Updates...hmmmm

So yeah, been a while....

Aaron

Aaron is currently attending the CJ Reddy conference here in the DC area. It's a great honor for him to have been chosen. He's made some great contacts and gotten some good information about how to expand his learning potential and further his career. Right now, he's telling me about their trip to Arlington tomorrow. I'm so jealous. Then he gets an awesome dinner.

He's an amazing asset to his team at work. He's become an educator where he helps the other members of the floor to make sure they're doing what they can and should and helping efficiency. I've had a blast meeting some of his coworkers and attending functions with them all as a family.

He was flip-flopping between days and nights a lot the last few weeks and I'm amazed how well he took it all. It was hard, but we all worked together to do what we could to help. He constantly pushes to be better, do new things and help in any way he can.

Noah

Noah's 5. What more do I need to say? My goodness, he's 5. He certainly acts it. He's made sure to tell me that he knows everything, even more than myself or Aaron. His attitude, growth and knowledge certainly reflects that of a 5 year old.

He's reading at or above 1st grade and surprises me with what he knows. His math is picking up and he is starting to grasp subtraction. Every time I tell him we're doing mat, he begs me to do 5 or more pages. I have to tell him to tone it back. Can you believe that? A child of mine begging for math. I hope that keeps up and he surpasses me (which there's no doubt he will). He is always looking to help out, protect his brother and prove he's a big boy.

The love and affection he shows toward us is amazing. I can honestly say he's wise beyond his years and his boundaries are limitless for his future. I can see him doing amazing things. He already is. He has great compassion for others (gets that from his father) and a love of nature and desire to know more about everything.

Mason

Mason's 19 months old now and growing like a weed. Currently he says trash, dada, baby, chicken, cheese, fish, dat (for that). He signs milk, more, eat, please and thank you (which he also tries to say). He's been putting himself to sleep at nights the last several nights and yesterday for nap. He's moving to his own room this weekend (was going to happen a lot sooner but things came up and I love snuggles).

He can run, climb and tackle. He loves to wrestle anyone and anything (pillows especially). The giggles and laughs we get from him can light up a room. The fits he's started, well, they take the light away mostly. He will lay down on the ground, curl up in a ball face down and put his face on his hands. If you try talking to him or moving toward him he will back himself up and move away.

He adopted a small puppy I picked up a year or two ago for Valentines Day. I can't remember who I got it for or why, but I picked it up. Anyway, he sleeps with it now and he'll sometimes hold onto it when I get him up to snuggle when he comes down.

Mason was seen by Early Intervention to see if he qualifies for speech therapy since he wasn't using really any words (up until his 15 month appointment). They came out for their second meeting two days ago and said he does not qualify. He's on par with receptive and expressive speech and in the 22-25m range for their 4 other categories. Both teachers gave good advice and tips for helping him to expand his speech and said they expect a "boom" of words soon. I certainly hope so.

Me

Not too much for me. Had a stomach bug. Tired. Bout it. Haha. Well, I suppose there's more. I've started doing a two week menu plan and compiling my recipes into a binder for menu planning. Even made one as a birthday gift for my aunt. We're working on going through things in the house to clean it out. We've got too much junk. So far a good amount of baby items have left the house but we still have a ton more. Basically if it isn't being or going to be used it's outta here.

I'm working on trying to get things organized around here. I have so much I WANT to do but more I NEED to do. My focus right now is my boys, all three of them. My job is to run the house smoothly so that everyone's as happy as can be in the current situation, whether it be schedules or sicknesses. My meal plan helps and soon, my cleaning scheduling will help too. It's my job to make sure that Aaron's supported in whatever it is he needs, Noah's challenged academically and Mason's learning and trying new things. I keep them all fed, on time and rested (well, the younger two at least). Hopefully I'm doing my job well enough.

It's 11:35 so I'm going to bed, but I have A TON of pictures to upload. Snow, birthday, and everything in between. I promise, they'll get up.