1.  I didn't cry.  I had a moment where I wanted to but he was just so happy and excited.  It was hard not to be happy and excited as well. 

2.  He has a friend in his class that he knew from daycare.  There are 4 kids his age that go to this school from his daycare but only one is in his class.

3.  He wears a necklace that says he rides bus #104 and he will tell you he rides bus ONE OH FOUR.  That's good.  And Thank you to Margo who suggested that i put a laminated card on his backpack with emergency contact information and where he is supposed to go after school etc.  That is a great idea and I am going to make that this weekend!

4.  His teacher is named Miss Zickefoose and her aid is Ms. Painter.  Stewart is cute when he says Zickefoose. 

5.  He has a very nice daily student planner that is sent home with notes for parents and with the work he did that day.  His school is very big on parent teacher communication and I think that is the primary purpose of the planner.  He also has a folder that comes home every day with handouts.

6.  He told me, "Tomorrow, I want you to be like the other mom's and wait for me on the porch.  And when the bus pulls up walk over and get me."  That made me very sad. 

7.  He was so excited about his first day, he asked to call Grammy because he wanted to tell her all about it.

8.  Getting dressed is becoming an issue.  He is very picky about what he wants to wear and if he doesn't get his way then he pouts - which makes me soo irritated.  And in the morning, I don't have time to play his little pouty games.  I usually try to pick out his outfit the night before and then when I wake him up, I bring him his clothes so he can get dressed.  Yesterday he asked if he could pick out his own clothes.  He wanted to wear a sleevless shirt like his friend did.  The only problem with that is that it is very cool and rainy today.  I didn't want to fight him and I think it's good for him to at least feel like he has control over that aspect of his life - so i put a jacket on him and let him wear his sleevless OU Sooners jersey (that Grammy got for him last year!)

9.  He was disappointed that he didn't get to sit in front next to the bus driver, "but there were no seats up there so we had to sit behind him." 

10.  He said he had fun.  We told him this is his first step in becoming whatever he wants to be when he gets older - and this week, he wants to be a bug scientist.

I have no words to describe this picture.

 

It's supposed to be a big exciting moment in a child's life - getting on the big yellow school bus and going to school for the first time.  It's not supposed to be a pain in the butt for mommy, who has also decided she can't talk about Stewart starting kindergarten because it makes her sad. 

Where we live, Stewart is supposed to go to Page Jackson Elementary.  It seems a little out of the way but now days, it seems like everything is out of the way because we live in the country.  The problem is their (Stewart & Parker's) day care is not even close to the elementary school.  So, back in JUNE, I SNAIL MAILED and FAXED a copy of the transfer request form to Page Jackson.  I was told that the principles have some pow wow meeting the 2nd weeks of August (that's last week) and they sign the transfer forms.  I called last week to make sure it was received (which they said it wasn't, irritation #1.)  I was told that the meeting already happened and I should call the Board of Education and speak to Gloria.  I did and she was very pleasant and emailed me the form.  So I emailed it AND faxed it back to her.  She said they were having another meeting in 2 days and she would bring it to the meeting.  So I wait, no call.  No letter.  And I wait.  And the longer I wait, the less time I will have to find suitable afterschool care for Stewart.  And I finally call.  Gloria told me that he is on a waiting list for TA Lowery and that she would let me know something by Thursday or Friday - school starts on Tuesday!  So i decided to call her back and explain our situation and tell her that we aren't requesting the transfer for superficial reasons - it's a transportation problem.  I left her a voicemail and I sent her an email - i didn't hear from her.  So i called again today, left her another voicemail.  Still didn't hear from her.  I called up the daycare to see what my options were - their policy requires a 2 week notice to get his enrollment deposit back and I was not going to be able to give them more than 2 days.  She mentioned that a lot of the kids in Stewart's class are going to North Jefferson Elementary.  Soo I get back on the Jefferson County Board of Education webpage, check the bus route for North Jefferson and I see that they pick up and drop off at our daycare!  YAY!  So i put in yet another call and email to Gloria - who doesn't respond again.  I wasn't surprised. 

I decided to drive down to the Board of Education and personally talk to this Ms. Gloria.  I was getting impatient and I needed to know so I could make the necessary arrangements.  She didn't seem too pleased to see me.  And from the looks of her desk, I could understand why.  She was buried in transfer requests.  I told her I was interested in transferring him to North Jefferson because he was on the waiting list for TA Lowery.  She called up North Jefferson, they said they have availability and that was it. 

I FINALLY know what school he is going to.  I have no idea who is teacher is but at least I know where he is going to school and where he is going for aftercare.  But I can't help but wonder. how will he know what bus to get on in the afternoon?  How will he know to get off the bus at his daycare?  I am going to drop him off at school in the morning so he only has to ride the bus in the afternoon - but I don't want him to get lost.  I can see him playing with some kid not even paying attention and riding the bus all the way to the bus barn.  I have so many questions - what supplies does he need (Page Jackson provided all of the school supplies but I don't know if North Jefferson will) do I need to pack his lunch or send money for lunch?  Will he know a teacher is talking to him if she calls out William Bondurant? 

I am glad that I was able to get him in a school close to his day care.  I felt like sending him to kindergarten and changing his daycare would just be too much for one day. And I'm not sure if he would understand why he had to go to school to go to another new school - and why he wasn't able to go to his old school because Parker still goes there. 

The hardest part is going to be sending him to school on Tuesday.  I swear I won't cry.  At least not until i get back to my car and am on my way to work.

