First Day of School

As usual, I'm late on getting this post up. Better late then never, right?

Jayla's first day of Kindergarten was on August 20th. She was so excited to be going to the "big girl" school and meeting new friends! I on the other hand was a wreck. I wasn't ready for her to enter public school. I could go on and on about my fears of public school.

Surprisingly, I didn't cry not once that day but I think I got it all out the day of Orientation. I did get choked up when she told me she was a little nervous when she woke up.

Her teacher said she did great on her first day of school and seemed to adjust really well. My mom works with the school district and went to Jayla's school to check on her while she was at lunch. I had no idea that my mom was going to check on her but it really put my mind at ease because I was reassured that she was eating her lunch and was having fun. 

If you asked Jayla what she learned on her first day of school she will tell you that she learned how boys leave the toilet seat up and girls leave it down. Of all the things to retain in the day that is what stands out the most to her. She cracks me up.

To complete the first day of school I picked up a giant cookie cake for her! She loved it and I scored a few cool mom points.

 

While she was enjoying her cookie cake she informed that I put her shirt on backwards and she fixed it at lunch. I guess I lost those cool mom points that I just earned. In my defense, it was early in the morning and I'm use to her nice shirts having the buttons in the back.  I don't think it was too noticeable. If you look at the pictures you can how some don't have buttons and the last one does.

 

 
 

A Birthday and a Graduation

August has been a busy month for us and at the beginning of the month we celebrated my birthday and the hubbs' graduation.

This year I was dreading my birthday. It meant that I'm that much closer to my 30's. I don't want my 20's to end. They have been an absolute blast! No one was going to let the day slip by no matter how much I tried. Jayla was the main one not letting me forget that it was approaching.

The hubbs took Jayla shopping for my birthday and my little girlie girl took Daddy down the make-up isle. While they were shopping in the make-up isle Jayla got quite the kick out of it because Daddy doesn't know anything about make-up. Surprisingly, they bought me BB cream in the correct shade.

My mom got me a new stand mixer seeing how I blew the motor in mine at Christmas time. I was pretty excited about that, I have been missing my mixer.

She also surprised me with a cake and she just had to put the infamous clown on it. Let me tell you about these clowns, they are old, older then me. I don't like clowns and I despise those clowns that they put on every cake that they can for me. They think they are hilarious when they do that. I'm not amused. I'm actually surprised that they didn't find their way to my wedding cake.

My wonderful bestie, Sarah from With Dirt On Our Face sent me a birthday surprise! She wasn't going to let by birthday slip on by either. What are friends are! I was seriously surprised when the package arrived! I also decorated my own cup with out realizing it. She is a sneaky one!

Overall I had a nice relaxing birthday and I'm excited to see what 28 brings my way.

Now onto the graduation. A few days after my birthday my husband graduation with an AA in Applied Science with a concentration on Welding. He graduated with a 4.0 GPA. I couldn't be more proud of him. After he graduated he landed a postition teaching welding at our local College. He is quite excited about that. While he was in school he discovered that is something that he really wanted to do and now he can. Between his normal job in the day and teaching 3 evenings a week I hardly ever see him.

 (ins't my grandma the cutest?)

Lessons In Back To School Shopping

With Jayla entering Kindergarten this year and the list of school supplies in hand we were excited to go shopping and pick out all of her supplies. Along the way my excitement quickly wore off and I learned a few things along the way.

My state's tax free weekend is this weekend coming up. Anything school related, supplies, clothes, bedding, electronics, etc, is all tax free along with all the sales that will be going on. I wasn't going to battle the craziness of tax free weekend for her small school supply list when they were already having the same sales this past weekend that they will have next weekend. I am planning on going out in the craziness for some school clothes and after shopping for the supplies I am debating on how much I really want to battle that, but I will be battling that alone.

I'm all about giving Jayla choices and letting her pick her own stuff out and that is where my lesson in back to shopping comes in. Do it by yourself, leave the kids at home. Seriously, it would have been so much easier if I had just done it by myself.

One of her supplies is a clipboard, Walmart(no we don't have a Target) only had some zebra and cheetah prints for $2.98 and I figured I could get her one cheaper somewhere else so I told her we will get one at Fred's on the way home. Fred's is kind of like a Family Dollar just in case you didn't know.

We get to Fred's and she picks out a pink translucent one. Pink her is favorite color so of course she picked that one out. While waiting in line to pay for her clipboard I grab a small bag of trail mix for 99cents. I ended up leaving the store with only the trail mix because the clipboard rang up for $3.50. I'm not paying more for a lower quality, flimsy, plastic clipboard when I could have got the zebra print one at Walmart that Jayla said she wanted more.

I told her we will head back to Walmart right now before we head to the next town to pick up your bookbag that I ordered. As we are walking out of the store I hear crying and I look down at her and this is what I see.

 

 I'm confused as to why she is crying and this was seriously my exact reaction.

 

 

I finally got it out of her as to what she was crying about through the crocodile tears that are pouring down her face.I was not expecting the answer I got. Can you guess her reasons for crying over the clipboard even though she knew she was going to get the one she wanted more? She was going to miss the pink one. Yep, that's right, she is going to miss it.

 My only reaction to that craziness was

 

 

 

 

Once we get back to Walmart to get her zebra print clipboard guess what she finds. A pink zebra print clipboard. Once again, she is in heaven and my patience for this back to school shopping crap is wearing off quickly.

Remember that 99 cent bag of trail mix I bought, yeah I didn't get to it because when I was opening the bag it ripped and the whole bag went flying all over the inside of my car. Just my luck.

Now that the clipboard situation is under control I drive 30 minutes to pick up the backpack that I ordered. Jayla and I had already looked on etsy and picked out a cute one to order until she saw a picture of the backpack that her best friend is getting and she wanted it. Her friend got blue and Jayla was getting pink. They were cute chevron backpacks and it was cheaper then the one we had picked out on Etsy so I was down. I get to the little boutique and the backpacks are a lot smaller in person then they appeared in the picture and they have Jayla's monogram wrong. Go figure huh. The lady said it actually happens quite a bit with over the phone orders. You would think that they would figure out a way to eliminate mix ups over the phone. I was suppose to leave the store with two backpacks, Jayla's and her best friends. I only left with her best friends. I was even more aggravated at this time and was ready to pull my hair out.

Once we get back into my town I decided to make a stop at a store just by the off chance that they had cute backpacks and the first one I see is the one I was prepared to go home and order from Etsy. Score! I have a happy child, she is in love with the backpack! I pay for the backpack and go to take it off of her so we can monogram it and the tears start to flow again. She didn't want to leave it at the store but wanted to have it monogrammed. The amazing lady that was there told Jayla that she will put hers in front of everyone else and have her backpack ready in a couple of hours. 

After the day I had that was seriously awesome and now Jayla has a cute backpack for school and she told me that she likes that one better then her best friend's backpack. Score!!!

Isn't it cute!!!

 Learn from me people, go back to school shopping alone!!

Swim Like A Fish

Jayla loves swimming and being in the water and we have been battling getting her to take her floaties off and learn to swim to with out them. She likes being in the water as much as a fish does.

It's even on our Summer Bucket List to get her to swim with out her floaties and we have accomplished it!

She maybe more like a drowning fish at this point but I am so proud of her and I'm sure by the end of the summer she will have it down pat! 

I also have a video to share with you of her first time swimming with out the floaties.

Along with crossing off the swimming without floaties we can also cross off counting to 100 flawlessly but she counted to 154 before she decided she couldn't go any further.

