Where do the days go?

I just can't keep up!

Tomorrow is October 1st...October!!!? Never in my life has time flown by so quickly. Frank has been travelling a lot more for work lately, I have been taking care of the girls and the house and taking Sheena to her doc (not as often now though:)), taking Rachel to her little activities, going to the gym as much as possible, and cooking almost all meals at home as we try to eat healthier and just get healthier in general. I feel as though I am going to the grocery store every other day now! I owe my mom a callback, I owe my sister a callback, I need to get a wedding present sent, I am behind in sending packets of pictures to some friends and family members, I have organizing to do, I have paperwork to do, I have cleaning to do and I cannot seem to get ahead of my to do list. I have had a bummer of a cough almost since getting back from Disneyland. It just won't go away. I keep blaming the air conditioning or allergies and pushing off going to the walk-in clinic. It make me feel weak, it keeps me up at night, it wakes me up in the morning, and it causes people to stare at me in public as though I have some contagious disease. Oh, and it interrupts my work-outs with coughing spells! Frank finally had enough and took me to the walk-in clinic. I am now on two prescriptions. The doctor says I should be "quieter" within a week. I hope so. My work-outs have been going well, even lost some weight, and I want to be stronger and feel the health benefits I am finally putting good effort into achieving. Enough whine here...I would say so. Hopefully putting it into writing will help me get a grip on some of the things that feel like they are slipping through on me...

Okay, now that that is out...onto the good stuff! Sharing more pictures from Rachel's latest photo shoot. I know I shared some of the Cinderella ones already, but these are some of my absolute favorites. She looks pretty in so many colors...pink (of course:)), yellow, purple, brown...but this blue just looks amazing to me. It is so hard to choose what to send to people. She looked like such a little "princess" at Disneyland for the Lunch at Ariel's Grotto where she met five of the princesses. I'll have to share those soon. It was a lot of fun. I was a little concerned about her running around in that glittery, tutu type dress that seemed kind of scratchy to me at times and the little silver glitter shoes...in almost 90 degree weather...but she never complained.

 So, back to some current things while I share the photos. I will have to say that (finally!) getting my butt to the gym was one of the best decisions I have made in quite some time. I started July 1st and went as much as I could. They say you need to do something for "x" number of days to create a habit. I cannot remember the number, but I went something like 20 or 21 days in July. I did almost as well in August considering we left on the 25th for Disney. September has gone very well too even with the coughing issues. I do believe a habit has been created! It is the second thing I think of when I wake up in the morning. (the first is the girls) I feel so good when I go that I get bummed when I miss. Never thought I'd say that. And one of the BEST things about it...Kids Klub for Rachel! With not starting her in Pre-School this Fall, I love that she gets this social piece with other adults and kiddos. I am still a pretty shy person, I do not know how to be different, and I am not good at meeting people and making playdates etc...

As it turns out going to the gym has had so many benefits just since July. I enjoy working out, I have lost weight, I have no desire to stop going, Rachel loves her swim class (I know, right? After that little bit of a rough start:)), Rachel has made a couple of friends in her class, and ...wait for it...Mommy has even made a new friend! Yep, me, the still pretty shy girl who is not good at making new friends. It is great! Her little boy is almost a year older than Rachel. Except for the fact that she is very slim and unbelievably physically fit (she teaches 10 fitness classes per week at four local gyms! Awesome, huh?!), we have a lot in common. (She inspires me, and I hope to join her class at our gym soon!) Our parenting styles are so similar. She invited us to join her, her son and some friends at a different gymnastics place than I was taking Rachel to and we now go for Open Gym on Fridays. I am considering switching Rachel to the new one as I have had enough of "mean mom" at the other one. I know, I know...I should stand up to her instead of "running away", but I am non-confrontational and feel it is okay to explore other options for now. Rachel LOVES Open Gym. I LOVE to see her just run and climb and play and bounce on the trampoline and just have a blast. With everything she has going on I am thinking about just doing the Open Gym and not enrolling her in a more formal class setting until after the holidays now. Okay, so we joined our new friends at the new place and they are now coming to the same Music Class I take Rachel to! It is so cute how the kids look forward to seeing each other. She just told me about a really nice park not too far from us, so we are looking forward to some playdates at the park too!

