Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma...

Ok, I'll try to make this short, but I would LOVE the opinions of anyone on this topic!!! ESPECIALLY those of you who are/were school teachers!
Background: Elise is 3 1/2 and LOVED her school in South Carolina. It was a church-run preschool with WONDERFUL people, bright airy classrooms, and a great balance between "play" and "learn"...they're only 3 1/2 after all! She knows her ABC's by sight and phonics, can write many of them, can write her name, can count to 100 with help, or about 25 on her own, etc...I'm NOT SAYING this to "brag", but it's important to our dilemma. AND, most importantly, she LOVES SCHOOL. She likes the routine, the structure, she LOVES pleasing her teachers, following rules, and came home telling me 'what she learned' daily...
Now: The preschool she is enrolled in here is another church-run situation. The people seem very nice, BUT it's located in the basement of an old church, she is one of only 3 girls (and one may be leaving soon and moving back to the 2 y.o. class) and is one of the oldest kids in her class. It's really more of a glorified "daycare". They talk SOME about the alphabet, #'s, other school-type stuff, etc...but it's not as much of a school environment...the other two girls are barely 3, one still sucks her thumb, and they're definitely behind Elise developmentally, language, etc...it's a little frustrating for her, I think, to be there.
As we've gotten a little adjusted, we've discovered a WONDERFUL private school right up the street that has an opening in their Pre-K 3 program. I toured the school yesterday and was absolutely blown away by their professionalism, their curriculum, the overall school environment, but it's also considerably pricier and that would mean changing schools AGAIN for her.
So our question is, "Is it all that important for a 3 year old?" We KNOW that she'll thrive at the fancy-schmancy school, we know the "education" is better and there are more kids who are at the same level of development. I also realize that she's only 3. She has her whole life to be in school and to learn...do kids who attend a more aggressive preschool really 'achieve' more than other kids down the road? After teaching at a 'fancy-schmancy' school a few years ago, I am a HUGE fan of the smaller class sizes, more professional teaching staff, etc...but that was much older kids....for a 3 year old, it seems a little obnoxious to pay for Spanish and French lessons, science experiments daily, etc... but I also LOVE that they're exposed to that stuff!
Anyway, I hate to think of her having to 'transition' again, but I'm pretty sure it would be worth it. This would just be for 2 years and then it's on to public schools- those are great around here for K-12.
Any thoughts are welcome! THANK YOU!! leave them on here or email me! Thanks.

Yikes.

So much to share...but so little time/energy/brain waves to do it!!! Ha!
Ok, we arrived in VA exactly one week ago, so maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself about updating this thing... Here are some highlights and a few pictures, too...

*So hard to say goodbye to friends in South Carolina! Elise has talked MANY times about how much she misses her friends and neighbors. I don't really know how to be a parent through this...I guess I should talk to other NAVY moms who've done it dozens of times... for now, I've just been saying, "It's ok that you miss your friends. I miss my friends, too. But the good thing is that we can call them (or write/color pictures for them, etc...) and maybe visit sometime. We'll make new friends here that will be special, too". Just something tough we're trying to figure out as we go. Since we haven't really met any neighbors yet, this is a little trickier to explain. Maybe soon...

*All three kids were GREAT with the traveling/movers/etc...they loved the adventure, Mitchell just slept all the time (moving with a newborn is WAY EASIER than a toddler, btw), the 8 hour drive wasn't as bad as I thought. Adam got off easy on that one- we ended up packing his 4Runner all the way with boxes/stuff and I had the three kids and dog in the minivan...Whose idea what THAT!?! =) The kids did great, really.

*Our weather was in the 90's the day the movers were there and, just 6 days later, it was 38 Degrees here! I LOVE IT! I'm so much happier in cooler weather and love wearing jeans, tshirts, and a fleece vest. Adam, Elise, Ainsley, and I all had on our vests on the other day when we took a day away from unpacking and visited some nearby friends for a few hours. It was so crisp and refreshing to be outside!!

