School Days

Here was her first homework assignment. Her about ME poster. We cut out pictures of all her favorite things and glued them on. Hello Kitty, ice cream, doggies, Nail polish, and Mimi. Ha!

Nearly three weeks ago Isabella started school! She did much better than I thought she would. She was supposed to start last year but because the school district was so bad where we used to live we decided to wait and held her back a year. We thought emotionally, socially, she wasn't ready either. Some of her her fine motor skills were lagging and I really wanted the extra time to work with her.

Josh didn't have his first class until late in the afternoon so we were all able to go and take her together. I felt fine until we got right outside her classroom and then it hit me. My eyes welled up with tears which I sucked back because the last thing I wanted was for her to see ME cry. I was scared that she would lose it. She did great though! We found her little cubbie and I helped her put her stuff up then we found her desk and she sat right down and started coloring a worksheet.

Then after lots of hugs and kisses I went out in the hallway with the boys while Josh said his goodbyes. I started tearing up more then Jack started wailing and tears were streaming down his face. "Isabella, I want my sister, I want Isabella!!" I picked him up and cried with him and said "I want Isabella too!"
I actually saw a lot more parents breaking down then kids.
The NEXT day was the really tough one. We didn't get to walk into class and get her settled in. I had to force her into line with her class when the bell rang. I watched her ears turn red and I knew she was crying a little and it broke my heart!!! I wanted to run in and grab her and race home. I seriously thought about going in to check back on her. But instead I went home and looked at the clock about every 3 minutes until it was finally time to pick her up! My baby is growing up! Afterwords she was fine, she was all excited about her music class, and show and tell day. And even met a new friend and they colored together. I can't believe my baby girl is growing up!

Earth Day and giving back...

We celebrated Earth Day on Wednesday by doing crafts. we made coffee filter Earths using filters, magic markers and a squirt of water. They turned out really cool. . We talked about things we can do to keep our planet beautiful. And about reusing and recycling. Then we talked about how fortunate we were to live in a place where they have a warm, safe home, water and food.I tried my best to explain to them that so many children in other parts of the world don't have those basic things, and how fortunate and blessed we are to have them. They both really got it.. even Jack. Bella asked" Couldn't we send them some water so they won't be thirsty anymore?"

I decided to let them choose one charity they both wanted to donate to. And we talked more about how important it is to help others. I was going down a long list I found and stumbled onto charitywater.org I explained what they did to help people get clean water that they didn't have and they immediately said they would like to do that one. So we set aside a jar and once we reach our first goal of $50.00 I'll send it in. They both took $5 from their piggy banks and put it in the jar. They were really excited to be able to help out. It makes me so proud!
Also when going over charities we went onto locks of love I explained what it was and Isabella saw pictures of kids on there and kids around her ago who had donated hair to make wigs and she said she would really like to do that too. I told her she would have to grow her hair for a really LONG time. I didn't think much of it but then again today she said out of the blue. "Daddy we aren't going to cut my hair anymore I'm doing locks of love." So I guess she's REALLY serious about it! We will have to wait and see.

Being Crafty.

Out of all the toys my kids have there most favorite things are balloons!! They always end up getting one of those giant foil ones that takes up half the room at their Birthday. I always forget about them until 2 in the morning when I get up to pee and they scare me to death, floating around in a dark room. I can't tell you how many times I thought someone was in my house only to realize it was just a balloon.

We did crafts today, Bella got a HUGE box of arts and crafts supplies as a Birthday present from Grandma and Judy. Today we started out by making hand print butterflies... tomorrow we are going to work on something with either dinosaurs or fire trucks for Jack. Since those are his favorite things!


Also... Bella was doing free Makeovers today. Jack rocks pink eyeshadow David Bowie style. :P

They call me jaws.

It finally happened, ever since Noah's first tooth showed up it was always a thought in the back of my mind. three days ago, he was getting sleepy so I took him in our room to nurse him for a few minutes before his nap. This is the only way he will ever fall asleep, unless we are in the car. So I'm laying there half asleep myself I smiled down at him and then he smiles and tries to roll over on his belly. For some reason he really wants to try to nurse on his stomach. He tries to do this whenever he's on his side on the bed. As he does he tries to take my boob with him and he bites down.. hard. Oh man it HURT soooo bad!! In the pit of my stomach it hurt.I immediately screamed and pulled my nipple out of his mouth I was almost afraid to look, but it really didn't look all that bad, just a little red spot, but it did break the skin. I said firmly "Noah, you don't bite Mama that hurts!"
His whole face crumpled up and he dissolved into sobs and looked at me like I was the cruelest person in the wold. I hope that will be the first and last time I have to experience biting.

So the past couple days have been good. I sat down and made reward charts and chore charts for Isabella and Jackson. And I made a house rules chart. Josh laughed when he came in and saw all of it taped to the fringe door. He said "Oh Emily, that's cute see, you are domestic!" I had fun making them I used Isabella's magic markers and construction paper and stencils.

The kids were all excited when they saw them the next morning. I sat them down to go over the rules. Most of which they already knew but this was actually the first time I had written them down. They were more excited about getting a sticker for each day they didn't have a time-out and did all the things are their chore chart.

It was really warm and beautiful today so we spent a good part of it outside in the backyard playing. Then we took the kids over to my Mom's she offered to watch them so Josh and I cold go get something to eat. It was good just to get out! We went to our favorite Mexican place, then to Marble Slab, yum! Then we went back to pick up Noah, Bella and Jack were staying the night. They were getting ready to pick out their bedtime stories when we left. Mom said Noah hadn't slept the whole time we were gone so I was sure he would pass out as soon as we got home. It was already 8:30 and he normally he falls asleep around 8. Well, he fell asleep in the car but as soon as I went to take him out of the car seat he woke up. I tried to put him back down but within two minutes he was sitting up in bed screaming. SO... then I tried to nurse he was really fussy and wiggly and just generally had no interest so I just paced around the house, talking to him and jiggling him and rocking him until he FINALLY wore himself out and fell asleep About 10:45. I know he's teething his two bottom teeth are already in and I can feel one just about to break though on the upper left side so I'm sure that was a big part of it too. We were out of infants Motrin and I couldn't find the teething tablets. Plus we JUST transitioned him to his own room. Well, not really his own he shares with Jackson. He started off in the pack and play right next to our bed. He was up every couple hours nursing for MONTHS and it was just easier to have him with us. Most of the time he would end up splayed out in the middle of our bed sandwiched between Josh and I. He's done pretty well with it so far, he still usually wakes up about once a night to nurse but within 20 minutes nurses and then falls right back asleep. But, Isabella has been making up for Noah sleeping better. She was up at least three times last night. She's convinced the wicked witch of the west is under her bed! Whenever I get more than 5 hours of sleep straight I'm gonna throw a party!