Growing up: Inches and Miles at a Time

In so many ways, Shelby is developmentally still our little girl, but I've been noticing how she seems to have grown a lot over the last couple months. My long legged baby girl is looking like a big girl!

And to cinch the deal, she lost her first baby tooth earlier this week.....

 

 

She didn't quite get what the rest of us were excited about--but she enjoyed all of us making a big deal out of the occasion, and of course, the tooth fairy came through and brought Shelby a dollar bill!

And as if to prove that she's not just growing physically, Shelby started carrying her back pack by herself. Previously, she hasn't been able to handle balancing and walking and carrying it all at once, but she's got it now.

2014: What a Year!

2014 was a whirlwind of a year for our family! So much has happened and I have been too overwhelmed and in awe of it all to even attempt to document it on this blog....  

Major milestones included: 

1. Selling and moving out of our home of nine plus years.

2. Bunking at Trip's parents' house on the mountain for 6 months while our new house was under construction (God bless them for putting up with us).

3. Shelby started kindergarten. 

4. Harding switched to a local charter school. 

5. I changed jobs and am now happily employed as a school counselor.

6. We moved into our dream house on the mountaintop. 

7. We celebrated my beautiful grandmother Penny's 90th birthday at the beach with my dad's side of the family this Thanksgiving. 

8. After 4 1/2 years of  graduate school, I finally finished! I graduated from Western Carolina University with my Masters in School Counseling in December.

We have had so many transitions since last April. All of them were worthwhile, but also incredibly  stressful for everyone. Honestly, I'm still recovering from it all! So, what's next? Hopefully no huge transitions! In 2015, we're going to concentrate on having more quality time: loving. laughing, enjoying, reading, conversing, camping, splashing, creating, and sunset appreciating. And maybe I'll even document some of it on this little ol' blog. Cheers to a new year! 

Back to School 2012

Our back to school this year has been pretty momentous. Harding and Shelby are at a new school together and their classes are on the same hallway. Harding has now entered the big world of kindergarten and Shelby is in a Head Start preschool class.

As a teacher, I am usually pretty anxious when I have to go back to school at the end of the summer and this year was no exception. In fact, I have been a complete mess because of all the changes the kids were facing this year (H in kindergarten at a school where we don't know anyone and Shelby with new teachers and all new therapists). Somehow, we made it through last week unscathed though, and now that we have met all the teachers, been in the classrooms, and the kids have the first day of school under their belts, I feel much better about the whole situation. 

Harding came home from the first day full of excitement about hunting for the gingerbread boy in the library and making a new friend named Isabella. He proudly demonstrated to us that kindergarteners need to walk on "marshmallow toes" instead of elephant feet. We're hoping that skill will be used at home too!

Shelby's transition is off to a better start than we expected. She has pitched tantrums at the end of music time each day, but is eating and playing in the classroom just fine. She has also really taken to her speech therapist, Sarah, which is good news. I hope she'll warm up to the new PT and OT this week.

Harding at meet-the-teacher with Mrs. McClure. He wanted to stay all day!

Shelby at meet-the-teacher with Ms. Kathy, Ms. Maria, and Ms. Rebekah. She did not handle it as well as Harding, but allowed Kathy to hold her briefly for this picture.

Daddy helping Shelby feel comfortable in her new classroom.

Harding was excited about the dolphin mural and said, "Take my picture swimming with them Mommy".

My big boy on his first day of kindergarten. He was so excited! Trip texted me this picture at drop-off because I was busy teaching my new students on their first day of school.

Snaggle Tooth

This little bottom tooth has taken a long time to come out. Harding has had 4 loose teeth for months, and for the past week, this one has been hanging on by a thread. I finally helped Harding yank it out last night and after he recovered from the slight bleeding, he was really proud.

My grandmother Burney gave Harding this tooth fairy doll last Christmas. I love how it looks like him! Harding was thrilled to be able to finally put it to use. He found a dollar in place of the tooth this morning and announced to Trip that he was going to save the money from all his teeth and use it to buy a factory in a couple years.

On a sunny Sunday in February

We ventured to the park to let Harding practice his bike riding without training wheels. He took to it immediately--a sign we should have removed those wheels 6 months ago. I don't remember it being this easy when I learned to ride a bike (in 2nd grade).


After a few laps on the bike, we hit the playground. Shelby sure does love to swing. We're patching her eye a couple hours a day now too (same concept as the cast, but to strengthen her left eye).

Harding enjoyed climbing the giant tire tunnel and sliding down the fire poll.

Harding wrapped up the day at his friend Haven's bowling birthday party. Happy birthday sweet Haven!

And Shelby's day ended with OT and then a much-needed bath. She is still doing great with leftie, but she struggles with opening her left thumb, which makes grasping and releasing objects more difficult. I'm looking forward to seeing what her second week of constraint-induced therapy brings.