Em had a great year at pre-school, despite being shuffled through teachers and having to change schools. She made a lot of great friends, and I was a bit sad to see her have to leave that school. But private school was not at all what Ryan and I had agreed on and it didn't even matter because we couldn't afford it anyway. And I won't lie, I do not miss seeing my ex-husband's best friend every morning while taking my daughter to school. But I knew she would bounce back, and make friends easily at her new school. So in June, she had her last day, and they had a little graduation ceremony.
It's funny because pre-kids, I always thought "graduation ceremony? For preschoolers? Come on!" But when it's MY kid graduating I was like aww, my baby is graduating, and we picked out a pretty dress for her to wear (one she already owned, I was thrilled to get a second use our of one of her holiday dresses) and I bought her a Minnie Mouse wearing a cap and gown, and a card. So we all went to see her graduate, me, her dad, and both sets of her grandparents. Even my brother came, it was so cute....while I think everything my baby does is amazing, I realize that not everyone else thinks it's quite as monumental. So I didn't want to invite my brother and his wife, and pretend like it was a bigger deal than it was. But we were all doing dinner after, so I told them they were welcome to come to that, and said the ceremony is probably just for parents and grands due to space.
But my brother was like oh, can you check and see if we can come....I already scheduled my patients around it. Awwww, so cute! He's such a good uncle. Though since Emily is the only grandkid (for all intents and purposes) in my family, it's pretty much guaranteed that they all DO think everything she does is as great as I think it is. So she was really cute in her dress and her little graduation cap that they made at school. Then we went out for pizza afterward.
So during the winter and spring, I gave dating a try. Well, not sure you can call it dating when the other person is a million miles away....I read about a term a while back called a "situationship". We'll go with that. He was an old friend, I met him years ago, before Ryan and I even met. We went out a few times back then but there weren't really any fireworks. Bad timing I guess. I came across him on FB and decided to say hi. I didn't really do it with any intention in mind....just that I was single now, and could do whatever I wanted.
To my surprise, we started talking a lot, and I quickly found myself with dopey smiles on my face while we talked, and butterflies in my tummy. It was nice. And for months I looked forward to him coming home....he's in the Army and was deployed. He finally came home in June, and things went to shit. We went on one date, and then he ended up getting back together with his ex. Yep, story of my life. Some people get cheated on, some people get used.....I get left for the ex. It has happened to me several times. But, at least it didn't progress to the point of introducing him to Emily...not even close actually. But I am glad I at least got back out there and gave it a shot. I was kind of worried that I wouldn't even want to try dating for a long long time, and I was afraid if I waited too long to try it, it could keep me from trying it even more.
I do feel sorry for anyone I do date long enough to bring him into Emmy's world though. She's so shy, especially around men. She can give a stink eye like a pro. It's going to take an awfully special guy to win over her. He'll have his work cut out for him.
So we didn't do a whole lot this summer....we took a few trips up north, which Em always loves. The second one was better....I worked the morning before we hit the road, and I took a personal day the Monday we came home, so for the first time in a long time I didn't have to work the entire time we were there. The first trip I had to work though, and I was sick again while we were there. I had just barely gotten over that upper respiratory infection I had forever, and then within hours of getting up north my throat started to hurt, it was so bad it kept waking me up at night. The first night my dad had left the windows open in the room I sleep in, so I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. The bathroom floor was all wet because it had rained, so the bottoms of my jammy pants got all wet, and I had to use wet toilet paper....that doesn't work so well.
So I crawled back in bed, my throat was on fire, my pants were wet and I was freezing. The next night I was trying to work, but I suddenly got the chills so bad, I couldn't get enough clothes on myself and I couldn't stop shaking. I just wanted to go home....which we did the next day, but that meant a 4 hour drive, feeling like death. We had been on the freeway for about 30 minutes when I had a coughing fit...but I coughed too hard, and had to throw up.....I was like shit, how do I throw up while I am driving on the freeway!! I was just starting to look for a safe place to pull over when thank God I saw a rest area sign. I pulled in, grabbed the first spot and yacked in the grass.
