We survived the first day!

By some miracle, we survived the first day. Don't get me wrong, the day wasn't perfect, but we made it through.

At 4:30am. our neighbour's house alarm went off. It rang, and rang, and when my husband finally decided to go out and investigate, it turned off. It was blissfully quiet, just long enough for him to get back into bed... and then it went off again. Needless to say, there wasn't a lot of sleeping that happened after that, and he decided to head off to work early. Ugh!

I got out of bed at 6:55am, stumbled downstairs to let the nurse (we still have nursing for Ellie, now it's 7 nights a week!) go home, and went upstairs to have my coffee. We started an awesome routine, when our fancy coffee maker decided to stop working at its best, and we switched to using a French press. When the man gets up for work, he brews a full pot, takes his half, and leaves mine under a tea cozy. It's been working wonderfully all summer long, but if super early mornings are going to be a regular around here, I might have to get used to luke-warm coffee. First world problem!

The kids were a challenge to get moving this morning. I was glad we'd laid out their clothes last night, so getting dressed was easy. Breakfast was simple, and other than not being able to locate Ellie's workbook (Daddy had "cleaned it up", aka put it where I never would look), we were able to get out of the house mostly on time, with no tears! Winning.

I timed the drive pretty well, but we learned we need to leave about 15 minutes earlier than we thought, because the classes start at 8:30am on the dot, and they want the kids to have time to settle. Makes sense, and as long as I'm a little more organized before I go to bed, things should work out.

Jakob was so excited to start school. He's in a 4/5 split class, with 9 other boys. 

Ellie had an ENT appointment at Children's, following up from our hospital admission in April when she had an ear infection which ruptured and turned into Mastoiditis. That wasn't fun, but today's appointment was fine (other than a retraction issue on her right side), and she passed her hearing test. Yay!

We brought a workbook to do while we waited, and Ellie happily powered through a chapter of math. She loved all the attention she got for her outfit. She asked to wear a uniform this year, despite being homeschooled. Ellie thrives in routine, so this actually makes a lot of sense for her. She chose a couple polo shirts, a skirt, a dress, pants, and a cardigan. She's so cute!

We knew we wouldn't be able to make it back in time to pick Jakob up from school (half day), so my lovely mama picked him up. We took a family drive out to the school yesterday, so she would be comfortable with the route, and found a new dog park on the way home. Ellie and I are going to get a good walk in there tomorrow morning.

We had lunch with my mom, and then Jakob played outside, while I set Ellie up with meditation music. She loves her afternoon siestas!

I found an old healthy lunches meal plan in my email, which I printed out today. It includes a shopping list, and very clear instructions on what to do when. 

While Jakob was at his OG tutoring session, with one of our favourite people in his education team, Ellie and I grocery shopped. It's funny how I never really paid attention to all the learning opportunities that are out there. Now that I know it's my responsibility to teach Ellie, the teaching moments just keep appearing. I'm so thankful she's comfortable shopping with me. I know we're in the minority of families who are able to grocery shop with their child with PWS. 

I spent the better half of this evening prepping meals, so the rest of the week should be easy. Hubby bathed the kids, made dinner, and got them to bed, so I could get my work done before it got too late. We were all so happy to have him home early - one of the perks of starting before dawn! 

I'm just waiting on baked potatoes to finish in the crock pot, so I can set them off to cool. 

It was so nice to be able to chat with some of the other moms from school last year, and hear that they've been thinking of us. I'm sad that Ellie won't be with all her friends, but I think I'll be able to maintain those friendships, so she can have regular visits with her girls!