Saturday, September 28, 2013

and we're on our way....

So..... It’s almost the end of September, and time for a quick blog!  I was right in my assumption that I would have FAR less free time on my hands with watching the extra kids.  But, I have found myself with some spare time today.  Currently, Robyn is sleeping, and Jesse is having a snack beside me.  Dave is out getting new glasses with Janna (for himself NOT Janna).  We picked them out last night during our new weekly goal “Friday night date night.”  Oddly, the store didn’t have their optician in last night,  because she broke her ankle that afternoon, and nobody else was able to fill in.  So, we picked out the frames and lenses and got the process half way done, but he has to go back in this morning and do the final measurements with the optician and payment.   They are really nice glasses!  Totally different from his last pair.  More timeless looking as they are pretty tiny and rimless, and you can see his gorgeous blue eyes much more clearly than his current chunky black trendy (5 years ago) pair.  I can’t wait for them to arrive.     

I’m far too pooped to do much this morning, so typing seemed like a good activity.  The weekend seems like such a golden time compared to the craziness of the week these days, and I really feel like singing and dancing come 5pm on Friday. It’s been 6 weeks now that I have been providing childcare.  I feel like it took about that long to adjust! Jesse had the roughest initial start with the change in schedule and home life, I had a few hard weeks in the middle, and Janna saved her adjustment challenges for the past couple of week.   Robyn has been fine all along! Maybe hers is still to come??

Anyways, it took me some time to figure out a few things.  Getting to know the kids was one big thing.  I now know who I have to watch for what, and what works and doesn’t work for the different kids I have here.  Another big thing was that I had to tweak my daily routine a bit.  I found I had stuffed a bit too much into the day, and so I have adjusted a couple of things that seem to help a lot.   Nap time was another issue for one of the little ones, and finally, 6 weeks in, he isn’t screaming his head off during nap time. Getting those issues under my belt, and just accepting that my house isn’t going to be as clean as I want it, were key in helping me adjust.   Dave has also been really supportive and amazing. It took me a while, but I am at the point where I feel good about my decision, and am enjoying the days much more than I was at first.

My kids really like having the extra friends around.  On Thursdays, Jesse whines when he realizes that nobody extra is coming over for the day!  Although, he proceeds to fully enjoy the time with just mommy and his siblings.  He also just about cries every Saturday and Sundays when he asks to do homeschooling and I tell him we don’t do home school on the weekends.  That’s a good sign, right?  So, he seems to be at the point where he is embracing the new deal, and doing well with it all.  He and the 3.5 year old I watch Tuesdays and some Fridays have REALLY hit it off, and so it’s wonderful to see him developing such a great friendship. He starts skating lessons in a couple of weeks with Daddy, and is pretty pumped about that as WELL as Halloween.  He decided early on that he wanted to be a clown, and so we picked up a pattern a couple of days ago, and so there is NO going back now!

Janna, as I mentioned, has had the more recent struggles.  She has a love/hate relationship with the other 2 year old I have.  They love to play the same things, and sit and read books together, and can be very cute and silly together.  But, he likes to egg her on because she reacts so strongly, and she likes to scream at him, and then he likes to throw things in her face.   It has been good training ground I guess.  But she cries a lot on and off during the day for no apparent reason either than someone looked at her the wrong way!  As Dave says, “Oh Janna... you have emotions...”   We were talking last night about how scared we are for her teenage years.  One minute she is laughing and joking, and then the next scowling, then crying, then stoic... you just never know!  She tends to be a total angel one on one... and I feel guilty that she is experiencing some sort of middle child frustrations coupled with having to share mommy with extra kids.  Ah well... we’re working through it, and the golden age of 3 ( I LOVE 3!) is just around the corner.  For now, we try and see the funny and cute side in some of her struggles, and embrace all the snuggles and funny 2 year old antics.

Robyn is just steady old Robyn.  She is a fast crawler and cruiser, and plays so well on her own and with others.  Her and Janna have just started “fighting” over toys and such, and Robyn is so funny when she gets angry.  She just balls her fists up and shakes in anger while her face turns bright red for 2 seconds, then gets over it.  The size of her appetite is pretty epic, and she loves just about everything I feed her, except apples or apple sauce.  Actually, all 3 of the kids seem to be doubly hungry these days.  I feel like I might need to up the grocery budget a bit to keep up with their stomachs!


Speaking of stomachs, I’m hungry, so shall be off.  I hope everyone else has straightened out the bumps in their new fall times routines, and will enjoy all the October has to offer:  the weather, nature, Thanksgiving, Halloween fun, lots to look forward to.  Jesse’s nana is coming to Ottawa to visit for a week to kick off October, so he’s pretty excited for the month to arrive, as well.   Thanks for reading.  I’m out.  

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