First Grade

So moving and then starting school a week later isn’t something I would recommend, but hey, sometimes you can’t choose these things. Last week I was unpacking in between looking through my seemingly ridiculous amount of curriculum and trying to make sense of it all. After a few hours, a couple tears and a call to my Mom, it finally made sense and I was able to start lesson planning in my totally cool new planner that a friend made me.  I painted an old dresser (which I will post about later, because it was so easy, even for me!) to turn into an organized area for our supplies, made a last minute trip to the Dollar Store and Target for pencils, erasers, and a few other things that somehow added up to $120 (are you kidding me???) and we woke up Monday morning, ready for the day.

Of course as always with Motherhood and homeschooling, things didn’t go as planned and we started an hour and a half late, but you know what, that’s the beauty of homeschooling. After a rough morning, we all opened our books with good attitudes, ready to take on First Grade.

 I picked up a few pre-school books for Joe at the Dollar Store to see if he would be interested in doing them, and I honestly thought he would. I’m not for pushing kids to have formal school time before kindergarten, because that’s the beauty of being a kid—you get to play and explore with not a care in the world and I’m all about letting them be little. However, I really thought he would be ready for a little book time. 

 Um, not so much. He wasn’t even interested in drawing a row of ones. ONES! They are sticks! Nope, too boring for him. So he scribbles and colors and gets excited when he sees letters that he recognizes. Maybe I’ll try again next semester to prepare him for Kindergarten, but for now, I’m letting him be a 3 year old boy. Ehem.

We’re on day 3 of school and already completed 10 lessons, because it’s so much review and I wanted to get ahead as much as I could. Family arrives in less than 2 months and we like to party a little too much when they are here which means that we do more shopping and eating and playing than we do schoolwork, which is another beauty of homeschool. Double up when you have the time so when you don’t have the time you are free to do what you need to. And trust me, shopping at the Outlet Mall is a definite need. J

What Could Have Been and God's Grace

I think every Mom has a “it could have been so much worse” moment, if not many moments through out their child’s lifetime.

 Mine happened a last week when my baby fell through the bars of an outdoor staircase from 6 feet onto concrete. It was terrifying, rocking me to my core. He could have landed on his head. He could have had severe brain injury, months of recovery or, worse, he could have died. I still get a stomach ache when I think about it, so I really don’t even go there. I can just picture the arms of God cushioning his fall when he landed mostly on his side and tummy

 The visit to Urgent Care showed that everything was fine, but a follow up visit to my pediatrician and then an orthopedist showed 3-4 foot fractures and a leg fracture. Thanks to lollipops in the office, he sat perfectly still while they wrapped his leg. My 17 month old is in a full leg cast for 4 weeks, and he is doing fine. He gets frustrated sometimes, but already today (day 3) he’s started to walk on it while holding on to something. I’m sure he’ll be up and around in no time, and I have to admit his tiny little boot over the cast is adorable. For now, we carry him from room to room and I use a stroller constantly if we are out of the house. Casts' are heavy!

I’ve cuddled him a lot more this week, staring into his bright, happy eyes thinking about what could have been. I'm more aware of his crinkly nosed smile, the gap between his 2 front teeth and the sound of his laughter. God is so good to us, and a few Doctor’s visits, “inconvenience” of a baby who needs more attention and can only have sponge baths is just a reminder of God’s grace to our family. Amazingly, he started to walk on it by day 2 and is now practically running around the house!

 We moved into our house this past weekend. The work that my husband (along with some hired help and gracious friends and family) has done over the past few weeks is incredible. My kitchen got a total makeover and I can't stop staring at how beautiful it is. I can't wait to make memories with friends and family, huddled in my kitchen eating lots of good food! I've been posting progress on Instagram, but a blog post of before and afters will come after a few finishing touches. Grandma graciously offered to take the kids for a few days and I'm taking advantage of getting as much unpacking done as I can!

 Hope you all had a great start to your week!