Back to School

Well, obviously the school year has begun.  I have said goodbye to long summer days where I have time to play with my boys, surf the internet, work on projects around the house, and basically do what I want to do.

Now my time seems so limited.  I come home and scramble through supper, bathtime and bedtime and then have to rush to get lesson planning and prep done before I'm too sleepy to focus on it.  We've started lots of new curriculum this year, so I'm starting from scratch (seems like, anyway!)

We've only had two days of school so far, and it's been good, but BUSY!  I'll be glad when we get a good routine/schedule going at school.

Gary is proud to be a 4th grader!  He picked out a Cars 2 backpack for his 4th grade year.  We are excited that there are NO UNIFORMS at school this year, so he can wear what he wants!  The polos and khakis look great on him, but it's nice to be able to wear some of his stripes/plaids and character shirts as well.

He's starting off with mainstreaming for specials and recess.  On Thursday he came home and was frustrated because he couldn't find his homework.  He just couldn't quite believe me when I told him I was sure he didn't have homework on the first day of school!  Hopefully he will be just as excited to get homework done this week when he really DOES have some to do!

First Tooth and Baby Food!

I can't believe that Sammy has his first tooth!  I noticed on Wednesday that it looked like there were two whitish bumps on his gums where his bottom teeth would come in.  I couldn't feel anything, but it looked like his gums were slightly swollen.  He had his 6 month checkup later in the day, and his doctor said she could feel a little tooth coming in.  Later I checked myself and sure enough, I could barrrrrely feel a tiny tooth just barely breaking through!  Now, you can visibly see his little tooth poking up :)  And it's a sharp little tooth!

Wednesday was Sammy's 6 month checkup, as I mentioned, and he's a growing boy!
He weighed in at 18lbs 3oz and is 25 3/4 inches. We passed Virginia (his PNP) as we went to the scale, and she started laughing when she saw him.  I don't remember her exact words, but she said something about how adorable he is and how much he has grown.  I love going to see her, because she adores Sammy!  He's been seeing her since he was born.

I have been busy this week making baby food for Sammy.  I finally have figured out how to use the blender to make a nice smooth puree.  I have made peas, sweet potatoes, pears, peaches, carrots, and green beans!!  There's a good supply in the freezer now, so hopefully he will eat them for awhile.  His favorite is definitely the sweet potatoes!  I gave him some when they were fresh and still warm and he gobbled them up!
Now he is eating solids 3 times a day.  Sometimes I give him a Ritz cracker and he likes to chew on it.  He usually eats about half of it and drops the other half!

I'm enjoying these last few days of summertime.  Tomorrow is my last day off and I go back on Tuesday :(  I'm already thinking that I am going to miss so much time with Sammy.  However, I am very grateful for the time I have had this summer!!

Last Week of Summer

Well, it's been a wonderful summer, but unfortunately it can't last forever.  I head back to work next Tuesday.  Today I took the boys to one last summer movie.  We saw the movie Flushed Away, which Gary was very excited about!  He has seen it a few times, and has a little Roddy character from the movie from McDonalds or somewhere.  He has been playing with it quite a bit lately, so he was really happy when I told him that Flushed Away was going to be this week's movie!  Of course Roddy had to come along with us :)

Sammy did pretty well with the movie this week.  He's starting to get a little squirmy, so I was kind of glad this is the last movie for awhile.  He loved..LOVED smacking his hand on my box of popcorn.  I let him do it for a little while because it was definitely keeping him entertained! He likes to sit in my lap and push his feet and lift up his bottom.  I started rocking him side to side when he did this and a few minutes later I realized he was asleep!! Luckily he slept for a good bit of the movie, so that was nice!  Gary was glued to the movie screen the whole time.  He was curled up in his seat, munching on his little box of popcorn.  So sweet! 

After the movie, we stopped at the video games as we usually do and Gary had a good time playing his favorite racing game.  He came in 3rd place...that was the 3rd time in a row that he has come in 3rd place, so he enjoyed that. We stopped by McDonalds for lunch, and Gary was excited to get a new Smurf figurine...Vanity Smurf :)

Next we headed to school.  I really don't like spending much summer time at school, but since I had to pack up and move my classroom in June, I have a lot of work to do.  I spent most of the time looking around my classroom and trying to figure out where to put all the furniture.  Donnie came by for a few minutes and we moved most of the big items.  I still need student desks, and I'm hoping they will fit.  Its hard to have everything unsettled because I want to be able to start getting everything else organized.  We are kept so busy with meetings and staff development at the beginning of school, so I'm not sure how much time I will need to pull it all together!

Anyway, I'm just going to enjoy my last days of summer.  Sammy has his 6 month well baby visit tomorrow.  Saturday we are going to a baby shower, and then Sunday is another pool party!  Fun fun!! :)

Time to Eat!

If there is one thing Sammy loves, it is to EAT!!!  His favorite is Mommy Milk, of course, but more and more he is loving his solids!  The last few days he was fussy and unsettled at some point in the day.  I finally sat him in his high chair and gave him some food and yep, that's what he wanted!  I tend to think he is a bottomless pit, because he never seems to get full!!  I will feed him and he just keeps opening his mouth for more!  He especially likes pears lately!  He just slurps them right off the spoon if they are not mixed with cereal.  Yum!

I had intentions of making and freezing baby food for him this summer, but haven't as yet.  I tried using my little food chopper for some avocado awhile back, but it couldn't really blend it enough.  There were little chunks and Sammy didn't really like that too well.  Last night I cooked some green beans from a garden that I had frozen.  We had some left over so I put them back on the stove to simmer for awhile and then Donnie put them in the blender.  They came out great...every bit as smooth as Gerber!!  I saved some of the Gerber tubs, so I filled two of them with the puree and put them in the refrigerator.

Today I put some of the puree in a dish with a tad of Mommy Milk to thin it and Sammy gobbled it up!!! He ate most of one tub and just loved it.  It has kind of inspired me to start making at least some of his baby food.  I think I can at least do green beans, peas, carrots, etc.  Those are very easy to cook and then toss into the blender.