The World According to Alisa: Back to the ol' routine

We are back to the ol' routine! Gavin started pre-school last week, going full days Tuesday and Thursday and I am in my 3rd week back at work. Brenda comes on Mondays to watch Harper and Gavin and Miss Ella comes the rest of the week. Jon's routine never changed over the summer, so he's still just working. It is definitely different being a working mom with 2 kids - it's hard to give them lots of time before I leave for work in the morning. Harper is now officially sleeping through the night, which is good, but when she doesn't wake up until after 7am, it's a bit chaotic trying to spend time with her and Gavin and get out of the house at a decent time to get to work. When she wakes up in the 6am hour, things go a little better because I have alone time with her before Gavin wakes up and then I can spend some time with him over breakfast. It's different!

Gavin did great on his first day of school - eating lunch and taking a nap there are big changes for him! He still brings something with him each day to school and puts it in his backpack for safe keeping until he needs it for nap or the ride home. Today was a "doll" named Cubby (any other Jake and the Neverland Pirates fans?), last week was a teeny tiny bulldozer! I think having a bit of a routine for a full day will be good for him. He's such an active little guy that I think he needs the structure and newness that school can provide. On his first day of school, I buzzed around my territory in order to be able to pick him up at 3 - I barely made it! So I took him for a shake as a special treat and of course I was drilling him about his day - did he like it, how was his nap, are the kids nice, does he like his new teacher, etc. So after I got about one sentence out of him, he turned to me and said "Mom, I just want to drink my shake". To which I replied, "But I didn't get enough information about your day yet". Gavin then said, no joke, "I played with trucks, I had juice and they played music at nap time. Now did you get enough information?"

Did I mention he's smart?

Harper is probably the easiest baby in the world! Gavin was an easy baby (it's the 3's that are going to kill me), but I think Harper even trumps him. She wakes up with a big grin each morning, has a bottle, plays for an hour or so and then lays down for a nap. This process repeats itself 4 or 5 times during the day with one longer nap after bottle #3. She rarely cries and is so alert to her surroundings it's fun to watch her look around. She still hates tummy time but we make her do it so she can learn to lug that big ol' head up to a 90 degree angle like she's supposed to. She holds her head up fabulously if you are holding her, but actually lifting it up from a laying down position is a bit tough for her, but c'mon, she's got a lot of weight to contend with. Her pediatrician said she would probably be a bit later in her milestones that require muscle because she is >95% and so needs more muscle strength to left her head, sit up, etc. She has given a small chuckle to me, but no big laughs yet - and I'm trying everything! I get a small he-he when I blow raspberries on her neck, but that's it for now. I'm waiting....

She likes to have a blanket or her clothes in her hands all the time. She's a spitter-upper so I am never without a burp cloth (or 3) and that's usually what she is holding on to. Makes it difficult to catch the waterfall of spit up sometimes, but she doesn't seem to mind, it seems to give her some peace! She's probably just biding her time until she can whack Gavin with it when he gets too close or too loud to her (as he usually is)!

Gavin on his first day of school

We are still struggling with quiet, kind, gentle, calm - these are words that are apparently not in Gavin's vocabulary. Here is an example of being "nice" to his sister while I attempt to take a picture!