The Month Of September

It is already the end of the month, and I have hardly blogged at all. I'll admit....it was because I was mad.

I was so mad at my experience of Joey's first day of school, I didn't want to blog about it for the longest time. Then, as time went by, I kept putting off getting back on the blog because I knew I would have to talk about his first day of school before continuing on to anything else.

Joey was SO excited to be starting school. I was excited for him, but afraid of how I would handle it if he came home crying. When it was time to pick Bubba up from school, I squealed like a school girl all the way there, so happy was I that I could go pick him up and find out how awesome his day was.

When Joey saw the boys and I waiting for him, he looked at me and started crying. I was worried about what had happened, and my Momma's heart was aching for him. I asked him what was wrong. He wailed, "I want to ride the bus!" I was hurt. After looking forward to seeing him after school, anticipating long conversations with him about every little thing that he did, he was upset to see me. Every question I asked him about his day got me a negative, pouty, Eeyore-ish answer. Now, I know that he had a great day; but he refused to share it with me. My memory of his very first day of school will forever be marred.

Joey has come to grips with the fact that I pick him up from school everyday. He is more willing to share the fun things he does in class, and his teacher has already told me that she feels spoiled with Joey, and that when she is with another child, she wishes that child can be more like Joey. (I know that she likes all her kids, but it makes me feel great to hear my son is special to her.)
Joey has gotten to ride the bus home twice now. A couple weeks ago, Nick needed the car, so we had to walk Joey to school. It took us 45 minutes! And then, I still had to walk Nick and Ethan back home. I decided, after arriving at the school, that there was no way that I would be able to make that walk again in just an hour, so I stopped in the office to let them know that Joey would be on the bus that afternoon. Joey's only comment about the bus ride he so anticipated, "It was a little long." He also got to ride the bus home again today and had the same reaction.

Little Nick is doing well. He is so expressive! He is talking so much more, and even if he is still difficult to understand, he is still communicating. His imagination is really taking off, fueled, of course, by his older brother. We go to the library after dropping Joey off at school at least once a week, where he can sit and color, do puzzles, or watch the lizard while I "shop" for books. The library in town is quite small, but it gives him an opportunity to do a "big boy" activity without his big brother. Joey can sometimes make Nick feel that he only gets to do "big boy" things because he is tagging along with the "real" big boy. (Older brothers will do that sometimes; I should know!)

When we came home in mid-September for Lisa and Brian's wedding, my cousin Kathy came over to take pictures of Nick and Ethan for their 3yr and 1yr portraits, respectively. She took some amazing pictures of both boys. Nick is very photogenic, even when he is pouting. I had a couple different outfits for each of them, and Nick did not want to change out of his first outfit, so he pouted most of the rest of the time. Only after Kathy allowed him to help take some pictures did he cheer up enough to give a couple more smiles. I can't wait to be able to get the pictures printed up. What I'm going to do is, pick a few out of the lot and let people pick their own favorites of each boy that I will have printed up for them.

Ethan....boy, what an adorable kid he is. He took his first "official" step (by accident) on Aug 15. After that, Nick and I would have him practice walking between the two of us. For the first week or so, we could get him to take one or two steps. Then, the next week, he would take three or four. When we came home in Sept., he was up to six steps. But that weekend, he started venturing out on his own a bit. That next week after we got back, he just started walking ALL over the place. I have even seen him stand up on his own (without pulling himself up) once or twice.

Ethan loves to jam. When he hears some up beat music, he is dancing and head-banging to the beat. He will also fake sneeze. I have tried to get a video of him doing it, but he is usually so interested in the camera, he won't "perform." But he is so cute when he does! He tips his head back as far as it will go for the "aaahh, aaahh" part, and then throw his head forward, making some semblance of a "choo" sound. It usually comes out on a laugh, because he is so tickled with himself. And of course, Mommy is tickled, too. I always say "God bless you", and that gets him going again.

Nick and his Dad will be flying up to Alaska on Oct 13 to get our stuff out of storage and make the 2500 mile drive back home. We should have our stuff by the 17th, if all goes as planned. Please pray for good weather and safe driving conditions. It is a little worrisome that there is talk of snow already. It's not necessarily the roads, as those are usually well plowed. It's more concerning that they might be driving through a snow storm. In a big U-Haul, that is a little more scary than in a smaller, personal vehicle. I think the thing I am looking forward to having back the most is the boys' bunk beds. They are so sick of sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags! I don't blame them. I'm also looking forward to Mom and Dad, and Grandma and Grandpa Dooley coming to help us unpack and find a spot for everything. Well, us girls will unpack....the boys will go golfing!

