I'll make this as brief as I can. It's been a hectic and at times, very frustrating week. We have had VBS going on this week, and it feels like everything is happening now to distract me from doing His work. I have had one great helper in my room, Krystina, who has been helping me keep from jumping off the cliff. Our kids are also wonderful, which makes loving them easy and sharing the truth about Jesus a joy. So whats wrong? Well, things like I spend a bunch of time preparing, and then I forget my lesson plan at home and have to scramble to get a copy of the Bible story. But most of the things have been going wrong at home. We switched our TV provider to be able to bundle it with our internet, and the wifi and DVR are yet to be up and running after two multi hour visits from service men. A third one is coming soon and will hopefully fix the problem. All of our devices including our printer run on wifi which make it hard to print my lesson plans. Then our refrigerator is sending out what I believe to be black mold along with the water in the water dispenser. A serviceman is coming in a little bit to look at it. I hope it is an easy fix. Our minifridge that was upstairs, we discovered had black mold all in it, so we had to toss it outside, trailing black mold and water all across the upstairs and down the stairs....which meant I had to clean all my carpet before putting the boys to bed. So....nothing major is wrong, but all of this (as well as a myriad of other things) added up over a short period when I am already stressed out from directing a room is too much. I need a vacation.
William is enjoying VBS. After the first day, he was promoted to the 3-year-old room which means he gets to so all the VBS activities. He loves being a big kid! He tells me all he is learning about Jesus and sings me the VBS songs. He's getting so big!
Robert most enjoys the buggy rides at VBS. He likes watching all the children do all the fun activities. Robert has mastered crawling while holding objects and enjoys transporting things across the house. He also is standing for longer and longer periods. He stood unassisted for 30 seconds yesterday while contemplating taking a step. He ended up sitting down instead. He's getting close! Robert also had his 3rd tooth come in this morning. His 4th tooth does not look too far behind so I will keep you posted.
That's all for now!
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
June 18, 2014
Quite a week!
Robert is my little cruiser, and he is getting fast enough crawling properly that he can follow me around the house with ease. At least twice this week I have set him down by his toys, walked in the next room to grab something and turned around and almost tripped on him as he was right at my heels! He says mama whenever I am out of sight, and likes to keep constant tabs on me. his new word seems to be "up". He hasn't done it quite enough times for me to be positive that he is doing it on purpose, but he has said it while reaching up to me many times. He has also told William "no!" when William took a toy from him, but that was an isolated incident. It's so fun to see him communicate. He loves waving and giving high fives. He also follows many simple commands like, "stop" and "get that out of your mouth", but only when it suits him. Robert smiles and laughs constantly and still doesn't like to sleep anywhere but on me. I have to let him cry when I put him to bed, but if I do it right, it usually lasts less than 2 minutes.
William is all energy and imagination. He is constantly on the move and making up stories. I've never seen a child with so much energy. I set up part of my room for VBS yesterday, and for 3 hours, William ran around non stop with some of the other workers' kids. It was the first time I've let him run "free range" for that long and I was astounded that he was ready and able to go to the grocery store just fine afterward. On a side note, William got into no trouble for those three hours and the children's building is still standing. I am so glad I could trust him (and the other kids for that matter, especially two older girls) to make good choices. I would never have gotten as far as I did otherwise!
This past weekend we celebrated Father's Day. I am sad I was unable to spend it with my own father, but I loved getting to hand out with the daddy at my house (Francis) as well as my in-laws and Cyndy, Chris and Abby. Francis's parents came in town Friday night. Saturday morning we went to a local park and played in a splash pad. After lunch, Cyndy, Chris and Abby arrived and we all went to a local pool. William and Abby LOVED the water slide and got all of the adults to ride with them at least once. William also liked the lazy river portion, but Abby was all slide, all the time! Robert splashed and crawled in the shallow area, and played with some of the sprayers when it suited him. Robert also liked hanging out in the deeper part while I held him so he could kick and splash. He's got the makings of a swimmer! We opened presents and had dinner at BJs before everyone headed home. It was a great day!
Sunday was Father's Day and I made cinnamon rolls with William for Francis to eat while he opened his gifts. We got Francis an indoor skydiving gift certificate, a board book with pictures of him and Robert (similar to the one of him and William) and a mug with pictures of Francis and the boys that reads "World's best dad". I think he liked them. We had lunch at Rudy's after church and then I made lasagna (Francis's favorite) for dinner. I hope he felt appreciated because he's amazing!
I'm gearing up for a very busy couple of weeks starting tomorrow when I'm scheduled to go to Sea World with Arlene and Caitlyn. Next week is VBS and the following week we will be heading to Dallas. It's definitely summer!
