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Well, I the boys made it through their first day of school! Noah is now officially a preschooler at Creative Preschool, and Caden is at Mother’s Day Out in the toddler room. On this rainy morning, I had to drop them off to start another chapter in their lives. Yes, that’s a little sappy, but it was kind of tough this morning. I’d like to say it was harder for me than the boys, but that’s not the case for Caden.
Noah had the first drop-off, where we hung up his (huge) bag, put his snack bag in the bucket, then headed over to his square on the floor for circle time. No problem. Barely a look at me as he blew me a kiss (weakly), and looked around at all the toys, trying to figure out what he’d do first! (Caden was more upset when he couldn’t stay to play with the cars.) He was happy to see me when I returned, but talked about having a good time, playing in the “big room” and drawing a picture of a clown (a smiley face with huge eyes, a big smile, and a very small red dot for a nose-“I said ‘boop’ when I made his nose.”). No big deal.
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Then it was time to take Caden to MDO. We had been there last Thursday to check out the room, meet the teachers, and to play. So he was fine when we first walked in, happily carrying his “Memo” lunch bag. He immediately dropped the bag and headed over to find the tractor he had played with on Thursday. I hung out for a bit, putting his things away, taking a couple of pictures.
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Then I went up to him to give him a hug and a kiss, and as I gave him a kiss, he said “NO!” Not angry, but sort of pleading. Augh! His sweet little voice, begging me not to leave! My eyes started burning a bit-fight it back, Saj! And then I tried again, this time starting with a high-five and some knuckles, then progressing to the hug and kiss. Again the “no.” Okay, one last time. And it seemed to work. Then, as I started walking out the door, he followed, beginning to cry. And I had to just leave. Mostly because that’s what “they” say to do. (You know, the “experts.”) But also because if I didn’t, I was going to make a huge blubbering scene in front of all the other moms who were totally holding it all together, all talking about heading over to the gym for their workout. I made it to the car, called Andy, and started to cry. I had to leave my baby, knowing he didn’t realize I’d be back a short 5 hours later.
When I did finally return, he seemed pretty relieved to see me. One of the teachers (Miss Lisa) nicely informed me that he had “a bit of a rough morning.” I asked if he cried long, and she said until about quarter to 11. I dropped him off at 9:30! He cried for almost an hour and a half! I keep telling myself he probably wasn’t sobbing the whole time, and truthfully, he probably wasn’t. It’s still heartbreaking. But Miss Lisa was wonderful, giving Caden a hug, and telling him to remember her for next week. He probably won’t, but a small part of me thinks he may.
I’m so excited for the boys to be in their respective programs. I think Noah is more than ready for school, even just 2 mornings a week, and I think the socialization is great for Caden. In a few weeks, they’ll be starting at a daycare as well, just one day a week. We’ll see how that goes!
 
Here’s the 2005 Camry that has been my transportation for the past 3 years. About 4 months after we got it (on lease), I cracked the rear bumper trying to get out of a parallel parking spot. When I asked my father-in-law (our car guru) what to do about it, he suggested we turn it in “on a rainy day.” Thankfully, we (read: the car guru) were able to work some magic and have the dealership take my car in on trade (sort of), and they assumed responsibility for making the last payment, fixing the bumper, and putting new tires on it (which I should have done about a year ago!). And that’s how we ended up with this…
I am affectionately calling this my “Mommy-mobile.” Yep, I’m driving a minivan. It is very shiny and new, with less than 225 miles on it! I’m debating making the boys take off their shoes before they can get in! I love the power sliding doors, though I haven’t had a lot of chances to play with them since we got the car last night at 6:30, and I had to work all day today. But the possibilities are endless!
So, if anyone wants a ride somewhere, and doesn’t mind listening to “Miss Laurie” (Laurie Berkner) with the boys in the car, hop on in! I’ve got all sorts of room now!
My morning started pretty normally-I went for a run, showered, got the boys up and eating, and dressed. Then we headed out for a tour of a potential daycare facility.
Since we moved back to the Milwaukee area, my mom and my mother-in-law have been the best caregivers for my boys while I’ve been working part-time. But this year my MIL is going back to work (practically) full-time, and my mom is graciously offering to watch the boys 2 days a week. But we need a bit more cash, so we found a daycare facility that will take kids one day a week, which is perfect for our situation!
