The school year is off to a good start so far! I think Grace has the best teacher she could have in the 1st grade. Holden likes his teacher as well. She is organized and lays clear expectations, those are situations he can thrive in. Having 2 of the 3 kids gone for half the day is definitely different!

I had a difficult time with letting Grace go. I started this stay at home gig after she was born. We have been through a whole lot together. I have been there for all the firsts, boo boos, bathroom issues, all the fun...and now I had to hand her off. When she was holding on to me for dear life the night before the first days of school with her bottom lip turned down and her salty tears dripping onto my hands, it was hard not to cry with her. Instead, I had to tell her she'd be okay and love school. She would have some new freedom. She gets to be more independent. But, I wanted to cry too and tell her that I wish she could stay little for longer. I wanted to keep her home with me.

She got off to a great start. She seemed to feel confident with her big brother there to get on the bus with her and sit by her. He would get her into the school and come down to her room and get her when it was time to go home. She got off the bus that first day and ran in for a hug and then realized the bus was there with all those kids and she hesitated...gosh, I can't believe we are in the "you are embarrassing me" stage!! It is not like I come out looking like a crazy lady! By that time of the day I have a bra on, my hair is done, and I am out of my comfy clothes! She asked me accusingly, "How long was I at school?" I said, "About 7 hours." She said, "7 hours!!!! 7 hours!!! What? I don't think I like school. That was WAY TOO LONG!" By Thursday she was over the "7 hours".

I was so caught up in loosing Grace, if you will, that I paid little attention to the fact that I would have Liv all to myself! That started to sink in and I started to get excited about getting to do all that little kid stuff with her. When you have older kids all that little kid stuff doesn't happen as much. I have realized that running errands is a whole lot easier with just Liv. She no longer tries to jump out of the cart within the first 2 minutes, rather I get about 20 minutes now before she gets antsy. I think she wanted to get out to run with the big kids before. I let her do that once or twice and not a good idea!

She is the kid that would pull the bottom apple off the display and 20 would come tumbling down. She would proceed to punch every box on the bottom shelf to knock them over. She would take a bottle on a shelf and hurl it as far as she can and laugh...and then go for a second. So it is nice to now not be in a full sweat by the time I leave a store. We signed up for a parent/tot gymnastics class that happens weekly. She LOVED her first day!! She got to run around, dance, jump on legit things, and play with other kids. We are also going to do an ECFE class. I have not done one of these with any of the other kids, so it is something to look forward to. I get to just focus on Liv and that is really cool.

Another really great perk about having two kids in school? I don't have a big lunch mess to clean. Liv will eat anything so lunch is not a big argument. Liv just follows me around the house and stops to play with one or two toys here and there so the house stays clean. Liv takes a nap from about 12:15 to 3:15!!!! That means I have 3 hours, 5 days a week to myself! I am getting lots and lots done! And contrary to what an unnamed brother might think...I don't ever sit down;) I guess what I am trying to say is, I can get used to this! Grace have fun at school:)