Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Finding the Time

This weekend I'm going to have Jeremy take some "back to school" photos of the children. It's just not so easy to find the time to get the camera out and get some good shots. Things are running pretty smoothly here with school and household management, I really can't complain. Jeremy is still working long hours and that makes it a bit more difficult to get dinner on the table at a reasonable time--especially since during nap time we try to do the reading part of our school work (where I read to THEM), and I've been exercising in the afternoon as well. It's a very quick workout, but 20 minutes in a PACKED schedule is precious time. So if you ever wonder why I'm not blogging as much as you'd like me to, don't wonder. My life is VERY full--wonderfully full.

Lilah has been a stinker when it comes to sleep. Up until last night, she had been waking every 2 hours during the night. UGGH! Last night it was every 3 hours, although I didn't sleep very well as I was anticipating her waking at any given moment. This too shall pass, right?!?! I thought that perhaps if I could give her a bottle, just a little supplement, she'd do a little better, but she wants NOTHING to do with a bottle. On one hand I really don't like that idea, on the other hand, this is what I've been praying for...being able to breastfeed for the entire first year. Yes, it's "inconvenient" in some ways, but what a blessing to feed her God's best! She is so amazingly strong. She will not stay on her tummy anymore, she rolls right to her back...but it's very rare that she get's put down on the floor anyway due to the fact that she has a very "doting" big brother. He just LOVES to give her kisses, but sometimes gets a bit rough. She is at the age where she MUST be strapped into her swing, or she'll wiggle right out. She is taking 2 pretty good naps and one cat nap most days. Usually her morning nap is a really good one, and the afternoon may or may not be a good one. It's nice to see a routine forming though, even if it doesn't necessarily coincide with Aaron's...they usually nap for at least an hour at the same time, so I guess I really can't ask for more!

Aaron is growing in leaps and bounds. He's officially running. He's certainly not very fast, but it's also not a walk! We just got squeaky shoes for him so that when he's outside with Luke during our school time, we always know where he is! It's quite handy! He is saying more and more....his latest word is "shoe", go figure! :) He is always asking to go "night night", which actually means OUTSIDE. He can open our front door from the outside, what a smart little cookie. He's really come a long way. He's generally quite happy now (PRAISE GOD), and is sleeping wonderfully. In fact, he's usually waking around 5-7am, but in the past couple of days, the girls have given him his bottle and I haven't even known that he was awake. Talk about the blessing of older children, they are SO wonderful! He's got a TON of teeth now. He's got almost 4 on the top front and 2 molars on the top...and he's got the bottom two front and 2 molars on the bottom. Such a strange tooth pattern, but hey...whatever! They're all individuals.

The girls are doing well with school. There are days that I wish they'd stay focused a bit more and not be such lolly-gaggers, but mostly it's my fault for not being on top of things because I have things I have to get done. When I buckle down and set the timer for their work, they breeze through it. It's when I get busy doing housework and letting them work independently that things don't go so well. They've been helping Luke with HIS school work too, it's very sweet to watch. Abby is getting very excited about her birthday coming up so soon. I can't believe she'll be 8!! I still have to decide what to get her for her birthday. Her wish list changes from day to day, so I try not to get a gift until the last minute. She amazes me with her aptitude for math. I've got her in 4th grade math and she is breezing through the majority of it. She also wrote her first paper in English the other day, and although it certainly wasn't "perfect", it's so cute to see her creativity come through in her written word. She is also very diligent and neat with her handwriting. She doesn't know how to make all of her cursive letters without looking yet, but she sure works hard on doing it as neatly as she possibly can, and it is definitely neat indeed!

I've noticed a lot of maturing character-wise in Savannah lately. Yes, she still does very silly things, like hitting her sister over something silly, and fussing because her sister is being nicer to her friend than to her...but in her ability to have a bit more self-control and really set her mind on obedience and pleasing US, she is improving. I often find myself expecting a whole lot out of my children and being disappointed when they don't conform to my ideal of what they should be doing. I have to remind myself that they are still rather young and character takes time, so it's very encouraging to see things slowly taking shape.

Luke has been our designated Aaron-watcher while we're doing school work. I usually send them outside together in the back yard so I can keep an eye on them while we work and he is doing really good with making sure Aaron stays close by. It's so cute to see them playing together. Luke LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Lilah. He kisses her and talks sweet to her all the time. He's never said anything bad about her, he thinks she's the greatest thing. He's also been AWESOME with helping out around the house. He's a wonderful "garbage man". He takes all of the dirty diapers from me as SOON as I change them and throws them into the garbage for me. Then he even took the garbage out of the kitchen can and took it out to the big can on the curb! What a wonderful helper. He's quite diligent at housework when he actually gets into it. I really need to train him to do a few more things because he's getting to the age where he's really helpful. Today he helped me rake outside and got the gutters nice and clean! The children have a "Dog Fund" that they're putting all of their money into (I think it's so sweet that any money any of them earns goes into the "pot" and if they want to buy something, they ask each other), so that when we live where we can have a dog, they can use that money to buy things for the dog. :) So every time he helps with something, he's super excited that he has money to add to their jar.

Well, it's time for me to go take a shower and get ready for my evening beckoning. Lilah has been waking up shortly after I put her to bed because she wants to nurse again....cruel little taskmaster! :) But a cute one, indeed!

3 comments:

Karen said...

Great post Janelle! Worth the wait,lol...Course you are talking about my favorite subject! I do hope to see those school pics when you get around to it or Jere, for that matter. Love

Karen said...

Lol, this has got to be a record...did Jere ever take the school pics? What did the kids dress up for halloween this year as?

~*~Janelle~*~ said...

Yeah, yeah...we'll get to it...some day! We didn't do halloween this year. I don't like the holiday, never have...and I finally convinced the children that we shouldn't participate. We baked an apple pie and watched a movie instead.