Monday, August 11, 2008

Updates on the kids

Stuff about Baneenika (Anika): This little girl has had me in tears several times over the past couple weeks. Not because she's being naughty or out of control - quite the opposite actually. I've just been SO stressed out about the whole kindergarten thing. I have her registered and she is supposed to start on 9/2. I haven't felt good about it at ALL. She won't be 5 until December so I feel like she is on the very young side. I know I could have her take 2 years of kindergarten but why would I do that? Why not just keep her home? What's the rush? Why would I send her to kindergarten this early just to have her repeat it next year? I would have absolutely no problem sending her if it was half-day kindergarten. But it's full-day 8:30-3:30. Doesn't that seem long??! So I had decided that I would keep her home and look for other options. We really can't afford the preschools around here. We have some extra expenses coming up - Nathan interviewing (cost of applications, flights, hotels) and the baby. SO that doesn't leave us with much extra cash. =) I have her signed up for one of those high school programs but I think she will be the oldest kid there and it will be SO different from the preschool experience she had last year. So, I was going to do that and then do joy school with some friends. I still want to do that but I've been a little nervous the last couple of days (like I've committed to too much) since I'm having a baby. I just haven't felt good about any of the decisions I've made so now I'm in a rut. I don't know what to do. I've contacted the principal to see if there is any way to make an exception and put her in half-day. All they do from 12:30 on is lunch, recess, quiet time and free play. All things she can do at home. Anyway - enough rambling about that.
She is SO into bugs. She LOVES them! Especially beetles, worms, ladybugs, potato bugs, and butterflies. Here she is with a monster worm they found in the backyard!

She loves primary. She sings the songs they learn all week. She wants to wear her hair DOWN every day. If I insist on doing something with it she frets and frets that so and so won't like it. SUCH A GIRL!! She has Nathan's skinniness. Check out those ribs!! They are great fun to tickle! Nathan is so funny. He found temporary tattoos in the popscicle box and you'd think he just won the lottery. He was SO excited. So here are the girls in all their tattooed, shirtless glory!
Anika is SO excited for the baby. She loves to feel the baby move and to talk to him. It's so cute. She is going to be such a great helper. She loves to read books and her favorite book is a Childcraft encyclopedia called MAKE AND DO. She wants to do everything in the book!! She and Keslie are BEST friends and they can play for hours without needing me to do anything. It's a really nice stage and comes in very handy on days when I need to clean. Or like right now when I'm totally neglecting them and blogging. =) Here she is with her big grin!

Keslie - We ask her what her name is and she says KESS-OLE-IE, BODESSLIE and CUTE. =) She is so funny. Her voice is to die for! It's so fun to listen to her talk. Today we started potty training. Again. I'm just going to stay in the house as much as I can this week and see if we can make anything happen. She's really not interested but good grief! We just ran out of diapers and I'll be darned if I have to buy any more for her! I really don't want 2 kids in diapers!! We haven't had any success this morning yet. I just told her that if she potties in her panties again she will have to go naked. She said "NO! because then she (Anika) will see my Bowm(bum)!! She is having a bit of separation anxiety lately. She cries when I leave her places. She's just as cute and fun as ever!

Here is Anika brushing Keslie's teeth. Don't worry - Nathan does a "double check". =) If you look closely at Keslie you can see some of the remnants of blue stamps that Anika put all over her. There were a good 6 on her face and it took a few days to get them off!! NICE!

We have been having some GREAT rainstorms. It's pretty awesome. Most of the time lightning comes along with it but we've had a couple mornings that were perfect for stomping in rain puddles.

We wen't blueberry picking last week! It was so fun. I can't even think about the fact that we might be leaving New England next year. It makes me emotional. Anyway - I tried to get some good pictures of the girls but they were being goofy. Kes is trying to kiss Anika and Anika is not that into it. =)
Baby boy is doing great! He's definitely growing! I love this stage of pregnancy because of all the movement and then energy I have. I was so excited because we got a cash back award from our credit card of $250 and Nathan said I could use that to buy some of the big items we need for the baby. SO I've gotten my crib bedding:


And a new car seat! We went with this one:

And I got a peanut shell sling on ebay for seriously cheap!!
And I've been stocking up on diapers and wipes every time I see a screaming deal. Yay!! I'm so excited!
We still don't have a name for baby boy. We probably won't until after he's born. We just can't come up with anything that we really love AND agree on. We'll see! Any suggestions?

15 comments:

Tricia said...

So I thought I would leave a comment on hear. I look at your blog all the time. The girls are so cute. About the kindergarden/preschool thing. Have you looked at the local recreation center. We had the same problem about not being able to afford a preschool and found that the rec center had a great preschool and even let you qualify for cheaper if you didn't make a lot. It was a really great program and Aaron loved it. If you don't feel right about Kindergarden don't put her in it. Kristi Parry pulled Preston (her oldest) out of kindergarden after a month because he was struggling. Then tried again the next year and he did great. School is so hard with the first one anyways. Great to hear about you guys.

Susan said...

What about Head Start? Have you looked into that? Friends around here really like it. As students you would probably qualify - the program around here is FREE if you qualify and is from 8-12 M-Th. They feed the kids breakfast and lunch even. Anyway, a couple friends I talk to a lot said they loved it this past year and it was great prep for kindergarten (seeing as it was half-day, almost everyday). Anyway, just a thought. Emma is too young this year to do it and so we're doing a local preschool at a lady's house.

