First Day of School

This week has been pretty huge for us. Aiden had his first day of kindergarten! He had been both nervous and excited this whole summer but I was really confident. He was soo ready. He's lost his clingy ways and has enjoyed all sorts of new activities this summer and it seemed so obvious that he was ready for the next step.

However, this belief was immediately challenged last weekend. The weekend before the big K was his first soccer game. He'd had one practice already and loved it and so I wasn't worried about the game. I wasn't even thinking about the game at all. That Saturday we showed up at the fields and it was a total madhouse. It always is since it seems like our entire town, or at least the portion of the population with kids, comes to play. There were people everywhere, kids on every field, and Aiden was totally thrown for a loop by the huge crowd. He refused to play until the last minute of the game, and then he only wanted to play goalie where he'd be far away from all the watching parents, and basically refused to have anything to do with his team. It was especially awkward since Sean's the assistant coach. Good times....not.

Well, this had me suddenly wondering if he was going to have a huge meltdown once the bus came on Wednesday morning (don't ask me why they didn't just start on Monday). To try and prevent this we went over and over what to do when the bus came, what to expect at school and all the other little details. I had been pretty nervous myself but all the reassurance I was trying to give Aiden seemed ot work on me too. He was ready. He was excited. Nervous, but also really excited. And when the bus came Wednesday morning, he trooped across the road with his giant backpack and climbed on that bus by himself.

And he LOVED school. I knew he'd love it once he got there, and everyday since he's been so excited for each day.

The "Labor" in "Labor Day"

Sean had a four day weekend to celebrate Labor Day this year. We did the major back-to-school shopping trip on Friday and battled crowds and unenthusiastic little boys and managed to cobble together a wardrobe for Aiden with pants and shirts that aren't several inches to short in the leg or sleeve. After that we whizzed around finishing our errands and chores so that we'd still have three days of freedom to enjoy the last of summer.

Welllll, "freedom" "enjoy" and "summer" do not describe what the next three days looked like. Saturday poured rain. We are seriously in search of the dreaded "family vehicle" to fit our soon to be three children in  so we braved the rain and headed to our local Honda dealership....which was closed....until Tuesday. Great. Whatever.

We went home with plans to visit the much farther away dealership later in the day. I was sitting in the basement when I heard a dripping sound. Not outside rain dripping but something INSIDE dripping. The level of dread I experienced is roughly equivalent to what a horror movie character feels when they're alone on a stormy night and they hear the doorknob start turning. Bad things are about to happen.  And bad they were: the hot water heater was pouring all over the floor. Several hours, trips to Lowe's and the purchase of epoxy/soldering tools/pipes later: it's kaput. This was also the middle of a holiday weekend so we did not dare call a plumber.

We decided to forget our plumbing troubles and drive the half hour to the next Honda dealership.....which had been open when we called aaaaand was now closed. No hot water and no Honda's for us.

Basically we've spent the days since Saturday trying to get to the dealership, which hasn't happened, and we've made appointments to make appointments to make appointments to have someone look at the hot water heater. Someone came to clean our chimney (another mind numbing appointment it's taken FOREVER to get since no one will call me back) but when the guy arrived he claimed that he could only be paid in cash. Rrrright....let me just fork over a fist full of hundred dollar bills to a chimney sweep who looks a lot less like Dick Van Dyke and a lot more like fat Elvis. No thanks.

The toaster over broke this morning while I was trying to make the kids breakfast. My coffee maker malfunctioned fantastically and spewed coffee grounds all over the kitchen THREE times this morning. Did I mention we have no hot water? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!

A very frustrating, not relaxing, rainy end to the summer. But in the bigger picture, I get that these are all pretty silly problems. We're all healthy and happy and can I really complain about not getting a new car? We may not have hot water but we have unlimited clean water.  Although coffee and a hot showers are nice too.

Sean and I might be tearing our hair out but the kids are happy as clams. Aiden finally lost his first tooth! It had been hanging on by a thread and flopping around while he talked when I finally plunked him down in front of the bathroom mirror and told him to just get it over with. And voila, there's now a giant new grownup tooth pushing it's way through.

