Dashy Cat

This is how we rang in the new year...with this little kitty checking everything out!  We were leaving our house to head to a friend's for the evening when a little cat ran out from under our car. I told Josh and Alex to get in the car while I tried to guide the cat to the side yard and leave it. The little sucker was fast and every time I tried to run away she was right there with me. We ended up taking her to our friends house with us. 

We sent an email to our neighborhood and no one claimed her. She was very clean and calm so she clearly wasn't a wild cat. The next morning we decided to put it back outside hoping she would go back home. She stayed on our porch for a while then disappeared. It was around the same time Alex noticed the kitty was not around. We had huge tears when we told we what we did so Josh walked the neighborhood looking for her. He never found her. I went out a bit later and heard rustling in the lot beside us and out came kitty. I went inside and showed Josh. He told me to get her and call our friends to see if they could watch "our cat" until we got back in town!!!

We picked her back up Saturday evening and have been getting her adjusted to our house. Cooper adores her and loves to try and play with her tiny little bell balls we bought her. We have been calling her Dashy. Sweet little Dashy went to the vet today and they confirmed she is in fact a she, is not micro chipped and is 5-6 months old.  So it looks like we have a new family member. She is fitting in quite well! We all already love our little Dashy Pie Stafin!

Happy 2014

This year will be my year to be a better blogger. My post may not be lengthy, but they will be more frequent! I find myself with at least 45 minutes to an hour in the carpool line every single day. Why not use some of that time to blog?

We had a fantastic, American Girl filled Christmas! 2 days after Christmas we had a trip to the AG store, saw Shin Yun in Houston, then took Alexandra to see Pirate and Princess with another sweet family!

We rang in 2014 with the James family...and also grew our family by one.

Meet Dashy Pie Stafin, the lucky little kitten who found us on New Year's Eve. 

We are currently celebrating our 3rd Christmas with Josh's family and I'm savouring the last few days of time off with the family. Josh took off the 2 weeks Alex was out of school. 

First Few Days

So far we are 3 days into kindergarten and I can already say I LOVE Alex's teacher. On Monday evening she emailed me a pic she took of my sweet girl. She also wrote a little about her first day. It made me feel so good to know her teacher took the time to email me, and every parent, so help settle nerves :) 

We continued with our milkshake tradition we started last year. I think it's one of my new favorite things. This year Josh joined us. It was so sweet to sit and share milkshakes with my two loves while Alex shared all about her first day of school. 

On her second day of school Alex told me she had to go to the nurses office. Poor baby got a nose bleed at school. :(

We have moved Alex's bed time from 8:30 to 7:30. She wakes up so tired. I know it's just because she is getting used to longer days at school. It feels so weird to put her to bed while it is still light outside. After her bath each night we snuggle on our bed for a little while and play games on the iPad together as a family. It's such a sweet little ending to our day. 

The one thing I am still trying to figure out is drop off and pick up. I've walked Alex into her kindergarten pod everyday so far. She has decided this morning will be the day she goes in alone!  It takes about 5 minutes to drive to her school and another 15 to actually get through the line to drop off. The afternoons are crazier. Parents seriously start lining up a little after 2 for carpool. School gets out at 2:55. I'm still playing with what time to get there. Yesterday I arrived at 2:30 and was so far back in line I wasn't even in the school zone. Its hard to tell in the pic but this is just the line waiting to turn into the school. Once you turn in, you still have to snake through the parking lot.  They actually have sheriffs out directing traffic every morning and afternoon.  By the time I had Alex in the car it was 3:15. I've heard it gets better as people get used to drop off and pick up, but I've decided for now I need to take a book with me and be used to spending 30-45 minutes waiting in line for pick up. 

First Day of Kindergarten

My sweet only child started kindergarten today. I had mixed emotions. She was so excited about it. At meet the teacher we found out she has 2 friends in her class. That was such a huge relief for this mama. We only knew a handful of kids at this school and we were lucky enough to get 2 of them in her class. 

From what I hear, her teacher is AMAZING! She has taught first grade in the past and is now teaching kindergarten. We know several children that had her and they only have positive things to say about her.

Alex's school is a pilot for different concepts they are looking to roll out to the whole district. One is very short tables with the kids sitting on the floor. So far Alex thinks it pretty cool! Her class has 16 kids. At her school several teachers "loop" with the children so they have the same teacher for kinder and first and they keep the same class mates. There is a very good chance that Alex's teacher will loop since she has experience in K and first. We are crossing our fingers this will be the case!

