Back to School

Well the girls have been back in school for 13 days now...not that I'm counting! Both, LOVE it! Maybe not so much the work, but the new clothes, backpack, lunch boxes, folders, school lunches (gross), and most of all...their friends!

Elizabeth FINALLY got excited for the start of school! OMG...second grade!! The Friday before school we found out who her teacher was. She got the teacher she really wanted so I was very happy for her. She has about half her friends in her class, but she can at least see and play with them at recess.

I got a little nervous at back to school night. They expect so much out of them in the second grade. Honestly, waaaaay back when I was in the second grade, I think we were still coloring by numbers.

First and Second grades, the school day is broken up into Early and Late Birds. Early Birds are for the less strong readers while your Late Birds are your more experienced readers. I was bummed. She placed as an Early Bird again. We worked hard this summer going to the library, reading regularly at night. I know she is young. While most of her classmates are, and have been for sometime, 7...she will be 7 toward the end of October. I did start her early, so I know that plays a hand in it.

I admit, I am an over achiever and I expect the same with Elizabeth. She, not so much. So, most of our nights doing homework end up in all around tears. I don't know how to be stern with her, and get her to understand the importance of completely understanding her work without tears and major frustration on both our parts. Oh well.

First pic - day 1 of homework, the next two - day 2

Meghan seems to like school to. She is going to preschool this year. It is the same one that she started when she turned 3 in March. Finally, she is getting on her schedule where she is not completely falling apart in the morning when we wake her up. Because she goes to this special education preschool, and she has to have her rescue seizure medication on hand, she gets picked up and dropped off everyday by bus. yes, a little yellow bus again! She is one of the first kiddos to get picked up, so she leaves at 7:20 AM!!! So much for overly using the snooze button! She is home usually by 11:10 or so!

Matt and I went to her back to school night as well. She has The.Best.Teacher.EVER!!! She wanted us to bring Meghan and Elizabeth for that fact with us at back to school night. Obviously her back to school night is not as formal as Elizabeth's was, but I was like, seriously! She really loves the kids. Really loves them which is so amazing to know as a mom.

Meghan is one of four kids in her class. She is the only girl!! Ms. Marilu, her amazing tearcher, shared with us that she loves to play teacher when she is there. She grabs the teacher stick and will point to the different pictures on the wall demanding the attention of the others. She even goes up to the kids and will use her sign language for them to sit down. Hmm...little miss bossy, wonder where she gets that from!!

I wasn't able to get a pic of Meghan getting on the bus, but there she is driving off to school!

Wishing everyone a happy beggining to school! 

25 Things You Might Not Know About Me

Hi Folks!!

I stole this idea from an awesome gal and blogger that I follow! I tried to keep it fun and interesting. All is 100% true!! Some might be TMI, but oh well, for those who know me anyway, I always naturally find myself in TMI territory!

1. I was in a Nascar commercial (still have the VCR tape of my 15 milliseconds of fame).
2. When I was in 6th grade, I had Bells Palsy and for 9 months, the whole right side of my face was paralyzed (no, I do not have pictures).
3. I was .01 away from graduating college with top honors (funny now, they have changed the scale and I would NOW be able to walk Summa Cum Laude).
4. On a less spectacular academic note, one of my high school freshman progress report cards came home with a stellar GPA of 0.76 out of 4.0.
5. I used to play the Clarinet (but Bells Palsy put a stop to that. Maybe I shoulda switched to the flute...oh well).
6. I worked at Burger King for 11 years. 11 years of fast food folks!! I still have nightmares dreams weekly about The King.
7. I have a sick fascination with weather. On first encounters of meeting new people, if I give a weather update, they really think I'm a meteorologist. Ha, no, just an insurance girl!
8. On one of my many days of working drive thru at Burger King, some man walked up to my window and tried to give me his baby. Well at first I said no, I can't take his baby. Then I got scared and another coworker of mine went after him for fear of the little baby's life. In the end, the cops came, took the baby, arrested him, and the baby was reunited with her momma!
9. I am terrified Terrified TERRIFIED of fire! I can't even light a match.
10. My only ticket I have gotten was due to running a red light (stupid cop).
11. I came to the conclusion that it was time to leave my 4 year junior college stint one evening when my economics teacher asked me to dance with him at a club !
12. My husband...Matt, was first, my oldest sister's nephew (perfectly legal folks. Perfectly legal CA law abiding here).
13. I have blown a total of 5 tires due to either hitting potholes or running over curbs. None of them were my fault tho...mom! One of the said curb incidences was because a spider was on my windshield and I was trying to decipher if it was on the inside or outside. As I was working on that task, the car swerved and bam, there goes my tire. See mom, spiders fault. Oh, the spider was actually on the outside and got away.
14. I have mastered Zumba!! Well, maybe with some unintentional solo's. But if you remember what happened last year and my experience with Zumba, Zumba Fail, this is a phenomenal achievement!
15. I will always be a mom first to my kids over being their friend first (wow...that was deep wasn't it)!
16. I <3 reading.
17. I have bunions on both my feet. I have ingeniously named them Paul and Babe.
18. Since I happened on the foot subject, my second toe is abnormally long. It gets very annoying because I either I hit it on random things or it has a tendency to hang out over the top of some sandals. Thanks to both Paul and Babe AND my freakishly long toe, I have to wear shoe a half size bigger to accommodate my feet (no, there will not be picture posting of this).
19. When I was 4, my favorite movie of all time was Amityville Horror. Don't judge people. I turned out just fine!
20. I am a very very very impatient person (well maybe most of you already knew this).
21. When I was little, probably 4 years old again, I looked exactly like the little girl in Poltergeist. Once again, don't judge people!!
22. I do, and will always, censor the movies my kids watch (even tho I turned out fine, I don't think children need, or should be, exposed to a lot of movie material that is out there).
23. I still count on my fingers!
24. I was once on a first name basis with our old UPS man. Steve was an awesome person! We had many a meetings out at my car so I could secretly intercept the package, place it in my vehicle until Matt took a shower, then I would sneak it in. Because of these shenanigan's I can spot the break sound of the UPS truck a mile away!
25. And Finally...I used to always count how long it would take me to pee (chew on that for a last fact folks).

