What's Going on With Us

Things have been going rather well lately. Most notably, Derrick has been offered a job to consider applying for. He tells me that it's not the only job that he's looking at, but it is the only one he's been excited enough about to talk to me about. The job, he tells me, would provide a sizable raise in pay, though he's not quite sure how much his boss means by "sizable". However if we are to take this job, it has to be enough for us to be able to afford a new mini-van, a house big enough for the 7 of us, and to still be able to pay for the property that we are on now, as neither one of us really want to lose it or give it up. Also it would require us to move to Maryland. We were originally told Washington (state), so I got my hopes up about being only a few hours drive from where Katie and Walt will eventually end up. All I can do is say "Well, STINK!" about that one.

Daniel continues to do well in school. It's the fourth week in a row that he's brought home a 90 or higher grade on his spelling tests and math worksheets (dabs a tissue at tears of pride).His behavior has also recently improved. I think it is because we are rigidly enforcing the rule where nothing fun is done after school until the family room, and bed rooms are cleaned up, followed by homework. This is used along with at least one and a half hours mandatory outside play time on non-rainy days. Plus, he seems to thrive on being entrusted with new responsibilities. i shift him between feeding the dog and helping me with the dishes. He love it.

Jacob is doing very well also. He just got done with a growth spurt, so now all his pant waist bands are too big when just last month they fit perfectly. Good thing I got all his pants a little long. I can always get him a belt. In school, he is wowing his teachers (and his mom) with his artistic side. They are giving him these worksheets that are to help them learn problem solving and logic. It one of those coloring sheets that has half of a picture drawn on one side of a grid and the kid is supposed to draw the other half. He did so well that his teacher wrote me a note telling me that she was impressed with how well he does in artistic areas.(brag, brag, puff up, puff up).

Layla's being a snot. She seems determined to break every rule she possibly can every day. From stealing, to fighting, to not eating the food she begged for, to drawing on the walls, to waking her little brothers from naps, to lying, and everything in between, i am at my wits end with her. The worst part is that I know exactly what is causing all this. I am still trying to figure out how to handle taking care of Micah, the household chores(which, let's face it,I have never had a good handle on), and giving all my kids the attention they need. So, I fear that Layla is getting the short end of the stick being the middle child and only girl. I have been trying to correct this , but it's not easy to do, and a lot of times she makes it even harder by getting sent to time out over and over again. Still, I will try. I pray every time that given time and the patience that Heavenly Father is helping me to acquire, she'll come around.

Jaiden is , well, Jaiden. Sometimes he follows Layla's example, sometimes it's Daniel and Jake's. Sometimes he just does his own weird little thing. All I know is that he can be extremely entertaining or extremely frustrating. He has been showing off a bit in his new found vocabulary words. The newest words are "Night-night", "Bye", "Danno"(Daniel), and that good old toddler classic "NO!"

Micah is 2months old now, and he is already purposefully smiling. All the time. He is a marvelously happy baby most of the time. I don't think it will be very long at all before he starts to laugh. He sounds like he's trying to figure that one out every now and again. Oh, yeah, he's already rolling over. He has done both back-to-front and front-to-back with the latter being the most often. Crazy, huh?

As for me, I just underwent surgery on the 20th, and bade farewell to my child bearing days. I was pretty scared before hand, this being my first surgery and all.Thank you, mom and dad for keeping me in your prayers that day. It helped knowing that you were. Thank you to my sisters for doing the same, for the same reason. I wasn't quite as scared walking into that pr-op room. Thank you Derrick, for the blessing that you gave me just before they started my I.V. It calmed and comforted me more than you know. Everything went fine. The pre-op anesthesiologist shot something into my I.V. that made me all loopy (that was pretty fun)and then they took me to the operating room. they had just gotten my arms out to my sides, and the little rubber breathing mask on my face, telling me to take deep breaths (I only remember taking 3), when, suddenly, I was waking up asking the nurse in post-op " Is it over?" and not hearing her answer "yup" before I fell asleep again. I slept off and on for the rest of the day. I couldn't seem to go more than 20 minutes without falling asleep. My doctor told me that I would feel like I was kicked in the gut for a few days. I didn't feel that way until today. Now I been kicked in the gut before, and hard,too ( Tony the black belt), and this still isn't as bad as that! So, all in all, not a bad price to pay to have the reassurance for me and my entire family that my sanity will stay intact that much longer1 You guys know what I mean :} !