New, new, new!

New city......new school......new friends! The girls started preschool last Monday and we were a little nervous....we've been talking about their new school and their new teacher for a while and it's always been met with tears and "I don't wanna new school. We have our old school."  Oh my. What do you say to that?  But. The day was here and our girls were ready......and we managed to get some sweet pictures before they really figured out what was going on - ha!

Sofia, Bella, Olivia

Sofia

Olivia

Olivia (l) Sofia (r)

Olivia (l) Sofia (r)

These have to be some of my most favorite pictures, I must say. Especially the girls hugging eachother. And Bella's expression was priceless. "You mean I get all the toys to myself?!?!!"  Ha! 

The girls are going 4 days a week and we left them in the same classroom together although we could have separated them. When we first registered the girls, the program director asked us if we wanted to put the girls in separate rooms since there are 2 four-year classes. It definitely gave me pause because it's not something we had discussed -- we've certainly talked about it for kindergarten....next year. So after thinking about it, we decided to leave them together this year given the new school and new friends. We did ask the teacher to put them at different tables, though. I thought that was a good compromise. 

I'm so conflicted about how we'll handle the decision next year. Of course.....it may be that the school district makes the decision for us -- I've heard certain counties require twins to be separated. It would be quite the easy way out for the decision to be made for us........but I want to do the right thing for our girls. The thing is....when D and I talk about it, we honestly don't think one of the girls is more dominant over the other. They both take turns being the follower....and they both take turns being the leader. They play well independently and they play well together. We do notice they tend to stick really close together in new situations, but they both ultimately get comfortable and branch out. There's another set of twin girls in their school and the mom split them up -- she said there was clearly a leader and clearly a follower. We shall see......that's a whole year away. One that I know will be here before I'm even ready!

So it's been a week now and so far so good. There are a few tears in the morning but they do pretty well. I'm excited about this year for them. The school uses a program called "Handwriting without Tears" to teach writing and it's the same program the school system uses so they will continue with it in kindergarten. Once a week there's a retired English teacher who comes in and works on word recognition and reading. Once a week they have math....and of course there's story time and play time (including bike day once a week). And just a few minutes ago, D gave me a pamphlet for a program where, once a month, someone comes in with cool hands-on science projects for the kids -- complete with their own apron and goggles. How exciting is that?! True to form, the girls rarely tell D much about their day but when I get home and ask them about it, I get lots of stories (usually!).

Because of Bella's late birthday, we're keeping her home one more year and we'll start her in a 2-day program next year and ramp up each year like we've done the girls. She didn't make the age cut-off for the preschool where the girls are anyway. I don't think she minds, though..she gets some one-on-one time with Daddy and, let's not forget, all the toys!

Here's to a good year for the big girls!

Olivia, Mommy, Sofia

First day

It's the first day of pre-school. It's all about the 3's. 3 years old. 3K. 3 days a week! Here's the best picture D could get.....our camera has something wrong with the flash....so we had to settle for the cell phone. Add in two 3-year olds who don't like posing for the camera and [poof] blurry first day picture!
That's okay, though. They're still cute! Sofia has her (only) favorite shirt on "Because, Daddy, pink is my favorite color!" Goodness knows what we're going to do when she outgrows that shirt! Find another one, I'm hoping!!

I'm working out of town so Daddy had to lead the charge in picking out the first day outfits. It's a little cool so long pants were in order.....and I was afraid they weren't going to fit, but it looks like they're still fine. Whew! You can imagine the horror, though, as I listened to D tell me they didn't want their tennis shoes or any other shoes. They wanted their Cwocks! That, so much, wasn't the horror....it was when he told me they were wearing said Cwocks with socks. It's like a bad Dr. Seuss story!! Hahaha. But D's right.......it was get them out the door kicking and screaming or give in to the Cwocks with socks and have happy kids walk happily out the door!

Aaaaaand happily out the door is about as far as the happy went. D said once they realized they were being left at school, they cried. I know it was hard for him to walk down the hall hearing the girls cry for him. But I'm proud of him.....I just called to check in and he was home. With Bella. And he didn't go back and get the girls and take them home with him.