Have a great weekend all!!

Hugs,
Kerri

Sleep Troubles

Nights have been so bad lately for Meghan, which obviously affects us too. Ah, what I would give for a solid, undisturbed night of sleep. Someday hopefully, one can only dream :)

This is, and has been Meghan's sleep pattern for about a month consistently now. She goes to be at 9:30, no later usually. She will typically wake up between 12:30 and 1:45. She gets up, opens her door and stands at her gate. Matt and I get up, put her to bed and she goes back to sleep. Then, anywhere usually in the 3:00 hour, she gets up and does the same thing. However, this time when we put her to bed, she will act very fractious. She will, whine, flip over and just wring her hands. We attempt to settle her down then head off back to bed. At this time she will continue to get up over and over again. We can put her back down anywhere from 5 to 15 times and she just wont settle down. She will outlast us by over 3 hours. So...skip this part if you are a serious hardcore parent that wont give in to your children...we bring her to bed with us. Actually, she comes to bed with me and Matt goes into her bed.

I am not against co-sleeping. I did with both the girls the first few months after they were born. I know how easy it is to instill bad habits by giving in to their demands. But, we have to function. We have to get up everyday and go to work, take care of the house, take care of the kids, grocery shop, pay bills, yadda yadda yadda, and when you average 4 hours a night over a long period of time, something needs to give.

Last week I was constantly emailing Meghan's Neuro. In July when she went in for her last appointment, we told him that she gets up through the night (but she always went back to sleep). He suggested giving her some sleep medicine. I disagreed. The poor girl is on so much medication as it was, I couldn't do that to her. So, last week, I emailed him..."I need you to call Meghan in some sleep medication as soon as possible!!!". I was desperate for 6 hours of sleep at the very least and besides, what's one more medication...right! He jumped right on that, we got the prescription, gave it to her, and settled in for a peaceful nights sleep...wrong.

It does nothing for her. Absolutely nothing!! I bet you anything, I could take that medication and be out for 12 hours (I will not confirm nor deny that I medicine share with my child). I don't get it, is it stubbornness or what.

So needless to say, I once again emailed her Neuro and said that I was adjusting her medication back to how it was before she started becoming so fractious. I did not ask for permission I emailed him due to the fact that I did not want to have a face to face about what I had done two months from now when she goes back.

Last night was our first night of going back to our medicine regime, and she was actually less fractious (in scientific terms, her Valporic acid was elevated due to the reintroduction of the Depakote). She did end up in bed with me and Matt did end up in Meghan's bed, but overall, I think I slept 6 semi undisturbed hours...and I feel FRYK GREAT!!!

Disclaimer regarding this morning: So Matt was sound asleep in Meghan's bed and I heard Matt's work phone ring. Um, I wasn't about to jump out of bed to eagerly deliver him his work phone (which was more than likely a call needing him to come in to work). Oh, I chuckled to myself, closed my eyes only to be brutally shaken by the house phone ringing. As Matt went off to work, I was left awake, sitting on the couch, at 6 am, with a very rambunctious 3 year old. Lesson learned...I will throw Matt his frykn work phone next time!

Sleep troubles or not...I would find a way to walk to the moon and back for this sweet child. She is my heart!

Rocking Davis Ranch

This has been a weird summer in the Sacramento area! Usually we literally fry during the summer. This summer, however, has been very mild. While most of the nation is literally cooking chocolate chip cookies on their dashboards, we have been blessed with very warm (but not unbearable days) and perfect evenings where you can sit outside and enjoy your self. In fact, it has been so awesome, that we have even been able to bike ride without just falling short of IV re hydration!! I love California...right now!

