a long 13 years

If the next 13 years is anything like the past 4 days it's going to be dreadful. My poor kid isn't adjusting to Kindergarten very well. I haven't gotten it from his teacher but from what he tells me he cries every morning. Poor Taylor has walked him to class and doesn't want to leave his crying brother either.

I've asked him why he doesn't like it and here's the list...

1. Bubba can't stay with me.  (well, Bubba is in 4th grade so....)
2. I have to stay too long.
3. They call me names I don't like. (He likes Booboo, not Landon)
4. I don't have any friends.
5. I don't get to rest.
6. I want to sleep in every day.
7. The bus ride home is too long.

I hope that when I see his teacher she'll tell me how great he's doing. Surely, this has to get easier.

Booboo

I’m blaming it on the fact that in a few short days I’m going to be 35 and I admit that I’m a huge bundle of emotional mess. Or maybe I’ll blame it on not enough sleep instead of getting old. Or maybe it’s all the changes that are going on in our life. One minute I’m laughing hysterically at something my kids say or do, the next I’m just before tears at something they say or do. It’s all just happening so fast. It’s so cliché but it’s also so true.

Seems like yesterday that I decided to stay home and be a full time mommy. Not long after that our world was blessed with another little boy that stole my heart the moment the Ambien wore off (I’ll post about that fiasco another day). He came into the world a whopping 9 pounds with a head full of dark hair. Taylor was convinced that we were naming him Froopie but soon after we brought him home he was renamed Booboo. I’m still not sure how that happened but it stuck. Bless his heart, he’s been called Booboo for 5 years and now he’s off to kindergarten and people are calling him Landon for the first time in his life. It’s a nice name but he’ll always be Booboo to us.

I wonder if I did him an injustice by never putting him in preschool or day care. I felt like when I was staying home that being a full time mommy was my job. I didn’t think anyone else should take care of my babies. Now I wonder though if it was fair to him that he’s never been in a classroom and he’s never been left with anyone other than family or friends for any length of time.

I dropped him off this morning at school and didn’t walk him to his class. The moment I drove away I regretted that decision. I have thought about this day for a while now and had decided it would be better for him if I just drop him off and let his big brother walk him to class. It would allow him to go straight to his class without clinging to me and both of us ending up in tears. I believe the plan worked except I still had a few tears.

Ya know, on second thought I’m glad I never put him in day care or preschool. I don’t regret a single moment that I spent sitting on the chair nursing him while Taylor snuggled up on my lap or teaching him how to write “Booboo” instead of Landon. I don’t regret a single play group or getting to experience him dressing as Spider Man for 7 months straight. It may take him a little longer to warm up to kindergarten than some of the other kids but I know he’ll be fine. As I wipe the tears from my face thinking about the last 5 years that I was blessed to be “just a mommy” I am so thankful (and emotional). I can’t wait until this afternoon when I can hear all about his day and then tonight when I can snuggle up next to him just like when he was a baby (minus the nursing).

Here are a few pictures from Booboo’s ½ day last week. He cried that morning but it turned out to be a great time for him getting to know his teachers and a couple of his new friends.





He's goofy when it's just us but a little shy when other people are around.



I could seriously eat this kid up!





Ok, so this isn't school but it's what he did the weekend before school started. He LOVES to fish and
could stand at the pond for hours! 



Will Not Quit

Over the past couple years I've pretty much labeled myself a quitter. I'm not looking for a pitty party here, I'm just saying I've given up on some things because of other things being more important. For example, I enrolled in school (AGAIN), went 2 semesters and decided it was too much. I'll admit, I beat myself up, and still do a little about giving up (AGAIN). I had to make a decision though, weigh the pros and cons. I decided that spending my weekends with my face in a book and computer were not as important as being with my kids, going to football games and just having fun. Maybe I put "FUN" too high on my priority list but I'm doing this life thing one time and doing it fun with lots of laughter is how I want to go out. I want my kids to remember growing up with a mommy that puts fun right there at the top of our list as eating and sleeping. So, back to my school dilemma, I am officially a college drop out AGAIN. It can wait, my kids can't.

Last year in May I ran my first 5K. I had commited to training for this race and by race I mean I just wanted to finish without walking. I wasn't trying to beat any of the other runners. I did the Couch to 5K running plan that I downloaded onto my iPod. I have a neighbor that would occasionally run with me and I remember one day when we had to do a longer run (25 minutes I think). I wanted to stop so bad. She kept encouraging me. It's not much longer...it's not much longer. I wanted to push her in the ditch but she was pushing her baby in a stroller and didn't want to hurt the baby. (I'm kidding, Katie!) When race day came I was so thankful for that encouragement. When I crossed the finish line it was an emotional moment for me. I had committed and kicked that trail's butt!

This brings me to right now. I got lazy over the past year, didn't work out and about a month ago I made the commitment again. Let me just break this thing down real quick. It's 3 days a week for 8 weeks. On week 9 you graduate to running the entire 5K. Each week is a different amount of jogging with walking in between. It gradually builds up to running the entire time. Last night I completely week 4, day 1. It was a 5 minute warm up walk, Jog for 3 minutes, Walk for 90 seconds, Jog for 5 minutes, Walk for 2.5 minutes, Jog for 3 minutes, Walk for 90 seconds, Jog for 5 minutes, then a 5 minutes cool down walk. It was drizzling rain and I was dodging frogs in the road but other than that I survived. I'm not going to lie, it was tough but momma's got this!

Dodging frogs in the drizzling rain. A few almost got slaughtered by some pink Brooks!

The sun finally came out last week after almost a month of raining plus I got new shoes for my old lady feet! It was a good day!