More Milk

Our milk consumption lately has been less than usual because I stopped having cereal for breakfast a month ago and because Nadia has been on an apple juice kick lately. We are down to Ian's last two cans of EleCare. They have lasted us a lot longer because I have been giving him a very diluted version of it since he's been doing a pretty good job of eating. I had decided once we got near the end of our supply that I would work on transitioning him to skim milk. A few days ago I started putting a little EleCare into a glass of skim milk rather than water. My plan is to keep putting in less and less EleCare until he's just drinking skim milk. I also am going to start reducing how many seconds I microwave his cup until I get him used to drinking cold milk. I am so very grateful that his allergies seem to be a thing of the past. PTL! Oliver will be turning 1 in 7 days, and I will be switching him to whole milk. With Ian and Oliver starting to drink cow's milk we will be going through a lot more milk in this house each week! Milk is a lot cheaper than formula; I am not complaining!

All of these photos are from at the Treasure Castle Playland on Monday afternoon. Both boys had a lot of fun there. Ian spent 99% of the time playing with the toys and only went down the slide two times. The first time he only climbed up half-way, but the second time he did climb all the way up to the highest tunnels. Yesterday I took the boys shopping during her camp. I plan to take them shopping again today, but I think I'll take the boys back to the Castle on Thursday and Friday as the McDonald's in that city doesn't have a playland. Nadia went to her first camp the week she turned 3 years old (ballet) so I think it's nice if Ian gets to go to the castle as his special thing this week since he's not doing a camp. I am so glad that we won't have any daily commitments (like VBS, swimming lessons, or theatre camp) until next summer because it's exhausting for me. Yesterday we were gone from 12:30pm to 6:45pm as the kids had t-ball at 5:30 after Theatre Camp. Next week the kids will be using bats and mitts for the first time. Last night they worked on learning about the bases in addition to working on their throwing and catching skills.

Theatre Camp!

Today Nadia has her first afternoon of Folk Tales and Fairy Stories theatre camp! It's for kids entering kindergarten or first grade, and is from 1-4 pm this week. On Friday they will do a little performance at 3:45pm. If I had known we weren't moving, I would have signed her up for the same camp taking place from 9:30-12:30 next week, but I'm sure the boys will survive 5 days of this schedule even though it interferes with their afternoon naps. Most of the days I am planning to go shopping with the boys during her camp, but today I am planning to take them to the Treasure Castle Playland. After an early dinner, I am planning on taking the kids to our swimming pool. It should be a fun day!

On our date last weekend Paul and I discussed what positions to apply for (that start next August). For now we are sticking with states east of the Mississippi River with the exception of those states in the northeast (not NY, MA, RI, CT, NH, ME, or VT) and those schools located in large cities (not Philadelphia, Baltimore, Atlanta, etc.). We're also not bothering to apply at any schools that make any mention of a post doctorate. Hopefully we can wait until at least September to start submitting applications so he can list profs at Bloomsburg as his references. Of the tenure track openings for August 2014 that have already been posted, only one has been added to our list thus far. It's a small private college in South Carolina, and the application is due the end of September. We don't know Paul's full teaching schedule yet, but we do know he'll be teaching a mass lecture (about 120 students) on Wednesday nights from 6-9pm and will have three general chemistry labs. We also know he will not be teaching on Mondays or Fridays, which is ideal for interviewing elsewhere.

Seussical!

This afternoon I took Nadia and Ian to see the musical "Seussical" at the Community Arts Center in Williamsport. It was the first time any of us had seen that musical. It was well done, and we all enjoyed it. Including the intermission it lasted 2 hours, which I thought might be a bit long for Ian, but he did really well. He didn't like the song "Havin' a Hunch" (scared him a little), but otherwise they loved Horton Hatches an Egg, Horton Hears a Who, etc. Paul hung Oliver's letters on his wall this evening! On the way to the musical we stopped at a consignment shop. I bought Oliver a tuxedo! I think he'll look adorable in it. Now I'm hoping I find one for Ian also so the boys could both wear tuxedos sometime this winter. I almost got Ian one once, but this was the first time I actually bought a tuxedo. I love the dress Nadia wore today (pictured at left). I am so glad she loves getting all dressed up! (The swimming photos were from our trip to the pool yesterday afternoon.)

