4 AM, 2nd Day of School...

James and I both stirred; we heard Kayci's door open and little feet in the hallway. The feet paused at our doorway for a moment, and I could just FEEL her looking at us, trying to figure out if we were asleep or REALLY asleep. She must have determined the latter, because the feet went back into her room, and her door shut. Being a Mommy, I couldn't ignore the middle of the night visit, so I went in to check on her. I leaned down, kissed her on the forehead, and asked if she was okay.

"I'm fine, Mommy...but how many more minutes until we can go to Krause?"

First Day!!

I figure the pictures speak for themselves. :)

I think I'll have to actually write about this later, because right now I really don't know what to say or how to describe how I'm feeling, and I think James is in the same boat. On the one hand, we're so excited because our beautiful girl is growing up. On the other hand, our beautiful girl is growing up. Oh, the heart aches.

This morning we set the alarms so we'd have time to get up and have the first cup of coffee before surprising Kayci with breakfast in bed. She beat us to the punch, though--as I was putting my shoes on, I heard her door open and little feet run into the hallway. I got the BIGGEST hug, and she said, "I'm SO excited!!" I told her that we were going to surprise her with breakfast in bed and she said she'd go get back into bed...so she did, and a minute later Daddy & I heard a funny sound coming from her room. We thought she was (for some reason?) making whining puppy sounds, and then the sound got louder and we realized it was no puppy--our Bitty was melting down. So, those are the first pictures. Some day she'll hate us for those--and the video James shot of her snarfling, "I...don't...want...to...go...to...to...Kindergarrrrrrrrten!"



Anyway, we'd kind of planned ahead for this moment and had a happy tucked away in her school bag. After calming her for a minute--it's so hard to be a parent and be honest, because telling her "well, you're gonna go anyway" didn't seem very helpful and at the same time, you can't say, "oh, you'll be fine"--I just had this conversation with Lynn. It's hard to strike a balance between honest and reassuring and just-quit-crying-it's-fine reassuring. :) Back to the happy...Kayci very, very carefully planned her first day outfit. She chose a messenger bag from the Gap (because she can carry it like Nancy Drew's sleuth kit, we found out later when she came out with it stuffed with magnifying glasses, a camera, pencils, a clue book, etc.) and then spent her Gymboree birthday money on a really cute, very traditional plaid skirt and short sleeve sweater, with matching knee socks and headband. She was so excited and we were totally shocked at the absence of shiny...until she told us, "now I'll look like Nancy Drew!" There have been several shopping trips since and more new clothes than either James or I are comfortable admitting, but she's held fast on the whole Nancy Drew first day of school. So, instead of a James Avery charm for her bracelet (that will come later, I think), we wrapped up Nancy Drew for her first day of school happy. It was a big hit, too!

So, with the hysterics under control (but not the butterflies, she wasn't able to sit and eat her breakfast), she went off to get dressed and Noble and I finished his pears and oatmeal (hence the pics of him in his Bumbo on the table...don't judge, it was a crazy morning). Once Nobley was fed, cleaned, and dressed, he and Kayci had some cuddle time on our bed while she talked on the phone and I made lunch. Again, lunch was determined well beforehand, down to the most minute detail. Her order: "A turkey, cheese and mayonnaise sandwich on white bread, cut into dinosaurs. Pickles and olives, a Capri Sun, a napkin and a note." (Every day since she started at Methodist in March 2007, we've put a note in her lunch.) So, I followed her directions but veered off course and added a cut up apple (with fruit fresh, one of my many obsessions) and instead of the usual note, I wrote a note on a pack of monkey stickers and included them. And to make her smile, instead of her regular blue ice, I put in the frozen teether that she bought for Noble (that was the first gift she ever bought for him--she was determined that the baby needed a "chew toy.")

We left for school only 5 minutes behind schedule, and it wasn't too crazy until we remembered that she hadn't eaten breakfast. We settled for the milk and a breakfast bar on the way to school--not mother of the year, but not Mommie Dearest, either. It was fun to sit at the light and watch the cars pour into the Krause Drive, and to watch an equal number shooting out as parents frantically tried to get to work by 8. As we drove in, we saw several friends leaving, but hit paydirt when the Headleys were on the sidewalk right in front of us. We also saw Ms. Alison in car line, and talked about how Daddy will pull in every morning and Ms. Alison or one of the other nice ladies will help Kayci out of the truck and then she'll go with her friends. (Wish us luck tomorrow!)

