Birth Story

Here is Della and Miriam's birth story.  In honor of the day it all began (aka Birthday Eve).

December 10, 2013

Mack and I were sitting in bed talking in a usual end of day sort of way.  I had two doctors’ appointments scheduled for the next day and so I mentioned a few of the things I wanted to talk to Dr. Ho about and we joked about how big the babies may have gotten since my ultrasound four weeks prior.  I was majorly swollen at this point and wanted Dr. Ho to assure me that all was well.  I also had some sort of pain in my belly (upper right side) that I could only describe as the feeling of a pinched nerve.  (Now I have never had a pinched nerve, so who am I to know what a pinched nerve feels like.)  Mack had been badgering me for weeks to pre-register at the hospital.  I was putting it off because I felt like the December 11^th doctor’s appointment was going to be the benchmark that determined the rest of my pregnancy.  The babies were measuring really large a month earlier and so I thought Dr. Ho might suggest we induce earlier than 38 weeks (January 3^rd).  For some reason the December 11^th appointment was going to jump start me to finish up all the things that still needed to be done before the babies came (i.e. pre-register at the hospital, pack a hospital bag, move the tv into the living room, etc.).  But I decided that to appease Mack, I would check the pre-registration off my list.  The computer was so slow and I got booted off the website once, but around 11pm, it was done.  We both decided it was time to tuck in for the night.  After going to the bathroom for the millionth time that evening and rolling into the most comfortable of all the uncomfortable positions I could find I tried for some shut-eye.  Mack was snoring after ten minutes.  The last time I looked at the clock, it was 11:31.

What seemed like minutes later, I am surprised I had even fallen asleep, I felt like I was menstruating.  This seemed weird, since I hadn’t had a period in 8 months and definitely shouldn’t be having one now.  I then noticed that I seemed wet.  So I got up and went to the bathroom.  I thought for the briefest of moments that I must have peed my pants.  But then remembered that it felt like menstruation and not urinating.  I yelled from the bathroom, “Mack!?”  Groggily responded, “What?”  “I think my water just broke.”  “Really?!”  “I don’t know.  I think so.  Come here.”  This is when having a medical student for a husband comes in very handy.  They don’t mind examining the bodily fluid that just came out of their wife.  He confirmed that it didn’t seem to be urine and since I was still leaking, we thought my water must have broken.  I was having no contractions though (or at least I thought I wasn’t.  Since I had never had a contraction before, it was hard to know.  But I wasn’t in pain.) and so Mack called the physician on call to see if we should go to the hospital now or wait a little while.  I called my mom since she was supposed to be here for this and she was currently a ten hour drive away in New Mexico.  The doctor told Mack to have me go to the hospital and confirm my water had broken and I told my mom to be on standby to leave first thing in the morning.  I then called my dear sweet wonderful friend, Cami, who had previously agreed to sit with our kids if such a situation as this occurred.  I remember looking at the time on my phone as it was dialing Cami, 12:01am December 11^th. 

Thankfully Cami still remembered agreeing to come over.  Since I wasn’t having contractions and we had nothing ready, I told her to wait about 30 minutes and then head this way.  At this point I got dressed and then didn’t want to walk around too much because I was still leaking.  So I sat on the edge of the bed, Mack put my shoes on since I could barely reach my feet, and I instructed Mack as to what he should pack.  We took a picture of my very pregnant self (34 weeks and 5 days), Cami arrived, and we left her with three sleeping children and a very dirty house. 

I remember telling Mack before we left home that I wasn’t ready for this.  I was living in denial the last month of my pregnancy that I would have exceptionally obedient twins who knew how much their mother loved to plan and would wait until the scheduled induction to come into the world.  No dice.  Mack let me know that whether I was ready or not, if my water had broken (and we were 90% sure it had), the babies were coming.

