First Week of Pre-K

 Well it happened. I let go of my sweet boy's hand and allowed him to walk into the big boy world of school. We had been preparing Connor all summer for the first day of school! He knew it was going to be an early morning, he knew he would be taking special pictures, and he knew he would be seeing his teacher and making new friends. Sunday night was probably the worst night of sleep of the entire summer. He was up about every hour. Daddy and I were exhausted, and on Monday morning, the day we had been so excited for, Connor was cranky! I mean, wouldn't get out of bed, lots of tears, cranky.

I bribed him with marshmallows and I am not ashamed.

 For me to be able to make it to my school for the opening of school we had to get to his school before his teacher was even there. We were able to see the class and we were lucky enough that Grandma and Papa came too and kept him until his teacher Ms. Faggans made it to class. They made his morning so special even though I couldn't be there. I let myself cry on the way to my school.

 He had a wonderful first day! I knew he would! He was most excited about having played on the playground! As the week progressed I got new stories about the new and fun things he got to do at school that day. One day they couldn't go to the playground because of rain, but they did bubbles instead, and it was just as great! From painting to playdough he thinks school is awesome. He comes home to Grandma's and spends the rest of the afternoon in the pool. The kid has it made!

 By Friday we were still all smiles and I got the green light that Connor will be staying and to go ahead and purchase the uniforms for school! He got to wear the school Spirit Shirt along with the rest of the campus and he thought he was so cool! They also played with a class set of tricycles to which he told me he beat the rest of the class at racing. No surprise there. He is flourishing and I love it!

On the first day of school I may have pushed it a little too hard and fell at my school, hard. I honestly went to switch directions walking, and literally lost my balance, crashed to the floor, and sent a shoe flying. My pride was hurt before the rest of my body felt anything. Thankfully no one was around to see the spill. By the end of the day my back was spasming out of control and I was getting nervous about Caleb. This resulted in paperwork and then a total of 6+ hours of doctor's and ER visits. After many tests and being monitored they decided that Caleb was fine. We got to experience a wonderful sonogram where we could see him sucking his little fingers. It was so clear we watched as his tongue worked back and forth while he sucked. It was surreal, and we have no evidence of it since both of our phones had died at this point. It was a long stressful evening with no food, and I felt like I had ruined the first day of school since we had wanted to do special things with Connor at home. I am blessed because he has the world's best Grandma who took him and Aunt Kaitlyn to Steak and Shake and even brought him home, put him in his pajamas, and was fast asleep before we even got home. By Tuesday morning I really felt like I was hit by a truck and went to work regardless of what my OB had told me. I couldn't walk right, I couldn't bend, and was so sore. By Wednesday I knew I needed to rest my body. My OB put me on bed rest, and I spent Thursday and Friday moving from one bed, to another, to the couch at mom's house. I was well taken care of, and even got a prenatal massage this morning that Daddy scheduled for me. I think I'm finally ready to go back to work Monday morning, but I have a slew of doctor appointments scheduled for this coming week as well. I just hate the fuss.

 I had my 30 week appointment yesterday and I'm measuring right on track, which is great! I guess things have evened out! I feel large, and get very uncomfortable if I lay in certain positions for too long. Caleb has been getting "a case of the hiccups" (as Connor calls it) pretty regularly and it always seems to happen right as I am trying to fall asleep. I now count hiccups instead of sheep! Ha! Based on my last cardiologist appointment my OB said we will be scheduling my induction for 39 weeks, and I guess we will be picking a date in the near future. Wow! It's happening!

Goodbye Summer

As always we packed our summer full of fun and activity. We tried to make every day special for Connor and make lots of family memories. I can't believe it's coming to a close, and I really can't believe that next summer is going to be extremely different. 

We of course made our annual trip to Lion Country Safari and Grandma actually let Connor drive her car without her hands guiding him. He was thrilled! The animals gave us quite a show, and we even watched two ostrich's "dance". We learned a lot about nature that day! My favorite part was having the giraffe walk right next to our car, and that the lions were out stalking while we were there. We had to drive past them twice it was so cool!

Caleb and I have been on stage quite a few times this summer, and  we have one more performance this weekend for big church. It's been taking a lot out of me so we are going to take a little break until after he is here. I am so grateful to be a part of this ministry and I constantly say how much I love our church!

We have been so blessed to do so many activities with loved ones. Connor has spent many an afternoon at the bowling alley with Grandma and Aunt Kaitlyn, we've had many pool days, ice cream socials and even evenings at the drive-in. I would say Connor is officially swimming and he constantly begs to go in the p-o-o-l. Yes, we have to spell everything, and even that doesn't work because he's spelling the words with us now! He moves up to his new Sunday school class tomorrow at church and starts his first day of Pre-K on Monday. We had his orientation yesterday, and I know he is going to do just fine, though my heart breaks with how fast time is moving.

 Caleb is growing daily! The little buddy was measuring at 29 weeks at my 26 week appointment. The doctor said he is very long. The picture above is from 28 weeks, and this Tuesday will be my 30 week. Woah! Connor is so ready for his new brother, and constantly asks when we can go to the hospital to get him. He loves to kiss my belly, and wants Caleb's crib next to his bed so he can watch him sleep. While we were at Disneyland he walked up to a rack of baby characters wrapped in blankets and showed us how he was going to rock and hold baby Caleb. It was precious.

