Michael's First Day of Preschool

Michael started preschool today. How in the world we got to this point in our lives I just don't don't know. Is Michael really that old already? Am I? Wow!

We started the day (well actually we started this the day we signed him up) by going over what he could expect to happen at preschool. Michael is one of those kids who thrives on routine and cowers at even the mention of the unexpected. He is the one who broke in the new toddler teacher at church yesterday by providing a full blown meltdown when they walked into kids' worship late - after things had already begun. He is the one who stood in front of the cupboard today announcing that I simply could not eat cereal for lunch because, "It's just not right, mom." (We actually had fresh strawberries in the house even though it's winter and they sounded good to eat on cereal.) So we talked today about how they were going to sing and eat a snack and play. I made sure he knew that the teacher would pick the snack (not him). He was a bit concerned that I didn't know what he would do first and assured me that he would tell me when he got home. He was excited to hear about the space on the carpet that was tagged with his name where he could sit.

When we got there he did very well, and I did too if I can say so. Neither of us shed a tear. We hung up his coat and he was invited by a highschooler to join another boy in playing with trains. Seizing this opportunity, I gave him a hug and quickly exited stage left. The preschool is at the local high school where the students taking child development classes can help plan and lead activities for the preschoolers. It seems like a great situation for all involved. The high school students get hands on experience and my son gets more attention than I could give him in a week.

Then two hours later I was back and waiting in the car for them to bring the kids out. I thought back to all those times I stood on the other side, sitting with the kids and making sure they all got dismissed to the right parent and was glad that this time around I just had to worry about one child. Michael came out to the car and imediately announced that he played first (remember back to the conversations we had had earlier in the day - now he knows what comes first. I hope they don't change that. lol) He then was pleased to announce that there were two Nicks - I believe he was refering to the high school students. When I asked him what his favorite thing was he said, "Snack - We had grahm crackers Mom!" And with that I entered into the world of parents who can ask all sorts of questions about their kid's day without ever really finding out much information.

Bible reading

Our church has just started a daily Bible reading program. I'm not sure where it comes from, but it gives you a couple of passages to read through each day and by the end of the year you will have read through the new testament twice and the old once. The cool thing about it is that there are student and children versions as well. They won't make it through the whole Bible in a year, but they read smaller segments of what the adults are reading each day. This allows everyone in a family and really our whole church to be reading the same passages, and then allows us to discuss them together.
I, by the way, forgot yesterday, so I'm already a day behind, but I'm sitting down to do the reading now. I also just sat down with Michael before his nap and read the children's passages with him. He was so excited because it was the birth and shepherds stories from Luke 2, which we told many times this past holiday season so he knows them well.
If you want to check it out or even follow along this year, here is a link:
http://www.wrccc.org/2008/community.php#daily

Update

Well, I figured I should update everyone after that last post.
Michael if fine now. He had a fever the next day, but then all was fine. He however, would have loved for the babying to continue...
Jon is sleeping a bit better. He is still up a couple of times a night, but not every hour anymore, which is at least a step in the right direction. Just keep praying that I continue to function ok on interrupted sleep!
And I'm off to upload some new pics if you want to check them out:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tchaig/

Why I took two naps today

Here is the story:
Jon, up until a couple weeks ago was a pretty good sleeper. We had our share of times up in the middle of the night, but nothing really bad. Then two weeks ago he started waking up every 45 minutes to an hour - day or night. We had been swaddling him and having him sleep in what was his favorite space - his bouncy chair, so we thought maybe he was out growing this. About a week ago, we only half swaddled him and put him in his bed. Same result. Every 45 minutes - and hour he would wake up wanting his pacifier back in his mouth. Most of the time giving the pacifier back works the first time, but then when he wakes again he is almost too tired to suck on it, so it just keeps falling out of his mouth, and he just starts crying. So we finally decided to let him have a try without the paci to see if he could figure something out. Well, we had a couple of days of that and really not much luck yet. So I've been trying to get a nap in each day.

