We live about 2 miles from the middle school that M&M will be attending this year. Unfortunately, the cut-off for bus rider eligibility is also 2 miles and according to the school we are about 2 houses inside of that 2 mile boundary. So we have been discussing on and off how M&M would get to and from school and if we could possibly work out some carpooling with some other neighbors. Then last week M&M got her school schedule in the mail and included with it was a schedule of the bus route along with a little orange laminated piece of paper attached to it that had M&M's name and the bus number on it. There was no other explanation beyond that. Also included with her schedule was a paper that said if you want to find out if you qualify for the bus, go to a certain website and enter in your street address and the website will let you know where the bus stops are. If you don't qualify, the website will not give you any bus info. When we go to the website it indicates that we do not qualify for a bus.
I then ran into a neighbor that has some older kids a day or two later and asked her about the buses for the middle school. She said that the little orange piece of paper we got in the mail is a ticket to ride the bus and that they must have had some extra spaces on the bus that they gave out to those that live near the 2-mile boundary. This neighbor said that her kids also don't normally qualify for the bus but this year they also received a bus ticket. So we are excited that that is one less thing that I will have to work into my schedule this year! Also the daughter of my friend that I was looking at carpooling with also received a bus ticket for this year so M&M will have a couple of her friends on the bus with her.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Unexpected blessing
Delirious
Apparently I am suffering from a lack of sleep. Surprised??? One morning just over a week ago I had one of the most vivid dreams that I have ever had. It took me a couple of minutes to really convince myself that it hadn't really happened. This is how it went:
That morning Luke and Blondie were up getting ready for school and were being very noisy. Kitty was also up with them. I was in bed with the baby trying to get a few extra minutes of sleep and DH was getting ready for work. M&M and Kay were also still sleeping. DH and I both told them to be quiet and they listened for a few minutes. Then after DH left for work, I could hear them getting noisy again down in the family room. So I went downstairs and told them that they had to turn off the Wii and finish getting ready for school. I then went back to bed and I drifted off to sleep again. When I woke up I remembered that I was really mad at Luke and Blondie because they had missed the bus again because of all of their goofing off that morning. I had gotten up out of bed and told them to start walking to school and I would be along in about 10 minutes in the car to pick them up and drive them the rest of the way to school.
Well, now it was after 9:00 (school starts at 9) and I couldn't remember if Luke and Blondie had really missed the bus or if that was just a dream that I had had. I sat there for a few minutes really wondering if I had sent my kids off walking to school. I went into the next room where Kitty was playing and asked her if Luke and Blondie had missed the bus. She was a little confused by the question and finally answered that no, they had not missed the bus. Then when I thought a little longer I remembered hearing the kids leave for the bus stop because I was a little annoyed that we hadn't said a family prayer together before they left. That was definitely a weird experience for me...
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Stay-at-home moms
This is an article that one of my friends sent to me. I loved it and thought that I should post it to my blog. This was printed in the Washington Post back in May of 2007 in a feature by Carolyn Hax. If you click on it it will bring up a bigger copy.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Baby hair
One more picture that I forgot to post:
This is a picture of MJ's hair on the day she was born. She has very dark brown, almost black hair. All of our kids have been born with dark hair, but we think that hers is a little darker than the others and she seems to have a little more of it. We will have to see if it falls out like the other kids' did and then we will have to see what color it ends up being...
Family Reunion
So the week that MJ was born was the same week that my family had their family reunion planned for. I was hoping that MJ would be about 2 weeks old by the time the reunion came around, not 2 days old... Because of that, DH ended up attending a lot of the reunion with the older kids and without me.
Wednesday evening they went to a reunion at a park for my mom's extended family. Then on Thursday my parents took the oldest 4 kids swimming with their cousins and then DH took Kay over to my parents' house for dinner and then they all tie-dyed T-shirts. Friday for the reunion they went to Mirror Lake in the Uintahs for a picnic lunch and a hike. I met up with them at my parents' for dinner and a family talent show. On Saturday we met up at my parents' for lunch, a few outdoor activities and then a family picture. The only family members missing from the picture (and reunion) this year were my oldest sister and her four kids. We definitely missed them! M&M especially had a lot of fun playing with my sister's kids when we saw them last summer. Then on Sunday we met up after church for dinner at my parents' again. All in all it was a lot of work for my husband to take the kids and keep track of 5 of them on his own! I'm grateful that he was willing to do it. This is the third family get-together that my family has had in recent years where I had a newborn! Hopefully for the next reunion I will be able to help out and participate more...
Here are some pictures from the reunion:
Thanks everyone for the fun memories!
Skateboard
M&M received a clipboard for her birthday and not too long after opening it Kay had taken it, put it on the floor and was standing on it. I asked her what she was doing and she said that she was riding the skateboard. Then she picked it up, turned it over and asked where the wheels were!
M&M turns the big 1-2
M&M has reached the next milestone in our church - turning 12 and joining Young Women's! I can't believe that I have a daughter in YW already - I'm starting to feel old! Her birthday was the last day of YW camp so they let her go this year. She went to a church camp in Tremonton with the ward from July 26th-July 30th and she had a blast! They went to a ropes course offered at Utah State and even though it was very hard and challenging, she was able to do it. She is the 17th Beehive in our ward and a couple of them are her close friends that are just a month or two older than her. I'm glad that she was able to go to camp this year and I heard lots of compliments from leaders and other girls in the ward about M&M at camp. Now M&M gets to go to the weekly youth activities as well as youth firesides. Things are gradually going to get busier here for our family!
More baby pics
While MJ is sleeping here on my chest, I will try and put up a few more pictures of her first few weeks of life:
One day old - check out those cheeks! Unfortunately she lost most of that chubbiness after a few days. Once again I have struggled with having enough of a milk supply for my baby - I went through the same thing with Kitty and Kay. My midwife thinks it may have to do with the fact that MJ has a small mouth and so she is having a hard time effectively nursing. So unfortunately I am currently having to supplement her again in-between nursing her to get enough food in her system. She will most likely be back up to her birth weight by the end of the week. She seems to be hungry all of the time which is why I haven't been able to do much blogging since she was born.
MJ is a very impatient baby and gets herself very worked up if she isn't fed immediately when she wants to be. She gets to the point where she causes herself to gag on her own spit because she gets so worked up. MJ also startles very easily and will almost always wake up as soon as she is set down and she hates having her diaper changed. Whenever she is laid down her arms immediately fling out to either side and she startles herself. The last two days she has finally seemed to hit a more content faze and we hope she stays this way - otherwise I will be staying very close to home for the next few weeks.
Perspective
It's amazing how huge and heavy your two-year-old appears after having a newborn!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Productive day... finally!
My biggest problem lately is being able to get anything done during the day. MJ (who is 3 weeks old today) just seems to want to eat all of the time and she startles very easily - which means that I very rarely am able to put her down and have her stay asleep. Lately I have taken to carrying her around in a sling so that I can at least get something done while she is sleeping.
Today I was actually able to get a few things done besides feeding and holding MJ all day. MJ slept for 5 hours straight last night, I made a lunch for DH before he left for work, I showered before the kids left for school this morning (at 8:30 a.m.), Kay and MJ both took naps at the same time, I was able to put MJ down and have her stay asleep for about an hour, I cleaned two bathrooms, took out some trash, and was able to tidy up the kitchen a little. Also today, M&M swept and mopped the kitchen and then she baked some awesome chocolate chip cookies without any help from me! It's nice having her at home to help out. I will be sad when she starts school at the end of the month.
