Jane

Jane learned how to crawl out of her crib a couple weeks ago. She's our first child to learn to do that! Now suddenly the excitement of being able to crawl out of her crib whenever she wants is just too much to handle I guess. She's waking up in the middle of the night and coming into our room for no reason. We can hear her coming because she drops down from the crib railing onto the floor with a loud thud. Then she opens and slams her door shut behind her, and opens and slams our door shut as she enters our room. And in the mornings apparently she's so excited to crawl out of her crib that she's now waking up at 7, 7:30 a.m. instead of 8, 8:30a.m. It's a big accomplishment I guess. Kind of cute, kind of annoying.

Blakely's had a rough two weeks. She's been constipated! Poor thing. She only poops about once a week right now. But in between poops she gets fussy after eating and kicks and strains like she's trying to get it out. I took her to the dr. and got some tips, but she's still only pooping once a week. I wish she could talk to I know what's wrong.

I started pulling wallpaper off of the office walls, to prepare the room for Ana. Thad took the mirrored wall off piece by piece on Saturday. It actually came off pretty easily. And so did the wallpaper, once I got the hang of it. I have two more walls to do today, then Thad will start priming the drywall tonight. Then it's more prime and paint, then on to do the exact same thing in the nursery. Remove wallpaper, prime drywall, ...... Uggh, sometimes I wish all we had to do is paint a room and that's it. But nope, older homes come with a lot more work. You have to tear off mirrors, paneling, wallpaper, etc., and fix drywall before you can even start painting. Oh well. There is some satisfaction in doing the work and completing it I guess! But inside I'm telling myself, "In our next house ...." bet you can finish my sentence:)

Ana is enjoying school. She doesn't seem as excited about it as last year, though. Maybe the excitement of Kindergarten, when everything is new and exciting, has worn off. But at least she's still happy. This year she started simple spelling and math tests! Yikes! But she aced the first one so I have high hopes. She's in the High Abilities program, which means that she scored well on her NWEA tests last year so she's in a class with other High Abilities kids, and her teacher is geared toward challenging those kids. But not too challenging. She's supposedly very creative and fun. I think it'll be a good experience for Ana.

I'm enjoying time alone with Benjamin. He seems more responsible and accountable without Ana's shadow to follow in. Don't get me wrong, I love to see those to play together, but I also enjoy this other side of Benjamin when she's not around. I talk to him more, and listen to his ideas and thoughts. When I ask him to go do his chores, he'll nod his head and say, "Got it!" and he goes, and does. He helps get diapers and wipes for Blakely, and other little errands for me. I've noticed how much he's grown and matured. He started preschool in 2 weeks and is very excited. It's at Carolyn Neal's house, one of the lady's that I visit teach. Her daughter, Tessa, is in Sunbeams with Benji, and will be in his preschool class. So I think he'll love it.