Kayci was very purposeful--she never looked back, just headed straight for her class. Man, that hall was long this morning--part of me thought we were never going to get down to the Kindergarten end, and another part of me was just fine with that :). But, alas, we made it to Mrs. Bolcerek's room and Kayci didn't hesitate...she went straight over and hung her bag on the hook, then went and got some play-doh and sat by her name. The class was very calm and quiet (very unusual for kindergarten!) and all of her friends were sitting quietly playing with play-doh. Savannah was already at her seat (at another table, smart on Mrs. B's part!) and doing great (we were worried...she has cried before at Dance, and we were all a bit anxious but she was a trooper!). It was really odd...once we got into the classroom, it was very apparent that we were unnecessary. Kayci was totally fine, and kissed me happily and said goodbye. She didn't need reassurance that I'd be back after school, none of that. I spoke with Mrs. Bolcerek for a moment (she thanked me for the goody bag we brought her last week--I was so Kristi-happy that one, we took her a teacher gift the night of Open House, two, it was in a cute monkey bag with a cute note and her room is decorated in monkeys, and three, that Open House was actually on her birthday. Score for Bitty, and her happy-loving Mommy!) Sidebar: when we got home later, there was a message from Mrs. Bolcerek which, once the blood quit pounding in my ears, was simply to double check that I'd be picking Kayci up today. Whew! Turns out, we got distracted talking about goody bags and forgot to talk about business. :)

So, that was it. James, Noble and I headed for the car and then for our prearranged Starbucks date. It was fun to see other Mommy friends there (Jennifer, Dee, Lil, even Sherri and Kaylin popped in!). After Starbucks, it was home to put Nobley down for a nap (which, if you're keeping score he STILL hasn't taken, and I'm writing at 11:11 AM) and time to make pb&j sammiches for Daddy's Food Day (Back to School theme). After Daddy left, I guess about 2 hours ago, I've gone between uploading photos, fielding phone calls, checking work e-mails and trying to finish a blog. Oh, and making beds, wiping tables, washing bottles, checking the mail...all the usual.

By my calculations, Kayci is at lunch right now. And Mr. Noble STILL has not taken his morning nap, so I'm going to take pity on him and let him have a little bottle to get him over the hump. I'm off for now...will get more pictures up later!

The End of an Era

Today was the last day of summer...and Kayci's last day as a preschooler. I have to admit, when I turned off her light this evening and kissed her sleeping little forehead, I had a very weepy moment. Dear Lord, please don't let me embarrass her tomorrow morning at school...

We wanted to make today a very special day for Bitty. Last week I was reading the new "Family Fun" magazine (a monthly must-read!!) and saw some great ideas for back-to-school celebrations. We gave Kayci the option of inviting her entire class or just a few friends for a special lunch today, and she surprised us by choosing to invite just a few friends.

Kayci and I have had fun preparing for her Kindergarten Kick-Off lunch (Daddy asked why a football theme, and if you know me you know it's because Target had football plates and napkins in the Dollar Spot!). The game plan: hot dogs and/or frito pies for lunch plus pickles and olives to snack on (Kayci's pick), build-your-own cupcakes, then a craft. We picked 1:00 PM to start to give everyone (including us) time for church beforehand and also to not be out too late the day before school. Emily and Rachel and their families were able to make it. Three girls turned out to be just perfect for what we had planned (and we had tons of food left so we were able to provide dinner for two teacher friends and their families tonight, hopefully making back-to-school less stressful for them!). We had a very nice, relaxing afternoon and really enjoyed visiting with our friends--and Kayci enjoyed visiting with hers. We will definitely make this a tradition!

After everyone left, we let Kayci pick how we spent the rest of the last day of summer, and of course she wanted to go swimming. As we were walking out the back door, Noble spit up all over himself and Daddy, so we decided that the two of us would stay home and rest and Daddy and Kayci would go on to the pool (she said, looks like this will be our last Daddy and Kayci date before school starts.) After swimming, she chose McDonald's for dinner (yum. Not so much!) and Scoops for dessert. Our poor stomachs today! Anyway, after a lavender bath and two of her favorite back-to-school stories (Berenstain Bears Go to School and Teacher from the Black Lagoon) it was bedtime for Bitty. I laid with her for a while to head off the bedtime marathon of "but I can't sleep!" and she was out almost immediately (probably a sugar coma). Now James is supposed to be working on a sketch and I'm supposed to be keeping him company, but he's about to be out of luck--all of the excitement today has wiped me out! I need to get some rest before we do it all over again tomorrow...luckily, my fashionista has already selected my outfit so at least that part's ready to go. More tomorrow...

Welcome to iPharaon... the Pharaon family blog!

