Call it "school"

I used to hear the word daycare and cringe. Really. It sounds awful. Constantly sick kids, parents that work all the time, crying babies, the list goes on and on. I prefer the word school. We are a couple of weeks in and loving "school." Granted both girls have already been sick but that was to be expected. I'm hoping their immune systems will get a little tougher. They really do run like a school; they even have chapel every week. I would love to come watch one day.

When we walk through the halls to leave, all of the other teachers know Elle. I'm still deciding if this is a good or bad thing. I'm going to choose to believe it's because she is so sweet. She is. In a badger sort of way. One second she will be loving on you and the next she is scratching your face and making your bleed. (True story. Another blog post, another day.)

When I pick her up, I ask how she is doing fully anticipating some list of things we need to work on. I have gotten a good report every day so far. Whew! We've had a biting incident but I'm pretty sure that Elle held the kid down or did something aggressive to get those. It wasn't bad and hasn't happened again. 

Potty training is the worst thing in the world. That is a fact. Best news ever: Elle has used the potty TWO days in a row. Elle isn't even 2 yet and has already started this process. Whaaaat?! I have horror stories from potty training Addie too soon. These people are miracle workers and for that I am grateful. 

I'm sure we will have some good stories soon. 

First day of "school"

Virus shrimus

Have you ever felt like one of those crazy moms that dreams up some rare illness when your child acts sick? Yea, I'm usually not. Today however I was between Elle having West Nile or some crazy side effect from a spider bite. 

We go to the pediatrician a lot with three kids. Everyone's vaccines are on a different schedule and sicknesses don't always coordinate. Elle had an ear infection every month for eight months until we finally got tubes (two weeks before having Bentley Claire). So you do the math, 8 months of ear appointments plus 2 week checkup for BC and then 8 week appointment for shots. That equates to a lot of doctor time. And that's not even including Addie. 

Before Elle's tube surgery

Back to being a crazy mom. I mentioned the other day that Elle got a spider bite when the landscaper was here. Never google 'spider bites on children.' You don't want to see that. Trust me. Yesterday was day three of the bite and she started running fever. According to Google, you should panic if they run fever on the third day. This morning she was ok. No fever and seemed to be feeling fine. She went to school for about 2 1/2 hours while Addie was at ballet. When I went in to pick her up she looked like she had been swimming. She was drenched in sweat and was clearly feeling bad. So I called the doctor. 

He's super laid back and has 4 kids so I always feel at ease when we go. Her arm could be falling off and he would be like "Oh, that's an easy fix. We will just patch that right up." So he said it's probably not West Nile (you crazy lady), her spider bite looks fine, strep test came back negative, it's just a virus. Alternate Motrin and Tylenol. Ok, what a relief, viruses are no big deal right. Oh wait...viruses are miserable. 

Now I have a hot-as-a-firecracker child in my lap that will only stop crying if I hold her, I'm trying to keep from breathing in her sick air and keep the other two from getting this all at the same time. 

Happy Friday everyone. 

Fresh...and not so fresh

Elle started "school" today! Anyone with an active toddler knows what this means. I can run errands and start easing my way back into work. Yay! Bentley Claire and Addie pretty much go with the flow so most of the time I just let them tag along. 

School mornings mean we have a lot to do in a short amount of time. (The car is pretty much packed the night before.) I woke up around 6 am to a hungry baby and noticed that it was really hot in the house. No air conditioning in Mississippi might be the equivalent of standing next to a volcano (after it has rained). 

After dealing with the air situation and feeding Bentley Claire, I go in to wake up Elle and she is diaperless and wet in the crib. Looks like we might have to start putting her in the crib AND duck-taping her diapers on. Add it to the list.

I threw her in the bathtub, changed BC's diaper, fed the big girls, got them dressed, and made it to school at 10:00. Yes, 10:00 A.M. I guess when school really starts, the process will begin at 4:00. Sigh.

When we finally dropped Elle off, we went to visit my classroom, hit the farmer's market, made a necessary Starbucks run, and did the grocery store. We were "busy." 

Addie picked out some great fruit and veggies at the farmer's market. 

This is what Elle looked like when we picked her up from school. If you look really hard you will see her bow dangling from the back of her hair. Her mother should be ashamed...

BTW her daily note said that she had a great day. Not that I was worried.

We were home for a glorious 30 minutes until Elle decided to rid herself of her fresh poop diaper. In the living room. 

At this point Elle has had 3 baths in less than 24 hours. 

Andrew walked in the door right as I was getting onto Elle for stepping on Addie's head. Movie + Fort in living room = Too much for some people to handle

And then I left for Bunco...

Better sleep with one eye open

We transitioned Elle into a big girl room really early. One of the main reasons was that I was pregnant and didn't want to buy another crib. But also she is a hard sleeper and doesn't move much. All it took was one (never-ending) bedtime routine and she figured it out. She was officially sleeping in a big girl bed. For months.

Doesn't matter that she slept sideways on top of the bed. She was asleep.

Enters baby. Turns out she doesn't need the crib yet because she prefers to sleep in our room. Another story. 

In one of my on-a-whim, project moods, I had Andrew help me move Addie and Elle in together and made Elle's room into a playroom. Ideal for everyone. Less of a mess for me to clean up. Sounds so fun, right? 

Well currently the crib is on loan to Elle until she gets her act together. She waits until everyone thinks she is asleep, climbs out of her bed, and attacks innocent sleepers (aka Addie). She may pull her hair or jump right on top of her. We have a monitor so we always know when the attacks happen. Poor Addie. 

Elle can't twist doorknobs yet so we are spared. For now. 

This doesn't happen every night but if she gets of out bed we put her in the crib until she falls asleep and then move her to her bed. This could take anywhere from 2 minutes to 20. Elle has a way of babbling one second and falling into a deep sleep the next. It's crazy. 

Addie's a tad dramatic but she also has my sleeping habits. We DO NOT like to be bothered while we are sleeping. Do not come and pull the covers off of us to wake us up, don't fuss at us for still being asleep when we should have gotten out of bed 30 minutes ago, and whatever you do, do not turn all of the lights on. We will turn them on when we get up. All of these things will ruin our morning. You could compare it to bears in hibernation. Don't mess with us. 

Knowing all of that now, I'm sure you can imagine what Addie's reaction is when Elle jumps on her in a deep sleep. Hint: it's similar to a life-threatening emergency. 

Elle has a couple of weeks to figure this out. When school starts, everyone is sleeping in their own beds in their own rooms. 

I love listening to their silliness most nights but we need to start getting back into an early bedtime routine again. Do you have tips for sharing a room?