Wonderful Day

Around 6pm yesterday Ian told me that we were having a wonderful day. The weather the last several days has been much cooler than normal. Typically I would say that highs in the 70's is the perfect weather, but it's a bit cooler than ideal for swimming. We didn't go to our pool on Wednesday since the high was "only" 76, but we ended up going to the pool on Thursday even though the temps were the same that day. Those temperatures are perfect for things like walking to the playground (which we did several times this week) and mowing the lawn (which I did this morning). Yesterday after Oliver's brief morning nap we walked to the playground. When we got back we had lunch and then the kids played with the neighbors for a little bit before I put Nadia and Ian down for an early nap/ quiet time. Yesterday the kids were driving the neighbor's battery operated vehicle around in the grass (see photo below). They loved it! After Ian woke up we got in the car to drive to my friend Cheri's house.

On the way there we stopped at two consignment shops where I got some clothes for Oliver and Nadia. Then we swam in Cheri's pool and ate some pizza in her backyard. Paul came to her house around 5:30pm on his way home from work and changed out of his work clothes. Then we met Paul's parents at Knoebels. Paul went with Nadia on some bigger rides while I took Ian to some kiddie rides. Then the three of them went on the flume and the old fashioned cars. Ian and Nadia then tried the kiddie go-karts. Ian was ejected because he kept running into the barriers. He needs to learn how to use a steering wheel. We ended our night with a ride on the carousel, eating some ice cream, and riding the Flying Tigers ride. We hadn't been to Knoebels since April. We need to go one more time in August or September with my parents and spend a full day there as yesterday there were many rides they wanted to ride that we didn't have time for them to ride as we spent less than 3 hours there. I agree with Ian. It was a wonderful day!

Today we had fun at the swimming pool this afternoon even though it was cooler out today than it was yesterday. I also got a variety of things crossed off of my to do list such as me giving Paul a haircut, doing my bi-weekly CVS shopping trip, mowing the lawn, mopping the kitchen floor, making dinner, etc. Paul received an email from Vassar College yesterday asking if he would be available on Monday morning to interview for a one year physical chemistry position. That's the 13th school that invited him to interview, but he's not interviewing for the 2013-14 school year any more. It's nice to have a little break from interviewing.

Thankful Thursday

1. Oliver took a longer afternoon nap today! He slept (without any crying) for 1hr 40 min. Yesterday his morning nap was 15 minutes long and his afternoon nap was 50 minutes long, and this morning he didn't take a morning nap at home although he did sleep for a few minutes in the stroller on the way home from the park around 11:45am. I've decided to stop letting him cry after he wakes up, even if his nap is only 15 minutes long because it isn't doing an ounce of good. Yesterday I let him cry for 1hr 45min after his 15 minute nap, and he never went back to sleep. I might try it again in a couple of weeks, but for now I'm just going to get him as soon as he wakes up no matter how short the nap is. He's been waking up at 5:30 in the morning again, which means that he's only getting 9-10 hours of sleep as sometimes he doesn't go down until 8:30pm. I'm hoping that the longer nap today will help him sleep in until at least 6:00 tomorrow morning.

2. Paul and I went on a date on Sunday! It was our first child free date in 14 months, and it was only our second date in that time span (we went on one with Oliver in December). I had tried to do things to celebrate Paul's new job. Last week I bought him a bucket of chicken at KFC (something he loves that we rarely buy), and I asked him to pick the restaurant we ate at on Sunday night. He picked Applebee's, and we got the $20 special that included two entrees and an appetizer. Paul loves mozzarella sticks!