William is all energy and imagination. He is constantly on the move and making up stories. I've never seen a child with so much energy. I set up part of my room for VBS yesterday, and for 3 hours, William ran around non stop with some of the other workers' kids. It was the first time I've let him run "free range" for that long and I was astounded that he was ready and able to go to the grocery store just fine afterward. On a side note, William got into no trouble for those three hours and the children's building is still standing. I am so glad I could trust him (and the other kids for that matter, especially two older girls) to make good choices. I would never have gotten as far as I did otherwise!
This past weekend we celebrated Father's Day. I am sad I was unable to spend it with my own father, but I loved getting to hand out with the daddy at my house (Francis) as well as my in-laws and Cyndy, Chris and Abby. Francis's parents came in town Friday night. Saturday morning we went to a local park and played in a splash pad. After lunch, Cyndy, Chris and Abby arrived and we all went to a local pool. William and Abby LOVED the water slide and got all of the adults to ride with them at least once. William also liked the lazy river portion, but Abby was all slide, all the time! Robert splashed and crawled in the shallow area, and played with some of the sprayers when it suited him. Robert also liked hanging out in the deeper part while I held him so he could kick and splash. He's got the makings of a swimmer! We opened presents and had dinner at BJs before everyone headed home. It was a great day!
Sunday was Father's Day and I made cinnamon rolls with William for Francis to eat while he opened his gifts. We got Francis an indoor skydiving gift certificate, a board book with pictures of him and Robert (similar to the one of him and William) and a mug with pictures of Francis and the boys that reads "World's best dad". I think he liked them. We had lunch at Rudy's after church and then I made lasagna (Francis's favorite) for dinner. I hope he felt appreciated because he's amazing!
I'm gearing up for a very busy couple of weeks starting tomorrow when I'm scheduled to go to Sea World with Arlene and Caitlyn. Next week is VBS and the following week we will be heading to Dallas. It's definitely summer!
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
June 11, 2014
Well, I have a 9 month old as of yesterday. That time flew by! It seems like each night I go to sleep thinking how long the day was and wake up a month later (which is actually funny since I get almost no sleep at night most nights).
Last Friday, the boys and I went to the pool with Arlene and Caitlyn for a morning of swimming. It was great fun and it was Robert's first trip in the pool other than the splash pool at Sea World and our wading pool in the back yard. He had fun, but didn't much like the water getting in his face. William swam like a champ with his float vest, and is learning how to steer and get across the pool with ease.
Satuday was a full day. We went to Walmart, then Home Deopt, then out to the mall for lunch, a mall cooking demo for kids, and the Hot Dog Dance at the Disney Store. Finally we went to the Aquarium before heading home for naps. For dinner Francis made the most delicious burgers. Even Robert couldn't get enough!
Francis took over being the full fledged director for our Bible Life (Sunday school) class on Sunday as the previous directors moved back to Atlanta. When he first volunteered to be the "fill-in" director, I nealry passed out from surprise since public speaking isn't his thing. but he has really risen to the challenge. He seems comfortable and makes every effort to make everyone else at east as well. I'm so proud of him!
Sunday evening, my mom and sister Danielle drove down to see us as they hadn't seen the boys in over a month. William and Robert were overjoyed to see them and mom and Dani stayed until after Lunch the next day, much to the boys' delight. My mom even got to join William in his Little Gym class before lunch and he is still talking about how much fun he was. Grandmothers and Aunts are the best!!
Monday started our summer classes at the Little Gym. As I was leaving, I asked if they'd done the drawing for all the prizes from priority enrollment. Ms. Shauna (who is now both boys' teacher) said that they had and she would call me after talking to Ms. Andi. I have been putting off booking William's birthday party anywhere because they hadn't done the drawing. Well, sure enough, I get a call telling me that William has won a free birthday party at The Little Gym. They actually drew his name and put it back because he's won the grand prize (a free summer or season at the Little Gym) two of the last three times (adding up to a free year of classes). But then they went to draw again and pulled his name out a second time! I laughed until I cried. I joked that I should take him to Vegas because he wins so often at things out of his control. Sooo...now our decision of where to have William's birthday is both easier and harder since I had in my head we would have it at a local splash pad. I guess We'll just have to let William decide!
