School's Back In!

And I have mixed emotions about it. Samantha is in full day kindergarten this year and only 3 days in, I miss her so much. But we have needed the break from eachother. We've been battling all summer and I really believe in distance will make the heart grow fonder. It helps that she is loving school and looked at all the kids having meltdowns at drop off the first like they had a third eye. Lexi is her second year of preschool/pre-K and is adjusting to being away from her sister for the first time. Since she only goes 3x a week, she's only had school two days so far....but so far so good.

It's definitely a new dynamic for us and one that is going to take some adjustment. Like I said, for Lexi, it's the first time being away from her sister. She's handling it ok. She was great the first day and fine yesterday (the day she didn't have school). But at about lunch time, she really started missing Sam and spent the next 2.5 hours asking me every 10 minutes if it was time to go get her. The minute we did pick her up Lexi told Sam how much she missed her. So sweet. For Sam, going into all day kindergarten (and 5x a week) has proven to be a long day for her, especially on the heels of our vacation and the drop of naps. The first day she proclaimed I embarrassed her by hugging her at pick up. Yesterday, she came running to me. We'll see what happens today as I pick her up in a little over an hour. The drama doesn't help either. Apparently, D & E (two of her friends from last year) broke up as friends yesterday and Sam doesn't know why but it makes her very sad. Oh those teenage years should be fun. NOT!

And then there is me. The days both girls have school, I drive to and from the school 3 times (thanks goodness they're on the same campus!). I love having the late mornings/early afternoons with Lu while Jack naps and Sam is at school. We haven't had this time ourselves for quite a while and when we did she was too young to really care. Jack and I still have 3 mornings just us, which is nice. Now I just have to figure out a way to fit some one on one time with Sam in. Right now it's been breakfast on the days it's only her going to school, but I feel like it needs to be more. And hopefully I'll find some time for me in there. I'd really like to get back to my scrapbooking. And maybe finish a book. Or catch up the DVRd shows that piled up while we were gone.

Overall it's good for all of us. Samantha is getting that independance she has so craved. The girls have gotten some space from eachother and actually like seeing eachother now. I get some one on one time, although sometimes brief, will all my kids. And I might actually get some me time.

Ack, I'm 30!

While it may have seemed I disappeared into hiding over the big birthday, I was actually on vacation. A much needed and wonderful vacation. What started as a few days in Vegas turned into a full fledged road trip. We left EARLY on the 8th and drove down to Beverly Hills, spending the day exploring the Santa Monica Pier and the evening walking Rodeo Drive. Unfortunatly all the store were closed at the point, which is probably better because I doubt I could afford anything there anyways. We did eat dinner there though, so not all was lost! The next morning we left for Vegas were we spent the week. We had such a great time and I have to say the MGM pool is the best! We spent a full day at the pool and we didn't leave the lazy river. And if anybody is looking for a way to pick up girls, take a 8 month old baby boy swimming with you - every single girl will stop you and tell you how cute he is - going as far as to stop the conversation they are already in. Jack made friends with a beautiful 20 something (ha, ha - I can say that now!) in a pink polka dot bikini who stopped us everytime we went by her just to talk to him. We spent the week eating, shopping, drinking and exploring. It was a great week. Oh and I turned 30 while we there.

We left Vegas last Friday, with the guise that we were driving home, while in fact we were surprising the kids with a trip to Disneyland on our way home. It was as much for us as it was for them though, as it was Jack's first trip and the first trip where Lu was finally tall enough for most of the "big" rides - something she's been waiting for! As pulled up to our hotel, Sam noticed we were near Disneyland. She asked me if we were just stopping for Daddy to rest. When I told her no, she got excited that we got to stay. Does she really think we'd be so cruel as to pick a hotel near Disneyland as a good resting spot and not take them? Anyways, our little daredevil Lu did everything she was tall enough for and LOVED every minute of it. She especially liked Terror of Tower and Splash Mountain. And we even coaxed our more timid daughter onto Splash Mountain and after surviving the big splash, she declared she loved it. And Jack seemed to enjoy all of it, although I do realize he is too young to really get any of it. He was especially entranced with Mickey. The girls got a special treat and were able to get full makeovers at Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique, where they were made into princesses, complete with costumes, hair & makeup. They looked beautiful and loved all the special attention. All I can say is Nacho has his hands full with these two divas!

I plan on getting some pictures up soon, but we took almost 600, so it's going to take awhile to sort through.

Eureka, we found it!

Little man got a present for his 8 month birthday - his first tooth! It's good to know I was right about one of my kids teething since with Sam I was convinced she was getting her first tooth for...oh 6 months or so. And with Lexi, I never really new she was teething, she'd just wake up in the morning with a new tooth. You think I'm joking, but on one of our trips to Disneyland she screamed/laughed on the teacups and I noticed her first 2 year molar had popped through. I know they say you get less attentive about milestones with each child, but even I thought that was extreme. ;)

But luckly, as with our other children, Jack has taken teething in stride *knock on wood*. He's been drooling, chewing, etc but not overly fussy. I'm hoping this is how it will be for the rest of them!

My Little Blogger

Twitter

I signed up for Twitter. Mostly to follow/comment to MckMama because I'm not that cool to really need my own. Honestly, my life isn't interesting enough to twitter. Or tweet. Or whatever it is. And I'm not even sure who I should follow. Maybe I'll get the hang of it, but I highly doubt it. I have a feeling by the time I finally get it, it will be Samantha explaining it to me.

Baby Stellan Needs Your Prayers

Stellan, the youngest child of Jennifer over at My Charming Kids, is not doing very well right now. He's is a heart baby and in the past 3 days has been in continous SVT (you can learn about it on her blog). The latest is that he is being airlifted to Boston, but it's not looking good. Please, please pray for this little boy and his family. They need a miracle right about now. And knowing how hard you all prayed for my little miracle, I'm confident you can help here. Stellan is only a month older than my Jack.

Oh DVR, How I Love Thee...

Let me count the ways

* I can record shows that I can watch in peace AFTER the kids go to bed
* I can pause you to go change the load of laundry
* I can record shows for the kids for those time that Mommy needs 20 mins of quiet

The list could go on and on, trust me. So imagine my horror when our Dish DVR went out yet again. Finally having enough of the same issue and their crappy customer service, we cancelled our service and signed up with AT&T UVerse. They shut off our Dish on a Thursday and AT&T was supposed to come that Saturday. Except after waiting all day, the never showed. The hubby called over and over again just to be told they were running late and would be on their way. Finally at 5pm, after realizing we had been stood up, he called again - and was told they had overbooked and wouldn't be able to come until the following Saturday. Not a great start with the customer service AT&T!

But that meant an entire week without any television. How were we possibly going to survive? I'd like to think we don't watch that much tv because honestly how do I have time between catching up on blogs and wasting time on Facebook? Oh and raising 3 kids. But there are a handful of shows we really like and we were lost. Luckily, we did find that most were online, so it wasn't a complete tradegy. But no shows for the kids - that would certainly make for long days. And the first two days it did. But a really cool thing happened - they stopped asking for the tv, knowing it wasn't just me being the world's meanest mom. And they played. With eachother! And didn't fight! Maybe the two things aren't connected, but it was amazing.

But I was thrilled when AT&T showed up yesterday to set us up. Because I can only guess the novelty of our new found no tv freedom surely would have worn off by this week. Now if I could only get the hubby to put down the remote long enough to set me timers. Because I really can't miss another week of Army Wives.