So off we went, Noah, Caden, and I, to a Mary Linsmeier school, Children’s Edu-Care. I wasn’t very excited when we first got there, but knew I had to keep an open mind. The boys, on the other hand, were very anxiously awaiting the time they could go play with the toys and other kids. The tour went well. Caden would be in a class with kids a few months older than him, but it’s a better fit than putting him in with kids a few months younger than him. And Noah would be in a very cool preschool room, getting some very cool preschool teaching-individualized math and reading, as well as Spanish. Now, I don’t think he needs really rigorous teaching at 4 years old, but it’s a nice start since he’ll be almost 6 when he starts kindergarten. So it was a good morning.
Then, Andy’s dad returned from the car dealership with news about my end-of-lease options with my car and our soon-to-be-purchased mini-van (yes, I’m really getting a mini-van, and I’m thrilled!). We crunched numbers while my kids crunched lunch, and hemmed and hawed over all the details, coming to the conclusion that Andy and I will have to act on a new van tomorrow. YIKES!
After Andy’s dad left, Noah, Caden, and I played, then I got them down for their naps, and had just settled in to watch some Amazing Race reruns from the Game Show Network (yeah, DVR!), when the phone rang. It was my manager from my weekend position at Elmbrook Hospital. She was calling to let me know that there is probably a position opening at the hospital, and am I still interested in working there? Uh, yuh-huh!!! We talked for a bit, then hung up, and I sat there for a minute, wishing this hadn’t been the day Andy was golfing, south of Chicago no less! Of all the days for him to be practically unreachable, I had a thousand things to talk to him about! So I called my mom. I needed some voice of reason to help me come up with more questions to get to the bottom of this potential job. So I called my manager back with the questions, got slightly more confused, but more excited, and started muddling this all through in my head. By the time I got to talk to Andy, I think I got most of the details right, but had to wait until about 9:00 tonight to talk it all out with him. How can all of this happen in the matter of about 6 hours?
My head is swimming, I’m really tired, but I think I’ve got too many thoughts to sleep. Maybe another run in the morning will help?
It’s my SIL’s birthday today! No need to divulge age here! I’m sad I can’t be there to celebrate with her, but I know my brother probably has something up his sleeve for her. So I’m sending my love through the blogosphere, wishing her a very happy day!
 
I just got back from my soggy morning run.* While I’m running, listening to my Workout mix on my iPod (thanks Mathy!), I think. All sorts of things go through my head. Today I was thinking about work, preschool, cars, money, and running. And I remembered that I finally will be able to run in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure this year! Every other year, it seems, I’ve been working, out of town (DisneyWorld last year!), or otherwise busy. But this year, I put it on my calendar before I offered myself for work weekends. So I’m planning to run in it.
Anyone want to join me? I’m not very fast-about 5.5 mph (according to my treadmill). And I can’t talk much while I’m running-wait, maybe that’s a selling point! But I’d love to have the company, and I, like so many others out there, have a personal relationship with several people who have been affected by breast cancer. It’s on Sunday September 23 in Milwaukee. Just post a comment, or email me, to let me know if you’re interested.
*Just to clarify, I don’t run every morning, but I have intentions to!
Catheroo (my SIL), has interviewed me, after she was interviewed herself. I thought, “Hey, why not?!” and told her to fire away. Here it is:
1) Did you and Andy choose Noah and Caden’s names together or did one of you win out over the other? Did you always know what you wanted to name your kids?
I’ll answer the second question first-NO. I have friends who were set on names when they were dating, and I used to have a favorite girl name (will I ever need to worry about that???). But we weren’t like that. We decided to find out what we were having when I was pregnant with Noah, so we knew to focus on boys names. I remember going on walks through our neighborhood with our (then) dog, Zoe, talking out names. We were pretty sure on the middle name right away (William, for my dad), but the first name took some work. Noah was the only boy name we could agree on. So I knew it may be a challenge if I got pregnant with another boy. Jump ahead about 2 years, and here we were with baby boy #2 in my belly, struggling with a name. Again, we were set on a middle name-this time Michael, for Andy’s dad. I had some that I really liked, that Andy really didn’t, and vice versa. We found the name “Aiden” in one of our (many) baby name books, and liked it. But then Andy came across the name “Caden” in one of the books, and it kind of stuck. With both boys, we kept the names secret between us (and my hairdresser with Noah and a few of my patients with Caden-I had to tell somebody!).
2) If you could dispense one piece of advice to a newly married woman (married to your brother, no less!) what would it be?
