Mish Mash

First of all....drop off for the 2nd day of school did not go quite as well.  SOBBING and CLINGING, but I hugged and kissed her and sent her off with her teacher.  I forgot to sign her in and so I had to run back in and I could not hear her crying any longer(yay I would guess it lasted all of 30 sec)  When I picked her up she was excited, said she had a GREAT day and it seems from her report that she ate most of her lunch and even napped!!!  Her teachers are VERY sweet and seem to really like Hayden:)  Yay for us.

Here are a few pics I just got from Miss Yony.  This was taken back in November.  Do you see the
TRUE LOVE between the two??

First day of school.....

Today was Hayden's first day of school.  Other than her wake up time(which I suspected) she LOVED everything about her day!!!  She has lovely teachers who I can already see REALLY love Hayden(which is all I had prayed for) They were completely in awe of her vocabulary(yeah so are we) they said she had lovely manners(just what every mother wants to hear)  So she had a great first day.  Even the drop off went almost without a hitch.  She started to cry as she walked away with Miss D, but stopped within about 20 seconds.  They said they feel as though we can go the full 5 hours next week!!!  I felt so great when I heard about what a great day she had experience.  When I arrived to get her she came running out and was thrilled to see me and said "I LOVE school mommy"  I an so relieved and those long months of attachment parenting when I felt like I had an extra appendage....well I think it all paid off in the end.  They said they felt she was very secure and very confident!!  Yay!!!

BTW did you know how much housework you can get done in just 2 hours when you are home alone with out a 3 foot elf helping you?? Yeah well I didn't and I was running around our house like a crazy lady cleaning as fast as I could possibly clean.  I even made it to the bank, dry cleaners and pharmacy and wrapped a present!!  Think of what I can get done in 5 hours next week!!!  I didn't really have time to be upset as time was of the essence and I needed to get some housework accomplished.  So a bit sad  on the drive home, but it evaporated the moment I walked in and saw the list that needed to be done. 

Thanks for all of the sweet FB msg, texts, emails and calls!!  You were all RIGHT, she loved it and did GREAT!!!! 

Driving to school

Walking in for the first time!!

Her teacher took one on our camera and one on hers(how sweet is that??)

See she is still smiling. 

It was pink and black day and we had the perfect outfit!!

Hayden on the eve of starting school

just me and my girl:)

I love this picture

If there ever was a picture that speaks volumes about Hayden's personality it is right here!!

I know so many of you read and see her pictures and have met Hayden....so you know, but for those of you who have not met her in person, all I can say is this is the quintessential picture of the VERY silly, happy girl that simply oozes personality!!!

Thank you Miss Marcy for taking these of Hayden.  You did a GREAT job!!

On this eve of starting school I have mixed feelings about what lies ahead.  Clearly and obviously it is time for Miss H to head to the classroom.....mommy is out of curriculum, she will be teaching me soon:)  But it is hard to imagine it is already time to share my little lovebug with anyone else.  I know she will THRIVE, and I know she will LOVE school.  I hope she LOVES her teachers, and enjoys making new friends.  But I will be wondering those 10 hours a week(2 days a week for 5 hours) what she is doing, learning and thinking.  Of course I worry that she will obsess about what I am doing(she is like that) and that I am coming back(she knows I am coming back, but of course I worry that she has a smidge of a doubt) I worry that she will cry and I will have to walk away.  I just worry(I am like that)  We have been reading "Llama Llama misses mama"constantly trying to reinforce that school will be fun and more importantly that she can love being at school and mama will come back and she can love being at home with me too!!!  So you will see we have read it enough(it was already a favorite for her...she loves the whole series) that she has memorized a lot of it.  I just love to listen to her little voice.

So we have our outfit all ready to go(tomorrow is pink and black day)  She will only go for 2 1/2 hours for the first few days, so we don't have to take lunch or napmat(which we have a REALLY lunchbox and napmat) So now we just have to hope that when we wake her up at 8:00 tomorrow she is not too irritated by the wake up time and decides this school thing is not all that it is cracked up to be!!  LOL

I will let you know how it goes in the morning.  Please keep both of us in your thoughts for a smooth transition and that she absolutely falls in love with school and all the learning ahead.  Hopefully she is not teaching the class by the end of the day:)

Cheetah girl goes to the zoo

Oh how I love this child and her happy spirit:)

          Giraffes(she loved them)

Roar for the lions!!

places to go, animals to see, things to do.....

Macaws

My goodness she looks so grown up here.  Seriously cute, but grown up.

First carousal ride. 

Our weather was in the high 70's today and so we headed to the zoo.  We haven't taken our little animal lover because we figured it was probably not the instant gratification that she wants at this age.  Well.....let's just say we will be making time for the San Diego Zoo or wild animal park this summer when we head to the beach.  She LOVED the zoo!!  She didn't care if they were sleeping or hiding.  Our zoo is not that great, but we had a wonderful day out in the sunshine and spending time together.  We are excited to take her to SD zoo now:)  Won't be the 2 hour trip through the zoo like we did today.  
Yes we got a lot of looks and comments about her dress and shoes.  You know a lady should always be dressed for the occasion.  LOL

Alive and well and better yet we are BACK!

Snowbunny

60' on H's last day in SLC  so off to the park we went!

My angel right before she and her Daddy left for the airport.

My seatmate and dear friend Keri.  She lives here in Dallas and is just an amazing girl and has a beautiful family.  She and Hayden are BFF's now!! 

This is Christy teaching us the 777(our last airplane to learn)

Okay we are back and no worse for the wear(I think) I was in a class of over-achievers and GREAT facilitators and we blew through the training and finished a week ahead of schedule.  So I am home and can't tell you how good it feels.  We had some VERY tough days on this trip with H.  While I still believe it was best for her to go and have her with me, I would say she believes otherwise.  We had a lot of VERY long nights of inconsolable crying and begging to go home, wanting her daddy and her dogs, pleading for me to NOT go to school again.  I will admit that there were a few nights I pretty much sank to the lowest point of my motherhood career(a lot of tears shed from both of us)  I have doubted myself and second guessed our decision to go to the extremes to have her with me almost 90% of the time I was away, but that is what we did, and hopefully in the end it really was the right decison.  We are home, and hopefully will not be faced with such decisions and stress again for at least awhile.  Now we are just trying to acclimate back to our schedule and routine, trying to get back to mommy being in charge and being a good listener.  Life in a hotel is pretty out of whack, so I think a few more days of routine and consistency will be good for everyone. 

I am officially back to active status, I am trained(again) and I graduated from charm school with honors:)  I have my uniforms and ID, and now just need a schedule for March.  BTW it does feel good to know I have a brain and more than a brain.....a working brain.  I think I took approx 22 test and performed 12 emergency evacuations during my time away!!  As my girlfriend Marcy said " I was rocking stew school"  So it is good to know that I know more than the words to all of the Barney songs....I can now evacuate you from a burning airplane in less than 90 seconds!!!

I want to thank to everyone for the sweet notes,  all the little gifts sent to Miss H to occupy her during this transition.  I got so many great texts and emails and phone calls.  My friends here were awesome in offering great support to David who was trying to weather all the winter weather we had here in TX the first and second week I was gone.  We had some rough spots, but because we have such great friends we made it through with few scars.  So thank you to EVERYONE who played a part in this adventure. 

Enjoy the pics, you can probably figure them out without lengthy captions.  We enjoyed Utah and hopefully when H is a bit older we will return for some ski school for her.

Now we are suppose to be starting pre-school next week.  So time to transition again:)  Wish us luck!