Yesterday Robert turned 9 months and we started off the day by having pictures done. The pictures turned out well and while we waited for them to be printed, I took the boys to Cici's Pizza next door. William ate a lot of pizza (including the promised dessert pizza since he had been good that morning), and Robert ate a full slice of cheese pizza (minus the very bottom crust which was too tough, and an apple dessert slice. I had two happy kiddos! We then went to the mall and played on the playgrounds while we waited for 2 pm to come around. Robert loved the coin rides and I even forked out the money so both boys could ride the circus truck. It was a red-letter day to be sure! At 2 we went to the Disney store for their "summer days" activity (that day it was learning to draw Mickey), and William received his weekly pin for his lanyard. Saturday was Mickey and Minnie mouse, which he was thrilled to get, but this week it was Sofia the First. He refused to take it from the lady saying, "That's Sofia. That's a princess pin for girls. I'm a boy. I don't want that pin." He had a mini meltdown and I took the pin from the lady and we headed home. We talked about that everyone that week was going to get the same pin, both boys and girls. Next week everyone was going to get a Jake and the Neverland pirates pin, even the girls. He nodded and seemed to understand. It's the first time he's really cared if something is for "boys" or "girls". I'll be interested to see how this goes moving forward. Robert and William helped me to make dinner. We made hot ham sandwiches which required both grinding up ham and shredding cheese. Both boys were fascinated with this process and delighted with the results. Robert and one whole sandwich and William ate two (in addition to their vegetables and fruit, of course). I guess the meal was a hit!
Today Robert had his check up. He's healthy! He's 18lbs 6 oz (up 10 lbs from birth), and 29 inches. He's not off the charts like his brother was (except in head size, our family just has big heads), but he's sure long and lean. He's quickly outgrowing his 12 month clothes, and I am starting to put him in 18 month gear. My big boy! The doctor was impressed with his standing/walking progress and said there is no way he'll make it to his first birthday and not be walking independently. She thinks it will happen very soon, so we'll see. she also noticed a tooth on top is about to poke through. That explains all the gnawing on me he has been doing. And she said to make sure and give him three good meals a day and to start offering him a little water. This makes me a little sad to hear her say this (though I know it's true) because it make me realize he's not such a baby anymore. He gobbled up the grape pieces, apple, peas, and puffs he had for lunch and then flashed a smile that told me he was so proud of himself. I'm proud of him too, to be sure. I just want to enjoy every second! Oh, and they drew blood today to run some routine tests. The guy took the blood from Robert's arm. I held my baby and prepared for the worst, but Robert didn't even cry when they pricked him. He looked interested and watched, completely relaxed and still the whole time. When he was done, Robert smiled at him as he put on the band aid. We may have a future doctor!
That's all for now.
Last Friday, the boys and I went to the pool with Arlene and Caitlyn for a morning of swimming. It was great fun and it was Robert's first trip in the pool other than the splash pool at Sea World and our wading pool in the back yard. He had fun, but didn't much like the water getting in his face. William swam like a champ with his float vest, and is learning how to steer and get across the pool with ease.
Satuday was a full day. We went to Walmart, then Home Deopt, then out to the mall for lunch, a mall cooking demo for kids, and the Hot Dog Dance at the Disney Store. Finally we went to the Aquarium before heading home for naps. For dinner Francis made the most delicious burgers. Even Robert couldn't get enough!
Francis took over being the full fledged director for our Bible Life (Sunday school) class on Sunday as the previous directors moved back to Atlanta. When he first volunteered to be the "fill-in" director, I nealry passed out from surprise since public speaking isn't his thing. but he has really risen to the challenge. He seems comfortable and makes every effort to make everyone else at east as well. I'm so proud of him!
Sunday evening, my mom and sister Danielle drove down to see us as they hadn't seen the boys in over a month. William and Robert were overjoyed to see them and mom and Dani stayed until after Lunch the next day, much to the boys' delight. My mom even got to join William in his Little Gym class before lunch and he is still talking about how much fun he was. Grandmothers and Aunts are the best!!
Monday started our summer classes at the Little Gym. As I was leaving, I asked if they'd done the drawing for all the prizes from priority enrollment. Ms. Shauna (who is now both boys' teacher) said that they had and she would call me after talking to Ms. Andi. I have been putting off booking William's birthday party anywhere because they hadn't done the drawing. Well, sure enough, I get a call telling me that William has won a free birthday party at The Little Gym. They actually drew his name and put it back because he's won the grand prize (a free summer or season at the Little Gym) two of the last three times (adding up to a free year of classes). But then they went to draw again and pulled his name out a second time! I laughed until I cried. I joked that I should take him to Vegas because he wins so often at things out of his control. Sooo...now our decision of where to have William's birthday is both easier and harder since I had in my head we would have it at a local splash pad. I guess We'll just have to let William decide!
