Overall September has been a fun month full of activities and visits. The weather has been cooler this month making things more pleasant. While there have still been some warm/hot days (high 80s, low 90s) overall things are cooling down and we even had a few quotgloomyquot days for a nice change. We started off the month with Labor day weekend, getting to meet more of our neighbors. We had a visit from Mimi and Papa during the middle of the month.
Cordelia has had a very fun month. She started AWANA and has gone four weeks so far. She is very good at memorizing her verses. She also transitioned to a new classroom at preschool and has adjusted well. She continues to really enjoy going and does her homework with enthusiasm too. Corrie has also been doing a better job controlling her emotions too and we’re hoping she’s on the road to smoother behavior. She is very emotionally expressive in both extremes, she gets super excited to see people she likes and also gets very disappointed and upset when things are not going quother way.quot But this month seems to have been a breakthrough for her in controlling her upset emotions and handling herself with more composure in difficult situations. We are trying to reward and encourage her in this, making sure she knows that we notice her and appreciate her maturity. Cordelia also started her second round of ice skating classes at the end of the month. Unfortunately, due to maintenance at the ice rink, the class was delayed a week so Mimi and Papa were not able to see her skate in person. Her favorite indoor activity remains coloring and art. Mimi and Papa brought her some gel pens and she has really enjoyed using those. She loves making drawings and giving them to people, like her preschool teacher. Outside she loves riding her bike around and swinging. We took her training wheels off for a few days trying to teach her to ride without them. She was doing ok for a first try but with all the other demands on our time we put her training wheels back on so she could continue enjoying riding around the backyard unattended.
Anthony has been more difficult this month. He is losing his mellow personality and in return is being contrary for its own sake. This has made the month more challenging with frequent running after him when trying to leave the house. He is certainly testing boundaries with yelling, hitting, and spitting. When left to himself he generally plays nicely and quietly. He’ll read himself a book or play with his cars. Unfortunately he’ll have to wait about another 16-20 years before he can become a hermit, so until then we’re working with him on coping with other people. He did get a few more teeth this month, which we are happy to see. While he still has some gaps, we’re hopeful that his teeth are in there somewhere. At preschool he seems to be doing well. He is generally better at getting dropped off this month with no tears when Alicia or Tim leave.
Lydia has had some exciting milestones this month. Second weekend in September she turned eight weeks and we decided to try letting her sleep through the night and she did! From finishing her feeding at 9pm until 7am when Alicia went in a woke her up. She continued this trend for 11 nights straight and after the 7th night we decided to move her in with her siblings. At first we alternated nights between Anthony and Cordelia but Anthony lost interest about a week in and Cordelia remains very excited to have a sleeping buddy. Unfortunately she had a bad night where she basically stayed up all night from 12:30am until we finally brought her into our room at 4am. Once snuggled up comfortably with Mommy she happily slept the rest of the night until about 6:45am.Since then she has been about 50/50 on making it through the night, we think she might have been growth spurting. Another milestone for Lydia this month is rolling onto her back from her tummy. While doing her quottummy timequot she will now roll out onto her back occasionally. She’s looking intently at her toys now but has not yet started grabbing them except by chance. Her last milestone of the month is laughing. She did her first laugh the last Friday of the month, a very special time. Check out the video for the cuteness. We also managed to get Lydia back on the bottle so she’ll be able to still eat once Alicia goes back to work.
Alicia went on several play dates this month and got out with the kids a fair amount. She had a playdate with one of our neighbors and her 4yr daughter. Two playdates with a mom and kids from out church, the mom was Corrie’s Cubby leader from last year. Alicia also took the three kids to Knott’s Berry farm with Grandparents, Uncle Mark, Aunt Nicole, and cousins. We all had a great time, specially the cousins playing together. Alicia has her last week at home in October before going back to work. Fortunately her management is flexible, allowing her to come back to at part time for the first two weeks.
Tim had an eventful and rewarding month at work. He spent most of his time in the lab doing his hands on work. Then his team took a three day (two night) trip to the field to do testing. At home Tim has been putting in the sweat hours on the yard. We had a huge mulch delivery and he spend an entire three day weekend shoveling that into the yard. The yard looks really nice now with that addition. He’s also been maintaining the yard with frequent grass mowing. He has also been taking Strider out for long walks in the morning before work. As Alicia prepares to go back to work, Tim is preparing for his 6 weeks of at home duty. He’ll be taking quotbaby bondingquot time from mid October through Thanksgiving.
This month we continue to make more connections with church people. The study group we were going to before Lydia was born was gracious enough to move the study time up an hour so we could attend. Our main connection is with the music pastor and his wife but we’re also acquainted with other members of the worship and audio/video team.
We are grateful for the location where God has placed us. Our neighbors continue to be a blessing to us, helping out with the kids or dog as needed. When Tim was on his work trip our neighbor came over for two hours to help Alicia during the bedtime chaos. We are also thankful for our family and really appreciate being closer to everyone. Grandma and Grandpa continued to give Alicia company during the month and enabled her to go on the Knott’s adventure. Mimi and Papa were also able to visit and Papa got to meet Lydia for the first time. It’s such a blessing to be surrounded by supportive godly parents on both sides.
As we head into October we pray for a smooth transition as Alicia goes to work and Tim stays home. We also pray that we will have wisdom in our long term childcare plans for the kids for 2019. We are thinking of having a live-in Au Pair and will be closely listening for God’s guidance in selecting the right person to include in our family. Thank you all for your love and support.
