Ren's 1st Day of Kids Day Inn

When Sutton was 2, we took him to Kids Day Inn so that I would have some more kid-free time to work. We decided to do this for Ren too, but I have been so worried about it because Ren never went to daycare like Sutton had. Today was the big day! We started off the day with lots of sadness whenever I mentioned school. I asked him "Are you happy or sad about school?" He said "Sad. I miss you so much." And I died. But things turned around after we took our first-day-of-school pictures.

Isn't he so cute?! I asked him to put his hand in his pocket, and then he added his own flair by standing like a flamingo and putting his other hand around the tree. :) He really wanted his photo to be taken by this tree. :)

He also really wanted to stand by this big rock for some of the pictures.

When you're 2, you always have to do a little bit of your own thing before you can do what your mom asks.

Telling me all about it...

Then I tried to get him excited, and I succeeded, but he was being all crazy = blurry photos.

I had promised him fruit snacks if he took some good pictures, so as soon as I gave the word, he ran back to the house for his snack.

A quick selfie with mom on the porch. What a handsome dude.



Then it was time to go! I strapped him in, and after the excitement of pictures + fruit snacks, all the sadness was gone and he was excited for school!

We arrived a little early, so I let him watch Daniel Tiger on my phone.

We got out and took a quick photo in front of his "school" which is really a church.

At his Meet Your Teacher day, we had petted this owl in this tree near his classroom, so he needed a picture with it today.

We went to his classroom and waited in line for them to open it. He saw other kids and their younger siblings, and kept asking about all the babies. He wanted me to hold him for awhile or hold his hand for awhile. When it was time to go in, each of the 4 kids who went in before him started crying. I asked him if he was going to help his friends feel better. He didn't really say anything. 

Just before it was his turn to go in, his teacher got out a box of cars for the crying kiddos as a distraction. Ren saw the cars and said "I excited!" And he went in with no tears and barely a glance back. I signed him in on the sheet, and peeked in once more before I left. He was happily going from toy to toy while the other kids were still losing it. Hopefully the happiness lasted the whole day. I will pick him up after lunch!

Nerf Ninja {A Feature Film}

I forgot to post this earlier when Adam first finished it, but here's Adam and Sutton's amazing summer project...a movie!!

Kindergarten Update

Sutton has been loving Kindergarten! As I posted, Wednesday was his first day. But they just had half the class come that day. The other half came on Thursday, so Sutton didn't go yesterday. So today was his second day. Both days, he came home happy and ready to play with his brother. :)

His favorite thing about Kindergarten was Music. At first he said there was no "worst part" about his day. But later he modified his answer and said that the worst part was that he missed me and Ren. Melt my heart.

Daddy has gotten to talk to him a little in the cafeteria at lunch each day and saw him in the hallway a few times. It's definitely nice to know that Sutton can see a familiar face during his long days at school.

Since today was his first day with his ENTIRE class, I asked him how that went. He said he made "so many friends," because he was pretending to make pizza and they all wanted to play with him. There are 3 kids from his class last year at preschool in his class, and another girl he knows because we're friends with her parents.

The Kindergarteners have a special, enclosed playground separate from the big kids for their recess. Daddy's classroom window faces this playground, as does one of the other teacher's window - Mrs. Parker. She's a friend of ours, so she sent me this photo today:

There's one thing that happened that is just makes me tear up every time I think about it. I wrote Sutton a simple note that I put in his lunch on his first day. He can't read yet, so it just said "Sutton - I love u. -Mommy" But the love was a heart. Apparently he asked one of the lunch teachers to read it for him (though I know he could've figured it out if he'd tried), and then he put it in his pocket because he loved it so much and he kept it. When he told me this after school, I died.

So OBVIOUSLY today I had to leave another note in his lunch. I drew him a little picture of me and him holding hands and slipped it in. After school, I asked him if he saw it. Not only had he (once again) folded it up and kept it in his pocket, but he told me "When nobody was looking, I would take it out and look at it again." Holy moly. So many happy feelings. I love this boy. I accidentally washed the first note because it was left in his shorts, but here's today's.

Let's just hope the good attitude of loving school continues!!

Sutton's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Today is Sutton's first day of Kindergarten!!