Super blurry...my moms old school camera phone. Don't you love the girls helmets :)

Yesterday my mom, the girls and I ventured out to a little area known as Sloughhouse. With most people in our area, you say Sloughhouse, and they say...best.corn-on-the-cob.ever!! And yes, it is the best corn-on-the-cob ever!! Not only does it taste a little bit like Heaven, but you can get 27 ears for $7 bucks!!!

The barn where all the goodness is kept!

Strawberry picking area!

They bring the oodles of corn in on these tractors and bag them up for ya at the barn!

This awesomeness, along with all the best fruits and veggies is located at this ranch called Davis Ranch. I love to go there for their amazing fruits and veggies, but every September they have a fun event for kiddo's called the Gord Festival. And, if you are one that purchases real Christmas Trees, this is the place to go!!! And...you can pick your own Strawberry's!! Shockingly though yesterday, with no fun kids stuff, Elizabeth had a ball and Meghan was super quiet, along for the ride, in her stroller!!

Some of our goodies we brought back. Those there folks are green tomatoes...I'm gonna have me some fried green tomatoes!!

So...go to Davis Ranch!! Get yer veggies and fruits...and don't forget the corn!!

Getting My TOUGH On

Call me crazy...but I'm going to kick some muddy bootay (my own probably)!!!

If you look up the website and all the crazy obstacles, the one I am most nervous about are the 12ft walls. Why, you ask?? Because I am a whopping 5'2"!! I will be asking for a boost on this one!!

Has anybody else done this or something similar??

I Suck...

At blogging. I sit and read everyone else's blogs, venture off to new ones and fail at mine. Yes I'm busy, but so is everyone else!! Time for me to get back on track!!

Well, since summer is over, here is a rundown of what the happenings have been.

Elizabeth - finished 1st grade :) and will be going on to second grade starting next week. She is so not ready to go. But I sweetly tell her too bad, it's a part of life so she better start liking it or it is going to be a long 11 years. For the first time ever, she went to church camp. It was only two nights but she had a blast!! She has been swimming like a fish, ballet/jazz and gymnastics. There is no way she can ever say that she was bored this summer. And, amazingly, I followed through with taking her and her friend to the library every week so we can keep up on our reading! I'm a nerd, I know all the librarians by name now!!

Miss Knight! Amazing teacher. This was the card that we made to give her. She retired last year!

Meghan - is a little over half-way in her hyperbaric therapy. She is doing fantastic. She listens and follows directions better. She is associating objects with words more often and trying to say different things. Her attention span is so much better. But, that girl just won't sleep. She is up anywhere from 2 to 5 times a night. Potty training is also sucking bad. I just hope that someday these two issues will be a thing of the past and we can move forward more refreshed and without having to change diapers.

Meghan having a blast in the backyard pool!!

Matt and I - have been working like crazy. We all went down to Pismo in June for my nieces high school graduation. We took a week and just relaxed. Matt and I ran away for a couple of days to Santa Barbara and had some alone time. I was looking forward to undisturbed sleep, but, Matt got a cold and snored in my ear both nights. When we were in Pismo, I took Elizabeth to my elementary school, Shell Beach, and played with her on the play ground. Talk about sentimental. She swung on the same swings I played on when I was her age. I'm getting misty eyed even thinking about it again :) I was showing a friend of mine pictures of my elementary school and he said that he would have purposefully failed just to stay at that school. I guess us Bears were lucky!

 My niece...Anna (sorry, little blurry)

 I used to swing on that same bar.

 The view from my elementary school playground!

 Matt and I rented this little 3 wheel motorcycle/car/thingy. We totally got laughed at.

Santa Barbara State St. If you have never been...GO. Three words girls, Paseo Nuevo Mall!!

We got our back yard done this summer. It no longer looks like we are ready to go mud bogging! We actually have grass, a garden, and room for the kids to play.

See the grass!!!!!!!!

Good think that middle finger is pointed in!

We have taken the boat out a few times this summer. This is the first year that we really have gotten to take Meghan out without any issues. Last year when we took her out, she would have seizures, we would have to give her Diastat, then she would pass out for a few hours. Meghan loves the boat, but mostly she likes to drive it!! The last time we went out, Matt flipped Elizabeth out of the tube. I have never ever seen anyone cartwheel across water before. I was so afraid that she would be scared, but she popped up laughing!! Thank goodness. Next year, I want to get her up on a wakeboard or at least ski's!

That's our friend Jenny's back. Awesome little place to float, play and drink it up!

Don't worry Matt...she's not going to break it or like forget to put the plug in (ahem)

Elizabeth finally has a loose tooth! I mean for crying out loud she is going to be 7 in October. She was the only one in her 1st grade class that did not lose a tooth. However, the longer it takes for her permanent teeth to come in, the healthier they will be.

Alright, that is a snapshot of what has been going on. I can't wait to get these kids off to school! Meghan will be going to preschool again. She went a few weeks at the end of last year and loved it. AND, what is so cool is that she gets picked up and dropped off by bus. Yes, it is a little yellow bus, but she rock is!!

Much love to you all
Kerri <3