PBS shows
We've recently started putting the tv on to PBS. While that it does have Barney we can easily change the station to something else for half an hour at 11:30am. But typically it's not an issue as the girls don't really watch tv too much. Typically when Kathleen isn't hope Sammi is playing or coloring. When Kathleen is home the TV is on but she tends to go off and do something with out watching it. But I've found several of those shows on Netflix.
Super Why! is really good for Kathleen right now as I think it's helping with her alphabet and reading. Sid the Science Kid teaches them about science type stuff. These are two really good ones that they've been watching a lot lately and I'm glad we found them. There are a few others that they watch but these are the ones that stick with me really.
It's definitely a break from Dora or Sponge Bob. Though I could deal with Phineas and Ferb all day lol.
Day 4 no go
Well it turns out Kathleen wasn't faking her headache. This morning she wasn't feeling well, but when I asked her if she wanted to go to school she said yes. So I watched her and made sure she was functioning and she was up until we got there, and then her breakfast ended up on the ground.
Since we were at the door I rang it to get in and told Kathleen's teacher she just got sick so she wasn't going to be making it today. Apparently two others were sick yesterday with a stomach bug as well. So hopefully it'll be over today with out much issue. I picked up some children's pepto which had a dosage for 2 to 5 year olds and that with some orange juice seemed to make her feel better so hopefully she's not gonna get sick again. She had a few crackers we will see if they stay down.
She asked at 9am if she could go to school now she wasn't choking. I feel bad she can't go but she doesn't need to get other kids sick. She's coloring now so hopefully she'll forget easily enouh.
Headaches
I know I mentioned it breifly in my last post but I spent most of yesterday in pain with a headache. Today is not much better, though today's headache is not incapacitating so that is good.
However I am not the only one complaining of a headache, so is Kathleen, after school today she came home and passed out in the bed for a few hours. She is acting a bit better but still complaining about having a headache. I feel for her but there isn't much I can do about a headache, if Tylenol didn't help any.
We are not exactly sure what it is, but it has to be something otherwise it wouldn't have progressed like it has through the family.
I just hope she'll be fine in the morning.
Day Three – Schoolitis?
Today Kathleen woke up with a "headache". Not exactly sure if this was an excuse to stay in bed, or from school. But once she got ready and dressed and all that, it was "Mommy it's time for school." She went with Ms. Tammy with out complaint as I signed in. It wasn't so tough today with Sammi as Shea was sent home because of an eye injury from yesterday was making seeing hard. So she stayed home with him. And he had to calm her down and she was when I came home. She sat in my lap for a while on and off through the day, and now she's coloring in her book - more like drawing since it's not actually got pictures in it.
I bought the girls some composition notebooks (as they were $0.25 for them during school sales) and they don't tear out the pages easily so they aren't scattered all over my house. Which is mostly what the floor gets covered with so they've been drawing and writing their names and letters in them. Well mostly Kathleen, Sammi won't copy but that's okay.
I'm not sure if Kathleen's headache this morning was real or not but I gave her some Tylenol just in case and took her temperature which she didn't seem to have a fever. I told her teacher she had a headache and to call me if she was not "better". I've not gotten a call yet so that means she's at least feeling okay. But I am concerned she might be sick. Two days ago Shea had a headache and his stomach wasn't feeling well. Yesterday I had a headache and my stomach wasn't feeling well. However my headache morphed into a full blown migraine by the middle of the day. So today it's likely she has one and really isn't feeling well. So hopefully it's not really her being sick and just her not wanting to get up and go.
Day Two + Visitor
Day two of preschool is going pretty well - except for the fact that I don't feel good. My head and stomach aren't feeling too hot, not sure if it's the heat or something else. My allergies were a bit heavy last night so I don't know, and on top of that I didn't sleep well.
Kathleen didn't really want to go, but she seemed pretty happy once we got there and I got a preview of what it could be like. One of the little girls in Kathleen's class showed up at the same time and she didn't want to leave her dad. She cried and screamed but I asked Kathleen if she wanted to help her, so she went pretty easily. I am glad we don't have that, even Sammi doesn't do that when we leave. She did of course cry and she was very clinging, meaning I've just now gotten some un-cling time from the kiddo. She's wanted me to watch Phineas and Ferb with her and I did, now she's happily playing her art game again. She doesn't get to do this very often so she's having a good time.
Kathleen is going on a field trip today. They didn't get me the paperwork to let her go until this morning but I have no problem they are just going down the road to the old high school gym to play for an hour or so. I hope she has fun.
