SO many exciting things have been happening!  Not only are we having another baby, we also bought a house a few months ago and David started a new job as a pre-op and pre-admission testing manager.  It has been a whirlwind of a summer!

We bought the house shortly before I became pregnant again and it is such a relief to finally be out of apartments and have room for all of us.  It will a while until we can decorate it and have it set up the way we want but things have slowly been coming together.  Yes, we still have boxes to unpack and between the pregnancy and David’s new job, neither of us have much energy to finish everything but inch by inch it’s getting done.

The first trimester of this pregnancy was pretty rough.  I was completely debilitated by exhaustion (as I was for all my pregnancies except William’s) and it is still lingering around.  I get hit hard in the afternoon and getting through the rest of the day is pretty difficult but I have good days scattered in there too, which has been helping me to get through.  Thankfully the nausea never got too horrendous and is completely gone now.  I only had very brief waves that would happen infrequently.  We had our ultrasound yesterday and the tech and doctor says everything was perfectly “textbook” for a healthy pregnancy.  I am always nervous for that ultrasound since it’s the same one where we found out our baby had died about 5 years ago.  Thankfully David was able to come to that appointment with me!  I also had a very strong feeling the baby was another boy so that was no shock to me.  I always imaged myself to be a mom of four boys when I was younger and it looks like that is coming true.  I never had a desire for a daughter and truthfully, at this point, I would have no idea what to do with one.  Rambunctious boys are my thing apparently!

Nathan is doing great with Kindergarten again this year at his new school.  He was so excited about his first day.  I dropped him off and he had a little smile that he couldn’t wipe off his face and simply said, “Bye mom!”  It was so heartwarming to see him happy about school.  He is playing soccer again this year and both William and Nathan are continuing with their swimming lessons.  Nathan wants to start martial arts as well so I am looking into that too but I am being careful not to overdo our schedule.

William moved up to a new, older classroom since he is turning 4 next month.  He has been a little unsure about it since he loved his last classroom but so far he seems to be getting used to it and adjusting well.  He was too young to play soccer this fall since he is still 3 but in the spring, we’ll definitely sign him up!

Colin started preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays for ½ a day this week.  He had his trial day last week and loved it so much.  His teachers said he acted like he had always been there.  He jumped right into all the activities and was so excited to go back yesterday!  It was really cute to pick him up and see him so happy.  When the baby comes, he’ll go more often but for now, this is perfect.  Plus, it gives me a chance to rest a couple of mornings a week, which is desperately need.

David is doing great with his new job.  The hours are long and he goes in early in the morning so exhaustion is just as big of a problem for him as it is for me, but we are hanging in there.  We try to take advantage of every minute on the weekends to unwind but that can be hard to do when you have an early riser like Colin and two other boys who have more energy than they know what to do with!

We also were able to take a vacation to Virginia for a week.  It was awesome and completely rejuvenating to see my friends again.  It was just the thing I needed after enduring such an exhausting 1^st trimester.  Next we need to make it back to Hawaii again to visit David’s family.  Hopefully we can do it next year!

That about catches you up!  We are all seriously looking forward to cooler temperatures here, although we still have a while to wait for them.  It’s cooler than it was in early August but I’d still say we don’t get any real relief from heat until November.  Until then, it’s to the river and pool for us!  I’ll be dreaming of warm sweaters and fall comfort food in the meantime.

 

 

Hi!  There has been so much going on here that I feel like I can barely keep up with life.  I’ll go into all the details at another time but it’s all good stuff  🙂

Summer has officially started for us.  Nathan is in summer school, William is staying in preschool through the summer, and Colin’s latest obsession is having books read to him all day until his brothers get home and he can go crazy and run around like the rest of them.  Colin is starting to talk more and more, which is so sweet to see.  The unfortunate down side is that he loves to hear his own voice, which resulted in him screaming the word ‘bye’ at the top of his lungs over and over again while I was trying to shop at the store yesterday.  I pleaded with him to shush, gave him things to look at (which he just threw on the floor and nearly broke), and tried playing games like patty-cake all in a frantic attempt to quiet things down a bit.  Colin, however, was having none of it and preferred screaming ‘bye’ at all costs.  I ended up sheepishly leaving the store vowing never to shop with him again.  This happens all the time and each and every time I vow never to venture out again.  I am looking forward to this phase passing quickly!

