My Family's Adventures

This week was my Spring Break, so I tried to get a bunch of doctor's appointments in. The kids had their physicals on Friday, but Dale got a job interview at the last minute and was unable to take them. So, my mom took them, which was nice.

Unfortunately, she (and the doctor) forgot that he had had the BCG vaccine while we were in Japan. This is the vaccine against tuberculosis. Because it's a live vaccine, I was told that a TB skin test would likely come out positive for several years. WELL... they did a skin test because they had forgotten, so now I know what a positive skin test looks like!

Another unfortunately... this probably means he will not be allowed to go to school tomorrow until we get him in for a chest X-ray to confirm that he does not have TB.

Grumble grumble...

Current Mood: irritated

James is now ONE YEAR OLD!

Today we had a birthday party at Grandma and Grandpa Ruhl's house. Unfortunately, because Easter is tomorrow, a few people weren't able to come. We still had a great time, though!

The theme was PIRATES! I decorated a pirate ship-shaped cake, and James' smash cake was a treasure chest with M&Ms pouring out of it. James was uber-confused about why we were putting a cake with a flaming candle on it in front of him, but seemed to like it when we all started singing! He was sort of picking at the cake, and then Uncle Chris showed him how to really smash it. It was hilarious!

He also got several really cute presents. Then, we all taught Shirou how to play Parcheesi. He won!

Overall a very nice day!

James' milestones at age one year:
Crawls very well/fast!
Can go up AND down the stairs on his own
Can put objects in a cup
Manipulates shapes to fit in certain spaces
Pulls himself up to standing, and walks along if he can hold on to a surface (will be walking/standing independently any day now!)

Happy Birthday, James!

Current Mood: cheerful

Yeah... things have been busy!

Shirou is doing well. He likes to go around proclaiming that he is "almost 5." Haha! We went to Providence on Friday to see whether the pre-kindergarten program was something to continue exploring. I felt much better about that program than the one at his current location. So far, the final decision is that he will be leaving his current pre-school, but it is also very likely that he will go to Providence in the Fall. Today, Dale and I decided to pull him out of pre-school for the summer and instead enroll him in a wider variety of park district programs (art, music, T-ball, soccer, swimming, lunch bunch, etc.) This would also be a good transition to his new school.

James is getting so big! He's walking all along furniture, climbing stairs, etc. In the past 2 days, he has even stood on his own! If he's balanced and you let go of his hands, he can stand for several seconds. He'll be walking very soon, which is very sad for me to think about. My baby!!

James is also our little musician. He is so hilarious when he bops to the music. He also nods his head from side to side - too funny! He constantly has a drumstick in his hand so that he can clang on something. We will definitely be enrolling him in Musikgarten this summer!

What else.... my Master's program has been postponed until September rather than May. This means I will not get my raise (lane change) until like 3 months later. No worries, it's not like the extra money would be USEFUL around here or anything. Grumble. My student teacher started and she is turning out to be very good (yay!) and I get to take a free class at DePaul for hosting her, so I will do that and the APT test over the summer.

At work... praise Jesus that I did not get laid off! Unfortunately our district had to do some RIF-ing, but my job was saved. Competence is not always punished after all. At Huntington I was promoted to Lead Teacher. These are all good things.

Dale is still volunteering and looking for jobs. He has had interviews trickle in, so although things are moving at a slow pace for him, at least they are moving. He picks up a few hours at Huntington which helps tremendously. And, through his volunteer position, he is getting some good people their money, so he has some good karma on his side.

Current Mood: busy

Shirou is FOUR! It's pretty unbelievable. We had a party at our house yesterday. It was just a few people, and Shirou had several playmates for his remote-controlled cars. He was happy!

The party theme this year was "Cars." I decorated a regular sheet cake to look like a race track, and Shirou put some (new, clean) racecars on top. Plus, candles. Shirou really likes to be the helper with anything to do in the kitchen these days! He's learning how to do a lot of things!

James had no idea what was going on, but was wide-eyed the whole time. He had his check-up earlier this week. He is very small for his age (10th percentile) but is proportional, so it's not like he's malnourished or anything. He's just a lil guy. He also has 4 teeth now, and crawls up to me and bites me on the leg or arm when he wants to nurse.

