belly

38 wks and 2 days. from lily's point of view.

so much

Jackson turned 3! I can't believe what a difference this birthday has made. We found some underwear small enough for him and he was potty trained by the end of the week. He started talking practically overnight - as in he will repeat words we say or say words he knows without prompting, instead of using one word for 14 different things or just getting really frustrated. We have been waiting and working for that throughout the past year! Next step is connecting words to make sentences. But seriously I can't believe how relieved I am that his little brain turned the switch. We had his birthday celebration at the splash pad, where the kids enjoyed the water and playgrounds and I enjoyed not having to come up with games and just sitting with the other moms. And with Britt's help I made his cake, with just a few bouts of hyperventilating to keep the oreo crumbs in line for the road. He was very excited about the "Cars" theme. He certainly is such a joy to have in our family!
And here is miss Lily on her first day of preschool. She loves the one we are trying out this year, I am so grateful for neighbors who helped me decide on where to send her! She has been so excited and I absolutely love the teachers and set up and everything. Although this week I am almost expecting DCFS to make a visit - last week Lily hit her cheekbone quite hard while playing downstairs, and the bruise is to the point where it is huge and colorful. Add that to barely giving me a kiss she's so excited to go to class, and complaining to her teachers she doesn't want to leave yet when I come to pick her up.....
And here she is again with her backpack outside of her school. She is at that fun age of wearing the same outfit again and again and again. She hides it behind a chair in her room - I assume so that I can't wash it. And the shock of the year for me! Since Jackson started talking so much more, the speech therapist recommended Early Intervention Preschool. I had resisted, but with MUCH persuasion from Mom, decided to try it out - for Tuesday and Thursday instead of Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri. Also I said I would drive him instead of have a bus come pick him up. Look at how tiny he is - can you blame me? We were pretty apprehensive of how he would handle the situation as he still screams his head off when we mention nursery at church (although last week we sent him to Primary with Lily and he was very happy - now we are anxious for him to start Sunbeams in a few months), but he was such a trooper. I of course almost cried when his teacher took his hand to lead him inside. Lily and I stayed for about 20 minutes to observe and when we left he watched us leave and was apparently very good! Today when I went to pick him up he was quite upset he couldn't get on the school bus, so we'll be starting that next week to see how it goes. He seems to absolutely love it, and gets excited when we talked about school. It is only 2 hours a day and to me it's like he knows he's such a big boy. I have to admit it seems almost too good to be true to have a bus pick him up and drop him off, and Lily is at a preschool down the street. Hopefully that will help with the stress of having a newborn, but I guess you never know how things will really turn out. Until the baby is born (I am at 38 weeks today - sorry Amanda and Liz no picture yet) I will have 2 days a week with an hour and a half with no kids. This morning I was quite productive, which was awesome, but such a strange feeling having them at school instead of a babysitter or something.

As for Adam, he still has the Audit section to pass for the CPA. We found out last week he got a 74 when he needed a 75. So depressing! It has been a year since he started the process so is very ready to be done. He is amazing, that is all I can say.