 

 

 

Aiden also had his first soccer practice last night. Sean is the assistant coach and the two of them spent the evening running around playing games and doing drills and other soccer-y type things. I'm obviously an expert on all things soccer. (Also, can I tell you how surreal it was for me to sit watching my kindergartener practice soccer while contemplating the merits of various mini vans? How old am I? Why am I wearing this cardigan?)

Rory isn't quite ready for soccer but he's practicing his walking. All over. Up and down and  sometimes right off the edge of the steps...whoops.

  

 

 (He's just a wiiiiild and ca-raaaazy guy)

I cannot believe my kids are this old. I cannot believe I spend so much time on the phone with repair people. I cannot believe I'm actually looking forward to a mini van. I need a nap.

No News Is Frustrating News

I have been waiting, not very patiently, for my Dr.'s appointment today so that Sean and I could get another peek at this baby and finally know if we've got a Mr. or Miss on our hands. Everyone I talked to this week seemed to dreamily reminisce about how they waited to find out the sex of their baby until it was born. I always replied something along the lines of "How very nice for you but I'm quite certain my head would explode if I tried to wait that long, pregnancy and childbirth are full of surprises and well I GOTTA KNOW". I'm, uh, not very laid back about some things, can you tell?

Well, in we marched at 8am sharp, and the ultrasound tech proceeded to poke and prod and huff and puff in frustration.

Her: "They're in a really low position and I can't see the brain very well, or the heart or the abdomen"
Me: "Yes, yes, right, whatever, keep going"
Her: "I can try and figure out the sex though.....(we waited for about 100 years here)....nope. The legs are crossed and they won't move".

NO. Nooooooooooooo. No no no no no.  This baby is grounded! Time out for you baby. The tech then said she'd venture a guess that it's a girl simply because she couldn't see any hint of boy parts, no matter the angle she tried, but we'll just have to wait two more weeks and they'll try again. Even though she had a difficult time seeing the rest of the organs they all look great. A healthy baby, but a stubborn one it seems.  

At least there's lots to do in the meantime. Aiden starts school in 2 weeks. We finally caved at bought his school supplies and are going to restock his wardrobe this week since he's grown out of every last item of clothing except a handful of tee shirts. He's had lots of play dates with fellow new-kindergarteners and gets to go on a practice bus ride this week. I have every confidence that he will have a great time at school, but I am worried about whether or not he'll actually get on the bus without hysterics. 

Rory is still not walking on his own*, although he will happily walk around just barely touching someone's hand. It like in the old road runner cartoons however: the minute he realizes he's walking or standing without holding on he just plunks right down to the floor. At least Aiden loves to hold his hand and walk around the house in circles over and over again. Hopefully with a little more practice he'll be confident enough to let go.

We're going to try and fit in a few more fun activities before the end of summer. Today I took the boys to the science museum to see an exhibit on dinosaurs and it was only as we were walking in that I realized maybe big moving and roaring dinos might be a little scary for the kids. Whoops. Aiden was a little scared at first but warmed up as we went along while Rory being Rory was ready to fashion a saddle out of my purse and ride them around the room.    

   

  

These two guys have been so much fun this summer that I can't even imagine the hijinks that will come with a third.

 

* About three hours after I wrote this Rory was clinging for dear life to the edge of the table where he spied some grapes he was not supposed to have. He then grabbed those grapes and WALKED away across the kitchen all by his lonesome while stuffing them in his mouth. So there. HE WALKS. 14 months old.

The Afternoon Drive

These pictures sum up every one of our summer afternoons. These two boys driving around in the Cozy Coupe. Illogically, Rory insists on pushing even though he can barely keep up and Aiden insists on riding inside with his long legs held up at an awkward angle. Hours and hours are spent like this, around and around the yard.

3 Is The Magic Number

Almost everyone in our family/our friends/people we barely know keep asking why I haven't posted anything here in awhile. My mom was complaining that I only post once a season. Well, to tell you the truth, I haven't posted in awhile because I wasn't feeling that great. I was feeling terrible actually. That's was morning sickness will do to you. Oh, yeah, ANOTHER BABY. Good gracious we just had one right? I mean, we are so young! Three kids! That's crazy! And yes, this has been the soundtrack running through my head for the past four months.

