And a month later...

We are slowly but surely assimilating to our new and improved family size!  Not surprisingly, the smaller the kid, the larger the grocery bill!  Diapers and formula are not for the faint of heart!

Joshua and Sarah are doing well.  Sarah has some significant developmental and physical delays that have been challenging, but we see tiny little changes daily, and we feel she's going to do some serious catching up in the next year or so.  She came to us only on formula at 20 months, and is now willing to eat stage one baby foods with a spoon.  She also did not like any form of physical contact and is now laughing and playful with us.  She still has a long way to go and had her first appointment with an occupational therapist today, but I have high hopes for her.

Joshua is a very fun, calm, easy-going two-year old who can charm anyone.  He's got a winning smile and loves to make friends.  He's staying in the nursery at church now and has not shown signs of attachment problems.  He is always sad to see me leave when he has to stay home, and is happy to come with me when it's time to leave the nursery.  I know some of it is institutionalized behaviors, but I'm seeing good attachment and bonding happening, so I feel his transition is going smoothly.

Merrilee has been the biggest help, and I often have to give her permission NOT to help.  She takes on a lot more responsibility than she needs to, and works hard to try to make things easier for me.  I've made sure to increase her allowance since we've come home!

Jacob has shown some more maturity since Joshua and Sarah have come home.  He is helping a lot more and is doing a great job of keeping Joshua occupied much of the time when I need to get other things done.  Joshua adores Jacob, and I truly hope they develop a wonderful brotherly love for one another.

Katie Mei's transition into big-sisterhood was a concern for all of us, because she has been the baby for almost three years and has fit the role of little sister so very well.  But she surprised us all with her love for her new little sister and the responsibility that comes with it.  She has not shown jealously or any behaviors that typically come with being ousted from the baby-of-the-family slot.  She has had a few moments when she's needed a little extra attention or hugging, but she's doing great!  I am so pleased with the way all the kids have made this look so easy.

Thanksgiving was low-key here.  It was just the seven of us (My, that sounds huge!), and we didn't do anything more than have a nice dinner.  Jay and the kids stayed outside most of the day and I did the cooking with some help from the girls.  It was a very nice, peaceful day.

Now we are looking forward to Christmas and all that it entails.  I hope I get another update done before then!

Homeschool Highlights

We've gone through three months of school and I've been taking pictures.  I've just been bad about keeping the blog updated with what we're doing.  We've been adjusting to having three kids at work, rather than just two, and Katie Mei has brought an added dimension of entertainment to our day.  So far it has worked out very nicely, since I have Merrilee and Jacob sharing their history, science, and Latin curricula, so Katie Mei has had some one-on-one time to practice her phonics and reading.

We've had an awesome time with science this year, and we've put the microscope to good use.  The book we're using has a focus on life sciences, so we've been studying botany and biology.  We have covered both green seed-producing plants as well as spore-producing plants, and so far in the animal kingdom, vertebrates.

Studying roots

Making a spore print.

Looking at mold on an orange rind.

I also like to let the kids have some fun with school, so I sometimes just let them play games that reinforce what they've learned.  It lightens the day for them, and gives me a bit of a break.

I've never been good at art projects and it's just not a subject I work into our week.  But in the name of science, Katie Mei did have some fun doing what she called "the best craft projects I've ever done!"  Don't know if it was as much a craft project as it was an activity to keep her busy.  But in any case, she enjoyed it.  I've also made her keep a notebook just like the older children do, so I've got some record of her work.  I love that she enjoys school so much.

 

One of the more exciting, but messy, parts of science this year has been dissecting fish!  Mindy's husband John supplied us with several kinds of fish and the children were able to get a close up view.  It was a bit messy, but my kids loved it and even found some reasons to smile and laugh.

It will be interesting to see how our daily routine changes once we have two itty bitties in the house, but I think we'll make it work just fine.  I guarantee nap time will take on a new meaning for me though!

Beach Weekend

In the interest of still trying to catch up (and I'm not happy that it's a post-a-month going on here), I'm going to spread our September activities out a little more. The highlight of the month was our quick overnight trip to Destin Beach in Florida with Mindy and Blake. Both Mindy and I had husbands out of town, so we decided to surprise the kids with a trip to the beach. Mine hadn't been since we went to Jacksonville, FL back in January, so this was a real treat!

We let the kids have a sleep over at Mindy's house the night before, and in the morning the kids were treated to a big breakfast of waffles, eggs, and bacon. Not the norm at my house, so my kids now think Mindy is a domestic goddess. I'll let them keep thinking that, so she's the one they go to for sleepovers.

We did not tell the kids we were going to the beach, so Merrilee and Jacob were pretty upset about missing their soccer games Saturday morning. Jacob was especially worried and when I told him we had a surprised planned that was even better than soccer, he was skeptical. It was initially kind of funny the way he worried that he was missing the game, but as the trip wore on it was a little less entertaining. Fortunately, he came around once he found out it was the beach.

We stayed at a hotel within walking distance to the beach, and everyone was eager to get in the sand once we got there. We made the kids have a quick sandwich first, then headed out. We had a wonderful time, but we all agreed time went too fast. We headed back to the room to clean up and change for dinner, went to Joe's Crab Shack to eat, and then took our exhausted crew back to the room for bed. They had way too much fun bouncing around and we thought they'd never get to sleep, but the excitement of the day finally overcame their enthusiasm and they zonked out.

We had so much fun, and I am convinced we need to make this an annual thing. But one day is just not enough. At least a weekend is required to really get the right amount of sand between our toes. And the fact that women can talk and laugh way late into the evening makes a best friend weekend all the more fun!