I can't believe this day is here. Even though he went to preschool for 3 years, and a Kids Day Inn program before that...this seems like so much more of a big deal. We have been counting the days, talking about all things Kindergarten, and getting so excited for weeks and weeks. Last night, as I was putting him to bed, I snapped this photo and posted it on Instagram:

This morning, he got up, had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast and watched some cartoons. Then we got dressed and went outside for photos. I told Ren it was time to take Sutton to school and this was his reaction:

He was upset about the whole thing. He didn't want Sutton to go. He didn't want to go outside. He didn't want to get in the car. It's hard being 2. Like any good mother, I forced him to go outside, and he stood at the front door trying to get back in while I took Sutton's photo. The good one is above, but here are some outtakes.

A few more of my handsome Kindergartener...

Meanwhile, Ren moved his pouting to the stairs. I went to go get him and he got up and ran away to the barn.

I was ready to just get in the car and go, but Sutton started saying sweet things to Ren about how he really wanted Ren in a picture with him for his big day. After I saw how important it was to Sutton, I started telling Ren he could get something special if he took some photos with his brother. He goes "A sucker?" I told him Maybe...and that was all it took.

Sorry for the million of those...they were just all cute. :) We drove to school and were a little early so we waited in the car for a bit. I kept asking Sutton how he was feeling and he kept saying "Good!"



We finally got out and walked around to the front doors.

It was fun because everyone was waiting out front and there was so much excitement in the air.

When the doors opened, we went to go see Daddy first. Daddy was outside his classroom, greeting HIS new students.

Then we walked to Sutton's classroom and got a photo with his teacher, Mrs. Merseal. She is already the best and we love her!

He hung up his backpack and went to sit down at his desk. There was a coloring sheet for him to start working on, so he got out his crayons and pencil.

He showed me how "when I work really hard, this is what I look like."

Ren sat down at a seat at Sutton's table and asked for a coloring sheet too. Poor guy...I told him we had to leave.

I gave Sutton a hug and the tears started. Then Ren gave him a hug and the tears REALLY started. Mrs. Merseal gave me a sympathetic glance as we left. Then I had to navigate through the busy halls and the parking lot with tears in my eyes before we got to the car.

We got home and walked inside. Ren said "Where's Sutton?" I said "You know where he is." He said "Oh! Yeah! Kindergarten!" Pause. "I color now too? Like Sutton?"

It was super sweet. Throughout today, he's asked several times where Sutton is and then before I say anything he goes, "Oh, Kindergarten!" Poor guy...this is going to take some getting used to for us all!

Bye-Bye Crib, Hello Big Boy Bed!

Tonight was a big deal in our house! We gave away our crib, and now we have two big boy beds.

Adam's dad Ed made us the crib when we were pregnant with Sutton. I was able to choose the stain and the hardware, and it was made with so much love. After having it up in our house constantly for the past 6+ years, it definitely holds so many memories. It is hard to be done with it, but Ren is almost 2.5 now, so we knew it was time.

He took his last nap in there this afternoon, and then we took a few photos while we were cleaning out the drawers. He is pant-less after his nap, and wearing his new backpack that we just bought him for Kids Day Inn that he will be starting in September (which is basically a pre-preschool, but you know what? Momma needs to get stuff DONE!).

Two amazing boys who spent their baby years in this beautiful crib!

Ren pretended to sleep one last time. :)

I have to give Adam all the credit for this next part. Long story short, there's a couple whose wedding I photographed several years ago who have a pretty similar infertility story as we do, and they are finally expecting! Adam thought they would be the perfect people to gift this crib to...with the stipulation that they gift it to another deserving/loving family when they are done with it. So we decided that we should write the names of all the babies who have used this crib on the bottom and it can be a crib with an awesome story!

The first two names of what will hopefully be a long list!!

Adam disassembled the crib and we took it over to Abby and Drew's house this evening. They are just the sweetest people you'll ever meet and are so appreciative of this gift. Their kindness and excitement about the whole thing makes it even more wonderful to give it to them. That's my words-of-affirmation love language shining through. :)

We went back home and hauled in all the pieces of Ren's new bed to assemble. This was the bed that Papa Ed made for Sutton after we found out we were pregnant with Ren and had to move Sutton out of the crib. It has been in storage since Sutton got his bunk bed, and Ren was so excited for it to be his!

There's a piece that slips on the foot of the bed that looks like Lightning McQueen and has a steering wheel. So that's what he's "driving"in the photo above. Then he pretended to sleep in his new bed.

We got him a pillow and he obliged me by saying "cheese."

But this was how he really felt about the whole thing...

And then he stood up and told us "new bed! Ta-da!" as if we hadn't done all the hard work of putting it together.

He's fast asleep in there now, and I'm hoping this transition is a smooth one!