What I learned last week

Before getting to what I learned last week, here is a synopsis of how picture day went...

Caitie experienced her second week of school last week. There was picture day last Monday. I wasn't sure she would be able to participate on picture day due to her having come down with a cold on the Thursday before; she missed going to school on that Friday. But she recovered and I cleaned her up on Sunday night, which included a shower, hair washing, the works, and even rolled her hair in big pink foam curlers for her to sleep in; this was her first time sleeping in curlers, I usually put them in and take them out on the same day. She thought it was uncomfortable at first, but she eventually fell asleep. Yes, you can still consider me 'mommy dearest', I put beauty before comfort. I found the next morning that the big pink foam curlers didn't do as I wanted, there was a bit of wave in her hair, but that was about it. I wanted some big curls, but that was not to be; the humidity didn't help any either. The shirt I put her in was a bit on the wrinkled side, there was no time to iron... not that I ever do anyway. She had to be at school at 9am on picture day. We're used to taking her to school in the afternoon, so this was no small feat... and we were late, of course, the teacher even called to make sure Caitie was going to be there. When picking Caitie up after school, I noticed that her once tucked-in shirt was untucked, and her hair was flat. At least her class was one of the first to get their pictures taken, so hopefully she looked decent for the pics; this included a student pic and a class pic.

What did I learn last week, you ask? You did ask, right? Here is a list of what I learned.

I learned...

-- I really do have a serious problem being ANYWHERE on time... it doesn't matter where I'm going or why, I WILL be late. I don't want Caitie to think it's okay to be late, so this HAS TO CHANGE.

-- Caitie has a boyfriend already. I was dropping her off at her classroom last Tuesday, and when we arrived a little blonde-haired boy came running up and said hi to Caitie; as Caitie was putting her backpack in her cubby hole, it fell, the little boy picked it up for her and put it in her cubby hole. I was wishing I had my Flip Recorder; it was such a sweet moment. Caitie hasn't stopped talking about him since. His name is Jackson. She REALLY LIKES HIM.

-- Caitie's teacher and her assistant really like Caitie; they both have told me how good she is and how well she gets along with both boys and girls when playing. This was good to hear.

-- Caitie is good at caring and sharing. She was telling me about how she and two other girls were putting puzzle pieces together when one of the girls, named Victoria, took a puzzle piece from the other girl, Alderina (not sure about the spelling), which upset Alderina, and to calm the situation, Caitie gave Alderina one of her puzzle pieces. I told her that was a nice thing to do.

-- I like to receive drawings/paintings Caitie makes for me while at school. I was told to pick Caitie up at her classroom instead of outside on Friday, they had a short day, and when I got there, Caitie ran to me, she was excited about showing me a picture she drew for me in class that day, she had also written "I love you, Mama" (she wrote it without the comma, and wrote it in all caps, as children do. ) on it. So sweet. Caitie painted a picture for me as well; her teacher put her class projects in her backpack today, so I finally got to see it.

-- Caitie's class had to change classrooms. Her teacher found this out on Thursday and had to start moving things to the new room on Friday. Talk about short notice. The need to change classrooms is because there was a fifth first grade class added, and they want to keep all the first grade classes close together, this meant moving Pre-K out of the building they were in and into another one, which consists of the band room, gym, stage, and cafeteria. They got the band room, the band has class on stage now. The band room is quite a bit bigger than the classroom she was in, but it's lacking windows, except for the one in the door, and one other window that leads to another area that isn't being used and stays dark, so the new room isn't as bright as her other room was. Her class took a 'field trip', as the teacher called it, on Friday to explore their new room; Caitie really likes it and was excited about going there today. She likes the new room.

-- Caitie's pickup spot has changed due to moving to the new room. We now pick her up at the front of school instead of the back of the playground. It looks just as chaotic, if not more so, than the place we've been picking her up at. I don't think there's any way to avoid this.

Here are some pics from last week...

I got a pic of Caitie and Bailey after Caitie's shower on Sunday night; I was getting her ready for picture day on Monday.



She's not too happy about having to wear big pink foam curlers to bed.



I took this pic on Monday morning before heading to school for picture day; she has a bit of wave in her hair and her shirt is tucked in.



I took this pic when picking her up from school on Monday; her hair was flat and her shirt was untucked. I'm hoping this is how she looked after her school pics were taken, not before.

I took this pic one day last week after picking Caitie up from school. Look how long her eyelashes are.

Caitie had been asking almost every day after school if she could get a strawberry donut at Dunkin' Donuts; we finally gave in.

I took this pic when picking her up from school last Friday; it was a short day. She's holding the pic she drew for me. I took this pic at the front of the school; I had been wanting to get a pic of her in front of the school, which I did, but the school bus was in the way. I kept waiting for the bus to move, but it just kept sitting there, so I finally decided to take the pics anyway; it makes for a nice background.

...

It's 'Prime' Time, Baby

Primary Election time, that is. We always vote in the General Election, but this was our first time voting in a Primary Election. This was Bailey's first voting experience; Caitie was in school when we went to vote.

Here we are at our local Fire Station, ready to vote in the Primary Election. We almost forgot to do so until we saw the voting signs at Caitie's school when dropping her off today. There wasn't much of a turn-out, but there usually isn't in the Primary Election, but I'm sure there will be in the General Election come November. As I mentioned above, Bailey had her first voting experience... well, sort of. She got to go in the voting area while we voted, and as you know, I had to get a pic or two of her, but I wasn't able to get one as I did Caitie a few years ago; I took a pic of Caitie in the voting area, but almost got my camera taken away, since then, I get pics outside the voting place. This isn't a very good pic due to Michael and Bailey being in a dark spot, but I had to make sure Bailey was in the shade when getting this pic; it was around 115 degrees out at the time. Have I ever mentioned how I detest the weather this time of year... the hot part, anyway. I like the monsoon season, but where's the dang rain?!? It seems to be all around us, but never heads our way.



I took more pics of Bailey when we got home from the voting place, she's still in her car seat.



"Did you vote today? I like voting day."

"Look at my stickers. I don't know what they say or what they mean, but aren't they pretty?"

"You're voting Republican come November, right?" *wink*



I couldn't resist getting this pic... such cute little feet.

...

5 - 1 = 4 day school week

I avoided going to crowded places when I was pregnant with Bailey, such places like Peter Piper Pizza, which Caitie loves, the park, which Caitie loves, restaurants, which we all love, the zoo, which we all love, and even avoided the movie theater up until Father's Day, when I finally gave in and went to the movies as part of Michael's Father's Day celebration. My only request was that we went to a movie that had been out a while and a late showing so there wouldn't be many people in the theater; we ended up going to three movies in a month's time since it worked out so well. Another thing I avoided during that time was getting Caitie signed up for any type of class or activity where she would be around a lot of kids that could be potential germ carriers; I tried my best to stay away from crowds, especially those with a lot of kids, due to the h1n1 virus, and any other type of flu strain, colds, etc. Now Bailey's here, and it's time for school to start, so I decided to go ahead and sign Caitie up for Preschool/Pre-K, not thinking about her getting sick anytime soon... well, she is now sick. It's the first week of school, and she has a fever of 102, her nose is running, she's been coughing a bit, and she's really tired. If anyone questioned why I was so cautious while I was pregnant with Bailey, now you know why. I still can't believe Caitie has already come down with something so soon after starting school.

When I dropped her off at school today, the teacher asked me about putting sunscreen on her, she said Caitie gets really red during recess, not just on her face, but all over, and was wanting to make sure I put sunscreen on her. I asked Caitie if their outside play area was covered and in the shade, she said it was, so I wasn't concerned about her getting sunburned, but the teacher went on about how red she got; I didn't want to get into a major discussion about it, so I told her I planned to put sunscreen on her before taking her to school. What I didn't understand is why her getting red meant she needs sunscreen, she was red due to being hot, not being in the sun. Now I think I know why she got so red, the obvious reason was due to the heat, but I think she became more flushed, and not just on her face, but all over, because she was getting sick. I'll be keeping her at home tomorrow; she's already missing a day of school, poor thing. Hopefully she'll be fully recovered by Monday, that's picture day. The teacher asked me to bring her in the morning instead of the afternoon on Monday so she wouldn't miss out on the class picture, she didn't want her to feel left out. Hopefully she won't miss out on much tomorrow.

Here is a pic from today. I took this pic when picking her up after school, we were walking to the SUV. She was wearing one of her class projects from today, a name tag necklace, it's made with yarn, cereal and a paper name tag; it's now hanging in her room. This is the only project I've seen so far that they've done this week; the other projects would have been put in her backpack tomorrow, but since she won't be there, we'll have to wait until Monday, or possibly next Friday, to see them.







...

She gets an A+

It's her first day of school - Caitie started school today... Preschool/Pre-K, whatever you want to call it. She goes in the afternoons, that's the only opening they had left. As I do most things, I procrastinated in getting her signed up for school. I waited until the last day, the last hour, even the last minute, really, to get her registered. She was signed up last Friday afternoon not long before the administration office closed and she started school today. Here are a few pics... (the pic on the left is of Caitie's name tag and my visitor's pass sticker; all parents entering the school grounds has to get clearance by the front office.)

As I'm late for most, if not all, things, we were late for her first day of school. We probably would have been on time if it hadn't been for me wanting to get a 'first day of school' pic or two before leaving the house. Here she is at the front door, we were already late at this point, but I was determined to get the shot; I knew I would have regretted it later if I hadn't. This isn't the best pic, I didn't have time to plan it and get the best settings, etc., but at least I got a pic.