I had to go see my cardiologist again to make sure I was cleared for delivery and he recommends I be induced again. My heart rate and blood pressure change too dramatically (15-18 points) just by changing positions, and we are always concerned about me passing out. I was diagnosed with Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia when I was 21. Going back to work this week has been extremely difficult physically and emotionally. Connor didn't want me leaving for work, and there have been many tears shed by both of us over it. I'm so busy with my responsibilities around the school that I'm not making time to rest, or even eat my lunch. I'm hoping that by next week things will settle down and I'll get back into a routine. I actually had some Braxton Hicks contractions the other day, and I will be talking to the doc about that at my appointment this week. Caleb has been much more active in the evenings because I am so busy during the days. Daddy has been wonderful making dinner every night and allowing me to rest. Connor and Daddy even let me sleep in as long as I needed to this morning, and we have nothing planned for our day besides spending time together and taking it easy.

I'm always sad when I have to go back to work at the end of the summer, but I know I am so lucky to have the job I have and truly blessed to teach what I teach. I look forward to this year with some new responsibilities and I pray for the best! I only have to make it through the first marking period and then my 30th birthday will be very interesting indeed!

Disneyland 2014

"One more with one."

We woke up Sunday morning a tad bit later than we had Saturday morning. Connor wasn't up at the crack of dawn and was definitely lagging a little more than he had the day before. We gave him some medicine and made our way over to the land and parked in almost the same spot we had the day before.

We opened the park again and got to stand next to the roped off sections before making our way straight to fly over the land of Peter Pan. When that was over daddy headed to get fastpasses for Space Mountain and Connor and I had fun on Main Street USA. We got a private ride on the horse drawn carriage from the castle to the front of the park, and then took the antique fire truck from the front of the park to the castle, with Connor ringing the bell the entire time! 

We took a little adventure climbing the steps of the castle and got to see little vignettes of Sleeping Beauty scenes. We went to Fantasyland and rode the carousel a few times with Connor picking different horses, and flew on Dumbo. I could tell Connor wasn't really feeling like himself though. We weren't getting really big smiles and he was just slightly off. It was a bit hotter on this day because we didn't get the great cloud coverage we had the day before. We continued over to a new ride the Casey Jr. Circus Train.

Connor was hooked. He loved this little train! I thought it was cool too. We got to steer the caboose on the first ride, and sat in one of the "animal cages" on the second go round. We of course loved the name of the ride too, and Connor just kept talking about his Uncle Casey.

Because the train ride circles around another boat ride we headed there next. The Storybook Land ride was closed the last time we were there and I'm so glad we were able to do it this time. It was so cute riding in a boat looking at all of these cute miniatures while our guide told us a story. I think Connor was starting to get over heated while we waited in this line because he wanted to be held constantly and was lethargic.

After a few more rides and meeting some fairies Connor actually asked to take a nap. We were shocked! I understood though, with being sick and it being a tad on the hot side the poor buddy couldn't keep up. We decided it was the perfect time to stop for lunch and find air conditioning.

We ate and ate and ate at Cafe Orleans! From the amazing pom frites to the mickey mouse beignets and finally the Monte Cristos we were in heaven! I think we probably should have gotten just one order of the sandwich and shared....but we didn't. Go big or go home! (We may have gone home bigger.)

We headed to the Haunted Mansion with a still sleeping Connor and got the enjoy it differently than last time since the Nightmare Before Christmas hasn't yet taken over.

Daddy took Connor to Toontown while I sat in line to get front row seats to see Mickey and the Magic Lamp. The show was amazing and Connor enjoyed a frozen apple juice slush that seemed to revive him. We went to Mickey's house after and Connor loved playing all over the furniture and was overjoyed with seeing the big guy! He even asked to take a picture with his mailbox! There were even rides in Toontown he remembered riding when he was 2. We were shocked with the detail he could recall and how he adamantly  did not want to ride them this time. We stopped at Goofy's house to let Connor play on the playground, charge our phones at a secret spot, and let mommy put her feet up a bit.

We let Connor drive his car at Autopia, one spin on the un-air conditioned monorail, and even took a float around Small World. I am always amazed at how cool the outside entrance to the ride is. I love that the train drives right through the facade and it's all open air. 

Connor was tall enough to ride this Space Mountain and it's wonderful because you sit side by side unlike ours at Magic Kingdom. He was a trouper and wasn't scared at all!!! Daddy said he did great!!!

We got a cool treasure map on the Jungle Cruise and daddy and Connor climbed the Swiss Family...err Tarzan tree house twice.

We completed our trip with begging our way onto Alice in Wonderland, squealing on the Mad Tea Party, and exiting the park through another ride on the monorail and walking back to the parking lot. We had another completely full day and there were rides we didn't make it on, but Connor was the one who told us what he wanted to do and didn't. We left it up to him since it was all for him anyway. He fell asleep before even backing the car out of its spot.

His pajamas Sunday night were the clothes he was going to wear Monday morning since we were waking up at 3:50am. We left the hotel by 4:15am and made it to the airport with no hitches by 5:54am after already dropping off the rental. What a team!!!! Daddy did inevitably come down with whatever Connor had but all in all it was an amazing trip!! Connor has been talking about all things Disneyland California and Los Angeles for weeks now. I know this will be a trip he will always remember too!