Following William’s post, I also don’t write about just David very often on here. But since it’s Valentine’s Day and David really deserves praises sung to him, here it is…

During the time I was in school, David was in school and working, and we had given birth to our third boy, the one phrase I heard constantly was “How do you do it all?!?!” How do I manage to balance it all and stay relatively sane. The truth was simple. I don’t do it all. David does it with me.

Throughout these past eight years, I’ve had David by my side every step of the way. I’ve had his unwavering support, ability to keep me grounded when my natural instinct is to fly off the handle, and his strong/calm/capable energy surrounding me every singe day. There is no way I could have handled everything life has thrown at me, without him.

And let’s not forget all that David has managed too. It wasn’t just me going through school. David was getting his MBA while managing to work full-time, spend time with me and the boys, and remain calm and happy throughout it all even though he completely deserved (and no one would have blamed him) to say it was just too much. In truth, I don’t know how he did it all and still does it all every single day.
David and I have had our hard times in life. Times when I just wanted to give up and say that it was too hard, too painful, and too much work. What kept us going was his fierce determination to never give up. Never, ever, ever give up. He has kept us holding on throughout life’s challenges. He has been strong as oak, steel, and spider webs (because let’s face it, not even scientists can recreate how strong spider webs really are!). He has sacrificed, bent over backwards, and trudged on when life was offering him little reward in return. I admire him, love him, and above all else, I respect him.

So David, we have another Valentine’s Day under our belt. Let’s keep more coming!

I fail to write only about William on here, which is ironic because he has the biggest personality in the house. The truth is that William needs to be caught on camera to fully appreciate the monumental hilarity he offers us. When he was 18 months, he would start to squeak every time I snuggled him in his crib at night to let me know he was happy. Ever since then, he earned the name “squeaks” in the family. He loves his nickname and protests if I try to call him anything else. Every night he screams “WATCH THIS!!!!” which is followed by either a full goofy dance that lasts for several minutes, racing as fast as he can from one end of the house to the other, or his newly found skill of hopping on one leg. For quite a while, when I dropped him off at school, he would breakdance as soon as we walked through the door to put on a little show for his teachers. Every day, when we pick him up, the teachers say that he is an example to all the other students and one of the sweetest kids they know.

William is very shy at first and then blossoms (or should I say explodes) into a joyful force to be reckoned with. He is always saying, “Mommy, I love you so much. You are my best friend!” And ever since he was a baby, he has been the biggest snuggle-monster of the house… as well as the loudest. Even as an infant, he cried so loudly that I couldn’t believe such a tiny person could make such a big sound. His voice can often reach a decibel that I just can’t comprehend and it is also one of his endearing characteristics.

Basically, what I am trying to say, is that William is a full package. His love, affection, and sense of humor make being his parent a never-ending source of joy. He lights up the day for everyone who has the opportunity to know him. I love his so dearly. He makes parenting fun, exciting, and full of rewarding pleasures. I know William will excel no matter what he chooses to do in life and our whole family is fortunate enough to just sit back and watch his awesomeness.

Aside from our hiking adventure, I haven’t posted on this blog for quite a while, which usually means things have been stressful. We are still loving it here in Texas but Nathan began having a lot of problems in school so long story short, we are now homeschooling him for the remainder of the school year. Since the decision to withdraw him, we have seen a dramatic turn-around in his behavior for the better. I have been researching homeschooling for a few years now in anticipation that we would one day need to make this decision and my only regret is that we didn’t do it sooner. I am loving it and Nathan seems to be very happy with it too. I think the curriculum we chose is perfect for him and we are doing very well with it. The next step is to find outside classes for him and opportunities to play with other kids his age. I have a couple of class ideas lined up and the good thing about Austin is that there is a huge homeschool community out here with lots of camps and classes available. We are on the waiting list for several of them because apparently you need to sign up as soon as they become available since there is such a high demand for them. When next year rolls around, we will reassess whether we want to try enrolling him again or continue homeschooling for another year.

I can equate homeschooling to being on a stair master all day long. That may sound terrible but it just means that it takes being on top of things without the ability to mentally check out for a break at any point during the day. So while this may all sound very stressful, in reality the stress level of the whole house (Nathan and I especially) has decreased dramatically since we’ve made the decision. I won’t go into all the amazing benefits I believe homeschooling offers (especially for kids on the autism spectrum), but for us this has definitely been the best decision we’ve made.
So that’s the latest with us! It’s a new and exciting chapter!