We Survived Week One

It's Sunday night and my new reality is getting up and out the door for the next five days.  Insert *shocked* face here! Ugh, how long until Summer??  With the first few days under our belt, maybe that's the hardest part for me.  I've adjusted to the fact that she's ok without me all day and I've embraced my new time with the boys while she's gone, but what I'm not thrilled about is the loss of our days at home when we never "had" to be anywhere.  Wow, was that a gift!  Now the bell tolls early to get all of us out the door to drop her off and what felt like a long time for her to be gone is really not all that long when we are busy during the day.  So now I've joined the club of all the Moms who feel like taxi drivers and pack mules! ha ha!  

Some things that have instantly changed for me? 

-Now I check the weather every night to know what I should have her wear or bring the next day.

-I scan my cupboards a lot more now to make sure I've got something on hand for her lunch and/or her afternoon snack at school, not to mention a little snack when she gets home.  Good grief.  I've got to buy more snacks! 

-I've realized I need to have dinner on the table MUCH earlier in order to get a jump start on the evening and everyone to bed at a new hour.

-Because of the previous need, I am now getting back in a groove with meal planning and grocery shopping.  I had a great routine last year but summer and a newborn threw it all out the window.  Now it's time to get disciplined and organized again.

-Unlike when I was in school, everything is electronic now which means no school calendars that come home or flyers about everything.  Nice, but I find myself having to check the website constantly and having to log-in to the parent portal.  Two weeks ago the parent portal wasn't in my vocabulary.  Now we're best friends.  

-I'm exhausted!  The mental and emotional energy to get her out the door and remember everything on her behalf, not to mention wondering how she's doing during the day...it's totally exhausting!  I need naps like I've never needed them before.  We are all tired around here and I'm just as needy as the kids. Resting has become a new priority for all us again! 

-And speaking of resting, Miss Ava walked home with me on Friday and asked if it was ok for her to get in bed when we got home? Ha!  She was SO tired and barely made it home before she walked right into her room, got her jammies on and hopped in her bed!  I knew she was so tired but it took her until Friday to admit it and just give in.  Post school naps are a likely addition to our daily routine I think.  

It was a great few days on her first week at school.  I only cried on the first day, but on the second day Ava was in tears while passionately trying to explain something about sausage that I just wasn't understanding.  After lots of tears and some visible frustration with each other, I finally figured out that she was talking about the hot lunch option from the previous day and that she was trying to tell me she wanted the sausage that some of the kids were eating.  She didn't understand how the lunch system worked, and I was unclear about some of it too, so later that morning I called the school and got some answers for the both of us which allowed her to choose hot lunch on Friday.  You would have thought she'd won the lottery at the news! It was a happy day for her and even tonight as I explained the lunch option for Monday, when she discovered it was orange chicken with veggies and rice, she squealed and said "I love chinese chickens!!  I'm so happy about lunch tomorrow!"  Ha ha!!  

I know we'll get in a groove here soon.  It's so interesting to experience all this with her as a new parent.  I'm guessing things will be easier and old hat when Carter and Walker go to school, but right now it feels like I'm a Kindergarten student too! 

Here are some cute pics from the end of the week...

I love Fridays when Daddy can walk Ava to school! 

 And yes, it was chilly enough for coats that morning, like 58! 

 Gotta love rainbow striped leggings! 

 Carter is getting lots of exercise with us in this deal! He LOVES watching the buses when we get to school and when we pick her up.  It's a big highlight in his day  :) 

 Lots of Mamas warned me about the "Friday night meltdowns" from exhausted kindergarten kids, so we decided to make our Fridays for the foreseeable future, a pizza and family movie night event.  

 Which means jammies, popcorn and an early bedtime for everyone!  

Even Trav and I love the idea of some low-key Fridays ahead.  These are busy days with soccer and work for Trav, so anytime we can just chill at home with the kids is a good thing. 

 Carter had a much better end to his week.  He's accepted Ava being at school all day and I think he's starting to see that having all the toys to himself at home isn't so bad.  But each day we've picked up Ava, he's told her multiple times "I missed you today, Ava!  I'm so glad you're home!"  

Sweet boy.  

 And then there's Walker.  Thankfully he's so go with the flow that his world hasn't changed too much! He likes the stroller walks outside I think and easily falls back asleep if I have to wake him.  

I am going to have to figure out his napping schedule in the next few weeks so that we can get a good routine established while we're home.  He's getting close to that stage now of regular naps and it's my goal to get him taking them in his crib this week.  Sigh... 

Everybody just insists on growing up around here.  I can't catch a break!

And just for fun, while swapping out pictures from some old frames last week, I discovered this gem from MY first day of Kindergarten in 1985.  Love my knee socks!  

I'd say she's a much cuter version of her Mama!!  

And stripes are definitely a classic, right?  They just never go out of style :) 

Have a great week, friends! I've got to get to bed for my Monday morning wake-up call!