At Home in the Mountains

Maddy started Pre-K at a Montessori school on August 26th. That was back to school for all of us since DBU started classes the same day. This school has uniforms. Maddy was supposed to have a jumper but the order didn't come in on time so she ended up wearing one of her uniform shirts with some khaki pants. This picture does full justice to how cute she looked for her first day at school. A lot of people have heard of Montessori schools, but don't really know what they do. Some misconceptions about Montessori are that the teachers never tell the kids no, the kids do whatever they want all the time, there is no structure, etc. This couldn't be farther from the truth about well-run, certified Montessori schools.  Because Montessori schools aren't regulated by one governing body, anyone can claim to be a Montessori pretty much. So if you do choose a Montessori school, it's important to closely check where the teachers get their certifications, credentials and trai...

HEALTHY BABY! and most likely a girl. We had our 20 week sonogram today. We were both quite nervous as this was the time last pregnancy that we were hit with the crushing news that Maddy was not developing normally. We couldn't help but have some flashbacks to that day going into this sonogram. My OB sent us to a fetal maternal specialist for the 20 week sonogram. The tech did a great job putting us at ease and showing us everything on the sonogram. She could not determine gender for sure but thought because of the hip measurements that it might be a boy. She left the room convinced it was a boy. Then the doctor came in and did some more looking and she declared baby Fletcher to be a girl. So we are going with girl for now, but don't go crazy on the pink just yet. Baby Fletcher was not being cooperative so the doctor really did not get a definitive enough look to be 100% sure of gender. She just said that she did not see anything to indicate it was boy so she declared the gende...