I absolutely love being a mom, but I do miss the leisurely more romantic dates that we used to take before we had kids. On this date we bought lots of food at Aldi's and some things for the house at Lowe's. Years ago our dates included things like strolling through a bookstore or ballroom dancing.  Some day we'll have time for more romantic dates, but it was still a treat to eat dinner without any kids. To be honest it's having a break from getting Ian to eat that is the main treat. I bought myself a new top, and I got the kids three new books at Ollie's.

3. It's so wonderful knowing where we'll be living next month. The past few days I made dentist appointments for four of us for September and an oil change appointment for Paul's car. We're planning to buy a new mattress for our bed next month, and I'm hoping Paul will hang the letters of Oliver's name on the wall in his bedroom this weekend. The first two houses we owned we did a lot of painting and replacing of flooring. We thought we'd live in those houses for a long time, but we actually lived in the first one for only 3.5 years and the second for only 4 years (plus 2 months). We didn't think we'd live in this house very long so we didn't replace any flooring and have only painted three rooms (3 of our 4 bedrooms). The ironic thing is that we will be living here at least 6 years. I'm really not keen on the linoleum in the kitchen. You can tell it's 15+ years old. I don't think we should replace it if we're possibly going to sell it next summer so I bought a steam mop a few days ago.

4. The kids are enjoying playing with the kids who live in the house next door to us. They have three kids (ages 19 months, 5 years, and 7 years old). Today I also let them walk to another neighbor's house who lives a little farther away. They also have several children.

5. I should say it more often, but I am very, very grateful for my loving husband and three precious children. There are times I contemplate teaching part-time at the university, but I do love spending my days with my kids and being able to homeschool Nadia. I am thrilled with the progress she is making in math and reading. I'm also still very thankful for my camera. I know I will treasure these pictures of my kiddos for years to come. I even remembered to take videos of two of my kiddos over the past few days!

Five plus one

I have switched to doing an update on Nadia and Ian every three months rather than every month, but I decided to do one on Miss Nadia today on the day she turned five years plus one month old. I took two videos this evening while Oliver was playing in the background and Ian was eating his dinner. The one on top is of Nadia reading the fifth book of the third set of BOB books. She read this book to me for the first time yesterday morning, and I got it out this evening and took a video of her reading it. It was only the second time she ever saw this book. She's also been reading books about Biscuit the dog that we have been checking out from the library. We checked out two new Biscuit books this morning. The video below is of her doing some simple addition flashcards (adding 0 or adding 1). I've been introducing place value with base ten blocks, doing simple addition and subtraction with a number line, telling time by the hour, counting coins, etc.

Other recent changes with Nadia would include that she now prefers to take a shower rather than a bath, her swimming skills improved dramatically over the past month, it's been a struggle to get her to stay in her room for more than 30 minutes for "quiet time," and she now weighs 44 pounds.

Tiny T-Ball

Nadia and Ian had their first night of Tiny T-ball this evening at a YMCA. I made them waffles and scrambled eggs because we had to quickly eat an early dinner. Oliver loved them! I made tuna noodle casserole for Paul. There were only five kids in the class, and the teacher was excellent. Tonight she worked with the kids on catching balls thrown in the air, catching a ground ball, and tagging someone with the ball. The kids had a lot of fun! It was a bit tricky as she wanted the parents to participate at certain points, and I was there with three kids. I can't exactly play catch with both Nadia and Ian while holding Oliver. Thankfully some other adults who were there stepped in and helped me out. In future classes she said she will work with them on running between the bases, hitting the ball with a bat, etc.

After class I made a quick stop at Bed Bath and Beyond on the way home. The shower curtain we've been using in our bathroom the past 5 years is one I bought in July 1994. I've been wanting to replace it, but I thought I'd wait until we moved since I didn't know what would match the new bathroom. Once I found out we aren't moving until 2014 at the earliest, I decided not to wait any longer to replace it. Five years ago I did buy new rugs for the bathroom so I tried to find a shower curtain that had some navy blue in it so I wouldn't need to buy new towels or rugs for the bathroom. I did buy myself one bright pink hand towel (for $1.99) this evening. The new shower curtain looks so much better.