Em never lets anything go, for the next two days she had to tell everyone that I threw up at the rest area, and for like half an hour once we were back on the road, she had a million questions. Why did I throw up, should we have cleaned it up, will it still be there next week, will someone step in it.....and on and on.
Last week we had to go downtown to Friend of the Court to figure out an issue with the child support payments. Ryan came too so we could both understand it, and we had to bring Em since we had no one to watch her. On the way there I wasn't feeling well, but I figured maybe anxiety and nerves of having to deal with those idiots. When we came out, I felt worse, and we were just about to cross the street to head back to the parking garage, and I was like, I'm going to puke. Ryan was like, are you serious? Luckily there was a garbage can right there....so that's something I've never done before....puked on a busy city street. Kind of embarrassing. I ended up barfing the next morning too...I think it was a side effect of a new medicine I just started.
Before I was pregnant with Em and had morning sickness, I don't think I had puked since I was a kid....now it seems to be a regular occurrence for me for some reason or another. I'm like a cat, hacking up hairballs all the time. So, of course, Em had to go on and on about that too.
So this past Wednesday was her first day of school. It was just a half-day, so Ryan and I took her together. She did really well, we got to stay with her for a few minutes in the classroom, help her hang up her backpack and find her desk, and then we said our goodbyes.
Picking her up is annoying....until the teacher gets to know which child goes with who, she'll only release them one by one when you tell her which kid is yours. That's totally fine, and safe, I like it. But some of the parents could use some re-schooling on how to wait your turn. When you first get there everyone is kind of spread out, but the minute the door opens, people start creeping up and getting in front of you so they can get their kid....so you have to do the same, otherwise, the entire crowd will creep up in front of you. Wait your damn turn, jerks!
She did great, she said she had fun and even made two new friends. The next day was harder, for me anyway. Knowing she was staying the whole day and had to eat lunch there, I was a little nervous for her, and a little teary-eyed on the way home. I decided on the days I work from home, I will walk to pick her up. It's just under a mile, so almost 2 miles round trip. She and I walked it a few weeks ago to see how long it would take so I knew how much time to allow. Man....that's a long walk.
I used to walk every day on my lunch break....annnnd I used to be many pounds lighter then too. Back then I could have done that walk no problem, but it was pretty tiring yesterday. I got there a little early, and they were still out to recess. I spotted Em, she was playing with a little girl. There are 3 kindergarten classes, and right now they are in the assessment period. At the end of two weeks, her teacher will decide based on what she has learned about each kid if they should stay with her, or be assigned to one of the other two teachers.
Right now her friend she was playing with is in another class, so when they all lined up to go inside, I saw Em waving to her and she even blew the little girl a kiss. So cute! I cannot even explain how happy it made me to see her happily playing on only her second day of school, already having made a friend, and seeming perfectly fine. She never did see me, so it was cool to be able to watch her when she didn't know I was there. She often acts way different when I am around. I'm hoping her and her friend end up in the same class, but if not, at least they can play together at recess. It's better to start off in different classes, then to have a friend in class, and be separated once they switch.
So once Em came out, she and I began our walk home. She wasn't a big fan of the walk, and dawdled and complained quite a bit.....she'll run so many laps around the house in a day's time that probably equals 10 miles, but can't handle the 1-mile walk home. Once we're almost home, there is a 5 lane road we have to cross. It takes forever because when one side is clear, the other isn't, and I refuse to wait in the center turn lane with Emily. By myself, I will, but with Em, I wait until the entire road is clear. So I think, at least until I get used to walking again, I will drive and park on the other side of that busy road and walk from there. That'll cut the walk down to just half a mile each way. That ought to make it a lot more bearable....I did enjoy it though, and once I am in better shape, then maybe I'll tackle the walk from our house.
So now she's off for the holiday weekend, but she's excited to go back next week. Ahh kindergarten, when kids actually like school and hate having days off for holidays. The only time they'll feel that way again once they're older is when they have a crush at school that they want to see. Hopefully, that's still a long ways off.
So here's my baby on her first day of school....probably way bigger than whichever picture I last shared.