I always wanted three...eventually. But wow, we still have a baby (since Rory refuses to walk, I refuse to call him a toddler since, you know, he's not toddling). Anyway, there is so much to consider this time around since Rory will only be 19 months, and our SUV can't fit three car seats so we're either getting a new monster SUV or succumbing to the dreaded van, and just....wow. THAT'S A LOT OF KIDS.

I'm fifteen weeks along, baby looks good so far, our last ultrasound showed a very calm baby who was happy to pose for all the necessary measurements. Aiden was the same way, always calm. Rory, on the other hand, left us with a very frustrated ultrasound tech and several blurry sonogram printouts. It all makes so much sense.

I'll share more news as we have it, such as gender, which we'll find out at the end of the month. I don't think I even need to say what I'm sort of hoping for this time around.

In other news, summer is trucking along. Aiden is done with his plethora of camps, all of which he loved, and we'll be spending August mostly just hanging out before the craziness of kindergarten starts. Watching him and Rory everyday makes me feel so lucky they have each other. Rory does his best to keep up with Aiden and they've invented a game where Rory pushes Aiden around in their little toy car, despite frequently losing control a toppling over. Rory has no fear and is definitely the more aggressive one. It's actually surprising how fearless he can be. One day he and Aiden were sitting on the ground fighting over a toy lawn mower and before I knew it Rory had King Konged his way up Aiden's back and started pummeling him in the head. Yikes. I fear the teenage years but I have no worries about Rory "getting lost" as the middle child.  Other than that incident they really do get along well.

Here's a glimpse of Rory's Angry Face:

 He looks so innocent. Don't believe it.

Someone has his first loose tooth!

 LOVELY.

 

Both of these boys are in desperate need of haircuts. Sean wants to let them grow it out. He's convinced they're going to look like this: 

Rrrrrright. Well, this is coming from the guy who wanted to name them Genghis and Spartacus. I shouldn't be surprised.


Anyway, they WILL be getting haircuts eventually. We're locked into sort of a holding pattern until the end of the month because I refuse to buy school clothes and supplies when it still feels like we're smack in the middle of vacation. Until I am forced to actually, finally get ready for school we'll just be over here playing soccer, riding bikes, pulling Rory out of the mud, taking walks, pulling Rory out of the neighbors garden and so on. 

Summer Is Here

It's summer, Aiden is out of school, and I have 5,000 pictures to prove it. I haven't posted anything in forevah, because we've had a lot going on. Here are some of those things:

Aiden finished his preschool career with the annual spring show which was full of adorable. He sang his little heart out despite the fact that it was only slightly cooler than the surface of the sun.

He is now officially Kindergarten bound! He went through the district pre-kindergarten testing and has been assigned to a class and even received his Official List of Class Supplies. He's just excited to get a new backpack. He's requested one with a snake on it. I'd better get searching.

His change in personality as of late has been completely astounding. He's gone from meek and tentative to being full of action and opinions. LOTS of opinions. He never went through a "terrible twos" but boy has five been a challenge. With this new personality in mind, I signed him up for several summer camps. In the past I would've had to pry him off my leg to get him into a new activity but now he's charging forward ready to try anything. ONe new major feat? He's riding his bike without training wheels. The confidence boost he's gotten from this accomplishment is just fantastic. He's becoming so self assured! He just finished a week of soccer camp and will be starting art camp this week. My baby in shin guards:

Magnet ball!

And of course we just celebrated Rory's 1st birthday.  He too has done a complete 180 personality-wise. He spent a lot of his first year suffering from colic, and then near constant teething and head colds. It was rough for everyone. Now however, he's Mr. Sunshine. Everything is funny and enjoyable and his loves to act like a ham. It turns out that he's also quite the snuggler. If he happens to find something (or someone) soft, he will crawl over to it and snuggle his face against it. Your shirt, a pillow, a blanket or your love handles. It doesn't matter. If it's squishy he wants to hug it. It's a little weird and a little nice. 

We did discover that he is not a fan of cake. We let him have his own special slice of birthday cake and he took one bite and pushed it off his try. No sweet tooth here.

Between the camps and the birthday and the other various activities the boys have had a lot of quality time to play together. They are becoming better friends and we've really enjoying have lots of unscheduled time to enjoy the season.

 

One.

I have a million things I'd like to write down about how our summer is going so far, and I will, but today is just for someone special:

Happy First Birthday Rory!