Fall Festival

Fall Festival....already?!  When I first read the flier from school, I thought "surely they mean October 13th, not September 13th"....but no, I was wrong.  Maggie's school fall festival was yesterday ~ on a school night in September when it was still 100 degress outside. Lovely.  Not.

However, kids don't seem to mind the heat, especially when you can go down water slides and slip-n-slides and get all wet.  Kids were having a blast. The parents didn't look quite as thrilled.  But the joy on Maggie's face as she experienced it all, was so worth it.  She had a great time, checking out all the little events from fishing for bracelets, to a bean bag toss, to face painting, to slip-n-sliding, to splatter painting, to bowling, to designing her own princess crown.

I wish I could've gotten video of Maggie on the slip-n-slide inflatable. Hilarious.  She was just flying through the thing. All the kids were laughing at her because she never fell - she was literally running through it all. The other kids tried without success and she was the talk of the event :)

After we enjoyed the games, we of course, had to partake in the goodies ~ candy, cotton candy, sno-cones, and cupcakes...just to name a few of the many horribly wonderful food items available for purchase (oh yeah - this event wasn't free...while I feel that we give MORE than enough support to the school, I guess this just provided even more support) :)

Face painting and laffy taffy ~

 Gotta love those sno-cones!

These pictures don't give these cupcakes justice. They were enormous....about the size of my hand.

 Can we say sugar high?!?!

At one point, she just laid down on the table and started eating it. 

She was so proud of her crown ~ completely created all by herself

Although it was hotter than hades, she had a blast. And after all, isn't that all that matters?

All over the place

We are on our 4th week of school. Hard to believe. But since school started, it seems like life is just flying by and we're busier than ever. Hence, the reason to a lack of blogging.

~SCHOOL~
Maggie has done really well in her class. She has adjusted well to the bigger classroom, new friends, new schedule, new room and her teacher. She has done really well with adjusting to going every day, versus just 3 days a week. I honestly knew that she would be just fine, but I'm just glad that I was right :)

There have been a few days that I have actually made good timing from work to school and picked Maggie up a little early. You'd think that was a good thing, but no. My sweet girl is not happy when Momma arrives early. This cuts into her play time with her friends. Her teacher says that it's a great compliment when the child cries upon leaving school - so I will take that for what it is. So, now, if I see that I'm running a little early, I just run an errand or sit in the car and catch up on my facebook or emails, until I think it's been long enough for her to enjoy some time outside.

We enrolled Maggie in gymnastics twice a week at school and she just loves it. Her little active self is doing so well and comes home after her classes to show off her new skills. Not only will it be great for her to release some energy (smile) but she's just a natural athlete. I'm just thankful that it's at school during the day and we're not having to add in something extra at the end of the day.

~THERAPY~
We're SUPPOSED to have play therapy once a week. However, it hasn't taken place in a month. Once because our therapist was out of town. The following week, I had a blow out on my way home from work. (yah- that was fun - NOT) The next week, her therapist was sick. And just last week, on my way to get Maggie from school, I had yet another flat tire. So, here's hoping that we can pick it back up next week and get back in the groove of things.

Speech therapy hasn't started yet, as we had to do another evaluation at the therapy center last week. I was a bit frustrated because they said that further testing needed to be done as they felt that the testing performed by Texas Children's wasn't in depth enough. Ok fine. However, they did the exact same testing. Word for word. Question for question. Ugh. I'm sure it was just another way of them getting paid. The conclusions/diagnosis were the same and they're supposed to contact us in a couple of weeks with their recommendations and go from there.

~ACTIVITIES~
The past few weekends have been busy. We've enjoyed playdates with our toddler friends, celebrating birthdays with family, going to the splashpad with our cousins, swimming with friends, and enjoying some nicer weather outside, with a few trips to the park. It's been raining for days but hopefully there will be some end in sight. We cannot wait for cooler weather, as Maggie loves being outside.

~HEALTH~
Maggie had her first dental procedure a few weeks ago. Due to the circumstances of her pre-natal "life", Maggie's teeth are extremely weak and therefore, this time around had 7 teeth that needed to be worked on. Poor thing. Due to her age, the dentist had to sedate her. She was a champ! They were able to work on 4 teeth the first time (more than they thought they would be able to do) and therefore just has to go back one more time at the end of the month to complete the work. She loves going to the dentist and was actually crying when she had to leave. Not a typical scene at the dentist's office. She handled the sedation just fine and did great without me being in the room with her. When they were done, they brought her out to me and she looked like a little drunken baby. She couldn't stand up or walk, although she thought she was just fine. I wish I had a video camera with me - it was hilarious. She came home and slept for almost 6 hours without any movement. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen that before :) She woke up and was back to her normal, active self. I'm just thankful that she did so well and pray that she continues to have a great affection for the dentist office.

We head out to TCH tomorrow to get the results of her latest sleep study test. It will be interesting to see if there were any changes in her sleep apnea in the past year and if there will be any changes to her treatment plan. I'm more than certain that it hasn't improved; I'm just hoping that it hasn't gotten any worse.