But last night really tops it all - here is the rundown (I think... I was a bit groggy by the end so things might be a bit mixed up there.)
7:00 Jon is tired and we put him to bed.
8:00 Michael to bed, Jon up crying - he cries/whines off and on for an hour or so - we pop in periodically to let him know we love him.
9:00 Both boys sleeping
9:30 Jon crying again - we repeat the process
10:30 Jon crying again - we repeat the process
11:30 I go to bed because all is finally quite
12:00 Jon crying again - we repeat the process
12:45 Tim and I head to bed hoping for a couple of hours of sleep from Jon at this point
1:30 Michael is crying - I go in and comfort him from what seems to be a bad dream
2:00 Jon is up crying - I feed him and he goes back to sleep
2:30 Michael is crying - I go in and he has thrown up all over his bed. I get him to the bathroom and cleaned up and put new sheets on his bed.
3:00 Back in bed
3:30 Michael is crying - I go in and he has thrown up all over his bed (yes again). I get him to the bathroom and cleaned up and set up a sleeping bag on the floor of our room for him.
4:00 Back in the bathroom with Michael who is throwing up again - but not on his bed this time - way to go Michael.
5:30 Jon is crying - I go in and feed him and he goes back to sleep.
6:00 Back in the bathroom with Michael who is throwing up again
7:00 Jon is crying - I kick Tim out of bed (who by the way has slept through this whole thing :)) - Tim gets Jon up and tells Michael he should go back to sleep.
8:00 Michael is up and we head downstairs for the morning.

:) Got to love being the mom! And now you know why I loved my two naps today!

So you don't worry, I should follow this up by telling you that Michael has had a fever today and been more on the calm side, but seems to be doing just fine. He loves the taste of his medicine (calls it a special treat so I guess I should make sure to put it away out of reach...) and has been playing fine today.

Jon is mostly happy even due to the lack of sleep this week, but has taken to slipping off into sleep whenever we give him a pacifier (but never for more than 45 minutes of course!)















It however has not stopped Jon from learning new things. This week he has begun rolling over!

Jonathan has learned to play!

After 3 1/2 months of just laying around and that he can interact with it - or at least with looking at the world, Jonathan has finally realized the toys hanging in his play gym. Sunday, I put him down on the mat and watched as he accidentally hit one of the hanging animals. He studied it for a bit and then his hand went back out and batted it again. He sat in intense concentration for probably 25 minutes hitting the animals, grabbing the animals, and trying to bring them down to his mouth (or actually bring his mouth up to them since they are attached). It was adorable.


































And here is a super cute picture of him all bundled up for our car shopping outing yesterday!

And it continues

To tag onto yesterday's post: I spent the morning looking into car insurance for our new car. We were planning on checking a quote with the company we had our old cars insured with and the company that insures our house. As I was looking through the paperwork, I was having a hard time understanding all of the different coverages and amounts, so I ventured online for some help. I ended up at the Geico site - they really do make it "so easy a cave man can do it" by the way. There they had explanations of all of the coverage options. To get a feel for things I started plugging in the numbers from our old car coverage and then playing with the amounts to see how they affect the price. And I ended up with what seemed like an extremely low quote. So I called to talk to a "real human." He pulled up my quote and he started laughing because he couldn't believe it was so low, but told me it was true. He said it's cheaper than he gets for an older car with his employee discount. He just kept laughing dumbfounded at the price throughout our phone conversation. So, we have our new car covered with very high coverage now for $200 for 6 months. God is SSOO GOOD!

God is so GOOD

I'm going to start out with a rather insignificant story, but trust me - it will come in handy later. Do you ever get surveys in the mail? You know, the ones asking you what tv shows you watch or what cleaning products you've heard of? I've been told by people not to fill these out because then you get put on a list of people who will do these things and your mail box will be flooded soon. But you see I'm home all day with a baby and a toddler. And while I love that, sometimes even the little mental stimulation that filling out a survey involves can be a welcomed change - answering questions asked by other adults instead of by a 3 year old. So I have been known to fill out surveys from time to time and I don't think it has really flooded our mail box - at least not yet.

Well, back to my title - God is good. Tim is now part time at the church and going back to school full time online through Liberty. I'm still home with the boys and making a little spending money online through my scrapbooking businesses but not much yet. Anyway, it's meant we've had to readjust our budget and pull from our savings this year. However, we feel very strongly that the first thing we need to do with our money is to tithe. Ten percent goes to the church each month regardless of how little we are making. (If you are a Christian reading this and don't tithe, see my earlier post from Oct 4.) And God is blessing our socks off! Let me just share a few things.

First, we get a letter from our mortgage bank saying that they overestimated how much our taxes would be and there were hundreds of dollars extra in our escrow account. Enclosed was a check for this extra money and a lower adjusted monthly payment we need to make for our mortgage. Next, I open a random survey envelope and out falls $30 in thanks for filling out the last one and would I mind filling out one more. (See I told you that first story would come in handy. :) ) Not much I know - but enough to let us eat out one night. And finally, just today we went car shopping for a van (I know, bit by bit, I'm turning into a soccer mom). And we happen to get a deal on a 2006 Town and Country that was well below what we were hoping to spend.

God is so good!! He provides for us in ways we can't even imagine. Praise Him!