Oy vey!

My hubby and I are planning a trip to Florida in October.  Like a trip for the whole family.  Kids and all.  We’re driving.  From Minnesota.  To Florida.  Sounds amazing, huh?  Yea, I didn’t think so…

But really, we are going to take the kids to Florida in October.  However, my kids have been cling-ons lately.  Like glued to my legs, directly underfoot at all times, screaming “mama” at the top of their lungs…nut jobs.  Every time I sit down by myself, say, to enjoy a cup of morning coffee for 3 minutes (preferably while it’s still “morning” and the coffee is still hot), I have kids crawling all over me…yelling in my ear, licking my face, asking me for this or that…all while my hubby sits on the other couch in peace, watching sports, not realizing the chaos that is going on in my lap, on my couch. 

Which brings me to last night.  I told Marley that mama is going to Florida alone.  Well, maybe I’ll bring Trav.  But alone would be nice too!  I suppose it doesn’t matter either way because I’m going to lose my mind before October anyway…

And such is life with kids.  Funny how you can simultaneously revel at their awesomeness and want to lock their awesomeness in a closet so you can drink a glass of wine in silence.  (throws hands in air…)

Well, this turned out to be little more than a pointless vent session.  Apologies, my friends!  My hubby is working out of town until Friday this week and then I’m spending the weekend in Faribault with the kids so that he can make some more substantial progress on our basement remodel.  Looks like I have the next 5 days or so alone with my little nut jobs.  I’m going to suck it up and make the best of it!  Or rather, I’ll look forward to a weekend of wine drinking and hanging out with my sister…and perhaps her nut jobs will keep my nut jobs occupied!  Now, there’s a plan!!!

Happy Week to you all!  XO!      

Happy Mother's Day!

I am your mommy.  And you are my BABIES.  And I will love you and fight for you and live and die for you….forever and ever and ever.  Blessed.  That is what I am.  I could never in a million years have imagined my heart so full of love for these 2 tiny bodies of sweetness. 

This is it folks.  Right here.  These days.  This is what life is all about.  And it’s a good life, indeed!

Happy Mama’s Day to all of you!

Weekends should be longer...yes?!

Funny how we can worry and worry and worry about our kids so much and then they totally surprise you and you’re left wondering why you wasted all that time worrying…

Marley marched in to the Cub Club room for her test run on Friday.  She walked right in, lovey in hand, and sat down at a table where 5 other kids her age were working on art projects.  The director asked me for my phone number, confirmed whether or not Marley has food allergies, and said, “Don’t worry, she’ll be so busy she won’t even realize you’re gone.”  And Marley never looked back at me.  No goodbye smooch, no hesitating to be left there alone, nothing….she just sat down and started making friends.  It was the first time I really felt it…felt her growing away from me a bit.  And felt a sadness that we had gotten here so fast. 

Little Miss has quite the obsession with Spider-Man these days.  And that hair.  Oh.  What will I do with it??

When I picked her up, she was sitting at a teeny little lunch table with about 8 other kids.  They were all laughing and talking and Marley ran to me when she saw me.  Then we walked back to the cubby where she had left all her stuff and the director told me about her time there that morning.  She said Marley pushed her lovey aside about 5 minutes after I left.  She described her as very social…said she made friends instantly, was not shy to talk to the other kids and ask questions and participate in circle time.  Then she said, “She’s ready for this.”  Yep, I knew it.  And I was proud of my little baby girl for being such a good person…

Now that the test run is out of the way and we feel confident that it is the right move for her, we’re left with sorting out the details.  Much easier than the worrying part!  Ahhhh!

On Saturday I took the kids to my cousin’s baby shower in Faribault while Travis worked.  It was so fun to see all my mom’s sisters and a few of my cousins that I only run into once a year (if that)!  My grandma had not met Jax yet…so I snapped a photo of the little man trying to smooch her on the cheek.  Two of my mom’s sisters and my grandma mentioned something about Jax’s mouth/lips resembling my grandpa…and that made me happy!  He was a handsome man and if my little Jaxie has some of his features I’ll consider that a blessing!!

Grandma Mahagnoul and Jax!

