I really do feel like someone pushed the fast-forward button midway through October. So here's our Fast Fall-ward update...
Halloween Recap
We had Little Red Ridding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. Peter loved his Wolf costume and you could tell that Olivia was quite impressed with her fancy dress. The Halloween celebration for the kids began at school. Olivia was Minnie Mouse at school. Olivia's class did all kinds of fun fall activities and I love that Olivia's teacher has a shutterfly site for her class that she updates often. I almost feel like I'm part of Olivia's class too!
We went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with Mike's brother and his family and our nieces. We are thrilled that we're able to see family so much more often and so glad that we were able to be a part of our Goddaughter, Sophie's first Halloween!
Work-Work-Work
I am loving my job. I know that the kids are thriving in their schools. I know that we have a fantastic nanny. I know that Mike is enjoying his new job. With everyone else settled that leaves me to enjoy working outside the home. I literally jumped right in! It's nice that the job is a perfect fit based on my experience and education. It is so refreshing to be professionally challenged. But I am working a lot of hours lately. In fact this is the first day I've had that is completely free of work activities in the last 19 days. Most of the various alumni chapters that I work with have Holiday functions so December will bring quick trips to Miami, Washington, D.C., Dallas, and Shreveport. As the new employee I got the short end of the stick so I miss out on heading to LA and Puerto Rico....maybe next year. This job wouldn't be possible for me if Mike didn't have a job that allowed him to have a more flexible schedule. It also helps that the events are all mid-week so for the most part I'm leaving on a Tuesday evening and flying back on a Thursday morning so I still have weekends for quality family time. Did I mention that I love my job.
Mike is enjoying his job as well. Since he started working mid-way through the semester he's been spending time getting to know the students and fellow staff members. Mike will start teaching military science and military history to all the Sophomore ROTC students in the New Orleans area in January. The ROTC program was reorganized a few years ago so ROTC students at all the colleges and universities in the New Orleans area so he will teach classes at Loyola University New Orleans, Tulane University, Dillard University, Xavier University, and the University of New Orleans. He was also accepted into a Master's program at Tulane so he'll be going back to school come January. Three cheers for professional fulfillment and the perks of working for a university!
Settling In
We are settling in and we are officially unpacked. I know that I've mentioned that this house is quite a bit smaller we could definitely benefit from some improved organization but we're slowly getting there. We did invest in a large gate with several extensions so that we could create a big playroom. I love that we have a safe place for Olivia to play that is still open to the rest of the house.
We also set up the swing set. The fun the kids have in the backyard makes the small living quarters worth it!
Solo Parenting
Since I've gone back to work Mike has accumulated some serious solo parenting time. When I was a stay-at-home mom it was a rare occasion for Mike to put the kids down to bed at night by himself and it was a regular occurrence for me to have quite a bit of solo parenting time. That has changed drastically and we're getting pretty equal amounts of solo parenting time. To be clear Mike is a fantastic Dad and loves being with the kids, he just didn't get as much time with them previously because of his hectic work schedule. Mike took the kids to a birthday party all by himself when I was working at an event earlier in the month. The first picture shows how drastically things have changed. I love Olivia's little outfit, knee socks, hair barrettes and all. My favorite thing about it is that Mike picked it out all by himself. The birthday party was at the Children's Museum and the kids had a blast!
Mike also got some serious solo parenting time when I headed to Houston for work last weekend. It was nice to be able to squeeze in some visits with friends and family during my work trip. I did miss the kids so I was excited to have some solo parenting time this past week while Mike had to travel to Ft. Knox for work. It was a long week though full of work meetings and parent-teacher conferences, and early-dismissal days. I couldn't have done it with out help from Nanny D.
School Changes
Olivia really is thriving in her new school. We had her first IEP meeting here last week. Initially they were working from her North Carolina IEP while they got a chance to get to know Olivia a little better. Olivia had been at The Chartwell Center for about a month so we met to create her new IEP. People have always told me how happy Olivia is and how much they enjoy being around her but for the first time I was given specific examples of how Olivia is actively participating and contributing to the education of her peers in the classroom. Olivia makes great eye-contact and that is a challenge for some of her peers school. The teacher has noticed that kids that don't normally make eye contact will make and sustain eye contact with Olivia. She's contributing positively to her class and it's such a new experience for me to have a teacher tell me how much they enjoy having Olivia in the class because she's such a good peer model! We are also noticing that Olivia is interacting much more with her peers and Peter.
Peter actually started at a new childcare center on Halloween Day. Peter adjusted easily to Newcomb but before he even started we got an email saying that they were increasing tuition. Even with Mike's faculty discount we were paying nearly $1000 a month. We were not 100% satisfied with the program. We made a change and Peter started at the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) Child Care Facility. The ACE child care center is a YMCA program and it has been fantastic. It is exactly the same distance from my office and it's just across the street from Mike's office. I admit that I did not want to make the change but I'm so glad Mike convinced me! I had a parent-teacher conference with Peter's teacher this past week and she told me that Peter fit right in with the other kids in his class from the very first day. It did take him a little bit longer to become comfortable with his teachers. The teachers heard Peter talking away to his classmates but he wouldn't answer questions or talk to the teachers very much. Over the last week or so Peter seemed to decide that everything was okay and he talks to teachers and classmates alike.
Medical Stuff
Peter got a case of pink eye but fortunately we were able to keep everyone else in the family from getting it....except me! I cannot tell you how yucky it is to have pink eye as an adult! It was even more annoying because I got pink eye a full 7 days after Peter first had symptoms. His cleared up almost instantly (he had 1 dose of eye drops) but mine seemed to stick around for 3-4 days.
Early in the month Olivia had a coughing episodes at school where she had a hard time catching her breath. Olivia's teacher texted me, I called the doctor and got an appointment (in less than a hour), Mike picked Olivia up from school, I met them both at the doctor. It turns out that Olivia had an ear infection. She started the antibiotic that afternoon (love that the doctor could just email the pharmacy of our choice and were able to pick up the medication on our way home from the doctor). We are definitely getting used to the convenience of civilian medicine! Olivia needed a few extra days of rest and is back to running at full speed.
Thanksgiving
We were invited to join both Olivia and Peter's classes for Thanksgiving lunch this past week. Unfortunately Mike was still at Ft. Knox so he missed the fun but I had a busy day heading from one feast to another. Here I am with my little turkey. I swear she said gobble gobble the other day. 
Peter was thrilled that I joined him for lunch at school but he was a little upset to see me leave. Seriously adorable! My little pilgrim!
So that's it now you're all caught up. I promise not to get this far behind ever again!
