An update...

First day of Kindergarten

With Daddy on the first full day of school

Making brownies with Arthur, D.W., and the gang

Another missing tooth!   This makes 4 now!

Well Maggie's first week of school is over.  She is really adjusting wonderfully well to kindergarten and we couldn't be happier.  Her first day of school was eventful- between arriving to school late, Jack's diaper leaking all.over.me., and Maggie making an 11th hour decision to change her name to "Claire" as she arrived in the classroom- we had it all!  (Claire is her middle name by the way, and she had been toying with the idea of going from Maggie to Margaret.  Seems she decided to take it one step further).  All in all she has had a terrific week and she mostly looks forward to getting up each morning to get ready for school.  Her name was drawn from a hat on Friday to bring home the class pets- a basket of stuffed animals from the PBS show "Arthur".  We were to take these 4 pets with us where ever we needed to go and then journal about our adventures.  

Lydia is really enjoying being the big kid at home now.  She likes to be my special helper and is very attentive to Jack.  This morning we went to "Library School"- story time- and then to Chick-Fil-A for an early lunch with some of our friends from our neighborhood.  She will start preschool next Thursday, 9/4, and she will go on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 to 3pm.  Her classroom is actually right around the corner from Maggie's!  

Jack is having a good week.  He has 2 new teeth- 10 total now for those keeping track.  He seems to be sleeping more soundly since they came up so I am grateful for that.  He will wave hello, bye bye, and clap his hands now and he will also put his hand up to his ear when he sees anybody talking on a telephone.  Too funny! 

We are headed to Pickwick Lake with family and friends for the holiday weekend and I am looking forward to getting away for a few days.  I'll have lots of pictures I'm sure!

Night Before Jitters

This is it... Maggie starts Kindergarten tomorrow.  Our house is buzzing with excitement and emotion tonight.  I am so relieved to have reached the finish line that summer presented me with, but sad that Maggie is a big girl now.  For reals.  There isn't a bit of preschooler left in her;  she is ready to move on to the big time now.  Brian and I are a little dumbfounded, just wondering where on earth the last 5 and a half years have gone and scared about what this will mean for the next 5 and a half.  How quickly will time seem to pass before it's Lydia's turn for her first day of Kindergarten?  Jack?  Graduation from high school?  Ugh.  Too much to think about right now.  

I'll have pictures tomorrow!  Wish us luck! 

10 months? Huh?

10 months!  

My Little Bathing Beauty Lydia

Jack with MomMom Bray

Maggie and MomMom 

Maggie lost another tooth this week! 

Well it seems like only yesterday I wrote about Jack turning 9 months old.  Time has creeped up on us again and our baby boy turned 10 months this past Thursday!  I don't know how it keeps happening... and I don't like it one bit.  He is busier than ever before and I don't really expect that to change anytime soon.  He has perfected crawling and pulling up but doesn't seem too terribly interested in standing on his own yet (and that is just fine- we are in no rush at all).  We are working on more self-feeding- he seems bored with baby food and the whole spoon-feeding thing but not quite ready to embrace all the new flavors and textures of real food.  

Last weekend we had a very special visitor.  MomMom Bray, Brian's grandmother, came to visit from Florida.  It was certainly a treat to spend time with her- this was her first time meeting Jack, so the trip was extra special for us.  This is a big year for MomMom as she will be celebrating her 90th birthday in October!  She is still active as ever and keeps a very busy calendar, spending lots of time socializing with friends and neighbors in her community.  

Maggie begins Kindergarten next week- Tuesday is her first day with half of her class.  She will be home on Wednesday while the other half of the class goes and then everyone will be together for their first full day on Thursday.  This week we were busy with her registration on Wednesday morning and then Parents' Orientation on Thursday evening.  I had been feeling a bit conflicted over the prospect of Catholic school for a variety of reasons, but after spending some time at the school this week and meeting other families I am as confident as ever this was a great decision.  Our school seems to have a very close-knit community and I am looking forward to jumping in, meeting new friends, and helping out.  

