Pre-School and Plumbing

Lots of change going on around here. Well two things, so not really lots.

First off, the kids started “school” or daycare, however you want to look at it. Alex’s classroom is pretty close to a pre-school environment so I call it school for him. Chloe’s room does a lot of instruction too but mostly playtime and sing-alongs. Last Sunday night reminded me a lot of how I felt before the first day of school as a kid. I layed out everyones outfit, including mine. Bags were all packed. I also had a hard time falling asleep. Henry wasn’t able to do his normal drop off so I had to wake up extra early to get us all out the door by 7 a.m. The sun was just barely up at this point so I’m putting this adventure under the “undesirable” column. This is why Henry drops the kids off in the morning, because he can take his sweet time getting to work so it isn’t as much of a rush as it would be for me. Anyways, I got the two kids and two bags unloaded, signed everyone in, and took Chloe to her room first. She seemed totally fine and went right for the toys. I snuck out pretty fast (as I’m trying not to cry) and we headed over to Alex’s room. Since its still early, there are only a few kids there so far. I sat him at the table with two other girls and made some introductions so Alex can learn their names. As I ask for a kiss goodbye, he gets teary which makes me teary. I realize this is going to only get harder with every second I stay, so I make another quick exit. I’m a mess at this point which is extra awesome as I pass other parents in the hall. I then notice that I left my keys in Chloe’s room. Shit. As I snuck in, I’m spotted and then she starts crying for me. GET ME OUTTA HERE! I grabbed my keys and made my way out to the car. I re-grouped, treated myself to a hot chocolate at Starbucks, and got to work with plenty of time to spare. Phew! I absolute despise 1st day drop offs. The next time will be fine, but I just really wished Henry could have done it. I felt really anxious to pick up the kids all day and I was pumped when it was finally 5:00. I also called over there at lunch time to see how it was going and Alex was playing on the playground and Chloe was being fussy around lunch time but it was probably because she was very ready for a nap. When I got there Chloe was holding a teacher’s hand with one hand and her favorite stuffed animal in the other. And her binky. She also looked tired. I’m sure it was an exhausting day for her. Alex was happily riding around on a bike and was really happy to see me. The teachers said he had a really good day and he did just fine and only needed his blanket a little bit. HA! That kid and his blanket…..I think what we have there is a successful 1st day. Very glad its over.

The next change is that our house is undergoing a bit of an update. New pipes. The water pressure on both shower heads is pretty much shot so we’ve ALL been bathing via the tub since Thursday. Now for Henry this isn’t much of a big deal other than the fact that he looks like an idiot crammed into a small bathtub. He has no hair to wash and rinse. However, me, who has more hair than I can handle, its a royal pain in the ass. I’m literally filling up pitchers of water from the tub spout and dumping them over my head. The plumbers start today on our master bath and the laundry room. We decided to do the entire house while were tearing through walls and I’m glad we did because Henry texted me a picture of our 99% clogged-with-lime- scale pipes. The pipes were probably original to our 1960’s house so I’d say its about time for an update. The new copper pipes will last well beyond the years we intend to live here so I’m pretty pumped (ha!) to have this job done. AND, bonus feature is we are putting a 2nd shower head in our shower. Not that Henry will be awake at 6:30 a.m to take a shower with me, but its nice to have the option if one of the kids wants to jump in too. Our contractor, who we’ve known for a long time and looks like Chuck Norris, told me this morning, “I don’t want you to freak out at the holes in the wall. I’ve got ‘THE guy’ for re-drywalling so we’ll fix all of it. So don’t freak out.” This, of course, makes me start to freak out. I know it will all be repaired in the end, but we will have to do some painting over those spots. Oh well. It might jumpstart my painting goals that I’ve been putting off. I plan on posting everyday about the progress just so everyone can follow along and be grateful the mess isn’t in your house. I just want ONE functioning shower by the end of this week. Laundry would be cool too. We did a mad dash wash of all dirty laundry so we’re pretty set for this week if we don’t have a washing machine. By the way, there’s clean clothes everywhere too. Whatever you do…..do not just stop by my house this week, k? If you do, I’m gonna make you clean something. Check out day 1 progress pics: