Updates....

I so wish that I was better about journaling. There are so many things that I don't want to ever forget about Katie & Jack....and I knowthese memories will fade if I don't record them....but I just find with two there isn't the time to jurnal like there was! Now, I have two darlings to spend every minute of my time with...and I would rather be with them than doing anything else in the world.


Katie:

Katie is my little baby girl. Sometimes, because she is so smart...and so independent, I find myself expecting too much from her. She just turned two...and this little baby can get her own clothes, put on her own shoes and some of her clothes, she feeds herself, wipes her own face, brushes her hair, moves a stoool all over the house so she can reach things, etc. She is so assertive and willing to try anything...that I foget she is just a baby! On the flip side she seems much older than her years also because she is so nuturing. She is always worried about everyone else, "Mommy, you have salad, too?" "Where's Jack?" "Daddy okay?" "I help you."

In fact, one night in bed, I had my arm wrapped around her and there was a large bang upstairs. She told me that she was scared....so I told her that she didn't have to be scared, that Mommy would always protect her. She looked at me, and wrapped her arm around me and said, "I protect you too, Mommy...and Jack, too." She is such a sweet little thing...it makes me cry. I am always expecting so much from her...because she is so "mature" for her age.

Katie is always happy to see me when I come home at lunch from work. She runs to me when I walk in the door and hugs my legs. My heart swells up with love for her. She still loves to nurse and nurse and nurse....she likes to be held and cuddle and have skin to skin contact...and that is our special time together. When I look down at my sweet baby girl nursing, my heart feels like it will burst with love for her...and I am so happy....it is indescribable.

She is also very active...and has great dancing ability. When she hears music (when she thinks no one is looking) she does this cute little thing where she puts her hands into little fists and kind of hunkers down and kind of walks/moves to the beat of the music she hears....it is so funny and so cute. I don't ever want to forget that.

One other little incident that breaks my heart occurred while we were at Disneyland a couple weks ago for Jack's 6th Birthday. We had been doing a lot...and Katie had to stop and tell me that she was hungry. I said, "okay" but then forgot about it and we all continued to ride rides, etc. Later we stopped at a little deli to get a couple of drinks and Katie went inside with me. She was the perfect height to look inside the deli cooler right in front of us as we waited in line. She tugged on my blouse and said, "Mommy, I hungry. I hungry for that big sanwich right there...that sanwich." It was so cute and so sad. The poor little thing had stold me she was hungry at least an hour earlier...and I had forgotten all about it...it breaks my heart to think that a little baby 2 year old has to keep rerminding her Mommy to get her something to eat. I am sorry sweet baby girl! I LOVE you so much....I wish I could show you all of the time how my heart swells wth love for you my baby girl!


Jack:

Jack, my baby boy, my big boy...just turned 6 years old. How did that happen? The little being that has been a part of me for six years is now becoming his own person. My BABY BOY...the baby that made me a Mommy...the one who changed my life forever....I feel him growing slowly away from me...and slowly closer to me in different ways. I cannot fathom what my life would be like without him. It is hard to describe what becoming a Mother feels like or how it changes you forver...in the greatest way....a first child, for someone who waited so long to have a baby....for someone who wanted a baby so much for so long....well, her fist baby will always be her first baby in so many ways.

We took Jack (as well as our whole family including Nana, Aunt Jana & Uncle Chris & Olivia & Ella) to Disneyland in California to celebrate Jack's 6th Birthday. It was pretty special. Jack had a pin announcing that he was the birthday boy that he wore the whole five days we were there. We had a fun, ative time...and I think our big boy loved it. He was truely the most special kid in the world on his birthday and for the whole vacation!

One thing that I wanted t mention here also is that Jack is beyond the scope of smart. I really believe that he is gifted. He is reading adult books and doing multiplication in Kindergarten! When I accidentally came accross a video clip of Jack at just over 2 years old, he was spelling out words on his own, "Mommy, I can spell bat...B-A-T...and I can spell something else, B-A-D B-O-Y!" *laughing* I guess at the time this didn't seem amazing to me because he was our first...it didn't seem unusual. Now I know how amazing it really was. He was also counting into the teens at that age as well. Why I bring this up is because when we got back from the Disneyland trip, Jack was sick and missed an extrra day of school. But the problem was, the next day when he felt better, he didn't want to go to school that day either...or the next day. This is coming from a child that used to cry to go to school even when he was sick and needed to stay home. I tried to talk to him about the reason he didn't want to go and he couldn't give me a reason. He just said it was too long a day and he didn't like it.

After looking closely at what he does every day in both the Montessori Kindergarten as well as his regular Kindergarten class, I believe that he is bored and not being challenged. I raised this issue with his Kindergarten teacher (which I really like) but her response was that Jack could challenge himslef in class by extending the work that he was given. In my opinion....it is too much to expect a Kindergartener to figure out how to make work harder or more challenging...that is the job of the school, isn't it? Anyway, I have spoekn with a physchologist who is going to do some testing on Jack to determine is he is "gifted" under Ohio law which will provide us with a lot of answers on how to best help him learn to his fullest potential...and will (fi he is gifted) require the school to do so as well. I am anxious to see what the tests reveal. In some ways, Jack is so advanced (in his cognitive thinking, his reading and math) but in other ways (socially) he is very young (he is a big cuddler, loves dolls and stuffed animals, he still cries a lot, etc.) I can't wait to see what the testing says about our little boy.

I don't want to end this entry without expressing my love for this little person, Jack. When I see his big greeen almond shaped eyes and his little square toothed smile (he still hasn't lost a baby tooth)....my heart melts...and I could just hold him until the end of time. I have been picking him up and cuddling him lately and it surprised me....as it made me realize that I hadn't done that in a very long time. Since Katie has come along...she has been the baby and the most in need of being held and carried and nursed....so Jack's "cuddling" has kind of gone by the wayside...adn I didn't even realize it. My sweet baby boy...please don't think I don't love you and your little self...EVER....I do....so very much....my sweet baby angel..... I love you with my whole heart.

Jack & Katie....you are my loves. I thank God every day for giving me the most precious gifts int he whole world. I love you both so.