Preschool

It’s the start of week two in preschool, and so far, okay I guess… The first day was a Friday, which was also Nadia’s 3rd birthday, so we kept her home to celebrate.

Drop-offs in the morning are as expected. They both scream/cry. Their teacher tells me they calm quickly and then are happy, so that’s positive. But I still feel horrible leaving them each morning. Breaks my heart. And the teacher actually thinks it’s better if I just pass them off to her at the front door, rather than stick around and prolong the good-bye. So I really feel like I’m throwing them in and running.

The biggest issue, by far, is poop. The girls are both potty trained for pee, and actually, they can both stay dry overnight too. But poop. Well, that’s another story. Nadia hasn’t pooped in almost a week so who knows what is going on there. We’ve been pumping both the girls full of Miralax so both probably had blowouts at school today… Nora consistently holds in her poop. She claims she is scared of pooping in the potty, but I fear it might be more a behavior issue. After sitting on the potty for an HOUR Saturday she finally went enough to fill the entire toilet. But.. now she is back to holding it again, as I find random amounts in her underwear. One day last week at school she had so much in her underwear they had to change her clothing. They keep saying accidents happen and they are used to dealing with kids and potty accidents, but… I guess my biggest fear is Nora is going to continue to poop small pits in her underwear, whatever she can’t hold inside, on a daily basis, and sooner or later the school will be sick of changing her. And I feel like we’ve tried everything… We’ve read books about pooping, even ones made for kids afraid, who fear it will hurt. We tried bribing with candy, screen time, huge expensive toys… We tried all kinds of different rewards. I don’t know. Nothing really seems to work. We need to figure this out soon though, as sending her to school each day, hoping she doesn’t poop, is causing me a ton of anxiety!

Do most of you pack your kid’s a lunch for school? If so, what do you normally send? So far the girls have been eating at school, so they get either the hot lunch, whatever it is that day, or they can choose a cold sandwich. I think most days they pick the cold sandwich, but I’m not sure how much they eat. Nadia seems to come home starving some days, so maybe I should start sending their lunches with them… It’s so much easier to have them buy lunch though, and plus, then they are exposed to different items, which I think is somewhat good as they are both really picky!

Preschool Orientation

I honestly thought the preschool orientation would calm my fears and make me more comfortable. You know, address all my questions.

Not so much.

It was kind of a mess with all the kids running around and tons of parents, and one teacher trying to talk over all the noise. We were able to meet the preschool teacher, her associate, and the two main women that work in the day care area. I spent most of my time after the ‘official presentation’ to question the daycare associates. I feel like this is a huge transition, but yet, hardly any information was provided. And yes, I read the entire handbook!

Nora will have preschool on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons, with daycare the remaining times during the week, so all day Wednesday and the other mornings. Nadia just has preschool Tuesday and Thursday mornings, so much more daycare time for her. It’s nice they will get to be together some in the daycare!

I think my biggest concern is potty training Nadia. I knew for preschool they had to be trained, but for some reason I figured the daycare ladies might still assist the kids if there were accidents and such. Like, I know Nadia can stay dry during the day, although nap time is sometimes difficult for her, and she will nap everyday there in the afternoons. I guess I’m just afraid she isn’t 100% potty trained, and therefore I fear they are going to tell me she can’t come back after she has a couple accidents. Especially since this environment is all new to her.

So last Friday was Nora’s first day, and would have also been Nadia’s first, but we kept her home since it was her 3rd birthday. Nadia went for the first time today. And she screamed when I left. Is that still normal for preschool??? I honestly fear she might be too young. The cut off was children needed to be three by mid-September. Well, if she was born around her due date, she wouldn’t have qualified for this program this year… I really hope this wasn’t a mistake.

The pictures below were taken just before we headed to the orientation. I’ll post separately about our vacation last week, Nadia’s birthday, and more about preschool so far!

