An Update

It's been a while since I posted, and so I'm just going to try to catch you all up on everything! Let's see, I'm not even sure where to start. So I'll start with work. School is still going good, my kids are getting better with routines and I am starting a spider/bat unit next week so I've had that on my brain.

Okay, now for Alexis. She is getting so big. She is almost 17 months old now, and I still can't believe how fast she has grown up. She is also talking up a storm! She can point people out in pictures, and a few objects out in books. She loves Elmo, but it terrified of her Elmo Alive that she got last Christmas. She has over 30 words (I quit counting!), and most of them are amazingly clear. She is also starting to put together small sentences. She's also quite funny, and just silly. She makes me laugh everyday. Here was our conversation this morning when I went to get her.

Mommy: "Hi Lexi!"

Lex: " Hi Mama!"

Mommy: "Did you have sweet dreams last night?"

Lex: "Yeah."

Mommy: "What did you dream about?"

Lex: "Boys, Boys! Yay! Boys!"

Mommy: " Oh dear...."

Boy is one of her newest words. She's really hilarious. Anyway, she also loves her sleep! The kid still takes two naps a day and they are two long naps. I've been waiting for 7 months for her to give up this stinkin' morning nap! It's crazy, but she sleep two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. Crazy. She is also more than happy to go to bed at night. Tonight, my parents were over and she was playing with her blanket, and dad said "Night, night Alexis." She turned to us, waved said "Night night" and took off to her bedroom and tried to get in her crib, at 6:30!! She didn't even make it until 8:30 which is her usual bedtime, but we had a busy day too. she never makes a peep though. Also we have had an appearance of the terrible two's!(Or a few...) I was wondering when they were going to show up. This kid can pitch one heck of a fit!! This is a very trying time as a parent, but it's not going to last forever, right? RIGHT??? :)

A long time ago I posted about us leaving the church we were attending because we weren't happy with it. Well, we found a new church and have placed membership there. We are much happier, and I think that this is a church that we will really be able to be involved in. Our minister is from Harding, and so are a lot of the other members. The feel of the service reminds me of Harding chapel, which is great for those of you who have never been!

They also have a lot of good programs for the kids, and one of my Delta Gamma Rho sisters is in charge of the children's ministry there! So, it's great and we are happy there. We had a fall festival tonight at church. Complete with yummy chili, and other good food. The kids dressed up too. Alexis is a pumpkin patch princess this year, and it was freezing, but luckily I remembered to buy tights, and of course we had her coat, which she got chili all over, but it's washable! She also got to jump in one of the small blow up things, which was fun for her, and we got some great pictures!

"Mrs. Banell!"

My kiddos at school are funny. Most of the time. They can't say my last name so I'm Mrs. Banell. They even say Mrs. not Miss. I'm impressed. Anyway, the other day I was playing with some of my kids during center time. I really like to move around the room during centers. It's so much fun! Anyway, I heard a couple of my boys yelling at me from across the room, "Mrs. Banell! MRS. BANELL!!!" I looked at them and said "yes?" And here is how it went.

Kid: "Mrs. Banell come eat dinner with us."

Me: "Okay. What are we having?"

Kid: "Fish."

Me: " I don't eat fish."

Kid: "Come on, you know how to pretend don't you?"

Me: "Yes, well okay fish it is."

(Sitting down "eating" the fish.)

Kid: "It's good huh?"

Me: "Oh yes, but I'm so thirsty. Don't you guys have anything to drink?"

Kid: "Yep, here ya go. You old so you get to drink coffee."

Me:" Thanks."

Kid: " I'm done. You're the girl so you clean up."

Me: "Ha! I'm the teacher, and I say you have to clean up."

Kid:" Okay, worth a shot!"

Our Weekend

Our weekend was super fun! Alexis has been a little clown all weekend. We've done a little shopping, a little eating out, a little napping. Well rounded. We also went to EcoFest at the park. Interesting. There was no free stuff, and I was sad. But, it was totally worth it for the free mac and cheese!! There was a restaurant giving out free samples of mac and cheese with bacon in it, all homemade. Delicious! All three of us ate some, but too bad it's not on their menu until they move locations! So, okay, there was one free thing.

