Slice of Life: September 15th, 2017

After a month of doing all things revolving around big sister, Sadie finally got her day in the spotlight. Our baby girl started “school”. 🙂

She’s joining Hadley one day/week (Hadley goes three days/week) at preschool, but Sadie is technically in the Child’s Day Out program. From what I heard, she had a really great first day!

Last year, I packed Hadley’s backpack and lunch the morning of, but after just one morning of packing for both of them, I’ve realized I’ll likely need to start doing this the night before. Sadie needs so much stuff to leave me for 5.5 hours. 😉 Sheesh!

Jamie’s schedule was relaxed this week since he’s fixing to leave, so he was able to go into work late so that he could take both of our girls to school.

As soon as we got into Sadie’s classroom, she bolted for the same area she’d discovered the week prior during the open house.

This was her last week. We both thought it was pretty funny that out of an entire room of toys, she went to this same area both times. 🙂

She quickly figured out there was more to explore and found a bin with sand and shovels. Girlfriend was in Heaven, so Jamie and I gave her quick kisses and made our exit. We walked out hand-in-hand and kind of awkwardly smiled and remarked about how weird it was that we just left both of our babes in their own little programs.

To be totally honest, I was dealing with some major mom guilt/anxiety the night before and morning of that we sent Sadie off to school, which is very unlike me. I never dealt with that separation anxiety with Hadley because I was just so stinkin’ excited for her! I knew she would have fun and that school would be so great for her developmentally. I felt differently with Sadie though because we opted for her to do the extended day program, which includes lunchtime, napping on cots, and an extra few hours at school. I’ve been excited about this for months because not only would Sadie learn so much in these areas, but I would get almost a whole day to myself. Seemed like a win/win.

But leading up to dropping her off, I felt so bad. What would she think when she saw the majority of her class getting picked up at noon? What if she was confused and upset about sleeping on a cot with other kids around? I’ve only left her in the church or MOPS nursery for two hours tops, and now we’re jumping to 5.5 hours. What if that was too long and upsetting for her on her very first day? I obviously didn’t feel guilty about sending her to school, but I was starting to feel regretful about the extended day portion because it wasn’t entirely necessary.

So needless to say, I couldn’t wait to pick the girls up. Jamie came with me, and we thankfully received a glowing report. Her afternoon teachers (whom we adore from their time with Hadley) immediately said “Oh, Sadie is funny!” and “She is definitely different than her sister!” which made us laugh so hard because we agree with both statements. Sadie is just so goofy! Jamie was right in that I had nothing to worry about; Sadie had a wonderful day. Hadley saw her on the playground at one point and told me all the things that Sadie was getting into, which made me really happy.

We have two very independent chickadees on our hands, which can be good and bad depending on the day and circumstance. 😉

And you know what? I got a heck of a lot done during my solo time and will absolutely look more forward to that next week than I did this week. 🙂

Speaking of independence, Sadie shocked the HECK of out me last week when she figured out how to use the ladder to get on the trampoline. Talk about giving this mama a heart attack! She then proceeded to show us how she could undo the zipper and crawl out on the ledge. We’re now keeping the stairs off the trampoline so that Sadie doesn’t sneak up there by surprise. Whew, buddy. These girls keep me on my toes. I’ll be gray before I know it!

I’ve mentioned before about these sweet books that my mom sends Hadley, and she can’t get enough of them. The other morning I had music playing while unloading the dishwasher, and Hadley sat on the other side of the counter doing her workbooks and chatting with me. It was a sweet moment where I could see her little brain really workin’. You can find some of these excellent (and fun!) preschool workbooks .

Hadley loves to have her nails painted, and last week she saw some of my polish sitting on the counter. Without missing a beat, she grabbed it and handed it to Jamie, asking if he’d paint her nails. I was sitting on the couch when I heard the question and immediately looked up to see him smiling at me. He was obviously going to say yes but knew this was going to be quite comical. He let her go pick out a color besides the gray bottle she originally picked up, and soon enough they were settled painting her hands and toes.

Then she turned the tables and asked to paint his toes (he drew the line at his fingers). He keeps his toes in boots all day, so he agreed without her having to ask him twice. 😉 You may have seen this all on my IG stories. I couldn’t stop laughing! He’s such a good daddy.

Have I mentioned on the blog that we decided to swap out dance for gymnastics this year? Hadley loved dance, but we decided to give gymnastics a shot since we won’t be in Kansas for the recital in the spring anyway. So far she is LOVING it. Oh my goodness. There’s only five kids in her class, and she’s having a ball. We’re very happy so far! We got her itty bitty  from Target and think it’s so cute. 🙂

And finally… we got to squeeze in a little date this week to Bourbon and Baker followed by Coldstone, and all of it – the quiet time together and the food – was wonderful.

Hope you have a nice weekend! xo

PS: Have you noticed that last month I added a “Favorite Things” tab in the upper lefthand corner of my menu? It’s your one stop shop to all of my favorite things that I mention on this blog, in case you’re interested.