How Are We Doing?

I've had a few emails lately asking how we're doing. Usually I can send people to my blog and feel like they would be sufficiently caught up. That's not the case at the moment. So I thought I'd better take the time to blog.

The first question everyone wants answered is how is life with a puppy, a baby, and a kindergartner? Well, it's not easy. We knew it wouldn't be. You told me it wouldn't be. And it isn't. However, she is very sweet. Very cute. Obedient. And trainable. So, we'll keep her. Jakob enjoys having her around most of the time. He's not thrilled about her little bites and he doesn't feel like playing or carrying her up the stairs when he's tired or ornery. But for the most part I think he enjoys having her around. Caleb loves her. Even though he is her most valued chew toy. I've resorted to dressing him in long sleeved footy PJ's all day and spraying him with bitter spray to keep her at bay. It's almost impossible to get the two to stop playing rough. I try and teach Caleb and the puppy. But in the end, I just have to hope she'll grow out of her need to chew. She sleeps through the night until 5:50AM. This is the hardest part. I value my sleep. Once she's awake in the morning she will NOT stop barking unless she's able to run around for a while. During the day she'll stop barking after 5-10 minutes. Potty Trained? Well, she's litter box trained when she's inside her room (the pack n' play crib.) But she still struggles if we let her walk around the house very long without constant supervision. I'm hoping she'll learn to be out and about freely soon. Next week I will move her to Jakob's room full time so she can be in a bigger room. We'll see how it goes.

It was Jakob's birthday yesterday! Thank you so much to all of the family members who made a special effort to make it a special day for Jakob. We had a fun family party on Saturday with Leif's family in SG. Thank you Larissa for sharing your love and home! Thank you for the gifts and sweet cards everyone else. Jakob especially loved getting a card in the mail today from the good family members not too far from here. Thank you for remembering him!!!

Jakob started Kindergarten on his birthday. Birthday-wise that wasn't very fun. Especially because the teacher didn't have the kids sing happy birthday to him (yes, we told her ahead of time) and then she forgot to give the kids the cherry tomatoes that Jakob insisted on taking to the class for snack on his birthday. So that was a bummer. He said that he had a good time at school. However, he didn't really want to go this morning. So that was disturbing! But we encouraged him and tried to find a few good things to help him focus on and he went without too much fuss. He's sad because all of the kids from church are in the other class. I'm sad about that too. I'm frustrated that he keeps bringing workbook pages home (as class work) and then more work book pages home to do as home work. I can do that at home with him!!! I want the teacher to be CREATIVE! I pray this is just the first week and she's trying to get on her feet! We'll see... Today Jakob also got a package in the mail from Leif and I. We ordered a series of junior chapter books called Magic Tree House. He insisted that we start reading them right then and there. I'm really glad he enjoys reading!

Caleb is working hard on his walking skills. He's Thrilled by his new skill. He's also trying to use more words. Nothing Completely understandable. But we know he's trying.

Leif is working at the school again. He has also started his Fall Semester classes. So he's very busy! He was going to work for the Community College as well. But they just couldn't get organized so he had to resign. Two jobs and full time school would have been way too much anyway. He really needs to focus on Learning from his classes, not just passing them.

Me? Well, I'm really tired at the moment. Fine, but tired. Nothing too exciting to report.

So, that's how we're doing...

I'll post more photos later.