Monday, February 23, 2015

Preschool

If you would have told me 3 years ago that I would be getting stressed out about getting my child into PRESCHOOL I would of laughed at you.

I mistakenly believed that applying and vying for spots in preschool was reserved for bigger cities where competition is fierce and parents are crazy.  You know, NYC and SF.  But we just moved to BERKELEY, we moved here partly because we didn't want to deal with the craziness of the SF school system!  But here I am, stressing over preschool like it's college.

SF has a ridiculous school system.  It's a lottery system, not district based.  You basically throw your kids name in the lottery pool and then they tell you where your kid is going to school.  It does not  matter if you live next door to a school and could walk your kid to school you might get put in a school a 45 minute drive away.  IT'S WEIRD.

So many parents who put their kids through the public school system in SF tried to tell us it wasn't that bad and you could apply and fight for the school you really wanted (you know, the one next door) and it wasn't THAT hard, but come on...who wants to put that much effort into getting your kid into preschool, then elementary school, then middle school and then again for high school?!  I really really did not.

We also were not interested in shelling out $30K a year for private school.  That is theoretically possible with one child, but we were never going to settle for one child.  So private school was off the table.

So we moved.

There were other reasons for our move as well, but the school system was definitely on the list of reasons to move.

We got here in October.  A full year away from the preschool years as Jett had just turned 2.  Purely by chance while researching 2 year old programs I discovered that preschool deadlines for the following year were coming up in Dec/Jan!!!  A mere 2 months away and we JUST arrived.  Luckily I had stumbled upon this because who knew deadlines would be a whole year in advance?!  Again, I thought we were leaving the town of crazy school competition.

It turns out because preschool is private and not public (that starts at Kindergarten) the vying for spots exists even out here in the burbs.

It doesn't help that we got very picky about what we wanted in a preschool.  After I began researching I discovered that a) preschool is fucking expensive and b) co-ops seemed like the shit.

So I narrowed it down to a co-op.  Step 1 complete.

After that the search was dwindled down to only 4 or 5 that existed in the area.  After further research the pool got even smaller as my criteria got more involved.  Must be play based.  Only 3 days a week (more days a week required more time from me as these are co-ops) and accepting of kids that were not yet potty trained (no way was I going to force that issue, if he's not ready he's not ready!)  Step 2 complete.

And with that we were left with 2.  Only 2 preschools in the area that fulfilled all of my criteria.  This was both awesome as it made the choice easy, apply to both, and difficult because FUCK, what do we do if he doesn't get into either?!  Step 3 and Done!  But...

It turns out he didn't get into either.

Sigh.

It would have been too perfect, right? New baby makes his/her appearance in August and Jett starts preschool three mornings a week in September, such good timing.  But alas, it might not be so.

Fortunately for little Jett Jett his birthday allows him to fit perfectly into either this coming year for preschool when he will just barely be 3 and thus one of the youngest in his class OR he would be fine waiting for the following year when he would just barely be 4 and only slightly older than all the littles who turn 4 in Sep/Oct who's birthdays fall after the cutoff for the coming year.

So I'm trying not to stress, either scenario is fine for Jett, but this coming year would be more fine for mommy.

But then to continue the saga, and the stress, and the waiting.

This morning we got an email from one of the preschools saying that Jett is first on the waiting list AND that they had a current family who might be transferring out leaving a spot for Jett!!!

Oh the suspense!

How is everyone else doing with preschool???  I feel like a lot of you had babies at the end of the year Sep and onward of 2012 which means you have another year!

Friday, February 20, 2015

Baby #2 Bumpdate - Weeks 16 & 17

I console myself with the fact that Baby #2 gets "experienced" parents out of this deal and not the shit end of the stick because I'm not paying much attention to this pregnancy.

For posterity sake...

How far along: 17 weeks 1 day

Weight Gain: I'm up 8 lbs.  Which is a pound more than I was at with Jett.  But I started about 5 lbs lighter so it's all good.

What's up with My Body: I can't sleep.  It's awful.  I'm up 4-5 times a night to pee and on top of that have trouble getting back to sleep each time I'm up.  I wake up feeling more exhausted than I went to bed.  I was drinking water like there was no tomorrow to try to help with the constipation (which is under control thanks to psyllium husks) but come on, up to pee every 2 hours!!!  So, I've started restricting fluids at 6pm, basically after dinner I'm only having water if I'm thirsty.  It's helped a bit, last night after FINALLY getting to sleep at about midnight I was only up twice to pee.  Sigh.  I really wish I had these last few months to SLEEP before baby gets here.  But alas my body has other plans, it wants to prepare me for sleeplessness again, what an asshole.

Movement: I've felt baby a handful of times, once right around 15 weeks for the first time, then not again until about 16 weeks, then once or twice since then.  Very infrequent, very light, but there.

What I'm Looking Forward to: Anatomy Scan is just a little over a week away. First and only ultrasound!  We're not finding out sex but it will be fun to see the baby!

Bumpdate:
God I look tired...


Monday, February 9, 2015

Jett at 2.5

I can't say enough about how much fun 2 year olds are.  I LOVE the 2 year old phase.

And for posterity sake I want to write down what Jett was doing at the wonderful age of 2.5.