On the drive to the hospital, I still wasn’t having any contractions but I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable.  Mack had done an OB/GYN rotation at Banner Estrella and had assured me while I was pre-registering earlier in the evening that he knew right where to park and where to enter the hospital.  He even showed me on the online map.  So we were confident.  Mack parked.  We got out and walked to the entrance.  The entrance that had a large sign saying it was closed from 9pm to 5am.  It is currently 12:30am.  We needed to use the ER entrance which Mack said was just around the building.  He thought it would be shorter to walk there than back to the car.  He was probably right except that half way around the building we met construction blocking our path.  To walk around the fenced off area was definitely not shorter and so back to the car we waddled (slowly).  I maybe had my first contraction on the walk back to the car, nothing major.  Mack drove to the ER entrance.  We parked and got out only to discover that it was the ambulance only entrance.  This time it really was a short walk around the building to the door we needed.

When I got to the desk and told the woman that my water had broken she said we needed to go to OB Triage.  She told us that just needed to follow the blue line and made it seem fairly close and simple.  I was offered a wheelchair that I declined.  The blue line was not as short and straightforward as she made it out to be.  The hospital was under construction and so there were many twists and turns.  About halfway there, I wished I had accepted the wheelchair.  But we finally made it to OB (right by the first doors we tried that aren’t open when I need them) and went in to register.

That’s right.  Remember that pre-registration I had done two hours earlier?  No good.  It takes two days to process it.  I was too uncomfortable to sit down as the lady registered me.  We were the only ones there and I was starting to have contractions.  I timed them using Mack’s watch and they were about 5 minutes apart.  It also occurred to me as we were standing there waiting that it was Mack’s birthday.  “Happy Birthday, Babe!”

After the secretary gathered all of my information, I was taken back to triage.  Mack wasn’t allowed to come back.  First they weighed me… 220 lbs.  Then they had me change into a gown and left me in a cold room with infomercials playing.  My contractions were definitely coming at this point and I was majorly uncomfortable.  Those triage ladies ask a million questions.  One of which included, “Is someone watching your other children?”  I was a bit troubled that people might actually go to the hospital to deliver a baby without having someone else supervising their other children. 

By the end of the twenty minute questionnaire I was in pain.  I could now actually feel contractions and was breathing through them.  It wasn’t the worst pain ever.  But I know knew that I knew what a contraction was.  I also realized that I was one of those lucky people who get to have back labor.  I had always heard how awful back labor is, and let me tell you… no…. fun.  Mack was brought in at this point and they confirmed that my water had broken.  We were staying.  They checked me and I was dilated to a 3.

This is the point where they asked if I planned on having the twins vaginally.  Dr. Ho told me that as long as they were both head down or as long as Twin A was the larger twin and he/she was head down, I could do it vaginally.  All of my ultrasounds for the last few months had two head down babies.  I had no reason to believe this was not the case still, so I was ready to go for it.  They had to do an ultrasound anyway, just to check.

This was the most frustrating part of the hospital experience.  Infomercials still playing on the tv, we did find the remote but there is NOTHING on at one in the morning.  The ultrasound tech was SLOW.  She quickly verified that they were head down and then spent at least another 15 minutes doing who knows what.  We still didn’t know the gender and so we couldn’t see the screen and she wasn’t saying much.  But in the end she declared that all looked good and we could be admitted.

My nurse came back in and asked if I wanted an epidural.  I don’t have strong feelings about epidurals but I knew that if this went to an emergency c-section situation that I did not want to be put under.  So I sucked up my intense fear of someone putting a large needle in my back and said, “yes”.  The nurse wanted to know if I wanted it right away.  I asked if there was any reason to wait and she said not really.  I figured if I was going to have one, might as well be comfortable.

I walked the short distance from triage to my labor room.  When I got there, the anesthesiologist was already setting up.  Bless him.  So I sat on the edge of the bed and they told Mack to sit down.  He wanted to stand and they told him they make all of the dads sit.  “He’s a medical student, he will be fine.”  “OH!  You are?!”  The anesthesiologist was thrilled and pulled up a stool right next to him so Mack could watch the whole thing.  Good grief.