LJABC and D said...

You look great Brittanie and you are going to love your sweet little boy. I think that your girls are too cute for words and it is so great that they are friends. Sorry to hear you are so stressed about school, it is very overwhelming (A is starting today, all day!) and it is a long day. If you are interested, my old work might need help with preschool and the afternoon class is usually smaller and they put the older kids in there. Just a thought if you are at all interested in working there they would give you a great discount or even free preschool plus the other kids could stay right there in the daycare. I would love to give you a recommendation if you want...

Us said...

Brittanie-

That's the same bedding I bought for my new little boy! Congrats on having a new baby in a few weeks! You look adorable!

Amber said...

Brittanie, I am sorry the whole school thing has been such a dilemma for you. If you are not feeling good about sending her to Kindergarten, I wouldn't. I would keep her home and do some kind of co-op (I am going to do one this year with some friends and we are only going to meet 1x/week for three hours. I don't know if your group would be up for that but it really reduces the stress of it all if you only have to do it once a week and it also gives you enought time when you are not teaching to get something done. Just an idea.) Also, I must say that I really don't think preschool is necessary before kindergarten. They will have many many years in school, they are only little once, so why rush it??? Anika is very smart and I am sure by the time next year comes around she will be more than ready!

Wow this comment is getting long. But I have to say that your girls are adorable!! I love the pictures of them. Isn't it wonderful when your kids are each others best friends? I am happy that they are getting to an age that is easy. You know, I found that baby #3 was wonderful! I loved having that sweet little baby to cuddle and hold but then I had the older two to run around with and take on fun adventures during the day. You will love it!!
You're an amazing mom and I know you will make the best decision regarding Anika!

lnkmom said...

I think you should send Miss A. to K! I like the 1/2 idea (For the life of me I don't know why they think 5 yr olds need a full day of school, other than free babysitting!). Maybe I just say that to make myself feel better when I send all my kids at 4 yrs old to K!

I love your choices for the Baby Boy! I thought you were going to say you bought the crib in the pic w/the bedding... our little man has that crib!

Michelle Bebe said...

that is a long day for kindy...hope it all works out okay!

i love the pic of anika helping brush teeth...how cute is that?

Jenn said...

I love your girls. Can I have them? Just kidding. :) They are the cutest. As for names, I'm partial to Jonah and Isaac :) but I can also pass along all the names I loved that Jaska rejected (like Cole and Asher--I LOVE those names).

You DO look great btw.

Kim said...

Britt, Keep her at home....like you said, what's the hurry? She'll be in school for many years and you'll never regret that last year you had with her at home. There is a lot to say for being socially ready and not just focusing on acedemics....I'm speaking from experience here.

That said, you and your girlies are adorable, I love the picture of Anika brushing Keslies toofers....precious!

{B}dreamy said...

Wow, you always give the best and longest posts! Yay for cute baby stuff and screaming deals! And yay for cute tummies like yours. *B

Unknown said...

Merrek started kindergarten last week and I refused to put her in all day. She just turned 5! They only had one 1/2 day class for am and pm, but I fought to get her in. If they didn't give me my way I was going to home school her. I even bought all of the books already, too. you can get them for really cheap through Costco, craigslist and amazon. Dollar stores always have workbooks and stuff that you can use like flashcards etc, too if you wanted to wait to send her to kindergarten until next year, you can always just do pre-school type stuff with her. If there are other women in your ward that are interested, you could do a co-op or something.

Tairi said...

Oh Britt! I am so excited that you are having a BOY! I totally know what you are going through with the whole kindergarten thing. I cant even handle half day :) You will make the right decision for Anika! You are so fun and you make me laugh! Your girls are adorable and they will love having a baby. Cute bedding by the way..good luck with potty training...I hate it

Jenny Richins said...

okay you have started to post some more now.:) i like your boys bedding, car seat, and peanut sling/pouch. i had a sling that my sister in law made me but there was tons of different fabric that was just hanging and couldn't stand...i never wore it after tanner was 2 months old. i am interested in the peanut sling though...tell me if you like it when you have him.
you will have to post pics of your room that you are getting together for him...soon.

The Richins Family said...

hey britt, sorry you have been feeling in a rut and sad about preschool. i personally don't think that kindergardeners learn anything different going half day or full day. i think they learn the same. i personally think that kindergarden full day is way too long. brayden is 5 and is in half day. he is tired by the time he gets home. if you don't feel that you want her in preschool right now, then take her out. i think you should listen to your heart and the holy ghost. you know what is best, you're her mother!! i have brayden in eduprize, it's a charter public school kinda like benjamin franklin...i love it so far. i would get your girls on a waiting list for a school like that soon. i had brayden on the waiting list for 1 1/2 years...but that was just me, i wanted to make sure to get him in! also, when i had tanner, brayden was going to preschool in the morning, for speech therapy...i had to drive him there and pick him up. it was such a pain with a new baby. i seriously stressed EVERYDAY. 3 was my hardest...i think that you will do just fine if you listen to your heart and the holy ghost. best of luck!!

The Richins Family said...
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