This is tough. No marriage is perfect, and mine is no exception. We have our struggles. We are still very much individuals, and that can lead to conflict. But we’re always a team. So I think that may be my advice, specifically to you two. My brother is the epitome (6th grade vocab word, thank you Mr. Lipski!) of “individual.” I would hate to see him lose that. And from what I have learned of you, Catheroo, you are quite an individual yourself-and I mean that in the best way possible. So don’t forget about yourself. But always remember that there are two of you traveling this path together, and you’re going to have to rely on each other the whole way. At my wedding, my minister made a similar point, that most of the time it will be 50-50. But there will be times when it is 60-40, or 80-20, or even 100-0. But you’re still a team. (Whoa, that got deep! Now onto more fun stuff!)
3) Next time you come to California, what do you want to do/where do you want to go?
Well, an obvious may be Disneyland-with or without my kids! But we may need to stick to the San Fran area, so I came up with a few more realistic options:
- Napa-I went with Matte, but I was 3 months pregnant and couldn’t partake in the tastings!
- An A’s game with Suzie-‘nuf said.
- The beach-not to swim, but to sit, with my eyes closed, in the sun, listening to the surf.
- Any of Mathy’s favorite hangouts/pastimes
4) What do you want for your birthday?
I originally wanted a Coach purse. But then my brother and his (at the time) girlfriend showed up with their great Nikon digital SLR cameras and I found a new love. So I’m hoping for donations to the “Saj really wants a Nikon d40 for her birthday” fund!
5) What daredevil stunt or rebellious act have you never tried but kinda sorta want to?
This is a good question for me, because most of my friends would probably not use the terms “rebellious” or “daredevil” to describe me! But I’ve had a thing for skydiving since I saw Point Break (minus the former President masks). I’d also really like a tattoo, but I’ve never really come up with anything I want permanently imprinted onto my body.
There you have it. I hope you all learned a bit more about me, even my close friends and family! This made me realize we need to spend some more time together, Catheroo!
If you would like to play, leave me a comment asking me to interview you. Here are the specifics:
1. Leave me a comment saying “Interview me.â€
2. I will email you five questions, so be sure to leave your email address in the little box when you leave a comment. Or email me if you don’t want your address published. Or just comment because I probably already have your email! I get to pick the questions, but they won’t involve anything you wouldn’t want to admit.
3. Update your blog (if you have one) with a post containing your answers to my questions or send an email to your friends/family.
4. Include this here explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment/reply asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
Etc, etc, etc…
This morning, things were going along swimmingly at playgroup. The boys were getting along (for the most part) with their friends, and there hadn’t been any (major) incidents, except for Noah not wanting to share a giant shovel in the sandbox. Noah had just gotten back into the sandbox, when Caden (who was already in there) started screaming and crying. For anyone who knows Caden, this only happens when something serious has happened. My first instinct was to think Noah, with giant shovel in hand, had something to do with it. But when I got over there, I noticed some redness and some minor swelling occurring under Caden’s right eye. It seems he had fallen, face-first, into the corner seat of the wooden sandbox. Caden had just gotten his first shiner.
Not more than five minutes later, Noah, who had been happily zooming around on a toddler 3-wheeled scooter, started screaming and crying, holding his elbow as he sat on the driveway. It seems he had fallen and skinned his elbow. Not gushing, but a nice scrape that probably stung pretty bad when I ran the water on it. Based on his reaction, you’d think I had poured acid on it!
Based on these two accounts, you’d think Noah would recover more quickly than Caden. Well, again, for those of you familiar with my children, you can believe that it was Noah who whined and carried on much longer than Caden. Did we baby him more when he was Caden’s age? Do we just not have the time to comfort Caden like we did with Noah so he’s learned to self-soothe a little better? I suppose many of the times we should soothe Caden we’re busy getting Noah to apologize. Ah, the life with children!
Well, I’m finally doing this. I’ve been thinking about blogging for a few months now. I love reading my brother’s and sister-in-law’s blogs, and I decided maybe someone would be interested in reading one of mine! If anything, this is a way to keep people updated on our lives, since I’ve become terrible at calling/emailing! So here I am, and I’m going to have a go at this.
I’m realizing I’m very computer illiterate, when it comes to this sort of thing. There’s a lot more to this than just typing some stuff in, putting a picture in there, and sending it out over cyber-space. So I will rely on my extremely computer literate family members to help me through this. So hang in there, post some comments, and enjoy my ramblings.
Oh! One more thing. I do not intend this blog to be for dispensing advice on a regular basis. I may share my opinion or let people know what works/has worked for me, but I’m not going to be the next “Dear Abby” or anything. I’m definitely not cut out for that sort of thing!
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