Our happy little guy

Big Sister and Little Brother T-shirts

Ashlynn's New Bed

Ashlynn got a "big girl bed" (a mattress on the floor) many months ago, but on Saturday she got a real bed. It looks very cute in her room. She must work to climb up on it, but she loves it and seems so proud to have it!

Unsettled

Lately I have had such an unsettled feeling. Things just feel weird. I was thinking about it and I suppose it has a lot to do with the newness of so many things around me (and our family). I had worried that all of the change would be hard on Ashlynn, but I'm even having a hard time with it. So many things look and work differently than before. I'm back to work with my same job share, but the kids in my class are new (obviously) and many of the routines we had going the past few years for getting ready for school and getting home don't work as they did, now that we have two kids. Ashlynn starting school is great, but we haven't yet figured out how those days will flow, plus we don't really know anyone at the school other than my mom's friend who is the director. Finally, and probably most significantly, our home does not feel familiar yet. It's been shifted around so much over these past five months and now that we are gaining many of the new spaces, I'm left with a strange feeling because it's all so new. We've got our same bed and furniture, but they're in a new room. I wake up in the night feeling disoriented because I now look out windows at the night sky. We've got our old table, chairs, stove and dishwasher, but the rest of the kitchen and dining room is new and different. And, because we're not totally settled in the space, much of our "stuff" is still in transition. We need something and realize that it's still packed in a box, which is not necessarily stored at our house. When I get my clothes ready for the next day, I find myself going back and forth between the dresser in our new room, the clothes in our old closet (now Carter's closet technically), and a box of things in our new closet. (And the fact that many of my old clothes still don't quite fit doesn't help that!) I suppose the biggest thing is that nothing is automatic, so completing the simplest tasks is exhausting because I have to think about things I normally just did. I'm excited about the way things are going, but for the moment I feel strange.

Homework drama

We've only had one day of school in our kids' lives and we've experienced our first homework drama. On the first day of school Ashlynn got some homework for a "Me Book" they're working on for Back to School Night. We need to write down some of her favorite things and she is supposed to draw a picture of her family. I know she's never really tried to "draw" people; she mostly just draws and then names the things she's made based on what they end up looking like to her, or she colors things that are already drawn for her. So today when I suggested that she practice drawing our family, she became really frustrated and started crying about how she "can't" (one of the least favorite things I hear as a teacher!). "I can't draw my family... I can't make a circle... I can't make eyes!" It was major, unnecessary drama... and it made me think of all of the drama kids in my class have given their parents in completing silly old homework and all the drama we have to look forward to with our own kids. Parenthood is quite an adventure!

Ashlynn's First Day of Preschool

Ashlynn had her first day of school today and it went really well. She has been looking forward to this day since we took the school tour months ago. My mom stayed with Carter, so it was just Ashlynn and me. We stopped by her classroom first and met the lead teacher. Then we headed out to the yard where her class starts each day. She was not quite her normal chatty self, but she was not overly shy. (I think she was pretty excited about getting to play with the new toys.) I probably could have left right away but I stayed for about 10 minutes until I knew she was settling in. When I picked her up there was no news of crying like some other parents heard. I am so glad she had such a great start to her school experience!

A lesson in color

A while back we started looking at paint colors for the house. One of the first colors we agreed on was "Fresh Thyme" for the outside of the house. It seemed like the perfect sage green that we had admired on other houses. Finally on Saturday the house was painted the color... only "Fresh Thyme" looked more like mint green. YUCK! So, late Saturday afternoon our contractor picked up four other colors to try, then later two more, before we decided on "Fair Spring". It was a bit crazy for about an hour and a half when we realized that we had to pick a color so the new paint could be picked up before Dunn Edwards closed at 5pm (and they would not be open on Sunday). Plus, if we didn't have it repainted the next day, they would have to begin again with primer. They repainted yesterday and it looks muuuuch better.

So, a valuable lesson was learned... always try a big patch of a color before you have it painted on your whole house. Color looks way different on a large outside wall in the sun than it does on a little paint sample inside your house.

Mint Green (YUCK!)

A better green (still needs trim, the door and shutters... but much better)