The nurse held my shoulders and distracted me while I tried to figure out if the doctor was talking to me or Mack.  He was talking to Mack.  The whole time.  Explaining in minute detail what he was doing.  But my nurse was a rock star and aside from the cold and the pressure, it wasn’t all that bad.  Nothing to be afraid of.

Then we tried to get some sleep.  The nurse came in and rolled me over every hour. I could move my legs fairly well, at least the nurse was impressed at my mobility under the effects of the epidural (I should have known this was a bad sign).  Mack slept awesome and with the giant pillow between my legs, I didn’t do too badly either.

About 7:00am the nurse came in to check me.  I was now dilated to a 9.  That was easy.  And fast!  My doctor came in around 8:30 and said, “I think we will have these babies before 10.”  Famous last words.

Around 10:00 my nurse came in to do “practice pushes”.  I didn’t take any Lamaze classes or anything.  I have three other kids and a very busy husband.  Plus I figured Mack knew what was up so he could walk me through it.  And honestly, I don’t know what Lamaze really would have helped so I am glad I didn’t put myself through the stress of that scheduling nightmare.

I quickly realized during “practice pushes” that I am not an A+ pusher.  I would say, C-.  The nurse wanted me to get to a +3 station before we went into the OR.  So I pushed off and on for about an hour to get to +3.  I had a really hard time feeling my contractions and it was not very intuitive for me.  We also spent a bit of time talking about all of the fancy gadgets, light, and mirrors that come down from the ceiling.  Since I wasn’t delivering in that room we had to have a bit of show and tell.

Mack got his little costume on for the OR and they wheeled me over.  I had to make the awkward transfer from the labor bed to the OR table.  That epidural thing makes moving about really lame.  Now let’s discuss the audience I had for the delivery.  Dr. Ho and Mack were obviously there.  My labor nurse stayed with me and she had an awesome nursing student with her.  Then there was the OR nurse.  And then we had three nurses from the NICU.  Yeah, me!  It was really crowded with all nine of us in there.

They made me hang my legs in these awful stirrups that should only be used when torturing the really bad kinds of war criminals.  Basically I am laying on the most uncomfortable surgical bed (you know, the ones people lay on when they are under anesthesia) with my legs hanging in stirrups two feet above the bed and my epidural is now not working.  So I can feel everything.  This helped when knowing when to push.  But it did not help in relieving pain and increasing comfort.

So I pushed for a solid hour in the OR.  The nursing student was amazing.  She and Mack held my legs and between contractions would lift my legs from the stirrups because the pressure of them hanging was killing my calves and was excruciatingly painful.  The first 30 minutes or so were a good time.  The NICU nurses thought I was highly entertaining.  We discussed a wide range of topics between pushes and were cracking ourselves up. 

Days later when I was sitting in the NICU with the twins, one of those nurses saw me for the first time since the delivery.  She remembered me and said it was the most entertaining delivery she had ever been in on.  She said I was very pleasant and SO funny.  I love her.

Right above Dr. Ho’s head I could see the huge OR clock.  After about 30 minutes of pushing and feeling like I was making no progress I started crying.  I didn’t think it was ever going to end.  I was in terrible pain from the contractions in my back and those stupid stirrups.

When I went in for my postpartum visit, Dr. Ho told me that he thought about offering me the vacuum to assist with the delivery at this point.  But he felt like I could do it and so he wanted me to keep trying.  If he had offered, I would have taken him up on it.  But I am glad he didn’t. 

At 12:20, after what felt like forever.  Twin A was born.  I remember so clearly Dr. Ho pulling the baby out and declaring, “It’s a girl!”  Mack and I both started bawling!  I was so glad to have one of them out and to find out we had a little girl.

