We survived our 1st week!

Well, as many of you know my first born started Kindergarten last Monday. I must say that it was a much harder transition than I expected (for me). I really had been looking forward to the day all summer. I had talked it up and gotten him all excited about all the things he would learn and do and how much fun he would have being around other kids all day. I was excited about spending some girl time with my daughter, just me and her. I looked forward to being able to focus on getting to know her real personality without big brother around. All this being said... Monday hit me hard!

Actually, Saturday hit me hard. We had orientation on Friday, met his teacher, went through a mock day of meeting all the coaches, music, art, and computer teachers. Uh... kindergarten has changed a little. It went great. We got the teacher that we requested, everything was well organized. I would consider the day a success. We followed orientation up with a trip for just the 3 of us to go see STAR WARS The Clone Wars as it was opening day. A great day was had by all.

I awoke Saturday and decided to begin getting things ready for Monday. I wanted to finish up chores and such. As the day wore on, I felt heavier and heavier. I started getting anxious about sending him off. I missed him already. I thought about how much little sis was going to miss him. I thought, "what if he cries when we leave? Do I really know these people I am leaving my child with?" Luckily I have been working sporadically at the school for a couple of years and did know some of the people. By Sunday morning this was little consolation. And by Sunday night I was completely gloomy. We went to bed with everything ready to go. Backpack full of supplies, lunch box waiting to be filled, nap towel complete with his monogrammed name and the perfect outfit ready for wear.

The morning went smoothly. And at about 7:30 with backpack on and Spiderman lunchbox in hand we took some pictures and headed out. The saddest of these pics was of the goodbye sibling hug that looked very pitiful on both ends. I held on! We unloaded at school. He was excited, but nervous I could tell. He held tight to my hand as we walked him to his class. We were greeted at the door by his teacher who took his picture and led him to his desk. They showed him where to put all his things and he sat down at his desk. We gave him a kiss and a hug and as I said, "I will see you this afternoon" he looked at me with eyes that I knew would cry without much encouragement. I quickly smiled big and turned to head out the door. Hoping we would make it out before he cried. We waited in the hall a couple of moments and peeked back in to find him coloring happily at his desk. A big boy. Completely ready to meet his new world and new independence.

I made it to the car before I fell apart. I honestly felt like I had forgotten part of myself. I smiled and cried all the way home. Proud and excited for him and mourning my first small separation from my baby boy. I am sure this is the first of many milestones that I will spend smiling for him and crying for me. Just part of the grand design I guess. I can only take him so far. There is much more work for me to do, but I know every year it will be a little more independence for him and some level of loss for me. But I know that the pride I feel as he succeeds will fill that void. And I will be there any time I am needed.

At pick up that afternoon. he said he had a good day. He missed us, but had fun and that is about all the information I could get out of him. Boys! I know that he has gotten a happy face everyday on his report that comes home and he was good at nap time because he got to sleep in the reading rocket... whatever that is. It is the first time I haven't known what he did all day long. It is new, but it is fun, bittersweet. We have a project to work on this week. Making a poster all about him to share with his class. He finally said that he likes his teacher a lot! And he is making friends, as I hear a new name daily. He was glad to have "2 whole days off." Of course the rain is hampering a great deal of activity, but we are surviving and by Wednesday I didn't cry at all.

As for baby sister, she loves her private time. Baby dolls instead of legos cover my house all day. Beads, dress up clothes and various princess and ballet costumes are worn all day. We went and got her hair cut, painted our nails and watched movies without any battles in them. It is a quiet house with one child in it. It will take some getting used to. I miss him, but I am so proud of what a good boy we have raised so far. One major milestone down. I need a few years before I tackle another one.

Fire safety a cautionary tale!

I have a total of 11 fire alarms in my home. It seems a little excessive to me after taking time to count them yesterday, but I suppose that one day I may be thankful for each and everyone of them. I am thankful for my home and the security that I feel knowing that my home is equipped with gadgets such as fire alarms to help protect my family in the case of such an emergency.
I have a question however. WHY IN THE WORLD DO THE BATTERIES IN FIRE ALARMS NEVER GET LOW IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY???
I mean really, it is always in the middle of the night that the incessant BEEP BEEP BEEP rings loudly and then by the time you get woke up and realize what the BEEP BEEP BEEP came from you have missed its origin and are forced to either get up and seek out the culprit hoping there will be some sort of sign of which of the (newly discovered) 11 made the noise.
So at 3:30 AM we are up, standing at opposite ends of the house waiting for the sound to go once more. But is it that easy... NO! No more sounds, beeps, chirps, nothing. So do you go back to bed? Check for a fire? It wasn't the actual alarm, but what if it malfunctions and that was all we were getting? And we knew as soon as our eyes closed again the BEEP BEEP BEEP would return to taunt us. So we noticed after walking all through the house praying that the kids would not join the party that a few of the alarms blinked.. some green, some red. Where is the instruction manual to these things? No where to be found I can tell you and it is the only instruction manual I don't have. I still have instruction to the strollers and baby carriers that I know longer own, but the fire alarms, the machines that protect my family from sure death, nope.

