Phew

Our weekend was eventful, so eventful and tiring that I was close to tears Sunday.
It started on Friday, I was busy with work. D went to daycare for only half a day because he was coughing still. He didn't go all week. Bye bye money that I'll never see again. My mom watched him in the afternoon as I worked. Later on our old sitter came over for a visit. We miss her terribly and D was so glad to see her. She brought us dinner and D a toy that he just loves, a garbage truck. They had a bond with the local garbage men because she would put D in the stroller and walk behind the garbage truck. He enjoyed it. She did as well until we moved to our new home where the truck automatically lifts the cans and dumps the trash. Although it's a time saver it did a number on my sitter's legs. She tried to chase them and keep up but a lot of times she was left in the dust. I didn't get a restraining order in the mail so I guess they didn't mind seeing a crazy Polish lady running with a stroller behind them. Their own personal groupie.
Saturday, we started the day off preparing for a wedding. My cousin got married. Ryan stayed home with D as I made my way to the city for a nice ceremony. I had to leave early to make my hair appt. Of course traffic didn't help and I arrived shaking.
Once home, we began the process of putting ourselves together. D stayed home with papa and rara and had a great time. As did Ry and I getting away, eating a great meal and dancing the night away. It was nice. Desperate to get out.
Not too shabby.
D decided to wake up 4 hours after we went to sleep so it was a rough Sunday. We did some yard work in the front but you wouldn't know we touched a thing by the way it looks. Seriously, trees may be nice but after sucking leaves up for 2 hours straight and having the front look no different 20 minutes later is just wrong. As D napped I went food shopping and ran errands. That's when it hit me. Complete exhaustion. I was near tears towards the evening! It was rough.
We were back in action today as D went to school and did great. Aside from needing a talk about telling the teacher when he needs to go potty and paying attention in circle time and not roaming around, he did good.
Last week he did great with potty time. I think because he was home and under close watch. Here is his progress...
A chart full of stickers every time he went potty. We reward him with two M&Ms and he gets to put a sticker on the chart. We count at the end of the day how many times he went potty. Today it's looking empty. There is still the rest of the week.
Our evening looked something like this:
as I slaved over the stove.
Oh yeah, I can confirm the smoke detectors work in our house as I heard "FIRE, FIRE" from it today as butter dripped from our dinner onto the oven bottom and the house turned gray!
It's a Monday!

More...

Here are the highlights from our photo shoot last week.

http://krashphotography.smugmug.com/Other/Marron-Family-Highlights/14195436_uiwas#P-1-10

If you need a password it's yolanda3

Enjoy!

Sneak Peek!

Pictures, pictures, rock star!

Get ready for a lot of pictures from our busy weekend!
Friday, we had insulation blown into our attic to help us to keep the house warm in the winter. They were in and out in an hour and I spent 3 hours cleaning up afterwards. The entrance to our attic is from my closet so there was some cursing as I took out the clothes and put them back after an hour.
Saturday, we had a car wash extravaganza in our driveway. D was mostly running around getting in and out of our cars.
Later that night we headed across the street to see my niece head out for her first homecoming! Let's just say D was the star of the show. We dressed him to impress and the boy didn't know what he was getting into with a bunch of 14 year old girls!
Everyone wanted a turn
We moved inside and I was left behind as he trailed with two girls. Daddy was so proud. I was NOT.
The pictures continued...I see myself as one of these folks in about 12 years.

Someone was rewarded with a cookie or two for being such a good sport.
Sunday, we had a big day for family pictures. It was interesting dressing for our X-Mas card photos in sweaters in 85 degree weather. 3 weeks ago as I was contemplating the outfit choices I was worried we would be freezing, I was thinking of unique ways I would keep D warm. Instead, we were taking layers off as soon as we thought we had one good shot for our X-Mas card. D did so good even though he had the sniffles and started coughing (hoping and praying it's not the start of a bad cold). A sneak peak of the photos coming soon but here are some that we took afterward.
After a nice nap for mommy and son, D enjoyed watching yet again the CARS movie with daddy followed by some football.
It was a great weekend and we enjoyed the beautiful not so fallish weather.

Day 2 of daycare

I was called lucky today! Lucky because our feisty 2.5 year old did not shed one tear at drop off this morning. We were ready for a full blown tantrum since it didn't happen on his first day. We were blessed with a happy boy walking in with a smile on his face, greeting his teacher and telling us "bye". In other words, "Don't let the door hit you in the as$, mommy and daddy". Ry and I just looked at each and smiled.
I was thinking What does this say about his personality? Will he go with anyone? Shouldn't he be more scared? What does this mean for his teenage years?
I slapped myself into reality as I hurried to work.
We only called twice today, compared to three times yesterday.
Some advice I received at work about this whole situation "stop being a helicopter mom", "they are going to throw him out because of you", "cut the cord already". I have such great support at work but these folks know how much I love my little man and how I always want the best for him, anal or not I'm trying my best.
He did great in school today. This week is fire prevention week and they had a fire drill today.
D got to see a fire truck and firemen today.
In the spirit of the theme he drew an outline of a fire dog, with some help, of course.
Our fridge is beginning to be filled with a collection of art work! We love it! Stainless steel is not in our plans for now! HA!
He only picks at his lunches but makes up for it at dinner. His nap today was longer than Monday so that's progress.
We are so proud of him!

Farewell and Hello

This weekend started with lots of tears, hugs and goodbyes as we bid farewell to our wonderful sitter on Friday. We had to make this difficult decision a while back but with my great procrastinating skills Daniel started school today. The entire day was filled with reminiscing our 2 and a half years together. Our time with her was filled with joy, many tears, worries, prayers and lots of hugs and that's just me and her!
Over the weekend we also visited the pumpkin farm. D had a great time even though it was windy and cold, we made the best of it.
D loved the pig races.
All weekend we were preparing him for "school", getting him excited about his "teachers" and other "kids". He kept repeating "listen teacher, mommy, daddy go bye bye". Sweet little man didn't know what hit him. He decided to sleep in on the day we needed to be up, it was OK I had things covered. His oatmeal was in the fridge soaking to be creamy for him in the morning. We enjoyed some breakfast together just like we do on the weekends.
With his bag packed we were off to school.
Proud mama.
Proud daddy.
We arrived in school and right away he went with Ms. Carol to wash his hands leaving us behind without a care in the world.
Ry and I looked over the bulletin board. It was all overwhelming. D just went on to play and ignored us.
D pimping his personalized coat hook.
He was fine and THEN it was time for us to leave and the tears started for all 3 of us. He was saying "mommy, daddy bye bye" in the most pathetic voice EVER. Later we found out that lasted 2 minutes and he did great. His nap was short and he only picked at his lunch but overall he did great. Wednesday and Friday will be the true test. He came home today exhausted from the entire day. He had some home made chicken soup and we enjoyed the beautiful leaves changing on our trees. It was a long but memorable day.
My baby is growing up and things are changing just like the leaves on our trees.