Today I woke up with a terrible sore throat, headache, nausea, and a stuffy head. I stayed home from church while Michael went. I took some dayquil, and felt much better by later in the afternoon. I'm starting to feel yucky again though. Anyway, while I stayed home from church I also kept Alexis with me because 1. She was suppose to nap the whole time Michael was gone, and 2. Michael and I are taking a membership class, and if he was in there and Lex wouldn't stay in class there would be no one to stay in class. So she stayed with me, got up 2 minutes after Michael walked out the door. I let her cry for about 20 minutes and decided that she wasn't going back to sleep. So I put on The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland for her for the millionth time. A few weeks ago ( or a while ago) she started saying Elmo. Except it came out as "Elbow", or "Elboo" When I put in the movie, when the lady on the horse (umm...Tristar maybe?) came on she RAN to the tv shouting "ELBOO, ELBOO!!!" And clapping her hands. I was laughing so so hard. It was just the company logo. Anyway, she was glued to the tv until Michael came home, so I was able to rest on the couch and watch the movie with her.

Later tonight she thought it would be fun to run and look at the "pish" (fish) by hanging over the end of the couch. Then if that wasn't scary enough, she started lunging and jumping! I was making dinner, and Michael was working at the table. So, I said in my best mommy means business voice "Alexis Anne sit down, or you will get down." That little stinker laughed at me. So hard in fact she nearly toppled over the edge of the couch on her head. I ran over to her and set her down in the floor. She was rolling. She ran to the couch to hop back up, and I grabbed her as she was on her way up. She laughed so hard. Then she started saying, "get down, get down, get down." laughing the whole time. She's so precious it's way to hard to stay mad at her, but I stuck to my guns and didn't let her back up there. I read her a book to calm her down, and she forgot about the "pish". But, maybe I need a new mommy means business voice.

Long Time Waiting

Wow...Things have gotten busy around here in the past few weeks. I forgot over the summer how hard it was to be a working mom. No time for me, that's for sure!! I'm loving kindergarten more and more everyday. I was a little iffy about this grade for the first two weeks, but this week has been much better, the whole two days of it! It's HARD! Kindergarten/PreK teachers should get paid 10,000 bucks more a year than the other teachers. There is just that much more work! It's still lots of fun though.

Even though I'm working full time now I still have lots of time for Alexis. My late afternoons/evenings consist of lots of playtime which, of course, I love! Alexis is doing so great! She is learning lots of new words. Her most favorite thing to do is to growl! We run around going "ARRRRR" and chasing her. The child loves to be scared! (in a safe environment of course!!) She's definately going to be my scary movie watching, jumping out at me around corners kid. She's crazy, but oh so much fun!!! She's also saying "Hi!" a lot less often now, and her vocabulary is expanding.

We have also all be so sick. Well, almost all of us. Alexis woke up in the middle of the night with a 102.8 fever. I immediately thought she had the flu. A lot of my kids were out with the flu last week. She didn't though, and we had to fight a high fever for about 4 days. She was waking up at about 2 or 3 every morning and I ended up bringing her to bed with us because she was so sick. She would finally end up going back to sleep once we all got comfy. But, she is better now, and snoozing in her bed until morning again. It's much nicer. Except, now I think she is cutting another tooth so I'll probably get some more early mornings. She can never sleep good while she is cutting a tooth. Michael also got sick. Not as bad as Lex, but still pretty bad. I, somehow, managed to keep myself well. I had a little sore throat, and I felt kinda bad, but nothing major. Thank goodness! I don't have time to get sick!!

Labor Day weekend was great! By monday everyone was feeling better. So, we went to the mall to go the Rhea Lana sale. It's a consignment sale. We ended up getting Alexis 14 pairs of pants, 12 shirts, 1 coat, 4 jackets, 4 dresses, and a pair of p.j.'s for $129!! So her wardrobe is set, and it was relatively cheap for all that we got. The best part was that some of the clothes were brand new. They still had the tags on! Plus, mom and mawmaw bought her some more jammies and dresses, and a few shirts. (Thanks again!) Michael found $75 shirts on sale for $6.98 at Dillards. So he got a few of those. I however, found very few bargains for myself, and I'm the one who had all the birthday money!! I did manage to find a few more shirts that I can wear to work.