I managed to make it back to LA for my graduation a few weeks ago.  I’m glad I went and actually wore a cap and gown.  Both my parents were able to attend, which was really wonderful but it just wasn’t the same without David there to see it.  My mom managed to get some good pictures though so at least he was able to catch a glimpse of the experience 🙂

Other than that we have finally caught a break in the rain here.  I love rainy days but it’s also nice to have a stretch of sunshine.  I am just so thankful that we all have seemed to found our stride and have settled into life here.  Nathan is doing well and making lots of progress.  There are still plenty of challenges but we are taking them day by day. William is doing great in school and thriving, and Colin is growing like a weed.  David and I are doing well and I really can’t ask for anything more!

Smooth sailing… so far.  I’ve been reading the book Daring Greatly by Brene Brown over the past… well… 2 months.  It takes me a long time to finish a book!  But it’s a wonderful book about vulnerability and the courage of “showing up” and living bravely in the face of insecurity, doubt, and the voices in our heads that like to convince us we are not enough.  One of the things she discusses is called “vulnerability armory,” which is ways we try to get around our vulnerabilities and the defenses that take us down the road of disconnection and self-protection.  Foreboding Joy is one such defense.  It’s always waiting for the other shoe to drop or to assume that because things are going well, then something terrible must surely be around the corner to ruin it for us.  We do this because the vulnerability we feel when we are truly happy and the fear that creeps in when we think of the sadness or disappointment we would most surely experience if something happened to take our joy and happiness away, would be crushing.  So as self-protection, we brace ourselves as a type of anticipatory grieving.  It’s an insurance for in case something catastrophic does actually happen, we won’t feel as crushed by it.

I never realized how much I did this until I read her book.  Even now, I am aware of my tendency to want to brace myself for something awful to happen and ruin the relative calm we’ve been experiencing.  Nathan is doing well in school, William is happy and thriving, and Colin is growing up as healthy and mischievous as ever.  I catch myself multiple times a day thinking of how short this is going to last and how I should try to relish the obviously naïve state I am existing in since this won’t last.  And while it’s true that things are constantly changing and in reality, this will change too, there’s no need to be bracing myself.  I should just enjoy the moment for what it is.  We never know how long we have on this planet and I want to feel happiness as it should be felt.  Freely, wholly, unapologetically.

David has been working every other weekend lately, so when we all have off together, we try to take advantage of it.  Saturday we went to the zoo to walk around and watch all the amazing peacocks with their beautiful feathers on display.  Peacocks are my favorite bird and I never get tired of seeing them.

Then we went to Nathan’s first ever baseball game.  It is with a special league where all the kids get a buddy to help them through the game and we thought this would be a wonderful way to introduce him to the sport.  He loved it so much (which is a far cry from soccer) and has been practicing with William in the afternoons.  If the boys can find a sport they love, then I am thrilled.  I don’t really care what it is as long as it’s something!  I think sports is a great way to teach kids self-discipline and motivation among many other things.  I hated playing sports when I was in school but thankfully I had theater, dance, and music to replace it.  David on the other had was/is extremely athletic so this is all right up his alley.

William plays soccer at school but he is still too young to enroll in neighborhood leagues like soccer, football, baseball, or basketball.  He wants to play so badly and I am so excited for the time is he old enough to sign up!

Colin had a great time chasing his brothers around before the game and I can tell he is going to really love sports too, much like William and his Dad!

And lastly we put my diploma in a frame to hang up next to David’s.  It was a long time coming but I am thrilled to finally close that door… for now!

March was definitely a busy and full month!  Truthfully, there has been so much going on that the thought of sitting down to write about everything was just too much, so I’ll just loosely summarize.

We went to the rodeo, Dallas, bought two mice, and Nathan started a new school all in just 2 weeks.  The end.

Just kidding!  I’ll go into slightly more detail than that 😉  A few Wednesdays ago, we went to the Austin Rodeo/Carnival for the entire day.  When I say the entire day, I mean 10 whole hours!  I was convinced that we would take a break and leave about mid-day before the Rodeo started but we plowed through and managed to stay for the entire time without any meltdowns, hysterics, crying, or whining!  It was a blast and we bought the boys their first cowboy hats to celebrate 🙂

The next day we headed to Dallas for a couple of nights so that I could attend a conference on home education.  The trip was a bit of a nightmare.  It turns out that we can handle 10 hours at a fair/rodeo but 3 hours in a car pushes us all over the edge.  There were a few highlights like David getting to have lunch with a fellow UCLA MBA alumni and visiting the stockyards for the kids, but that was about it.  The rest of it was just a matter of survival.  And it turns out that I really do detest big cities.  All big cities.  I couldn’t wait to get back home!

Nathan began asking for a pet mouse a little while ago and I thought that it would be good for both him and William to have a pet since we don’t want to get a dog until we buy a house.  Things were going along great until Speedy (Nathan’s mouse) began picking on ‘W’ (William’s mouse) and we had to go out and buy a separate cage so they could each have their own space.  I must say that W is much improved after not having to deal with being terrorized by Speedy all the time.  He now looks chipper and happy as opposed to stressed and exhausted!

And lastly, even though I loved the idea of homeschooling, it just wasn’t working for Nathan.  But I am thrilled to say we found a fantastic private school that has an entirely different approach to education.  The classes are small, kids work at their own pace, ABA and behavioral principles are built into the teaching and curriculum, and it goes year round without summers off.  We just started this week and I feel beyond blessed to have found such a perfect fit for him!
Now I can say it.  The End.

We’ve had a busy couple of days this weekend! Saturday we headed out on our first road trip and went to the San Antonio Zoo. It’s only 1.5 hours away so it’s an easy drive and the weather was amazingly beautiful! After an initial grumpy and impatient spell with Nathan, the whole day went as well as it possibly can with three rambunctious boys and a crowded zoo. In fact, we were all feeling so chipper that we decided to check out the River Walk, which proved to be a massive mistake. It was absurdly busy and chaotic and proved to me once again that I am definitely NOT a city person and in no way shape or form miss the hustle and bustle of that type of environment. I was thrilled to get out of there and head back home!

Sunday we went to the Zilker Park Kite Festival to check it out and I am SO happy we did. We brought our dragon kite from Costco that Nathan pleaded for the week before and were thrilled to discover that it was the absolute perfect day to fly a kite. It was windy, but not too windy and warm, but not too warm. Apparently the year before it was in the 40’s and wet, which would not have been the best experience. There were thousands of people there but it didn’t feel suffocating because we were all outside in such a massive space. There was music and food and families all over the place and hundreds of kites flying in the air. As you can imagine, kites were constantly bumping into each other and strings were getting tangled up and twisted but nobody cared since the whole crowd was having so much fun. People brought blankets and picnics and their dogs and there were contests, races, and everything else you could think of. Overall, just an awesome day!

To top it off, signs of Spring were everywhere this weekend. The leaves are slowly coming on the trees and wildflowers are blooming all over the place. It has been ages since I’ve experienced a true Spring and I had no idea how starved I’ve been for it. Spring in Texas isn’t as dramatic as it is in Virginia, but it’s far more than anything I’ve had in the almost 10 years I spent in LA. And I’ve come to learn that nothing beats a true Spring. Absolutely nothing.

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!

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!