I thought I was going to get a bit of a break at this point.  But no.  Dr. Ho said he was going to break my water.  WHAT!?  I had just gotten a small taste of relief and he was going to start right back up.  I asked him if we could just keep that one in there.  I am pretty sure my exact words were, “I only want one!”

Despite my protests, Dr. Ho broke my water.  He said, “We are going to get this baby out in one contraction”.  That gave me three pushes to get it done.  I was still in so much pain that I could barely eek out the last two pushes, but I did it.  And at 12:30, Twin B was born.  “It’s another girl!”  I couldn’t believe it.  We had two girls and it was over!

Later I told Dr. Ho that I wouldn’t have been able to push Twin B out in one contraction if he hadn’t “challenged” me.  He said that he was just stating it as fact.  He just thought that’s all it would take me.  I really had to dig down deep to make it happen though.

Mack went over to see the babies and my amazing wonderful fabulous nursing student stayed with me.  I couldn’t have made it through that hour without every single one of those people in that room.  I thought it was hilarious when we first started that I had a full audience, but they were amazing and I really relied on all of them.  Two holding my legs, one counting, and everyone else cheering me on.

They brought the twins over for me to see and then rushed them off to the NICU.  The NICU story is a whole other novel for another time.  But I did it.  I now could go to play groups and know what people were talking about when discussing child birth.  I now had my own birthing story.  And most importantly, I now had two beautiful daughters, Della Shannon and Miriam Ann.

Cupboard Fun

We just won't talk about how long it has been since I posted.  My mother isn't on Facebook and had the brilliant idea that I could just post pictures on here and didn't have to actually write anything.  So I am going to try to keep this up better.  I have had a busy year of learning to be a mother of five and loving most minutes of it.  Here are some pictures of Della and Miriam today.  They are pretty cute...

Della got the ruckus started by figuring out how to open the cupboard door.  There went another thing I thought I had total control over...

 Miriam joined in the fun.

 Della let Miriam get in for a minute...

But then the older sister took over again.
There was a tense moment when they both wanted in at the same time and baby wresting ensued.  It was equal parts hilarious and a bit dangerous.  Twins are fun!