Most of you will get this message in an e-mail (if I set everything correctly).

You're invited to the Pharaon family's blog located on the web at www.ipharaon.jamespharaon.com where you can marvel at the crazy things that run though our heads, watch Kayci and Noble grow and see what makes our little family tick.

If you would prefer not to receive blog updates via e-mail, please let me know.

We hope you enjoy it!

Noble laughing

A couple of weeks ago, on August 11, Noble was in a really playful mood. We went into the bedroom to change a diaper and ended up playing on the bed. Before long he was belly laughing. He'll chuckle for you just about any time, but belly laughs are rare. And he not only started laughing, but he KEPT laughing for almost 20 minutes. Luckily, Kristi grabbed the camera and got some of it on video.

Enjoy!

The little things in life...

This is actually Kristi; I'm on James' computer so it automatically logged me in as him.

There's a plaque on our back door that says "It's the little things in life that make living so grand." Saturday mornings are full of little things--both kids in bed with us as we sit and talk about our day, watching Noble's face light up when Kayci walks in the room each morning, listening to them play together (Noble has figured out how to make his piano play this morning). We let Kayci pick her breakfast since it's the last Saturday of summer, and of course she wanted to walk over to see Mr. Dale (at Max Donuts) and get donuts. Because I'm me, I thought it would be fun to see how far she'd get--I told her that since she's in Kindergarten now, she could go by herself. (We live at the intersection of the of the busiest streets in Brenham, if you've never been to our house, so that's so not going to happen.) Anyway, she went and got dressed (James got dressed too, saying he was going to go work outside while she was gone). He handed her some money, and he went out the back door and Kayci and I went out the front door. I wish I would have had a camera when she realized that she was the only one stepping off the porch...she kind of just stood there on the front walk, killing time...James came around the side of the house and she ran to him and hugged him with a huge grin on her face. She told him, "I couldn't believe Mommy was serious about this!" It really is the little things...

Noble's done playing the piano and my poached eggs water is boiling, so I'm off. Really quick, happy birthday today to Melissa! (And it's 5 years today since Grandma died...man, we won't even go there this morning.)

Where we are...

When James and I agreed to start a blog, we both felt pressured to put EVERYTHING in it.  Kayci and I kept journals this summer, and after I spent a couple of hours trying to go back and recapture everything we did this summer--reunion, vacation, every day details, etc.--I realized that those entries didn't SOUND right...they didn't sound real.  So, we scrapped 'em.  Laying here in bed tonight, we've been talking about this blog and working on our Flickr account and we agreed that trying to do it all will drive us crazy.  We can't go back and blog about the entire summer, because we WEREN'T blogging along the way.  What we can do is post pictures for you to enjoy--hopefully they'll make you smile.  

So, let's go from where we are.  We have had an amazing summer, but as we're wrapping it up it's so bittersweet.  Kayci goes to Kindergarten in just a few days (Monday, to be exact).  Last week as I was rehearsing my Staff Development talk in my head, I realized something:  I left the classroom 3 years ago, when she was just about to turn 2 years old.  At the time, I thought that 3 years would last forever.  I thought that those 3 years would be so much time, that we'd do everything we wanted to do and have tons of those lazy days when you just let life happen.  I had a lot of misconceptions about myself as a Mommy (yup, turns out I still have no patience) and the life we'd lead here in Brenham.  In a lot of ways, our life is so much better than I ever imagined.  Am I a better Mommy?  I don't know.  Am I farther along in my career than I expected to be?  Yes and no.  I haven't ever gotten serious about writing, and haven't written anything I didn't HAVE to write for work.  Did I have any clue we'd be a family of four?  I hoped, but honestly, I gave up on that about 7 months before we got pregnant with Nobley.  

Ah, crikeys--just realized I've digressed and have gone back to where we were, not where we ARE.  So let's try again...

