Charles Stanley on Public Education

I know several wonderful men and women of faith that are teachers in the public school, and I thank God for them. However, these are the exception and not the rule. Because of the things Charles Stanley mentions, and a few other reasons, my husband and I choose to homeschool our children.

The point, though, is what Charles Stanley says at the end. "How are you preparing them to face life?"

Eli's 2-month Update

Eli had his 2-month checkup a couple of weeks ago, but what with having Savannah visiting, then staying at my sister's for a week, I never actually posted an update.

At 2 months and 7 days, Eli was 10 lb. 15 oz. and 23 inches long.  I don't remember what percentages those were, somewhere around 50% I think.  I talked to the doctor about all the problems I had with him for the first several weeks and he said it sounded like he actually had colic (which is apparently often incorrectly and overly diagnosed).  He was very encouraging and made me feel like I got through it pretty well, even with my few minor meltdowns. 

He's doing much better with sleeping during the day, although I can't manage to stretch his nighttime sleeping much past 5 am in the morning.  It doesn't matter if I feed him at 9 pm or 11 pm, he's going to wake up by 5 am.  He's smiling a lot, especially at Silas, Daddy, and me.  The other day Christian called from work to check in and I put the phone to Eli's ear.  As soon as he heard the sound of his father's voice, he went still and quiet, and then gave a huge grin.  My friend Lezli came down last weekend with her family.  She managed to get Eli to laugh quite a bit while singing a song about an alligator.  I'll post the video at some point.

As for the vaccinations, Christian and I decided to go ahead and get them for both boys (Silas is due a round in October).  There were 2 reasons for this.  The first is because of our plans to fly internationally next year.  If we had been sticking around our neck of the woods, we probably would have delayed giving Eli his shots, but because of the risk of catching strange diseases when you fly internationally, we decided not to wait.  We also weighed the advantages and disadvantages.  To us, having a child with autism would be far better than having a child go through one of those serious illnesses and the risks that go along with them.  It's a tough decision to make, and either which way you decide seems like a high-risk gamble. 

Oh, and Silas at 2 months?  He was 13 lbs. 5 oz. and 24 1/2 inches long.  He was definitely Chunk.

Helping, Reading, Phrases

Since Silas is getting bigger, he's started doing more around the house for me.  The other day I asked him to get a few clothes out of his suitcase and put them in the hamper.  He had the hardest time finding the clothes  but once he did he put them in the hamper.  Or so he told me.  The clothes didn't even cross my mind again until this evening when I went to do another load of clothes.  I opened the door to the dryer and placed inside were the very clothes I had asked him to put in the hamper.  It made me laugh.  He does seem, however, to be going through some phase where he's having a hard time understanding locations.  Or maybe it's just that he's a boy and actually looking for the right spot doesn't cross his mind.

On another note, Silas read/guessed his first word today.  He looked at the letters on Eli's wall for a few seconds, then asked me if it said Eli.  I say it was a guess because he hasn't learned the phonetic long 'e' or long 'i' or 'l' yet.  Maybe he's a genius!

Speaking of which, we were sitting down for breakfast this morning and he looks over at me and suddenly says, "I'm a genius!"  I asked him why he was a genius and he said, "Cuz I just am."  He must have picked up the phrase from Christian, who occasionally tells himself he's a genius every once in a while, as well.

My Poppy

I had the world's best grandfather for 29 years.  

When I was a child, he made me laugh.

He was really good at finding bugs on me, especially under the arms where it tickled the most.

He would bite my toes and tell me if it tasted like vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry.

He called Kool-Aid bug juice.

He had a computer back in the 80's and would let my sister and I play games on his computer while he was at work.

My sister remembers calling him at work trying to figure out those games, and he would always patiently explain them to her.

He made every one of his grandkids feel like they were special and his favorite.

                                                      

                 

    

When I was a teenager, he made me feel normal.

He always had a hug and loving words for me.

He knew everyone's favorite food and would always keep it on hand.

  He would be slightly inappropriate with his jokes, which made me feel like an adult.

I remember very clearly in the picture below that I could not fall asleep, but didn't move because of the comfort I felt from sleeping on Poppy.

       

        

When I was an adult, he included me in his adult world.

He was very open about his faults and accomplishments.

He didn't think worse of me when I behaved foolishly.

He would call himself a 'Sour Kraut' until he found out he was actually Swiss.  

Then he would still call himself a 'Sour Kraut' and would go on to tell you the whole story of how he had always believed he was German but found out he wasn't.

He was the definition of 'ornery.'

And yet he was also very kind, benevolent, and friendly.

He was married to his first wife, my grandmother, for 51 years.

They'd known each other only 2 weeks before they got married.

After her death, he met a wonderful lady named Betsy, whom he was married to until his death.

