catchup

What a week!!! There is so much to get blogged about so I will start with what is fresh off the top of my brain.

School: One week down and boy was that week a long and tired one. In one word EXHAUSTED. Between starting a new year, all the hoopla with the district, having a new baby and life it makes for one exhausting week. I am at 25 new and individual students, two less then what I expected and we are finally starting to get into the swing of things.

Baby Bridge is trying to get his own schedule down at school but we haven't quite mastered it.

Rocking his two-piece pajama's

 Some days he will get 2 hours of naps at daycare and others it is closer to four.

Would you believe me if I told you these jammies are 12month jammies!!! No Joke

I can definitely tell the days that he is well rested and full usually it happens on day three or four, closer to the end of the week.

Love that smile!

Yes, he is still sleeping in mommy and daddy's room too. Just not ready to move him. I know all the books say it is time, but for us the time is not now.

Baby Bridge's Milestones:

Ready for school!

He is sitting!!!

 Okay I should say is sitting about 5 seconds or so before leaning forward.

Ta-da

But compared to last week we are making AWESOME progress.

The most beautiful smile ever

Bridger LOVES avocados!

This is what happens when mommy tries to pull up skype and have Grammy watch. Foot in the Avacodo!

We discovered this when I was having one and he kept leaning forward every time I took a bit, so I smashed it up and gave him a taste.

That was the first time that I saw him lean in for more with his mouth wide open. O my boy! Love him to pieces.

 Sunday he figured out his tongue so he is busy playing with it, by playing I mean sticking it out at us and rolling it around his lips. Bridger's day care lady asked if he could try some "puffs" since they were giving some of the kids in his class some and she said he seemed interested. I said sure and who would've guessed that boy is trying to keep up with those older kids... he loves them. I do have to break them apart so that they are little smaller but at least he can use his hand and eye coordination and reach for them. My boy turns 6 months on Sunday and it is hard to believe that he is growing so fast.

Best friends

 I packed away his 0-3, and 3-6 month clothes on Saturday.

So sad about that. I have pretty much finished my pumping sessions. I now just go off of whether he wants to breastfeed or not. We are testing different foods and lotion with his skin since he is very sensitive to certain things. We have found out that he needs hyperallergentic bath wash, special detergent for his clothes and so far soy formula. Poor guy, lots of lotion on him at night to keep his skin from drying out.

Weekend:
As a family we took Bridger to the fair.

We went to the 4-H barns and watched the judges judge the long horn cows and equestrian horse riding.

We made our way to the petting zoo and then headed in to visit the homegrown food exhibit.

It's always fun to see what people are able to grow in their gardens.

After the fair it was back home to nap and nap we did.

Bridger and I nap on the recliner for 2 hours.

Then it was up again to go to Garrett's birthday and see all the family.

 No church on Sunday, we slept in till 8:30am. Glorious after being up at several times through the night.

 Then it was  a trip is Costco, Fred Meyer, DSW and back home to get ready for the week.

I almost forgot to mention. I was busy doing laundry when a code/reader error came up on my washing machine. I knew there was no way I could get a technician out to the house on Sunday, so I told Ben to YOUTUBE the code and sure enough there was a video on how to fix it. Low and behold there was a baby washcloth stuck in the drain filter. No wonder the water wouldn't drain. Thank you lord we didn't have to call a service tech guy, who knows what he would've charge just to look at it. I think we will be using YOUTUBE more often for our little household problems.

Classroom, Milestones, the gift of life and a great husband

Holy Moly..... IT'S FINALLY THE WEEKEND!!! Relaxing, haha NOT. But it does mean that I have a break from the craziness of all the activities and events going on at school this past week. Many of you are aware of the news about the school district I work for and I am not going to go into much detail but I will say that this school year will definitely be one for the books.

My desk and the class library.

