Preschool Report--Day 2

Well, the day started off rough. I mean pretty rough. We didn't take a bath last night, so we had to get a bath or shower this morning. I got him up at 7:30am. That was rough patch #1. He is not a morning person (haven't I mentioned a million times he IS his mother!). He took a bath, brushed his teeth, and then watched some Handy Manny while I got dressed. **graphic** Then, he said he had to go poop. Okay, fine. He does that every morning, really. But this time, he sat in there for about 20 minutes. I told him "You need to hurry up. I still have to get your dressed and we have to get to the grocery store and get some fruit for your lunch today!" "I'm not going to school today." Oh great....

We finally got dressed and out the door around 8:15am. I had to make a trip to Kroger to get some pudding and some fruit--two things that he said he wanted in his lunch, that of course, I didn't have in the house. Why? I haven't gone grocery shopping in about 2 weeks. I just don't want to. I'm being lazy. It's easier for Adam to pick up Subway. There, I said it. I'm pregnant and tired and lazy, and why the hell should I have to make dinner when I feel like crap?! Okay, I'm done now...back to the story!

We picked up blueberry muffins and fruit and Strawberry Milk...along with the pudding and fruit for his lunch. I had a free Starbucks coffee credit, so we ate breakfast at the bistro tables at Starbucks in Kroger--it was very nice to just relax and sip my coffee, I must say! In the meantime, I look over and there were these little pots with roses in them on sale. I said "Jackson, we need to get Miss Nancy something nice for being so nice to you on Tuesday. Do you think she would like a flower pot? You could help her water it every day!" He liked that idea, so we grabbed one for him to take to school...

We headed to the car, and that's when it started. "I don't want to go." "I just don't want to." "Let's go to Memaw's instead." "I have to go poop again." "I don't want to go to my school today."


I pulled into the parking lot and parked, and that's when the red rimmed eyes started. "Momma, let's go home." "I just don't want to." The lip was out, but no tears flowed over, just the teary glazed stare. I kept saying "You'll be fine! You know where I'm gonna be. You get to ride the bikes today! And you get to go to music today! What do you think your art project will be today? Painting? Markers? Crayons? I think it's gonna be alot of fun! All your friends go to school!" None of it worked. "I just don't want to go." Finally, I had to give the tough love. "Jackson, you have to go, end of story. You'll be fine."

We stopped by the potty on the way in....and that was his way of stalling. He sat on that potty telling me he had to poop for about 20 minutes...I wasn't buying it. Finally, I told him, "Enough, you're a big boy. Let's go give your flower pot to Miss Nancy."

We got about half way down the hall, and he did cry a little and stopped following me. I was worried about a full on tantrum (which he's never done!) but I managed to get him to the school office. We walked in and I told them "Jackson wanted to say Hi and hopefully he won't be coming down to see you today! He's going to be a BIG BOY and NOT CRY today!" Miss Diana, the director, was FABULOUS! She came over and sat on the floor at his level, and calmed him with chat about the playground and the sandbox and how if we needed to call Mommy, he could, but he was going to be a big boy and have fun....she was great!

We got to his classroom and his friends were all there waiting too. Miss Nancy opened the door, he handed her the flower pot, and he said "okay, let's go home." Not that easy, kid. We put up his back pack and his lunchbox and he found a seat to sit and color at I told Miss Nancy that we were having a rough morning and didn't want to be here, and she said "I'll stay by his side all day, don't worry. We'll get through it." I knelt down to tell him I'd see him later and give him a kiss, and he grabbed my arm and didn't want me to leave. Finally, I was able to get away. Another Mom walked out with me and she looked back and said "He's fine. He's not crying!" I made a b-line for the door and came home!

Adam came home for lunch and asked "Did you call?" "No, why would I call? If he's upset, they'll call me." "They said you could call anytime, just check on him." So...I called. The director answered and said "Want me to go look in on his class and see how he is?" "That would be great!" She kept talking as she walked down the hall and said "Yup, he's at the head of the table, opening his lunchbox, and smiling at the girl next to him. He's in a turquoise shirt, right?" I was so happy to hear that!

Mom and Aunt Tacey went with me to pick him up. When we got to the parking lot, we could see him on the playground, legs going ninety-miles and hour on a bike around the track! He was obviously having fun! I made sure I was the last in line to pick him up so that I could talk to the teacher and see how the day went. He came out like a different kid! He was smiling and happy and starting talking and chatting and telling me all about it!! Big eyes and everything! Miss Nancy said he only had a couple of meltdowns, asking for Momma, but they re-directed him, and she said he's like a switch...something will set him off and he's upset, and then all of a sudden, he's fine again. And again, no tears, just fussing.

We took Memaw and Aunt Tacey in to see his classroom. He showed them all around! Apparently, they painted their hands today to make handprints and Miss Roni made sure to get the orange paint out for Jackson, but he CHOSE blue! WOW! He was also the clipboard holder today, so he got to take the sign in sheet from room to room. He liked that job, apparently! He also showed us his art work for the day--it was really pretty good! I asked him what it was that he drew, and he said "Well, nothing really, but it looks kinda like a dinosaur!" And then he laughed hysterically!

No kids pulled his shoes off today. No "children ahind him" bothered him. He ate most of his lunch. He told us "I had a very good day! But I cried a little. But, I wasn't too sad, because I knew my Mommy was gonna pick me up!" We took him to Target to get a Hot Wheels (hey, I'm not above bribery these days!) and then to Wendy's to get a Frosty.

I'm sure I'll have more quotes from him tonight about how his day went, and sometime I'll get a picture with him and Miss Nancy, but for now, I have homework to do over the weekend! Can you believe it! Homework in preschool! Nothing big, just another show and tell project about what we did over the summer...hmmmm, wonder what he'll want to talk about?! Tennessee maybe?!

I'll FINALLY post the pictures from our TN trip--I can't believe I just remembered that! YIKES!!

Baby Update

I haven't been in the writing mood--can you tell? I haven't been in the "taking pictures" mood either...hell, I haven't been in the mood for anything lately! But I need to update everyone on the pregnancy. If you are on Facebook, you've read how miserable I am. Seriously. I'm just a ball of negative energy. In all of the aches and pains and contractions, I'm at a loss to the fact that a BABY is on the way! I'm so caught up in my own misery, that the concept of holding a baby at the end of this is foreign to me.

I feel like there is so much left to do....I went shopping yesterday and got all my stuff for my hospital bag. I will get that packed up this weekend. I have everything ready for the baby for the hospital--clothes, blankies, nursing stuff. The nursery is ALMOST done, we just have to decide on the name (nope, we still haven't finalized that yet! We know the it will be _____________ Joseph Babcock. That's all we got! Mom and Dad are getting me the glider and ottoman for my birthday, so once that goes in and I get some pictures on the walls, I'll get shots of the nursery. We went with a nautical theme--I really wanted a modern nursery, Adam didn't. So I compromised. We went with the nautical bedding, and I got to buy the expensive furniture I wanted. I was happy!

Everything is washed, ironed, hung, organized! A couple months back, I got EVERYTHING out of closets (pack n play, car seat, bouncers (2), stroller, changer, bathtub, high chair, diaperchamp) and got them all washed in OxyClean and it's all ready to go! I just have to finish packing the diaper bag. I'll get that done this weekend too! Hopefully!

A few weeks back I had my 32 week ultrasound. Everything looked great. I still think this kid looks just like Jackson--with hair! Rosio (the tech--she's awesome!) said she saw a little bit of fuzz! Can you imagine!

My iron is still a little low--but I HATED the pills. I finally got some pills that I can tolerate: Slow FE from CVS. They seem to help with my energy.

Today, I am 34 weeks. I technically have 5 weeks left to get to my scheduled surgery date. I had an appointment yesterday, and with all the contractions I've been having at night, and the massive amounts of pressure, I didn't know what to expect. I really thought she would hook me up to a monitor and track the baby, or put me BACK on bed rest for the 9th time this pregnancy...but she didn't. She isn't concerned about the contractions--at 34 weeks, baby is 5.5 lbs and she thinks he would be fine. If my water breaks, go the hospital! No big deal!

What DOES concern her is my pressure. After my internal, and finding that I am closed and thick still, she told me that the baby's head is not in the pelvis. He hasn't dropped. We BOTH thought that he was low and that my pressure could be from his placement, but that's not the case. NOW, she is concerned that my inscition scar could be thining due to his position. THIS is not good. It's VERY rare, but if that's the case, it could cause major complications during delivery, and in case of emergency delivery, things could go very wrong. It can cause uterine rupture, and hemeroging, etc. So, guess who gets to go back to the high risk specialist again!? DING DING DING!! I go back to Dr. Rowe on Sept 10th for him to check my scarring with ultrasound.

I just keep thinking "Is this how a NORMAL pregnancy goes and I'm just a big baby?" My pregnancy with Jackson wasn't like this at all. People would say "I HATED being pregnant!" and I was like "Really!? It's not that bad!" But now, I get it. My sciatic nerve makes it hard for me to walk...the contractions are a bitch...the pressure is frustrating...the fatigue is kicking my ass....and NOW I have indegestion at night...all this, to the point that ADAM told me "I'm not doing this to you again!" We had ALREADY known that we would have 2 kids when we got married....and this sealed the deal!