                                                      

I miss him.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

We've been trying to get the twins adjusted to a 4-hour schedule at night.  The first 2 nights went really well and the twins got a couple of good solid hours of sleep in there (and hopefully my sister, as well).  But last night wasn't so well, and it's gone into today.  Sadie woke up at about midnight last night and hasn't slept well all day, either.  She sleeps for a few minutes, then wakes up with sharp cries and is hard to get back to sleep. Wyatt's done better than Sadie, but he's still not sleeping solidly.

This is how it goes with newborns, though.  You have good days and bad days.  Unfortunately, since the twins were a bit premature I think their newborn days are going to last a little longer than most babies.  Eli has also been having an off day, waking up early out of his naps and wanting to eat sooner than he should.  Maybe he's going through a growth spurt.  He's definitely getting big.

 

A few minutes of sleeping together.

Giant Among Us

                                            
  Eli:  "I'm really not quite sure of this."                                                                                                           

"I guess it's not too bad."  

"I suppose we can do this."

At The Sister's

I'm staying with my sister this week to help with the twins.  It's fun, but a little sad because I had to leave two of my boys behind:  Christian and Silas.  Christian's little sister is watching Silas in the evenings for us while he's at work.  This also means that Silas gets a full week of Daddy doing school with him. 

I have my camera with me but not my laptop, so pictures might take a while to post. So far, we've given the twins their first tub baths and they had an eventful doctor's appointment. They both gained about 2 lbs in 2 weeks and are doing really well.

Other exciting news this week is that we got a pool! We split the cost three ways with Christian's parents and older sister.  Unfortunately, we're on well water and have limitations on how quickly the pool can fill up.  I'm sure that by the time I get back on Friday it will be full.  Maybe.  Hopefully.

I for Igloo

We made an igloo out of marshmallows and frosting today. 

Savannah helped a little bit, but he did most of it himself.

The finished product.

Silas' New Room

For a while now we've been contemplating what to do with Silas' room. The room was really dark because of the dark green paint, and there just wasn't a lot of floor space for the poor boy to play. So over the past weekend, we painted his room and rearranged it. One requirement was that the new paint color had to match the curtains (because I wasn't about to make another set and they were really good blackout curtains) and match the mural Shana painted.

Mom gave us this tan color and it worked out well. The room's much brighter now. We rearranged his bed and dresser so that he has more floor space, and put a few new decorations up. We also went through all of his toys and organized them so they're not laying all over the floor. We'll see how long that part lasts.

Our favorite part to his new room was the chalkboard paint on the back of his door. He likes it, but I think as he learns to read and write he'll like it even more.

The only reason I am attaching this picture is because of his pose and face. He's such an adorable little boy.

Sleeping, and an Update on Eli

Sleeping on Daddy's lap.

At 9 weeks old, Eli is completely different than when he was 2 weeks old. He sleeps really well not only at night, but during the day as well. He might wake up early out of a nap or two, but he generally doesn't have any problem going down for a nap. Whereas he once would cry through one nap, become over-stimulated and cry inconsolably for the rest of the day, he no longer does that at all. We like Babywise, which is based on two principles: the baby eating, staying awake for a little while, and then sleeping; and falling asleep on his own. Eli couldn't do either of these until the past two weeks. He does eat, wake, sleep really well now. I know exactly when he's been awake for an hour, because he starts yawning and fussing very predictably. The other principle of Babywise, falling asleep on his own, we're still working on. Up until the week before last, getting Eli to sleep required a magic trick. For the past two weeks we've been able to rock him to sleep quite quickly. But the past couple of days he hasn't even needed to be rocked. His nights are still very unpredictable. Sometimes he sleeps 8 hours straight, sometimes he'll only sleep 5 hours at a time. After all of the other progress he's made, I'm not complaining.

Sister Revenge

This is payback for Savannah putting a spider on my shoulder in the dark. And okay, it was only a Daddy Long-leg, but still.

1 week, 4 children

While Jill is helping out with the twins at Shana's, I've got Savannah and Blake at my house. We've been having loads of fun. Savannah is becoming an expert diaper changer and baby holder, and Blake and Silas are playing all sorts of boy games.

Blake goofing off in the computer room. Him and Silas have been glued to each other. On day three, there still has not been a single fight between them. He's also surprised me by how interested he is in Eli. He's very quiet and very gentle. I think he views me as an intrusion on his play time with Silas, but I've gotten a few hugs and smiles out of him.

Savannah is, at this moment, cleaning my room, so she is quickly becoming my favorite sister. We also have been having some major sister bonding time. While the boys watched Tom and Jerry, we watched Say Yes to the Dress. I put some blue eyeliner on her (my older sister still puts my makeup on me when I'm at her house). Tomorrow she's going to try on my wedding dress and Friday we're supposed to hit up the garage sales together. Eat your heart out, Shana.








Eli bonding with Aunt Savannah. She's gotten lots of smiles from him.
















Hopefully he
won't end up needing glasses, but Mr. Potato Head's are fine.

Never before has bath time been so interesting and fun. Eli had four pair of hands washing him.

Kisses from Aunt Savannah:

This made him smile a lot.