We kept a our tradition of going for a milkshake after school to talk about the first day. The first thing she told me was that she LOVES her teacher!  She talked non stop about her day, her friends, new friends she made and everything she did. I am so excited to see what the year holds for her!

Kindergarten Prep

Alexandra will start kindergarten in less than 1 week! We have been talking about school non stop and doing lots of things to get ready for school. School supply shopping, hair cut, lots of play dates with friends we won't be at school with and of course, supplementing her closet with school friendly clothes and shoes!

We received our invitation for meet the teacher so Friday Alex gets to see her actual class room for the first time, meet her teacher and hopefully see a few familiar faces in her class. Most of our friends are going to a different school than Alex, but she will have a handful of friends at her school so I'm hoping she will have at least one friend in her class. 

I can not believe my girl will be starting school Monday. I'm so excited for her but my heart aches a little every time I think about it.  I had grand plans of using this week to work on waking up early and getting Alex used to waking up before 8 so school won't be as hard next week but that plan flew out of the window. Instead we've had semi lazy mornings snuggling and enjoying our last week of summer. 

We met Alex's 4 year old teachers for lunch Monday along with a few friends from the class she won't be at school with. 

5 year checkup

Alexandra had her 5 year checkup today. At her 4 year checkup we talked about our families history with high cholesterol so Dr. Henderson decided at 5 we would start monitoring Alex's cholesterol. We discussed it with Alex and she was very anxious about having blood drawn.

The appointment started off great. She aced her hearing and vision test. She weighed 41.2 lbs and was 44.5 inches tall. She's grown 3 inches in a year!!!

Then it was time to have blood taken. Thankfully it was just a finger prick, but she did not take it well. We also had to get a urine sample. I'll just say getting a kid to pee in a cup...not easy.

We waited for her results and found out her iron counts are low. I need to make sure her vitamins have a good amount f iron in them. We also received her lipid panel. Her overall cholesterol was in a good spot, her bad cholesterol was a little bit high, her good cholesterol was low and her triglycerides were at an acceptable number. So her next screening will be at 9, unless he sees a need to do it sooner. Since she is active in many different activities and slender, he doesn't see a huge need to be concerned at this time. So to be proactive, we will make sure we stayed physically active and try to get omega fats in her! My poor girl with he bad cholesterol genetics :(

Happy 5th Birthday!

 

Dear Alex,

Here it is...your 5th birthday already.  It feels like just a month ago that I was carrying you around in your car seat, and now you're so close to starting school!

It's funny, you have hit an age that I can remember myself.  Each day is a new fun adventure and the smallest things make you giggle and smile.  In a way, it makes me sad to know you just keep racing ahead, growing older every second.  In another, it makes me so very happy and so proud to watch you grow.  And in even another way it makes me reflect and appreciate those tiny things that make you smile so much.  It's easy to lose sight of the small wonders we all see every day and without you I would miss them, I just know it.

Not a moment goes by that I'm not thinking of you and everything you mean to me.  I miss you when I'm at work, but I know that I'm there making sure you have the best possible life and that you never have a worry in the world.  I miss the days when you just sat there wide eyed and cooing at your "dada" but I look forward to the things we get to do every day and the things we have yet to do.

I love you Alexandra.  I have loved you from the moment I first saw you and you will never have a moment in your life where you are not loved completely, fully and truly by your daddy.

Happy birthday my sweet bunny.

XOXO - Daddy-O

My girl,

How are you already 5? The last five years seemed like they passed in a blink of an eye.  I can't believe this is the year you will start real school, spend the majority of your time with your friends and teachers away from me.  I cherish every single minute we get to spend together.

I have been so lucky to spend my days with you, watching you grow, playing with you and having you fill my days.  You are the sweetest little girl I have ever met.  You are so funny, caring and thoughtful.  I could just sit and watch you play and laugh forever.  I love hearing you sing in your sweet little voice from the back seat when we are in the car.

You have truly changed my life.  I never thought I could love anyone as much as I love you.  You complete our family in a way I never imagined possible.  You light up our house every day.  Every night when you go to bed, Daddy and I talk about how much we love you, how cute you are and how you crack us up all day long. 

You are my baby, you always will be and no one will ever love you as much as we do. 

I love you now, forever and always,

Mommy