What's Cooking with the Bakers: Our August

August 4-Mother’s Day Out Open House

Campbell started pre-school this year at our church’s Mother’s Day Out Program. I’ve known all summer that I want Campbell to start this year so we but WOW this totally snuck up on me!! We were at church and Miss Betty casually mentioned to me that the Open House was next week and it sent me into a total panic, because…

I didn't have time to cook between work and going to Open House. This was really her first fast food--chicken nuggets. I guess we had to get started sometime. Huh?!

1) I can not believe the she is old enough to start preschool and I questioned if she was ready. No, I knew she was. The better question is “Was I?” and 2) because school means new backpack, lunch box, nap mat and school clothes.
Its amazing to me that I can plan an event in record time or jump on a plane to make a presentation at a moment’s notice but my baby starting school… It truly was too much for me to handle and I found myself in a tailspin spending late night hours online researching backpacks & lunchboxes. What had I become?? A crazy mom already and school had not even started!

Open House was a new experience for us and while we had great expectations we quickly felt that we (as parents) were not prepared and began to worry. The teacher told us the kids had to be potty trained (WHAT?!), gave us more questions than answers and overall left us feeling a little shaken.

That night, Campbell ran a fever and I knew that I couldn’t leave her on the first day of school feeling under the weather. Not to mention that Matt & I were as confident about our decision to start her in school. So I called in sick her first day and took her to the doc. Since we were only starting Tues and Thurs,/Half-days, I had her a whole week to stay at home to get better. And of course, it gave me the extra time to really think about what the best thing to do was.

August 12-First Day of School

Skipping the first week of school gave me sometime to pray about what was best for our family, Campbell’s class and the time to talk with the Director/ Miss Betty. After an easy transfer to a new classroom with teachers and kids we both felt would be a better fit, Campbell officially started school. She did great! Yes, there was some tears (me and her both!) but when we picked her up she was happy and of course that is all I really wanted. Some days are better than others with the drop-off (Matt accuses me of being too quick to leave her and I say he’s too tender for her own good.) We love Miss Amy & Miss Rachel and I am so thankful for what started off as a little wary experience looks very promising. I can’t wait to see how the school year goes for her!

August 9- Troy University Bid Day, KD house

I am the Recruitment advisor for the local Kappa Delta house meaning that I spend about 2 weeks living the college life again with the KDs, helping them prepare for rush. As you can imagine, the college schedule and the mom schedule don’t really agree! Matt is a trooper playing Mr. Mom & Dad on those late nights during this time.
Bid Day meant that Campbell could finally let loose at the KD house and mom could celebrate another year being over. The girls are so loving to Campbell and love to see her in green!! She was thrilled with the balloons and loved seeing older girls run down the hill, screaming and cheering and clapping. Of course she had to do the same!

Some alums (and little legacies) got a zap!

Potty Training Begins!

Even though we have a great teacher, Miss Amy, that does not demand potty trained kids she did highly encourage pull-ups with the intention to be potty trained so we decided to start the training. Our doctor had told us to not push it and we could just experiment to see if Campbell was ready. Well, she has been so advanced at everything else so why not this?? Pull-ups were exciting for her, particularly with Disney Princess and Dora characters. We got a potty that sings and makes all kinds of noises (which lesson learned later..so not worth it!). She and I talked a lot about Big Girls and giving the diapers to babies. And then later, I walked by and say that Daddy was taking some time to explain to her what he does to help him in the bathroom….

YES! That IS a Sports Illustrated!! Hey, I figure whatever the motivation may be and at least he is involved. So far, nothing has really clicked to make an official change in her routine but I will keep you updated.

August 23-Anna & Sarah’s Birthday Party

My great friend Leigh Anne has twin girls who celebrated their 4th Birthday at the Troy Rec Center with a “Miss Monica’s” gymnastics party.

This was our first experience at the gym and I wasn’t sure what to expect but Campbell really loved the trampoline, the slide, the balls and tumbling on the mats.

Even though most of the kids were older and more advanced, she hung in there with them.

She is totally enamored by Anna & Sarah! I am not sure how to even explain the concept of twins to her or if she even knows what to ask. But its obvious she does a DOUBLE take when she sees them, usually dressed just alike. I have trouble telling them apart but Campbell seems to know exactly who is who.