Bus Stop Crowd (l to r): Abbigale, Olivia, Ethan, Blake, Kylie, Allivia (not in school, just wanted to be one of the big kids), Neve, and Samantha. Mason refused to get in the picture! Allivia was very sad that she was the only one who didn't get on the bus, but her mom had a fun day planned for her, so I think she got over it pretty quickly!
On September 1, 2011, Samantha had her first day of 4K (4-year old kindergarten) and we also went to our ultrasound to make sure our baby was okay (and, of course, to find out the gender!) Samantha was so excited about starting school and had been asking when it started back in July! I remember having to tell her six weeks, five weeks, etc. until I was able to finally say it was time! The bus picks up the kids at the end of our driveway, so we all met and played a little bit before the bus finally arrived. She has a girl next door (Olivia) and a boy across the street (Mason) who are both in her class and then a little girl behind us who is in 5K (Abbigale's birthday is in August, so she just beat the deadline!) She was so excited to get on that bus, but I was so worried since it has all kids ages 4K-4th Grade on there! But, she did just fine. We hopped into a friend's suburban and followed the bus to school and took video and pictures of her getting off the bus and waiting with her teacher to "walk the red carpet." That is when I lost it! I was doing just fine, but watching her with all those kids got to me. She looked at me, rolled her eyes, shook her head, and told me not to cry. That's our baby, growing up! I cried for a little bit at home, but then I was okay. We waited for that bus to pull back up at 11:40 and seeing her happy little face was all I needed to see. She LOVED her first day of 4K and was excited she got to sit by Mason all day, except for at snack-time :) I did much better on Friday, the 2nd day of school and I now know that she is just fine and is loving every minute of it. I just can't believe that she is gone for 3 hours every day of the week; it's such a new thing for me, so I just miss her! But, this is exactly what she needs.
After she got home, we had lunch and then headed down to our old home to head to our ultrasound. Due to the baby being uncooperative at our last three appointments, we have not yet actually heard the baby's heartbeat; this has always worried me, so I was just wanting to know from this appointment that our little baby was going to be okay. And, we got great news; the heartbeat is strong and the baby is growing like it should be, measuring in at 10 ounces, with a heart rate of 160 bpm. We couldn't actually hear the heartbeat due to the intensity of their equipment, but that's okay. We also found out that we are going to have a little baby BOY! We all thought for sure it was going to be a girl, so we were kind of surprised. But, we are very excited for this new adventure. I am now starting to feel the little guy move, as well. Now, we just have to wait until January 24th (or close to it), to meet this little guy and give him a name, of which John and I cannot agree. Wish us luck on that!