*Mitchell is doing so well. He's a month old today and already sleeping up to 7 hours overnight. That's CLEARLY a gift from GOD with a third baby!!! I'm so thankful! He's doing pretty well during the days and seems to have a pretty laid back personality. (Although we said that about Ainsley early on, too, and at 19 months, she's SUPER high-maintenance...so, what do we know!?).

*Adam started his new job yesterday and thinks he'll enjoy it over time...it'll be such a change from doing law for the NAVY, but we're so thankful to really feel like we'll be able to settle into a city, a church, and a part of the country we love!

*being a parent to three kids under four years old is quite a challenge. I agree with the statement from friends that "going from 1 kid to 2 is harder than 2 to 3". I have a sense of "I know I can do this all in the course of a day" that prevails when I get overwhelmed and I'm more willing to let a kid 'cry it out' than I ever was when it was just Elise and I. The hardest part is just feeling like I can't give each one of them 100% that I'd like to. If Ainsley and Mitchell were just a little further spread out, I think it'd be ok, but Ainsley is so 'needy' for attention, focus, etc...right now and I really feel like I'm neglecting her so often. I know that this will pass and that I am doing the best I possibly can, but it makes me sad to daily realize that I just don't have the ability to give her that attention. I know kids are resilient, so I just hope and pray that I can be the best mom to all three kids (and wife to Adam, of course) that I can be...exausting, but possible!

*Although we've unpacked 95% of all boxes, we're still missing a solid handful of things:
-TV Remote control and TV Power Cable
-The "emergency stop" pull-cord from our treadmill. It won't turn on w/o that cord...bummer
-Elise's finger-paints (ok, I don't miss that too much yet!)
-All the hardware for curtains in the house. We have all the curtains and curtain rods, but nothing else...
None of this is major (we've already replaced the 2 TV items), but kind of a bummer and just frustrating! I'm sick of unwrapping/unpacking and equally sick of having sheets and towels hanging over windows. I don't want to spend $$ on more hardware, but the neighbors are probably wondering what kind of people are living here...

*Elise's school situation is tricky. She's had three days of school here. I LOVED her school in SC and so did she. Some of our best friends were made through that and she still talks about her friends, teachers, playground, etc...at her "old school". A few comments I've heard this week from her: "There are two other girls in my new class. Abby pooped in her panties today and Sydney sucks her thumb. She wears a diaper, too." (what!?! This is a 3 y.o. class!) "We don't do numbers and letters at my new school. We just play". Hmmmm...so, we're scrambling to research other preschools in the area to maybe switch her over. Playing is important, but she really enjoys the LEARNING stuff, too. There needs to be a balance, in my opinion. We'll see.

*Ok, that's a lot. Here are a few more pictures. Phew. Pray for ENERGY and PATIENCE for me, for easy-adjusting for all of us, and that we'd enjoy time together as a family as we get settled. Thanks!

WELCOME, MITCHELL!

A week ago right now, I was sitting comfortably at the hospital waiting for "real" labor to kick in...Elise and Ainsley were home with friends Allyson and Jean (lifesavers to us!!!!!!!), I'd gotten a full night's sleep, and I weighed about 12 pounds more than I do now. WOW, a lot has changed in a week!
A few hours from now last week, I was in SERIOUS PAIN while waiting for a nurse to show up and help out a little...it was "one of those days" on the Labor and Delivery floor where 6 women were all in the end stages of labor at the same time. Several of the others were first-time moms, so I think they kept ignoring me, thinking I was the "veteran"....yikes!
Regardless of the pain or any other drama, our little guy was born at 4:09pm, weighing in at 7lbs, 13 oz (exactly the same as Elise) and 19.75 inches long. I was VERY THANKFUL for the delivery to be over, especially since the Epidural didn't exactly "take" like it did for the last two kids! At the moment of delivery, we still hadn't decided on a name, either! We polled the nurses and my doctor in the room, they all agreed on one name, but then we chose the other one anyway...so, about 20 minutes after delivery, Mitchell Calvin Moseley was named and we could start calling him something other than "Baby Boy" that we've used for the last 5 months or so.
He is a joy and a blessing. It's so precious to have a baby in the house again (not that Ainsley is too far off at 18 months!), but we love him tremendously already! I'll post more later about how the girls are adjusting, how plans are going for the upcoming (2 weeks away) move to VA., and much more...but this'll have to suffice for now! Enjoy. =)


