Matter No What

Titus has been telling me all day long for several days that he loves me. But, the sweetest thing has been when he says "I love you, my whole life, matter no what". The first time he said it I didn't understand what he was trying to say, but then after he adamantly told me several times it hit me that he was trying to tell me what I always tell him and Aaris: "I love you, no matter what".

First Born's First Day

I can't believe that this day arrived so quickly. How is my first born attending her first day of school? She has been ready for about 6 months. First she begged to be 5 so she would be old enough to go to school, then we begged for summer to be over so she could actually attend school. We've practiced getting up and going to school for a week, so it should be no surprise that she had no problem going to school for real today. She set out her clothes last night and reminded me several times of what she wanted me to pack in her lunch box: peanut butter and honey sandwich cut in the shape of a heart, baked Doritos, and a fruit cup with cherries (I threw in a fat free chocolate pudding cup as a treat along with a note on her napkin).

We left on time to ride our bikes while Aaron drove and got to the school to take pictures of us riding up. Aaris walked us to her class and dropped her schoolbag and lunch box on the floor next to her seat because she spotted a picture of an apple ready to be colored on her desk. She immediately started coloring. We showed her where to hang her bags and then she when straight back to coloring. She told me to tell her that "I would see her later" and that I could go now. We blew each other other kisses to keep and Aaron, Titus, Skylyn and I walked out of the room. I didn't expect it, but tears suddenly flooded my eyes. We saw a sign that read, "Kindergarten Kry in the Library". We walked in there where we spotted our sweet friend from church, Dawn Duty, who also has kids at Deepwood Elementary. They served donuts and juice. After talking to some other parents the kids and I biked home.

Titus did well without Aaris. On his own he decided to make a 'popsacle' (obstacle) course out of random stuff in the exercise room. We did spend some time making cookies for Aaris as a treat when she came home. She told me the other day that her favorites were M&M cookies. The school had Aaris waiting for me at the doors next to the bike racks. She said she had a wonderful time. She talked about making a best friend, learning songs, and listening to books. She told me about already being ready to go back tomorrow.

As for me, it was a strangely quiet day. I'm so use to Aaris's presence and all of the verbal communication that involves. It just reminded me that Aaris is now off experiencing life without me there getting to witness it with her. That is the part that hurts the most. I just pray that God guides her to be a light in this the world she is now experiencing on her own, and that He protects her from that world as well.

Fun Day To Be a Mommy

Yesterday was just one of those days you dream about when you are wanting to have kids. It started with a very cooperative and happy Aaris getting ready for school (practice run since school doesn't start until next Tuesday). Then on our practice bike ride to and from her school I noticed early on that she would reach her arm behind her and turn or push an imaginary button on the back of her bike seat. All of the sudden she would go faster. I asked what she was doing and she said, "I was running out of gas. I needed more gas." So, I guess she was imagining that she was either filling up with gas, or turning/pushing a gas button and that made her be able to peddle harder to go faster. So, I totally took advantage of that and whenever she would really start to slow down I would say, "You need more gas." She would then push that button and start to go faster. So cute.

Then we were off to a birthday party. It was so fun to have her be excited to give her gift to her friend, Cole. That was her biggest thrill - watching him open his present and him loving it. Giving brought her joy. And, so did the fun playing time, apples with carmel dip, and birthday cake.

Then we were off to her first gymnastics class ever. Oh my goodness. What a complete joy it was to watch her. I really wasn't sure how she would do. She is not a very coordinated girl and sports have not been her thing, but she was a complete natural. She paid complete and total attention to everything the instructor said, asked questions to make sure she understood, and then followed it to a 't'. She was so strong and comfortable on everything. She had complete confidence in herself which is not always the case when it comes to athletics and her. She was very sad when the class was over, begged to stay and asked if she could come back every single day. Oh, how I wish I could afford that!

After that we headed home for a quick clothes change and drove up to her school to eat pizza and meet her teacher. She ate very quickly hoping that we could meet her teacher as soon as she was done. I told her she had to wait until the clock read 5:30 and she watched intently and was ready to go. She loved her classroom, finding her seat and putting all of her supplies away. Aaron had a good idea of having her meet and talk to another girl in her class so that she would already have a familiar friend to know her first day. She made friends with a precious little red headed girl named Faith. She loved her teacher and generously gave her hugs and kisses. Her teacher is Mrs. Tuxhorn and everyone we've talked to has told us that we are very lucky and that she is an awesome teacher. I feel very blessed and touched that God is taking care of my little girl.

I thank God for being able to have fun experiencing life with my sweet Aaris yesterday.