So it begins. A new "school" year with a new teacher and new friends. I know D is thankful for the few hours of down time during those days. Bella is still home, but going from 3 to 1 for a few hours is definitely down time. Although Bella has now figured out that interesting things exist other places than at her level on the floor so she's starting to pull up on everything. It's quite cute, but we're going to have to get creative to figure out how to limit her to certain areas in the house. Amazing how quickly we've forgotten what we used to do with the girls once they were mobile!

35 and still going!

35 weeks, people! And still going strong. Had my weekly appointment today and heard "Keep doing what you're doing!" So of course I'm back on the couch with my barrel.....I mean bottle.....of water to shoot for another week. My appointment is next Thursday and I'll have an ultrasound to see how big Bella is measuring.

Speaking of big..........I think she might be doing pretty well, don't you??!!!!
I realized today that I don't have many, if any, pictures of me pregnant this time so I asked D to snap a couple before we left for my appointment. You know -- since I'm wearing decent clothes only once a week - ha! (Which is a good thing because very few of my maternity clothes are fitting these days!) No need to see all of me but trust me.......I'm pregnant everywhere. Now do you see why I don't sleep well at night?!?! And I'm only going to grow as Bella hangs around and puts on the pounds over the next few weeks. But that's okay -- bring it! (Remind me I said that when I'm complaining in my next post about lumbering around the house - haha!)

So that's the Bella update --- an uneventful trip to the doctor and we're aiming for yet another week.

As for the girls, they had a GREAT day at MMO!!! D said the girls still didn't want to walk in, but Sofia didn't cry AT ALL and Livie cried a little when they got to the classroom door. One of the teachers held her hands out to Sofia and she practically jumped to go to her and went right in the classroom. NO TEARS!! Even Livie's crying wasn't as hard as she has cried in the past. I think we can say one little one down, one to go!! I'm so glad. They missed Thursday for Sofia's eye procedure (and we just didn't think it would be good to send Olivia by herself) so it's been a week since they've been there. A few mornings they've asked about going to "school" and we've been talking it up for a few days. This morning when they went to leave the house, they waved and said "Bye-bye. Go play school!"

It was a good day all around!

Stall tactics

Guess who had a great day at school today!!

D said neither one cried when he got them out of the car. Olivia whined a little bit because she didn't have her blanket, but they made it inside and to the classroom tear free. They have started meeting the parents at the classroom door and asking the parents to say goodbye at the door versus coming into the classroom -- so one of the teachers took Sofia and when she stepped into the classroom, Sofia wiggled in her arms to get down. She put Sofia down and Sofia went right into the classroom......with NO tears!!!!! Olivia got a little teary but she never broke down into full crying mode. Can I get a WOOOOO HOOOOOO!

It was a great day. They did well with all the activities and we learned both girls are good listeners. We were particularly interested in that because we feel like they choose to not listen at home quite a bit. Stickers all around today......it was a great day and we are so proud of them!!

So about the stall tactics. I know I shouldn't be amazed at the things the girls learn (good and not so good), but I can't help it. We'll file their latest under "not so good" as they've figured out ways to start stalling bedtime.......and the one that really hits home is the potty. While we've not started "potty training boot camp", we ask the girls if they have to go and when they talk about the potty we definitely take them. They're still not very interested during the day, but guess when they're extremely interested in the potty...........mmmmhmmmm. Bedtime.

D and I both agree we should take the girls whenever they ask, but we both also agree the girls have figured this one out! As I'm typing, I'm listening to D trying to put the girls to bed and over the monitor I hear lots of crying and "Daddy....potty." Now before you go and feel all sorry for them......they were given the chance to go before we changed diapers and put on pajamas and we were met with very polite "No thank you!" and "No, later!". My girls are nothing if not polite!!!!! Of course D lets them try and I know they're disappointed when it's right back to bed!!

