Tripp's turn at Preschool

Today FREEDOM arrived in the form of Tripp-man attending his first day of preschool. Now I'm under no delusion that Tripp's morning at "preschool" is anything more than play time mixed with some loving from his sweet teachers...but it's freedom for me none the less! Ruth Ann attended a 1 day a week program at this age and for 4 sweet months I had the morning all to myself...but then Tripp arrived the following January so her time at school has always been alone time for me and Tripp. But as most toddlers get to the 18mth mark it becomes increasing difficult to do much of anything done during their waking hours...but as of today I've reclaimed my 4 hours of solitude...and a big part of me can hardly believe he's old enough to be taking this step.

I've come to realize a few things in the past weeks, some I've already known, but I'm coming to terms with a lot of them...

~My expectations of Ruth Ann were much higher at this age than they are of Tripp...I think it may have been because Ruth Ann was so verbal at this age so I felt like if she could communicate this well, then she should also understand my expectations of her too...like saying "Please" or "Thank you", or picking up her mess of toys. Tripp's language skills have taken off in the last 2 months but mostly what he says is "I want (fill in the blank with all his little heart's desire)"...and we hand it right over to him without asking him to say please or when he gets it to tell us thank you...that ends now!

~I carry this child everywhere! I was 5 months pregnant with Tripp when Ruth Ann was this age and I know for a fact I made her walk...into the store, into the house, to her room to change her diaper...everywhere. We even went to Disney while I was pregnant and although I did carry her a little bit, she mostly walked. Now even though I'm aware of this...I'm not doing anything about it...I'll keep carrying him as long as I can lift him!

~I never let Ruth Ann take her lovey to school for security...I packed Tripp's without a second thought! I always had Ruth Ann's pacie with clip in her school bag but hated when I found it in her mouth when I would pick her up...I had Tripp's clipped to his jon-jon when I dropped him off. Ughh...I'm seriously setting my children up for oldest child/youngest child syndrome! ~I also realize I don't take Tripp's picture nearly enough because he refused to stand still and let me take his picture...leading to few cute pics of his first day of school!



He mostly wanted to get in his book bag...



Ruth Ann helped walk him in...



He did walk, I didn't carry him...



And just as I remembered, my 4 hours of alone time flew by and before I knew it I had to head back to the school to pick him up...



I was told he had a great time and the only time he cried was when they had to come back inside from the playground...that sounds right, he loves being outside!

Summer Reading

This post is a few weeks over due...oh well. This past summer I decided I wanted to take more advantage of our local library. But summer got going and it wasn't until July that Ruth Ann and I made our first trip to the library...



I love that this picture is taken outside of the library in front of a statue that is in memory of my elementary school librarian. She was your iconic librarian and served 3 generations of students at Lexington Elementary...she's a legend.

We found out on our first trip about the summer reading program and I enrolled Ruth Ann in the program...4 weeks of reading...we had 5 weeks to get it done...and you could only claim one week at a time. I already knew we would be out of town on one of those weekends so we were commited to be at the library every Saturday.

Our first book was Pippi Longstockings...which I remembered from my childhood. But we were introduced to The Magic Treehouse books by my friend Sally and we spend the rest of the summer reading our way through some of those books. They're chapter books, which I like to read to Ruth Ann so we aren't getting 8 books out to read at a time, and take exactly 30 minutes for me to read out loud to Ruth Ann from cover to cover...they were perfect for us to reach our summer reading goal.



We made it to the end and I wish I could say we're reading as much as we were...but we aren't reading nearly enough. Perhaps since I've now admitted that to myself we'll get the reading show back on the road again!

Back to School

On Tuesday Ruth Ann started 3 year old preschool. We are very happy to be going back to the same school from last year and after I left the parents meeting Monday night I was very happy to see some of my favorite kids from last year in Ruth Ann's class again. We are missing a few great friends from her class last year that I know we'll miss but I'm hoping to see those friends outside of school more this year. For those of you who know the drama I had from this summer regarding this school year...I've come to terms with things and am determined to make the best out of school this year...and I have to stop talking about it around my ever listening 3yr old because I heard her repeat some of the things I've said on the phone to others.