Oliver's naps today were a total disaster. This morning he woke up after sleeping 30 minutes, which has been the norm, but the last four days he cried for a few minutes and then went back to sleep. This morning he cried for 2+ hours. It was really, really hard not to go get him, and Nadia was also urging me to get him. She prayed for him to go to sleep, and so did I. After he was quiet for about 5 minutes (I doubt he was asleep since it was only 5 minutes), I went and got him when he started crying again. For his afternoon nap he slept 50 minutes. The last several days when that happened I'd let him cry (usually less than 5 minutes) and then he'd sleep for another 30-40 minutes, but after the fiasco this morning, I immediately got him. So he slept for a grand total of 1hr 20min between his two naps today. The last four days he had been sleeping close to 3 hours total between his two naps, and he used to sleep an average of 4.5 hours total prior to our vacation. I was very discouraged about this today. I am not sure what I'll do tomorrow. I really want him to take longer naps. He yawns SO much throughout the day, but I can't take letting him cry for that length of time too many times. I kept reminding myself that Ian's pediatrician, occupational therapist, and psychologist all encourage parents to let the child cry it out.

On the move

I took a few videos this morning, and I uploaded the shortest one. Over the course of the day, the speed of his crawling rapidly increased. Before I could leave him on the floor with some toys while his siblings did puzzles on the floor in the same room. Now he leaves his toys and makes a beeline for their puzzle pieces. There are definitely advantages to having a child wait a bit longer than usual to start crawling. He has learned how to climb up the one step to get from the family room to the kitchen, and he is spending a lot more time standing on two feet while he holds onto a toy or a windowsill or piece of furniture.

His naps didn't go as well today. For his morning nap he slept 30 minutes, cried a few minutes, and then slept 40 more minutes. For his afternoon nap the two segments totaled less than one hour so I decided to see if he would fall asleep a third time. Nope. I let him cry for about 45 minutes and then decided he wasn't going to be falling back asleep. He only slept for about 2 hours total between his two naps. I won't attempt to get him to fall back asleep a third time again. Hopefully his self-soothing skills (that he had for months prior to our vacation) will return at some point and he will sleep for at least 90 minutes straight without waking up and crying in the middle. Even though his naps aren't anywhere near as long as they were before Florida, it is MUCH easier to read books to Nadia and Ian and do homeschooling with Nadia when his naps are at least one hour long.

He's Crawling!

Oliver started crawling forward on Friday! I will take a video tomorrow. He's learned quite a few new skills in the past 10 days including going from his belly to a sitting position, pulling himself up to a standing position in his crib, giving himself a sippy cup, and crawling! We're also making progress with his sleeping habits. The last two mornings he got up between 6-6:15am, which meant he got about 10 hours of sleep each night. Yesterday for his morning nap he slept for 40 minutes, cried for 30 minutes, and then slept for another 40 minutes. For his afternoon nap he slept one hour, cried less than 5 minutes, and then slept another 30 minutes. My goal is that between his two naps he'll sleep at least 3 hours total.

FET plan

I spoke with an IVF nurse today about the FET. She said that Dr. Z (who was the doctor for Oliver's cycle) uses only patches and suppositories for FET cycles. What a change from the FET I had in 2007 with Dr. A! I had Lupron shots, estrogen shots, Progesterone shots twice a day, etc. with that cycle (of course Nadia was well worth it). The testing (to prove I don't have any infectious diseases) has to be done between day 7-10 of the previous cycle. I'd like to do that in September. I'm aiming for an October or early November FET. We'd have to pay $3,450 up front, but in the end I think our cost will be about $1,500. Nadia really wants a sister. If this transfer results in another pregnancy, I hope for her sake it's a girl. I keep telling her our family might already be complete, God might give us another boy, or He might give us another girl. In about 4 months we should know whether they will be another  baby or not. If we are going to have a fourth child, it will of course take a bit longer to find out the gender. As I was organizing the basement yesterday, I put all the boxes of girl clothing Nadia has outgrown, maternity clothes, and boy clothing Oliver has outgrown in one area. Most of that will be donated somewhere if this transfer doesn't result in a pregnancy.