Kayci is 5 years old.  She digs being 5, too.  Today she asked how many Kindergarten classes there are at Krause (pronounced Kraus-ee), and I said "four or five."  She said, "well, if there are five, that's cool, because I'm 5."   Life's pretty black and white for her--things are cool or not cool, even when I can't see the association.  :)  So, she's 5.  She loves clothes and shoes and anything shiny or snazzy.  She digs movies and music and watching TV (particularly TV at Grandpa's house, as he has the double threat:  big TV AND cable...).  She's great at art, dancing, singing, writing, drawing, joking...you name it, she rocks it.  Kayci is something else, I'm not too humble to say.  She is the best part of James and me...and then this whole other person entirely.  We see a little bit of everyone in her, and a lot of her namesake.  :)  This summer Kayci has learned to swim (we thought it would never happen!), and if you ask her what she did this summer she'll tell you "nothing."  Ah, a teenager in training.  When I went back and read her journal, I was struck by what she thought was cool--on days when we did the coolest stuff, you know what she journaled?  That we watched a DVD.  Or, on the days that excited her most, 2 DVDs.  Silly, silly kid.  She'd watch TV all day if we'd let her, and don't think I'm never tempted (I have discovered this summer that working with TWO children at home is, in a word, impossible).  James and I had discussed unplugging this summer (well, okay, I discussed it, he was willing to be agreeable)...but then summer came, and I realized that unplugging the TV in the morning meant I'd get NO work at all done for Region 4.  I know, I know, call CPS.  So, she watched TV in the mornings.  And it doesn't matter what else we did--the zoo, the library, scaling Mount Everest--her favorite part of the day was watching TV.  Kids these days, man.

On to Noble, before the laptop runs out of battery...he's 23 weeks old tomorrow.  If you go back and read his blog, he was exactly average at 2 months (5/16/08).  At his 4 months check-up 2 weeks ago (don't judge us--we were on vacation, then had some major life stuff happen) he was STILL exactly average in height & weight.  Pretty funny, as he's HOOGE.  Well, to us he is.  Looking at pics it doesn't seem like Kayci was terribly thin, but she just never had those baby thighs that you could just squeeze...no rolls on her arms and legs.  Nobley Obley has the baby rolls, and they're awesome, as he would say.  (Yes, we still do that annoying thing where we talk for the baby.  Turns out, Noble is quite the wiseacre, and his favorite phrases are "that's crap!" and "that's awesome!")  Anyway, Noble's right in between 5 and 6 months old.  Thanks to our great friend Ms. Amanda, Noble is the master of the horizontal plane.  (I won't get started on the benefits of tummy time for the sake of my battery, but seriously, folks, get your kids on the floor and out of the swings.)  He's having fun right now with eating, and he loves cookies.  Baby Arrowroot cookies,  that is.  If you're eating or drinking, he's just transfixed...and will turn himself inside out trying to get whatever it is you have.  We just had the conversation tonight that it's time to get him out of his Bumbo, as he's learned that when he arches his back and hangs over the back of it, it lifts his legs out and he starts to tip out of the chair.  He loves being inverted...so watch out, grandparents, he'll throw himself right outta your arms if you're not careful.  He's so much fun, and watching Kayci with him just makes me realize what a blessing brothers and sisters are.  They'll always have each other, and this childhood they'll have in common.  Makes me kinda weepy...

Okay, down to 10%.  Our favorite things at the moment:

Daddy:  Flickr & MadMen & those Quaker rice cakes

Mommy:  MadMen & golden Oreos & spending time in our newly useable office!!

Kayci:  her new table in the office & American Girl (Kit!) & creating stuff

Noble:  cookies & his new carpet in the office & BoBo, a monkey Grandpa bought him at the zoo

There's so much more to say, but I guess that's what's cool about a blog--you always have tomorrow to say what's on your mind.  I was "talking" (actually e-mailing) to my favorite high schooler this evening about what being cool really is (yep, I think I know), and talking to her about high school made me remember how much I ACHED for real life to be more like a Molly Ringwald movie.  I wanted my happy ending back then, man, and anything less seemed so, well, less.  But you know what I know now?  Happy endings are endings--who wants that?  For us, every day is an adventure.  And I for one am freaking grateful that I get a do-over every day, so maybe tomorrow's the day I'll get it right.  Or at least better.  

Thanks for reading.  Is that what you say when you blog?  I'm going to have to learn the rules or something...

Oh, and if you're an e-mail friend of mine, I get total cool points for using capital letters, right??  :)  

Open House

Why iPharaon?

When Noble was born we started a blog for him on a service called Bundlo so we could share his growth with our family and friends.  We got a notice a few weeks ago that Bundlo would be shutting down, so we weren't sure what to do.  

Then Kristi's brother, Ronny, moved to Taiwan with his family for work.  Ronny has maintained a blog for his family for a long time, but they've been using it a lot more in the past few weeks to give everyone updates as they try to get acclimated to a different culture and to keep in touch. 

So that's kind of what led us to our family blog.  We've got a lot of family news for grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, etc. and needed an easy way to share it.

So here we go.  We've never blogged before, so please excuse the mess while we get this figured out.  Hopefully this will be a great way for those that we love around the world to keep up with what the little Pharaon family in Brenham is up to.

Bouncing Baby Boy

Noble loves to jump.