Yesterday Robert turned 9 months and we started off the day by having pictures done. The pictures turned out well and while we waited for them to be printed, I took the boys to Cici's Pizza next door. William ate a lot of pizza (including the promised dessert pizza since he had been good that morning), and Robert ate a full slice of cheese pizza (minus the very bottom crust which was too tough, and an apple dessert slice. I had two happy kiddos! We then went to the mall and played on the playgrounds while we waited for 2 pm to come around. Robert loved the coin rides and I even forked out the money so both boys could ride the circus truck. It was a red-letter day to be sure! At 2 we went to the Disney store for their "summer days" activity (that day it was learning to draw Mickey), and William received his weekly pin for his lanyard. Saturday was Mickey and Minnie mouse, which he was thrilled to get, but this week it was Sofia the First. He refused to take it from the lady saying, "That's Sofia. That's a princess pin for girls. I'm a boy. I don't want that pin." He had a mini meltdown and I took the pin from the lady and we headed home. We talked about that everyone that week was going to get the same pin, both boys and girls. Next week everyone was going to get a Jake and the Neverland pirates pin, even the girls. He nodded and seemed to understand. It's the first time he's really cared if something is for "boys" or "girls". I'll be interested to see how this goes moving forward. Robert and William helped me to make dinner. We made hot ham sandwiches which required both grinding up ham and shredding cheese. Both boys were fascinated with this process and delighted with the results. Robert and one whole sandwich and William ate two (in addition to their vegetables and fruit, of course). I guess the meal was a hit!
Today Robert had his check up. He's healthy! He's 18lbs 6 oz (up 10 lbs from birth), and 29 inches. He's not off the charts like his brother was (except in head size, our family just has big heads), but he's sure long and lean. He's quickly outgrowing his 12 month clothes, and I am starting to put him in 18 month gear. My big boy! The doctor was impressed with his standing/walking progress and said there is no way he'll make it to his first birthday and not be walking independently. She thinks it will happen very soon, so we'll see. she also noticed a tooth on top is about to poke through. That explains all the gnawing on me he has been doing. And she said to make sure and give him three good meals a day and to start offering him a little water. This makes me a little sad to hear her say this (though I know it's true) because it make me realize he's not such a baby anymore. He gobbled up the grape pieces, apple, peas, and puffs he had for lunch and then flashed a smile that told me he was so proud of himself. I'm proud of him too, to be sure. I just want to enjoy every second! Oh, and they drew blood today to run some routine tests. The guy took the blood from Robert's arm. I held my baby and prepared for the worst, but Robert didn't even cry when they pricked him. He looked interested and watched, completely relaxed and still the whole time. When he was done, Robert smiled at him as he put on the band aid. We may have a future doctor!
That's all for now.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
June 3, 2014
Well, it's been quite a couple of weeks. Both boys were sick last time I wrote, and they have been healing on and off since then.
Robert is just as happy as ever and is getting to where "proper" crawling is coming more naturally. I was getting used to him being slower because he was trying to crawl correctly, but now he is just as speedy as ever. Watch out world! He also successfully climbed the stairs this week and can be found standing in his crib any time I don't come and get him soon enough. He is cruising along furniture, animals and people with greater ease each day. He is getting close to standing himself up from the ground (just needs a tad more balance) and can stand by letting go of an object for many seconds at a time before sitting. He just holds onto my fingers now to walk (run) around and I have trouble keeping up with his movement in my bent over, wide leg stance. Robert almost took his first steps yesterday to his Little Gym Teacher yesterday. He certainly tried, but my arm was in the way. I'm not saying he has the balance to walk far, but he sure had the determination to give it his all-out try!
William, I have discovered can read much more than I realized. At the Dr. office the other day, he was holding a book and said, "I love my mommy." I quickly responded, "I love you too!" "No mommy," he responded, "Look!" He turned around the book and sure enough, the title was I Love My Mommy. It was not a book I'd ever seen before. The nurse and I just looked at each other, not sure what to do with that. I had almost forgotten it had happened when a few days later, William brought me a napkin and said, "look mommy! It says happy birthday!" And yes, that is exactly what it said. I had bough the napkins for my sister-in-law's birthday, but hadn't read them to William. Oh and he can spell Mom, Dad, Nana, Robert and William. He reads another word about every other day, and I am so amazed and impressed by him.
