The busy weekend

I will post pictures SOON! I know I've been slacking there. This is the first week of school for Emma (Monday), Brianna (Tuesday), and Kristopher (Thursday)! Micah also has his transition eval on Monday and Kristopher has Kindy 'testing' on Tuesday. So it promises to be an eventful week filled with lots of firsts as well. And hopefully I'll remember the camera for each of those!

Please join me in praying that the timing for Micah to start school and his teacher will all be the best situation they can be for Micah. We were supposed to have all his testing and IEP done over the summer so he could start school on Tuesday, but that didn't happen. They didn't schedule testing until tomorrow. So I have no timeline for when he will start, except it must be at least by 9/10... his third birthday. Unfortunately, Mike and I both feel like this would be really bad timing as we don't want him to feel 'pushed out' by the new baby arriving on the 9th. Not to mention that I will be in the hospital for 3 days at that point and unable to drive for a month after. Not exactly the time you want your child to start school for the first time EVER.

We also don't know which class he will be in since there are 2 prek classes. We have requested he be in with Brianna as we know they will both be ok being together and also are very happy with the teacher and aide in that room (and they've met Micah and done a little 'bonding' as well) but also because it would really make life easier on us to have both kids on the same routine, same requirements, same projects, etc. for 2 years. Once they hit 'regular' school (Kindy), they will be a year apart. Micah will have a 3rd year of prek before going to Kindy, so they won't be in the same class together after that. It's all in God's hands, and we are praying for our own ability to simply accept whatever is decided by the team (yes, of course including US!).

I don't know Kristopher's teacher (I don't think) and will meet her for the first time for his testing on Tuesday. I believe she is the ONLY Kindy teacher at that school that I don't know, which was a bit ironic that he was put in there since I really like all the teachers I do know... but again we're just trusting that this will be a great year for him and that she and he will have personalities that 'match up' well and it will be a good year!

And lastly... Emma's teacher, I believe I posted earlier, will be out for at least the first 6 weeks of school. As of Thursday they still didn't have a named Substitute for the class. They're also working on hiring a short term contract teacher-- but haven't even posted the available spot yet. So we will be bringing Emma in the morning to a substitute teacher her first day ever of school. YIKES! I would be pretty much panicked right now if it wasn't for her WONDERFUL 1:1 aide who we've met twice and the classroom aide that I met on Thursday. I know the classroom will be well-handled with those two ladies and I'm MUCH more relaxed about sending Emma since I know her aide is well-versed in her 'quirks'. That said, I still am sending a 1-subject notebook which has our contact info on the inside cover and the first page says "Please help keep me safe" and lists out the areas of safety concern for her. The next few pages describe her 'equipment' (wheelchair, braces, etc), her history in brief, and what we are currently working to encourage/discourage her from doing (mostly in mannerisms, but some in actual 'goals').

I have similar notebooks made up for Brianna and Micah as well and hope that these will be their 'traveling' notebook that goes to their therapies with them so the OT/PT, and ST can jot down a quick summary of what they worked on and what we can focus on that week too. Hopefully...

Yesterday I spent the day clearing out the kitchen cabinets. I now have a shelf for school-lunch containers, a pantry with no expired foods in it (LOL, yes, seriously!), and the upper portion of the pantry has 'stored' dry goods that I've bought to refill the pantry stash in the next few weeks/months. Today we went to Sam's- just Mike and I, Kristopher and Mike's mom (his dad kept the other kids) and we DID find some good deals on food :) There's a new store just 15-20 min from us, so I didn't buy anything that I wasn't SURE I was paying less for-- and that we didn't NEED. I have already bought other things on buy one get one or other sales and if I had a small stash of something I just wrote down the item and price and when I need it again we'll consider going back for those items.

Thanks for the comments about Sam's pricing, and which things to look for good prices on! As I shopped I realized that several of the things that we buy that we don't really think about as being 'name brand' certainly are. Like... goldfish (which Brianna LOVES), Fiber One bars (another staple for Brianna), Carnation instant breakfast (Mike drinks these), and a few other things. So we picked up those items along with frozen chicken breasts, chicken nuggets, and a lot of fruits and veggies to be made in to... BABY FOOD.

Yes, I'm at it again. I can't continue spending about $25/week on baby food. It just isn't gonna work! :) But this time, since the baby's so close to coming, I'm making about 2 months' supply and freezing a lot of it in 3 oz containers. When they're frozen I'll toss them all into baggies according to their type and label. Then I can grab out 2 'cubes' for each meal for a week at the beginning of each week and stick them in the refrigerator for them to defrost. I HOPE to do at least 2 months worth before the baby is born (maybe more??) so that we don't have to go back to jars too quickly. I know that having the kids in school will make this a little more doable for me too.

Tonight I got out the large container of yogurt and a honeydew and a watermelon and filled small lunch-box containers with small servings of fruit or yogurt to go with kids in lunchboxes this week. Then I made babyfood containers out of the rest of the watermelon and the honeydew (after Mike helped himself to a large serving of watermelon of course! :) ).

Now to find out what it's like to drop your non-verbal child off at school with strangers for 6+ hours. I know it will be ok. But I still don't like that it could-not be.