Back to the benefits of going to the gym...besides getting to listen to my "Bon Jovi" radio on Pandora for 30 - 60 minutes a day...Kids Klub! I struggled a bit with my Pre-School decision in August. I decided that we have Rachel involved in plenty of things right now from swim to music to a new dance class, open gym (soon to be a gymnastics class), and Kids Klub at the gym. I am not concerned at all about the "academics". What is very important to me is the "social piece". I am doing my best to expose her to all sorts of fun things to see what she likes. Plus, in addition to all this I want to have time to take her to the park, library, enjoy our once a week lunches out together, and also have lots of time for free play at home! She also still takes a nap almost every other day. She is only 3 1/2 after all! Well, a few days after school started while I was working through my guilt about not sending her, we got a new "teacher" at Kids Klub. It turns out she really IS a teacher...a former Pre-School teacher with an Early Childhood degree! Yay! She has made amazing changes at Kids Klub which used to operate more like a chaotic, free for all, baby-sitting service. It had gotten where poor Rachel was asking me not to take her in case there were certain kids there who always steal her toys...right out of her hands. Now...it is awesome! Rachel really likes Teacher Danielle who not only has a great rapport with the kids and provides fun, actual learning activities daily but she is runnng the place more like a "Pre-School Prep"! I love it!

Imagine this former teacher's delight when I walked in one day and not only got a sweet little piece of artwork placed into my hands by one excited little girl, but also received a nice report on what Rachel had done, who she played with, and a nice, little, positive personal story about an interaction she had with another kid. This was a nice change from the "teacher" (not her real title) who would be sitting in the rocker holding someone's baby when I dropped Rachel off...and that is where she'd still be when I went to pick Rachel up at the end of my workout. She would sit and just yell to/at the kids. I was coaching Rachel daily on how to make friends, how not to get backed into a corner and how to help others learn to share as they would corner her and take whatever toy she had. Yay. They were younger, more aggressive and she needed to help them learn and to be patient...blah, blah, blah...I was trying my best. This "rocker sitter" then had the nerve to tell me one day how she had to sit Rachel down and have a talk with her about not using the word, "Mine!" Really???!!!  Because my daughter NEVER even knew or used that word UNTIL she was repeatedly backed into a corner by a two year old whose ONLY words are screeching "MINE! MINE! MINE!". Rachel started sharing back in Gymboree at just over one year of age...before we really even taught her how. It was just what she did. So please do not act like my daughter is doing something wrong when this other child has basically beat her into this need to somehow figure out how to defend herself and hold onto a toy she had first. Yes, I got some "Mama Bear" in me...indeed I do!

Anyway, now Kids Klub is pretty terrific! Thank You, Thank You, Teacher Danielle! I love the daily mini reports, I love walking in there to find beautiful books spread out all over a table short enough for the kids to stand and read at (I never even knew they had books in there before she came!), I love the table that always has the materials for a fun Art Project on it, I love the pride on Rachel's face when she runs to give her newly completed project to me as she exclaims, "I made this just for you, Mommy! See?!", I love how the room is set up in what looks more like little learning stations rather than just a daycare, I love the tons of beans that now fill up the water table and make for hours of sensory fun. I love the little silver trays at each seat at the table...they are filled with various items which seem to change almost daily...buttons, gems, foam shapes, sand, stones, dinosaurs and little cars and lots of fun things to explore. Rachel loves to sink her little hands into it all. I love the organized "Parents Info" center on top of the cubbies, I love that they are now doing "Circle Time"! I love that she gets to play with Play-Doh and paint and glue and all sorts of fun things! I especially loved hearing her say, "Hi, Nicholas!" today to the one little two year old boy she used to hope was not going to be there to take her toys away. I loved how when I came to get her today she and Nicholas were standing across from each other at the sensory table playing with the beans. It did this Momma's heart good to see that somehow, some way they have become "friends" and can play side by side. Somehow, some way perhaps Nicholas has learned to share and just maybe Rachel is learning to gently stand up for herself...just a little bit. She talks about hoping to see him there as well as several others:). Yes, going to the gym definitely has a multitude of benefits for us.

But, seriously...

Do the days really have to fly by so darn fast?!!!