Haircuts

Back-to-school haircuts:
Aaris and I went to get our hair cut today. She starts Kindergarten in 9 days and has been wanting to get her hair cut again. I can't hardly stand cutting her hair for two reasons. First is because I really would love for her hair to be long again. Second is because she looks so much older when she has super short hair. She was very excited, asked to go first, and loves it. She does look in the mirror though and says that she doesn't look like Aaris. I agree.

I have been needing something done with my hair for a long time now. I too would really love for my hair to be long. My hair just doesn't have the health it use to or something and doesn't look as good as I would like when it's longer right now. Plus, I needed some help with my bland natural color. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the idea that I'm old enough to have a kid in school. And, I certainly didn't want to look like a frumpy mom when taking Aaris to school. So, after seeing Aaris's cute cut, I asked my hairdresser (who is GREAT by the way) if I could look like my daughter. She tried, but Aaris is too cute for me to even compete with. Love that girl!

Skylyn is 9 months

It's hard to believe, but I'm starting to see a little girl emerge out of my baby. She's still small in stature, but so much bigger in personality and development. The past 2-3 weeks have been full of surprises. Skylyn went from sitting up only if I placed her in that position myself or laying flat on her back because she didn't like being on her tummy to:

rolling all over the place

sitting up on her own

waving

crawling

wanting to eat real food rather than baby food

silly spitting with her tongue

anticipating my tickle games

holding a bottle by herself

clapping

loving seeing herself in the mirror

wanting to play the "I'll drop it and you pick it up" game

She has just developed into the most happy baby and is such a joy. She sleeps very well at night but still likes getting up by 6:30 am and then has no regular nap schedule (and believe me, I've tried, and tried, and tried...). She takes about two 1 hours naps the whole day. She has no teeth yet, but her hair is getting a little longer. She still can wear 3-6 months clothes, but I've pulled out all of the 6-9 months clothes just because they are too cute and I want to see new clothes on her. She is having a good time taking baths since we unpacked her little yellow ducky bathtub. Also, the one thing I love about her crawl is that it is exactly like Aaris's was: one knee and one foot. It's like she wants to be ready to stand at any moment (not doing any pulling up yet, but I'm sure that will come soon enough).

4th of July 2009

This year was an eventful 4th of July. It came just 4 days after we moved in. I was so excited to jump right into our new community that I tried to find anything in Round Rock for us to do. I saw that our new neighborhood was going to have it's own parade, so Aaris and Titus and I decorated their wagon and joined in the fun. We walked with the firetruck, high school drumline, lots of other neighborhood families and cool old cars all through our new neighborhood. We left from Aaris's new school and finished at our neighborhood park. They handed out prizes at the park to the parade participants. We won 12 free putt-putt games for being "The Most Patriotic New Neighbors".

Late afternoon we met Aaron's mom and dad (a.k.a Mamaw and Poppy) at Old Settler's Park (where the Round Rock Express Baseball Field is) (only 12 minutes from our house!). They had arts and crafts booths, food booths, rides and games for the kids, and playgrounds. It was hot, very hot, that day. We tried to cool off with ice-cream and smoothies. At 7:00 they gave away fresh cut watermelon. We really took advantage of that.

They had skydivers and live music from the symphony before the fireworks show. Poppy, Mamaw, Aaris and Titus went right down in front of the symphony stage to watch the skydivers and it turned out that happened to be the skydiver's landing spot. So, they literally landed feet way from my kids. So cool. The fireworks were great! They had two shows going at the same time because it's such a big park, so we did a lot of back and forth looking, but it was very fun. Not sure about doing it next year. It took a long time to get out because of the traffic. Memories though - fun memories - and that's all worth it!

Titus Tackled...

Stitches:
The day before we moved into our new house, we went to go see it. Aaris and Titus were running around in the wide open new spaces and loving it. The next thing I know Titus accidentally got shoved into a window seal and there was blood all over his mouth. He had gashed his lip open all the way from the front of his lip into the inside. We had to find an urgent care facility. He had to get stitches which I think was much worse, more painful and more scary then the actual event of getting hurt. Getting the stitches out 5 days later was just as bad. His lip is finally starting to heal well and not scarring too badly.

Potty Training:
Titus is potty trained! We spent one week taking him every 30 minutes to the bathroom. The second week he started telling me he had to go. Now we holds it so well even on car trips. It took 3, maybe 4, times of trying to train him, but it finally was his time. Thank goodness. He had several motivators. One was getting to to play at the bouncy house when we were going to go with his church friends. He also was convinced that he was getting a prize of "blue roller skates". But, I think the key to success was not being able to go play with Aaris in the kid play area at IKEA because he wasn't potty trained (IKEA rules). So, I've provided a picture of Titus wearing his new skates the morning after he did #2 in the potty for the first time.