First and Last

Spencer started preschool last year at the end of July.

Take a trip down memory lane here

My work schedule this year was the basis for Spencer's school schedule.  I worked on Monday and Wednesday mornings so he went to school during those times.  I also worked on Tuesday, but Michael is home that day.

Today was my last day of work (hooray!)so it was also Spencer's last day of school.  I am off for the whole month of July and when school starts again in August I will be working all day Tuesday and all day Thursday.  Michael will again be home on Tuesday and Spencer will go to Megan's house on Thursday. 

Since we'll no longer need child care during my work time, Spencer is starting at a new preschool.  He'll go Monday, Wednesday, Friday.  It's PM preschool so no more rushing around in the morning trying to get us to work and school on time.  I'll also be able to volunteer in his class.  I'm excited about it.

Here's the little munchkin on his first day.

And here he is almost a year later on his last day.

Wednesdays are water day so he wore his bathing suit to school. 

I left my camera with Spencer's teacher today.  She took some fun pictures for us.

Spencer's teacher, Ms. Julia 

The owner of the school, Mr. Todd 

The educational director, Ms. Darlene 

Spencer had a great time going to school this year.  We will miss everyone there, but are looking forward to a new school and a (dare I say) better schedule next year.

Big doings

We live in a 4 bedroom house.  Michael and I are in the master bedroom.  Ginger sleeps with us 70% of the time.  For the first year Spencer slept with us 100% of the time.  Now he's in there about 5% of the time.  Spencer has the 2nd bedroom.  The 3rd bedroom is our guest bedroom.  The 4th bedroom has served a variety of purposes.

Now, stick with me because this is going somewhere.  I promise.

When we first moved in, in August 2009, the 4th bedroom was our playroom.

It was also a TV watching room after Spencer went to bed.

The playroom lasted for 7 months, until March 2010, when we moved all the play stuff out to the family room because it didn't work to have the toys separated from where we spend our time.

Then the 4th bedroom was just kind of a catch all room where we kept extra stuff.

That lasted for 5 months when we moved everything out and I used it as a work space for sanding the hutch.

1 month later, in September 2010, when I was done with the hutch, we moved a full bed in the 4th bedroom and turned it into a 2nd guest room.  I don't really have a picture of that.  You can kind of see the edge of the bed in this shot.

That lasted until April, 2011 when we got all this furniture from my aunt and uncle.  Spencer took the full bed and we moved two twins, a desk and a dresser in to the 4th bedroom.

It was pretty cramped.

Which brings us to now.  You may or may not have heard that we have a baby on the way.  Spencer didn't sleep in his own room until he was three, but he still had a room and I intend for this baby to have one too.

So, last weekend I cleaned out the entire closet.  Emptied it.  Completely.  This is where we have been dumping stuff for almost 2 years.  It contained everything that we didn't know where else to put.

I put everything from the closet on to the twin beds.  Our nephews will be sleeping in these beds next week so I did this intentionally so I would HAVE to clean the beds off.

It actually wasn't bad.  This was all that was left after 1 day.  I filled a huge box of stuff to give away.  I'm donating a bunch of old suits from my days of working at the senate to Dress for Success.  The rest was random paperwork type stuff and photo albums.

I finished within 2 days.  Then we moved the beds and the dresser.

And stuck the huge desk in the closet.

The plan from here is that we will take down one of the beds and put the crib in that spot.  We're also debating taking off the closet doors and hanging a cute curtain in its place.  We'll use either the top of the dresser or the top of the desk as a changing table (with a changing pad).  

And for those of you wondering- here is the plan for the baby regarding sleep methods and sleeping arrangements:  We have no plan.

I had a complete sleep plan when Spencer was born and none of it ever worked.  For years.  He just wasn't a baby that would take to anything we tried. And it was bitterly disappointing.  So if I don't have a plan this time then I can't be disappointed and I can't feel like a failure.

  We're just going to go with the flow as we discover what type of baby we get.

I tell you, it is the most liberating thing I have ever done.

But I do have rather specific plans for everything else.

Any suggestions for nursery themes?

Dreams

This is Spencer sleeping in his bed.  Looks cozy, huh? 

Apparently not.  Apparently this bed in the breeding ground of "nightmares". (Please note that nightmares is in quotes.)

On Thursday night he started screaming for mommy at 3:00 am.  I ran in to his room. 

Mommy: What is wrong?

Spencer: I had a nightmare.

Mommy: What was it about?

Spencer: There was a man and he had chocolate in his hair and he was being a BAD LISTENER!

Mommy: OOOOOK.  And that was scary?

Spencer: Yes.

Mommy: I'm tired.  Would you like to just come sleep with us?

Spencer: Yes.

(artist's rendition)

Friday night he started screaming for daddy at 3:15 am.  Michael ran in to his room.

Daddy: What's the matter?

Spencer: I had a bad dream.

Daddy: What happened in your dream?

Spencer: There was a golden butterfly and I hit its wings.

Daddy: That's not scary.

Spencer: Yes it is.  I want to sleep with you and mommy.

Daddy: Whatever.  Just come on.

Saturday night Spencer started screaming for mommy and daddy.  I opened one eye and told Michael to check the clock because I bet it was around 3:00.  Michael looked and it was 2:55.  I told him to convince Spencer that he could, in fact, continue the night in his own room.

Michael: What happened?

Spencer: I had a scary dream, Daddy.

Michael: Tell me about it.

Spencer: There were a bunch of trees.

Michael: No dice.  Trees are not scary.  Go back to sleep.  In your own room.

It wasn't until this morning that Spencer told us that the trees contained a bunch of people who were growling at him.  Growling tree people are legitimately scary. 

Whatever, though.  He slept in his own room until 8:30.

Little Fadder's Day

We were still in Tucson on Father's Day.  Oh, and Spencer is still calling us Little Lady and Little Fadder, so it was Little Fadder's Day.

The day started with some beautification. 

It's important to look good for special holidays.

My dad did a little paperwork.  This is where my dad can be found 45% of the day.  The piles never seem to get smaller though.

Then Spencer helped to make waffles.

You couldn't get something this good at Denny's.

After breakfast we took some family photos.

This would have been a winner if Spencer had been looking. 

And if we weren't all washed out with sunlight.

This would have been a winner if my brilliant dad hadn't been blocking the flash with his finger.

This is winnerish, but it was the best we got.

Spencer took this picture of grandpa.

Then sat on top of him for a photo op.

Spencer insisted that daddy sit on his lap for a picture.

And then the other way around.

I insisted that Michael get a picture with his daughter.

After all the picture taking we let Spencer play in the sprinklers while we packed the car.  Then we drove home and ordered dinner in.  No crowds.  No tip.  It was great. 

Michael picked BBQ, so we ordered ribs, sweet potato tater tots, cowboy beans and cole slaw.  The cole slaw had a vinegar dressing with lots of caraway seeds and fresh dill.  It was the most disgusting cole slaw I've ever tasted. I actually spit a mouthful of it out into a napkin.  The rest of the dinner was tasty.

A Father's Day Retrospective: