The best part about having a little baby in our home again is watchin her change and grow, learning new things week by week. We put this little blanket down on the floor for her to lay on and play on, but it's getting to the point where she doesn't stay on it much anymore. She is getting better at pushing herself up on her forearms as you can see in these pictures, and her torticollis is much improved with the physical therapy she gets each week. The only time we notice that it gets worse is when she is really tired, and then she seems to kind of revert back to where she is more comfortable and where it is easier.
Here are some pictures of our little visitor that morning after I got her ready for church. I decided to put her in this cute little sweater dress with little pink tights. She looked super cute, and she was so happy with her lovely smile, that I took the chance to capture a few pictures. Too bad I can't show her whole face!
Sundays are always a little hectic with getting ready and going to church for the 11:00 service, coming up when it's almost 1:00, trying to get everyone lunch and the little ones down for their naps. Then, we have small group starting at 3:30, so that doesn't leave much of an afternoon for us to relax or get anything done. However, Aedan recently discovered this game, Battle at Sarlacc Pit, that Ben got from a colleague, so he played that a couple times with Ben. He likes defeating the Gamorrean Guards, Nikto, and Boba Fett by using Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Chewbacca to push them overboard into Sarlacc's mouth. You collect Jedi points for each guard you defeat, and then you have to defeat Jabba the Hutt. The one with the most Jedi points at the end of the game is the winner, so this game is right up Aedan's alley. Anything Star Wars is awesome to him.
Here is some work the kids brought home from school. Aedan was working on a "fill in the word" activity, a sentence correction activity, and got a 70% on a spelling test. I was a little frustrated about this because I think these were the words his class practiced while we were gone in Florida, but we didn't practice them, and I didn't know when he was going to make up the spelling test, so he took it without practicing at all. Spelling is definitely not Aedan's strong suit. He does well on tests when we have time to practice with him every night during the week, but it does not come naturally to him. I tried not to make too big of a deal out of the grade because in the end it's just one test grade. I know what it feels like to be pressured to always get As, and I don't want any of our kids to feel that way. However, I think I just felt bad because I dropped the ball on helping him practice.
On the last Monday of every month, our little baby goes to a sibling visit at the other foster mom's house, but it was cancelled this week due to her older sister being sick. It was fine with us because it made our Monday night less chaotic and busy with us running her out to a visit and then two hours later someone else going back to pick her up.
On Tuesday morning we discovered that Aedan didn't do the math homework he was supposed to do the night before, but he told us he didn't have any to do when we asked him about it. He already lost out on Legos until Saturday because of not listening and getting consequences. Ben said the boys weren't listening that morning when getting ready to go. Samantha had an orthodontist appointment that morning that I took her to before dropping her off at school, and then heading in to work myself.
Here is some work the kids brought home from school that afternoon. Aedan got 100% on his weekly spelling test. Way to go, Aedan!
The end of marking period two was January 25, so the kids also brought home their report cards. Aedan got a 98% in Language Arts with the comments of "demonstrates creativity" and "good reading skills." He got 94% in Math with the comments of "practice math facts" and "employs strategies." He got a 98% in Science, 100% in Social Studies, and 90% in Spelling. He got Ps in Art with the comment of "participates in class," in Music with the comment "positive attitude," in PE with the comment "listens/follows directions," in Technology Ed with the comment "participates in class," and in Handwriting. He did a wonderful job and had a 96% average across the subjects. We were very proud of him.
Samantha got a 99% in Language Arts with the comment of "participates in class." She got 100% in Math. He got a 98% in Science with the comment "participates in class" and 100% in Social Studies with the comment "courteous/cooperative." She got Ps in Art with the comment of "courteous/cooperative," in Music with the comments "positive attitude" and "a pleasure to have in class," in PE with the comment "courteous/cooperative," and in Technology Ed. She did a wonderful job and had a 99.25% average across the subjects. In fact, I think some of the grades were higher than 100%, but they aren't able to put anything higher than that on the report cards. Samantha holds herself to such a high standard. We try to downplay grades as much as possible because she expects perfection enough, but regardless, we are proud of how hard and determined Samantha does her work.
Our little baby has physical therapy once a week, switching every week with being in our home or being at day care. This week it was at day care, and the goal is still to help her work on learning to crawl. They worked on a supported sit position with placing toys on top of a boppy pillow to encourage a more upright position and helped her practice being on all fours and support her weight on straight arms.
Here is some work Aedan brought home from school: a reading response sheet, a worksheet from music class, and a sentence correction activity.
Samantha brought home her graded rubric for her weather presentation, which she got 100% on, a spelling test she got 100% on, and a Chapter 7 math test that she got 105% on with the extra credit questions. She commented on how easy that stuff was on the test, and it just makes me smile. She goes up a grade for math, and still probably gets some of the highest grades in her class. Math just comes naturally to her, and she takes great pride in getting good grades, as close to 100% as possible is her goal. We tell her we don't expect her to get 100% on everything, but that is just something that she wants for herself. She definitely has that drive going for herself.
On Wednesday, our little baby developed a fever at daycare, and they also talked about her toe being purple. They called me at work to tell me these things, so I had to leave work and go pick her up early. Luckily, I was able to get her into the doctor that afternoon to get checked out. I was glad that they were able to see her right away. They did a nose swab for RSV and Covid. She had a 102.6 fever, some congestion (but she's also teething), and an occasional cough, more fussiness, not wanting to eat as much, but again, a lot of those can be symptoms of teething, just not the high fever. I couldn't get her to eat much that morning before leaving the house for the day. She wasn't very happy, and that makes a lot more sense given her developing a fever as the day went on. When I put her down for a nap at home, I gave her some Tylenol and then rocked her to sleep so I could let the medicine kick in and make her more comfortable before laying her down. I felt bad that she was sick, as you can tell by her rosy cheeks and serious expression in this picture. She was definitely not feeling well.
AWANA was cancelled again this week due to sickness among leaders, which we were okay with because it meant a night where we didn't have to eat dinner quickly and get out of the house, but we do like when the kids get to go somewhere together, all at the same time each week. Samantha also lost her privileges to use her school chromebook at home for a while because she was on it when she wasn't supposed to be, after we already had a conversation with her about it. She tends to just go on it and watch videos, listen to and sing along with karaoke songs, or search things, but it just isn't necessary to do. I'm sure they are on their chromebooks plenty at school, and they are only supposed to use it for school purposes, so we are trying to cut that off before it becomes a problem.
Thursday morning I had my passport appointment to get my picture taken. This is getting real! I can't believe Ben and I are actually going to be able to go back to Ireland. We are getting passports and looking at purchasing plane tickets. We have people lined up to watch our kids while we are gone, and we are beyond excited about being able to do this trip together. I can't wait.
Since I had to leave work early on Wednesday for our little baby being sick, Ben stayed home with our little baby on Thursday since he wasn't teaching most of the day, and could still work from home with her. He didn't get as much done as he would have, but it worked to take turns staying home.
I was going to go grocery shopping on Wednesday after work like I typically do, but with our little baby getting sick, I wasn't able to do that. Instead, I did a pick-up order for Wegmans on Thursday afternoon after picking up Owen from Ben after his preschool was over. Another exciting thing that happened on my way to the store, after I got Owen from Ben, was that I got an email about spots opening up at the Filled Retreat for foster and adoptive moms. I wanted to sign up for this weekend retreat, but I waited too long and by the time I went to register, all the spots were filled, but I was put on the waiting list. But finally, several spots came open, so I pulled over in the parking lot at Wegmans to complete the online registration so I didn't lose out on registering again. I was so excited to be able to go to this retreat at the end of February, even though I was also nervous about going by myself and not knowing anyone.
Here is some work Aedan brought home from school: a find the syllable type spelling activity, as well as his list of spelling words for the reading units done in class.
Since our little baby is getting stronger and better at sitting up unsupported, I decided to sit her up in the other side of the baby bathtub, rather than lay her down flat. I also put some lavender oil drops in the bath water to help her relax and feel better from being sick. She really enjoys playing in the water, and she loved the new perspective of sitting up, being able to play with toys, splashing around in the water, and having the water surround her more.
Normally our little baby has visits with her mom on Friday mornings, but we cancelled it this week since she still had a fever on Thursday morning. In fact, the kid's school was also cancelled because we had an ice storm, so they had a snow day, and I was particularly glad that I didn't have to go out and drive in any bad weather.
The kids decided to play with play-doh that morning, so here is Samantha's blueberry pie. It's actually very creative and well-done. I also love this picture because of how she has her hair pulled back. I like her hair like this, but that combined with the look on her face just reminds me of when she was a little two-year-old. Sometimes I get flashbacks to that little girl, and it breaks my heart a little to remember those days when it was just her, and then to realize that she is now ten-years-old. Time sure does fly by quickly.
Here is a cute video and a couple pictures that Aedan took right before lunch that day. You can see Owen coming over to tickle and play with our little baby, then Aedan flips the camera around and catches his sweet face with beautiful brown eyes and long eyelashes, and then towards the end of the video he sings a little tune. I didn't know he even took this video, so it made me smile when I saw it later.
On Saturday morning, Ben took the boys to get their hair cut. They try to just all go together because they usually need it around the same time, and it's easier that way.
We also got the opportunity to babysit Gladys for a while in the afternoon while Andrew and Alysse went out hiking together as a way to get away before the new baby comes. We love watching Gladys, and Samantha is always super happy to help take care of her. Here is Samantha reading Gladys a story before putting her down for a nap that afternoon.
That afternoon I took the opportunity to take some pictures of our back yard with all the snow and ice covering it. The sun was glistening on the ice and making everything look so shiny and magical. I love watching all the changes that take place in our backyard as the seasons change. Although we weren't too big of fans of having ice covering everything, I love admiring the beauty that surrounds us out every window of our home.
(Blog about January 30-February 5, 2022)