BEEP BEEP BEEP! Yeah, it is the hall by the kids room. I hope they don't wake. So balanced on a chair at now 4:20am my loving husband opens the battery compartment and great a 9 volt. Oh yeah those are laying all around. Couldn't be a AA. No those are all over the place easily found in the battery drawer or any toy in the house. Luckily, I had bought a variety pack of batteries at Sam's and there were 2 in it. Hooray!! But now that the old one is out we can't get the new one back in. Attributed partly I am sure to it being before 5am and standing precariously on a chair at a bad angle trying to be quiet so as not to wake the kids or worse set the alarm off and send our boy into hero mode saving his sister and feeling of doors for heat and the dreaded backdraft.
Finally we are back in bed around 5am vowing to change every battery tomorrow and then every 6 months or at clock change time whatever they recommend.
And as it always is... at 6am a little earlier than usual I hear at my bedside, "Mommy, I need some juice a biscuit and the remote control. Mommy it's cocka-doodle-doo time to get up. Why are you still sleeping?" Umm..... never mind buddy I am coming!

Moral of the story... fire safety is important! Change your batteries regularly or look like crap and be really grumpy every 6 months!

Going public

Well, I finally invited people to visit my blog. Of course, showing my true tech abilities I managed to invite everyone to visit but failed to give my address. Makes for a pretty boring party and I am guessing does not show confidence in one's own blog. Now that we know I have lots of opinions and no real computer abilities... at least we are all starting on the same page. Once you find it.

On top of that when I tried to sign in yesterday I had forgotten my password. Things are not looking up for this whole blog thing and me?

Do computer skills drift away after you hit 30 like the need for a string bikini? I hope not as quickly.

Please feel free to post about anything that is on your mind as often as you like. I love banter and I am full of thoughts... not all coherent, but I am full of it! :)

I have been reading! A lot.

As you can tell from the title of my little post, I have been reading a lot. I have recently completed a couple of really great books. I am generally not a fan of what many consider to be modern literature. I stick to the classics and there are plenty of classics out there that I have not gotten to yet. I was stalled in my attempt to read all those books by a recommendation for a short fictional novel from a friend. She said simply that it was a good story with a good message. I have recently been searching for a good message and decided to give it a try. I happen to see it at Sam's club when I was bargain shopping a week later and picked it up. I am better for having done so.
"The Shack" by William Young is an eye opening work of literature. I shy away from speaking too much about it in fear of ruining its discovery for those that want to read it. I encourage everyone to read it. I have never felt so strongly about sharing a book with others as I do about this. In short it is about a man in pain that needs answers and finds them in an unusual way. It may not sound like much, but I truly believe that my view of our world and my place in it has been forever changed. I can't promise that your reactions will be the same and hey... maybe you will say "OK that was a good read, big deal." At the very least it is a well written piece of literature that deserves some attention.
I am glad I read it and maybe I talk it up too much to those I am recommending it to. If so I am sorry. It took me about a day and a half to finish. Once I started I couldn't put it down. I was invested in the characters quickly which is part of what made it so appealing to me. I let it process for a couple of days and then spoke again with my friend who had recommended it to me. We had a great conversation about it. I hope you read it and either post here or email me about what you think. I will leave it at that... pick it up! It is worth it!

Making an Effort

I have decided to use this blog as more than a viewing point for family pics and personal information, though my personal information will most likely creep in at times as I try to find a way to express my concerns about the world we live in, share experiences that I am thankful for, and make general commentary about the state of our world and how maybe we can begin to make a difference. I ask that those of you that know me personally (as those will be the main people viewing this page) not use personal names of our family members in statements to or about various postings that may appear.
Clearly you can see that my current view of the world is that there are a great deal of wonderful citizens of our world, but that the evil have an upper hand currently and my primary goal in life is protecting my family in all ways public and private from those who would prey on them. I am making an attempt to do this without making my little ones fearful of the world, but cautious and self sufficient.
I see the growing technology as a great way for little people like me to make my voice bigger and a perfect way for the evil to take advantage of the naive and innocent trusting souls that post their lives for all to see. One of my good friends right now is searching for a way to use this tech world to stay in good contact with family and friends and also protect her beautiful pics of her boys from being on a predatory computer at 2am. I hope she finds a full proof way soon., but I am not sure I will ever be comfortable with the process.
Maybe I wouldn't be so paranoid if I didn't have so many things to be thankful for in my life: a beautiful family, steady work, freedom to live as we choose and most recently a growing faith in Jesus that I am trying desperately to embrace. I am also thankful that my biggest concern at this time is the economic status of the US. We are healthy and simply need a little drilling and some alternative energy ideas and my little world would perk right up.
I have growing concerns about the world at large, however. And I worry that if we little folks don't start making more of a ruckus the world that our children should inherit may be lost before they get a chance to make their mark. I think our generation is special and I hope that maybe we can all brain storm together here to find ways to make a difference. So the offer is open to all the great minds I know. What can we do. How can we get people to listen... we could start simple with basic manners when is the last time someone waved a thank you for not running them over as they crossed the road. Or we could go bigger.. start our own lobby for common sense. My mind is open! My blog is available!

Welcome to the blog

Welcome to Burnham daily. I cannot promise that you will always be riveted by the postings here, but I will do my best to offer thoughts and updates on my Burnham clan and the world at large. Feel free to respond to my posts and send me plenty of info of your own. I am always interested in news stories and your stories.

And it begins.

~Burnham 1