First Day of School

Today was Norah’s first day of kindergarten at Alex Sanger Elementary!  Norah has been excited to go to kindergarten and wear her uniform ever since we went to kindergarten round-up in the spring. She is in the dual-immersion program and kindergarten is taught in Spanish with the exception of Math. Her class has 17 native Spanish speaking students and 6 native English speaking students so we’re hopeful Norah will learn lots and lots of Spanish from her classmates. We are very excited about her teacher, Ms. Dominguez who is a native Spanish speaker from Spain. We met Ms. Dominguez in the spring and were very impressed with her but we didn’t know she would be Norah’s teacher till this past Friday when Bryan and Norah went to Meet the Teacher night. Ms. Dominguez seems very bright, energetic, and kind and we think Norah is quite lucky to have her.
Kindergarten is going to be a big adjustment for all of us. Norah has gone to M/W/F preschool for the past two years from 9am –noon. Now she has school from 7:45 am – 2:55 pm five days a week. That is a 7 hour day! I’m a little nervous for her but I know she’s going to love it. Here they are in the double jogger we recently bought on Craigslist ready to head out. I’m carrying Freya in the ergo – I’ll have to ask Bryan to take a picture of all 4 of us girls tomorrow.Alice started preschool at Dallas Spanish House last Monday but being our poor middle child (and having a 3 week old sister) she didn’t get her picture taken. I just didn’t have it together and she needed a hair cut. I hope she’ll forgive me. Alice went to preschool in June and July with Norah and loved it. I think it helped her ease into school to be able to go with Norah. She was a little surprised last week when Norah didn’t go with her but she hasn’t cried at all. She seems really happy when I pick her up and always hugs her teachers (Yanet and Evelyn) and says “Gracias, Adios” to them. So far those two words, plus Hola are the extent of her vocabulary in Spanish but poco a poco I’m sure she’ll pick up more. Here is a second week of school picture for Alice.

Aunt Andy Visits

Last Saturday Bryan’s honorary aunt, Andy was in Dallas and spent the day with us. Andy was neighbors with Grandma and Grandpa Weggeland and Susan used to baby sit Andy’s kids. They stayed close over the years and through many moves and when Susan had her own children Andy baby sat for her. Bryan frequently claims his memory is so bad that he can’t remember his childhood but it isn’t true because he has wonderful childhood memories of flying to California to visit and be spoiled by Andy. Bryan told Norah about his California adventures with his Aunt Andy to Norah and she was very excited to see her. We went for a long, hot walk through the Dallas Arboretum and then out to lunch. We hadn’t seen Andy since Kimball and Kelsey’s wedding when Norah was a year and a half so this was Alice’s first visit with her and of course it was Freya’s too. Freya has a special connection to Andy since they share the same July 25th birthday.

Two Weeks and Tummy Time

Freya had her two week check up today – she is really 2.5 weeks old but close enough. She weighed 9 lbs 15 oz and measured 21.5 inches. Even though she shrunk half an inch since birth she was still in the 95th percentile for height and weight. It seemed like the nurse did a pretty great job of straitening out her spring loaded legs when she measured so I bet Freya was more like 21 inches at birth – that would be consistent with her big sisters. I took some pictures of her today on her beautiful quilt from Mimi.

She is still a great little sleeperBut she’s waking up And opening her eyes moreAnd getting stronger and stronger

My Loves

Alice and Freya

Alice loves to support Freya during tummy time. She lays down by her and pats her talks to her and offers her toys. She’ll say “Baby Fwaya, it’s big sister. I wuv you baby Fwaya” A I’m impressed she hasn’t lost interest in her baby sister yet. She comes into my room first thing every morning to see Freya and give her a kiss.This pretty baby quilt is from my Grandma Hyer. All of my girls have one from her and they make excellent tummy time quilts – especially because there is room for big sisters to fit on it too.

Freya and the Rest of Us

I have not taken nearly enough pictures of Freya. In my defense though, she sleeps a lot. I’m not complaining, but how many pictures do you need like this? Actually I should probably get a few more like that – at least one with a real camera and during the day without a flash. And isn’t that an impressive swaddle job? Bryan is a master swaddler. I think she looks like a glo worm toy. Here is another phone picture of Freya sleeping – this time at the zoo.A phone pic of Norah and Alice entertaining FreyaWe took few pics of us with Freya last night before my parents left

Evelyn Visits

Over the weekend Mike, Emily and Evelyn came to visit and see the new baby. Here are all 4 Brooks granddaughters together. In honor of Evelyn’s visit I put Freya in some Jammies that Evelyn passed down to Norah when she was 2 months old. Now all 4 girls have worn them.We went to the Children’s Garden togetherAnd the girls gathered centipedes – they found A LOTWe also rode on the tram for the first time

Grandma Lorraine and Grandpa Dean Visit

My parents left today and I miss them already. They came out to help me on July 20th and were indispensible. I’m glad they came before I had Freya because I was exhausted and they allowed me to get in some extra naps and take it easy before I had her. My dad also took care of several projects around the house including painting our deck, taking our car in for maintenance (not to mention cleaning said car after I puked in it), and cleaning our carpets. My mom spent many hours playing with and cleaning up after the girls. Norah and Alice also took swim lessons while they were here which is something I don’t think I could have pulled off by myself. I’m so grateful to them for their help and support.I procrastinated taking pictures till the night before they left – Norah and Alice were already in jammies