First Day of School

Aren't they cuties? They were up a bit before me this morning, as was Wyatt, and by the time I got out of bed at 8 o'clock, the girls were fed and dressed, with beds made and teeth brushed. You see, we have new morning and evening routines and the girls are both enjoying the order of it all. It was a great start to our first day of school.

We did some sticker decorating for our photo signs, and then neither girl wanted their picture taken. Go figure. Instead, we did circle time with a few finger play songs and poems, a discussion about the weather (sunny and clear), a brief bio of a saint, and a couple of picture books. That was plenty for their attention spans. Anastasia seemed particularly out of sorts and fussy. Her tears made her nose run and I realized that she must be catching the cold Jameson has. This has since been confirmed.

Before the day got too hairy with two sick littles, we did manage to bake some strawberry shortcake as the girls had requested it to celebrate the beginning of school. I used the eating time to slip in a little lesson about the beginning of the church and school new year.

Lunch was uneventful though Anastasia didn't eat much at all. Rest time followed quick on the heels of the meal.

About two weeks ago I finally cracked down on rest time. We have a two bedroom home so it can get tricky for everyone to have their own space. The way it currently is working, E gets my bedroom, A gets the girls' room, ad Jamie is in the living room with me. Most days Anastasia is managing to put herself to sleep. Most days it takes her an hour or so before she actually falls asleep, and usually she comes out of the room or stands at the doorway talking until I help her back to bed and finally to sleep. Most days, E starts using a stage whisper about an hour into rest time to update me on the time every five minutes. Most days I don't feel very well rested due to my efforts to help the kids rest. I think the routine is getting better just in the past couple of weeks, with the girls learning what is expected of them, so I have hope that it will continue to improve.

My parents stopped by for a bit at the end of rest time with a few little things for the girls, and I used the opportunity to pass the baby off so that I could chop some veggies for dinner. The girls requested spaghetti and meatballs for their Start of School dinner. E would just eat noodles and meatballs if she could choose, but she will eat some sauce if it is blended to hide the vegetables that I put in it. I can't eat much in the way of gains so I try to throw as much veg into the sauce as possible since I eat mainly sauce and meatballs. I ended up with a thick sauce and she did eat some, with only moderate complaint, after I told her it was basically a vegetable smoothy. Success!

By the end of the day, it was TV time for the girls while we waited for Wyatt. I was fried, mostly due to having the baby on me or in arms all day, I think, as well as the extra fussing from Anastasia. Wyatt worked our least favorite shift today and was gone from 8-8, and we all missed him. Usually we have either morning or evening with him. The girls went to sleep relatively easily, the boy is getting a good stretch of sleep as I type, I got a shower, and we are all snugabug in bed earlier than usual. 

It wasn't quite the day I expected, with two sick babies, but it was a good day, and the girls sound excited about trying this school things again tomorrow.