Current Mood: grateful

Mmmm Hmmm another brag post.

James can get up several steps, but has not figured out that he can't back up so easily, so this is still a dangerous activity!

The very interesting thing about James is how well he mimics everything. Shirou got a racetrack for Christmas, and about 3 weeks ago, we noticed that James tries to put the cars in the slot where the race starts. Today he was copying the way Shirou played with his kung-fu dolls. I think we may have another little genius on our hands!

Shirou's sentences are getting better, and his list of words is getting longer. He is learning to spell the names of all the kids in his class. We started this after he wrote a few of them on a paper and then came up to ask me how to spell Maddy. Shirou also successfully spelled the word "variety" for his cousin Seth during our Nielsen Christmas event last weekend, so he can now get a job at Jimmy John's! LOL!

Current Mood: pleased

Today James has been out as long as he was inside cooking! Happy 9 months, James!

James can now pull himself up to standing. He did this for the first time on Wednesday! Since then, he has learned to pull himself up onto the landing of the stairs... better put up a baby gate over there! Luckily, Dale and Shirou lowered the crib mattress last weekend because he has been pulling himself up to standing in there, too!

That's all. We're all sick. Dale started volunteering. I'm procrastinating and so thought I'd come on here to update...

Current Mood: bouncy

James understands that when someone says "hi," he should wave! It's hilarious! He waves his whole arm and gets this huge silly grin on his face. ADORABLE!

Current Mood: giggly

Our latest adventure...

Dale woke up about 2am because the heat kept kicking on, which usually means we've had a wind tunnel in the garage which forces our kitchen door open, thereby letting in all kinds of cold air. So he went to check. Well, eventually he figured out that there was actually a hole in the ceiling of the garage, with TORRENTS of water coming down! There was about an inch of water on the garage floor!

After he came to get me, I went downstairs and grabbed a few things I wanted to salvage (a Christmas present being hidden for Shirou and a set of pictures I got when Grandpa Stawarz died - both in the line of water!)

Well, then we tried to wake up some neighbors. The people who live above the garage weren't answering their door or phone, and we also wanted to make sure our other neighbors weren't getting flooded. Since we couldn't get a hold of anyone to shut off the water, I called the police, who sent the fire department! (Yes, Shirou missed it that the biiiig red fire truck was parked out in front!)

Just before the fire department arrived, we got in touch with the people who live above us and they were able to shut off the water. The water stopped coming down a couple of minutes later. There is quite a lot of damage - a hole in the ceiling, boxes and rugs and other things that had to be thrown out, bubbles in the plaster/dry wall on one side of the garage, cracks in other parts of the ceiling where the water kind of ran along the pipe... THANKFULLY nothing in the main part of the house (that we can see anyway).

Anyway, the fireman said that a lot of people were calling with frozen pipes that had burst, which is what he guessed had happened. The plumber who came later in the day thought the same thing. We are now figuring out how we are going to fix it. It is becoming a rather frustrating process. My goals are these:

1) That it gets fixed properly and we can move our things back into the garage.
2) That I don't have to talk to any insurance companies. I am getting really tired of insurance companies!

Current Mood: annoyed

Today Shirou participated in his very first Sunday School Christmas program at church! He was a shepherd, and he did a great job! He stood in his spot just like he was supposed to, he sang the song and did all the motions just right, and wore a really cute costume. It was hilarious and precious to watch!

Afterwards we went to Nana's to exchange gifts with Tim and Amanda. They are going to be with her family in Wisconsin on Christmas Day, so we spent today together instead. James got to open his first Christmas gifts :-) He was somewhat interested in the wrapping paper, but of course he doesn't really understand what was going on.

Overall a good day, though very very very cold! I had to hack through a snow drift in our driveway to even get out this morning, and the wind was sooooo bitterly cold! We had to stop for gas, and we decided it was worth paying a few cents extra to go to a station on the side of the street so that the building would block the wind!

