An Iowa Pride: November 2011

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

A Year Ago

We were a family of three...

I put this boy to bed for the last time as only his momma...

I was swollen (quite literally) with child and very ready to meet her...

I knew all would be well as this man would be holding my hand the whole time...

We couldn't wait to meet you Campbell Jean!!! More to come tomorrow--- the big 1st birthday!!!

I have been getting my haircut at a place in North Liberty for a little over year. I really like my lady although she's younger and in a totally different world than me. Two chairs down from her station hangs a thing with color samples... not shades of blonde or brown but shades of the rainbow. I have been eyeing it for a long time thinking a tiny bit of color might be fun. I almost pulled the trigger the end of August at my last haircut but chickened out. Last week I decided to do it. Purple. Ellen was already drying my hair when I asked if she had time to do it that night and she, the trooper, said yes! She pulled the rest of my hair out of the way and first dyed it bleach blonde (yuck!) and then put in 3 foils of purple. Really purple. Like the Crayola purple marker you color with purple! Ellen said it took really well since I don't highlight or dye my hair. We had to wash that chunk twice and sit under the dryer twice and 15ish minutes later I had a silly purple section of hair! I know it's not that big of a deal but that's about as wild as I get folks! It makes me smile and 8 times out of 10 people haven't noticed, which is the way I wanted it. It will slowly fade out over the next several weeks and be back to brown sooner than later. The pictures below were from my phone that night and aren't great. Look at my birthday post below and see if you now notice that little section on my left side. I'm glad I did it. I think it's fun! And PS- a few people have asked if I did it as a freaking out cause I'm turning thirty thing and I did not. Just something fun for me. It's only silly hair and will be back to normal soon. : )

Monday, November 28, 2011

THIRTIES here I come!

Today I turned 30 which is kind of weird for sure. 30 means officially grown up in my opinion. In your twenties you are looked at as young, fresh out of college, new to the working world, new to the parenting world, not far removed from young and foolish. Thirty to me means the next chapter... college days were a little longer ago, been married for a while now, second kiddo came along to further our parenting adventure... I feel like I accomplished a lot in my twenties--- Met my love. Graduated college. Became an aunt. Taught in Cedar Rapids. Got married. Moved to FL. Became an aunt again. Taught in FL. Became an aunt again. Became a mother. Moved to Colorado. Lived in the same city as my siblings. Became a stay at home mom. Moved back to Iowa. Became an aunt again. Had a second baby. Became an aunt again. All the while working to be a better daughter, sister, friend. Celebrating and comforting the ones I love through good times and bad. Turning 30 today feels kind of weird... but not bad. I'm looking forward to my thirties. Bryan and I continue to grow closer and smarter in our marriage and I could not imagine a more perfect man to share these fast-moving years with. I feel these will be some of the best with our own children as they become little people so very quickly. I am one lucky lady. And I am thankful. So THIRTIES... here I come!!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

A good picture of Sam!!!!

A normal sight around our house in the evenings... nudie, well shirtless kiddos just out of the tub! The real shocker is that I was able to get several pictures of Sam smiling and looking at the camera!!!!!! He is such a sweet boy and uses this lovey, totally happy smile often but has been such a stink lately as soon as the camera comes out. I'm so glad he cooperated... kind of wish he had a shirt on but thankful for the good pictures of him none the less!

he's such a nice boy

two cheeseballs

funny because they are both looking up at their tall dad

not lucky enough to get a good one of them together too that night

Campbell tried to stand up using a chair from the kiddy table and her little hand missed- ouch! here's the start of her black eye... the above pictures were taken a couple days after this

handsome Sam one more time <3

PS- doesn't he he look totally different from his picture above in our header?! Working to get that updated sooner than later... we do have two children now you know... : )

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Sam last year on November 16th...

Sweet boy : )

Recently

Nothing wild happening at our house recently but I thought I'd share a few pictures and videos of the kids. Campbell will be ONE in a couple of weeks... shortly after her mom turns THIRTY!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhh! Weird. Both kiddos are doing welll--- she's walking more and more, they are playing better together all of the time and our evenings are so much fun as the four of us hang out and goof around. Sam refuses to take a decent picture so pay attention to his sweet smiles on video when he's not looking away on purpose! : ) Bryan and I are so thankful for these two joyful children!

she loves to be in the tub

happy in the picnic basket

cheesey

scrunched up nose cheesey

cute

almost tricked him into looking back at me!

trying not to look

pretty blues

Thursday, November 10, 2011

School Update

Sam has been going to PreK at Coralville Central for two months now. We started him three mornings a week and have quickly made our way up to five. He is such a routine kiddo and with only 2.5 hours there, it just makes sense to have him go all five mornings. He is doing so so well. The first couple of weeks were tricky. Unfortunately the toughest part of his day was the drop off. Not because he was leaving me, but it was a completely overwhelming first few minutes to our sometimes sensory sensitive boy--- our van pulls into the bus line so buses are passing us, ahead of us, behind us, big kids are unloading and walking by, cars are sneaking around the buses--- things are loud and busy and it took a bit for him to get used to all of that. We are greeted quickly by Miss Jodi, who is one of the two paras in Sam's room. She is totally the best. She is there every morning snagging the other boys off their buses and gathering them on a bench to then walk inside. She is pure love and the perfect way to start Sam's school day. She snuggles and hugs, laughs and entertains, distracts and comforts. Sam has really taken to her and looks to her for comfort throughout the morning if he needs it. She is just like a momma and knows when to push and encourage independence and when to snatch him up and comfort for just a minute. There are five other little boys in his class which is cute. Miss Gail is a wonderful teacher in her last year of teaching and has been the perfect expert to start Sam on his school journey. We get little paragraph reports of each day in his Friday folder at the end of the week. He loves 'group time' the most--- likes to be the helper, the point-er-out-er, the doer and the model. : ) They are working on language skills, social skills, physical skills, personal care, some of the regular three year old academics and mainly teaching how to be an independent learner in the school setting. We are so glad we decided to send him and are so so thankful for the wonderful women who care for him each day. They truly understand his strengths and abilities, his fears and his areas of need. We'll see if they can make gains with his speech but we know he is growing leaps and bounds in many other ways. We have our first conference next Thursday and Bryan and I are excited to learn more about the academic part of his day. We couldn't be more proud of Sam. He has walked a different walk so far in life but is happy and loving and is making huge gains each day. We are excited to see what the coming months of school bring!