Category Archives: growing up

Big Kid Status: Kindergarten

You know what’s weird? Having a kindergartner. I mean, it’s not weird, per say. Rylee is 5 years old. I guess it’s just more weird to think about. When Andy & I talked about having kids, all the way through giving birth to Rylee, I never really thought past the baby stage.

Now here I am, the mom of a kindergartner.

See? Weird.

Kindergarten has been met with both excitement and apprehension.

Rylee’s first day of kindergarten (and only day the entire week) was last Tuesday. It was more of an introductory “get to know your teacher/tour the school day”. Andy was able to go in to work a little late so he could be there when we dropped her off. Then I took the day off so I could pick her up and spend the rest of the day with her. Afterward, we went out to lunch then ran a few errands.

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Today was her first “real” day of school. Her whole class will be there. She rode the bus.

She rode the bus.

Over the course of the last week or so whenever the bus ride was brought up she’d act shy, scared, timid, etc. We’d talk through it, calm her uneasiness and move on. Last night she was particularly nervous.

But this morning? This morning was a different story. She was ready to go early. She didn’t want to miss the bus! We were down at the end of our driveway with 10 minutes to spare. Once our neighbors were at the bus stop she hopped out of the car and sat with them. I knew she would be fine.

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One of our neighbors is a first grader and she & Rylee are good friends. They already had plans to sit next to each other on the bus.

Pretty soon the bus came, she looked back and waved and climbed on board.

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As we had previously planned, I followed the bus about halfway to school. When it made the turn off the main road to pickup more kids, I went to the school and waited for her.

The bus pulled in about 25 minutes later. She walked off the bus, a smile on her face. She saw me, seemed surprised, said “Oh hi mom!” gave me a hug then turned to head into school.

And just like that, we have a kindergartner, folks.

I hope I never forget.

The other night at dinner Reese was being her usual goofy self trying to get us to laugh. She was also practicing saying “more”. And her other usual cute antics. Andy looked at Rylee and told her that watching Reese is reminding him of how she was when she was that age. Wide-eyed she wanted to know more. Andy went on telling her about all the things he remembered about her when she was around a year old.

That all got me thinking. There is so much about when Rylee was a baby that I don’t remember. As Reese grows, that becomes so much more evident. In my 5 short years of parenting, if I’ve learned anything at all, it’s that it goes by so fast.

Of course I’m still not one of those “enjoy every moment” moms, because I’m realistic. And I hope I never catch myself saying that. {if I do say it, and you catch me, you have my permission to throat punch me}

But there are moments I wish I could just freeze time. Not forever, but just for a few extra moments so I can close my eyes tight in order to etch them into my brain and remember them forever.

I hope I never forget how she tugs on her ears when she’s tired.

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I hope I never forget how her hair falls over her forehead, despite me trying to brush it out of her eyes. Or how the wispies stick out and rest over the top of her ears.

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I hope I never forget how big her eyes are and how long her lashes are.

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I hope I never forget how she sweetly pats my  back when I lift her out of her crib after nap.

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I hope I never forget how her face looks with that binkie plugged in.

I hope I never forget how she climbs up in that chair, that used to be Andy’s grandmothers, and will just sit calmly against the wall.

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12 Month Check Up…a month late

My baby just had her 12-month well check! Last week, but whatever, life is busy yo. And yes, she did turn one over a month ago. For the record, I had her appointment scheduled for just a few days after her first birthday but they cancelled it…we found out when we got there to check in. That was less than awesome. Since we wanted to do both Rylee’s 5 year check and Reese’s 1 year check together it took a little longer to get them worked in to the schedule together. Annoying but meh, it’s done. 5 shots and 1 blood draw later, on to the good stuff.

Weight: 20 lbs, 6 oz. – 51st percentile
Height: 29.5″ – 71st percentile
Head: 17.75″ – 45th percentile

Teeth: She’s up to 12 now! She cut her first molars while we were in Hawaii. So that was fun.

Food: There’s not much this girl won’t eat. Since our last check-up when I found out she was anemic, she’s been eating pretty much everything we eat. Including lasagna, enchiladas, bacon etc. She loves it all. It’s really funny to watch her feed herself because if you put a few different items on her tray, she will always go to whatever her favorite thing is first. Always. And it seems that she’s gone from loving avocados, to hating them and now back to loving them again. Weird little buggar. We still use the occasional puff and jar of baby food, but less and less. Mainly if we’re headed somewhere and we don’t know what to food options will be we’ll pack them along just in case. And this girl eats.a.ton. We have to cut her off a lot of times because I swear she would eat until she bursts. We’re trying to figure out where all that food goes…she must have a hollow leg like her daddy.

She stopped breastfeeding completely on her own. The last time se nursed was on the morning we left Hawaii to come home. That made a super comfortable 6 hour airplane ride home for me. NOT. At first I thought maybe it was just a nursing strike because of her molars coming in. She had done something similar last night she cut a bunch of teeth at once. I tried nursing her every single normal nursing time for a week solid. No dice. She wanted nothing to do with it. {Funny enough, it’s exactly how Rylee weaned as well.} For the next few weeks we used of our freezer stash of breastmilk, cutting her bottles with 1/2 whole milk that last week. Now she’s 100% on whole milk and taking 2 bottles a day, right when she wakes up and before she goes to bed. She’s not a huge fan of drinking milk from her sippy cups…we’re working on that.