Well, I had to get the month of September chronicled before starting a new month. It's hard to believe that it is October already! Have a blessed week.

Sleepy Boys

Ethan fell asleep eating lunch, not something that usually happens. He is much to interested in eating, to fall asleep.
This is my son who is too big to take naps. He falls asleep on the couch after school at least 50% of the time.

The boys sometimes have a hard time going to bed, or taking their naps. When that occurs, I usually find them asleep int he doorway. (I have to put the gate up in their doorway so they don't keep getting out of their room. Even if they are out of bed, they are still confined to their room and eventually fall asleep.) This is the result....curled up in the doorway.

Pretty Pictures

Sept 19, 2009...Lisa and Brian's wedding at Rockaway Beach.

We stopped on the way to enjoy this most beautiful view from a lookout point. The weather was fantastic. I have always thought Oregon beaches are the most beautiful on the West Coast.
I can't even remember the last sunset I watched at the beach. This was a particularly spectacular one, better in person. I love how the towering clouds were painted with just a touch of color.

The newly wed couple Lisa and Brian taking a walk along the beach.

It's not often I allow pictures of myself to be taken, but we were at the beach, at a wedding, so I couldn't really get out of it.

We stopped and Mary's on the way home on Sunday, another beautiful day. Ethan loved the trees.

My Walking Baby Boy

Ethan has been so amazing. Last weekend (not the one we just finished, but the one before that) when we came down for Lisa's wedding, Ethan was still just walking a few steps at a time. But while we were at Mom's he started venturing out a bit more. He would let go of the furniture on his own, with no prodding, and walk a few steps to no discernible objective....just to walk. For the last week, he has been walking ALL over the house, practicing all day long. He can be so funny sometimes, looking like a drunken sailor. Sometimes he will switch directions, but we can tell it wasn't on purpose, because he starts going sideways a bit before getting his feet straightened out going the right way.

You can see at the end of this little video that he came to give "baby" kisses. What you may not be able to tell, is that he had the entire lens area of the camera in his mouth! I love how he lays his head on his shoulder in a look that SCREAMS cute!

Disco Baby

Joey is instructing Ethan in the groovy dance of disco. Ethan is a great dancer. He loves to jam.

Make Sure You Know Who You're Calling

Last Tuesday, Nick called me on his way home from work. As is his usual practice, when the phone was answered, he said, "Hey, Babe." What he didn't expect was to hear silence. So he pulled the phone away from his ear to make sure he called the right number.

He hadn't.

He had called his boss, Trish. "Trish" and "Trin" are next to each other alphabetically in his contact list, and he called the wrong one! Trish busted up laughing. Nothing like calling your new boss "babe" to break the ice!

First Day Of Kindergarten

Joey started Kindergarten today! It still seems a bit unreal to me. I suppose, through the repetition of school days, reality will settle in soon enough. Boy, was he excited to go! He was sleeping on the floor in our room last night, and when he woke up, he popped his head up and said, "I know it's my school day today!"

I survived our first "drop-off." We arrived at the school a bit early, so I took a few minutes to pray with the boys in the car. I started getting teary-eyed just a bit, but was able to reign it in. Of course, it was difficult for anyone to hear my prayer as Nick was screaming the whole time.

Yes, it was my middle son who had the hardest time. From the minute I started putting shoes on, till several minutes after we got home, Nick was screaming, "Me want Bubba!" As we walked Joey to his classroom, and as we walked back to our car, everyone passing us gave us looks of sympathy for the little brother being left behind. We tried calling Daddy at work to see if hearing his voice would calm Nick down, but Daddy was in a meeting.

When we got in the house, I took Nick in my arms to snuggle for a minute. I offered to let him call someone else since Daddy couldn't talk. He chose Grandma Mary. So we got to talk to Grandma Mary at work for a few minutes, making her day in the process.

The good news is, that after getting the kids home, it was time to put them down for a nap. I told Nick, that when he woke up, it would be time to pick Bubba up. In fact, he is just waking up now, and I was afraid I would have to wake him up. As he came out of his room, he asked, "Bubba home yet?" He is currently helping me type, which makes it quite difficult.

Now it is time to wake Ethan up and get buckled in the car. I can't wait to hear about Joey's day! I'll blog about it when we get home. Have a great day.

