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).

The suit again

Paul and I have been married for almost 12 years, and during that time span there were times he went more than a year without ever wearing a suit jacket. He typically only got that dressed up for a wedding or funeral. Three years ago I bought him a new suit for his trip to Poland. At first he just wore the suit at conference presentations, and he also wore it for his dissertation defense in January. He's interviewed with 13 schools over the past few months. Four of those he didn't make it past the phone interview stage. Today is the seventh time he's worn his suit for an in-person interview. He didn't get as dressed up for the interview at Susquehanna (he turned that job offer down) or the Skype interview with the school in Kansas. He's interviewing at Bloomsburg today. Indiana State and Kutztown said he should find out this week if they picked him or not, and Bloomsburg told him today he should know within a week. I have taken a break from doing applications until we hear from these three schools. I cannot wait for the suspense to be over.

Since Paul got home around 4pm today, we ate an early dinner and then headed to the swimming pool. It was Paul's second time swimming at our pool. His first time was on Nadia's birthday. I enjoyed that all five of us were swimming together. I didn't wear a bathing suit to their swimming lessons this morning, but I'm going to do so the rest of the week as the temps are supposed to continue to stay in the 90's. I'll hang out in the baby pool with Oliver during their lessons.

Rode a Camel!

Two years ago we discovered the Lycoming County Fair, which takes place for 9 days each July about 20 minutes from our house. The Bloomsburg Fair is bigger, but at that fair you have to pay (a fortune!) to ride a ride. At this fair, ALL the rides are free (after you pay $6 to enter the fair). We would have gone last summer if I hadn't been in the hospital. Paul was busy preparing for his interview at Bloomsburg tomorrow, but Paul's parents joined the kids and I at the fair. The kids rode lots of rides. They could ride most of the rides on their own, but Pop Pop and I had to join them on the big slide and the ferris wheel. I also took the kids through buildings containing lots of 4H animals. One of the highlights of our afternoon was a petting zoo where the kids fed goats, sheep, horses, cows, and alpacas some carrots. They also petted a capybara and a large turtle. Ian laughed his head off when the road a camel. The petting zoo was free, but I asked if both kids could ride together on the camel (and thus only paid $5 total). Ian laughed his head off during the camel ride.

We stayed for three hours. We would have stayed longer if it hadn't been 95 degrees out (literally). I am not sure if it was the heat or because it was a different flavor, but Ian ate ice cream for the first time. He made a face with each bite, but he kept asking Pop Pop for another bite of his black raspberry ice cream from Brewster's. I feel like I sound like a broken record (I guess that expression is rather outdated, haha), but I took too many pictures to share them all today. More to come later this week! On a completely unrelated note, I highly recommend the movie "The Impossible," which is about a family on vacation when the tsunami hit in 2004. You probably won't watch the movie at the time of day I did (prior to 6am with Oliver), but it was the best movie I've seen in awhile!