Bribery

I’m still struggling with Nora pooping in the potty, even though she is trained otherwise. Even usually wakes up dry in the morning. Anyway, I’m moving on to bribery. First attempt was with a push pop… Nora said Nadia could have it… So today I purchased the Lucky & Spirit figurines. She loves that show so here’s hoping it works.

To be continued…

Student Loans

Eric is all about paying off debt. I see debt differently. It’s a necessary evil. I mean, who pays for houses and cars, or college, in cash? Even if you have it… credit history is necessary. I’m all about paying more than the required payment, and never carrying a balance on credit cards, but debt in general does not give me anxiety. Ha, maybe one of the few things that doesn’t! Anyway, yesterday we paid off the last 20k of my student loans. Somehow it doesn’t feel nearly as thrilling as I expected. In fact, I’ve wanted new furniture for our lower level for awhile now. I’d rather have spent the money that way.

In other news, this morning, of all mornings, Eric decided to trade in his monstrously-sized suv for something more sensible since he drives many miles commuting each week. I wonder what he’ll arrive home with later today…

So it’s just me and the girls. So far I’ve yelled, ‘get your fingers outta your butt’ and ‘wash your hands’ more times than I can count today. Nadia is working on potty training… It’s going well, except she tells me constantly she has to go, thus begins another 20 minute session of her alternating between sitting on the potty and running around the house naked…

Nadia Turns 2

I seriously can’t believe Nadia is two already. I remember her birth like it was yesterday. And now she’s a toddler! Who is starting to talk like crazy!

In case you want to read about Nadia’s birth…

Eric is on-call this week so staying up in Waterloo/Cedar Falls, but he was able to pop home for a bit last night so we could celebrate. We had dinner, a pasta dish, of which the girls ate nothing, decorated and devoured strawberry and chocolate cupcakes, and opened a few presents. Nora wasn’t so sure about Nadia getting to do all the present opening. And Nadia wasn’t so sure about the candles on her cupcake at first, but after Eric blew them out about 15 times she was ready to try herself. And then very angry when the candles were eventually removed. Toddlers…

I am planning a party with family for later in September, so we only opened a few gifts last night. More to come on that party. Invites have been ordered but nothing else is planned yet, except that it’s lunch at our home. And hopefully Eric’s mom decides not to show.

Below are a few pictures from last night, and a few pictures I like from shortly after Nadia’s birth. Browsing back through Nadia’s baby days makes me really miss having a newborn 🙁

The cupcakes we made and decorated last night were taken to daycare this morning for celebration. I actually felt like quite the awful mom taking her today. Like I should have kept Nadia home and made it a special day for her and I… but I wasn’t exactly sure how to celebrate with just a two year-old. So instead I met and had coffee with several ladies from my MOMS Club, which was actually really nice. Chatting with them is good therapy, calming.

I was able to capture just a few pictures of Nadia this morning to mark the occasion!

After I met with my MOMS Club ladies this morning I dropped by a nursery (as in trees and landscaping) to make an appointment. Eric and I have been meaning to make our yard look more complete, but have yet to get around to it… Somehow the stuff the builder had put it just isn’t doing it for me. So we’ll see on that. Appointment isn’t for a couple of weeks yet.

And finally… what do we think of replacing the regular-sized toilet in the girls’ bathroom with this? I know, would only be temporary, but I’m seriously so sick of buying crap to adapt our toilet to make it easier for the girls to use. I might be over thinking this, but I was hoping the current plumbing would work… and then when they are a little older we’d just put the regular toilet back on. We’ll see.

Exhausted

I’m exhausted and I’m not even sure why. I spent most of the morning at a coffee shop returning emails, updating some things on my blog, and adding a product to my sales page. Which was actually a lot of work! I came home around 11am and made a cute shirt for myself, then spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and doing dishes. How can there always be soooo many dishes?? And I didn’t even touch the laundry today… My new spiralizer arrived by UPS, so lunch was super yummy! Oh, and in case you are wondering, I do not get paid by Amazon to post links. Honest to God, I don’t get paid by anyone 🙂 But I do love this spiralizer. I used the flat cut on a yellow squash, threw in olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and parmesan and tossed it in at 400 degrees for 10 mins. Way good!