This pair of size 12 month pajamas was one of Paul's favorites when Ian was a baby. He loves the big belt and the red cape on the back. The picture above is of Oliver wearing it this morning (at 11.5 months old), and the picture at right is of Ian wearing it at 9 months (9/12/10). When I look at Oliver, I think he looks far more like Nadia than Ian, but when I look at pictures of Ian when he was an infant then I do see a strong resemblance. All three of them have Daddy's blue eyes, and they all have blonde hair. Right now Ian's hair is the lightest, Nadia's is the darkest, and Oliver's is darker than Ian and lighter than Nadia. As a momma of three kids, I have discovered that when you have 1 or 2 children, people are always making comments as to which parent the child looks like. When you have 3 children, people always make comments as to which sibling the baby looks like. I do not think I have ever heard say if Oliver looks more like Paul or me, they always are comparing Oliver to Nadia and Ian. Oliver's forehead and cheekbone are definitely like Nadia's (and Paul) whereas Ian's forehead and cheekbone definitely come from me (my dad's side of the family to be precise).

Oliver woke up at 5:30 this morning, at first I didn't get up to get him, but when Ian made a ruckus at 5:45 (he had to go to the bathroom), I went ahead and got Oliver even though my plan had been to not get him prior to 6am. For his afternoon nap (the only one in his crib), he slept 40 minutes and then cried for 12 minutes and then slept for 45 more minutes. I went and got him at that point, but I'm thinking that I should have let him cry one more time because he fell back asleep in my arms. Well at least we're making progress. Now that swimming lessons are done we can work on the morning nap as well. You may wonder why I'm posting this picture at left. It shows Nadia swimming underwater to go under the pool noodle at her lesson this morning. She made a lot of progress!

Thankful Thursday

1. Paul received an offer from Bloomsburg University today! He declined Kutztown's offer, although he would have accepted that one if Bloomsburg hadn't made an offer. They had one Dr. Kennedy for the past 9 years and now they'll have another Dr. Kennedy! Now to find out what his schedule will be. I am waiting to call the RE until we know his schedule.

2. Over the past 2 1/2 weeks I lost 5 pounds! I had set a goal to lose 12 pounds in 6 weeks, and I am right on target. I haven't been doing much exercise lately so that's just been through cutting back on my caloric intake. I want to get back to doing more exercise once the heat wave and the kids' swimming lessons are over.

3. One of my sisters recently gave me some money as a belated birthday gift. I decided to use it toward some new clothing. I shopped online at Boscovs with free shipping and figured if something didn't fit I could return it to the store (and not have to pay return shipping). One of the things I got myself was a new dress. Aside from one maternity dress I bought last year (that I only wore once since I ended up being in the hospital for most of the time I was wearing maternity clothes), I haven't bought myself a new dress in at least 13 years. I LOVE my new dress. Thanks, Yvonne! I wore it on Sunday, it only cost $16, and two people gave me a compliment on Sunday (Ian at home and a lady at church). It feels nice to feel pretty ever once in a while. I also got myself a new skirt and a few new tops. Yay! I am still planning to go shopping for one more outfit - the one I'll wear for our family photo on August 10th. The boys are going to wear navy blue polo shirts, and I'm going to either wear pink or lime green. Nadia has a pretty dress in each color. She also has a pretty yellow dress, but pastel yellow is not a good color for me to wear.