Here we are at school, outside her classroom. She has her 'Cars' backpack on; we got it for her a year or so ago, not for school, but because she thought it was neat and asked if she could have it. The kids need a backpack so they can carry their 'paperwork', or 'art', home each Friday. Why they have to take it to school and bring it home each day is beyond me, it would make more sense to just take it on Friday when it's needed.

Caitie did really well until she saw a little boy crying hysterically for his parents. They had just dropped him off and he was pretty upset about them leaving him behind. Caitie saw this and was on the verge of tears at this point, but I told her it was okay and that we would be back to get her in a couple of hours, and then I said to have fun, and maybe help the little boy out if she could. She seemed okay after the little 'pep talk'. Everything went smoothly after that. I stayed with her a few minutes to make sure she would be all right, I was able to get a few more pics due to this.

Here she is with her teacher, she was putting Caitie's name tag on. The teacher had all of Caitie's things, an apple in a tree, a cubby hole for her backpack, etc., marked with the name Caitlin, when I told her she's used to going by Caitie instead of Caitlin, the teacher said she would change all the name tags and stickers to Caitie; I told her Caitlin was okay, but she insisted on changing all of them.

Caitie is getting used to the classroom.

I took this one from the other side of the classroom door; it was open, but I was real quiet, so she didn't know I got this pic. The teacher was rounding up the kids to sit in a circle so she could introduce everyone to each other. Some of the kids are missing here due to bathroom breaks; I don't think I've ever seen so many kids in need of a bathroom break. I left soon after I took this pic.

We went to pick her up 2.5 hours later; I could not believe the traffic! It was like the whole neighborhood had shown up at the school, there were LOTS of cars parked everywhere possible; Michael dropped me off and he and Bailey just drove around while I went to get Caitie. Her class goes to a gated area on the school grounds when it's pickup time. When I got there, Caitie got a big smile on her face (this was nice to see) and ran to me, I then started running towards her to give her a big hug, but as we were doing this, the teacher's assistant grabbed Caitie and said no running near the street, which I understood, I then felt a little embarrassed about letting the 'running' happen. It's good they keep an eye on the children, especially near a busy street. In the pic below, the sun was bright, so Caitie shielded her eyes. I took pics of her first day of school experience, from the beginning until she was let out.

We were going to go for ice cream, but Caitie was really thirsty, so we got her an icee at the convenience store; a nice after school treat. As you can see, Bailey was sleeping in her car seat. Caitie enjoyed her first day of school and can't wait to go back. I would say all in all, it was an A+ day.

...

F is for Frustration

It's been one of those days, or years, is more like it. I'm frustrated. I may have to homeschool Caitie during what I considered to be her year for Kindergarten. All the schools I've gotten in touch with does not accept any children that are four years of age before August 30, but will soon turn five not too long after, there are no exceptions. I plan on putting her in Pre-K, or what is better known as advanced Preschool, but that will only be for a couple of hours each weekday, which doesn't amount to much, but at least it's something. As I mentioned above, I can homeschool her this year at the Kindergarten level, but I've tried being a 'teacher', and let me tell you, I don't like it! I'm not patient enough, I'm critical, and it's just not something I'm interested in doing, not with a four-year-old that would rather be playing 'dog', anyway. But we'll see how it goes, I guess. As I'm writing this, I'm having to ask Caitie for probably the 35th time to please finish writing her small case alphabet letters, she's just not interested. She does pretty good with the upper case letters, but not the small ones so much. I need to make it more fun, and I need to lighten up, I guess, but I'm concerned if I make light of it, she will too, and that's not in her best interest. I become more frustrated when she sees me as enemy #1, and she sees her daddy as her best play buddy. I'm the main disciplinarian (i guess i should say i'm the only disciplinarian since she has her daddy wrapped around her little finger), I'm the mean teacher, and with that combination (not to mention my not being able to hold her and do the things we did before I got pregnant, and her having to be careful around me for the last nine months), one would think I'm becoming the next 'mommy dearest'; Joan Crawford has nothing on me. But I have to keep at it... someone has to, and it may as well be me. Have I pitied myself enough yet? nahhh... Not even close, but I won't go on about it here... I'll just post a pic of me and Caitie on a day when I wasn't considered enemy #1, even if it was only for a short while.

This pic was done by self-timer, it was taken back in May when I was around seven months pregnant with Bailey. It's dark, grainy, and not well focused, kind of like my ability at being a so-called 'teacher'... blah, blah, blah... (i wonder if my hormones are getting back to normal yet? it seems i may have a ways to go.)...





...
..