Unfortunately, their trip got cut short.  They went fishing and left the door open on the tent and a community of daddy long legs (with bright red bodies) moved in.  They came back from fishing, Stewart walked into the tent and came running out SCREAMING "Daddy!  There is a big SPIDER IN THE TENT!"  They came home, leaving the tent at the campsite.  Bill said there were too many spiders and he didn't know if they were poisonous.  So he sacrificed the tent!  Stewart "camped out" on the floor of our bedroom.  Apparently, when they were setting up camp Stewart said, "Where's the TV.  Grammy and Papa have a TV in their camp!"

 

Fishing - They didn't catch anything but daddy almost caught one "this big! I saw the water flopping around."

 

Trying to catch some minnows in his bug box - a converted lunch box.

So we plannted this spiraly pine tree in a massive pot on our deck.  We did something wrong and it didn't drain and it filled up with water from all the rain - and we eventually drilled some holes on the bottom of the pot to drain out the water but I think it was too late.  I think the roots may be rotted out.  We should replant the tree or replace it but we found a nest tucked quietly in the pines.  And lo and behold, there were blue eggs in it!!!

This is the mommy - she never goes far from the nest.  It's so cute.  She is so proctective of her babies.

 

And these are her three babies!!!!

 

They look kinda creepy.  They are covered in black fuzz and kindeve have black fuzzy eyes - the fuzz looks a little like mold.

Last night around 8pm it hit me, hard.  My whole body aches and my head is throbbing and squeezing.  So i took some tylenol and eventually went to sleep.  When i woke up this morning, i still feel like crap.  My spine even hurts.  My neck, my elbows, my legs - and did i mention my head won't stop throbbing.  I'm having a hard time sitting here at work because my eyes are hurting from the lights.  I took 4 tylenol - i'm hoping they kick in soon.  But I just don't think I can sit here for long.  I'm also freezing.  I'm wearing pants AND a long sleeve shirt over a tank top and I'm freezing. 

I did some light reading last night - included webmd, wikipedia, and some other medical pages that came up when I googled MRSA.  I guess if I was the type that procrastinated and was scared to go to the dr, it could kill me.  Lucky for Bill, I've always been proactive about going to the dr. 

I'm a busy girl and my memory is kinda crappy - so I have no idea when this spot first appeared on my leg.  I know i had it when we went to disney in January but I have no idea how long I had it before Disney.  It started out as a little pimple looking thing - so I assumed it was an ingrown hair.  It seemed odd to me that I would have an ingrown hair, I have practically NO HAIR on my legs anyway but I called it an ingrown hair and forgot about it.  I got busy doing pregnant things, post-baby things and I never really paid much attention to it, other than a fleeting thought "wow that's taking a long time to heal and go away!" 

Recently, I noticed it was getting bigger and hard, and it itched for a while and then it started to hurt and get more red.  We had some topical bactrim and I applied it twice a day for about 2 weeks - it didn't do any good.  So i went to the dr, which i only dreaded because I remembered how long and miserable the wait was when I took Stewart and Parker.  I also dreaded calling to schedule the appointment because I would be a new patient and they gave me the whole you must be an established patient bs.  So i told her I had an infection on my leg and I thought it was staph and my 2 kids and my husband were already established patients - they got me in first thing the next day. 

The first dr i saw (Friday) gave me a 14 day prescription of Keflex that I had to take FOUR times a day!  He told me to stop putting the bactrim on it - he said that topical antibiotics aren't usually effective for skin infections.  He said he ruled out spider bites etc because I've had it for so long.  I took the antibiotics Friday - Tuesday morning and I didn't think it was getting any better.  In fact, I thought it was getting worse.  So i called the dr back and wanted to talk to the nurse.  Apparently when you say "I think i have a staph infection and it's not getting better" they take you very seriously.  I got to talk to a nurse and she told me that the extra pain, redness and swelling was probably not an effect of the antibiotics - she got me an appt to come back in 2 hours later. 

The second dr i saw (Tuesday) was a really sweet pregnant dr.  She seemed young.  She looked at it and said the antibiotics were obviously not working and she pushed around on it - which hurt like a truck - and she told me she thought it was MRSA.  She said she could just give me a new antibiotic and it would probably eventually clear it up or she could SLICE IT OPEN, SQUEEZE OUT THE GOO and give me a new antibiotic.  She said she would numb it first - cause i told her I tried to poke a hole in it the previous night and I wasn't successful because it hurt too much.  (I like to self medicate.)  So she comes back in the room with a pretty little tray of gauze, a syringe, some kind of long q-tip in a plastic container and tape.  I had to look away when she took the needle and stuck it right in the sore spot - it didn't hurt that bad - and then she started pushing in the numbing medicine and I wanted to scream.  So i grabbed a handful of my shirt and took a deep breath and reminded myself of the joys and PAIN from Parker's birth.  And then she was finished and it was numb!  I didn't feel it when she cut a hole in it and then i watched her drain out the grossness.  I expected it to be yellow and green - but it was very bloody.  Despite the numbing, it actually hurt quite a bit as she pushed and squeezed trying to get it all out - and then it wouldn't stop oozing dark red blood.  She bandged it up and I went on my merry MRSA way.

I've learned that there are two types - the kind people get in medical facilities, hospitals, nursing homes etc and one they call "comminuty" MRSA.  The community kinda is very common in athletics, gyms, etc.  I remember a few weeks ago, I told Bill that I thought the spot started to get worse soon after we come home with Parker.  And I said tht didn't make any sense to me but I wondered if it had anything to do with hormones and having just had a baby.  But now I think the wierd pimple on my leg must have picked up MRSA when i was in the hospital for delivery and then when i was in and out with Parker.  And I did spend a full week in Pediatrics with him.  That week I think i only left the hospital for a total of an hour.  

I hope it goes away soon.  It looks terrible.  And i'm worried about how contagious it is.  And did i mention it still hurts and it looks like death.