Abby's First Day of Preschool

 I can't believe our baby is starting preschool! She will be going to Pioneer Park Preschool just like the boys did. I am hoping that knowing the teachers will help. She has been going with me to take the boys since she was an infant. Sueann was also excited to have Abby as a student since she has pretty much watched her grow up. Abby has really grown up and become a little girl instead of our baby the last year. She is confident, sweet and sassy and we know that she can definitely hold her own since she grew up with 2 older brothers.

 She was excited for preschool but nervous. The boys have been telling her all she will need to know. Caleb gave her a little pep talk before she left for school.

 She was excited when we got there and went running down the path to get there.

Once we were in the classroom she was a little apprehensive about staying but the teachers started to talk to her and got her working on a puzzle and she was fine.
Her first day went really well. She played with Penny the little girl (as opposed to our dog :) she wiped her self ,  and she got a prize. It was a great day!

Melt Down Week Part 2

Well starting school was stressful, finding daycare for Abby was stressful and attempting to crunch our schedules is about impossible. I am a planner, so when I called the first week of Sept to tell my new job that I could start the 3rd week of Sept it was Quite a shock to find out that ideally they would like me to be there full time to train. What! What person takes a supplemental job but can work full time for the first 1-2 months. I had to flat out tell her that 5 days a week was never going to work for me and that 2 was all I could do. I could tell she was not thrilled about this over the phone, but what could I do.
We had however found a neighbor that was willing to watch Abby 1-2 days a week. I think it will be a perfect fit not to mention it is across the street and we know them. So, one problem down and more to go.
After much much much looking at the schedule and trying to arrange and rearrange I was finding that it wasn't going to work. It was going to be a disaster for me to try to work supplemental at 2 jobs with everything new we had going on. I talked to Robb about it, talked to friends and family, spent some time crying, stressed and sobbed and together we came to the decision that it is really bad timing. I think this new job could have been a good thing, if it was different timing but right now it was just going to make our complicated life even more complicated! I then had to make a really hard phone call to tell my new boss that I want to quit before I even started. Luckily she was very nice about it and said that family comes first and she was glad that I decided this before I started training. Whew, that was a phone call I never want to have to make again!
I felt hugely relieved after I quit and decided to just pick up as many hours as I could at the NICU. We figure we can reevaluate after the first of the year when we are more settled into the school and preschool routine. Even though these last few weeks have been Horribly stressful a few good things came out of it: We found someone to watch Abby on a very part time schedule, which allows me to work weekday overnights in the NICU. We also figured out that the neighbor can pick up the boys and watch them until 5:15 occasionally so we have daycare somewhat figured out that allows me to either work days or nights. I am hoping that the NICU stays busy and that I can continue to get hours there. Thanks to all my friends, family and especially my hubby who put up with my craziness the last couple weeks. I think things will start to look up from here. We have even had a couple no cry drop offs at school.