Giggle-fest

Connor is watching Disney's "Bear In The Big Blue House." In the beginning, Bear always smells something "nice" and realizes it is the children watching the show by sniffing his nose right up to the camera. Connor is laughing and squealing with glee at this! Isabella, when she's in the room, does the same thing. It doesn't matter how many times they see it, they always find it just as funny as the last time.

Kayla & Her Newspaper Round

Kayla has been doing her newspaper round for almost a year now. Up until this week, she only took one day off when we had to go to London early in the morning to renew our passports.

She came home from work today early and told us she was fired. Her newspaper round was given to someone else. She said that her boss said she was missing days. She insisted she wasn't. I noticed that all she'd been paid was £6, and even having not done today's round, she should have been paid £10 for the other five days this week. She said she was told she didn't work two days and so didn't get paid for them. I asked her several times, even knowing that she left each morning to do those rounds, did she actually show up and do her newspaper rounds every day she was supposed to. She insisted she had. Her dad told her he was going to go and get her money for the days she wasn't paid for. We checked again with her. She insisted that she did work those days.

So, when he got to the store and asked about it, he was shown where the days she hadn't done had been written down, and that she had claimed illness and stomach aches toget out of doing them and the owners wife said she had done those rounds for her those days.

We never made Kayla take on delivering newspapers. It was her idea; she got the job on her own, and it was her choice all along. If she didn't want to do it, all she had to do was say she didn't want to do it anymore. She appeared to love having the extra money she was earning. So why did she lie to us? Why did she leave the house each morning and pretend she was going to work? Why, when she knew we were about to find out, did she continue to lie to us?

Although I am dispapointed in that she acted so negligently towards a commitment she made, it's the lying that I don't understand.

A Poem By Isabella

Isabella surprised us this morning by telling her daddy, "I want to tell you a poem, Daddy." (I didn't even realize she knew what a poem was.) Then she proceeded to tell us her poem.

"My doggy is pretty.
My doggy likes to run around.
My doggy goes for walks.
My doggy poos."

So there, for the world to see, is Bella's first ever "poem."

Isabella's 2nd Day At Preschool

Isabella has been saying for days now that she doesn't want to go to preschool again. On her first day of preschool, when her daddy asked her what she did at school, her answer was, "I cried."

We've been telling her what a big girl she is and how she gets to go to preschool because she is older now, but Connor can't because he is too young. Yesterday, on the phone with my mom, when my mom asked her how she was, Bella answered, "I'm older."

I made sure to let Isabella show me around her class today when I took her to preschool, so she could show me all of the fun stuff she would have to play with. I asked her to paint me a pretty picture to give me when I picked her up, and I told her I would just be going home to get her lunch ready for her before I came back to pick her up. She seemed fine when I left, and when I went to pick her up, she announced to me right away, "Mommy! I didn't cry!" and her teacher confirmed that she did not cry at all. She did paint me a picture but it was still drying, so I will have to pick it up during her next day at preschool.

I'm really pleased that she had a better preschool experience today!

Severe Hip/Pelvic Pain!

I could barely walk the two blocks to pick up my daughter Gabby from school today. My left hip was seizing up due to my SPD and sciatica, and I felt like crying! Connor was in the umbrella stroller and Bella was walking beside me, but I was moving at the pace of a snail, but a snail with a pronounced limp and wincing with every step. I've got TEN MORE WEEKS of this!!! How am I going to cope?!!!!

Everyone kept asking me if I was okay. NO, I WAS NOT OKAY!!! Wasn't that obvious? I don't know anyone who lives near enough for me to ask them to start picking Gabby up for me.

Kayla's 14th Birthday!!!

Today is my daughter Kayla's 14th birthday. When she got home from school today, she opened her gifts from Angelica, Gabriella, Isabella, Connor and her dad and me. She also had a gift to open from her friend and neighbor Lauren. She loved all of her gifts. A couple of the clothes her dad and I got her didn't fit, so I will have to exchange those.

Later, we sang "Happy Birthday" to her and had her blow the candles out on her cake. Connor was sitting on her lap at the time. Despite the fact that he had his pacifier in his mouth, he managed to blow out two of her candles while we were singing to her.

Normally, I take lots of photos of the kids at the park for their birthday photos, but today was overcast and raining on and off. If tomorrow is sunnier or drier, I will take her birthday photos tomorrow. I am hoping to see some sunshine tomorrow, at least long enough to take some photos of Kayla.

How'd Isabella do on her 1st day?

Well, apparently, shortly after I left, she cried. She put her coat and backpack back on and wouldn't take them off. I guess she felt comforted in that, as long as she had them on, she wouldn't be staying. "Circle Time" is the last thing they do before getting picked up, and she stopped crying during Circle Time and started joining in.

Despite this, when I asked her if she had fun, she said, "Yes," and when I asked her if she was looking forward to going to Playskool again, she said, "Yes."

Isabella's 1st Day of Preschool

Isabella is at her first day of "Playskool" today. She was so excited that she even buttoned her coat all by herself for the first time today. She was so proud of herself. She was only in her coat and shoes an HOUR early for us to leave for her school!

The teachers all commented on how much she looks like Gabby (except for her colouring. Gabby is brown haired and brown eyed. Isabella is blonde haired and blue eyed). She gave me a hug and kiss goodbye and then seemed unconcerned that I was leaving. It's better than when Gabby first started. Gabby just disappeared inside and never even bothered to tell me bye.

I got a phone call from Playskool a few weeks ago telling me that Isabella would be going on Thursday and Friday mornings. I wrote it down and asked if they could change Friday mornings for another morning. I was told it would be looked into. I never got a call back, so I assumed today was her first day. I found out when we got there that she was supposed to start yesterday. They changed her days but didn't let me know. And they changed the wrong day! They had her down for Wednesday and Friday! After a quick discussion, I was told it was okay and they would work it out and let me know when I pick her up later today.

Connor is playing by himself right now. The only thing that lets me know he misses Bella is that he is playing much less boisterously than usual. Ah, peace and quiet!

I'm back!

I've neglected this blog for way too long! But I'm back now and will try to keep it up to date.

Cuteness: Isabella calls Capri-Sun drinks "Sunshine." It reminds me of when Gabby was her age; Gabby would call tulips "lipstick." I find little things like this adorable!