my brother, sister-in-law and baby girl are home and have been for almost a week. it sounds like everything went very well for them, paperwork for the two states and agencies was all filed and set to go before two weeks were up. they headed out and made it home by this weekend. my mom and dad were very anxious to get to meet baby girl and jealous that we had already met her.
we skyped with them tonight while they were having "tummy time". baby girl was trying to turn her head in the direction of our voices on the computer. she was very alert and awake for being almost two weeks old. i think pbs was a little jealous of the attention that baby girl was getting and was trying to show his grandparents, aunt and uncle all of his toys and his newest trick.
his newest trick happens to be putting together a puzzle of the united states, naming each state and their capitol. the boy is two and a half! this has become one of his favorite things to do. we started out by asking him where he was born and showing him the state. then we'd ask where other people were born and show those states. we also ask where people live and show him those states. from there it moved to naming each state and now we're naming each state and their capitol. what two and a half year old do you know that knows these things? he also knows that delaware is the first state and that pennsylvania is the second state. we're still working on the others.
we're thinking about putting him into preschool this fall. i know, we're a little late on this but we're hoping to be able to get him in at the church preschool up the street from where we live. we have only one car, so this is the best option for us. i hope that the teachers don't find pbs to be too precocious or ahead of the rest of the kids. i work with him all the time and that's how he knows all of this. he knows his alphabet, can recite full books back to us, can count to 20 (when he wants to), knows many names of dinosaurs and what time period they are from, etc. i think he might even be able to read a little bit, but i haven't tested that theory yet. i don't want to be the parent that thinks their child is a genius and can do no wrong. i know he can do wrong! i have seen him do it and be given consequences for it.
if you were a teacher and you had a student like this in your class, what would you do? would he be bored? is two and a half too early to put him into preschool? i hope not. we really want to put him into preschool for the socialization of it because he's not around that many other kids. i think that he would do fine around the other kids and want him to realize that the world does not revolve around him. at home, the world does seem to revolve around him. he's an only child. i think preschool is just what we need for pbs. any other thoughts or suggestions on this subject?
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
update: baby girl is here!
baby girl arrived yesterday afternoon! everybody is doing well and is healthy. we've seen one picture and she is beautiful! i'm hoping that the rest of my brother and sister-in-law's time goes smoothly while they spend the next two weeks getting to know their little girl. happy birthday little one!
Monday, August 13, 2012
the baby is coming!
we got the call today from my brother that he and his wife are on the way to the hospital to pick up their baby. they will have to be away from their home and dog for at least two weeks getting acquainted with the baby and acclimated to being parents. they have to stay in the state where the baby is being born for two weeks because of the laws of the state and rules of the adoption agency.
i think and hope that we get to see the baby soon, learn if they have a little boy or a little girl and of course learn the name of the baby. i can't blame them for not telling the name that they've chosen or the sex of the baby since the birth mother didn't find out. js and i found out the sex of pbs but didn't tell his name until he was born. we had a piece of paper with the alphabet printed on it and while my parents were in town (for two weeks before and two weeks after) we would cross off letters that we knew weren't going to be the first letter of the name. by the day of the delivery, we had three letters left and three names to decide from. we decided on the way to the hospital and came up with pbs' name.
i realize this had to be the longest wait of their life. it really seemed to move pretty quickly,to me, though because they only started the process in january. i don't know what i would be feeling if i were in their shoes. i do know how i felt when pregnant with pbs. i was anxious, nervous, a real mess because it was a pretty stressful, difficult pregnancy. i hope that the birth mother has had a more "normal" pregnancy than i had. i hope that she was able to enjoy the time she had with the baby, even while knowing she would be giving this child to someone else. i hope that my brother and sister-in-law are able to transition fairly easily from a family of two to a family of three.
we've been praying for all parties involved. and now we can almost be extremely excited because the baby is coming!
i think and hope that we get to see the baby soon, learn if they have a little boy or a little girl and of course learn the name of the baby. i can't blame them for not telling the name that they've chosen or the sex of the baby since the birth mother didn't find out. js and i found out the sex of pbs but didn't tell his name until he was born. we had a piece of paper with the alphabet printed on it and while my parents were in town (for two weeks before and two weeks after) we would cross off letters that we knew weren't going to be the first letter of the name. by the day of the delivery, we had three letters left and three names to decide from. we decided on the way to the hospital and came up with pbs' name.
i realize this had to be the longest wait of their life. it really seemed to move pretty quickly,to me, though because they only started the process in january. i don't know what i would be feeling if i were in their shoes. i do know how i felt when pregnant with pbs. i was anxious, nervous, a real mess because it was a pretty stressful, difficult pregnancy. i hope that the birth mother has had a more "normal" pregnancy than i had. i hope that she was able to enjoy the time she had with the baby, even while knowing she would be giving this child to someone else. i hope that my brother and sister-in-law are able to transition fairly easily from a family of two to a family of three.
we've been praying for all parties involved. and now we can almost be extremely excited because the baby is coming!