Last night after we got back from helping Shea's parents load some things into their truck from Aunt Johnette's house we had a visitor stop by. The door bell rang and I just figured it was Shea's folks, we or they had forgotten something. But it wasn't when I opened the door McL was standing there. I gave him a hug and invited him in and we went into the back of the house - where it's cooler.
We talked about the situation with him and his wife and son. We offered moral support and told him if he needed a place for Gabe we were willing to help while he was in the army until he could do it himself. He joined WoW but couldn't seem to get into things so I helped him buy his full subscription and hopefully we'll be able to help him out in his game time.
I am thankful that he has some good friends that stopped him from doing something he shouldn't. They are good friends and I'm glad they are supporting him. He has some good support and that's going to be key I think.
It was very good to see him and I hope we can spend more time with him before he goes back to Virgina to deal with his life and get back to work in the army. He got to spend time with the girls, Kathleen and him wrestled around for a while before we went looking for Mam and Pawpaw. He spent the night up there, we just don't have a place for him with only living in two rooms and he'd be more comfortable up there. Hopefully he'll come down later today. Maybe we can get him to stay to get the group together, we don't know yet. Hopefully tho.
First Day of Preschool
Today was the first day of the next fourteen plus years of Kathleen's life. This particular phase is something that she'll have to endure for that long and hopefully longer through college too. But we'll get there when we get there - hopefully not too fast.
Our schedule started at 6:30 this morning. As both girls tend to have accidents at night we decided that it was best to give them a shower first thing in the morning just to make sure they are clean and not smelly. Last thing we need is for someone to pick on Kathleen cause she sticks, we want her to go back to school and like it. So we showered and ate breakfast (and watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse). Then we got ready for school - getting dressed, brushing our teeth and our hair.
Kathleen really didn't want to go but I prodded her along to get going. Once we got there, she saw other kids and started to inch in more towards one little girl the ladies introduced to her. I think she wanted to join in. That was the end of that for her. Sammi on the other hand wanted to stay with sissy and she wanted to go to school too. But she can't so I carried her out hugged so close to me she was afraid I was going to leave too. In the car she insisted she wanted to go to school, but when I told her she was too little she changed her tactics "I want to see Kitkat". She so relies on her sister.
We came home and she had some root beer or I attempted to give it to her but she didn't want it. But I had to go to CVS to fill my prescription and change our insurance to the new one since it went into affect Aug 1. Sammi got to ride in the push cart car that CVS has for the little ones. She never gets to ride in it alone so it was a treat. We came home she finished her root beer and sat down at their computer and played their little art game until we had to leave.
All in all they did really good. Kathleen's teacher told me that she counted well, which is good to hear. She busted out into tears as soon as she saw me and she told me that she missed me and clung to me like I was gone for a long time. I feel for her and this is a big change for her. It is for all of us.
I guess I'm not like most stay at home moms or even most moms in general because there was no crying, or OMG my child is going to school moments. My biggest fear is forgetting to pick her up. I think it has to do with already dealing with that anxiety by leaving the girlies with their grandparents for overnight stays or even a day while we go out. I missed her but I'm more proud she went and did so well then I'm worried how things will go. Yeah I worry but they have my number and I put stay at home mom as my employment so they should know I'm there but I doubt it'll be needed at all. As I told my Mom earlier I'm more "OMG I'm glad she's out of the house for half the day" than I am "OMG she's gone what will I do", lol.
But today was a good day. I even got real work done. A logo near finalized for a client, their coming soon page and a custom post portfolio working with my 3.0ified WordPress layout.
Unmotivated
I am very unmotivated this week. I don't have the energy to do my work outs so I don't do them. This is going to be a bad week for it and next week isn't going to be any better either. This week is pre-preschool week and I'm attempting to set schedule with the girls, tho for Kitten 7am rolls around too early for her and she's not hungry so I'm not sure what I can do about that. The only good thing is she'll have a snack in preschool, but I fear she'll be hungry most of the morning. I have a new cereal which we will try tomorrow at 7am. We'll see how it goes.
I am a 7am alarm and an 11am alarm set now, I hope I remember to set them on Monday after I turn them off for the weekend lol. I don't think I'll forget but it's one of those lovely fears I have about this.
Next week will be a big adjustment with Sammi and that isn't going to go well, she doesn't do well with out her sister around - she's very clingy. So I doubt I'll get much done until she adjust fully.
I need to redo my portfolio for my freelancing but I can't find something that I've created that reflects my work and me at the same time. The creativity for personal projects isn't there right now. But I need a look I'm happy with so I can finish my brochure as I've got the last of the testimonials I was waiting on so I can finish that up.
I didn't lose any weight this week. Lack of exercise I'm sure is the key to that. This week hasn't started any better either.
