Official start school date!

Today we got Gaby's official 'starting school' date!  As I expected, she's starting on her actual birthday - so come October 26th I will have not only a five year old - but a big school girl!  I remember it seemed to take forever for her to turn one, but each year since then has seemed to go faster and faster and faster... I hope it doesn't go THIS fast with Emersyn! 

I need to get her school uniform sorted soon - and I can't wait, I know it's going to be a big Mummy-cry-day when she does start school, but I also can't wait to see her in her school uniform, with her school bag - all excited and ready to go.... then getting to school, and being welcomed to the class, the thought brings tears to my eyes, but also joy to my heart.  I'm so proud of Gaby - she's such a well rounded, smart, funny, caring... just FABULOUS little girl... and I really couldn't be prouder of her. 

My... how fast they grow

I never actually made a blog post about Emersyn turning 1 - and it happened 3 weeks ago now... Oooops.  On June 13 - true to form, we had two big aftershocks [5.5 and 6.3] - both of them I was in the car, and SEEING the earthquake actually happening really did scare the sh.t out of me, and after the second quake,  I decided that was that - we were heading out of town.

the birthday girl, after her 6am bath

So began our whirlwind - puke filled, ear infected, car sickness-ee 5 day getaway, which I hate to say really took the shine off it being Emersyn's first birthday.  The day we drove to Wanaka Emersyn vomitted in the car, the day before her birthday she woke up with a raging ear infection, the morning OF her birthday she woke up covered in vomit and diarrhoea... so really it wasn't a memorable [in a good way] birthday for her.  That said, I did get to share the birthday girl with her Great Grandma and her Aunty Terri and cousin Bronny - so it did have its highlights.  She started getting better the day before we left to go home, but then on the trip home Gaby was carsick for the very first time.  Did I mention it was all in our NEW car?

Mummy's first cuddle with little Emmy-boo

As lovely as it was seeing all our family down that way it was nice to get home, and strangely I have to admit that I MISSED Christchurch while we were away.  With all the footage on the news about the recent big aftershocks, there wasn't really a chance to 'get away' from the quakes, and all the distance really served to do, was make me feel guilty that I had 'run away', when there were sooooo many people up here cleaning up for the third time.  The streets were full of liquifaction - it really was horrible.  Seeing it on the news just made me feel sad.

Mummy and her not-so-little Emmy-boo at 1yo

The past year has gone by so fast - I think that by the time  I got out of the 'newborn fog', the September earthquake happened, and ever since then the earth has been regularly shaking and our lives have been turned upside down at times.  In a way I feel like I missed a lot of Emersyn's first year - I was so focused on other things a lot of the time, that I don't feel like I took the time to enjoy the small things.  But on the other hand - my thousands of photos of her first year tend to tell a different story.

Me and BOTH of my 'babies'

 

11 months old!

Emersyn is 11 months old today!  I honestly do not know where the past almost-a-year has gone - I know that all parents say that, but I really truly mean it!  I sincerely thought that time with Emersyn would go a bit slower, because it was my second time around & I know what I'm doing - and am not quite so impatient about her hitting all the milestones.

But no....  The first month or so went slowly, but each month since has gone faster and faster and faster - and I have a feeling it'll continue to do so.  I guess I kind of 'lost' two months after the February earthquake, where our routine was thrown totally out the window, it was somewhat like living in limbo, for those two months we spent living with my parents...  Emersyn had just turned 8mo when the quake hit - and we moved home after she'd turned 10mo.

I am amazed at how quickly she is starting to reach milestones now, it felt for a long time that she wasn't meeting any new milestones, and I was actually pretty worried about her.  I guess it started when we'd been at my parents for about 2 weeks, all of a sudden she started commando crawling, she began sitting herself up, she began saying Mama & becoming more vocal.  Just before we left she crawled 'properly' for the first time - though she still preferred commando crawling, and just within the last week has begun crawling 'full time', rather than doing the commando crawl, she's started making a lot of new sounds & saying 'bubba' - which she seemed to know was a word for my 11w/o niece when they were up over the weekend - and she also said 'Gabba' for the first time, which was an obvious form of 'Gaby'....  Just yesterday she started getting on her knees and trying to pull herself up on EVERYTHING, not just the couch & TV cabinet like she's been doing up until now.

My baby is leaving her baby days behind & is gearing up for those amazing 2 years that are toddlerdom... Part of me isn't ready for my baby to become a toddler, but the other part of me is so excited for the firsts & the changes that are ahead for her.  I remember I loved the 1st year with Gaby, but each year after that seemed to be more and more exciting and awe-inspiring, because she changed from a baby/toddler to a 'real' person & really became her own person...

To the principals office we go....

Today I enrolled Gaby in primary (elementary) school - WOW, what a feeling!!!  I don't know if I am sad or REALLY excited about it... My baby is not a baby anymore - I am planning on getting her school uniform & taking her to her 'school readiness' class, purchasing her 'big girl' school bag, getting name tags made up.  Wow.

We met with the principal and he was really nice, made me feel very happy with my decision to send her to that particular school!  As far as 'decile' goes, it is low (meaning most of the children who make up the student population are from low socio-economic areas) - however the class size is small & that was really the most important thing for me when it came to finding a school for her.  Right through primary & intermediate (middle) school I was in a class of 25 at the most, whereas a lot of the classes around here are 30+.. and I really want Gaby to have that more intimate setting, where the teacher has more time to spend working 1 on 1 with the kids.

I have to say, she looked SO in place at the school - like she really belonged there.  The kids were having their morning break while we were there, and Gaby was a lot bigger than some of the new entrants.. very cute!

I'm feeling old now... dealing with the school principal as a PARENT, and not as a student...  Being in a school and rather than dreaming of the day when I'd finally be out of there, I was organising the beginning of my daughters schooling.

I feel like the parent of a child now, and not just the parent of 'two little kids'....

I can't believe my silly little girl is going to be a school girl this year