I am one proud mama of my little girl

Festival of Discovery

We are big barbecue fans in my house. I'm such a sucker for good barbecue and that is why the second weekend of July in my town is one of my favorites. I look forward to this festival every summer. The whole town smells like one big barbecue pit and you can smell it for miles. It is a Kansas City Barbecue Society event that just gets better and better every year. We've had Food Network's Guy Fieri, and TLC's BBQ Pittmasters attend the event before.

You can never go wrong with good barbecue,carnival rides,crafts, friends, family, and blues music playing in the background. This year me and Jayla went by ourselves and had a girls day while the hubbs was at work. 

They have a Taster's Choice where you buy tickets and you go around to the people competing and they give you samples of their amazing bbq and you vote on your favorite. The tickets are $1 a piece and you fill up quick. They give you nice size samples. I bought 12 tickets for Jayla and and I. I ended up giving 2 away to an older couple because Jayla and I were stuffed. You really do fill up quick. The competors serve you anything from pulled pork, brisket, ribs, and hash. I don't do hash so I'm on not wasting a ticket on that crap.

My favorite team was Big Red's Barbecue. Seriously the best ribs I have EVER had! They were beyond perfection and I'm already wanting more.

Jayla seriously enjoyed all the barbecue that she ate, and she ate almost as much as I did in barbecue. I'm still shocked at the amount she ate because she doesn't eat much. She said that piece of brisket was her favorite. 

After we got our fill of the barbecue we went and checked out the crafts. In the past, the crafts have seriously been lacking, to the point of not even going to look. There were only a few and the stuff they were selling looked cheap and crappy with a high price tag. I love my crafts and love supporting handmade stuff but they have just flat out sucked in the past. Luckily, it was the past. This year there were many new craft vendors with quality items! I even scored a new tumbler. I love my cups.

 

Once we were done with the crafts I headed on over to take Jayla to ride the rides. We always do the rides last because they are kind of out of the way from everything. It seriously is the safest and only place they can really have the rides. Seeing how the rides are out of the way and the last thing we do I always park near them. The people working the carnival were the nicest workers and they all looked presentable and clean. They definitely didn't fit the mold for carnies

I hate ferris wheels and Jayla loves them. Normally hubbs takes her on those but with him at work I knew I was going to have to suck it up and ride with her. It felt like the longest ferris wheel ride ever!

(excuse the crappy picture of me sans make up and crazy hair. It was a bit humid and had rained a little while we were there)

The view from the top of the ferris wheel. See what I mean by the rides are kind of out the way. You would never know about all the yummy barbecue right around the corner. The festival is kind of to the right of that white building(on the right) and past the trees a little bit.

Keeping Up With Us

Summer has been keeping us busy. Not as busy as I would like, rain has slowed us down some. It has seriously been raining everyday. I'm over the rain at this point. 

I figured I show you guys what we've been up too in pictures.

We've been spending a lot time at the library coloring, reading, and putting on puppet shows. It has become a great little escape to get out of the house with this crappy weather we have been having.

Isn't she just the cutest? With all the flowers in full bloom she is picking flowers every time I turn around. She loves to put them in her hair and pretend she is a hula girl.

We have satellite TV and every time it storms it gets knocked out. I swear it's like having our own little personal weatherman. If you have satellite you know what I'm talking about. Right before a storm hits, the TV goes out so my child took matters in her own hands and made herself into a TV. Complete with finger puppets. She has been a weather woman, Sophia the First, and the funnies. Who needs TV when you have her to entertain you. Love the imagination of a child.

We went and visited with my mom in Greenville and took Jayla to Falls Park to walk around and see the waterfall. She was bound and determined to pet a duck. It didn't happen, but she enjoyed trying. 

We put bubbles in the kiddie pool! She had an absolute blast having bubbles in there. It seriously kept her occupied for the longest time! I eventually slid the pool up to her slide and put dish soap on the slide when she wasn't looking. She went flying down that slide and slid right out the other side of her pool. She thought it was awesome and slid down it until she knocked all the water out of her little pool.

