First Day of Preschool

Ready to go...spiderman backpack is on!
Coloring his "placemat" for snack time each day

What a good listener!!
Circle time...he's looking at me with the cutest smile!
Singing the goodbye song

Today was Chase's first day of preschool. I found myself tearing up throughout the entire morning I was there...get a grip, I know! We talked in the morning about remembering to use our best manners and say hello to new friends and teachers. I told him that I know he is such a good listener and I'm sure his teachers would think so too. He definitely lived up to my expectations!

The morning was just an hour and the parents actually stayed in the classroom. A typical day is 2 hours, twice a week. Chase was a little clingy at first but when the parents and kids separated, he did well and only came over to us a few times. He seemed so brave and I was so proud of him for that. He was smiling and listening to all of the directions that were given. He was quiet and calm but there was an underlying excitement and curiousity in his eyes. I wish that I was able to take him and pick him up everyday to hear about his day immediately but I know that Blake will keep me informed. This morning was definitely worth taking the day off for.

Life Update

Wow, this is the first time I've been on my blog in over a month...I can honestly say that I've missed this! Unfortunately, I have no new pictures but a lot has gone on this past month.

To begin with, my dad had a stroke on August 5th (my birthday) that caused a bleed in his brain. Since then, he has had a 2nd bleed that we were told caused severe brain damage and that he would have no quality of life from its effects. There is no explanation as to why this happened, it just did. However, I was just in Michigan this last weekend and my dad is doing great!!! His vision has returned (which is HUGE, they said this would never come back), he is walking on his own, understands almost everything that is said to him, and is talking pretty well too. He is in a rehab program in the hospital and will be there for 2 more weeks. After that, he is coming to live with us in our new house! There are a lot of challenges that come with that for us: transforming our living room into a bedroom since we don't want him to do stairs, finding doctors and therapists to provide him services here, and finding somewhere/someone to be with him while we're at work because he'll need 24 hour supervision, not 24 hour care...something his insurance does not pay for at all! There is a lot to be done in the next 2 weeks to be sure that everything goes smoothly once he arrives. I'm hoping that he'll be able to rest as best as he can in a house with 2 young children, a crazy dog, and 2 stressed out adults!

We officially moved out of house on August 17th and moved in with Blake's parents. We had a really nice 2 week stay there, they were helpful with the boys since I was in Michigan a lot. We moved into our new house August 28th. The move went well for the most part, we owe a lot of great friends for helping us out. We've started settling in a little more after this past weekend. We were dumping a lot of things into the living room since it is a space we don't anticipate using much right now but with my dad coming, we've got a lot of moving and figuring out to do. We did go buy new appliances and a TV this past weekend and had a fence put in. Slowly our new house is starting to feel like a home. There are so many updates and painting that we want to do but we truly need to prioritize what is on our plate right now.

I'm in full swing at school and my class this year is okay. They are challenging my patience daily (along with my own children) but I think with a little more settling in, we'll all be on the same page and have a great year. My friends at work have been so supportive of us, they've made dinners for us so that we could settle in and not worry about what is for dinner, I'm so grateful to them.

Chase starts his first day of preschool today. I took today off to take him there...I hope that he does okay. He has been very "off" since the move and since I've been gone a lot more than normal. He's started having some horrible bed times (getting him to go to sleep) and tantrums that weren't happening before. I'm hoping his behavior levels out soon, I'm at the end of my rope some days.

Luke on the other hand, is doing great! He's not eating a 9 course meal or anything but he has become so much more adventurous with his eating and I attribute that to therapy, time, and our babysitter Cathy, working with him everyday. I can't wait to see how much he weighs at the end of the month...I know that he has grown taller and he has to have gained some weight!

Blake has been super busy with work and coaching this past month. He started coaching football at a middle school in our district and loves it, I'm so happy he is doing it, even though it is tough for me to pick the boys up everyday. He's been wonderful when I've been gone and has done ton around the house.

I think our life is in an upswing now...I hope to take a picture of my children soon and post them!