Open house was Thursday night and after working a full day in the classroom trying to finish up the details and I am proud to say that it is 95% complete. It won't be 100% complete until the end of the year when the students put "their" touch on it but for now I can relax about that part. I almost for got to share that I have a sweet little girl who shares the same last name as me. I'm sure I will have to explain to the class that yes we both have the same name but that doesn't mean she is my daughter!!! That will be an interesting conversation Monday, I can already picture it.

This was taken after open house, most of the polk-a-dots were taken on the board.

I just checked the most up-to-date class list and it looks like, once again, we are going to have a high number of students in the classrooms. First grade is 27 students per classroom!!! WOW! Did I mention that I only have 24 student desks in my class as of right now. Ugh Oh. Tomorrow I plan on going in and finish up putting away all the copies that I made and somewhere find at least 3 more desk. I still need to do some planning and finalize the first week of school activities.

The flower wall is our sight word wall and I still need to add the phrase "Look Who's Growing in Sight Words." Once the students pass a list, there are six, they will recieve a leaf to place on the flower that reprsents the list that they passed.

It sure is hard doing all of this now that I have a baby, but I will say it is alot easier to walk away from the stress and look into my baby's eyes and watch him smile and laugh. That seems to take away whatever I am worried/stressed about.

The chalk board will be our AR Board studetns will earn ribbons to place on the board when they pass a a test or vocaulary test. The goal is to earn their yellow hat. The tree is for vocabulary and the diver wall is for fluency. Students have a huge part in creating these walls.

MILESTONES:
Bridger has found his fingers and it is so much fun to watch him play with them. He is opening and shuting them and then when we mimic him back he tries to do the same thing. Today when we got home from Costco daddy put him down in his car seat to go back to the car and get the diapers to bring in the house, I was standing next to him and he started pointing his toes and watching them very carefully. I touched them and then he would do it again! It is truly a blessing to watch him discover the life and world through his eyes.

Carpet time and concept wall. Constantly growing.

I have heard about how kids have a comfort touch that they go to and use with their mommy when they need a little assurance and loving. Well I have figured out and watch Bridger over the last few weeks and have noticed that when I am nursing him he will take his right hand and rub it along my jaw line. Sometimes when we are just laying in bed or I am holding him he will do it too. He usually will do this until he falls asleep, but it sure it special and makes me feel so loved.

Closer look

Part of me is sad to write this next part of Bridger's milestones, but the other part of me knows that in order for me to be successful this is the right thing that I need to do. I started weaning Bridger from the breast/pumping for most feeding sessions towards the end of summer. The reason was that it takes so much time and when I return to work on Monday my day is so chopped up that it is nearly impossible to find the time that I need and not feel so stressed out. Part of me feels selfish that I am not continuing with breastfeeding because I DO know that it is the best thing for Bridger, but the other part of me knows that in order for me to not stress so much at work this is one thing I can do. I will still nurse him in the mornings and after I pick him up and in the evening but during the day he is on formula.

Bridger is so close to sitting up on his own, I give it two-three more weeks and he will have figured it out. He is still sleeping in our room and getting up several times a night, partially due to the fact that at daycare the last few days he has been SO distracted that he doesn't eat as much so in the evenings he is trying to catch up and wants to feed all night!!! I know this will eventually pass and I am just enjoying it as much as I can! Did I mention that he grunts LOUD. Why, I don't know, just does.

THE GIFT OF LIFE:
The gift of life was celebrated in a beautiful way yesterday for one of my dear co-workers. She battled cancer for 6 years and last Sunday she went up to heaven and met God. It was a long, hard battle and after celebrating her life yesterday with all of her family and friends I feel so blessed to have worked with her for the short time that I did. Death is one of those things that I am so afraid of and now that I have a family it is even more difficult to understand. Kristi left behind a husband and two young boys and sitting there yesterday in the presence of the lord I felt so moved and touched by Kristi spirit that I couldn't help but hold my little boy tight.

