24 days = school

I am excited and apprehensive for the start of school.  I have begun doing some clothes and supply shopping but still have more to do. I'm making my best attempt to think of everything that could go wrong on any given morning while getting 4 kids ready to go. It is very often like herding cats when we try to get all of them ready at the same time to go somewhere. 

On Monday E started at MiniTexans, a Christian Learning Center. It was too much for me to take him on the first day. He cried quite a bit and has continued to do so each day we've taken him there. We don't plan to take him everyday or at least for full days…..but there is just only so much stimulation and teaching we can give him at home (especially with the daily drama we currently have). 

Today I picked him up after he was there for almost 8 hours. He didn't look like he was having too much fun (the room is for 18 mo. olds who don't seem nearly as active as E). It broke my heart. When I walked in the room he quickly ran to me but was almost crying….as to say: "I'm not happy you left me here all day." When I asked how he did they said, "he was sad". Oh, mama's broken heart! 

I hate that he's not thrilled to be there but I know it is a great Christian environment for him to learn and gain social skills. Plus, it will give Ry an oppurtunity to work during the day when they are all in school. I'm just praying it gets easier for us both!

As for Krys, she too, started school at MiniTexans this week. She is eligible for Pre-K with the school district but since the curriculum for the 4 year olds at MiniTexans was comparable and included biblical teachings we decided it was best to keep her at the same place as E. So Wednesday was her first day and we were super concerned with how this would go…..mostly because of her lack of desire to use the toilet. We talked it up and reinforced the fact that she couldn't go to school if she peeed her pants. We also bought her a backpack to make it really feel like "school".  And…….it went terrific! The teacher actually told Ryan that Krys was a joy to work with! Hooray!

And for Kate….we have a meeting set up with the principle to discuss whether or not she is ready for first grade. We don't want her to be bored in Kinder again but at the same time we know her maturity isn't quite up to where most 1st graders are. Either way she is registered (thanks to my super husband) and guaranteed to go to Leon Springs, right up the road. That also means they can ride the bus and I don't have to drive anyone before going to work (great for me!).

Xochy is not really excited to go back to school. She is such a free spirit that I don't think she likes the boring day-in and day-out of school. I am enrolling her in dance classes though. She told me she wanted to take Ballroom dance lessons which I thought was great. I couldn't find a place that offered it for kids her age here in SA. There is a place that is pretty close to the house and does offer Hip Hop. She went crazy excited when I told her that. So, I guess she'll be doing hip hop. She is already quite good at imitating Camp Rock and Hannah Montana dance moves (and memorizing them for that matter!). I think this will be a great thing for her.

So, if you have any helpful tips to get 4 kids ready for school for this first time Mom—–please let me know! 

So much is happening around here 24/7….I can barely keep up; much less find time for blogging. The benefit of my blog (as I've already discovered with X & E) is it documents life so when I scrapbook it is all right there for me. Not that I even remember what scrapbooking is! 

So this is going to be a lot of documentation….just to record everything that is going through my mind right now:

-E began "school" at Mini Texans on Monday. I couldn't bare to be the one to bring him (and leave him). Ry said he balled as he left. Yeah, if that was me I would have been balling as well. The teachers said he did very well though all day. Amazingly enough….he even took a nap on his mat! (We thought for sure that would never happen). We'll only be taking him there part time depending on my work schedule and Ry's work load.

-The computer makes Kate psychotic. Literally. Friday she threw a huge fit with my mom over not getting to be on it (throwing chairs, hitting my mom, etc.). She has pretty much lost it [the computer & her mind] every day since b/c her inability to share it with X. She goes crazy for those blasted Webkins. The interesting part about this is seeing her analytic mind at work. She is so logical and "engineer-like" (as I like to say). Such a stark contrast to X who is creative and free spirited.

-The behavior boards are working well. I think I'll make a post specifically about them.

-Krys is going to be moved up to "specialty" level of care due to her need for 24/7 supervision. Lately we haven't been able to leave the room for 5 seconds before she is getting into everything she knows she is not supposed to, or hitting someone, or going outside, or whatever!. It's very frustrating. The girls saw their Phychiastrist yesterday where he changed some medications and confirmed the fact that her history clearly shows violence. She begins "school" at Mini Texans tomorrow as well. Hopefully she won't terrorize the classroom and will enjoy the structure and play. She will be going everyday once school begins on Aug 25 for Kate and X.

-X is so amazing with her music/drama/dance ability. She has completely  memorized the dances, songs, and moves to everything in Camp Rock. The other day she did a performance of "Here I am" with one of the play guitars that was pretty incredible. And….she doesn't have any fear to do it in front of people as James and his girls were over. I really want to get her enrolled in some dance classes when school goes back. Voice lessons would also be cool as she loves to sing all day long. Ry and I were talking and could totally see her being one of those kids singing in church at age 10. It's like she has performance in her blood.

-Psychiatrist said to Ry, "Whatever you are doing keep it up b/c this is the best behavior I've seen"

-Ryan is so amazing in his ability to get stuff done. He continually impresses me everyday with managing all the phone calls, paperwork, and junk that is required to have 4 foster children.