I kinda wondered how Ruth Ann was going to handle being dropped off this year. She's cried the last 2 years on the first day and then for a few days after. But not this year...she walked in with a smile on her face, her teacher Ms. Melissa helped her find her name...she usually ids her name by finding the "R", but there is a Reagan next to her, so now she's looking for her 2 names... Ms. Melissa helped her find her name on her bus to "check in" to school and then found her chair to play until class started.



No tears were shed...and that almost made me want to break into tears! It's funny how when she's crying I'm able to be strong and turn around to leave so the teacher can calm her down. But when she doesn't cry at all I want to sob and have the teacher step out in the hall and comfort me! Where has my baby girl gone??

What if...

Thursday and Friday's are my cleaning up/errand running days. I know I'm lucky to have them but sometimes I just feel like these days fly by and all I do is spin my wheels all day long...and even though I feel like I've accomplished a lot, I look around my house and feel like I've really accomplished nothing at all.
After I finally got Tripp to take a nap this afternoon...lately he's decided to scream and beg to be released from his prison I like to call his crib...I started picking up the living room. I stumbled upon the remains of Tripp's lunch...at this point it was 3pm, we had left after lunch to get hair cuts and then returned home...so apparently these were left for the cat...or the rodents which I'm sure will be moving in soon!



Then I looked around the living room...



And into my kitchen...



And my kitchen sink, which rarely is without a dirty sippy cup...which while very bright and colorful, it still drives me bonkers to never see this house clean for more than 48 hours.



And if I have to hear Ruth Ann call me from the other end of the house one more time to come wipe her after she poops I think I might run screaming through the neighborhood!

I read several blogs, and the ones I enjoy most are the ones that keep it real. The ones that paint pictures of perfect children, perfect husbands and perfect home lives drive me crazy...and I've removed a few of those from my Google Reader.

But as I looked around my house today my mind started to wander and I started thinking "Is this really where I wanted to be at 33...picking up discarded food and cleaning cups filled with spoiled milk?"...then I start playing the "What if..." game.

Arch and I were set up on a blind date...what if I had been too scared to date someone with an 8 year old child? I lived in Alabama for 6 years before moving back home...what if I had decided to stay in Auburn to look for a job after graduate school? After my freshman year at Auburn I got incredibly homesick, applied to Clemson, got accepted and began making plans to transfer...what if I had not chickened out as I was packing up my dorm room and decided to stay at Auburn?

Had I moved in 1997, I would never had met some friends who are some of my very best friends, even to this day...Erin, Candi and Andrea, I'm looking at you! Had I moved to Clemson I would not have been able to major in Audiology since this was not a major they offered and I would not have met the hundreds of patients I helped in the last 10 years. Had I said no to the opportunity to meet Arch I would not have met the man who, despite all his faults, still loves me despite all my faults too. And I wouldn't have my two little hooligans who leave food out and who seem to love playing sippy cup hide and seek. I know it's the Devil who loves to let our minds wander and imagine a life better than the one we're living...those are all false promises...and I much as I get frustrated at picking up the same trucks and baby dolls all afternoon long...I loved the little hands that push those same toy trucks around the living room and the little arms that pretend to rock those baby dolls to sleep.

So is this where I thought my life would be at 33?? Yep, but hearing my sweet babies say "Momma" is way better than I ever thought it would be...even if it's to call me to come wipe their hiney!

Tractor time

Even though I have an undergraduate degree in speech, it's still amazing to me to watch my own children develop language. If my speech pathology classes had not bored me to tears perhaps I could have really enjoyed that profession...but I'm a much better audiologist so God knew what he was doing when He let my mind wander during all those hours of a language acquisition classes!

Tripp's speech has taken off in leaps and bounds in the last few weeks. He's gone from using one word utterances to two word utterances...mostly to show possession...but if you start talking about tractors...you have his undivided attention. We pass a John Deere tractor store every day so we talk a lot about tractors, but when he refers to tractors he can ride on he is usually talking about riding his Grandaddy's lawn mower (which he is usually driven around on when my in-laws keep my kids while I'm at work) or our 4-wheeler.

