Saturday, May 21, 2011

My little assistant

Here is Darya hard at work helping me answer RR emails:

And here she is after a long day's work in her big bed (with "baby" and "dog" of course):


Friday, May 20, 2011

Time flies!

Goodness, I haven't posted in a few weeks.  May has been just an incredibly busy month and I'm glad things are winding down for us.  By the end of June, we will hopefully have more time to relax since there is nothing scheduled on the calendar.  Just with baseball season, our home school co-op, the college class I'm taking (my goal is to finish college before the boys do!), other random stuff, and life with four kids has just been enough to wear me out by the end of each day!  Though with 4 kids does life ever wind down? :-)  Even with the busy-ness, my life is very blessed!

Darya will be 3 in just a few weeks, can you believe it?  Of course she's going to get a big ol' slice of birthday cake to make up for missing her first two birthdays with us!

We have her IEP meeting in a couple of weeks.  I'm new to this, so hope it will go well.  She also had another PT appointment where she was given inserts for her shoes. The PT said she seems to have pretty good muscle tone and was not concerned at all with her, but she did give me some tips to help strengthen her hips/legs a bit, and the shoe inserts are to help with her balance more (she still curls her toes when walking for support).

Darya is growing and learning so fast.  Remember when I said she switched from the pack-n-play to a toddler bed? Well, lately she's been climbing up into the daybed in her room and sleeping there!  I guess she didn't feel big enough in the toddler bed :-)  Next thing you know she's going to be asking for the keys so she can go to the mall *sigh*. She is also doing much better at feeding herself and is doing pretty well with a spoon. Of course, she still likes to play with her food and cleaning up oatmeal splatters has become part of my morning routine.  She has also learned many more signs.  She probably knows at least 20-30.  We are working on verbalizing the words, and at least getting her to try to say them.  After we have our family worship/devotions in the morning we sing the doxology. She looooves to say "aaaaaaaaaah" when we get to the "amen" at the end. It's adorable! I'll have to get a video of it one of these days.

Okay, a bit about the boys (since I know grandma and grandpa read this and would like an update). Sam is finishing up another baseball season.  We are very proud of him. Not only is he a very skilled player, but he is always encouraging his teammates. He is going to go into the next division in the fall after only playing in the minors for one season!  Ben is, of course, still really into science. I taught the elementary science class at our homeschool co-op and that kid can recall all sorts of animal facts.  He also can identify rocks, birds, and many plants outside. He loves to be outside.  Nate is learning to read, and has really taken to drawing.  We had a scare with a possible broken arm (he had x-rays today but they said he's fine) and he was so sad because it was his "most special arm - the one I write with, draw with, and throw with".

I am really enjoying being the New Family Liaison for Reece's Rainbow. I love interacting with new families. The best part is when one of those families commits to a child!  It is just a great way for me to give back a little to RR.

Well, that's about it. Not an exciting post, I know, but just an update. I'll hopefully post more regularly as things slow down a bit and I'll get some pictures on here, too.