And don't think he's getting off that easy! Now I've heard D close the gate in their doorway to leave them and the girls, although not crying, are getting their Daddy to come back one more time with pleas of "Daddy, help you!" "Daddy, help you please!!!" What do they want?? They have gotten out of their beds and are laying in the doorway to their room.......because that's where they like to fall asleep......and they would like their Daddy to please come back and cover them up with their favorite blankets.

Tugging at Daddy's heartstrings.........sneaky, sneaky!! That earns them a few more seconds of Daddy time and as Daddy is coming back downstairs, all I hear over the monitor is lullaby music. We totally have to laugh at their stalling efforts because it's quite sneaky.......and it definitely works!! I wonder what they'll come up with next........

First day down.....many more to go!

So today was the big day. Mother's (ahem Daddy's) Morning Out. I had been giving D pep talks since Thursday so he would be ready. I should have spent more time on the pep talks to myself! We started the morning off with a favorite breakfast all the while talking about how we were going to go and play "at school". Sofia seemed in to it...Olivia just wanted to eat her waffles and bananas.
Of course.....I tried to get pictures before leaving, but the girls weren't having it. We made the mistake of handing them their lunch boxes and it was all over from there -- they didn't want to pose - they wanted to check out what was in the bags! So I had to take what I could get.......Olivia:

Sofia.....who, after much convincing, finally got up and headed towards the car:

As an aside.......aren't you proud of me....I dressed them differently again. What's gotten in to me??!! And before you go and get extremely proud of me for giving them different lunch boxes, I will confess. The girls have the pink ones like the one Sofia is carrying above and we've used them on various occasions. Apparently Olivia's was stored zipped with moisture inside and I tried everything to get the mildew smell out with no luck. And I discovered this last night so we had to improvise for today. Of course Pottery Barn Kids no longer carried the color to replace Olivia's. So what did we do, you may ask? Well of course I had to order both girls a new one. That matches their cute little backpacks which should be arriving any day now.

Oh come on. You didn't think I had completely changed, did you?!?!?! Bless D's heart.....he has me figured out better than I do.....before I even thought to suggest we should order both girls lunch boxes that matched their backpacks he goes "Well.....I guess you need to order Sofia one, too." after I told him they no longer had the same color to replace Olivia's. Yeah. I'm a lucky girl.

So. Back to our morning. We pack up and head to the church, arriving a little early. The girls are happily watching Dora (yeah - I so gave in on that one - usually Dora doesn't come out when we're going 5 mins down the road) and D is pondering what we're about to have to do......

He's thinking maybe it's not such a good ideal after all! After one more (unsuccessful) attempt to get a "first day" picture:

We headed inside. The girls were happily toddling across the parking lot but when we got to the door of the church, they both decided they didn't want to walk. I try very hard to not pick them up (I know my doctors appreciate that!) but I couldn't help it today. We take them to their classroom and it's a whirlwind of putting bags and lunch boxes in cubbies and handing over crying babies. We gave them a kiss, said "I love you and we'll be back soon" and left the room. As we were walking away, we could hear the girls crying and Olivia was saying "Daddy! Daddy!"

Break. My. Heart.

I held it together until we walked outside. And then the tears came. And came. And came. I could blame it on being pregnant....but no. I'll own this one!! I definitely should have given myself more pep talks!!!

I had taken today off so D and I went for breakfast, ran some errands and made it back to the church with about 20 mins before it was time to go in and get the girls. We sat there....watching the clock....and finally D couldn't stand it anymore so we headed in. One of the teachers was putting the kids' bags outside when we walked up and she told us the girls cried off and on for quite a bit, but they settled down. They colored during coloring time. They played. They ate lunch well. When it was time for a ride in the "bye bye buggy" outside, Olivia happily jumped in.....Sofia didn't want to ride so she walked beside it, holding one of the teacher's hands. That one didn't surprise us -- she's not much in to rides!

When we stood in the doorway, the girls were together and were playing with a matchbox car set and were doing just fine. We called their names and when they saw us we got huge smiles along with "Mommy! Daddy!"

So all in all, I think it was a good day. And I think they're going to do just fine. Ahem.....and so will I!!!!