First Sick Day

Aiden is having his first sick day of the school year today. Thankfully it's nothing too terrible so far - just a stomach ache bad enough that it kept him awake last night and keeps him from moving around very much. I had the same thing yesterday, so I feel for him but hope that he'll be back to normal tomorrow.

The thing that really stood out to me about today's sick day was that he was devastated when he realized that he had to stay home from school. He came out of the bathroom this morning in tears. I asked him what was wrong and he said, "I feel very sick, but I really want to go to school". I explained that it was really the best thing to stay home and he sobbed for a while. This would not have happened last year. In fact, he tried to fake a few sick days last year! I think 1st grade is a little more interesting and varied for him, and I am so pleased that he is eager to go each day.

John's (Belated) Birthday Dinner

We had to put it off for a couple of weeks due to scheduling conflicts, but John and I were able to get 24 whole hours away from the boys to celebrate the big 3-0. Obviously I'm a tad behind on my blogging since it was over two weeks ago.

I had this whole plan to surprise John with a night at the Hilton in downtown Portland after I found an amazing deal online. But I waited a day to reserve the room and it turns out that the promotion was a one day only thing (even though it hadn't said that anywhere). Hotels in downtown are not cheap and since I didn't really feel like I could spend $225+ on a room for one night, I had to scrap that idea.

So instead, we went to La Provence in Lake Oswego for a fantastic dinner. Seriously....oh my gosh. If you haven't been since they moved and revamped the menu in May, you have to go. We had an amazing dinner of Kobe beef sliders, a cheese plate, savory mushroom crepes in brie sauce, and mussels drenched in melted cheese topped with brie mousse. Topped off with perfectly paired house wine and it was ahhhhh-mazing! I don't think we talked about anything but the food while we were there! And you may be wondering about the fact that I am lactose intolerant and had a dinner that was definitely cheese-based, but not to worry - I went heavy on the lactase enzyme pills that night. It was worth it.

We then had a relaxing night at home with the dogs and no kids, and got a great night's sleep. The next day, we took Honeydew with us out to the Banks-Vernonia Trail to get a good long walk. We contemplated taking both dogs, but Buster is small and gets tired easily (although he is fat and could use some more exercise), and Honeydew is still very much a puppy and still needs lots of direction and training during walks.

We began at the Buxton trailhead and went around on the horse trail to get a fun view of the rail bridge from below.

They just recently re-did the rail bridge for hikers and bikes, so it was nice, new, and smooth.

It provided a great spot to really be surrounded by trees and to appreciate the beauty of where we live.

 We walked for four-ish miles and were the only walkers on the trail. Everyone else was on bikes. Plenty of people stopped to give Honeydew lots of love though! Good for her, but that did mean that we had to spend quite a bit of time correcting her when she tried to jump up on people to lick their face. Oh, labs and their want for lots of love and attention. While the first little bit of the walk was difficult with her, she quickly got the hang of walking with us properly and not pulling on the leash. She did get quite tired and finished off two out of the three water bottles I'd brought.

Thirsty, tired girl!

On our way back home, we stopped at a little....shop? Market? Produce stand in an old garage? I don't know what you'd call it. They are quite pricey but they have the most amazing Oregon preserves we've ever tasted (a tiny jar runs about $8). We stop there about once a year to get a new flavor or two. They have jerky too, but we opted to not pay $5 for two bites of jerky.

While my plans for our time together did not work out, we still had a great time and felt very rejuvenated.

Love

A conversation with Aiden today that was worth sharing:

Aiden: "A girl at school named Zoe fell in love with me today".
Me: "Oh? How did that happen?"
Aiden: "All I did was give her a flower to put in her hair and then suddenly she was in love with me!"
Me: "Did she tell you that she was in love with you?"
Aiden: "No, but I could totally tell".

I had a great laugh over that one. What a little ladies man!

Twitch

I've developed a stress twitch behind my right eye over the past week. I am constantly low on sleep. At times, I've felt like pulling my hair out and running screaming down the street. School for the boys has only been in session for one week and I haven't even started school myself yet. When I do, I will be two credits short of full time. Oh lordy. What have I done? To the people who I am working on things for right now, it's not your fault so please do not feel any sort of guilt.

I am hoping that after a few weeks, we will have adjusted to the schedule a little more and I won't feel quite as overwhelmed and exhausted. It was just a sudden, HUGE change in schedule. We went from doing absolutely nothing to doing everything all at once.

I am more involved with preschool than I anticipated, but I am enjoying it and I feel like I am fitting into the role of one of the most senior alumni parents easier than I expected. New parents are asking me things! It was definitely weird at first, especially since we took last year off.

I find myself stressing over how Aiden is doing in 1st grade and whether or not he's bringing home all of his homework. He's also been sleep deprived and VERY grumpy in the afternoons.

Things keep getting added to my weekly schedule when I think there couldn't possibly be another thing that I can manage.

And then here's housework. No housework is being done. How can there be when I'm not home to do it? Also, how does it get this messy when we're not home?! We must have elves or goblins. It's the only explanation. The house was completely clean before school started and now it looks like we've just tossed all of our belongings out on the floor. I'm pretty sure that almost all of the clothes that we own are in laundry baskets, somewhere between clean and dirty. I can happily say that I've been keeping up with my meal planning, so at least I have that under control.

So there's life, one week in to the "normal" routine. I'll just be happy when I can get a nap or a full night's sleep.

