Our furniture arrived a couple of weeks ago, making our house addition complete. We are loving the space! I'm still slowly (very slowly) unpacking things, and I notice that even though the garage still has several boxes that need to be brought in and unpacked I haven't missed anything. So, if I haven't missed anything in the last few months, do I really need it?! Although, some of it is bigger clothes and outgrown clothes of the kids, winter clothes, maternity clothes, etc. But still, I'm sure there is plenty of stuff I could get rid of. The only thing we really have left to do this year is plant grass in the backyard. We are hoping that next summer we can put on a deck off the family room (if Monte's brother-in-law is able to come build it), landscape around the new part of the house, and take out some of the hedges that surround the backyard, and put up a privacy fence. The fence is first on our list, as there are a few roaming dogs in our neighborhood, and unfortunately Isabella is terrified of dogs ever since she got bit a couple of years ago. She won't go out there unless Monte or I is right by her side. I hate that she doesn't feel safe in her own yard! There are a few gaps in our "natural" fence of hedges, where animals can get in or small children can get out, and we would like to remedy that. I don't have to worry about Isabella ever leaving the yard, but who knows how Jaymes will be! So far he seems to be a little bit more of a daredevil than his sister.
Isabella is loving preschool, I'm so relieved! She says she wishes she had it on the weekends even! This week we are going to try sending her all four days, as she really wants to go, especially since she figured out that all the other kids in her class go all four days, and she only goes three days a week. It's so cute that every day when I pick her up, every single kid, including her, has the same reaction when they see their mom or dad. They run up, with the biggest smile, and wrap their arms around the parent's legs, talking a mile a minute about all they did in school. She has school in the mornings, then usually in the afternoon, while Jaymes is napping, we do school work as well, as that's her favorite thing to do right now. We usually do writing activities out of those preschool type workbooks, she loves those things, and they have great ones at the dollar store.
Isabella asks me several times a week if we can have another baby as soon as Jaymes is all done being a baby! I tell her that I hope so. She also always adds, "but this time
I want to be the mommy." Oh boy.
We tried gradually switching Jaymes to whole milk a couple of weeks ago, but that did not go well at all. He had some major digestive issues from it! I'm sure he doesn't actually have an allergy to dairy because he can tolerate cheese and yogurt, so I'm not sure what is going on. For now he's back to his formula and back to his old self. The ped. said to just leave him on formula for a while since he can't tolerate milk yet, and since he's only 10th percentile for weight he could use the extra calories.
I wish I could spend all day reading to my kids, I've been making more time for reading throughout the day, I kind of failed at that this summer. Oh, and by "kids", I should really say, "Isabella". Jaymes absolutely loves it when I read him the same four books, but if I try to read him any other book, he refuses to sit, and keeps trying to shut the book. Seriously, I could read him those same four books all day long, and he will sit so nice, and laugh, and smile the whole time, but try to introduce just one other book to him, and there is NO way he'll have it!
I'm starting a new venture in October, that I'm quite excited, and a little nervous for. I'll be teaching piano lessons in our home. It's something I've thought about doing for quite a while, but we never had room. Now that we have two separate living room areas, I'll be able to teach in one part of the house, while Monte and the kids hang out in the new family room. I have a lot of families interested, more than I want to take on, I only want to teach two evenings a week. A friend of mine and I are going to team up, offering lessons different evenings during the week, using the same series of books, and having recitals together. I'm really looking forward to it, and it will be nice to be able to contribute to the finances a bit.
As of today, it really feels like fall around here. It's just within the last couple of years, that I have really started to love fall! I'm in the process of switching out the kids' clothes for bigger, warmer ones. Isabella has definitely taken a growth spurt lately, and is in 5's and 6's already, while Jaymes is still in 6-9 month and some 12 month. I hope he doesn't have a huge growth spurt and go right to 18 month, because I got him all 12 month for winter! I couldn't believe, when I was going through his clothes, that he can still wear most of the clothes he wore last winter! And I'm a little sad that Isabella is done with the toddler clothes, as the bigger section of little girl clothes are just not as cute! Little girls do not need to dress like adults (in my opinion)!
Any tips on feeding a picky eater?? Isabella has always eaten anything I give her. On the other hand, Jaymes doesn't seem to be too fond of vegetables. However, he will eat pureed or baby food veggies, which makes me think it's a texture thing. There's a lot of food he just immediately takes out of his mouth and then won't try again, and it's so frustrating because I want him to be a healthy eater like his sister. He also seems to like baby food better than table food, which seems odd to me.
Better go get some things done while Jaymes is napping!