 

I got my baby fix on Sunday!  Yipee!  The whole fam drove down to Zak and Sam’s house to visit baby Blakely!  Of course, the kids are too little to really get into “meeting” their new cousin….but that’s alright!  I was quite content to hold her for 2 hours.  She was snuggled up so perfectly on my tummy.  Makes me want another one.  Right.  Now!  But wait, I will….we have to get Marley a little closer to kindergarten before we can fully embark on that adventure!  For now, I’ll soak up all the cuddles with Miss Blakely.  She’s perfect!!

Life with 3.....la vida loca!  Give me another year or so and I'll be ready to do it again!  Because who wouldn't want another one of those 2 I already have.  Come on cuteness!!

To Preschool or Not to Preschool????

There are 2 things that relieve stress for me….one is working out (and I need to do more of this).  The other is, and always has been, journaling of some sort.  My mom can attest to this.  I have boxes of old notebooks from when I was a teenager.  All full to the brim with the scribblings of a young girl trying to sort out life.  I’ve let the journaling slip in the past few years….enter kids…and list making, all kinds of lists, has taken its place.  But that is NO FUN!  This blog has always been a nice little outlet for me.  An electronic journal of sorts.  So, this dusty old thing might see some action over the next few months!

Topic of the day…making decisions, hopefully good ones, for your kids.  We’ve been in this place of entertaining the idea of Marley NEEDING preschool for the last 6 months or so.  She started acting out a bit at daycare and at home.  At first, I just chalked it up to her being 3.  Which, for the record, is SO MUCH MORE DIFFICULT than being 2.  But then, as time went on, I wondered if she might be a little bit bored.  Ready for some more age appropriate challenges.  We LOVE our in-home daycare.  I cannot stress that enough.  Marley has flourished there.  But the demographics have changed.  One of the older girls if off in kindergarten and another is in preschool, preparing for starting kindergarten this fall.  That leaves Marley as the oldest…and not that it would be a problem for all kids.  I know her personality and can only assume that her “center of attention” attitude can dominate the daycare setting for the younger kids, Jax included.  With that being said, Trav and I both agree that Marley would do really well with a more formally structured day.

To make a long story short, we started looking at our options in the area.  We had a few REQUIREMENTS that had to be met in order for us to consider moving Marley (and these requirements further limited our options).  Here’s what we MUST HAVE:

1.        A location that is close to their current daycare (as Jax would be staying put).  We didn’t want to be driving all over the city at the end of the day trying to pick up 2 kids and get them home.

2.      A location that preferably had preschool and an all-day care option (because we can’t leave work mid-day to get her from preschool back to her current daycare).

3.      Comparable prices to what we pay now, though we understood that we’d likely be paying more because of adding on the preschool piece.

We landed on Blessed Trinity in Richfield.  The school met all of our requirements and has a great preschool program for 3 year olds, followed by a 4 year old program as well.  They have what’s called CUB CLUB…an all day daycare program that preschool students can go to.  It really is a perfect fit for us!  And bonus…it will introduce Marley to a Christian/Catholic school setting.

But now we need to decide some of the more specific details…like, do we send her to Cub Club only on Mondays and Fridays when she has preschool, keeping her in her current daycare Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday???  Or do we just enroll her in Cub Club full-time and take her out of her current daycare entirely???  I’m constantly second-guessing my parenting decisions, re-evaluating how I came to those decisions, and questioning myself.  How do I know if it’s the right thing for Marley?  How do I know what is best for her?  Am I rocking the boat for no reason at all or is preschool necessary?  Change is just never easy and I always worry how Marley will react to the change.  I feel like I’m asking too much for her to just dive in and LOVE her new surroundings, if we do decide to move her.  But on the other hand, I feel like I’m doing her a disservice if I don’t give her the tools she needs to grow and be challenged and learn.  After all, she’s not going to make these decisions for herself! 

So, here we are…..at this crossroads.  I’m sure this is just the first of many difficult parenting decisions we’ll have to make, and maybe I’m making a mountain out of a mole hill.  How do you all go about making big decisions for your kids?  Do you think preschool is a must?  How can you tell if they are ready??

Only posting this because it's funny....kids....so dramatic.  These two are never on the same page!  One happy, one sad.  One hungry, one not.  Oy vey....gray hairs, here I come!