First day of kindergarten!

Tonight I tucked in a little girl who just completed her first day of kindergarten. 

The day started early, I woke her up at 6:30, but this morning was different she had a jump in her step, a disinterest in her morning cartoons and an eagerness to get to school. 

She quickly dressed in her new freshly ironed dress and white canvas tennis shoes.  I shopped for a couple of months for the perfect "first day of school" outfit, and I finally found it online 2 weeks ago.  I'll never forget  the tears in my eyes when it arrived, because I knew where she would wear this dress.

We ( all four of us) arrived at school at 7:30 sharp, with my big Nikon camera around my neck like I was a tourist.  The school seemed so big for such a little person, but she navigated it like a pro, showing her Dad and I the cafeteria, library and the playground.

I have to say, I have been really impressed with her elementary school.  Addison had her first visit to the school back in May when they allowed the upcoming kindergarten class to visit the school to play and explore with the other children.  Then in July she went to the school for the screening and the following week she went to visit again to explore her classroom (complete with the class pet, a tarantula).  On Monday afternoon, her teacher and teacher assistant came to visit Addison at our house, where her teacher read a book to her and played with her a bit, so that Addison would become more familiar with her.

Even so, I was a bit worried about my girl today.  I was relieved when her BFF, Cecilia's mom (who works at the school)  called in the middle of the day to say that she had checked on Addison and she was doing great!  When I pulled up to the school to pick her up, I was so relieved to see her walking out, holding the teacher's hand.  She hopped in and said  "I had a great day and I want to go back tomorrow."

So, there's no turning back now....

Lucy....

Some of you may have noticed the button to your left, that's Lucy.  Lucy has become a part of our family, even though we have never met her.  I first stumbled across Lucy and her precious family (big sister Ella, little bro Jack, her mom Kate and father, Erik) on another blog.  At the time Lucy had just been diagnosed with cancer and the outcome was not favorable.  My family and I hit our knees praying for this little girl in Tennessee and our prayers have been answered because this week Lucy walked into her kindergarten class for the first day of school.

Today, Lucy's mom wanted to meet all of the families that have prayed for her daughter in a linky party.  So of course I linked up.  So let me first introduce our little family.

I am the Mom, Keisha.  I am 29 years old and have lived my entire life in Western North Carolina.  I had always dreamed of living somewhere else, but as I grew older I realized that Western North Carolina is a great place to raise my children.  I work as a pediatric dental assistant and I can say that this is my dream job, along with being a mother & wife of course.  I will volunteer at most church activities, especially those of which include children, I love to blog, bake and pulling for our Clemson Tigers.

The Dad, Josh or "Spunky" to which most people call him is 35 years old has been married to me for the past 8 and a half years, works in maintenance at a local community college as he takes courses to become a minister.  "Spunky" is such a great father and husband, even staying beside my side this entire week while I underwent 2 nights in the hospital and emergency gallbladder surgery.  He loves Clemson football, coaching our daughter's soccer team and making our yard the most beautiful one in the neighborhood.

The daughter, Addison is almost 6 years old and will be starting kindergarten in 3 days (yikes!), she loves being mommy's helper, jumping on her trampoline, mac - n - cheese, and playing soccer.  She's a little hyper, but she's our girl!  Her Daddy always prayed that God would give her a BIG personality and he answered that prayer for sure!  We love watching her twirl around in her princess dresses!

The son, Finn is almost 3 months old, even though he's still young, we can tell that he's a complete opposite of Addison's personality, he's very calm, loves to sleep and eat (which Addison never enjoyed at this age), and loves to spend his days kicking on a blanket in the floor.  He's our unexpected blessing from God and we love him to pieces!

So that's our family, and we will continue to pray for Miss. Lucy!


Hugs!

Home...

Surgery went well and I am now resting comfortably at home Praise The Lord!  Thank you for all of your prayers and please continue to pray for a speedy recovery.

12:30...

I will be having surgery at 12:30 to remove my gallbladder at 12:30, all prayers appreciated!

In The Hospital...

Yes, the above statement is true, I am in the hospital :(

Over the weekend I began having a really bad backache, I thought that it could be associated from a massage that I had on Friday and I laid on the heating pad most of the weekend.  I began to feel better on Saturday night and we went and celebrated hub's birthday, but on Sunday morning I woke up with a horrible backache and I felt pretty out of it.  I shook it off thinking that it was probably associated from staying up too late on Saturday night and I went to church, eagerly waiting for nap time.

Around 3AM on Monday I woke up with a bad tummy ache and that same nagging back ache, I thought that it was from eating too much candy the night before ( an entire bag of gummy worms) and went on to work.  Getting through the day was a little tough, but I made it!  I came home and didn't leave the recliner all night.

I didn't sleep at all on Monday night and around 6:15 I gave up and told hubs that I needed to go to the emergency room, we made arrangements for my mom to take care of my beautiful children and hubs rushed me to the E.R. in Asheville.  I was quickly sent for an ultrasound and lab work that confirmed my self diagnosis, my gallbladder needed to come out.

The doctor in the e.r. gave me the option to stay at the hospital or to go home and later meet up with a surgeon.  Being that I was in so much pain, I chose to stay and get an i.v. meds and get the chance to get my gallbladder out sooner.

Hopefully I will get it out tomorrow, please pray that they can do it laproscopically (sp?) and that I will have a quick recovery.  Thank you!

Back to work...

Wednesday was my first day back to work and I really didn't want to go.  I even laid awake in my bed most of the night before, when the alarm went off I was already awake.  I cried off and on most of the day on Tuesday, at one point I was playing with Finn in the floor and my tears began to hit his chubby little hand and he laughed and grinned at me.  When it came time to leave on Wednesday morning my kids were still in the bed and hubs held me close to his chest where I cried again.

I hate being a working mom, granted Addison has turned out well by going to daycare since the age of 9 weeks old, but it's still very difficult.  Luckily, I never missed any of her milestones, I was right beside her when she rolled over, saw her first step and when she said "Mama".  Hopefully that will be the case with Finn as well.

On the flip side, I am lucky to see my kids every weekend, I have only been on two  business trips since I started with my company, and even so hubs came on one of them with me. I am lucky that I see my kids every night and the best part is that I have every other Friday off and 4 weeks of vacation every year. 

I fully trust the center where Finn is going to go and luckily he will only be there about 4 hours every day, hopefully we can leave the yucky viruses at school! 

Choosing to be a working mom or a stay at home mom was never an option for me, I HAVE to work, but I am hoping that maybe one day that I will have the option to stay at home with my children, and all that takes is prayer.  I am trusting that God will provide my husband a job that will give us a sufficient salary and that I can have the choice.  And when it happens I will praise him from the rooftops.

Until then...