4. Today I decided to let Oliver cry if his afternoon nap was less than one hour long. His morning nap has been at the most 20 minutes long this week, and one day he didn't even take a morning nap. I braced myself for a long crying session, but he only cried for 5 minutes and then slept another hour, which meant he slept 1 hr 40 minutes altogether! What a relief! I'm not going to accept a 30-45 minute afternoon nap any longer, particularly if it's his only nap of the day. He yawns SO many times throughout the day. He's one tired little boy! Similarly, I decided this morning (when he woke up at 5:04am) that I am not getting him out of his crib prior to 6am. He only fussed a little and then slept until 6:15. YAHOO! Ian got in bed with us at 5:55am.

5. Now that we know we're not moving, I am enjoying doing some unpacking, organizing, bringing some stuff back upstairs from the basement, etc. It feels wonderful not to be in limbo!

Moving forward

Even though Bloomsburg didn't call with the official offer yet (which is driving Paul crazy), it feels sooooooooo wonderful to not be in limbo any more. Two days ago I didn't know where we'd be living in four weeks. If you told me a year ago that Paul would be accepting a one year temporary contract, I would have been disappointed, but after facing the fear of not receiving any job offers, we are very grateful for a one year contract. The downsides of a one year contract are #1 that there won't be a break from applications and interviews and #2 we still can't really put down roots. At the age of 41, I am really ready to be settled and stop moving so much. I want to plant strawberry plants and blueberry bushes, for example. Hopefully he can start a tenure track job next fall, but for now we are celebrating one job offer and hopeful to receive the second one tomorrow (before Kutztown's noon deadline on Friday). I bought Paul a bucket of chicken at KFC after swimming lessons this morning, as that is something he really likes and we rarely buy. We're also going on a DATE on Sunday afternoon to celebrate. Over the past 14 months we've only gone on one date, and Oliver was with us for that one (in December).

I signed Nadia and Ian up for a 6 week preschool t-ball class at the YMCA that will start next Tuesday evening. I asked Nadia again which two sports she wanted to do in the fall, and she again said gymnastics and soccer, which means she'll be giving up ballet/tap. I am mailing the check for her soccer registration tomorrow. I looked at the gymnastics schedule, but I'm going to wait a few more days to sign them up for that in the hopes I can know what Paul's teaching schedule will be before I choose which class to sign them up for. I called CHOP to try to schedule Oliver's first urology appointment, but they won't accept our current insurance, and they wouldn't schedule the appointment for September since our Blue Shield insurance isn't active yet even though it will be active the end of August. Oi vey. I will call them back the end of August, and probably the first available appointment at that time will be in October or November. I want Dr. Canning (who did Ian's second surgery) to do Oliver's first (and hopefully only) surgery. I'm planning on calling the RE tomorrow to schedule the first appointment that will eventually culminate in the FET.

Although there are still many frustrating moments in terms of feeding Ian (like when I fed him a bean and chicken burrito tonight), we are making progress. After having a wowbutter and jelly sandwich for lunch almost every day for quite a few months, he's been asking for crackers (with peanut butter or cheese), yogurt, and a banana most of the time lately for lunch. It's a cinch for him to feed himself crackers, but I've been working on getting him to feed himself the yogurt and banana. I put a bib on him when he feeds himself the yogurt. Oliver feeds himself macaroni and cheese, a food Ian hasn't learned to eat yet.

VERY Thankful Tuesday

1. Paul will be teaching chemistry starting next month!!!! The Dean at Kutztown called him today to offer him the job that he interviewed for on Friday. He has until noon on Friday to accept or decline the offer.  PTL!!!!!!!!!!! What a relief to know he WILL be able to make use of his Ph.D. in chemistry!!! He also found out today that Bloomsburg will be offering him a job as well! After that happens, he'll be declining Kutztown's offer and accepting Bloomsburg's.

