I just realized that I have all but completely stopped writing in my journal over the last 6 months. I cannot explain why I have not been writing more. Jack is doing more than ever. Things in our lives are changing rapidly....but I have failed to take the time to document it...and it makes me sad. I guess that I may just be too busy with everything that is going on to sit down and actually write about it? With that said, this entry will be my meager attempt to catch up on everything that has been happening over the last few months!
JACK:
Jack is an amazing child. He is intelligent far beyond his years. He knows how to influence adults to achieve the results that he wants (he can break into a tearful sob at the drop of a hat or a "no" and has been known to toss out the "I just love being with you" phrase to ensure that the parent/adult is completely under his spell when he wants something.) He is still very big (his three year old appointment puts hi at the 97% for height and weight. He weighed in at 37lbs and 40" tall), can sing songs, ADORES Scooby Doo (we have every episode on DVD and all that he seems to want to do anymore is watch Scooby Doo...which is worrisome!) and he knows his address, his full name. He can draw a face (but has trouble making a smile...most of his people have stern mouths) but he likes to make curly hair and hands and eyebrows on everyone. He can write his name (but ends up making a HUGE "J" in the middle of the page/chalkboard, etc. and then having to squish the other letters in (sometimes the "c" goes the wrong way, and his "a" sometimes looks like an "H"...but pretty darn good for just turning 3). He questions everything and wants to understand why things are required, why things happen, what will happen if something else transpires, etc. He is very interested in electronics (By way of example, this morning he was completely engrossed in why his Nana's hair dryer had a cool spot button on it and whether our blow dryer had one.) He talks in full paragraphs (and sometimes it seems that he just will not stop...he just keeps talking and talking and talking...) We had his hearing and speech tested on the advice of one of the pediatricians in our pediatrician's office since he was gabbing away and she said she could only understand about 50% of what he said. His hearing was perfect...his vocabulary and sentence structure were off the charts for his age...and he had a minor delay in pronunciation of the letters "G" and "K" (i.e., he says "dirl" for girl and "Otay" for okay, etc.) We will probably take him in for a few sessions of speech to correct/assist his progression with respect to pronouncing those sounds. Jack loves ice-skating (he is doing great in his classes and was immediately bumped up to the next class) swimming (he is in a class with 5-7 year olds) and art (he says that he is a "great artist"). He just started group piano lessons for 3 year olds and he loves that so far as well. He is very sensitive to the feelings of others, he is a sweet boy, though sometimes prone to temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way (we are working on this). Jack is friendly, and outgoing and will talk to anyone. He is confident and the perfect 3-year-old child. He is the love of my heart.
OUR HOUSE
We have been looking for a home that would be our "forever" home for about a year now. (We have been looking in Upper Arlington as it is in the best school district in Central Ohio...and we were hoping to avoid having to put Jack into private school). We did not intend to buy until Spring 07 (as Paul's retirement income would begin within a few months and my student loan would be paid off around that time.) However, we were concerned about the increasing interest rates...and got caught up in the whirlwind of looking at homes...and wanting to get into our new neighborhood when we found the perfect home for our family. First, let me say that after looking at many, many homes (some of which were well out of our price range) this home was the first one that Jack just loved. It is an older home (built in 1933) Tudor in style and in the historic district of the city. It needs A LOT of work. (To be honest...to make this the perfect home for our family...it probably requires $300,000 of additions and work...much of which we think we can do on our own over time). But architecturally it is beautiful and it is in a very very nice location with plenty of space to add on. We are in the process of trying to get a no-money-down construction loan for the purchase price as well as an additional $150,000 to do a three-story addition off the back (as well as update the heating and cooling in the current home). The addition might be bare bones...but if we can get the structure in place, Paul and I can work on it over time to make this house lovely. It has an attic that, with the 20 x 24' addition off the back will become an apartment for my Mom. It has four bedrooms (one of which will become an open walkway through to the new second-floor master). The kitchen is old and gross...but we will live with that for a while until we can afford to remodel it. We will have a new Family room off the back of the house, a nice living room and dining room. I just hope that we can do this. We haven't listed our current house yet...so I am very worried. We are going to be using our savings to make payments on both houses (until we sell our current home and until next Spring when Paul's retirement income kicks in.) In putting this all on paper it sounds very scary...but I really believe that it will be a great investment for us in the long run. (We may have a couple of tight years....but in the end it will pay off.) We just need to pray that our current home sells quickly. We are working so hard to get our current home ready for sale, are moving some of our belonging s and our pets into a temporary apartment, working with the General Contractor to get drawings and specs of the proposed addition so that we can get the loan approved and close on the new house. Meanwhile, we are still running PetPromise, raising a three-year-old and working at my career. I don't know if we can survive this!
BABY PLANS
If this weren't all enough, We started down the road of one final (self-financed) IVF last month. (We had no idea that all of the house stuff would be heading down this path at the time of beginning the IVF process. So, after a month on Birth Control pills, I had my ultrasound and Estradoil blood work drawn today...and I am supposed to begin stimulation drugs for this cycle THIS Wednesday. How exciting...we are praying that we will have another baby....mostly so that Jack will have a sibling to grow up with and so that he will have family as an adult. We will be praying that we can have just one more beautiful miracle....and then life would be perfect (although it is pretty perfect now). Thank you God for our wonderful life!
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