The other topic Tripp loves to talk about is Papaw...which Papaw loves, but his momma and Grammy are not feeling the love when all he wants to talk about is Papaw or Daddy!


My dad is an engineer by trade, but is a repressed farmer...and he comes from a long line of repressed farmers...his brothers and my Papaw have all loved farming, but it was not any of their professions...just their obsessions.

My dad was bailing hay this week and wanted Tripp to come out and ride the tractor with him...as my dad gets older, his tractors to get nicer...currently he has an air conditioned cab...Tripp would not have cared if it was an open air seat...he loves tractors of any shape and size!



Someone was a little unhappy to not get to ride first...one guess who that was...



But we watched the tractor bail some hay and patiently waited for Papaw to return so she could ride too...



And then they were back...

And it was someone else's turn...

And then someone else was upset he wasn't having a turn...I fully excepted this will be the next 17 years of my life...



Put I did get a few cute pictures of him sitting on a round bail...



And then he wanted to go after the tractor...



Much to Tripp's dislike, we left right after this...it was hot and Papaw had to get back to work...but I'm sure we'll be back for more rides in the future!

A first...and possibly a last

Last week my friend Sally, who was 37 weeks pregnant, sent me a text message after her 37 week check-up saying she was 5cm dilated! I called her right back and asked if she was headed to the hospital...and to my surprise she said no! We share the same doctor and Julie had told her she would probably go into labor that night but gave her the option for an induction the next day. Her oldest was out of town, but her daughter, Betsy, was still in town so I offered to let her spend the night with us...our very first, of many I'm sure sure, sleep overs. I decided to pop some popcorn and put on a movie...


Sally & Justin ended up at the hospital that night so we felt sure Baby Lucy would be here in no time...but the nurses ultimately ended up sending her home...which meant I needed to get these girls to bed because Betsy would be heading to school bright and early the next morning. But around 11:00pm Sally was back at the hospital and by 12:30am this sweet girl arrived...



I've seen some pretty cute little newborn baby girls...I have one myself that I thought was beautiful...but this little girl maybe the prettiest newborn baby I've ever seen...she is such a cutie!

I made a few cute onesies for her and Sally wondered how I was able to make them and not want another newborn of my own...I told her I probably had one or both of my children at my feet the whole time I was working on them and that alone helps to cure any baby fever I may have had...but holding her I almost want another of my own...but my kids were screaming and crying a short time later so that curbed my baby fever again...I'm positive I'm finished!

Sally was the first of our little circle of 3 to have a baby and she's also, possibly, the last...as I previously stated, I'm positive I'm finished, but I can't speak for everyone...I would say Sweet Lucy stands a good chance of being the last sweet baby to join our little group....and what a sweet note to end on!



It's so sweet seeing both of my sweet babies with Sweet Lucy...but it gives me dry heaves to think about the possiblity of bringing all three of these cuties home to my house...and with the age spread it's possible...my hat's off to mom's with children so close together!



Ruth Ann left wanting a baby sister...I told Sally it was good thing I don't mind disappointing my children!

Is a 19mth old still a baby??

I remember feeling like Ruth Ann was a "big girl" at this age...she was about to start 1yr old preschool and was a few months from being a big sister...but when I look at the this sweet face...



All I see is a baby boy...a big baby boy...but a baby boy just the same.

While watching the Olympics this week there is a P&G commercial that has been running...here's the short version...kids from 6-8 are all walking into Olympic events all geared up for the sport they are competing in and waving to the crowds. One little girl is on the balance beam and one little curly blond headed boy is about to dive off the highest platform. Then they cut to the audience and show a nervous momma and the caption reads "To their Mom's, they'll always be kids."...and I have to fight back my tears.

I'm always been a fan of the Olympics, but I love the attention they're giving to the parents this year because as proud as I am of my country for winning...can you even imagine what those parents are feeling? I compare it to the moment Tripp walked on his own or when Ruth Ann was FINALLY potty trained!

My kids may never make it to the Olympics, but no matter what the accomplish, I'll always be in the stands cheering and I'm pretty sure I'll be imagining them as babies from my momma point of view!