~Miscellaneous~
I have to interject that I am more than excited about my fall TV programming starting back up in the coming weeks.  TV is my "guilty pleasure/downtime".  I have my favorites and am curious about some of the new shows that have been advertised for months now. We rarely get to watch "live" TV ~ my DVR is one of my best friends.  He's been pretty lonely this summer, but have no fear, he's clear and ready to get back to work.

Michael & I are doing well. We have both lost a lot of weight this summer and feeling so good.  I've lost 20 pounds, 23 inches and down 2 sizes. Yay! I hope to lose just as much on my next round, starting in a few weeks. It hasn't been too bad and our lifestyle has truly changed. Thankful for the positive changes in our lives and how it has just blessed us a family of 3.

Well, I think that pretty much covers "all over the place".....until next time :)

First day of school

Summer is over and it's time for a new school year. Moving up to the "big kids" class. Same school. New teacher. New friends & classmates. New playground. New activites. New adventures. And uniforms.

Yep, uniforms. Can't believe that my 3 year old is wearing a school uniform. While it's expensive, it sure makes getting dressed in the morning easier. Well, at least that's what I thought anyway.

So, this morning, while getting Maggie ready for school, I pull out her khaki shorts and red polo uniform shirt. She immediately starts to cry.

"Why are you crying, sweet pea?"
"I don't want to wear that ugly shirt, Momma." (I started laughing so hard!)
"It's not ugly. Isn't the red pretty?"

"NO, it's not." (She felt pretty strongly about it too)

"Why do I have to wear an ugly shirt?"

"All the big kids have to wear these pretty red shirts now."

"Well, why can't the babies wear the ugly shirts?"

(trying to contain myself, I'm not actually sure what I said but my thoughts went immediately to - hey listen, this is just one of the many tortures of growing up...better get used to it...but I'm pretty sure I just said something like, "sorry sweets...you just have to wear it"

Since she was returning to the same school, our routine stayed the same. Thankfully. She understood that she would be going to the same school but would be in a different classroom with different friends and a different teacher. After about a month of explaining this daily, she was ready and ok with that on the first day of school (whew!)

We walked into the play room (where she goes for early extended care) and she looks in the window and stops dead in her tracks....

"MOMMA....the BOYS are wearing MY shirt, too?! Ugh!!!"

I just laughed, smile, gave my girl a kiss and wished her a good day. That had to be one of the funniest things she's done so far. She was JUST beside herself that a boy was wearing the same shirt. Oh how I love my very girlie girl!

*************

I ran into Maggie's teacher on my way to pick her up that afternoon. I asked how she did. Her teacher was very sweet and said "well, she definitely has a lot of energy"(understatement!) I laughed. Then she said, "I will not kid you. She did not listen very well the first time around, but by the second request, she would finally do what she was asked/told." Yep. That's my Maggie. I asked her if she took a nap and she laughed. Oh no. What?

She said that Maggie laid down on her mat and was quiet but was not still. She just kept spinning round and roung on her back and stomach. Mrs. S knew immediately that Maggie needed to burn off some energy before she could fall asleep. So, she went up to Maggie and asked her if she'd like to go for a walk. Maggie said sure! Mrs. S. loaded up a backpack with some books and asked Maggie to put it on for their walk (such a smart lady!) and they went walking around the halls and the gym. Every now and then, Maggie would say, "Mrs. S, I'm getting tired. I'm ready to go back now." and they would walk just a little bit longer. She told me that they'd run into other teachers who would just laugh at the sight of it ~ laughing because they know Maggie (apparently EVERYONE knows Maggie....is that a good thing?!? and because they knew what Mrs. S was doing!) So, they started walking back and Maggie said, "Mrs. S, I am REALLY tired. I need to take my nap." They walked back to the room, Maggie dropped that backpack, immediately laid down, put her hands up under her chin and was fast asleep.

Not only was I glad to hear that Maggie took a nap, but more importantly that she has a teacher who is understanding of her individual needs and personality, and who was willing to do something different because of it.

I think Maggie's going to have a great time this year in Mrs. S's class.

Meet the Teacher

Maggie's staying at the same school this year (Northland Christian School) but she is moving up to the Preschool Older 3 year old class. This means a new teacher, a new schedule and uniforms!

Mrs. Salinas has been teaching at NCS for over 20 years and just loves it. You can tell. She first called to introduce herself and we chatted for about 20 minutes. It was nice to be able to do that, and I appreciated her taking the time to do it.

We went to school to meet Mrs. Salinas and to check out Maggie's new classroom. WOW! The room is massive, with so much stuff, I think I was actually overly-stimulated! (ha!) Maggie is in a class with only girls this year. She was the only girl last year, so this will be a big change for her. I think she'll really enjoy it. She always said that the boys were mean :).

We talked to Mrs. Salinas for a while but the one thing that really resonated with me was one statement she made. "I just want you to know that I will be loving your baby every day." Wow. That had to be the best thing she could've said. While I hope Maggie has a wonderful year of learning, gaining confidence, growth, and lots of fun...it does this Momma's heart good to know that the one who will be caring for her every day, is going to be covering her little one with love. I couldn't ask for more than that.