Mutterings About Moving

This post should probably be titled, "The Tornado That is Monica Getting Ready for a House Showing with Five Little Kids" or "Nursing in a Minivan", but I like alliteration so Mutterings it is.
I should preface this post with two disclaimers, 1) I really am super excited about moving and 2) I really do like my realtor.  Any mutterings that give you ideas to the contrary are just me blowing smoke.
I have unlimited access to the best moving advice around.  We moved a lot growing up and my mother has made moving a bit of an art.  That doesn't necessarily mean moving is always pretty, but she knows what she is doing.  So I took her advice and interviewed realtors before choosing one to list our home.  I actually liked everyone I interviewed and it was a really hard decision.  But I went with the one who was the most honest (aka meanest) and we have had a dandy relationship ever since.  One of the questions I asked all of the realtors I interviewed was, "How much warning am I going to get before a showing?"  All of them responded that usually they will schedule appointments the day before but occasionally they get scheduled the day of and would certainly give me at least an hours notice.  (This makes me laugh out loud now.)
We had one showing that was scheduled in advance (aka not the day of) and all other showings were scheduled the same day with only one of them giving me an hours notice.  We even had one that gave me ten minutes notice.  That was fun.
So with that as background, let me just say that having the house on the market has been interesting.  Whenever I get the call for a showing it is a whirlwind.  After the first showing I vowed that I would be a little more prepared in advance the next time, "just in case".  But it was SO stressful trying to keep things picked up and also let the kids have any type of fun.  It ended up being way too much television watching and a very grumpy mother.  And of course we had two days in a row with no showings while I was on my "just in case" plan.  Double grumpy mother.
Here is a quick run down of me running though my house for the hour after I get the call, and this list doesn't include if I have to nurse or change diapers or clean up pee off the floor from a three year old who is winning a major power struggle:
make sure all drapes and blinds are open, clean kitchen counters off, put any dirty dishes in dishwasher, if dishwasher is full of clean dishes and I don't have time to empty them, put dishes in plastic bag and throw in back of van, sweep any crumbs off kitchen floor, empty any really full garbages, send oldest child who is home outside to straighten up the bikes on the back patio, remake kids' beds, pick up any toys in kids' rooms, tell Brisbane (and whomever else is home) to go potty, clean bathroom counters, pick up all bathroom mats (my realtor told me to do this...weird), sweep the front porch if there is time, put twins in car seats, pack up their swings and put in garage, throw any odds and ends in laundry baskets and put in garage, fold up playmats and put in garage, load all three (or more) kids into the van, go back into the house and make sure everything is in order, make sure stroller is in trunk, drive away and desperately try to entertain kids for who knows how long.
And sometimes I had the pleasure of doing that multiple times a day.  Good Grief!
Then there was the day that we had three showings.  Plus a sick toddler.  That was the day we ate Dairy Queen in the van while watching Smurfs on the travel televisions while Brisbane took a nap while I nursed twins.  All while sitting 200 yards from my house willing the agent and potential buyer out of the house with my mind.  (For the record, my mind powers were not as strong as I wanted them to be.)
Thankfully the house was under contract fairly quickly.  We listed on a Thursday and were signed the next Wednesday.  If the buyer's agent had been a little quicker we could have been under contract much sooner.  Considering the person who ended up buying our house was our very first showing (go figure).
Today we had the inspection and we spent two hours out of the house eating lunch and playing at the park.  Why is it that everyone wants to see the house at lunch or dinner time?  Don't these people like to eat?  Needless to say, we have eaten out a lot this last week.  I am praying that the inspection process goes smoothly because I don't know if my nerves can take another showing.
Mack and I will be flying to Belleville in a few weeks to house hunt.  We are very excited but the logistics of this move are proving difficult.  That's because we are dealing with the combination of a medical student, five small children, and the Air Force.  It's a doozy.
And I am exhausted. <mutter, mutter, mutter>

Brisbane is THREE!

The number one thing I have learned being a mother is that all kids grow up and break their mommy's heart!  Good grief, I can't believe Brisbane is three!  The weekend of his birthday we went to Mack's parents house.  We went to church on Sunday and the Sunday School teacher asked Mack, "How long have you been married?"  "Five years."  "How many kids do you have?"  "Five."  "That's impressive!"  "Yeah, and I have only been a dad for three years."  "That's even more impressive!"

And it all started with Brisbane.  This is the kid that made me a Mom and Mack a Dad.  He is crazy in all of the perfect ways and we love him to pieces. 

He was very excited for his birthday this year.  This is the first year that he really got it.

 He knew there were going to be presents.  He asked me a dozen times that day if he could open them.  I kept telling him he had to wait until Daddy got home.  I think he was hoping I would forget because that didn't deter him from badgering.

 We actually celebrated his birthday a day early since we were going to Snowflake on his real birthday. He didn't know and didn't care.

 Love this picture!

Love this one even more!

 Grandparents are the best and Brisbane was very excited for his giant excavator/earth mover/truck thing.