Never Forget

Everyone who can remember this day has a story about where they were when they heard. For me, I was 17 and I'd never experienced so much grief, horror, and fear at the same time. And I was across the country from it. The harsh reality of not being safe was a shock.

A few years later, I was living on the east coast and was around people who had seen it in person, who had lost a loved one (sometimes more than one), who were affected by it on a much deeper, personal level. Stories that people so openly shared with me are forever in my mind.

I took a solo trip to New York City one weekend. I didn't expect to have any 9/11 stories shared with me because I didn't know anyone and I wasn't planning on asking a stranger. But I met some wonderful New Yorkers who, when they learned that I was on my first trip to New York, shared their stories with me. The valet at the train station and the cab driver who could barely speak English made huge impressions on me that day. And for them to shed a tear with a stranger, remembering a day nearly four years prior, really showed me that such an awful thing truly did bring the country together.

We will never forget.

Prayer Request

Please keep my sister in prayer. She had a miscarriage this evening, 5-6 months into her pregnancy. I know her pregnancy is a surprise to some of you (I hadn't really talked about it), but regardless of the circumstances, this will be a rough time for her and the family. Prayers of healing and good thoughts are very much appreciated.

Preschool time!

While Aiden had his big 1st day yesterday, today was Nathan's 1st day of preschool! Well, it's the 1st day of his 2nd year of preschool, but a 1st day nonetheless!

 Isn't he looking so old?

After dropping Aiden off at school, we gathered our things and headed to preschool together. Since it was the 1st day, all the parents stayed. Nathan enjoyed having me there, but we are old pros at this (it's our 4th year at the school - although we didn't attend last year), so it didn't really feel like a 1st day. I still haven't wrapped my brain around the fact that once this preschool year is over, my littlest boy will be headed to kindergarten! So we're just going to focus on preschool time as best as we can!

Nathan adjusted back to the classroom easily. He happily decorated his name with crayons and watercolors.

Then he re-discovered the quiet box with all of the stuffed animals, where he got in some good snuggle time with Mr Bear, Baby Bunny (that he stole from the neighboring classroom two years ago and it's stayed in the current classroom ever since!), and Baby Koala.

Nathan has a girlfriend already. She developed a crush on him quickly and followed him around for the rest of the morning.

Then it was dancing time!

And story time.

After mini-meal (the snack), we headed outside to develop our friendships a little more.

It was such a fun day!

We are so lucky that we were able to find a preschool that has become an important part of our family. When we started at this social constructivist co-op, I knew it would mean we'd be involved, but not at the level that it's become. The teachers aren't just teachers - they are our friends and we enjoy spending time with them. We've gotten to know the workings of the school at an amazing level and I've been asked to take over the newsletter editor position for this year, which is a school council position. It's an honor to have the school director ask me to take on something like that and I enjoy giving my time to assist the school with one of their main forms of school/parent communication. This year is going to be busy, but I know Nathan and I will thoroughly enjoy ourselves!

An Official 1st Grader

The alarms went off, the coffee pot started brewing, and it was time. The morning was a quick blur of getting ready, taking the walk to school, and getting him settled into his classroom. It was an odd feeling of time being slowed and yet going much faster than I wanted it to. We now have a 1st grader in the house.

See how excited he is? This was his self-proclaimed "super excited face".

Honestly, he woke up with a smile on his face and ready to begin the day. He wouldn't eat breakfast, even though I'd gotten Eggo waffles specifically for him. I guess he was a little nervous, but wouldn't admit it. We all walked to the school as a family (John included), met his teacher, and Aiden happily discovered that he has a few friends from kindergarten in his class. I gave him little reminders for the day: Listen to the teacher, there's the classroom bathroom, we're not buying the cafeteria food, so remember your lunch box at lunch time, etc. And then I gave him a hug and left. I almost lost it as we were leaving the school, but have managed to just get a little misty-eyed instead of having full-on bawling fits. That was yesterday! I think I got most of it out of my system.

I think he was a little more nervous once we actually got into the classroom!

2:30 seems like a LONG time from now. I'm sure eventually I'll get used to it and maybe even begin to like it. We'll see. For now, the house is oddly quiet.

To Aiden: On the day before 1st grade

Dear Aiden,

You begin 1st grade tomorrow. I'm not quite sure how that happened and where all of our time together went, but I hope I've done a decent job of cherishing my time at home with you. I currently sit here crying because I miss you already, even though you're just downstairs playing with your little brother. If you ever read this when you're older, the fact that I've spent a good portion of the morning in tears might come as a surprise since I've tried very hard to hide it from you. You are so excited to begin 1st grade and I have not wanted to make you feel like it's something to be sad about or afraid of. I hope that you can keep up that excitement through every grade that you enter.

I apologize in advance because I will most likely cry when I walk you into your classroom tomorrow. There will many First Days of school throughout your life and while I won't walk you to class for each and every one of them, they will probably all be just as hard for me. If I ever embarrass you in front of your friends by becoming a blubbering mess as I send you off to school, just try to remember that it's because I love you. You are my first baby and I will constantly find it hard to believe that you are at all old enough for anything that you are obviously old enough to do.

I sincerely hope that you have a fabulous first day of 1st grade. The day will be long (for both of us), but I'm sure it will fly by as you meet new friends, catch up with old friends, and spend time figuring out what 1st grade will mean for you. You are a smart, outgoing, and beautiful little boy. Sorry, I mean big kid. You'll probably have to keep correcting me for years to come.

For today, let's soak up our last day at home and prepare for this next step of yours together. I love you, Aiden bug. You are going to rock 1st grade!