A Great Husband
When Ben asked me what I was blogging about today he said, "and a great husband." Yes dear, and a GREAT HUSBAND. Sometimes I go through life and forget to acknowledge and make mention of how lucky I am to have such a great husband. I just assume that everyone knows that, but what I realized was I need to stop and TELL him just how much I appreciate him. Today (Grandpa Parsons -FYI) he mowed the yard. Now for most people that might not seem like a big deal but around here it was a HUGE deal. I won't post before and after pictures, but let me just say he started around 8:30 am and didn't finish EVERYTHING till 3pm. Thank you hunny!!! IT LOOKS GREAT.

WOW! this sure was a very long post. That's all for now have a great weekend.

Last day of Summer Break

I tried not to imagine what this day would be like for a long time.
I remember counting down the days till I would get to spend ALL summer with him.I watched him learn to LOVE the water in the pool, bath and lake.

 I watched him take his first bite of baby food during summer break and I got to watch him learn to roll from back to front, front to back.

He really started to giggle and smile when I would talk to him all during summer break. And can't forget that he loves when we play peek-a-boo and sing ABC's to him.

He loves being read to and enjoys looking at all the pictures in the books too.

This day is very bitter sweet and emotional for me. I know I am a better mommy when I get out and go to work.

But it is SO hard to know that I am dropping him off at daycare to teach other kids and not him.

 I am coming to the realization that in the big scheme of things I will only be gone for 8 hours out of the day, "just keep swimming...just keep swimming." That's what I will be telling myself tomorrow!!!

 I can do it. It will be great for him to socialize and interact with other kids too.

 He loves when he sees his cousins so I am sure when he is around other kids he will enjoy that too.

That's all for now, Bridger's bag is packed, clothes are laid out and lunches are made. Here's to a wonderful new school year!!!

Family Vacation -- Parsons Style

We just got back from Donnelly, ID where we enjoyed a weekend full of family, swimming, fishing, food, and lots of laughter.

It was a much needed vacation right before I head back to work on Wednesday.

We left Boise around 1 on Friday and since we are having such a bad fire season they closed Highway 55 and we had to take the LONG route.


The car was loaded down and we were on our way.

Brian rode with us and we had a nice chat going up.

 It was fun to see parts of Idaho that I have never seen before. Council,ID was booming from all the traffic and reminded me of a little western town you would see in the movies.

Finally around 4ish we made it to Donnelly. When we pulled up Bill and the girls had already gotten there, so it was off to find our bedroom and unpack so we could get the vacation started. Bridger was a trooper and slept from Nampa to McCall, so he was ready to rock and roll once we got there.

Friday night was mexican night, Becky made enchiladas, rice and beans and I made a seven layer bean dip with the help of Audrey and Natalie along with guacamole.

Meanwhile, Grandma played with Bridger and spent time cuddling him.

Such a lucky boy to have his family close by.

I believe Grandpa, Brian and Ben headed down to scope out the beach and decided where they were going to go fishing first.

They unloaded the kayaks and the canoe and headed back to the cabin to have dinner.

That evening Grandma was in charge of homemade ice cream.

With help from Bill, Ben, Audrey and myself taking turns turning the handle I believe in the end there was either 3 or 4 batches of homemade ice cream.

We topped off the night with raspberries, blackberries and huckleberries on our ice cream.

Saturday was the day for the beach.

We walked right out of the cabin through the trees to the beach where we enjoyed the sun, water and lots of pictures.

The day couldn't have been more perfect.

It was sunny, the water was warm and the fish were biting.

 Audrey made some awesome sandcastles, Bridger floated in the water in his tube (and loved it) and

Nat was running around splashing with Ben.

That evening we eat hamburgers, hot dogs, steak and mac and cheese.

We had more ice cream  and finished the night with a board game called, "Ticket to Ride." I LOVVVVVVVVED it!

Bill brought it up and the box said that the game would last about half hour to an hour, by midnight we were still playing it. I still am trying to figure out how anyone could finish the game in that short amount of time.

Sunday came too fast and it was time to pack up and head home.

We enjoyed a wonderful family vacation and we will cherish the memories for a life time.