Back to School

Monday night we all attended the Back to School/Open House night at Olivia's new school. Olivia begins Kindergarten this year and in terms of education it's a whole different ballgame. Services in North Carolina are divided into 2 categories...Early Intervention (mainly serving people from birth-to-three years) and the K-12 system. In North Carolina the kids in the 3 and 4 year old category fall into a grey area, they qualify for and receive early intervention services but the administration of these services varies widely based on what geographic area of North Carolina you live in. Olivia turned 5 over the summer so we're officially crossing into the threshold of the K-12 education system and all the federal laws and guidelines that go along with it.

Last year Olivia attended a preschool program for 3 and 4 year olds at the public school in our neighborhood. Students have to have a qualifying condition in order to attend the preschool program and those conditions ranged from physical and cognitive disabilities to communication challenges and economic status.

This year Olivia will be attending a different elementary school in our school district that is better equipped to serve students with special needs. At Olivia's new school they have several classes of children with special needs divided by diagnosis. Olivia will have the same 1:1 aide as she did last year and this is he area of her education that we're most pleased with. We like the teacher but we're not sure that Olivia's class will be the best fit for her. Olivia will be in the ID (Intellectually Disabled) class. There will a total of 6 kids in Olivia's class, 1 teacher, 2 classroom aides, and Olivia's 1:1. We know that we're moving soon so we aren't going to push it.

Olivia enjoyed visiting her classroom. Some of her classmates will be in wheelchairs so the classroom is a large open space. There's not a lot of furniture which is good since Olivia won't be tempted to climb on it, there's plenty of room for her to run around and nice big windows.



There are a ton of new toys for Olivia to discover. I was nervous about how Olivia would do in her new class at her new school but within the first 10 minutes Olivia had gone right over to the play area and was happily entertaining herself with some of the toys and books.



Peter also enjoyed visiting Olivia's classroom. I know that he'll love school when he's finally able to go. He is such a laid back little guy. He really is a very easy kid. He impressed everyone when he announced in his loudest voice that had to pee pee. After that was taken care of he announced that he was ready for a snack, he pulled up a chair and sat down at the table to enjoy his snack while Olivia explored her new classroom and Mike and I were able to chat with the teacher.


Olivia's first day of school is on Thursday. She'll be riding the school bus all by herself for the very first time. Check back later in the week to see how it goes.

A Very Special Person

A very special person in my life is my Grandmother. I love her dearly and words cannot even begin to express how special my relationship is with her. My Grandmother recently celebrated a birthday. Last year we were able do spend her birthday with her and almost all of my extended family at her 90th birthday celebration. This year we weren't able to squeeze a trip in but thanks to another very special person in my life (my cousin Katy) and her blog I almost feel like I was there. I'm so excited that we're going to be moving closer to family and I will be able to see my Grandmother more often.

To see a few pictures from the birthday celebration click on over to my cousin's blog: Me & The Boys

National Airborne Day

Last weekend was National Airborne Day. I know, you're all regretting missing it. We headed downtown to enjoy the festivities. We were running a bit late but saw the guys parachuting into the ceremony as we were driving.

Some of the soldiers from Mike's Battalion were there wit one of their guns. Peter loves to see Daddy's "boom boom guns". These are the same guns they drop from airplanes.









Sure it's all fun and games for Peter to love playing with all the Army gear but when I see his eyes light up at the sight of a big tank or airplane I can actually feel my heart ache a bit. I can deal with my husband being in the military but I don't know how I could ever deal with my baby boy following in Daddy's footsteps.



The parachute riggers are fascinating. These are the guys who stuff the chutes, ensuring that every parachute is packed correctly so it opens correctly. Important job is such an understatement!



My favorite part of the day was hearing the All American Chorus. They are awesome! The kids love them and hearing them always gives me goosebumps. (Sophie they sang your song, "Stand By Me")

Summer Summary

Saying that the summer flew by is a huge understatement. I really cannot believe it's over. We have Open House on Monday and Olivia's first day of school is next week. In some ways I'm very ready for her to begin school again but I've really enjoyed having her home over the summer. I know Peter will miss her! I wasn't expecting them to play together much but they surprised me. It was so much fun to watch them chase each other around. They also love to play in the pretend kitchen together. But their all time favorite activity is jumping on the bed together it doesn't matter whose bed it is....they love to jump! Peter also enjoys hiding and then popping out of his hiding place and yelling "peek-a-boo" to Olivia's endless enjoyment.

We have had some big changes this summer. Olivia started ABA therapy. It's only been a few weeks but it has been really interesting so far. ABA is hard to explain and I'm working on trying to get some videos that will help explain it a little better.

Peter is almost potty trained. I'm really surprised at how easy the whole process was. It basically took about a week. He wears a pull-up during his nap time and at bedtime but he is usually dry when he wakes up from his nap. He completes the potty process completely by himself with the exception of turning on the sink to wash his hands since he can't reach the tap. He has developed a bit of a fear of public toilets, especially the automatic flush toilets. Who can blame him though?

The kids are both seriously tan despite the constant application of sunscreen. They are just blessed to have Mike's great skin color.

Olivia will finally receive her wheelchair in 2-3 weeks. We began the process back in March. They warned me that it could take several months but it still took much longer than I expected. We are blessed to have health insurance but since our health insurance is managed by the world's largest bureaucracy everything takes so much longer. It wasn't even a question of whether or not the wheelchair would be approved for Olivia it was just getting all the right paperwork signed by the right people. It has been a pain in the A**!

Peter is becoming quite independent. He insists that "self do it" at least 18 times a day. He gets dressed all by himself. I love that each morning when I ask how he slept he replies that he slept "in Thomas bed". I love how literal he is. Peter loves to watch the Disney channel. Mike is also teaching him several Spanish words and phrases. It's adorable to hear them talk to each other. He was going to begin a preschool program here in the fall but with our upcoming move we're going to put that on hold for a bit.

I am still looking for a job in New Orleans. I have had several phone interviews and a couple of on-campus interviews. I've had a couple of rejections. At this point I'm hoping that I'll know more by the end of the month. We don't want to make decisions about where to live in New Orleans until we know about my job status will be.

Mike is finishing up his time in command. Lately that's meaning a lot of very early mornings and late nights. When you're in command you're responsible for the well being of a large number of soldiers and their families but you're responsible for an even larger amount of equipment--guns, tanks, Humvees, cannons, computer systems, etc. When commanders change the equipment changes hands and every single item must be accounted for. Like everything else in the Army its such a process. It absolutely astounds me that soldiers can travel thousands of miles and be ready to defend our country in a matter of HOURS but paperwork takes MONTHS.

We decided to fore go a summer vacation in preparation of our move this fall. We're very much looking forward to getting settled and having some time to relax for a bit. I think we'll have to wait for Christmas. It seems crazy to think so far in advance but we're expecting to spend Halloween in New Orleans. October is just around the corner.