School Pics

I know all kids are funny and quirky, but man, it just takes you by surprise some of the stuff that comes out of my kids' mouths.  And the messes...was I really such a mess when I was little or are my kids abnormal?  The kicker is when they get upset over something being dirty...like Matalley having a hissy fit over Grayson rolling over her shirt (thereby getting it dirty) but it was on the FLOOR!!!  I am such an unsympathetic Mom too, so my response is, "well, it was already dirty because it was on the FLOOR!!"

At dinner, Grayson starts talking about finding a ball LAST YEAR on the recess courts at school after Kindergarten had gone back in.  They ended up keeping it in the first grade equipment bag and so they had 2 basketballs all year (he was explaining his frustration that 2nd grade only has one basketball this year).  After 10 minutes of talking about it, Matalley gets this ah-ha look on her face and says, "You need to return that to kindergarten right now!  That's not fair!"

Lola is exercising her two-ness which makes me nervous for three (let's face it, 3 is so much worse than 2 as far as independence and general rebellion...don't even want to think about middle school at this point).  She says no to almost everything.  "I don't want to" or a little shake of her head while smiling.  She also has the fake cry down now.  It makes my days so much longer.  The simplest of tasks, like brushing my teeth or making a glass of tea take at least 10 minutes instead of 1 or 2 just because of the interruptions.  I know I will miss this time when it is gone but it just wears me down right now.

Kindergarten homework is CRAZY.  In addition to reading a book to me every night, there are sight words, a book log with questions about characters and settings (for separate books), writing a sentence or number review or something about the day and reviews over families of words.  In addition, once a month, Matalley is student of the day and gets to bring Jojo the class monkey home with her.  Jojo keeps a journal in which Matalley prefers to be the hand-writer...writing an entire day takes a LONG time.  Grayson had just as much in kindergarten, but he was more independent than Matalley and was an avid reader (LOVING the books meant it didn't require as much time for me to sit and listen).  Matalley prefers the art projects and so spends her independent time coloring in the pictures to go along with the book reviews and such (not a part of the homework, but what she would rather do with the homework:).  The rest of the time she wants me right by her side answering questions or sounding out words (words she already knows but she likes to practice enunciating the sound of each letter before saying the word).  I am ready for Christmas break!!

Matt and I got a date night last week. We try to eat lunch at least once a week together but a date night with a babysitter is rare...I think the last one was for our anniversary (a month late) in August.  So for this month's date night, we had dinner and tickets to see "Ballroom with a Twist."I love this man...such a good match for me.  Date nights are really good reminders of how much fun we have together.

At 30 weeks, I'm feeling pretty good.  I've gained less than 25 pounds which is better than previous pregnancies (I think; we'll see what the next 10 weeks brings...I know I gained 50 with Grayson by the end and it took forever to lose), thanks in part to working out 5 days a week- twice with a trainer and then zumba or a cardio workout the other three days.  My goal is to be back in my normal size jeans by 4 months instead of at 10 months. Since this is the last pregnancy, I hope the incentive of getting rid of my bigger stuff, instead of saving it for the next go around, will help.  I still get the random touches to my belly (which is just weird to me...I have no desire to touch someone else's stomach) and some people say I look big and others say I look small, for whatever that is worth.  I just want to look like I'm not exhausted and with 3 littles running around and middle of the night bad dreams or wandering Lolas (she likes to look around at night), that wish is probably not going to come true.  Matalley told me that she couldn't tell me her prayer or it wouldn't come true.  I said, "that's just for wishes, prayers are okay to say out loud."  And then she said, "well, I pray you would be nice."  Gut check...I am quite cranky when tired so I will have to do better.

The girls took their dolls to church in matching dresses on Sunday.  They were both very proud of their dolls and had cute smiles for the morning.  It's hard for me to see the toddler clothes on Lola when I can picture Matalley in them so vividly...was she really just 2 when we moved into this house?  The baby clothes I can't remember as well so it didn't affect me (and maybe pregnancy hormones have something to do with it) but it just makes me a little sad to see my baby wearing my other baby's things:)

Then I look at their school pictures from this year and get sad all over again;)

I've been able to write so much today because Lola put herself down for a nap (shoes on) while I was in the shower.  I came out to find her asleep in bed and though we were going to run errands, I'll just have to do those tomorrow.  She cracks me up.