Weekend before last, Francis, the boys and I met my in-laws as well as Chris and cousin Abby in San Antonio for Memorial Day weekend. We spent two days at Sea World. It rained both days, but I wouldn't have it any other way, as it kept a lot of the crowds away. We did Aquatica (the water park) the first day and it was empty enough that we were all able to ride all the rides at least once with little or no wait all day long. It was awesome. My in-laws rented a Cabana and so we had a dry place to go when it was raining (though we were in a water park, so a lot of the time it was fine to be wet). The aviary just opened that day and seeing the birds was spectacular! Sunday Cyndy joined us (she flew in from a mission trip in Montreal the night before) and we did the main park including the penguins! We took a nap in the afternoon and caught the last showing of Shamu that night and also saw some fireworks. It was a great day and a pretty great weekend! The only sad part was that poor Francis fell Saturday night while holding William and they both got pretty beat up. William's face was completely scraped up for a week and he had two knots on his head slightly smaller than a golf ball. After an initial hysteria, he settled down and didn't let it bother him. He felt good enough the next day to ride his first roller coaster (Shamu coaster), and he LOVED it, yelling whee the whole time. We celebrated Cyndy's birthday on Monday before leaving with a black forest cake I assembled in the hotel room. It wasn't too bad! Oh, and we finally got to give Francis's mom the canvasses of her three grandchildren that we ordered for mother's day. She said they were the best present ever. Now we wish we'd saved them for her birthday next month, hehe.
Life since then has been relatively routine with us frequenting North East Metro park many times now that we have discovered it. It's close enough we can be gone for an hour and spend 45 minutes there, and I like that. We've also been back to the Aquarium and like the improvements we've been seeing. Hoping they continue! That's it for now!
Robert is just as happy as ever and is getting to where "proper" crawling is coming more naturally. I was getting used to him being slower because he was trying to crawl correctly, but now he is just as speedy as ever. Watch out world! He also successfully climbed the stairs this week and can be found standing in his crib any time I don't come and get him soon enough. He is cruising along furniture, animals and people with greater ease each day. He is getting close to standing himself up from the ground (just needs a tad more balance) and can stand by letting go of an object for many seconds at a time before sitting. He just holds onto my fingers now to walk (run) around and I have trouble keeping up with his movement in my bent over, wide leg stance. Robert almost took his first steps yesterday to his Little Gym Teacher yesterday. He certainly tried, but my arm was in the way. I'm not saying he has the balance to walk far, but he sure had the determination to give it his all-out try!
William, I have discovered can read much more than I realized. At the Dr. office the other day, he was holding a book and said, "I love my mommy." I quickly responded, "I love you too!" "No mommy," he responded, "Look!" He turned around the book and sure enough, the title was I Love My Mommy. It was not a book I'd ever seen before. The nurse and I just looked at each other, not sure what to do with that. I had almost forgotten it had happened when a few days later, William brought me a napkin and said, "look mommy! It says happy birthday!" And yes, that is exactly what it said. I had bough the napkins for my sister-in-law's birthday, but hadn't read them to William. Oh and he can spell Mom, Dad, Nana, Robert and William. He reads another word about every other day, and I am so amazed and impressed by him.
Weekend before last, Francis, the boys and I met my in-laws as well as Chris and cousin Abby in San Antonio for Memorial Day weekend. We spent two days at Sea World. It rained both days, but I wouldn't have it any other way, as it kept a lot of the crowds away. We did Aquatica (the water park) the first day and it was empty enough that we were all able to ride all the rides at least once with little or no wait all day long. It was awesome. My in-laws rented a Cabana and so we had a dry place to go when it was raining (though we were in a water park, so a lot of the time it was fine to be wet). The aviary just opened that day and seeing the birds was spectacular! Sunday Cyndy joined us (she flew in from a mission trip in Montreal the night before) and we did the main park including the penguins! We took a nap in the afternoon and caught the last showing of Shamu that night and also saw some fireworks. It was a great day and a pretty great weekend! The only sad part was that poor Francis fell Saturday night while holding William and they both got pretty beat up. William's face was completely scraped up for a week and he had two knots on his head slightly smaller than a golf ball. After an initial hysteria, he settled down and didn't let it bother him. He felt good enough the next day to ride his first roller coaster (Shamu coaster), and he LOVED it, yelling whee the whole time. We celebrated Cyndy's birthday on Monday before leaving with a black forest cake I assembled in the hotel room. It wasn't too bad! Oh, and we finally got to give Francis's mom the canvasses of her three grandchildren that we ordered for mother's day. She said they were the best present ever. Now we wish we'd saved them for her birthday next month, hehe.
Life since then has been relatively routine with us frequenting North East Metro park many times now that we have discovered it. It's close enough we can be gone for an hour and spend 45 minutes there, and I like that. We've also been back to the Aquarium and like the improvements we've been seeing. Hoping they continue! That's it for now!
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