giggly girl

Sami is such a sweetie. she is so easy going and silly. here's a cute video of her laughing and playing with mommy.

First day of "school"

We decided awhile ago that jamie (and mommy) needed a little change. I LOVE being a stay at home mommy to both my girls, but it is also beyond the hardest job i will ever have. Trying to keep the girls entertained 24/7, and keeping my sanity, gets hard sometimes. Although i know jamie is in the "terrible 2's", i felt like she needed a little time out from mommy and from her normal everyday once in awhile. So we signed her up at a local church that is 2minutes from our house for a Kids Day Out. She will go once a week for 2.5hrs. I think that small amount of time will be the biggest blessing for her and me and sami. She will be able to interact without me and will learn to listen to teachers and follow direction and make friends and just be social. She is alot like me emotionally, and i know how i was with my mom, totally attached and sometimes if my mom was there, all i would do is stay by her instead of venturing out. My mom agrees that space really helped me (and will help jamie) develop in ways that she wouldn't if we were always home together. So this morning we all loaded up and took her to school. Billy even worked from home so he could come too. As we were driving there i started tearing up. We got there and jamie walked right in and was as happy as could be. She immediately started playing and talking to the teachers and even let them hold george, which if you get to hold george, you are in. So we hugged and kissed her goodbye, trying to hold in my tears and left. We both cried on the way home. I was scared for her and felt like i was abandoning her and she'd be scarred for life. Once i got over the weird feeling of her not being home, we relaxed a little bit. We did an errand, played with sami, got a coffee, and 2.5hrs later we headed to pick her up. I walked in and she was playing happy and saw me and ran over and hugged me and said "i missed you momma!" MELT MY HEART! i talked with her teachers and they said she did great. She apparently got a little upset and cried, but they said only for a few minutes and then was over it. They colored, had snacks, played in the gym and then back to the classroom for more play. I was so relieved and felt so good. All my fears and anxiety went away. I know she'll have good days and bad throughout the year (and her life!) but i feel like this is so good for her. Every experience like this in parenting just makes me think of my parents and how they went through all this too, so thanks mom and dad for everything, even for crying while you sent me to school.