Current Mood: chipper

James has come a long way on the purposeful forward movement! It's still a very erratic crawl, but he definitely gets where he wants to be! He is also repeating more sounds, although he still hasn't associated them with anyone/thing in particular. It's pretty hilarious to listen to him repeat some babble and then start whispering it to himself. Plus, he's always smiling about something! He's a funny little kid!

James is also growing quite fast, and I can't keep up with the nursing, but he refuses to take formula. I'm going to have to get some soy formula (that's what Shirou drank) and see if that works. Kind of an expensive experiment, though...

Shirou will perform in his first Christmas program tomorrow. He just got back from dress rehearsal. It should be adorable! He is a shepherd, and they are singing "Away in a Manger." I have to remember to double check the video camera tape and batteries!

Preschool also had a Santa visit, so Shirou sat on his lap. James also got a turn, but didn't seem to care for it. Apparently he wailed! Shirou suddenly started asking for a trumpet because Bob the Builder got on in one of the movies Shirou has. I wrote some suggestions for Santa on Shirou's letter...

Shirou and I had our dental check-ups! Twenty-nine years with NO cavities for me! Shirou also had no cavities, AND he let the hygienist take Xrays and do the fluoride treatment! What a big boy!

Dale had some work this week. He is doing some consulting work on a federal bill related to veterans' health benefits. So far it's volunteer, but we have hopes it will lead to future opportunities. He also is starting at Huntington to help keep busy in the meantime. Dale really needs to get out of the house and use his brain... the kids are starting to make him crazy!

Current Mood: energetic

So... I have been thinking about my Master's degree for quite some time. A couple of weeks ago, I saw an ad that a nearby university was starting up a cohort in New Lenox. It is for Reading Specialist Type 10 certification, which is what I'd decided to pursue. It seemed like the fates aligned, so I signed up! I start in May!

(I have also calculated that this is a pay raise in addition to my regular yearly raise every year for the next 3 years as I move along the steps on the salary schedule!)

Current Mood: productive

Now I am 29! Or, as Janice says, 365 days until I'm 30. Yikes!

For my birthday, James started saying "dada." He doesn't seem to associate it with Dale yet, but he knows he gets a big reaction whenever he says it!

He's not even close to saying "mama."

My other son made me an ADORABLE book for my birthday. It's all about our family and where we go and where we live. It's hilarious!

In the evening, a few people came over to play games. We had a blast. My friends are inappropriate sometimes :-)

Current Mood: giddy

Dale is 29!

Gaga babysat so that I could take him to see James Bond and out to eat at a German restaurant.

I told Shirou that Daddy is 29 but Mommy is only 28. He said, "So Daddy is bigger than Mommy." To which Daddy said, "Only when Mommy's not pregnant."

Jerk.

Current Mood: jubilant

Dale and I attended our first parent-teacher conference yesterday. We got Shirou's first report card! He got all S's and D's. I told him the S stands for "smart" and the D stands for "dandy." (S is "secure" and D is "developing"). He couldn't quite understand why we wanted him to call his grandparents/aunt/uncle to talk about his report card, though!

His teacher was talking to us about how he knows all the letters, and the though occurred to me that he has known them all for 2 years now! that's pretty incredible. He is now building up his bank of sight words, and I think he will be reading simple books by this time next year. We also have some math games we play, and he seems interested in that, too.

James is becoming more and more mobile. He still doesn't "crawl," but he is able to cover distance with his various wriggles and turns. He is quite comfortable sitting independently and playing with something - he is occupied that way for quite some time!

James is in the "everything in the mouth" stage. He has TWO teeth now, and I think he's working on at least one more. I am pleased to say that he sleeps in his crib without complaint for the vast majority of the night! He does wake up to nurse, but will sleep for as long as 8 hours before crying for his meal! What a fantastic baby!

He is also a good eater. Yogurt, cereal, banana, and a few veggies have been introduced. Hopefully I will have time this weekend to make a stockpile from scratch. I haven't had a chance to make my own baby food for him, yet, and I really enjoyed doing that for Shirou.

Grown-up news: Dale is still looking for a job. Something new is posted every day. I am lucky to have the 2 jobs that I do, and enjoy them, in the meantime. I do feel like I'm never around and that I'm always tired, but with 2 kids here and 50 at school, I would feel tired anyway!