Talking:  The verbal development over the last 6 months is astounding.  The things that come out of this kids mouth!  He can put full sentences together, he has original thoughts that he can articulate, he asks questions when he doesn't understand something, he repeats things back that you're convinced he shouldn't be able to.  He remembers weird things from days ago that he'll suddenly bring up in conversation.  It's amazing.

Reading:  Last week Jett started reading me his books.  Cutest thing ever.  He grabbed a book, I asked if he wanted me to read it, he said, "No, I read it" and sure enough...he "read" it.  He obviously memorized it (and several others!) but he follows the words with his finger and recites the story.  We now spend an inordinate amount of time with me reading the page first then Jett following the words with his finger and reading it back to me.  I was told the other day by my babysitter (who is also a preschool teacher) that this is the beginning stages of literacy, memorizing books and then "reading" them.

Eating:  Crap eater.  Ha!  He has his good days and his bad.  He's been sick with a cold for the last week and a half and he's always terrible at eating when he's sick but that's what's in my head right now is that the kid doesn't eat!  Yesterday was a fab food day though, he ate all 3 meals plus snacks, by himself with no help.  So, yeah, good days and bad.

Sleeping:  My kid is such a dream sleeper.  He's such a good sleeper that I cringe thinking about having to deal with a newborn sleeping again.  It's the RARE night that he wakes up AT ALL and he sleeps a solid 11-12 hours.  Bedtime is 8pm and he's up somewhere between 7:15-7:30pm.  It's amazing and I hope he continues to a great sleeper even when his little sister or brother arrives.  That would make mommy very happy!

Naps: We're on the cusp of something happening with naps.  We had been at 1pm nap time for over a year when suddenly 1pm naptime wasn't working anymore.  Jett would go 3-4 days with no nap, nap one day then another 3-4 days just playing in the crib for 2 hours, not napping.  So, I moved naptime to 2pm and he's gone back to napping MOST days.  He will still have the odd no-nap day but it's better...for now.  It definitely feels like he's on the verge of dropping that nap and I can only hope he holds out until preschool starts in the fall where I at least have SOME time of the day where I'm only dealing with one kid!

Personality: He's a pretty sweet kid.  He's still very mild-mannered and even-tempered, I'm not saying we don't have our meltdowns but they're nothing compared to many a kid I've witnessed and generally I can calm him down pretty easily. Half the time meltdowns are 100% food related and if you give him a snack he calms down immediately.  He loves other kids and I CANNOT WAIT until he starts preschool (god willing we get in!) because he's such a social butterfly.  Crowds never deter him, lots of kids are not scary, he never looks for mommy...I'm pretty sure he doesn't care if I'm there, so he'll do just fine when he starts school.  He's even pretty good about understanding and accepting waiting in line and waiting for his turn.  But HE'S SUCH A BOY.  If there's something to climb on, we must climb on it.  If there's something that is in the shape of a sword/stick, we must hit things with it.  If there is a ball we must kick or throw it.

This kid was such a nightmare for the first few months, I'm so glad he's turning out ok.  If I could have 10 kids just like Jett I'd do it in a second.

He's finding "his baby" with my Doppler =)

Friday, February 6, 2015

Baby #2 Bumpdate - Week 14 & 15

I can't believe how crap I am at this.

I want to remember this stuff!

But I can't find the time or the inclination to sit down and blog these days.

So without further ado:

How far along: 15 weeks 1 day

Weight Gain: Again, this pregnancy is so amusingly different for me MENTALLY.  Who has time to weigh themselves?  And more importantly...who gives a shit?  Oh right, I did, a lot, the first time.  Well, I think I weighed myself a few nights ago and it was 125?  So, that's up 7lbs...i think.

Movement? I'm pretty sure I felt baby already!  Just once, 2 nights ago, haven't felt it since, but it was that same obnoxious fluttery feeling that I really didn't enjoy the first time around.

What's Up with My Body:  Same old, same old.  CONSTIPATION.  Although I do think I've found the miracle cure.  Midwife recommended psyllium husks and OMG they work!  Unfortunately I tried to lower my dosage (always trying to find the minimum I can take) and ended up a bit uncomfortable again, thus we're going back to maximum dosage!

The boobs have finally started growing again.  SO DIFFERENT THAN LAST TIME.  These babies were already up to D's (from B's) during my pregnancy with Jett.  This time they started at A's (so sad my little A cup boobs) and have just made their way into a B after I stopped nursing...now they look (and feel, sore!) like they'll make it into C's in the next few weeks.

AND eggs give me gas!  MOTHERFUCKER.  I love eggs.  For the first few weeks of this pregnancy I was craving and eating eggs like it was nobody's business but apparently now, out of the blue, they give me such excruciating gas that I would rather be in labor than dare eat eggs again for fear of the pain!  It was like being stabbed.  So...eggs, off the table for the time being.

Gender: I don't care.  Ha!  I spent almost zero time thinking about this.  I don't know if it's because I'm busy with Jett or what but I literally don't have the brain space to worry about this this time around.  Last time I analyzed this thing TO DEATH and changed my mind every other week.  This time I'm like what?  Sex?  Who cares, it's a baby!

Bumpdate:  I can't even be bothered to set up a photo shoot like last time.  Sad.

 14 weeks, trying on maternity clothes!
 15 weeks.