 I just wanted a picture of Brisbane standing by his new scooter.  I kept telling him to smile and he just kept pointing at me and repeating, "YOU HAVE A BUG ON YOU!  YOU HAVE A BUG ON YOU!  YOU HAVE A BUG ON YOU!"
You would have thought it was a tarantula.  But no.  It was a common housefly.  Not that three year olds have a tendency to overreact or anything.
This is the first year Brisbane has gotten to choose where he went for his birthday dinner.  Let's face it, he just wasn't capable before.  It was tough for him.  He wanted McDonalds.  And Taco Bell.  And Chick-fil-a.  And Burger King.  He just couldn't decide.  When I asked him on that day he said, "Mom, just don't worry about it!"  Yeah.  That's going to work until we all load in the van and the three year old with all of the power has still not told me where we are eating.  He then declared that he wanted to go to his Aunt Jo's for dinner.  Since it was Jo's sons birthday that day, it just wasn't going to happen.  I finally suggested we go get pancakes (knowing that he loves pancakes, sausage, and eggs) and he thought that was a great idea!  It was a win for both of us.  He got to eat all of his favorite foods and I didn't have to go somewhere with a PlayPlace where I am always afraid of Meningitis contamination.
Now for the cake.  I asked Brisbane a few days before his birthday what kind of cake he wanted.  I was thinking "horses" or "cars" or "planes".  No, I got, "An icy one" (followed by maniacal laughter).  Either he was being intentionally daft, he didn't know how to answer the question, or he was torturing me by leaving me in suspense.  "An icy one?"  "Yep!  That melts!"  "Made out of ice?"  "Yes!  That melts!"  Grasping at straws, "How about an ice cream cake!?"  "YES, YES!" (Jumping up and down and acting like that is what he wanted from the beginning and that I am an idiot for not immediately understanding.)
So after dinner we stopped at Dairy Queen to get him an Icy Cake That Melts.  He was thrilled.

We love our little three year old.  He has gobs of personality and an opinion about everything.  He is my little shadow and fiercely independent.  We love you, Brisanator!

Zoo Fun & Team Work

Moving has made us grossly aware of how much junk we have accumulated in the four years we have lived in our house.  On account of that and the fact that our kids would rather follow me around all day than play with toys, we have decided not to give any toys for birthdays this year.  Books are fine.  Movies are fine.  But no toys.  This year we are giving the gift of experiences.  Brisbane loves the zoo and so we decided that in honor of his birthday, we would go to the zoo one last time before moving.

To be honest, I prepared for this one day zoo trip as if I would be attending Disneyland.  Five kids at the zoo seemed like a big task and so I wanted to be ready.  I mapped out our day.  What we would do in what order.  When and where we were going to stop so that I could nurse.  When and where we were going to eat.  And on and on.  We planned on being there the whole day and seeing as much as we could.  We didn't think we would make it through the whole thing and that was ok.

So off we went with our two double strollers and five kids.

And the whole thing went off really really well.  The kids were awesome!  Della and Miriam slept almost the entire time and when they were awake they were content to ride in their seats.  Whew!  I had visions of screaming twins and toddlers running amok.

Mack had never been down the Children's Trail and was pleasantly surprised at the farm animals, playground, and giant tractors.

Farmer Reese

Farmer Jessenia

Farmer Brisbane

 Man, those tractors were competitive.  Lots of unsupervised kids that were not waiting their turns for tractors and were sitting on them entirely too long.  I had to assert myself to make sure each of my kids got their ten second turn!

 Then we milked cows.  Let's just say that if this was our standard way of getting milk there would not be a lot of milk consumption at our house.

 But they were really cute trying.  (Don't we love Jessenia's outfit!?  I think it's adorable.  Doesn't quite match.  Maybe not totally activity appropriate.  But completely cute!)

I challenged Mack to make sure I was in a picture with the kids on this trip.  We didn't get the camera out a lot but he did manage to get this one gem.  I love it.
The highlight of the day may have been when I chose a spot to breastfeed right along the trail that the train drives by.  At this point in the train ride the passengers are supposed to be looking at the mountain goats on the hills behind me.  Said mountain goats were nowhere to be seen so instead I got three train loads of people staring at the "nursing mother on the left".  (It takes a long time to nurse twins.)  At this same stop Brisbane decided that he needed to go potty and we were far far away from the nearest restroom.  So Mack ran him down the hill while I nursed and tried to keep the oldest two occupied and the youngest two from screaming.  Good times.
At the end of the day we had seen the entire zoo with time to spare.  It was ridiculously expensive and we had more treats than should be allowed.  But Brisbane loved his birthday present and got to see all of the animals he wanted.  Except for the seals.  He informed me halfway through the zoo that he wanted to see seals.  Unfortunately the Phoenix Zoo is not home to any seals.
When we got home, sunburned and tired, Mack said to me, "Honestly, I was completely dreading that. But it was fun!"  We high-fived on the way out of the zoo.  It is amazing what you can accomplish when you are an awesome team.  And our family is a mighty good team!

