Anniversaries...

Friday marks 11 years of wedded bliss for Matt and I. Wow. ELEVEN years! Amazing how quickly the years slip by when you're living them with someone you enjoy, cherish, and love. Our marriage is an continuing journey during which we have taken many new roads, picked up some extra "people" and fortunately have experienced very little bumpy terrain!

In addition to our wedding anniversary, I'm celebrating my own anniversary! July 18th, 2010 was my first run. Ever, really. After that run I logged "OMG!!! I finished even though I felt death was imminent!" In the last year, I have pushed myself harder than I ever have before and because of that, I've achieved so much. As I embark on my 2nd year as a runner, I continue to work towards a goal. 365 miles in 2011. Today is the 199th day. I'm at 216 miles. I'm looking forward to more regular runs with the kids (and Matt when he's able), more track work, a first race, half marathon with a best friend, and many hours listening to my own breaths while soaring over miles using my own two feet! Talk about an exhilarating feeling. Running X miles because I decide I can and I will. 

My inspirational word today is "Persistent". I was inspired tonight while reading an entry in the book Mile Markers to label myself with that term, as a reminder of how far I've come and how far I still want to go. I'm proud & thrilled to have Matt next to me for each stride. 

"Outlines" Page 101-103

The cow.

We're Minnesotan's. We might live in Florida currently, but we were both raised in Minnesota. So it really shouldn't shock anyone that we do things differently. But I can't even explain this one! 

Gavin just "found" Matt's lucky cow. 

I'm not sure how it started, or where the cow came from. But for the last 10 years this cow has traveled the world with my husband! I assume it's lucky because my husband has always returned home safely to me. So you can bet that as Matt begins his next portion of flight school this month, he'll be carrying a cow in his pocket! We want him to return from every flight safely!

TGIF!!!!

Have we really made it to Friday of the longest week of my life? YES!!!!

As Daddy and Gavin departed this morning on their way to school, with all smiles, I can't help but feel an overwhelming sense of pride! In 5 short days my baby has turned into a school boy and seems to be adjusting well. I expect Monday might be a hard day again after 2 days off. But hopefully it won't take 3 days to readjust. In one week we have changed his sleeping habits, morning routine, have revisited potty training (and not had any wet diapers!), sent him to school for 7+ hours a day and let him ride the bus! That's a lot for a just-turned-3-year-old! Sure, he's walked away with a cold from all the exposure at school, but we can deal with that! 

Dinners at our house are now very interesting...After a long hard day, Gavin is READY for bed and asks to go "night-night".

Next week will bring more excitement with my 38 week OB appointment where we'll find out if induction will happen the following week, and Gavin's 1st field trip (And Daddy gets to go with!).

I feel like I just got fired...

So for the last 3 years my "job" has been full time caretaker to a needy but appreciative little boy. Now suddenly he's away at school for more than 7 hours a day. What am I supposed to be doing all day? I know in just a few weeks I'll have a new child to be a full time caretaker of. Meanwhile, expect that I'll have the cleanest (and most organized) house! Really it is great to have all the time in the world to "nest". But after a week or so I'm sure I'll be just trying to find more things to do. 

Luckily, last week when I still had some clarity, I decided to make a list of things to do while Gavin is away at school. I felt a little guilty at first putting the list together, but just knew otherwise I'd sit around wondering what was next. This list is comprised of all those loose ends and things that are accomplished much faster with out the assistance of a toddler. Yesterday, as I relied heavily on this list to get me through the morning it, affectionately became know as "The List". Sure, I still have regular household duties I can do, but these are more specific tasks. And while I don't expect to need it everyday, it sure was a lifesaver yesterday!

Gavin Goes to School!

What a change to our daily life! 

Over the coarse of 2 months we've been doing evaluations with the Santa Rosa Florida School District to see if Gavin would qualify to be one of their preschool students. After 4 evaluations with various specialists he was invited to be a student at Bagdad Elementary School and attend FULL TIME PRESCHOOL! His acceptance was based on his speech and language delay. While this is very exciting for a little boy, it's also a little scary as a 3 year old who's never attended daycare. For mom too! We were notified that he was approved to attend Thursday, April 27th and they requested that he start classes that next Monday, May 3rd. They did however offer us the option to wait and start him with the new school year August 23rd. With Laney's soon arrival we thought it might be good to give him an activity of his own and we decided to let him finish off the last 6 weeks of this year. 

School starts at 7:30 am and goes until 2 pm! During the day they have a packed schedule which includes Breakfast, music, P.E., crafts, Lunch, Playground, Nap, art, all academics, etc... Gavin has a male teacher, Mr. McDonal, and his female assistant (whom Mommy can't remember her name because she was trying to not bawl while being introduced). They also help work on potty training...which is great because they have Gavin for more awake hours than we do! This last weekend he started peeing in the potty at home with minimal effort! So far this week we've only had wet night time diapers. Amazing what a difference a month makes! 

In order to get to school for the 7:30 start time, Gavin gets on the bus at 6:10 am!!!!! And the bus returns him home at 2:36 pm. First one on and last one off! While we probably won't send him on the bus both ways every day, but we'd like him to be comfortable with it. In the future it might make more sense to let him sleep the extra half hour and have one of us drop him off at school. It's only 3 miles away.

While in school Gavin will also be meeting with the speech & language specialist for 90 minutes "one on one" per week. We've put his private therapy sessions on hold until school is out for the summer. Then we'll be returning to our twice weekly sessions with Ms. Katie. Also, he's eating school breakfast and lunch. A big thing if you have ever watched him eat! I'm not sure how much of those meals he's eating, but hopefully this will expose him to new foods and seeing other kids his age eat them.

Photos are still to come, it's still quite dark at 6:10 am! And so far there have been lots of tears at departure and arrival!

It's already the middle of February?

This has been a busy month so far! Earlier this month I traveled alone to Virginia to do a newborn photo shoot of baby Olivia! She is the new baby to our friends Dave & Tara. Their son Davey is Gavin's age and now Olivia and Laney will be around the same age! We are looking forward to their family moving to Florida next month!

 

 

Booties!

I failed miserably at flowered head bands. So in an effort to redeem my pride I've gone overboard with making booties/slippers for Laney. She'll have a bare head, but great footwear! Don't ask why I'm making pair after pair of wool &/or felt booties for my child whom is due May 26th, and we live in Florida. I realize the irony in this. But I need some project to be my creative outlet! We have central air...she can wear them indoors!