Day 2 of his little life. Elise came to visit and FELL IN LOVE IMMEDIATELY!!!













Daddy was a little tired, but I just love to see how little Mitchell's head is next to Adam's!


















...just hilarious....












One Week Old. ...love the baby feet!

Playdates GALORE...

Craft-time last week!


For the past few months, we've had the chance to organize almost weekly play-dates with Elise's two best friends, Abby and Ben, and their siblings. It's amazing that the three of them get along so well and that the three of them AND the younger sisters are almost the exact ages...it's adorable to see them try and figure out 'how' to have friends as they play. For me, it's GREAT to have other moms to share 'info' with, be encouraged by, etc...play-dates with good like-minded people are such a win/win!!! So, we did a bunch of 'outings' in the spring and early summer, but lately it's just been at one of our homes- easier on the two pregnant moms and just simpler to keep an eye on 6 kids under the age of 4!!!
So, anyway, I'm super thankful for them this summer- it's really kept my sanity, but makes it harder to think we'll leave all this in the next month...GRRRRR!

The girls and I getting ready to go to Jessica's last week for playtime:

















The CHAOS that is the play-date! Elise, Abby, and Ben are all in here...look closely amidst the mess they've made of Ben's living room!














Not a great picture of the "little girls", but the only picture I caught of the three of them together. Of course, we used food to lure them together!

Doc and Jing..

Earlier this week, we had to say "goodbye" to our two little hermit crabs that I've blogged about several times. Pretty funny story...
On Sunday, Adam had to leave for a few days of house-hunting in VA. Elise was looking closely at her Hermit Crab cage and made some comment about, "Mommy, you need to clean their cage, it smells like yucky poopy.". I half-listened to her and responded that I'd clean it later that day...no big deal. After the girls went to bed, I went over to the cage to clean it and realized it smelled WAY WORSE than just "yucky poopy"...it smelled like rotting, decomposed crustaceans. Both of them. I don't know how/why, but they were both dead. Gross. So I just went to bed and left them there- what's one more day, right!?
On Monday during naptime, I disposed of the bodies, cage, rocks, etc...that's just not worth saving (even for cheapskate ME!). I then spent 1/2 of naptime figuring out how I was going to explain to Elise the details of life/death/cycle of living things/heaven/God/etc...we talk often about God and Heaven, but she's never personally dealt with anyone she "knows" (pet or human) dying. Ants and mosquitos don't count...So, I talked to some friends and family, got some good ideas on how to "break the news" to her, how to explain death a little, etc...and went to get her up early from nap. Here's how it went:

"Elise, can we talk for a few minutes about something serious?"
"Sure, mommy."
"Sometime today, sweetie, Doc and Jing died and went to heaven."
"They did?"
"Yes, they're gone now and in Heaven with God."

...then, I waited for the great theological discussion that would follow. I was pretty excited about it, actually. I couldn't wait to begin talking deeper with her about God, Jesus, life, etc...
Her next reply:

"Ok, can I go potty now?".

And that was it.

SURPRISE!

I'm seriously HUGE!

