First day of school

Well, it was the first day of school for the Lua girls, who've been itching to go back (please let them keep this enthusiasm in later years!). I tried and tried to coax Lexi out of bed this morning nice and sweetly...you know "Lexi, time to get up. Honey, time to get up." No response and her eyes are clamped shut. Then I say "it's time for your first day of school and the eyes pop open and she's jumped out bed ready to go. She even had her backpack on before her shoes and a full 15 minutes before we had to leave the house.

I signed up to volunteer in the classroom this year (Weds) until the baby comes, so today was my first day. It was amazing to be able to watch them do their thing, but damn am I tired. Who knew preschool could be so hard. But Lexi, who I thought might have problems with me staying (asking me for help instead of the teachers, etc) was completely oblivious to the fact that I was even there. I guess I should be proud instead of hurt, right? The teachers were amazed with how much Sam has learned from last year, which is funny since we didn't really do any "teaching" projects this summer. But I can tell she's already excelling as one of the few 2nd year preschoolers....she loves knowing how it's all done. But she's very sweet and took very good care of her little sister today, making sure she wasn't left out and explaining to her what was going on. Makes a mom proud!

Do-over Day

Do you ever have a day where you think it might be better to just climb back into bed and pretend it never started? That's been my day. Nothing horrible has happened, but there have been enough little things added up that it's made it feel that way. And I can't even have a glass of wine to calm my nerves. It started with our satellite receiver not working - AGAIN! We just had this receiver replaced last month because of a similar issue. And Dish Network customer service is such a joke. I'm so tired of them. Hopefully Nacho can get somewhere with them when he gets home tonight. Then our internet was working at a snails pace this morning. And of course it's the morning where I *have* to do something while trying to get out the door in minutes. I decided I would take the girls to see the last $1 movie of the summer and since I'm already running later than I wanted, of course I would get stuck behind a wide load trailer who's taking both lanes of the freeway, making us late for said movie. Don't even ask why it't still two lanes each direction here...stupid people in Novato who won't agree to the expansion.

So we get to the movies, get settled and everything seems to be going great. Then starts Lu's million and one potty trips that produce nothing. I know this is a part of potty training, but it doesn't make it any less annoying. Plus she's actually potty trained and usually only says she has to go when she has to go. After the movie, we go over to Target to get the girls' school supplies. Why do preschoolers need school supplies when we pay tution for them? I have no idea, but at least the list isn't as extensive as it was last year. And no suprise, the school section is a mad house. I repeated to Sam that she must stay right next to me if she wants to walk. She's doing great. I look next to me and she's right there. Until the time I look (maybe 15 seconds) and she's not. So I say "Samantha" thinking she's right there. Nothing. So I start yelling "Samantha" and of course panicking like any parent would do. She comes running over, apparently having been distracted by some markers and glitter, but behind a display that was taller than her. I know it couldn't have been more than 5 seconds until I found her again, but my stomach dropped. And I'm not sure whether any mother would react this way or it's just the hormones, but I burst into tears in the middle of Target because I was so relieved. She of course felt horrible and kept saying "sorry" over and over again.

The whole day wasn't bad...we did get to have lunch with Nacho which was a nice treat. And now we're home, safe and sound. The girls are napping (or pretending to) and I've got a few minutes to collect myself. Thank goodness our vacation is almost here!

What paperless society?

There has been a bunch of talk over recent years about how we're moving more towards a paperless society. I want to know how that's possible when I have more paper to deal with than ever before.

Today I had to fill out all of the girls papers for school. You'd think I was filling out college applications for the amount of paper they sent. I think I had somewhere around 12 forms per child to fill out. I'm glad they cover all their basis, but how many different forms do they need the emergency contacts on? Speaking of school, I just realized that in the first 3 weeks of school, the girls will only go 4 days. Oops. They're signed up for 3 days/week right now, with school starting Aug. 20th. So the days they'd go would be Aug. 20, 22, 25, 27, 29, Sept. 1, 3 & 5 (for those first 3 weeks). Let's do a breakdown:
August 20th - first day, they'll be there
August 22nd - we're going on vacation
August 25th - still on vacation
August 27th - they'll be there
August 29th - teacher inservice day
September 1st - Labor Day
September 3 & 5th - they'll be there

I'll take responsibility that planning a vacation (long weekend) the first week of school probably wasn't the best thinking on my part. But in my defense I didn't know when school started (what happened to it starting after Labor Day?) and I didn't know how many days a week the girls would go. Last year Sam only went 2, so if we had done the same, they wouldn't have missed any school. But who plans a teacher inservice day for the second week of school? Has so much already happened that they need the prep day? Let's not mention that they will have just had one the Monday before school started, making 2 in 2 weeks. I think it's an easy way to turn Labor Day into a 4 day weekend.

