Olivia's First Day of Kindergarten

I knew the day would come when I would have to send my kids off into the great unknown but I thought maybe, just maybe time would stand still and I could put that day off just a little while longer.

Well, no success. Yesterday was a big day in our house. Olivia went to her first day of Kindergarten. Last Friday her and I went to orientation. Her class is capped at 18 students, which is very nice as I have heard some of my friends from the Metro East talk about how their kids are kids are in a class of 24+ kids. A 24:1 ratio was something I was not looking forward to. So, when I heard the class was capped at 18, Daniel and I were ecstatic. So orientation was good, her teacher seems very nice. She seems very excited and enthusiastic to start a new school year. For Kindergarten they do a staggered start which means that M-Th only 4 or 5 kids from each class go for a full day and then on Friday they all come together as a class. So yesterday was Olivia's turn. Daniel went in late to work so we could all take her. She was SO excited to go to school that I think she barely slept the night before. I have to admit, I wasn't sure how I would react to my baby going to school. I held it together while we were getting her to the right spot to wait for the start of school. Walking in, she kept looking back at us and it kinda broke my heart but I know she was more than ready to go. As soon as we were out of sight of each other, the flood gates opened. I am sure I embarrassed Daniel just a little bit with my blubbering. I will blame it on the pregnancy hormones :-). So, after fighting the parent drop-off line, we made it home. Daniel left for work, I cried a little more and then got myself together and went about my day. I think that it will be nice to have some mommy/Cameron time for the next 6 weeks or so until Addie comes along. Cameron kept asking where Olivia was and I know it will take her a few days to adjust.

I picked Olivia up at the end of school and she was VERY excited about her day. She pretty talked about it nonstop until she went bed last night. I have no doubt she will excel at Kindergarten. I hope she continues her love of learning and school, it makes me so happy. The stability that it creates is something that we have all been lacking lately with all the moving and trying to get settled. Her next day of school is Friday and she has requested to ride the bus. I am a little apprehensive about that but I know I have to let her spread her wings. Wish me luck-

*On another non-related note, Olivia lost two teeth a week or so ago. Her and CJ were in the tub on Sunday night and two of her bottom teeth came out. She was so excited and was anxious for the tooth fairy to visit. The tooth fairy came through and left her a $5 spot.

We have arrived!!

When I wrote the last post, we were still in Texas and awaiting the move to Florida. Well, now we are in Florida, in our house and getting settled. It took us two days to get to Florida, which is a change for us since we usually just drive and drive until we get to our final destination. But the weather out of Texas on the day we left was bad, traffic was bad and weather never really got any better until day two. But on the flip side, we stopped in Mobile and stayed at a hotel. Olivia LOVED staying in the hotel, she thought that was high living :-). So anyway, we got to Florida and checked into our extended stay hotel. We stayed there for about 7 days. It was ok the first couple of days when Daniel was around to help take the dogs out or to drive us around to explore the city. But when Monday rolled around and he had to go to work, it was a different story. The hotel room got very cramped very quickly. Not to focus too much on the negative, we survived and probably came out a little stronger as a family because of it.

So, we closed on our house July 20. The movers showed up that day and worked like rock stars to have the truck unloaded by like 4. I think they wanted to get it done since they had to drive back to Orlando that night. Since that weekend, Daniel and I have worked our tails off and have gotten most of the boxes unpacked, put away and discarded. Our nursery is still in disarray but that will have to change fairly quickly. The girls are now sharing a bedroom upstairs and so far, so good. We ordered them new bedroom furniture which should be here middle to late August. Daniel and I treated ourselves(more for Daniel than for me ;-)) and bought new leather living room furniture. I like it, I just pray that it holds up under our dogs and kids. We have gotten the couch delivered and are waiting on the love seat. We also got some patio furniture on order, that will be nice when that gets delivered because we can enjoy our patio. Speaking of the patio, the pool is a HUGE hit. The girls are in love with swimming. They ask pretty much everyday if we can go swimming when Daniel gets home, and 9 times out of 10, they get their wish. Olivia has gotten really good at swimming since we swim almost every night. She can swim the whole length of the pool without any type of floatation. Also, she loves the water slide and can do that like a pro.

On a different note, before we left Texas I scheduled an appointment with an OB down here. I had an appointment with him last Monday. I was a bit nervous going in because I was worried that our personalities wouldn't mesh. But I was very happy when I left. He was very nice and listened to my concerns about L&D and just an all around good doctor. He was not worried about my blood pressure issues I have been having and just said we will take some extra precautions. This is a welcome change from my OB in Texas because it always seemed like a national crisis when I went in there for my BP and I kinda tend to think that that office made my BP go up. When I saw the OB here in FL, by BP was the best it has been all pregnancy. So after a quick check on the baby, we discussed any questions, concerns, etc. that I had. I explained to him our situation with having no family here, 2 little ones at home, etc. and my desire to schedule an induction so I can have all my ducks in a row. He was totally fine with that and said based on my complications with my last two deliveries and the fact that I have elevated BP, that scheduling an induction was no problem. So, I go back for an U/S next Friday and then to see him on 8/15. At that appointment, he said he would call the hospital and schedule the induction. So, it seems that things are moving along and in about 8 weeks we will have a new beautiful baby.

I went last week and registered Olivia for Kindergarten. It was a surreal moment for sure. We took her last weekend to get all her school supplies and she was excited to say the least. She is very ready to start school. She starts the week of August 20. I know the next three weeks will go quickly and I will soon be the mom of a full time Kindergartner.

