Quote of the Day

Lil' A was poking at my (still very postpartum) belly the other day. Then she laughed, looked up at me while still poking...

"It's like playdough Mommy!"

Oh my... I'm afraid she's right. Ha!

Stretching Helper

I was stretching after my workout this morning and my little shadow was stretching with me.

I looked over and said "Wow! Look at you... you can touch your toes A, Mommy can't do that."

"I can do it for you Mama!" She says...

Haha, such a sweet helper! If only it were that easy for me.

A Brave Girlie (First Day of Preschool)

Oh my heart... she looks so grown up here!

This girlie started preschool this week. It's an Arabic language school in another part of town that comes highly recommended. 

The first day I went with her and it was a tough three hours. That was only half of the school day but I couldn't take it any longer. There was a lot of crying and some chasing. Poor thing... for sure it's such a hard adjustment... so much 'new' in every area of her little life. And surprisingly, she hasn't shown much trouble at all adjusting to any of it. But the first day of preschool is hard I think, even if it's in a language that a two year old can understand.

Anyway, on day two the head teacher told me to not stay very long, which I was fine with because it hadn't gone very well the day before with me there. But I expected a difficult parting, at least.

So I walked her in, got her settled at the table with her yogurt cup, kissed her, said "I love you" (She said "I love you too") and then I left. She basically didn't care. Ha!

Then I proceeded to think about her ALL DAY LONG. Was she doing okay? Was she crying? Were the teachers frustrated with her? Did she understand what was happening? Would they use English with her occasionally? Did she get bored? Was she too tired? Did she understand that she'd be picked up soon? Would she nap? Did she have enough food? Oh my goodness. And all these thoughts from a Mama who is NOT a 'helicopter Mom' at all (at least I don't think I am).

But then she was picked up by a friend and we went to get her and she was SO VERY HAPPY. The report was that she didn't cry the whole day AND she laid down to take a nap during naptime. Amazing. She is so amazing to me. Such a brave thing for a 2 year old.

I'm a proud Mama of my strong girl! I think three days of preschool will be so good for her and for me too. And it probably won't be long until her Arabic is better than mine...

Thankful.

Quote of the Day

When we were in the middle of our journey back overseas, we had a long layover in Amsterdam. We decided it was worth it with four kids to get a hotel room. Well, turns out a family of six must get two hotel rooms because they were pretty strict about how many people were in a room.

Anyway, the boys and I were in a room together. After we slept we cleaned up. Hudson was in the shower and I heard him singing "It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring..." to himself in the shower. He had no idea I could hear him and that really tickled me!

:)

Meeting Mister B

My amazing friend and birth photographer offered to come back later the day of B's birth to capture the amazing moments when big sibs met baby brother. 

It was such a gift to have these memories. Such a special time. Thank you Jami!

The Velodrome

I like to try new things. So when I saw this crazy slanted bike track downtown this summer, I did a little research (It's called a Velodrome! Olympic athletes train there! They hold events!) and decided it was going to be worth a family outing. I joined the Velodrome's FB group to stay in the loop. And then it was actually months before we made it here. I even put races on my calendar MANY times before one evening when we finally all jumped in the car on a beautiful summer evening and ventured down there. 

And it was so fun. Not much was going on the first visit. But it was a lovely evening outside and there was music playing and the kids were climbing around and we were trying to figure out how bike racing even works. Such a good time! So another time we packed a picnic and went back. 2 or 3 times we went. I'd love to go every summer, although now they built a covering over the track? Which would really change the fun of it if they don't take it down in the summer. 

Serendipity

Today, just a week or so after moving my family half-way across the globe I found this page of Sandra Boynton's "Personal Penguin" book serendipitously opened to this page and propped up on the back of the couch in the temporary apartment we are staying in.

I spent a few moments pondering... I sure hope they feel that way about traveling around with their family! Cause I sure feel that way about them...