That's about all that's going on here. I've gotta go get Lex milk, and plan a lesson!

Umm...I need to finish the laundry.

So yes, it's laundry day around here. Actually it has been since Monday, but we won't go there. I need to finish up at least Alexis' laundry tonight. This is her nightgown tonight. It's actually an old t-shirt of mine. When we went to disney when I was maybe 8? It was the 20th anniversary celebration of Disney whenever that was. She looked too cute in this old t-shirt of mine that I just had to share!

And... I guess Piper was checking her diaper?!

Mommy's Milestone

Today I had a breakthrough with Alexis. We haven't sent her to class at church yet, because church just so happens to be right smack in the middle of her morning nap time. So I usually let her nap at home, get her up for church early, then she would sleep on me or Michael during church. Lately, she has not wanted to take naps if there is anything going on around her, or if anyone is at our house to visit. So, today I decided to not let her nap hoping it wouldn't turn into a big mistake. So off we went to church with a tired baby, hoping she would nap out of exhaustion. Church just energized her. She wanted to run and play and most of all yell "HI" to everyone that she saw. She was so wiggly that we almost couldn't hold on to her anymore so off we went to the cry room. That really didn't help, and she just can't understand why she's not allowed to run around and play especially with so many kids around her. So our church offers a nursery from birth to 18 months, and another from 18 months to 2 years. When they turn three they get to go to children's church until they are in the 3rd grade. I haven't sent Lex to the nursery because all they do is play during the church service, and I didn't want her to think that when we go to church we play. AND I'm slightly overprotective of her and didn't want anyone other than family to watch her. However, today as I watched her kick her way out of my arms and run around in the cry room I decided that I'm just not going to get her to sit still with us during a whole church service at this point. So, apprehensively I took her the nursery and dropped her off. She has never, ever, ever been babysat for any length of time by anyone other than family. I didn't think she would stay. I kissed her on the head, told her I would be back in 20 minutes, and turned around and left. I left fast and didn't look back. Michael was kinda confused when I came back without the baby until I explained where she was. I told the nursery worker where we were sitting in case she got too upset.

Well, no one came to get us, and when we went back to get her she was playing in the floor with a little boy and a toy with a huge smile on her face. I had to call her about 6 times for her to come to the door so that we could leave. But, once she realized it was me calling her she ran to the door. The workers told us that she was very good, and that she and another little girl were walking around the room jabbering to each other in their own little language. I was so proud of her for staying and playing so good. Especially since she's not used to being around other kids a lot, and not away from us. I was so happy that she was happy, and it made me a little less scared about her being away from me or family. So, we are going to try this for now. Hopefully, it won't backfire on me and she will understand when she is older about sitting in church and that it's not play time. But, if it does I guess I will know not to do this with my other kids. So that was my milestone: leaving her alone without family or me. I was very proud of myself. :)

Today It Is Very Beautiful!

Today is so lovely outside! It feels like the end of September! This morning was a true Saturday! We all slept in (even Alexis!), and then we all had a yummy breakfast we played in the floor together for a little while, and then we all took a nap. When we all got up we decided to take Alexis to the library for the first time. I'm kinda surprised that we've never taken her there before. Anyway, we ran into a friend of mine and Alexis talked to her for a little bit, and then we went to the kid room. Alexis played with the kitchen and tables and chairs, a little girl about her age was in there, and we of course looked at books and we ended up taking four home. Then we came home for some lunch, and went to Wal-Mart. They have their outside summer toys on clearance, and we bought her a sprinkle mat. We are fixing to go outside and play later today. Well, apparently Alexis isn't wanting to taker her nap today so I'm fixing to go and get her. She's been in her bed for over an hour singing, laughing, talking, and whining.