I am so blessed. I have such a wonderful family. Billy is now home and won't have to work again for 3 months. Yay for 12 week paternity leaves!! We LOVE it. He is still gone in the morning for school but then it is so nice to have him home the rest of the day. He is such a good Dad. He actually wants to hold that sweet little bundle and have his turns. He actually changes diapers and takes turns feeding him. We also take shifts at night. I sleep from like 9:30p- 2am and he sleeps from 2-6:30 and during our shift with the baby we sleep here and there. It's working out pretty good. Anyway Billy is so wonderful and I love him so much!
Will is on Fall Break this week and it's nice having him home. He has been so sweet and nice and loving lately. He has been playing really good with his sisters and it actually seems like less work having him home then more b/c he has been entertaining is sisters so well. He has come along way since school started with his socializing and sharing, and learning to obey and accept answers. Things that normally he would have tried to argue about in the past, he just accepts that that's the way it is, and it's so nice that he is so sweet and has such a good, fun personality.
He has had his problems in school since it started. He has gotten sent to the Principal's office numerous times and we have even had to pick him up and bring him home twice b/c of his misbehavior. I think school has just been a big adjustment for him and he acted up at first and didn't always want to do what the teacher asked him to do. He would get a frowny face or the OK face almost every day at first. But these last 2-3 weeks we have seen an improvement. He is doing the work and coming home with mostly smiley faces. So it is a relief that things are improving at school, and before I had Jaren I was volunteering once a week for the 2nd half of the day at his school. I want him to know how much I love him and that I want to spend time with him and be with him. I think it was really good for him that I came to his school. And I love how he is so young that he is actually proud of me as his mom. When I come to his school he hugs me and wants to hold my hand and be by me. So anyway, I am able to see first hand what they are working on and how he does in school. And I think I have a very smart boy... but he needs to listen and follow directions so his teacher can see how smart he is. She will hand out worksheets and while she's going over the directions he just starts coloring or drawing on it. Sometimes he'll try to do the work but if he doesn't know what it's all about he doesn't always do it right. So when I was there I could stand by him and tell him to listen and explain things to him. At home I sit RIGHT next to him to work on his schoolwork/ homework and I know he knows his stuff. The only problem is he doesn't always show it in school. His teacher sent home a progress report that had mostly N's- needs improvement and -'s (emerging). There were columns such as letters (capital/ lowercase), letter sounds, patterns, writing, identifies numbers, shapes... some of him he got emerging (like a C) others he got Developing (a B). Will has known his letters since he was 20 months old! And when he was 3 he learned capital and lowercase very quickly. He should have gotten 100% on that part. He knows all the rest of that stuff too. I know b/c I've been working with him for years, and I still sit and work with him on his school work almost every day. During this fall break we've been putting in an hour or 2 every day. I've done letters and letter sounds with him- and he knows every one of them, I've printed out worksheets so he can do different letters, I've worked on his high frequency words with him, I've done patterns such as 1 circle followed by two squares then I say what comes next? And he'll draw the rest of the pattern and then I will say and what pattern is that? and every time he knows the answer. There are 4 choices: ABAB, ABB, AAB, and ABC. He has gotten it right every time... So I know exactly what to go over with him and I know he knows it. I just hope he starts showing that he knows it in school soon. He's a good kid and very smart and he is improving a lot in school I just hope it continues to improve so his teacher can see what I see.
So I have now made this very long but I hadn't written anything about Will and how he's doing in school yet... SO as for the rest of the family- Adalynn and Tessa seem so big now. They play well together (most of the time). Adalynn very rarely throws a fit- but Tessa has pretty high emotions right now. Although Tessa can calm herself down by going in her room and laying on her bed. She just comes out when she's ready. Tessa is talking in complete sentences and says everything- she is getting easier to understand too. She is a funny girl and always wants to do something- and do it fast. She is busy and fun. Adalynn is very talkative lately. She is my little copycat. She just wants to repeat everything we say back to us. Like I'll say "Jaren can't talk b/c he's a little baby." And she'll say, "Yeah, Jaren can't talk b/c he's a little baby." Instead of just agreeing she'll say the whole thing back to me how I said it. Or if I'm saying something to Will or Tessa she'll repeat what I said to them like she's trying to be the little Mommy. She also talks a lot about what will happen when she's a grown up. And she sings a lot- she knows a lot of songs! She's a good, sweet girl and can be very cuddly and mild mannered. And Jaren- he's a good baby! I think he is the easiest one so far. He still just wakes up once during the night to eat. We feed him during the day about every 3 hours (more or less) and at night he goes about 4 hours sometimes more. We usually feed him at night at 10:30 (Billy does that one) then 2:30 (my turn) then 6:30- I usually do that one. So really it's not too bad. He has a good amount of awake time during the day and wants to sleep all night. He is really calm and sweet, he wants to be held most of the time still but I usually don't mind b/c I like staring at him and feeling his special spirit. He has such a little cry, doesn't spit up or have any major problems. And he just went in for his 2 week checkup and the doctor was very pleased with his weight gain. Usually but 2 weeks it's good if they've reached their birth weight. He went in for his check up at 12 days (b/c the doctor was going on vacation after that) and he has surpassed his birth weight. He is now 7 lbs 3 oz. At birth he was in the 10-25% and now he is in the 25%. So he is doing wonderful.
So as you can see- I LOVE my family! I am so blessed! And I'm so happy our family is complete- it feels so good. It just feels right.. oh and we just got a van so I am SOO happy about that too- now we can all fit in the same vehicle and no one is squished or feeling claustrophobic. :) It's awesome.
.JPG)
