PTA Moms Unite!

I think it is somewhat inevitable that if you leave the full-time workforce and become a part-time work from home mom, the PTA is going to find you. Show up to a few events and appear to have your sh*t together and next thing you know you’re a VP of the PTA. I’ll make sure I update my resume to reflect that ASAP. All kidding aside the PTA at our elementary school is a VERY small group of women who are all pretty awesome. It’s been nice to get to know a few of the moms a little better as well as the teachers and staff at the school. Knowing the teachers and staff definitely has its perks, like not having to wait in line to get buzzed through the front office. Needless to say I’m having very few regrets these days about leaving my full-time gig.

We started school this year with a bang, as William came home on day 2 with 2 birthday party invites and a stomach bug. He missed a day of school and struggled on and off for the better part of 5 days. Luckily there was no collateral damage and he still managed to make it to both birthday parties. I had the brilliant idea to do a play date as a birthday gift instead of a traditional present. It seems to be a hit with the parents but does add more commitments to the calendar of this introverted commitment-phobe. On the bright side he seems to have a good group of friends and having birthday play dates one-on-one has been a great way to get to know a few of them a little better. It’s also given us a good excuse to get out and use our memberships for activities at the Hogle Zoo and Thanksgiving Point.

William is having another great year at school. He’s an amazing reader and awesome at math. He’s becoming a little less stressed when he makes mistakes. Having William and Christopher both in school now makes the differences in how they are wired even more obvious. Christopher is really laid back and William is wound a little bit tight.

Christopher is LOVING kindergarten! He comes home so happy and excited every day. He’s really pumped about learning how to read and it turns out he knows way more than he ever lets on to. It’s awesome to watch William help him through his reading homework and be so patient with him. I REALLY need to up my Spanish speaking game now as we have two dual immersion learners in our house. One of the highlights of kindergarten so far was Christopher’s first field trip. Myself and several other gullible parents chaperoned his class to the Butterfly Biosphere at Thanksgiving Point. In comparing notes with another chaperone we found it fun but it also a true test of our patience. In my group of 4 I had Christopher, his best girl friend, a cute little gal who spoke exclusively Spanish, and a little boy who spent most of the day calling me mom. They scattered like feral cats every time we were supposed to move between areas. It was exhausting and I don’t know how those teachers do it.

Lately Andrew has been a little turd. He’s got a glimmer of trouble in his eye and sometimes he’s SO

NAUGHTY. For months now he’s been a total daddy’s boy. If Jason is anywhere on the property he won’t let me do anything for him. I don’t miss the butt wiping, but I do miss some of the snuggles. A week or two ago he wanted to sit on Jason’s lap and he wouldn’t even let me pick him up to put him there. When he’s being naughty he is oblivious to the words “no” and/or “stop”. He sometimes sucker punches his brothers, purposely throws things on the floor, and laughs at you when you scold him. This one is going to test me. Perhaps not surprisingly, he doesn’t seem to have these same bad behaviors at daycare. In better news he is finally potty trained. Ladies and gentlemen, after 7 1/2 years we are DONE WITH DIAPERS!

William and Christopher also started soccer again at the beginning of September. This year we played straight through outdoor soccer and right into indoor soccer. It’s our first time playing indoor soccer but it should be a lot of fun as William’s entire team is an organized group of kids he goes to school with. On top of all the back to school and soccer commotion I had breast reduction surgery on September 11th. It was amazing! If anyone cares to read ALL about it (that hasn’t already). Here is the LINK.

Perhaps the biggest event of October, other than Jason’s 39th birthday, was that I took my first ever mom-cation! With sister-in-law Jen being due with baby #2 we decided months ago that I would take a week and go play auntie. This is the first time I’ve been able to go enjoy someone else’s baby without leaving behind a baby of my own. I think it is also the first time I’ve traveled solo since Jason and i were still dating! I haven’t flown in a few years and it turns out I still don’t like to fly. To complicate the trip slightly, during my 1 hour connection in O’Hare I discovered my driver’s license had disappeared. *cue panic* Between planes I called my ground support team (Jason and my Mom) and alerted them to the situation. By the time I landed in Madison an hour later Jason had filed all the lost/missing item paperwork and talked to the rental car company and my mom was en route to pick me up. No license=no rental car. Adulting is hard. On the bright side I was able to borrow my mom’s car for the week and the airport let me back on the plane using my Costco card as a photo ID and various credit/debit/library cards as proof of identification. I got a thorough pat down/search, but at least I was flying out of Madison (NOT O’Hare) and they let me get back home.

I made the most of my week of mom-cation. I caught a concert in Madison with friends–Ben Folds is ALWAYS supreme! I saw my aunt and uncle from Texas who I haven’t seen in years. I managed to see both sets of grandparents for a visit. I cuddled my parents non-house house cats, yeah, you read that right. I spent the bulk of the week in Dubuque working remotely and playing aunt. Newborns are cute, but it’s hard to be great help when you don’t have the nursing boobs they are looking for. I did a little holding and rocking and supervised some sleeping, but I wasn’t much use in the middle of the night. Jim tolerated my visit and hopefully Jen enjoyed having another adult around to talk to during the week. New baby Ellie is cute, the worry and fatigue of her parents reminded me why I don’t really need another baby. 🙂

Jason and the boys did great while I was gone. Jason accomplished significantly less work than he does during a normal week but everyone got to school and daycare as planned. One bummer is that Andrew had a pretty yucky cold that kept them both up at night. I knew Jason had it handled but I still battled some anxiety on and off all week. I’ll never know for certain if they anxiety was directly related to me being away from all of them or just the phase of the moon, but I could have really done without that minor vacation detractor.

Halloween 2019 in the Baxter household was a success! William re-wore his stormtrooper costume from last year, Christopher was Ben 10, and Andrew was a spooky ghost. I made Christopher’s hoodie and he was nothing but pleased–“Mom I love it!”. He was so excited to dress up as Ben 10! Andrew had wanted to be a ghost for weeks. We looked at costume ideas online and he helped me pick out exactly the way he wanted it. As I worked on sewing Christopher’s hoodie, Andrew asked over and over if his ghost costume was done yet. Then in typical 3 year old Andrew fashion he refused to put it on as I started making it. Finally, on Halloween day at daycare, they bribed him into it with a popsicle and he managed to be happy about putting it on again later that evening for trick-or-treating.

Trick-or-treating was good and bad this year. The bad part was it was COLD. We’d had record breaking cold in the month October so the kids got colder faster than usual. I think the cold weather also kept us from having as many trick-or-treaters come to our door which means I have a boat-load of leftover candy…SO. MUCH. CANDY. Ugh. In good news all 3 boys made it up and down our block to see the neighbors before Andrew retired to the house to help me hand out candy and Jason, William, and Christopher continued on for a bit longer. Andrew stood watch, waiting for trick-or-treaters and would have the door open with candy basket in hand long before they reached our porch. This was the first year I can remember that nobody had a crying fit when it was time to be separated from their candy buckets in order to go to bed. This morning I reminded them to be extra good at school to make up for the kids who were out way past their bedtimes. God bless those teachers the day after Halloween.