From Hospital to Home and so on

I went into the hospital on Friday, July 30, and came home Monday, August 2, with a new baby girl in my arms, she is our sweet Bailey Lynn. I gave her stats in the previous post. I'm surprised she weighed only 7 lbs - 7 oz, I was quite large when carrying her; some people commented that I looked like I would give birth any moment, and this was at five months, to saying they thought I was carrying twins. From what Michael told me, a majority of the reason I was large was due to so much fluid. I had a C-Section, and when the doctor went to break my water, it sprayed out all over her and the assistants; they were a bit surprised, and wet, to say the least. Why did Michael have to tell me this, you ask? Well, here's the thing... I panicked again. Yes, again. I was so frustrated. I did the same thing when I had Caitie and didn't get to hold her as soon as she was born, Michael got that honor, as he did this time as well. I had to be put out once again due to being a crazed lunatic; there's something about going numb from the waist down, this was from the spinal block, and then being restrained by being told to put my arms out to the side, and then having them strapped down, that causes me to panick, and pretty much embarrass myself (this isn't hard to do, so that was no big deal, really). I'm somewhat claustrophobic, which means being afraid of small spaces. That's kinda how it felt... like being trapped in a small space without much air... it feels like the walls are closing in on you and you can't breathe... so a nurse gave me a syringe filled with feel-good, put-you-out, make-you-miss-experiencing-the-baby-being-born, wake-up-when-the-excitement-is-over, kinda medicine. The first part wasn't so bad, the 'feel-good' part, but the rest was a bummer. The rest of the stay wasn't so bad, except for the day of discharge... I got 'Nurse Ratched' again! I couldn't believe it; I had the same discharge nurse when I had Caitie. She's the nurse from... well, you know... Anyway, this is for another post. Below are a few pics of our Bailey Lynn...

Michael took these first two pics. He got Caitie holding her new little sister Bailey not too long after she was born. I think pretty much everybody got to hold Bailey before I did; and so it was when I had Caitie as well.



Michael took this pic shortly after I breastfed Bailey for the first time; this was taken in our private room. As you can see, I'm pretty much naked in the background there. (too much info, maybe?)



I took the pics below.

We took Bailey to her newborn ckeck-up last Friday. I didn't get a pic of Caitie with him, I wasn't as much into photography then, so decided to get a pic of the doc with both my girls this time. You can see how excited Caitie is about it. (the lighting was terrible.)



I took some pics of Bailey while she was napping. I like this 'soft' shot.

I put her in more light for this shot.

I then got some pics of both my girls. It's not as easy as it looks since Bailey isn't holding her head up yet. Caitie did a good job of holding Bailey's head up though.

Caitie's kissing Bailey's head. Yes, I taped a bow to Bailey's head; don't worry, I just used a little scotch tape. It didn't hurt her a bit when I took it off, unlike my horror story of when a dr's assistant ripped off the tape from the bandage on my lower stomach the day after I had the C-section. I asked her to stop because it hurt so much, but she continued saying it was best to rip it off fast. I am now using Bacitracin to help heal the large scab that is there now. When other dr's assistants and nurses saw it, they gasped and forgot they were there to check my C-Section incision, they would just look and ask what happened. Now that I think about it, I think I'll add her to the 'not so pleasant' part of my stay in the hospital, right along with Nurse Ratched (the nurse from the movie 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest', in case you're wondering).

I enjoyed taking these pics, especially this one, I like how they're looking at each other. It looks like Bailey's eyes are closed, but they're not, she's looking at Caitie.
...

I took more pics of them together using one of Caitie's quilts from her grandma; her grandma made Bailey some quilts too, but I haven't got their picture with those quilts yet. In the pics above of the two of them, and the pics below, Bailey is wearing outfits her nana got for her. Yes, I taped a bow in Bailey's hair again.



I like how they're looking at each other in this pic.
...

It looks like Caitie has her sister in a choke hold position, but I assure you, she's just trying to keep Bailey's head up.




Tidbits of info you may want to read, or not...

- I changed the white balance on the last set of pics of the girls... comparing them to the girls' pics above, you can see quite a bit of difference; I like the latter pics better due to this.

...

- When I was weighed last, which was a few days before delivery, I weighed 142, I now weigh 116. Talk about a lot of fluid gain! When calculating it... 7 lbs - 7 oz was Bailey, most of the other remaining pounds must have been fluid gain, which amounts to around 20 lbs. (there was the placenta too, of course. too much info, maybe? i'm good at giving too much info.) My pre-pregnancy weight was 112, so I have to lose the extra four pounds by watching what I eat... can I do it? We shall see.


~~~---~~~ ~~~---~~~ ~~~---~~~ ~~~---~~~

...

Welcome to the world, my sweet baby girl

Bailey Lynn was born on Friday, July 30, 2010 at 10:57 AM. She weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces and was 20" in length. Here are a few pics Michael took with his Droid Incredible phone. He took these pics while I was recovering in the hospital, they were taken in our private room. More pics will be displayed in a follow-up post.

...