I also got this potty training step stool. I’d post the link, but honestly, I’m thinking this one is kind of crappy. It doesn’t feel sturdy, seems to slide around on the toilet seat a lot. Does anyone have something like this they love?? I’m looking for any and all options to make Nora more self-sufficient in the bathroom!

And just like that it’s time to get the little ladies from school 🙂

Nora – 38 Months

Nora never ceases to amaze me! She’s sweet and cuddling with me one minute, whining the next, and then throwing a tantrum five minutes later. I blame her age. Three year-olds are tough! Nora hates be woken in the morning… she’s especially moody if she doesn’t wake naturally… Daycare/school drop-offs are still a little tough but definitely getting better. She pretty much just whines now, her teacher, Coya, will pick her up, tickle her, Nora waves to me, and then is happy and playing five minutes later, per pictures I’ve been sent. Today she skipped to her room although was whining when I left. Yesterday she skipped to her room and happily sat down to paint once we arrived.

Potty training, well, it’s coming along. We alternate between pull-ups and underwear during the day, but still definitely do pull-ups at night, and she wakes very wet. For the most part she stays dry in underwear at school, but has lots of accidents at home. Maybe our routine is off here? She will gladly use the potty at school every two hours on their schedule, but at home she really, really fights me. Most of the time when I tell her to run in and go she refuses and cries. Thus at home it’s mostly pull-ups, as I tell her if she won’t sit on the potty, she can’t wear underwear. And let’s not even talk about poop. She refuses to poop at school and has gone in underwear more than I want to admit at home. Yuck. I’m trying not to push potty training, like if she cries to go at home I don’t make her. Or should I?

Nora is still a very picky eater. Mostly carbs go into her mouth, and I can’t blame her, carbs are yummy! She loves noodles with parmesan cheese, bacon, sometimes scrambled eggs, Special K Strawberry Breakfast Crisps, ‘fruit’ snacks, apples, and we still do chocolate Pediasure before bed, although finally out of a straw cup instead of a bottle! I hate it has a lot of sugar, but I swear it’s what is keeping her alive, and it does have some vitamins.

Nora is really good about staying in her toddler bed. I think she only got out of her bed once now since March when we converted her crib. I still use a baby monitor with her. The other night we had a big storm which scared her. I went in to comfort her as she was crying, I’m not sure if she would have stayed in bed that night or not. Our bedtime routine though is getting more and more painful for me, especially when I’m here alone with the girls. I read books with both girls, but separately. Nora likes me to crawl into her bed and cuddle for a bit, and then she wants to talk awhile with me in there too. Sometimes she will play the ‘I’m hungry’ or ‘I’m thirsty’ card. She’s getting more and more clever.

I often look at Nora and can’t really believe how big she is, although she’s still only 27 lbs 😉 She speaks extremely well, basically carries on complete conversations with us, well, to an extent. Our conversations usually involve her daytime activities at school, who she played with on the playground, her overnight dreams, what type of snack she wants, what show she would like on her iPad, you get the idea. But still, I’m amazed at some of the things she says and remembers. Her cute little voice gets me every time, even when she’s being a little stinker!

I’ll update about Mother’s Day soon, when I find the time! Eric is off this week so we’ve been trying to do some things around the house, and of course he insists we eat out for lunch each day, which takes a ton of time and really breaks up the day. He’s meeting with a personal trainer now and then I think we are going to a movie this afternoon before we pick up the girls. Our 6th wedding anniversary is tomorrow and I think my mom is watching the girls for us tomorrow night, hopefully a fancy dinner out!

Happy Friday!