Thankful

It seems in the last few weeks or months I've been bombarded with stories of mothers having to deal with sick children and I'm not talking about sick as in Emma is home sick from school today with what looks like another round of croup sick (she really is), but sick as in terminal sick.  Maybe it's God's gentle reminder that my everyday frustrations with my kids are nothing and I should be thankful I only have to deal with "Terrible 3 Meltdowns" or the everyday crying over homework with Emma - because my girls are healthy as can be.

I follow a blog called forward motion.  I don't remember how I found it, a blog through a blog through a blog type of thing.  I'll let you read it, but the girl that blogs was pregnant (she just gave birth last night) and found out about half way through her baby's kidneys were not functioning and he would most likely pass away immediately after birth.  She has to grow and carry and nurture and love this baby until she delivered, only to let him go - it was absolutely the most heart wrenching story I've ever read.  I cried with every entry she posted - she poured every emotion into every blog.

I watched Letters to God last night, a movie I've been wanting to see for months.  It's a story about a boy who has brain cancer and writes letters to God, literally putting them in the mail for the mailman to deliver.  It's a journey for every character, but the little boy has the most faith and courage out of anyone I've ever seen.  The movie is based on a true story.  

My sister is 36 weeks pregnant - due to have another little boy.  During her 20 week ultrasound, they thought that there might be some complications.  Although they have been able to rule out some things and little Thomas has grown, they won't fully know the extent of his health until he is born.

These are just three of the more recent stories.  I hate hearing them - I wish children didn't have to suffer and get sick.  I hate that it takes hearing things like this for me to remember to be thankful that my kids are in tip top shape. 

Mission: Complete

Well, halfway completed.  I finished my associates program at Axia College at the University of Phoenix last week!  Whoo hoo!  While I feel absolutely accomplished, a part of me feels a little embarrassed that I'm doing this at 27, but I think I'll let the accomplished part shine through! 

I chose the University of Phoenix because finishing my degree was really important to me, but I knew with kids that I wouldn't be able to the traditional way.  UoP has 9 week classes and you take 2 classes at a time so you are able to complete a full semester on time.  It's a TON of work getting a full semester of work into 9 weeks and there were multiple times I was up past midnight trying to get an assignment in on time.  And I took classes for 17 straight months - I started April 2009 and did not have a break in classes until a required 2 week Christmas break that year.  Then I started again that January and went straight through until right before my very last set of classes where I forgot to sign a new Master Promissory Note for my loan and they had to delay my classes a week - other than that, I didn't stop - I was in school mode for 17 months. 

Now I'm all transferred, registered and ready to go at Liberty University for my Bachelors of Science in Education.  The biggest reason I chose to transfer was that UoP works in teams in their bachelors programs and my grade would depend on the work that my team members across the country did.  I finished at Axia with a 3.82 gpa and had no interest in relying on anyone but myself for my grade.  A good friend of mine had a horrible experience with teams and after much research and tons of bad reviews, I decided it wasn't worth the chance to me.  I looked into Liberty and after much prayer decided it was the route to go.  The program is non-licensure, at the bachelors level, but I preferred it that way, wanting to go on to complete my Master's in order to get my license (call me CRAZY).  But I actually just found out that after I graduate, I'll have my ACSI certification allowing me to teach in Christian schools if I wanted to! I'm still waiting on my official transcripts to transfer in, but I should be finished around Spring or Summer 2012 depending on how my student teaching goes!

So I'm halfway there and darn proud of myself for doing it.  There has been a ton of guilt these last 17 months when I can't take the kids outside or do certain things because I have school work, but the pay off was well worth it!

First Day of Preschool

Hannah's first day of preschool went pretty well.  I dropped her off at 9am with no problems.  She wanted to play in the play kitchen area when we first got there but apparently the morning routine is to color, read or work a puzzle so she kind of clung to me for a minute, but when I asked her which one she was going to do, she said puzzles and ran off.  I grabbed a hug and left - no tears or anything (for me or her)!  I was kind of surprised at myself, but hey, at least I wasn't embarrassingly sobbing on my way to the car!

I came back to pick her up at noon and she was one of the last ones out (I think she was going potty).  She said she had fun, her friends were mean (I noticed a rough little boy at orientation) and when I asked her if she was ready to come back Thursday, she replied, "no".  So, I'm a little worried about tomorrow, but the rest of the evening she talked about her day with joy! 