I was so blessed on Sunday by friends Allyson and Jean throwing me a surprise Baby Shower! I had written off the idea of a baby shower for this soon-to-arrive little boy, after all, it's our third kid, we have tons of "gender neutral" stuff anyway, and we don't have any family living around here to orchestrate something like that...but, Jean and Allyson came through in a huge way!! It was such a fun afternoon and I felt totally 'showered' by love, friendship, and best wishes for our family.
Adam was in on the whole thing and outright lied to me several times that day (He always says, "I'm a lawyer, I've been trained to lie"...great...). I was in dirty clothes and had been doing yard work earlier in the day when Jean came over to get my opinion on something....I should've seen right through her. I followed her across the street to her house and was pleasantly shocked to see five good friends sitting around, blue balloons and streamers everywhere, a festive pile of presents, and yummy mexican food! They allowed me to run back home and change into something cute and throw on some deodorant and perfume (which I'm sure EVERYONE appreciated!) and the party started. Jean even had planned on Elise coming over to be at the party with the "big girls" and she LOVED it! It was a wonderful afternoon and I couldn't have asked for more! It was such a blessing.
Now, let's just hope this boy arrives sooner than later...I've past 36 weeks now, we'll be moving in about 6 weeks, and I'm starting to get REALLY uncomfortable in this heat!

Elise and Kristina were my 'gift opening helpers'. =)

They had fun burying Jean while we were cleaning up at the end.

Allyson knows how to bribe my kids! One cupcake=best friends for life.

Elise was so precious, too.

p.s. One of the games we played involved a roll of Toilet paper and people each tearing off a strip of TP to guesstimate how big-around my belly is these days. Most people were fairly accurate as they tore off between 10 and 13 sheets each. I think 11 was perfect to circumnavigate the tummy.


THEN, Adam came over at the end and we were telling him about the game. He looked down at a single sheet and ESTIMATED that it would take TWENTY SHEETS to surround me!!! WHAT!?! 20!?! Seriously?! So, we actually pulled out 20 sheets worth and it fully circled BOTH of us standing side-by-side! Of all people, you'd think MY HUSBAND would be fairly accurate in guessing the length around me, but, NO. He guessed 20 and this is the picture of us holding it all up! Hilarious.

Trains, Bdays, Nana...what a trip!

At Busch Gardens


Two weeks ago, Elise and Adam took a little "adventure" together. We realized not too long ago, that we hadn't been to Florida to visit his mom since Elise was about 6 months old. Since I'm too pregnant to travel that far these days, we thought it could be a fun for them to take a "daddy/daughter" trip together. We also made sure it would be a surprise for his mom! Amanda organized all kinds of details so the fun was maximized and "Nana" was totally shocked!
Elise and Adam decided to take Amtrak there (about 8 hours), and that ended up being a great choice. Elise LOVED the adventure of a train-ride, she wasn't strapped into a 5-pt harness carseat for a whole day, Adam got some work done and didn't have to drive all day...it was really cool. She STILL talks about it most days...the food on the train, the cool seats, the train horn, etc. Since I'm not a fan of 'unknown adventures', this was the perfect trip for Adam to test-drive for our family...maybe we'll do it again someday. (only bummer is that we had to get Elise up at 3:45 AM to get to the train station...she recovered by that night, but was looking a little ragged on the train!)

The actual time in Florida was perfect. They surprised Nana at work, spent a LOT of time at her pool, went to Busch Gardens one day (BTW-Active Duty military are FREE at Busch Gardens right now...YAY for military discounts!!!), had a fun Bday party for Nana, saw Elise's great-grandma, and ate lots of cake, ice cream, and other "special treats". =) Elise can't keep a secret...
Elise eating "Dippin' Dots". 100 degrees in south Florida in July

Elise, Nana, and Nana's best friend Brenda...coloring book time.

At Busch Gardens...waiting for the Log ride going overhead...waiting...
It's getting closer...."Daddy said it would be a little wet"!
Yikes! More water than she thought!

Overall, it was a great 5 days for them, Elise was WORN OUT for days when she returned! Ainsley and I had a good week, too. IT was SOOO QUIET around here without a chatty 3 year old, but we had a lot of fun. Trying to savor some 'down time' before baby boy is born (this month!!!), we move to VA, and life gets really crazy!