Blessing

Mack blessed Della and Miriam on Sunday, February 2, 2014.  It was quite the occasion.  As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we don't baptize babies when they are infants.  But a righteous priesthood holder does give them a blessing where they are named and blessed with whatever blessings Heavenly Father wishes for them to receive at this time.  Mack gave two beautiful blessings.  

We were very fortunate to have both of our fathers, both of Mack's brothers, and one of our brothers-in-law able to come and participate in the blessing.  There were five baby blessings in our Ward that day, some kind of record in my personal experience.  It was a wonderful day and we were very fortunate to have our home filled with lots of family and love that day after church.

Jessenia woke up puking that morning but I made her go to Sacrament Meeting since it seemed cruel to make an adult who had come from out of town miss the blessings and I certainly wasn't staying home.  She spent all of Sacrament Meeting laying on my mom's lap.  Then my mother, the twins, Jessenia, and I scooted on home before we contaminated anyone.  With nine o'clock church and the craziness of a sick kid we weren't able to get photos taken that day.  In fact, it took us over a month before we got the girls back into their white dresses and took pictures.  So they may be a bit older in these pictures, but just as adorable.

Miriam

 People kept telling me how much Miriam looks like Mack, and I must admit that I completely agree.  They look so much alike!

Della

 And then I tried to get some pictures of the two girls together.  I am no professional and it was a disaster!  But we got this one semi-good one.  The outtakes are a bit hilarious!

Della and Miriam

First Day of Preschool

After a week and a half of waiting from a very not so patient four year old, the first day of preschool finally arrived.  Jessenia is going to an in-home preschool this year since I had a few issues with her school at the end of last year.  Her teacher came highly recommended and even though it is still 20 minutes from our house (same as last year) it was the closest/cheapest/best I could find.  Jessenia still calls it her "Preschool House".  As in, "At my Preschool House today, we...".  I guess because last year she went to preschool at a church so it was more of an official building and this year she goes in a house.

 Here she is with Brisbane (to avoid the tantrum....sensing a pattern here?).

And there is her big smile for her first day!  She loves going to school and loves everything about it.  She is learning tons and brings home the cutest little projects. 
One Preschool Story for you:
Jessenia has become quite the jabber box in the last six months.  Mack and I can't believe this is the same little girl who would not even speak to Mack when she first came to live with us.  Seriously, if she ever spoke to him it was so quiet that he couldn't hear.  I spent the first six months translating because she would sit on his lap and tell me what she was saying in a clear voice but wouldn't talk to him.  Her teacher tells me that she is not shy at all at school and is a "perfect preschooler".  That's my Girl!
When she gets in the car after school, she always has a million things to tell me.  All about what she learned, what she had for snack, who got a time out, where the blue group sat, where the red group sat, and on and on.  This particular day they had learned the number two and so she had an Indian headband thing on with two feathers in it.  Reese asked her what it was and she told him she was an Indian. 
Reese:  You don't look like an Indian.
Me:  Jessenia, you are the cutest Indian I have ever seen.
Reese:  You don't look like an Indian.
Me:  Jessenia, you are the cutest Indian I have ever seen.
Reese:  You do NOT look like an Indian.
Me:  Reese!  Back off, dude!
Then I muttered to myself that she not only looks like an Indian but since she is full blooded Guatemalan, she IS of Indian descent.  And let's face it, she looks more like an Indian than any of those blonde haired blue eyed kids in her class that were wearing the exact same headband.  But Reese is the authority on all things Indians and Chicken Killing apparently.  Good Grief!