Fire Brigade

I think that all boys, at some time in their childhood, have a fascination with fighting fires. I believe that the passion runs deeper in my family, as we are surrounded by fire fighting heroes. My dad was a firefighter until he retired to work for LifeFlight. My Uncle Rob fought fires, my Uncle John volunteered. Now my brother Josh is a firefighter. Because of their influence, I have my own little fire brigade in my own house. Sadly, with budget cuts, we only have one helmet that must be shared between them. But don't they make an adorable team?!

So Much In My Head

I've had so much going on in my head (as crazy as that makes me sound) I have been unable to put it down into words. Every time I would sit at the computer to blog, I would become intimidated, and leave before having to face my blank computer screen. I will try to put some of it down on "paper" so that I can have a fresh mind tomorrow. Tomorrow is a VERY big day, and I have to be at my best....and I want to be able to blog about it tomorrow, and I know I won't be able to if I haven't "unloaded" what's already in there.

(Please excuse the mess....it's way past my bed time, and as I have previously stated, my head's a bit convoluted right now.)

Let's start with the boys' doctors appointments. Nick and Ethan had their Well-Child check-ups last Tuesday. This was the first time at a new doctor, and let me just say....I didn't really like her much. My husband liked her even less. I felt like she thought we were brand new parents who needed her advice on how best to raise our kids. She told us we should dress our kids differently, and told us that we should change Ethan's sleeping habits. There were lots of little comments here and there throughout the examinations that just irritated me. I would just smile and say, 'uh-huh.' Don't get me wrong; she was very nice, and if she told me something that I needed to do for the health of my children, that would be different. But most of what she had to say is more personal preference type things, if you know what I mean.

The important thing is that both the children are growing healthy and strong, and right on track for where they should be. Nick was 36 inches tall, and 31 pounds. Ethan was measured at 30.5 inches and 21.4 pounds. They are both happy children, except when the get shots. Without their records from the previous doctor, they may not have gotten all the shots that they needed, so we will have to check back with them later. I hope they don't need anymore. It is enough of a headache once.

After the doctors appt, we stopped by Joey's new school to drop off the rest of the enrollment papers. Then on Thursday, the school had an open house. So I took the three boys, all by myself, to see where Joey would be going to school, his classroom, and to meet his teacher. Then the PTO put on an ice cream social. I tried my hardest to skip that part....but with three kids, you've got to know that at LEAST one of them will spot (or smell) the ice cream and start a chorus with the rest of "please, please, please." So, with only one extra hand (as I had to push the stroller with one) I tried to get enough dishes of ice cream and keep the two not in a stroller from running all over creation. Needless to say, I was anxious to get back home.

Saturday, my husband turned 31. Yes, he is firmly ensconced in his thirties now. I'd call him an old man, but I'm not to far behind. Just under three months, to be exact. So I have to be careful how much I tease him about his age. We went out to dinner, but the rest of the day was his to do what he wanted. He relaxed by playing WOW most all day.

During nap time on Saturday, I took Joey school clothes shopping for the first time. I know that at this age it is pretty easy; I can get away with picking the clothes that I like. But it gave me shivers, shopping with Joey, to think of all the years to come, and how few of them I might get my way.

On Monday, the three boys and I went back to the school for a one-on-one meeting with the teacher. Joey will be in Miss Bellamy's PM Kindergarten class. It was a very short meeting, basically going over the paperwork she wanted to give the parents, and all the extra papers we have to sign. I like Miss Bellamy. She seems to really enjoy the Kindergarten age, and her eyes sparkle when she talks to the kids. I think Joey will have a lot of fun. I know he's excited.

And now....THE BIG ONE. Tomorrow. What a cornucopia of feelings I have about tomorrow. Joey's first day of Kindergarten. I can hardly breathe right now, thinking about it. For the most part, I am way so excited for him. He is going to have a blast. He will finally be able to spend an extended amount of time with kids his own age. He will be learning so many exciting things. And I can't wait to hear about it when he gets home.

But....this is my baby. What if he's not included by the other kids? What if he's laughed at for talking about his "little son Sam"? What if throws a tantrum because he doesn't get to do what he wants? What if he comes home crying? I won't be there to hold him if he gets hurt, or scared, or lonely. He probably won't be any of those things, but I hurt just over the thought.

And I can tell its bed time, because I'm getting weepy over my keyboard, imagining all sorts of horrible things. That's what happens in the middle of the night when I'm supposed to be sleeping. My mind won't shut up! So, I'm going to go now. I want to be as fresh as I can be, because tomorrow will be hard enough.

I have some great pictures I'll have to post later. And of course, I'll have "Joey's first day of school" pictures tomorrow. I'll be back tomorrow. Good night.