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
siblings
the past few days have made me think, i mean really think, about whether or not we should try for a second child. on the one hand, we would love for pbs to have a sibling that he could play and learn with. but on the other hand, i wonder if js and i would have enough time to spend with each child individually the way we have with pbs.
both js and i are oldest children. i'm the oldest of two and he's the oldest of three. we both would love for pbs to have the camaraderie that only comes with having siblings. even sibling rivalry is an experience that i wouldn't trado for anything because it taught me how to be in other relationships in my life and made me who i am today. of course there were times when my mom wondered if my brother and i would make it to college or to see our 30th birthdays, but we both made it. we are much closer now than we ever were growing up. we've grown up and are able to see past our differences and quirks and love each other for who we are.
now my brother and sister-in-law are about to become parents through adoption. their baby is coming any day! we are so excited and happy for them. pbs will have a cousin in just a few days. cousins are almost as good as having a brother or sister. my brother and i have many cousins and love them and miss them very much. we don't get to see each other very often.
pbs is a pretty mature two and a half. he's pretty independent, as most two and a half year olds are. we've noticed that he seems more mature than some of the older kids he's been around. he's polite, caring, concerned and even understands when he's done something wrong. he apologizes and really seems sorry if he does something he shouldn't. we work with him all the time on these things and other issues when they come up. i think pbs could handle being a big brother but i don't know if i could handle it.
both js and i are oldest children. i'm the oldest of two and he's the oldest of three. we both would love for pbs to have the camaraderie that only comes with having siblings. even sibling rivalry is an experience that i wouldn't trado for anything because it taught me how to be in other relationships in my life and made me who i am today. of course there were times when my mom wondered if my brother and i would make it to college or to see our 30th birthdays, but we both made it. we are much closer now than we ever were growing up. we've grown up and are able to see past our differences and quirks and love each other for who we are.
now my brother and sister-in-law are about to become parents through adoption. their baby is coming any day! we are so excited and happy for them. pbs will have a cousin in just a few days. cousins are almost as good as having a brother or sister. my brother and i have many cousins and love them and miss them very much. we don't get to see each other very often.
pbs is a pretty mature two and a half. he's pretty independent, as most two and a half year olds are. we've noticed that he seems more mature than some of the older kids he's been around. he's polite, caring, concerned and even understands when he's done something wrong. he apologizes and really seems sorry if he does something he shouldn't. we work with him all the time on these things and other issues when they come up. i think pbs could handle being a big brother but i don't know if i could handle it.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
improving vs. improvising
i recently started selling mary kay to help myself and family financially, mentally, emotionally. i haven't made a sale or held a class/party yet, but i will and am hoping that will help me feel better about signing up for this business. i question my abilities to be excited, outgoing and persuasive. i know i can do it, it's just a matter of growing my courage and getting out there. it helps me to know that i will be helping other women to feel beautiful inside and out by enhancing their natural beauty through the wonders of make-up and skin care. i hope to improve myself, get some "me time" and adult conversation by getting out more without pbs in tow. i love being able to take pbs to the museums, art exhibits, the zoo, shopping. he's improving his vocabulary and mind but we're also improvising on schedule and what we talk about and do every day.
if you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that js and i bought a house a couple of months ago and have been trying to fix it up to our liking. it's coming along, slowly but surely. i would much rather have some sort of super power where i could snap my fingers, twitch my nose or wiggle my ears and things would get done without having to do the actual work. i do like to start projects and i have a list a mile long already for us to do. it's the actual working on the project all the way to finish that i'm not too fond. i find myself getting bored halfway through and wanting to jump to something else or to start a new project. i end up have many projects going at the same time for this very reason. most of the time i do like the sense of accomplishment and achievement when i've finished a project, of course i probably already have plans to change or improve the finished product in the back of my mind.
js finished painting the walls in our room and pulled up the carpet to reveal beautiful hard wood floors. he's been doing a little each night when he comes home from work. he's exhausted because he's swamped at work and then he comes home to work some more. i will paint the trim either sometime this week or over the weekend. i guess we're improvising life to get to the finished product and final results.
we're improving the house, our family, our finances, etc. but are we improvising to get to the final outcome? i guess that's really how life goes. we're always trying to improve on something, be it our selves, our house. in school we're told that we can do better and to try to improve our grades and grow our basic knowledge. in our work we're reviewed and told to do things differently to improve upon existing systems, processes and procedures. i know in my home-life, i'm trying to figure out how i can improve as a mommy, a wife, a woman. really, isn't life just one big improvising session since we don't know what's coming around the next bend?
if you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that js and i bought a house a couple of months ago and have been trying to fix it up to our liking. it's coming along, slowly but surely. i would much rather have some sort of super power where i could snap my fingers, twitch my nose or wiggle my ears and things would get done without having to do the actual work. i do like to start projects and i have a list a mile long already for us to do. it's the actual working on the project all the way to finish that i'm not too fond. i find myself getting bored halfway through and wanting to jump to something else or to start a new project. i end up have many projects going at the same time for this very reason. most of the time i do like the sense of accomplishment and achievement when i've finished a project, of course i probably already have plans to change or improve the finished product in the back of my mind.
js finished painting the walls in our room and pulled up the carpet to reveal beautiful hard wood floors. he's been doing a little each night when he comes home from work. he's exhausted because he's swamped at work and then he comes home to work some more. i will paint the trim either sometime this week or over the weekend. i guess we're improvising life to get to the finished product and final results.
we're improving the house, our family, our finances, etc. but are we improvising to get to the final outcome? i guess that's really how life goes. we're always trying to improve on something, be it our selves, our house. in school we're told that we can do better and to try to improve our grades and grow our basic knowledge. in our work we're reviewed and told to do things differently to improve upon existing systems, processes and procedures. i know in my home-life, i'm trying to figure out how i can improve as a mommy, a wife, a woman. really, isn't life just one big improvising session since we don't know what's coming around the next bend?
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