take over our yard, which further prevents us from using the large yard we purposely bought for our children and dogs to frolic in. I tried in vain to kill all the ants and keep them away from my inquisitive son, but I finally had to break down and hire a pest control company to do it for me. Two days later, no evidence that any ants were ever here. Victory! A great start for September. So, so long August. I know you will be back, but for now, I can enjoy 11 months without you and that makes me very happy.