Sept 8, 2012

School is going well. It's been 2 weeks so far.  They like their teachers and we're settling in to the routine at Somerset.  The kids all have great teachers.  And it's so great that so many of their good friends switched there too.  I'm really enjoying having a routine again and getting a chance to clean the house up for a few hours a day before it's destroyed again.

Seth started preschool last week.  He loves it and he's doing so well.  It's with Miss Kathy.  Aaron and Rachel went to her too.  He definitely wasn't ready to sit and listen to a teacher last year, but this year he's enjoying doing all the fun projects and being independent.  I'm so proud of him.

And Ruby is loving her time alone.  I was worried she'd be bored without Seth, because they are such great buddies.  But she loves it.  She doesn't have to share anything.  We would play in the playroom a little together and then she was happy to play on her own too.  But the best was one day when we dropped Seth off at school and then went to the store and when we pulled into the parking lot she exclaimed "It's only me! It's only me and you!"  And she loved it.

We leave for our big trip to VA and DC late Thursday night.  Things have been a little crazy the last few weeks to get ready for it.  I had some big website projects that never got done during the summer that I need to get done.  And there are so many house things that just never got done over the summer.  But I'm finally getting on top of things and this week will still be really busy, but I think I'll get it all done and I'm excited for our trip.

My hip rotated again.  It's been so good for several years now.  But this summer I stopped swimming because it was making my headaches worse, so I was going to spinning classes 3 times a week and I think that was just too much for my hip.  I went back to the physical therapist.  He said it was rotated posteriorly if that's a word.  I think that's the way it went after I had Seth.  But it went the other way the first time I had the problem.  He said that's more rare, but easier to treat.  It's feeling a lot better already.  But at least I'm learning a lot more how it works and how to manage and hopefully prevent this when it happens.

My headaches have been really bad since school started.  Maybe it's from more stress from my extra projects.  I don't know.  It's so frustrating how it can be ok for a while and then it comes back so bad for no reason that I can see. 

Our Be Awesome theme went over really well.  We have it framed at the top of the stairs and we give an "I'm Awesome" award to one kid each week.

We also started a money system with the kids this week.  The teasing and whining had gotten a little out of control through the summer.  So I got some fake money and a bunch of candy they can buy in "the store" and we set up 3 rules.
1-Mom or dad will only say something or answer the same question 2 times
2-Do what you're supposed to without complaint
3-No teasing or fighting
They can earn 3 dollars a day if they keep all the rules.  If they break a rule they don't get a dollar.  They can buy things in the store with their money on Saturdays or they can buy computer/tv time for $1/30 minutes. 

I'm hopeful that this system will help a lot of issues.  I've also started saying prayers with Aaron again.  I just get lazy and forget how helpful that is, but then his tantrums and negative attitude get so bad I can't believe I ever stopped.