Her daily report read: "Fantastic 1st day! A great friend and helper! Very attentive and great job participating.  We will work on staying in our seat. Did not go potty"

Hannah insists she did go potty and I think she was going when I picked her up and that is why she came out last and obviously her sheet was already filled out - but she is so shy I worried about her either holding it all morning or being too shy to ask, but I discussed this with the teachers already.  I really like her teachers, they are great with her and very open.  I think Hannah will do very well there twice a week.  

Yay, for preschool!

Ready, Set, WAIT!

It's hard to believe that this little girl starts preschool tomorrow - I mean she's so little, how can I let her go?

Here she is only hours old

And here she is just a few months old

It just doesn't seem real - can't I change my mind? I just want to keep her home, make her stay 3 and hold  her in my arms forever!  But really, I'm a little hesitant to let my baby go since Hannah has been with me every second of every day since she was born.  I think everyone knows how attached she is to Matt and I, so even though she is starting to learn to trust others, she is still somewhat clingy which makes me nervous about dropping her off each morning.  

But she is SUPER excited and I had to basically drag her out of orientation so I hope that the first day is similar.  She'll be going Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-12 until the end of May just like a regular school year.  

Wish me luck as I drop her off in the morning as I know I'll be a mess!  It's going to be much harder on me than her and I know she needs it! 

Extraction

Emma had to have her two bottom baby teeth pulled last Thursday:

 The larger tooth in the back started appearing near the end of the last school year so I made an appointment with a new pediatric dentist.  She said it was very common and it should eventually cause the baby tooth to come out.  She said that it was our choice if we wanted it to come out that day or wait for it to come out on its own, but that if the "adult" tooth had become level with the baby tooth, then they would need to extract it.  

So summer came and went and her tooth never fell out, and the other shark tooth appeared, so we made an appointment to have her teeth pulled.  The dentist had assured me that it was not painful - that they rubbed numbing gel on her gums and wiggled it right out. 

They used laughing gas to calm her nerves and used numbing gel on her gums.  What I didn't expect was that they numbed her gums with a shot as well and Emma panicked at the initial pain - but they encouraged her to breathe through her nose to calm down and were able to prick her again to get the rest of the medicine in her.  The rest happened pretty fast.  They "traced" her teeth with one tooth and then literally used plyers to wiggle and pull them out.  The dentist talked to Emma the whole time.  She named the easy tooth Opal and she wiggled and danced out easy, but the stubborn tooth, Petunia, needed Emma's help wiggling.  So after Emma wiggled her hands, feet and self, Petunia came right on out.  You can see how ready Opal was to come out, the root was pretty much gone and we only needed a few more days at home for it to come out on its own.  Petunia on the other hand still had the full root and was no where near ready to come in and definitely needed pulling!  

She was pretty sore for a little bit afterward.  I had promised ice cream as a reward and she couldn't even eat it.  But Brittany and Kayla came over later and all was better! Here is what the wounds look like:

And here is her new smile:

OK - so that smile is a little psycho but it gives you an idea :)  I was surprised how much it affected me.  I was kind of excited; she was losing her first teeth - it was a brand new milestone, but once they were gone I was pretty sad and I had not been expecting me to feel that way at all. 

She says it feels weird to have her teeth gone and she does all kinds of tricks with her tongue in the empty slot, but I think she was excited.  She liked the visit from the tooth fairy - $5 a tooth!  

The dentist said that now her bottom teeth are gone, it should make room for her other teeth to loosen and come out on their own, so we'll pray that we won't need anymore help!  And her top teeth have a little more space than the bottom - so hopefully we'll only be seeing the dentist twice a year for cleanings! This was one experience that I don't want to have to redo!

Christmas in September?

Yay!  September is here, the promise of fall.  I love this time of the year - the leaves changing, visits to the pumpkin patch, jeans and long sleeve tshirts, all the traditional fall activities.  But... is it to early for me to start thinking about Christmas and getting a head start on that gift giving list when my sun burns are barely healed?  Just a thought as my "obsessive compulsive need to plan for things that are months ahead" rears it head for the change of season!