Ok, enough rambling. I will try and post more frequently and keep everyone up to date on what the plan for baby Regenhardt is.

This and That

It's hard to believe that July 1 is right around the corner. Where has the first half of the year gone? Daniel and I went to FL a couple weeks ago to look for a house. I have to be honest, I was not jazzed about it. I had looked at several houses online sent to us by our realtor and from I was seeing, nothing was really tickling my fancy. Real Estate in FL is WAY more expensive than in Texas and you get a lot less house, so these two things combined didn't make me feel warm and fuzzy. But on the flip side, we knew that we had to give it a good ol' college try to find a house to move into as we need something to move into when we arrive in Jacksonville. So, we spent 2 days looking at houses, in total we probably looked at 15 or so houses. Low and behold, we found a house that we both LOVE. It is more than I wanted to spend, but back to my previous sentence, real estate is super expensive in Florida. The house only has a neighbor on one side and the other three sides are a nature preserve, which means it will never get built up. The yard is gorgegous and big. It has an inground pool, so I know that we will score points with Olivia. We were able to get an accepted contract on it before we left Florida and are scheduled to close on July 20.

So now that we know we have a house, we are scheduled to move from Texas on July 11. We will be staying in an extened stay hotel for 10 days or so while there is a lag in the time we arrive in FL and when we close on the house. I am not sure how that is going to work with 2 kids, 2 dogs, a husband who has to work and a brand new city for my sanity, but I just have to keep telling myself it is a short time frame. I am excited to get moved into our house as Olivia will be starting school on August 20. I will definitely post more as we get into the house and as the transition to living in a new city goes.

Please say a little prayer if you are the praying type that Tropical Storm Debby does no damage to the house we are purchasing and that no other named storms develop out in the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean. If there are named storms in either area, it could effect our closing dates in Texas and Florida.

Until next time.....

Our Time in Texas is Drawing to a Close

Let's see, what is new? We listed our house what will be 3 weeks ago Sunday and had a full price offer on Monday. Ah-mazing!!! It is such a blessing, we couldn't have asked for anything better. We have had all our inspections, apprasials, etc. done and negotiated and are just waiting to close. Daniel and I are headed to FL next week to look and hopefully buy a house, although by the looks of the real estate options we have seen, I am not holding my breath. Daniel has to start his new job July 16, we our plan is to move to FL the weekend of July 7/8. Hard to believe we have less than a month in Texas.

On another note, I had my 20 week U/S this past Monday. Although everyone, including myself wholeheartedly believe this little peanut was a boy, we were surprised to find out we are expecting another GIRL!! That will be 3 girls, Lord help us. Daniel will be severly outnumbered. I know what you are all thinking, will they give it another go to hopefully get a boy? Answer-NO, not just no, HELL NO. We are done, done, done after this baby. I guess this is God's way of telling us we are doing an okay job at raising girls. I am sure HE is up there snickering just a little bit knowing what we are in for during the teenage years.

I'll post after our trip to FL and let you know how our real estate venture went.

Better Late Than Never

I have been meaning to get this on video for months and yesterdy and I finally got around to it. This is the song that they leran at preschool during rodeo "month" at school.

Onward and Upward

Yesterday Olivia was able to close the book on a chapter of her life. Yesterday was her last day of preschool along with preschool graduation. It is hard to believe that in 3 months Olivia will be in Kindergarten. Where does time go? Olivia adored preschool and was super excited to go everyday, I hope that spills over into Kindergaren and the rest of her school career.

The song all of the graduates sang together.

Karma Fairy is finally shining down on us....

I am not even going to try and make excuses as to why I haven't posted, let's just chalk it up to a boring lifestyle. But, our boring life is about to change. First and foremost, we are expecting another little Regenhardt!! I found out the Monday before Valentine's Day that I was expecting. Our expectant due date is October 20. We are thrilled, but also a bit scared. Even though this isn't my first rodeo, I have been feeling completely different. I have had, up until a week or so ago, all day nausea, very little heartburn, extremely tired, the differences are ongoing. With all these differences, I have a feeling this new little addition might be a boy. If not, this will be the spiciest girl yet :-).

Secondly, as you all know, ever since Daniel has been working at Longhorn, he has longed to get back into brewing. Longhorn has been an invaluable learning experience but definitely not his passion. And as you all know, he is not one to just sit around and not look for the next challenge. For the last 18 months, he has continually been looking for the next opportunity to get back into brewing and back to what makes him tick. About two weeks ago, he got an opportunity to interview for an assistant brew master job in Jacksonville, FL. Getting this job would be the cu de gra of his career thus far. He was not very confident after the interview, as he didn't have very many days to prepare and he might have just been a little off his game. But, believe you me, even on an off day, he is still an interview rock star(so I wasn't worried). They told him it would be 10 days to 2 weeks before he heard anything. Those are the longest days you can imagine. But anywho, we had a sniff earlier this week that the job was his, the final paperwork was just awaiting a signature. But you know the old saying, don't count your chickens before they hatch. Well, we were cautiously optimistic that this time, all the stars would align and he would get the opportunity he so deserves. Well, all the waiting paid off, he got offered an assistant brew master job in FL today!! So, looks like we(or more like the movers) will be packing up our home and moving on up to the East side.

This new chapter in our lives will definitely be exciting, if not scary and stressful. But again, we have done it once, we will do it again.

Stay tuned for the upcoming adventures of The Regenhardts....