Weight wise, I've gained 28 lbs., according to Dr. Taylor's scales. Mine at home says I've gained 30. And you know what, I'm okay with that. I gained 55 with Jackson, so my goal was to gain no more than 35 with this one...hope I stay on track. I know that had this been easier, I wouldn't have gained NEARLY this much because I woul dhave been working out, but I'll tell you, I haven't done A THING! I haven't even walked around the block! And I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that I am NOT one of those cute pregnant girls who "just has a ball in the front". Those people seriously piss me off. I can't wear cute dressed and have skinny arms and a glowing complexion while pregnant--just not happening. I just know that I will have ALOT of work to do once Baby X gets here!

1st Day of Preschool

It's official..I have a preschooler! :( I'm not overly happy about it! What happened to my bald little man in a diaper?

He's been SOO excited all summer about school--every time we pass Happy Harbour, he yells "That's my school!" We've been talking about it so much...and I knew he was excited about it! A few weeks back, we got our welcome package from the teacher--Ms. Nancy and Ms. Roni. It had a class roster and I was SHOCKED that there is not another Jackson in his class! Thank goodness! I love the class ratio--14:2. And there are alot more girls in the class...he'll love it!

He is a Starfish on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-1:30pm. And when I say that the school is 2 streets from our house, I'm not kidding! You turn right, you turn left and into the parking lot! When the new baby gets here, we'll be walking to pick up big brother from school to get our walk in for the day! I'm actually excited about that!

So last Friday was meet your teacher. Adam took off work so that he could be there to see the school and have Jackson show him around (he'd never been there)...and Jackson was SOO excited! "Here's the door!" "Here's the chapel!" They started the day off with Children's Chapel--all of us were invited to come and sing and see what the kids will be doing on Thursday mornings. It was fun! They sang and Jackson danced along with the other kids--and Mommy got emotional. He was having so much fun! I loved it!

After Chapel, we walked down the hall to find his classroom. We found his name on the bulletin board--HE found it! Then spelled it for us! We walked in and there were a ton of people in the classroom! They had the kids tables covered in paper with crayons and Jackson walked right in, sat down, and started coloring! He really didn't move from that spot! Adam and I walked around the classroom and looked at all the centers and activities--we found the job chart and his cubby and his art hanger. We met some really nice Mom's too! Not alot of Dad's there, but that's understandable...it was just meet your teacher!





Jackson DID meet another little girl who sat next to him and colored (the only 2--all the other kids were playing with the toys and in the dressup center). Her name is Lindsey and she is a doll! Her mom was super nice too, and come to find out, we have a lot of friends in common!

We left meet your teacher, and Jackson was STILL so excited because Ms. Nancy told him they would get to paint and color and do all kinds of art stuff! We met the music teacher, too, and I'm not sure what he was most excited about--music or coloring!

Monday night, we got all his stuff together. First, we got together his stuff for his show and tell bag...3 things that describe Jackson: 1) Orange Crayon (becuase his fav color is orange and he loves to color) 2)Thomas the Train (because he loves trains and building track with Daddy-O and PaPaw) 3) an ultrasound picture of his baby brother (becuase he is super excited to be a big brother in a few weeks!)

We had a routine down: snack, bath, brush teeth, read 3 stories and night-night (Daddy did this part!) While they were doing that, I was packing his lunch, ironing his outfit, packing his backpack, filling out the papers that needed to be sent, and getting MY stuff ready for the morning (because I HATE getting up, and I needed to be fully prepared!) Along with charging the video camera and making sure my camera had an empty card and a full battery. Even with all that, I went to bed early!

Tuesday morning! The Big Day! I got up an hour before Jackson to get showered and dressed and myself all ready--and to make his breakfast before he got up. At 8:00am, I went to wake him up, saying "Wakey Wakey! We get to go to school today! Are you so excited?!"...he rolled over, looked up at me and said "I don't want to go bye-byes today Momma." I never mentioned the word school again. No pictures, no video...I got him dressed, he brushed his teeth, we did his hair, we watched Dragon Tales, ate breakfast....then I told him I was going to put his back pack by the front door..."Okay."



I told him we needed to head out the door. "Can I get some pictures of you with your new backpack and lunch box?" "Yeah." We only got a few shots outside...then I went to put him in the van. He didn't say a WORD. He was dead silent the ENTIRE RIDE to the SCHOOL. Just stared out the window. He was SOOO nervous! Thankfully, Daddy-O met us in the parking lot. He got out and put his bag on and grabbed his lunch. We got a few pictures out front....that was all.