Summer Bucket List

School is out and summer is finally here! 

As much as I miss the routine that school brings in our day it sure has been nice staying up late and sleeping in but I'm beginning to think that Jayla views summer vacation as one continous play date. That girl wants to be on the constant move and swears she is bored after 5 minutes of down time. I wish I could bottle up her energy and sell it. I would make billions off of that!

I'm trying to keep her busy for my sanity so I've come up with a Summer Bucket List. We've already started on our bucket list. I've been wanting to put this post up for awhile now but our little internet issues kind of slowed that down.

1. Make homemade ice cream

2. Get mommy/daughter manis

3. Master swimming with out floaties. (we are getting there! YAY!)

4. Complete our Summer Reading Challenges.

           -Jayla: read/be read to a total of 24 hours this summer

           -Me: Read 25 books. I'm 13 books in!

5. Have a water balloon fight.

6. Frequent the free movies at the theather

7. Catch fireflies

8. Go to a museum

9. Play balloon ping pong

10. Go to the park after dinner

11. Have story time at the park

12. Have Jayla learn 20 new sight words

13. Count to 100 flawlessly. She gets 17 and 70 mixed up.

14. Organize every room in the house. I'm dreading this one

15. Frequent the Farmer's Market.

16. Go ride horses. I found a place near me that has lessons for $10 an hour!

17. Have snow cones

18. Blow up soap

19. Make play dough

20. Make window clings

21. Make lava lamps

22. Make a peach cobbler

23. Cook a meal that is entirely from the Farmer's Market

24. Play in the rain

25. Visit a water park. I think one of the Grandma's has this one in store for the little one.

Bye-Bye Preschool

I no longer have a preschooler but a kindergartener. It seems surreal at how quickly time has flown. 

I am so proud of the "big girl" that she is becoming. She's a little social butterfly and makes friends where ever she goes. She has the biggest heart and has so much empathy for others and is extremely sensitive and tender-hearted. She amazes me everyday.

She has grown so much academically, physically, and spiritually in a year.

She has finally put some weight on her this year which is a huge accomplishment for us! Ever since she was about 1 years old we have struggled to put weight on her and this past year she has made huge strides in that area. Her doctor is even impressed with the improvements made!

Sometimes I am in awe of how much she has grown in just one year.

(left:first day, right:last day)

 

I'm sure I'm in the same boat as many other moms who have been in this situation or are going through it now but I am scared to death of her going to public school.

For the past two years she has been in a private christian preschool. It has been a wonderful experience there and I am so grateful for the teachers and staff at her preschool. If I could I would just keep her in preschool forever.

She will be going from 12 other kids to who knows how many in one class, from 3 hours a day to a full day. To a school where they pray with and for your child to one where God isn't allowed. 

I'm so worried how she is going to adjust to a new big school where she has no friends. All of her friends are going to different schools this year. 

I'm scared of her getting a horrible teacher who is just burnt out, the "bad kids" taking away from her learning experience and exposing her to things I'm just not ready for to be exposed too.

I'm scared of her getting bullied and picked on because she WILL NOT stand up for herself. 

I just want to shelter her and protect her from it all. I know I can't, but I'm just not ready to let her go. 

On a side note, pray, send good vibes, good juju, whatever it is that you do, that Jayla gets into the school I want her in. It's the closest schoool to us but yet we aren't zoned for it. Turns out we are zoned for the worst elementary school in my town. She is not going to the one we are zoned for, one way or another. I am a nervous wreck that the district will deny my request for her to attend the one I want.

An interview with my child-May is for Moms link up

Today I am linking up with Amy over at Not Your Average Crazy. I've done something similar with Jayla before and I always love hearing the answers she comes up with.

First, let's start off with a picture of my favorite little girl. 

 1. What is your favorite thing that you and I do together? Playing and coloring together.

2. What is something important I have taught you that you will always remember? (i.e. Be nice to everyone, Always make your bed, etc.) To play High-Ho Cherry-O and my phone number.

