Here’s a little peek at what we’ve been up to the past month and a half!
It’s been a very eventful month and a half with Annie’s arrival and Tommy starting kindergarten. We fit in a few end-of-the-summer activities and have had a lot of extended family time as well.
My in-laws set up the slip ‘n slide for my kids and their cousins. The kids are all close in age and have the best time together.
The kids and I made a day trip to Chicago to see my sister-in-law who lives in France and is only back in the States a handful of times each year. My parents live four blocks or less from two different parks, and our summer trips always include at least one park excursion.
My parents and I took the kids to the zoo. Olivia has been obsessed with hanging on bars ever since she did gymnastics this past school year. They wanted to be just like the orangutans.
We got in a final summer outing with Tommy’s birthday buddy and some other good friends to Bear Den Zoo and Petting Farm. We’d been wanting to go back since our first trip last summer (remember the lemur climbing experience?). I’m so glad that we fit it in before our oldest two started school and I had the baby.
We went to an indoor play space on a very rainy day. Olivia and Genevieve both wore aprons while they played house.
I had Tommy pick what we did on the final Friday before he started kindergarten. We went to the children’s museum in Milwaukee and then out to lunch for pizza.
The whole day on Friday, I could feel the baby sitting really low. Then that night, contractions started. I’m so glad that we got in that final outing when we did.
I shared Annie’s birth story last week. I had her a little over 40 hours after those initial contractions started, nine days before my induction was scheduled. While it was a long time laboring both without and then with meds, I’m so glad that I went into labor on my own and had the birth experience that I did.
Tommy started kindergarten two days after Annie was born. Jake took him to his back-to-school night and did all of the drop-offs and pick-ups the first couple of weeks. Tommy is still adjusting to getting up for school every day. But overall, he’s done so well with everything. He’s making friends and always has positive things to say about school.
After Jake dropped off Tommy that first morning, he came back to the hospital for our discharge. Genevieve and my parents met Annie right away when we got home. Then Tommy and Olivia met her when they got home from school that afternoon. Seeing Tommy’s excitement meeting her, fresh off his first day at kindergarten, was one of the best parts about how the timing worked out. I asked him what he thought of Annie, and he gave me a huge smile and thumbs up.
We see all four grandparents regularly. With the addition of the new baby, we’ve seen them even more often in the past couple of weeks. They’ve been great about providing food and entertaining the older kids. My littlest sister-in-law was also in town the last week of August and got to meet Annie and hang out with us a couple of times.
You can find all of my baby/toddler updates for all of the kids as well as general family updates and other family-related posts in the family section of the blog.
