Sunday, October 16, 2011

Special Weekend

This weekend is a weekend full of fun and excitement. Jacob started us off with getting his football pictures taken and then playing a fun game of flag football yesterday morning. After that we all went to Kids In The Rotunda for a fun concert. Kids In The Rotunda is a fun series of shows aimed at preschool and elementary school aged children. The kids really enjoy the shows and Matthew has really learned to love singing and dancing. He is going to be my little musician as he gets older.

As if that wasn't enough for one day, yesterday was the only day I had free this month to take Matthew to the pumpkin farm. I went with Jacob's kindergarten class last week but Matthew's class hasn't scheduled a trip so I wanted to make sure he got a chance to go. Jacob stayed with our friends for the afternoon and Matthew and I had some alone time at the farm. It was a great afternoon and a great chance to spend time without any distractions. Matthew picked out a very bumpy pumpkin for us and an almost perfectly round pumpkin for our friends.

Today we are running again. As I am sure you can imagine, the kids were pretty tired last night. They fell asleep within 5 minutes of hitting their pillows and slept in until almost 8 this morning.

This morning we are headed to church where it is new member Sunday. We are sponsering our friends, Cindy and Aidan, as new members. Jacob and Matthew can't wait to take Aidan's hand and stand in front of the church with him. I am looking forward to it also.

This afternoon my parents bought us tickets to see a play "ImaginOcean." I am hoping the kids really enjoy it. Then we are headed home to work on laundry and cleaning before Jacob has his interview with Big Brothers Big Sisters tomorrow.

It's another full and fun weekend. Sometimes I would like to have a weekend to just hang out and relax but then I thing about all the fun things we would miss. I guess I'll just pack up the car, take a deep breath and go have some more family fun. Life is good.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Jacob Is 6!

It is really hard to believe that next month will mark 5 years since I sat in my family doctor's office discussing Jacob's referral. The doctor gave me several reasons of why I should be cautious about accepting his referral. He spoke at length about Sturge Weber Disease and the small chance Jacob could have it. I knew in my heart he didn't and thankfully I was right. The doctor ended our meeting by handing me the information and stating, "I can tell that you already love this little boy and will be adopting him. I will be happy to help you care for him when he comes home." The doctor was right and over 4 and a half years ago I brought home an adorable and loving 17 month old boy.

That little boy just turned 6 on September 21. He has become a very funny little boy who loves life. He definetelly doesn't have Sturge Weber and none of the doctor's warnings have come true. I took him in to see that doctor last week for his 6 year old well-child check-up. The doctor examined him and talked to him for a few minutes. He then turned to me and stated Jacob has really settled down and is really mature for his age. I stated that I thought it was the age because Matthew is also beginning to settle down. He stated it isn't just the age. He stated it's not often he sees a child make the huge gains in maturity that Jacob has made over the past year. Way to go Jacob!

We celebrated Jacob's 6th birthday by going to a waterpark resort in the Dells last month. It was a lot of fun for the entire family. We met some friends up there and had a great weekend. It was fun watching how far all of the children have come in a very short period of time.

So stealing this idea from another blog I used to read. Here are 6 things I love about Jacob.

1) Jacob's smile. It's contagious and lights up his whole face.
2) His loving and caring personality. There isn't anything he won't do to please someone else (including his mommy).
3) How well he's doing in school this year. He's still ahead of many of his classmates and continues to learn new skills very quickly.
4) Watching him play sports. He is a good teammate and loves to interact with the guys.
5) The joy I see when I watch him work on a project with his Grandpa. There is no one he idolizes more. Whether it's cleaning out the truck, picking up sticks in the yard or walking through the store looking at tools, Jacob loves to spend time with his Grandpa.
6) Eating breakfast together. Matthew's school starts an hour before Jacob's and Matthew eats breakfast with his class so Jacob and I eat alone in the morning. It is a great time to talk about his school day and what he is looking forward to that day. We also spend that hour putting his lunch and backpack together.

Jacob is growing up quickly. Some days I worry he is growing up too quickly. He is becoming a big kid in front of my eyes. He will have his intake interview with Big Brothers Big Sisters next week. He wants a Big Brother or a Couple Match. He will make a great "little" for someone. His easygoing spirit and bright smile will be a great match for some prospective Big.

Fall Fun

I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted. I got very angry with my cable company (even the person who works there agreed with me about how horrible they are) and cancelled my internet service. Now, there are other companies I could go to for internet but I decided it was thirty dollars a month I could save by cancelling it. In the meantime, I am using the free internet at McDonald's and at work. I can only post on here when I am at McDonald's which means I have to find time around my school assignments and other internet needs. It is working out so far although it is inconvient so I may have to eventually find a new internet provider or go back to the cable company and order it again (Yikes!).

So what has been going on in the past month? A lot and not so much. We have been busy but yet there hasn't been anything really major or exciting (except that Jacob turned 6 year old). Here is a run down of our family's achievements the past month.

- Jacob started kindergarten and continues to love it. He is very proud of himself for learning how to read. It was wonderful to see the excitement on his face when he proudly exclaimed that he was able to read an entire sentence without the teacher's help. Yesterday he was breezing through his Kumon worksheets on writing and reading letters and stated it was too easy. It wasn't too easy when I bought it for him last Spring.

- Matthew has been enjoying 4K. He says his favorite activity is coloring which his teacher confirmed at a conference last week. He is very creative. For example, he took a piece of paper, colored a box and circles and said it was a boat. He then scooted it around the classroom for awhile before suddenly grabbing the glue stick and more paper. He made several more papers with boxes and circles, glued them together and proudly announced he had made a train. He has been working on the train for a couple of days now.

-Matthew and Jacob have both found a real interest in Legos. They are having fun creating their own boats, helicopters and other vehicles. Matthew can spend an hour playing with Legos if we don't have anything else going on.

-Jacob started his first year of flag football. He loves it. It's really the perfect game for him. He loves to chase other kids and be chased so football turned out to be the perfect sport for that. It's his first year and you can tell but he is getting better at it every weekend. Mostly, he is just having fun.

- Swimming lessons are back in full swing. The kids are both doing really well this session. Matthew is listening better and not splashing the other kids unless they want to be splashed. Jacob is able to swim the length of the pool with rotary breathing and can tread water for about 10 minutes. It helps to learn to tread when you can't touch the bottom of the pool and don't want to hang on to your mom all the time.

- I have started my last year of grad school. It was a really rough start with emergencies at work and with babysitter's but it has been better the past few weeks. I am almost halfway through the semester which is a great feeling. Now, I'm just worried about finding an internship for this spring. I have 2 places that I am sure I can do it at but I'm waiting to hear if the university will approve either of them. I have to be much pickier about where I work this time since I have to work full-time and can't take a lot of vacation each week like I did last time. I am sure I will be able to work something out though.

So that is a quick update. I'll post about Jacob's birthday next.