Recovery

Kerriann and I have spent the past two days recovering from this stressful week!

Yesterday she had her third day at preschool, and lucky for her, it was a short day.  She went from 9-3 while Mommy did some errands and cleaning.  Here is a picture of her eating breakfast before she left.

I also got to visit with my friend Autumn and her little boy Owen which was great.  I wanted to let Kerriann visit too, but they came during nap time so I couldn't pick her up from school until after their visit.  Hopefully the four of us will be able to get together soon now that we're finally living in the same town!

Kerriann is still having a hard time with school, but she has only been going three days now.  On Friday her daily sheet said that she had a better day, although she was crying again when I picked her up.  Her tears subsided quickly though, when I told her that we would be visiting Grandma and Pap-Pap this weekend.  Aunt Christiane was already waiting in the car, and she was excited to see her as well.

We spent last night just relaxing and getting settled in.  This morning we had breakfast with my dad and then he kept Kerriann for a couple of hours while I helped my mom and Christiane with a yard sale.

Kerriann got to play with all of the kittens who are growing up so fast!

It is amazing how big, cute and playful they are now.  My dad is still trying to persuade us to take one.  I think he has almost convinced me.  I don't think I'm ready to take one tomorrow, but maybe in a week or two once I get our house completely set up!  I'm worried about the extra responsibility, but I know that a little kitten would bring so much joy to Kerriann.  The past week has been really tough on her, so I'd love to do something extra special to help her adjust.  I'll keep you guys posted on what we decide! ;)

This afternoon we watched the WVU vs MD game at my dad's, which was great because WVU secured their third win!  After that we headed back to my mom's for dinner and more relaxing.

Here are a few more pictures from my dad's this afternoon... Kerriann is so into dancing these days and was busting a few moves on the porch.  She's very into saying "I want to dance" lately and it's so funny!

After dinner we gave Kerriann a bath and she was being hilarious.  She was squirming around everywhere in the bathtub and saying "I'm a fish, I'm going to float away!!!"  She even put her face in the water a couple of times.  She has never done that before and I was so upset I didn't have a camera to take video.  I really need to dig out my old point and shoot from a few years ago to take videos since Kevin has our other one with him.

Oh, and one more cute Kerriann moment from yesterday.  As we were driving home, Taylor Swift's song "Mean" came on the radio.  After it was over, Christiane and I hear Kerriann singing the words to the chorus perfectly!  "Some day I'll be living in a big old city, and all you're ever gonna be is mean..." it was so cute!  Again, I wish I had had a video camera, but we've been able to get her to do it a few times since then so hopefully I'll have proof of her singing skills soon.

And I know this is out of order, but Thursday night I was able to Skype with Kevin for the first (and only) time since Tuesday.  It was so great talking to him "face to face" again.  They don't officially have internet access in TX, but he was able to find a way to tether it through his phone.  Hopefully he'll be able to start Skyping with some friends and family members soon as well.

Ok and one more random thing... here is Kerriann's very first daily activity sheet from school and the first piece of art work she made for me!  I feel like she is growing up so fast!

Kerriann's 2nd Birthday Party

Yes, I'm aware that this post is over a month late, but I can't go on with my blog without having this post!

We celebrated Kerriann's 2nd birthday with a party at Perryville Park among family and close friends.

Kerriann, Kevin and I had a great time visiting with all of our friends and family, eating cake and playing games.

The weather held out for us even though it was forecasted to rain.  It was hot and humid, but nothing that we couldn't handle!

A big thanks goes out to my mother in law, Katie, for making the beautiful cookies and Minnie themed vegetable tray, brother in law Ryan, my Dad, and friends Marshall and Jacqueline for helping to set up before the party, and to all those who brought the cutest gifts for Kerriann!  She loves every single gift she received!

KA's First Day of School

So today was Kerriann's first day of school, and it was not an easy one for Kerriann or mommy.  Her school likes for them to be dropped off by 9 am because of the structure they follow (circle time, activities, outdoor play, etc.) so I dropped her off around 8:50 am.  I could tell as we walked in that this was not going to be easy.  No one was working at the front desk (a teacher unlocked the door for us, don't worry, the place is secure!), so we made our way back to the "young preschoolers" classroom.

By this point I could sense that Kerriann was feeling uneasy.  As soon as we walked into the room one of her teachers scooped her up and started chatting with her and trying to help her feel at home.  This lady is so sweet, and is also a military spouse.  She's survived deployments which is one of the things that sold me on this center.  From talking to her for about 30 minutes when we visited, I could tell that Kerriann would be in good, loving and understanding hands.  So as she held Kerriann and started to turn her the other way, I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and bolted.  Not only to keep KA from freaking out, but to make sure I made it out the door before I started crying.  The teacher asked me how I was doing (knowing that Kevin had just left) and I couldn't even answer.

It's not that I'm falling apart, I actually feel like I'm handling the separation really well, I'm just feeling extremely emotional with all of the changes that have taken place this week.  Kevin's departure and Kerriann's first day of school, not to mention my classes are really starting to pick up with midterms and presentations looming in the very near future, has just been a lot to handle.  With that said, I'm feeling much better tonight and I'm hoping that this feeling will continue into tomorrow!

Here's one of Kerriann unwinding after school today.  She looked like a mess when she got home... remind me not to send her in a white shirt again!  You can't tell here, but she had spots all over it!

I'm hoping to get back to updating my blog pretty regularly, now that Kevin is away.  I know he will love reading the updates, and I want to have a good log of what we did while he was away!  I'm also attempting to revive my photo a day project, although I probably won't put it on a separate blog.  I'll just try to incorporate the photos into this blog.

Here are a few photos we took of Kerriann a couple of weeks ago when she went into school for a couple of hours to get acquainted with the place.  They are so cute I just have to share, even though they aren't her "official" first day of school pictures.  I just wasn't put together enough to take those this morning!

Wordless Wednesday

A few practice shots for my first photojournalism assignment...

I'm still here!

I know it's been forever since my last post!  I have really been missing blogging, and I hope that I can become more active again once Kevin is gone.  For now, I'm just trying to focus on him, Kerriann, classes and our house.

Since my last post we have survived a move from MD to WV, two weeks of classes at WVU, researching and choosing a preschool for Kerriann, a hurricane, an earthquake, my camera getting lost or stolen, a wonderful visit from Grammy and Paul, my 23rd birthday, an attempt at a surprise going away party for Kevin (although Hurricane Irene sort of rained on our parade... haha) and Kevin's last day of work... I'm sure there is probably more but I will stop at that.  I think you all get the point that it's been hectic!

As I just mentioned, my camera is gone... luckily (or should I say unluckily?) I am taking a photojournalism class through WVU so I was able to rent a DSLR camera from the school of journalism.  It is a definite downgrade from my camera, and it's a Nikon (I'm used to using a Canon), but I am starting to get the hang of it after practicing the past week.  Here are a few shots from the past week to hold you over until I have more time to post... I promise one day I will get Kerriann's birthday pics up :).