The two reasons he would prefer to teach at Bloomsburg are #1 Kutztown is 90 minutes farther from our house (one way) than Bloomsburg and #2 he would be teaching lecture classes as well as labs at Bloomsburg whereas at Kutztown he would only be teaching labs (and the community colleges really wanted to see that he had experience teaching lecture classes). I am thrilled to know he WILL be teaching next month - either at Kutztown or Bloomsburg! I printed out his application for Kutztown at his aunt's house in May and mailed it from our resort in Orlando. The ironic thing is that Kutztown was where I started my career in higher education in January 2003! Kutztown was the only place I applied to teach in 2003 whereas for Paul it was application 56 out of 88 that I submitted for him over the past nine months. I taught at Bloomsburg from August 2004 - January 2013. Hopefully this year of teaching experience will help him get a tenure track job for 2014. I don't need to send in any more applications for jobs for 2013 though!!! I think we'll be a bit more selective for the ones for 2014 - at least east of the Mississippi anyhow!

2. Friday will be the last day of swimming lessons (lesson #10), and I'm also glad that is coming to an end. Hopefully we can keep working on their swimming skills at our pool, but I'm really, really looking forward to not needing to have three kids out the door at 9:00am every morning. This also means Oliver can start taking his morning nap in his crib again instead of my arms at the pool or in the van on our way home. I love cuddling the guy, but I also like him to take his naps in his bed. Nadia has made a lot of progress. I haven't noticed as much of a change with Ian. I don't think I'll have him do the preschool classes again next summer. I think I'll just wait until 2015 when he's old enough for Level 1. I observed the water babies class, and I'm glad I never signed anyone up for that as it seems like a big waste of money!

3. Nadia has started trying to read things on her own whereas previously it was always at my initiative. Last week a box came in the mail from the company ACSI. Nadia looked at the box and asked, "Why does it say "acks"? I wasn't going to try to explain the concept of acronyms to her when we're working on sounding things out, but it was exciting for me to see she's trying to read. It always thrills her when she tries to read a brand new book (one she's never seen before) and she is able to read some of the pages all by herself. Way to go, Nadia! We haven't done much homeschooling the past 10 days due to swimming lessons and VBS, but next week I plan to get back on track. The next subject I want to add to the routine is science.

4. On the way to VBS last Friday Nadia asked me, "What planet do Gabby and Alexis live on? followed by "Is it a hot planet or a cold one?" LOL! I guess she thinks Oklahoma is on another planet. I love how the kids say things every day that put a smile on my face.

5. VBS went really well last week, and I did enjoy teaching the Bible story to the children each night, but I have to say I am also really glad it's over. It was an exhausting week with swimming lessons in the morning, Paul busy with interviews, the kids going to bed later than usual, etc.

6. Last Thursday Nadia left a small bag at the playground by the swimming pool. It contained all our swim toys, goggles, one of Ian's swim suits and swim shirts, and one of her bathing suits. I came back a few minutes after we left to retrieve it, but I misunderstood where Nadia said she left it. After it sat out for many hours a maintenance worker put it in a shed, which is where I found it on Friday. I was VERY grateful no one took the bag or threw it away. What a relief!

7. Paul's mom had a surgery today to determine where she has been bleeding internally. They think it was from ulcers in her stomach from a medication she had been on for quite some time (Plavix). Hopefully the biopsies will confirm that it isn't lymphoma again. We are grateful the surgery went well.

8. We are taking the house OFF the market. I am soooooooo glad that we didn't have lots of showings the past almost two months, and I am very grateful we didn't sign a contract to sell it to anyone since we're not moving for at least one more year. Now we can hang the letters in Oliver's room, and I can start making plans for the fall (such as sign Nadia up for soccer and both kids up for gymnastics).

9. Nadia and Ian got their hair cut today at a beauty salon, and they both did a great job. Nadia hadn't had a hair cut (aside from her bangs) for 13 months. I laughed when Ian asked the beautician about her stamp (which was really a tattoo, lol).