Our Family

We have had a really good summer so far. The weather has been very good for us to enjoy some fun pool time, good walks, and a lot of baseball in the yard. The kids keep growing up so fast. They are learning and doing more and more things everyday!

Elijah:

He is really in to baseball. He wants to watch it on tv, go to games, play it outside and inside...anything he can do that involves baseball--he is there. Right now he says that he wants to be a catcher for MU when he grows up. We have only been to 2 MU baseball games ever! Every time we go to the mall, he wants to go to MC Sports so that he can look at the catcher's gear. Last time we went there, I let him try it on. He was super excited. Next summer I think we will sign him up to play here in Columbia. We will have to see how much time it will involve. We don't want it to take away from things that are more important. As of right now, baseball is all he talks about. We will see what happens when football season starts again. :)

He is doing a fantastic job writing. He wants to write letters to people all the time. He loves to draw pictures and color. He is getting really good at coloring. We are starting to focus more on reading...basic phonics. His counting is great and he is able to add and subtract fairly well. This year for his schooling will be mainly focused on reading.

Preston:

He has been completely potty trained now. I was amazed and am still in shock at how quickly he was able get out of diapers! It also takes some financial burden off of us now, too. He is still not talking. He just has a few words. He uses a lot of signs to communicate with us. He understands all of the language, but just isn't speaking many words yet. I am not worried, he will talk when he is ready. He is beginning to color and draw circles and lines. He knows some colors and can count a little. (Even though he is not saying words, I can tell that he knows these things. :)

He loves to do anything Elijah does. He wants to be like his big brother. So, baseball is really fun for him, too. He is usually the batter, Elijah is the catcher, and Randy or I am the pitcher. We have a lot of fun playing with them. Unfortunately, Preston has hit Elijah in the head with the bat on two occasions now...and I do not believe they were accidents.

Hayden:

It is hard to believe that Hayden is 5 1/2 months old now! It is crazy how fast times goes by. He is doing very well. He has been rolling over both ways since he was 3 months old. He can sit up, and he is beginning to crawl...the type of crawl with his belly still on the ground. So we have a few more weeks before he really starts moving. I have been trying to collect up all of the small toys the two older boys play with and get them put away before he can get into them.

He has always seemed to have issues with sleeping at nighttime since he was born. He will have a few good nights and then a few really bad nights in which he wakes up 2-3 times. Thankfully, the last 3 nights have been great! Hopefully it is a new trend. He laughs and smiles all the time. He has been drooling constantly for about 1 month. He soaks 3 bibs a day with his drool. But, no teeth yet. I just started feeding him cereal last week.

Elijah and Preston have adjusted to him well. It took about 2 months for things to settle into a good pattern and for this adjustment to take place. But now, they are very helpful and love to make him laugh. They are both getting better at being obedient, but we still have our normal everyday obedience issues. They are also very competitive. We are really working on this area...it causes a lot of problems sometimes.

I am getting ready to start up my online teaching job again in August. Last year I taught part-time. This year I will have a full-time status. I am going to still work at home the majority of the time, however, I will go into work for a few hours 2 days a week. My mom is going to help out with watching the kids.

Randy has been putting in a lot of long hours at his job. At times, it is very trying on him. He doesn't enjoy the multiple tick bites, mosquito bites, poison ivy, and everything else that comes along with walking through brush. Sometimes it seems that he is one big red, swollen bite. We are very thankful, though, that he has a job.

Our family is growing and changing everyday. Once we get used to a pattern for one kid, it seems that another pattern is developing in another kid. I am really trying to enjoy each of the children at each of their ages. At times it is hard...I want to say "I wish he was this age" or "I wish he could do this already". But I have been really trying to enjoy "the now".