3. What is your most special memory about me? Going to the beach

4. What is something nice I always say to you? I love you.

5. How are you and I the same? How are we different? We both have brown hair. You are old.

Infertility Sucks

I have debated so much on wheter I should post this or, not but it's my blog,and I blog for myself so I'm just going to put it out there.

I've been some what private about this situation.Only a small handful of people know what we have been going through so I'm just going to put it out there. 

The more people that know, the more unsolicited advice you tend to receive, and trust me I've had plenty of it. The main one I hear is,"Just quit trying and you will have a baby." "So and so quit trying, and they were pregnant the next month." Oh how I wish that statement were true. Of all the unsolicited advice, that is the one that pisses me off more then anything.

It will also give some insight as to why my poor little blog has been neglected lately.

I know tons of women struggle with infertility and have had a much harder time then what I am going through, but it's still my struggle and it doesn't make it any easier at times.

We have been trying to have a baby for 2 years now and never would have thought we would be experiencing this struggle after already having a child.

Ever since I had Jayla my body has been out of whack and my doctor could never tell me what the issue was. He would always just shrug his shoulders and hand me a script for a years worth of birth control. All the issues went away while I was on birth control but you can't have a baby while taking it. 

The first year of trying my body seemed to be ok and didn't have any issues but we still weren't getting pregnant but then it a took a turn. The issues were back with a vegence and I put off going to the doctor for so long. I really didn't want another shrug of the shoulder and him not even trying to figure out what was going on. I don't think I was even ready to find out. I was scared as to what it could be. Ignorance can be bliss sometimes.

I finally went and saw another doctor in December. He walked into the room and pretty much knew what was going on and had a game plan from looking at my past medical records. He started asking me questions, told me what was going on, and it all made so much sense. He said I have PCOS. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. I broke down at the news. It was such a huge relief to know what was going on and to finally have answers after everything I had been through.(I will spare you the details of the issues, it's a bit TMI)

He put me on hormones for a month and if we weren't pregnant in 3 months to come back in and see him.

The hormones helped the issues alot. There was signifiant progress made but we weren't quite there yet.

Last month was the 3 month mark. No pregnancy yet so I went back to my doctor and did another week of hormones and he gave me script for Femara to help me ovulate.

The hormones(Provera, just in case you were wondering) that he puts me on are crazy! I have it so much! I'm moody, tired, and it makes me feel depressed. I know it's the medicine so my mind and body are waging a constant war with each other. I just can't snap out of it. I pretty much kind of check out from life.

I just finished the round of Femara last night and I hope it's the only round I have to do. It was almost as bad as the Provera but add in some pain. My body just hurt on that stuff. I felt so stiff. 

This whole infertility crap is for the birds. Sometimes I wonder if all the crap I'm going through is even worth it. I take a look at Jayla and instantly know it is. What I am having to go through is nothing compared to the reward I will have for the rest of my life. Jayla also desperatly wants to be a big sister and I think she would make a great one!

I've had my bad my days with this whole situation but it is what it is and I know we will be blessed with a baby when the time is right. All I can do through this is just have faith and treasure the moments I have with Jayla.

So with everything that has been going on in everyday life and this situation I just haven't had the energy or the desire to blog. Hopefully I will feel normal again soon and be back to a regular blogging schedule. I do miss it.

         




   

The Big Reveal

It was so hard for me not to tell Jayla about Disney World. There were so many times I just wanted to yell and dance that she is going. It was seriously eating away at me. The closer it got to us going the harder it was.

The orginal plan was to tell her the morning of that we were going. The plan didn't exactly go as planned. We caved the night before and told her. She was starting to ask a lot of questions as to why she was having to go to bed early and why we were having to get up so early. 

To save the peace from a million and one questions we went ahead and told her that she got her invite.

I was seriously crying when we told her. I mean tears were rolling down my face!