The day is done

The day is done and the three kiddlings are all snug in their beds. This is also where their Mom would like to be as I am just exhausted. After all the trial and tribulation of last night with the vomiting and crying and all...I just could not sleep. Imagine that. The stress had my stomach all in knots and even Jerad was stressing out. We talked about what we would do if she wouldn't get on that bus...and basically about how much this SUCKS yet again!! I proceeded to pray and pray and worry and pray for most of the night. When the alarm finally went off at 6:30 am, we took a collective breath and went in together to wake her up. It wasn't easy and it never used to be either. It is early! But she got up, walked downstairs and we never heard a word about not going. Whew. She only ate about 10 cheerios, not ten bites mind you, but 10 actual cheerios and a swig of OJ. We carefully picked out a new outfit and also chose from her selection of about 60 hats. We walked out the door, took a picture, and off we went to the busstop.
We have a huge amount of kids at our busstop. 12 here and 14 come off in the afternoon! Gotta love that we have so many kids on our little court though.
Madison was sort of "in charge" of taking care of Ally. Sitting with her on the bus and also walking her to her classroom. Thank goodness for her. Her little brother was also a little upset so she had double duty today. I watched her face. She looked at Ally, turned to look at Caulin, grabbed both of their hands and took them to the bus. I could see her processing in her mind that they both needed help. And help was there. Ally got on the bus and Jerad and I breathed a collective sigh of relief. I actually turned and walked back down the street choking back tears as I quietly celebrated this victory with my neighbors. About 9am, after dropping Carly at school (story coming up next) I got a call from Ally. She was already crying. She said her belly hurt "really bad" Ally was calling me herself and I honestly didn't know what to do. I pulled my car over and just started talking to her. I asked her to run through her day so far. What had she done...did she eat...was everyone nice...then I reminded her how strong she is. I asked her if this was as hard as going to the hospital every week. Of course she said No. I told her...you go get all these things done to you every week, and school is NO BIG DEAL right? I assured her that I would be at school to visit her because I had to go to school with Evan for his first day. She reluctantly said ok and actually never asked for me to come get her. This whole ordeal shot my stress level up again. My friend Suzanne who was at school checked on her, the teacher sent me an email...she was doing ok now. When I got there she was out at recess holding her friend Madden's hand. Kids were all around her. She was also fine when I saw her in her classroom. I popped in and said hi. I could kinda tell that she didn't want me there. I said "you want me to leave don't you?" and she shook her head yes. She only had about an hour left at school and I knew she would make it. When she got home I kept asking her if she was tired, and she kept saying no. She said everything went fine and she said "Mom, lots of people want to talk to me and be my friend" I was so happy. I told her she was just like a famous rock star at school...everyone knows Ally. Seriously all of her friends just want to be around her more now. And all of the kids in her class were wearing their Ally's Army braclets. Wow. Maybe something good will come of this....

Busy doing her work and ignoring me

CARLY GIRL

Carly also did really well at school. She was all decked out in an apple dress from her godmother, Mrs. Winger, and carried her Hello Kitty lunchbox. She was so cute. We got all kinds of pictures and her big brother held her hand as they walked in. (all on his own)
When I was putting her stuff into her cubby she started to cry. Oh man, she hadn't cried at all the other times. Her nice teacher, Ms. Sarah, picked her up and she waved to Evan and I out the window. I walked out to my mailbox there and grabbed some paperwork. By the time I came back into the lobby her teacher said she was done crying. Maybe 60 seconds. Whew. Again. Upon picking her up I heard that she did wonderfully. Never another tear and she loved the baby dolls, the dora game on the computer, and playing with legos. She ate most of her lunch. She ran and gave me a huge hug when I walked into the room.

EVAN

Last, but not least, my baby boy started Kindergarten today. I made a huge deal out of it. We had some one-on-one time before his bus came at 11. We worked on riding his new bike and I taught him how to play jacks (my mom would be proud of that). He ate his lunch at 10:30 (yep) and we went out to catch the bus around 11. Turns out he was the only Kindergartner on his particular bus today. The staggered start and a few kids who they missed played into that scenario. I followed the bus as we were to meet him at school to do a couple of projects together. He did really great tracing, cutting, writing, coloring...all fun things. His teacher seems fantastic and was very nice to mention to the parents about Ally and all the sicknesses we have to watch for. I left him there with strict instruction on how to get to his bus and awaited him to come home at 2:30. I was scared for him riding the bus this way, because all the kids are on it on the way home. Of course, as soon as he gets off I hear about him getting bullied on the bus. He was in the first seat, but a couple boys were pushing him into the window. He told them to stop but they wouldn't. Madison (savior again) saw it and asked if he could move back and sit with Ally. So he rode about halfway with his sister. He said he didn't cry, but "almost did". Here I was worried about Ally getting bullied and it was Evan. Don't worry, his Dad had a big discussion about this with him tonight and hopefully he gets to sit with his friends when he goes again on Friday.

All excited. No tears.

Can you see him peeking out?? BYE Evan.

He really was working hard today...

So.... a few glitches for each of them but also a few nice people who helped them all out along the way. Prayers were pretty much answered. And now I can go to bed and worry about doing it all over again tomorrow.