But enough venting. They're both signed up for school. They're both signed up for ballet. It's going to be quiet around here in a few weeks. What am I going to do with all that free time until the baby comes? I'm sure I'll find something ;)

He wasn't kidding!

Nacho really did work with a bunch of idiots! Yesterday was his last day and he asked for his final paycheck. The CFO said they would get them next week with the regular payroll. So Nacho showed him the CA state law stating that when an employee is laid off or terminated they are to receive their paycheck that day. The CFO agreed that it was in fact law and that they were in fact going to break it because they wouldn't issue final paychecks until next week. Nacho told him he now had no choice but to go the labor board, which I'm sure they didn't believe he'd follow through with. But yesterday afternoon we drove to the local office to file the claim and they informed us that Nacho will get paid for everyday (not just work days) that they do not give him his check, so if that's next Thursday, that's 7-8 days of extra pay. She did say it will take a couple of weeks, but it's all worth it. I'm sure the company will fight it, but it's pretty obvious, especially with all the emails we gave the labor board, that they knowingly and willingly broke a law. And this doesn't even get into some of the fines from the state they might incure. Who is stupid enough to willingly break a state law?

Thank goodness Nacho started his new job today!

Baby update

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and everything is looking good. I've finally started putting weight, which the doctor is happy about. We went over the ultrasound results and everything looks great. After the scare we had when I was pregnant with Samantha, you can imagine this is of great relief! She did agree that the baby was measuring a little ahead, but not enough to change to my due date, so that remains Dec. 10th. For the first time in any of my pregnancies I'm measuring big, about 2-3 weeks. I don't really know what that means - she suggested maybe the baby would come early (but hopefully not too early), I'd have a bigger baby (and since Sam was 8lbs 2oz and Lexi was 7lbs 14oz, I'm hoping that isn't the case) or it will just even itself out later in the pregnancy. Let's see, what else? Oh yeah, we can finally feel the baby kick, which it always finds fun to do as I'm falling asleep, but is exciting none the less. I guess that's all for now. My next appt. is in early Sept, so maybe I'll have more to update then.

Good news in the Lua house!

We've have a week filled with good news. First of all, I had my 20 week ultrasound on Monday and the baby is looking great! The baby is measuring a week ahead and the u/s tech showed a due date of Dec. 4, but I'm not sure my doctor will actually change the date since it's so arbitrary to begin with. But I'll find out for sure next week. The baby is weighing about 15oz and growing right on schedule. I haven't heard from my doctor, so I'm guessing there isn't anything to be concerned about. And we did stay yellow team. Sorry to all those who thought we might cave.

Second, Lexi has decided she wants to potty train! We started last week and today is day 6 (!!) without accidents. *knock on wood*. She's taken this on like a pro and is so proud of herself. And I guess the bribing with candy doesn't hurt either, lol. She's still in pull-ups at night, but I can deal with that. Now, she can start both school and ballet next month AND I'll only have one in diapers come December.

And lastly, Nacho got a new job! We haven't really talked much about this because frankly, it's starting to feel like a broken record. Nacho left his job at Accuchex last year because he had been recommended for a job elsewhere with better pay and benefits. He thought he was doing what was best for his family and at the time I supported him completely. Turns out he ended up miserable at the new place and as our luck has seemed to be, he found out about 2 months ago that they were being sold and he would be losing his position. (That would make 5 places since 2002 that have closed/sold). It seemed like a blessing in disguise because he was so unhappy there, but the job market is tough and his last day of July 31st was quickly approaching. A little bit stressful to say the least considering we're a one income family and I'm pregnant making private health insurance hard (and expensive) to get. Well, as luck would have it, Accuchex called him and was interested in bringing him back! He found out yesterday that he will start there August 1st, with benefits starting for all of us Sept. 1st. So congrats Nacho!

Our anniversary

Yesterday was our anniversary - 9 years! Can you believe it? We went out to a wonderful dinner at the Melting Pot, sans kids. It's not often we go out to dinner with out the girls, so this was a nice treat. The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant and it is soooo good! I would highly recommend it. We ordered their Big Night Out dinner which is four courses and so much food - cheese fondue of your choice, salad of your choice, a whole meat selection (ours had pork, two types of steak, chicken and shrimp) with a dozen or so dipping sauces and then of course the chocolate fondue of your choice (we did the Yin & Yang, which is dark chocolate and white chocolate), which in my opinion is the whole reason to go. I ate so much I told Nacho he could just roll me home.