My brother and his fiancee are getting married this weekend so that also causes some unmotivated as I'd rather be there but we can't. We knew we weren't going but it still kinda disappointing we couldn't go even if we had planned on it.
On an up-note, Shea's son is home from Iraq. He to the last of my knowledge was on his way down here with his mother. Hopefully we'll get to see him while he's down here. I won't have his son with him, he hasn't even seen him yet *frowns* but at least we'll get to see him and he'll get to see how big the girlies have gotten. Hopefully they won't send him out again.
I officially have a preschooler
Today I made a few phone calls (I started on Thursday). The First Baptist Church on Pascagoula Street no longer has a preschool. This was my first call and kind of my first choice as Shea and his mom gave it good reviews. Next was the First Methodist Church on Market Street. Which was a good choice and the price was right last time I called but it's now $200 a month instead of the $115 a month I remember it being before. But they had no openings.
Shea found a daycare preschool on his way home on Ingalis Street. It is the Eastlawn Child Development Center part of the Eastlawn Methodist Church. This was Shea's grandmother's church and theirs when they lived in Pascagoula, many many many years ago.
They had one opening for a four year old for preschool only. So we did some running today and Kathleen is registered there and will start school next Monday. That's when their curriculum starts and that's the important part. The only thing lacking is the short record form the need from the heath department bu I can bring that in on Monday. But for some reason the Health Department was closed today, odd. But I will run their tomorrow and get the form.
We got the few supplies she needed and I will probably have to go pick her up a new backpack (and Sammi one too) on Tuesday so she has something to put her things in.
I am nervous, but not so much about Kathleen, Kathleen once she gets accustom to things she's an open book, it may take a little while tho. I am most nervous about forgetting, to drop her off on time or to pick her up. The latter bothers me the most. I'm going to have to have an alarm set to get Sammi ready at 11am so that we can get there early and be waiting for her.
She starts school a 8am and it ends at 11:30am. Half a day, a good start to going to school. Hopefully it won't be a traumatic experience for either of the girls. I fear more for Sammi than I do Kathleen, Sammi is going to be lost with out her sister. I will probably have to adjust my working hours to after Kathleen comes back from school so that Sammi isn't so lost.
Wish us all good luck even though I'm sure we won't need it. I am very glad to have found a preschool close to home and with in a price I think will be manageable on most occasions.
EA Sports Active & Storms
EA Sports Active arrived today around 4. I immediately set it up and the girls liked it. Kathleen really enjoyed the Inline Skating exercises. I didn't my poor knees could only accommodate her once on that after I went through the 30 day challenge exercises. So she is currently playing on her own profile. She's got an inline skating custom work out and and baseball swing workout going now. She is really enjoying it.
I will be doing the 30 day challenge and the two work outs I set up. One was cardio dancing and the other is sports exercises, tho I will probably change the latter one out I didn't like some of the exercises. I might through in some cardio boxing. We'll see I'll test those tomorrow, my knees are wobbly right now so it's a good idea to stop now.
And on the storm front Bonnie is looking to kit us as a Tropical Storm. We will be watching it closely and if it gets Hurricane status we will evacuate, but for now I will settle for just cleaning up the yard so things don't go flying around. But we look to be on the eastern edge of it. How much of it we'll get is still yet to be known, but we could sustain a direct hit as we are in the projected path cone right now. I'll keep ya'll updated on that if you aren't updated by the weather channel.
Counting
I know I've mentioned it before but The Girlies are doing really well counting. Rather Kathleen is getting better and Samantha is mimicking her sister. We have a set of flash cards that Kathleen can rattle off up to 13 with out a problem. The rest of the teens get her confused but once we get to twenty she is all ready to go again and she'll even count past the cards we have which tops out at 25 right now.
She's getting better at her letters but I don't know if it's actual recognition yet or not. Right now we are working in order as she has to learn their names and be able to say them. After we nail her letters and numbers in order I'll start shuffling them and maybe start picking up a book for her to go through each page with.
I did see a book for $25 on the tv the other day that might help. It wasn't one of those ones that had promises of making my child learn to read at an early age, while I did look at that, it just seemed kinda corny to me and I'm not sure that it really would work with my kiddos anyway. But this book is a flip book - it's a phonics book. You can set it to have a followed by t and then flip the first letter to make new words showing how the sounds work - bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, vat. oat and eat would work too but they don't have the same AT sound lol. But it also comes with books and sing along DVDs that could help too. But this isn't something that she needs right now, as she doesn't recognize her letters yet. But soon, very soon I think.
I really need to look into preschools I guess. Maybe in half an hour or so when more things down here are open.