Only a few days until Dale and I celebrate our last birthdays in our 20's!

Current Mood: hopeful

Today, Dale took the oath of admission to the Illinois bar. So, he's officially a lawyer! We had to drive all the way out to Moline for the ceremony.

He is also recovering nicely from his appendectomy. The surgeon said his incisions look fine.

Oh, and I finally voted for a winner! I asked Shirou, "should I vote for McCain, Obama, or Nader?" and he said, "OBAMA!" He also recognizes him on TV :-) I must say I am proud and amazed by my country. It's incredible to think that my kids will grow up without giving a thought that a person's color or gender should hinder their chances of becoming president, or of being successful in general. (At least that's the hope.)

Current Mood: pleased

So, big Dale had his appendix removed yesterday! He woke me up at 1am and said he thought we should go to the hospital because he was having very severe pain. My parents came over to sleep with the kids, and I took him to the ER. The ride was torture for him, poor guy!

They took him into surgery right away at 7:15 (which was as soon as the surgeon arrived). It was a very quick surgery and they were able to do it laparoscopically. The surgeon said he was very lucky because it was very inflamed and infected, and it would have been a much different surgery in a matter of hours.

This was, what, our third October in a row with a trip to the ER?!

Today, obviously, was Halloween. Dale was released from the hospital. Shirou went to pre-school this morning for their Halloween party. It was very fun and cute! We also went Trick-or-Treating in my parents' neighborhood. Shirou was a bat, and James was a skunk!

Oh, and James now has 2 teeth and knows how to use them!

Current Mood: scared

Baby James has his first tooth! (I discovered this in a painful way...) It is the bottom front left tooth. When you try to look at it, James sticks his little tongue out and covers it up. The trick is to put him on his back and tickle him until he starts to squeal. Then you can see it :-)

Current Mood: surprised

OK, so now Dale and I are the parents who don't watch their children.

Yesterday Dale was taking a nap, and James was getting sleepy. I was so tired that I suggested to the boys that we all go upstairs and take a nap. Shirou complied for a while, but then decided he would rather play. I said OK, go play in your room or turn on the TV downstairs.

Fine.

About an hour later, Dale hears the front door slam shut. Huh? The door was locked! He goes down there, and it's Shirou COMING BACK IN! Shirou denied and denied that he had gone outside, but then he finally admitted to me that he saw our neighbor walking his dog, and he wanted to go out and talk to him! (No shoes and no jacket on!)

I talked to our neighbor today, and he said that Shirou had come outside and was talking and playing for a long time. He came back in and got a ball and threw it into a tree. That's when he convinced Shirou to go back in the house. Apparently Shirou was telling him that we were asleep and that he wasn't supposed to be outside! I told the neighbor that our door was locked and all of that.... he actually thought it was funny, but I am still totally embarassed!

Today we locked the door and deadbolt, and I told Shirou I would give him a lollipop if he showed me how he opened the door. He can undo the deadbolt! He can unlock the lock! He opens the door! We are getting the childproofing stuff this weekend!

OK, now I have to say that our readers should keep in mind that we don't usually leave Shirou to play by himself for that long anyway... usually just 10 minutes while we're cooking or cleaning or something. So of course one of the rare times that he is actually supposed to be playing by himself, he makes a break for it....... Sigh!

Current Mood: embarrassed

HE PASSED!

Dale takes the oath on November 6th.

:-) :-) :-)

Current Mood: ecstatic

Shirou: Mama, what's a synonym?

Ahh... how many 3-year-olds would ask that?! Dale and I explained it and tried a few examples. I think he understands the concept a little, but then overapplies it. When I asked him what is a synonym for angry, he said mad! However, he thinks that any 2 things that are the same are synonyms. "Look! A van and a van! That's a synonym!"

If you see him, ask about why the leaves change color. Then he'll tell you all about chlorophyll, which is another word that most 3-year-olds probably don't know. I'm trying to get him to remember xanthophyll in order to make his explanation even more scientific, but that piece of geek knowledge hasn't stuck yet.

Current Mood: creative