Getting Into the Swing of Things . . . FINALLY!

Well, the girls are getting used to the "new" school year. Natalie officially hates getting up early in the mornings, she is having a hard time with that one. Sarah doesn't like it either, but she is more used to it. It takes us a while to get going in the morning so we have had to start getting up around 6:35 now. It sounds so stinkin' early for little kids, I think it is so lame that the elementary kids go to school before middle schoolers and high schoolers, but that's a whole different topic. Anyway, despite the early hours, our morning routine is going much better and enjoyable. We usually have plenty of time once the girls finish eating. They have even started helping make their own lunches! I think we will be sticking with our new morning routine. It is so nice to have better quality time together before the girls head off to school. I think this has also helped with our issues that each of the girls have struggled with this year.

Natalie has really struggled with homesickness. I remember Sarah having this problem in Kindergarten and 1st grade too, so I'm not worried. Natalie would have several mornings in a row where she'd be almost in tears not wanting to go to school because she said she missed me during the day. I've tried to go into the school a lot this year to volunteer and that seems to help her feel better. She is also doing much better as the year progresses as she gains confidence in herself to handle all the social situations and problem solving that make her nervous when mommy is not around. We've had about two times where I've had to come in to get her because she had a tummy ache or something else that I'm pretty sure was more homesickness than anything. But the last couple weeks have been much better and I think we're finally in a "groove". Our trip to Disneyland probably didn't help. Oh well!

Sarah has had her own struggles with issues this year that has affected her school. Mostly to do with eating. She has started having issues with nausea so frequently that I took her into her pediatrician on her birthday to see if she was hypoglycemic. For the whole month of October, she had several episodes during the week of feeling nauseous and not wanting to eat just as she should be getting really hungry for a meal. It started happening before and during school, which was causing some disruption to her ability to attend and pay attention at school. So we had to solve the problem quick. The doctor was pretty sure it was not hypoglycemia, just more of an issue of not understanding body signals.

Now that we are at the other side of the issue, it looks like what would happen is that she would start getting hungry and it would turn to kind of a sick feeling quickly. I experience that if I get too hungry myself. She is so terrified of throwing up that any feeling like nausea freaks her out. So she would totally avoid food, which is what she needed to feel better. It was a vicious cycle and so hard to get food in her stomach so she'd feel better. Poor thing. The doctor recommended giving her more protein at every meal and for snacks to help her blood sugar stay more stable rather than drop significantly like it does if you eat mostly carbs. (Which Sarah does.) The change in diet has worked great and Sarah has learned to listen to that "funny feeling" as we call it now and do something about it before it gets worse. We make sure to have snacks and she even has one at school in the morning before lunch. Usually, a cheesestick or almonds.

Now that we have worked all these kinks, life seems to be going really well for Sarah and Natalie. Thank heavens this all got solved before my call to be on jury duty last week! I "lucked out" and got chosen for a jury on a criminal trial which has lasted a whole week! More on that later, but if we were still having the issues we had a couple weeks ago, I would be a nervous wreck leaving the girls and unable to be reached even by cell phone. For the first two months of school, I have kept my cell phone close and several mornings completely expecting a phone call from the school. I don't think any of us could have handled this jury duty thing when we were having all the homesickness and nausea issues. While it has been inconvenient, I haven't been so worried about missing a call from the school while I'm in court. Phew!