Thankful Thursday

1. Ian is really enjoying the gymnastics class. I'm excited to see all that he'll learn over the coming weeks. I'm really pleased with his improvements in his sensory/fear issues regarding playing on the playground. He wouldn't have enjoyed gymanstics many months ago, but now he's ready although he certainly needs me to participate to help keep him on track. There are just four kids in the class. Will is about 3 months older than Ian, and Allie is a few weeks older than Nadia. Because this is Will's first class, and he has similar "issues" as Ian in terms of following directions, their mom is also helping out. This means there are three adults with four kids (not counting Oliver in the Weego).

2. In the past week Ian discovered he loves bagels, cereal bars, and chocolate cake. It's SO wonderful to see him open wide and want to eat something, even if that something isn't the healthiest food on the planet. It's also nice to know there are some foods we can take for meals eaten "on the go."

3. Monday night was the worst night by a long shot since Oliver came home in terms of me hardly getting any sleep. Thankfully Tuesday night was MUCH better. That night his first stretch was 15 minutes shy of 4 hours (WOOHOO!) and his second stretch was 15 minutes shy of 3 hours. Wow! If I hadn't gotten up before the kids did that morning (I needed to shower before they got up because we had to be out the door at 8:30am for gymnastics), I could have gotten over 8 hours of sleep. Amazing! Last night wasn't as good, but Tuesday night gives me hope that hopefully in the near future he'll start giving me one 4 hour stretch each night.

4. I'm thankful for the Weego. When he just won't go to sleep and has been up for too many hours in  a row, I get out the Weego. He cries at first, but eventually he falls asleep, and this way at least my hands are free so I can get some housework done.

5. Oliver got a good report at the eye doctor yesterday. His retinas are now fully developed so he doesn't need to have any more ROP exams. There had been a chance he'd need one more. Cheri was going to go with us yesterday, but she overslept. I am happy to report that it went pretty smoothly even though I forgot to put a stroller in the van and we were in the doctor's office at the hospital for more than an hour. I ran into a fellow NICU mom (Gideon's bed was right across from Oliver's for a few days) which was nice.

6. I put Paul's first application in the mail today. The university is about 2 hours from our house, which isn't an ideal length for a commute, but it's a FT one semester position starting in January. He plans to submit some other applications in the next few days. I'm going to try to help him with the uploading process.

7. Paul came home tonight! We really missed him. The time of day I find the hardest is bedtime. Oliver is usually crying while I'm trying to put Nadia and Ian down. Usually I enjoy our bedtime routine. When Oliver is crying I must say it becomes a very stressful experience in which I sadly often lose my patience. Last night was the worst because I had to wake Oliver up to go pick Nadia up at Cubbies. It wasn't a pretty sight at our house last night when I was putting Nadia and Ian down to bed.

8. Paul has scheduled his dissertation defense for November 26. The stress level in our house is going to be SUPER high over the next month, but then it will be done. Whew. The end is definitely in sight. Paul has to submit the dissertation by November 12 to his 4 committee members. He's actually doing two defenses because he couldn'd find a date that was good for all four of them. He'll be doing 3 of the professors on the 26th. I'd appreciate prayers that he will meet this deadline and also will be fully prepared for the oral questions that will arise during his defenses. He's more nervous about that than finishing his dissertation on time. Paul won't be getting much sleep over the next month, and I'll be on my own with the kids most of the time, but the end of his schooling is in sight!

9. I was able to mow the lawn today! Oliver had one good nap in his crib today. He slept from 1-3pm, and I used part of that to mow the lawn. Ian woke up before I was done mowing. I came in and turned on "Super Why" and went out and finished mowing (about 15 more minutes). We don't usually watch tv at that time of day, but if 15 extra minutes of tv will enable me to finish mowing the lawn, I'm okay with that.
                                                10. A woman from church brought us dinner last night. It was such a very pleasant surprise! The people in my church have been incredibly helpful the past few months.

11. Ian has stayed dry every morning thus far this week, and he was dry 6 out of 7 mornings last week. The one morning he wasn't dry, his diaper was only a TINY bit wet, and Paul had given him EleCare right before bed that night. So I think it's about time to move to underwear at night instead of diapers. Way to go, Ian!