I think that is about it for now.  Brian is in NYC for a short visit until tomorrow evening.  Right now Jack is sound asleep in his room, Lydia has fallen asleep on the floor in her Elmo sleeping bag while watching Stuart Little, and Maggie is watching over my shoulder trying to pick out her name in my post.  She is waiting so patiently to get on the computer to play with her Webkinz for a bit... I guess it's time for me to finish up!  

Jack's 9 Month Appointment

Jack had his 9 month check up this past Thursday morning.  Our big boy now weighs in at 22 pounds, 13 ounces!  We had a great appointment.  Our pediatrician has a lactation specialist on staff and she was doing appointments with him this particular day- I was able to get some help with the sleep/ night nursing issues we are currently experiencing. Hopefully with the info she gave me we will all be sleeping through the night again sometime soon.  

Maggie and Lydia are keeping busy these days.  They seem to have become such good friends and playmates this summer.  It certainly is fun for us to see them make up little games and scenarios to play out.  :::Whispering- I think Lydia *might* be officially potty trained.  It's been a long time coming and the experience has been a lesson in parenting for us.  (ie:  the strategy used for one child will *probably* not work for another)  We started the process back in early spring and she was not having it.  She has basically done it herself off and on over the past few months and we have just been following her lead... :::

This week promises to be pretty busy for us.  Tomorrow is Maggie's Ice Cream Party pottery workshop and on Wednesday both girls will go for a story time pottery workshop.  Brian's grandmother is coming up to Memphis from Florida for a 5 day visit with all of us.  This will be her first time meeting Jack so we are really looking forward to her visit.  

2 weeks from tomorrow Maggie will officially be a kindergartner!  We went out on Saturday to pick up her saddle shoes and now her school uniform is complete.  I can hardly believe how quickly time has passed;  now that she is starting school I suspect time will move even quicker and it won't be long until Jack starts kindergarten.  

More later... 

Our pottery!

Yesterday we went to pick up our pottery pieces from Paint A Piece.  The girls were thrilled with their projects and we ended up staying for a bit to work on some more.  They both chose mermaids to paint and we will pick them up next week sometime.  Enjoy!  

Baby it's hot outside!

One hundred degrees!  That was on Monday.  The weather man says it has "cooled" a bit- it's only in the mid 90's today- but I am a firm believer that once you get above 90 degrees it is all the same.  I know this is Memphis and I have been coping with these summers since 1996 (how is that even possible- 12 years now!), but my goodness it doesn't get any easier.  After spending 23 years growing up in upstate NY though, I will say this: I will take a hot and humid Memphis summer over a cold and snowy winter in NYS any day.  

We have been keeping busy this week... Maggie finished her last summer camp this morning.  She has been a "Mini Mad Scientist" all week and has been coming home with all sorts of science projects to work on.  It's been fun for her and she has learned all sorts of interesting things about dinosaurs, planets and outer space, and "polymers", which is another word for clay she informed me yesterday when I picked her up.  She cracks me up! 

We started our last session of swim lessons on Monday afternoon.  Maggie and Lydia are in the same class this session and are doing pretty good.  Maggie especially- she seems to have gotten over her fear of jumping into the pool and I now have a hard time getting her out of the pool.  It was the other way around for a while- we couldn't get her to stay in the water!  I'm so proud of her progress.  Lydia is coming along slowly, but these things take some time and this really is her first experience swimming so we are not putting any pressure on her.  When this session is over next week we are planning to take a little break and re-enroll later this fall.  

Jack has been busy just being a 9 month old.  He is everywhere and into everything these days- definitely keeping me busy!  He pulls up now too and has been doing this crawl/ scoot move where he is sitting up and just sort of scooting around with one leg tucked under.  Lydia got around nearly the same way when she was his age too.  I think he finds it a more efficient way to get around the house- he can really move, especially across the hardwood and tile floors.  A picture from lunchtime this afternoon- he was more interested in being silly than eating his summer veggie puree (can't say that I blame him!) 

Time to go wake the troops from their nap to get ready for swim class!  

Oh- forgot this little tidbit

Jack is crawling.  And pulling up.  He has been a very busy little boy these past 2 weeks perfecting these new skills.  Life has surely changed as he now has the ability to get into things.  Electrical cords seem to be a new favorite toy so we have been spending some time re-baby proofing the house to suit him.