As we were walking in, we saw another little boy with the same backpack. I said "Look Jackson! He has the same bag, only in green!" His name was Reed and he looked like a brown haired version of Jackson! And come to find out, he is in Jackson's class! So we walked together to the classroom. As we were going to class, we passed the chapel, where I had told Jackson that Mommy and Daddy would be for the morning b/c we had orientation. He said "That's where you're gonna be?!" "Yup!" On the way, I saw a friend of mine, and we stopped to chat, then Jack looked up at me and said "Momma, I wanna go to my class now." So we hurried to his door.

The doors to the rooms don't open until exactly 9:30am. So, all of us parents and kiddos stood waiting in the narrow hallway--all the while Jackson just stood, silent, staring at the door. Wouldn't even talk to Adam....he wasn't scared, just nervous, I think.

Ms. Nancy opened the door and we walked right in--he was first! He got a name tag for his back, we hung his backpack and his lunch box in his cubby, Ms. Roni too his picture for the bulletin board, and the he found the markers and dry erase boards at his table and sat right down. Once he sat down, he didn't get back up. He stared at the board and colored and didn't talk to anyone. We told him that he got to be the Line Leader for the day! We found his name on the Job Chart--and he was happy about that! But I think if we had said the wrong thing, it would have set him off! He was on the verge the entire morning!







The parents got to stand around for a little bit. I asked Ms. Nancy if they would be having a fire drill that day, b/c if you remember the last time there was a fire drill, Jackson FLIPPED OUT!! And then NEVER WANTED TO GO BACK TO MOPS!! After talking to her for about 5 minutes, I looked over at him, and how big and independent he was, and I LOST it! Here I was, standing and talking to the teacher, Adam standing right behind me, and I start tearing up like a 3 year old! Ms. Nancy said "OH! I have 3 and I completely understand!" I said "I have to go outside! I'm just hormal I guess!" I never even said goodbye to him b/c I couldn't do it. Apparently, Adam took that as his cue to go and say his goodbye. Jackson said "You going to the chapel?" "Yup! And Mommy will pick you up after the goodbye song, okay?!"

Once I walked out, most of the parents followed. Only one little boy was crying, and Ms. Nancy scooped him up and shut the door. And then, Jackson was on his own. For the first time ever.

I went to lunch with a good friend, which was a great distraction for me. I didn't even really have a chance to think about Jack and if he was sad or not. I picked Mom up at 1:00 and we headed back to the school for 1:30 pick up. When we got there, Adam was already in line! He had gotten to the school at 1:00pm!! We were all anxious to see how his first day went! In my mind, he would run out of his classroom just chatting up a storm with his backpack on and give big hugs....nope. He was one of the first ones out, and he walked right over to Adam and said "Let's go home." Straight face. No emotion. Deer in the headlights. Memaw was with us, and he never even looked at her. Nor Mommy. And Ms. Nancy looked up and said to me "Do you have a minute to stay?!" GREAT! NOT A GOOD SIGN! I looked at Mom and we both said "Uh oh. That's not good!" And laughed, but really, it wasn't funny!

Ms. Nancy told me that Jackson had a "minor meltdown" at lunchtime. Apparently, they had walked pass the chapel, and we were there. He didn't get upset then, he got upset when they got their lunches out and Mommy wasn't there. He never "cried tears", he just kept saying "I want Momma. I want Momma." To calm him, they took him down to the office, and apparently he got to run the copy machine with Ms. Laura! He missed lunch and part of recess!

When I asked him about it at the car, I said "Did you eat lunch?" "No." "Why?" "I was crying." "Why did you cry?" "I just wanted Momma." We probed him for a little bit on the way home, but then he said "I don't wanna talk about it anymore." oookkkaaayyy. We let it for the rest of the afternoon. Since then, we've gotten a few little tidbits about the first day. Here are some of the quotes:

"I was the line leader, and does children a-hind me kept telling me "open the door" but I couldn't and then a kid put his hand on the door and Ms. Nancy took his hand off the door. He wasn't listening."

"those kids kept pulling on me and pulling on my legs and then once kid pulled my shoe off."--no clue about this one! He later told Adam that there wasn't alot of room on the carpet for story time and they were all crowding and Jackson's shoe came off!

I'm going to try and update the blog each day when we come home, b/c frankly, the things that come out of this kids mouth are too funny! He tells stories very well about how things happen...and right now, at 11:oopm, I can't remember them all! I just learned that I have to update right then and there, or else I lose it in pregnancy fog!

BUT, I will say, he IS excited to go back. I told him that I cried too on that first day, so now, he says "I'm not gonna cry, and Momma's not gonna cry." Adam asked him, "Why did Momma cry?" "Because she was sad that I wasn't her little boy anymore. And I told her, I'm all growed up now, Momma!" Too sweet!

Stay tuned tomorrow for Preschool Report Day 2!