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Anemia Update: We had her blood drawn and retested 6 weeks after her initial diagnosis. During that 6 week time period we had been giving her lots of iron rich foods and a supplement once a day. It took 3 weeks and a call to the doctor’s office to get the results of that blood draw. She was still low. Higher than before, but not where she needed to be. So we continued the supplements. Then at this check-up she had her blood drawn again and we received a phone call the very next day. Her blood work came back great! Her levels are within the range of where they want them. She can drop the supplements and continue to eat an iron rich diet. We’re finishing out the bottle of supplements we have then we’ll stop. She has her next well-check at 18 months and I’m assuming they will test her blood again, but they didn’t mention it when they called so we’ll see.

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Movement: Reese started walking full time two days before we left for Hawaii. At this point she’s getting around really well and just about running. She got her first bloody lip a couple of weeks ago thanks to her wanting to go everywhere on her own. She ate it on the transition from the grass to our front walk. Lately she’s all about climbing. Holy heart attach she loves climbing. In to things, on top of things. She doesn’t really care. If it’s something she shouldn’t be doing, she’s going to do it.

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Other: Reese has picked up the baby sign language fairly well. She signs hungry, please, more and all done. Now we’re working on saying thank you and please in situations other than food related. This girl cannot be scared…it may sound kind of sadistic or weird, but we’ve started looking at it as a challenge. You sneak up behind her or jump out from around a corner yell BOO! and she just laughs and laughs. Now that she’s mobile and she has a clear opinion on things, life is getting interesting! She’s in to everything. We keep all doors closed while she’s up. All cupboards are locked. She loves getting into the drawer that has our potholders and aprons in. She’ll pull out an apron and bring it up to us, essentially asking us to put it on her. Then she’ll just walk around with it on like it’s not even there. It’s the funniest thing.

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She’ll do just about anything for a laugh. I see the makings of a class clown. She loves peek-a-boo and the “uh-oh” game…you know the one…the kid “accidentally” drops something then says “Uh-Oh” and waits until you pick it up. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

We moved her from the infant carrier car seat to a still rear-facing, but bigger car seat. She could care less. I’m finally starting to get used to it…the visibility is pretty much non-existant and I don’t like that.

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While she isn’t too into snuggling anymore, she is all about giving hugs before you leave or when you get home and kisses. Oh the open-mouth kisses of a one year old. Slobbery, but almost nothing better than a baby showing their love.

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We had 1-year pictures taken a few weeks ago…I’ll get around to sharing those soon enough.

On the reality of parenting

The other day, I read the article that’s sweeping social media called “The Day I stopped Saying ‘Hurry Up’“.

To be honest, I found myself scrolling through the article, skipping large chunks thinking “Hurry Up and get to the point…”

Look, I get it. I totally do. It’s meant to be a “stop and smell the roses” thing. A “life goes too fast” thing. These statements stem from the same place the “Cherish Every Moment” statement well-meaning old ladies tell moms that are dealing with epic meltdowns in the aisles of Target comes from.

We lead busy lives, but there are plenty of times when we can throw our agenda out the window and take our time. There are plenty of times when not only can we do that, but we do do that.

At what point does “slowing down” and “not rushing our kids” stop?…because for their sake it can’t certainly go on forever. We need to teach our kids responsibility and not to mention common courtesy and the value of others’ time.

Like work, for example. I am expected to by at work by 8 AM, Monday through Friday. I’m sure if I sent my bosses a link to this article they’d totally understand me being late to work because on any given day my kid(s) take 45 minutes to eat breakfast and/or 25 minutes to put their clothes on. Oh wait, no, this is reality…that’s not an option. So, sorry kiddos, but HURRY UP!

Or what about a doctor’s appointment? Or church? Or a lunch date with a friend you haven’t seen in ages? The list can go on and on.

I’m not bullying my kid who simply wants to enjoy life as the author of the article says as she makes an inward reflection on her life. I’m pretty set on raising my kids to not be assholes and part of that is punctuality.

Yes, life goes fast. Too fast. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have places to be, by certain times.

My girls mean the world to me. I don’t cherish every moment because frankly, some moments as a mother just really suck. And I tell my kids to hurry up because sometimes I don’t care how many roses you want to stop and smell, I will pick you up and carry you like a sack of potatoes so we are not late to that doctor appointment. That doesn’t make me a bully. That doesn’t make me a bad mom. That just makes me a mom. A realistic one at that. And I love my kids just as much as any other mom. And I do cherish my time with them.

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So maybe we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one and you continue to live your happy life. And I’ll continue to live my happy life…and make it to work on time.

One

My Sweet Reesie-Bug…today you are one year old. One. ONE. 1. If you can’t tell, I’m still in disbelief. This last year has flown faster than any year in my life. And even though I’d like to ignore the fact that your birthday means you are that much closer to no longer being a baby, I can’t let today go by without acknowledging the one and only you.

Over the course of the last year, not only have you filled each day with joy, you have made our family complete.

It has been {and will continue to be} amazing to watch you grow and learn.

Over the course of the last 12 months we have learned that…

You are fierce. You are strong-willed. You have an amazing sense of humor. You are impossible to scare. You are a climber. You are our daredevil child. You are feisty. You have eyelashes that go on for days. Your eyes are fiery. You are spirited. You are loud. You are a snuggle bug. You have a thing for ears when you get sleepy. You adore your sister. You are very easy going. You love to eat. You are a mover and a shaker. You love the water. You have a smile that is contagious. You are intelligent. You are beautiful.

I often call you my little hurricane baby.

It’s hard to believe you’ve been with us for a whole year but we already couldn’t imagine our lives without you and I am looking forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you.

I love you more than life,

Mama

Reese is One