-I'm starting to see more and more gratitude from Kate and Krys. I took them to the pool on Monday and they thanked me as we walked to the pool saying, "Thank you, Mommy for taking us swimming" and afterwards thanked me again because they had a fun time. That makes me think there is hope. If they realize there are rewards to good behavior and they are thankful for those rewards when they get them….it could lead to more good behavior.

-We went to an over-the-top birthday party for our neighbor, Sarah, 2 doors down on Saturday. The kids had a great time. There was cotten candy, snow cones, popcorn, the blow up water slide, donut eating contests, huge cupcakes and ice cream, and personalized party favors. I can't imagine what this birthday party cost. 

I've been wanting to blog these photos…. Krys is such a model for the camera. She'll go into absolute model pose when I get the camera out. Humurously, she happens to play the "mean" model with all her looks!

She's wearing E's Diego back-pak that he got from my Aunt back home. They love it and claim it as their own. It's good for hoarding toys.

Oh, how glad I am that today is almost over. Sadly, my day off work consisted of getting to Walgreens at 5:15am for Inventory, Kate and Krys's  4.5 hr lunch, 2 peeing in the pants, 1 pooping in the pants (not E), 1 vomiting, and one screaming E who wouldn't let me do anything in the kitchen without him.

But in my efforts to be optimistic…….I must say that I am thankful for the time out shopping with my Mom, matching plaid skirts at The Children's Place, getting Ry some zucchini muffins made, having inventory go terrific at my store, and watching Jon & Kate +8 to restore my sanity.

In the end, I put Krys to bed and just prayed over her the entire time. She will get better in time. 

I can't believe it's already Saturday night! Time flies when you're raising 4 kids and working full time. The rest of my week went good. The kids and I went swimming on Friday at the LifeTime Fitness pool. E and Krys squealed so loud with excitement. It was great. Then E pooped his pants, which wasn't super and brought horrible flashbacks of the Shigella incident back in June.

I also spent some time this week planning out my 30th Birthday trip to New York City! I am elated to be going to my favorite place (in the United States) with 3 awesome friends. Kara, Sam, Angela, and myself will hit the Big Apple on Sept. 19 and return on my birthday the 22nd. My first time in NYC was with Sam back in March 2001. Neither Kara nor Angela have been there before so it should be awesome experiencing everything through their eyes. This will be my 7th visit to NYC, so hopefully I can be a good tour guide. 

March 2001 – Sam and I on Spring Break

July 2003 – Ryan and I: 9 hours

August 2003 – Ryan and I

November 2003 – Girls weekend trip

April 2004 – Ricardo, Mariam, Ryan and myself for Mariam's 30th Birthday

June 2007 – Visiting Ry's parents who were living there at the time

I'd pass on the turning 30 part but if it means I'm back in NYC….I'll take it! 

My mother made it safely to San Antonio last night and officially survived her first 24 hours in the newly revised Newcom house. It's great to have her here…Ry has been able to work most of the day today even though I had to work. Hooray! I, too, hope to get a couple of misc things on my to-do list knocked out while she is here.

Happy weekend to you. 

Work went good.

The evening went good.

Praise God.

it doesn't seem that bad.

But in the moment of the everyday life–this is not fun. I'm trying to focus on the small progress we've made and rejoice in those but, no lie, it is hard to remember them. There just seems to be so much drama every day. After they are all in bed and I've had time to regain my composer, I convince myself that it really isn't that bad. And truly, I can't decide if it is that bad or if we are just still working through getting adjusted to one another. 

Tonight, as Ry hung out with the guys for his birthday, I cleaned, did laundry, baked, and pondered being grateful and faithful. Because truly, at the end of the day, I want to be able to ask myself if I were those things today. "Was I grateful?" "Was I faithful?"

Here's my list of gratitude for the day:

• sleeping through my alarm and getting more sleep than I wanted but that I needed.
• the kid's Pediatrician, Dr. Garza. He is awesome.
• talking to Angela
• not working at the store but instead had meetings at the District Office.
• my new contacts (I'm getting tired of my glasses)
• Ryan's patience with the kids
• Kate eating all of dinner (which even I didn't think was that good)
• getting all the kids down to sleep by myself and with relative ease
• The Devil Wears Prada on the kitchen DVD player while I cleaned
• Costco membership
• Ryan's zen moment of the day cleaning out the tupperware cubard
• My staff Rph Larry taking care of a compound Rx problem so I didn't have to
• Camp Rock (even though it the songs get stuck in my head and drive me crazy–the older girls love it and thrive on singing and dancing to the music for hours.)
• Gluten free/Soy free recipes from Mom Newcom

I must remain faithful to Christ's calling on our lives. Not every day will be easy. But this is my life. It is a crazy life….but I am confident it is the life the Lord had planned for me.

 

This is Kate proudly displaying her oven mit which Ry started putting on her hand during dinner so she couldn't use her fingers to eat food.

X dancing to Camp Rock songs.

Finger-painting outside the other morning….two words: TRAIN WRECK!