David

It's been a while since I have written in my blog. David is officially a walker. I have video's of his progression of moving around the house.

David crawls around the house using some toy dice.

Yes, David is walking at 9 months. He actually started taking some steps between James and I at the beginning of September. By the end of the month he was walking everywhere.

We recorded this movie on the 11th of October. He decided one night to follow his sisters upstairs to bed. He had never tried before, but did succeed on the first try all the way up. The girls came and told us when David did. So brought him down and had him do it again, which he did perfectly. Then the third time was for the camera. You'll notice he doesn't exactly crawl, it's more of a walk/climb.

So more about David. He is my boy. All boy in fact. He loves playing. He likes to hide in little places, and come out and see if you're looking for him. Then it's lots of fun and giggles. He also likes to growl like an animal. He also likes to play tag. He loves loves loves his sisters. He follows them to the door when they leave for school with his arms out. At least he's not crying when they leave. He likes getting into my cupboards and pulling out my tupperware. He also is a magnet to the kitchen any time I open the dishwasher. He likes to "help" me empty the dishwasher. David and the cat, Tom, get along great. Tom tolerates a lot from him. Even when he has to "share" his food and water. David loves splashing in the cats water and pouring it all over the floor. He'll even take a nibble every once in a while of the cats food. He is definitely different from his sisters in everything he does. I tell everyone this, and of course its an obvious statement. He's a boy, they are all girls, therefore an obvious conclusion, but nevertheless one I did not expect.

Here's a picture of one of the tight spaces David squeezes himself into to play hide and go seek. Also take time to look at his little scrapbook on the blog at the bottom. It's insightful, and will definitely make you smile.

Back to school

So yesterday was the first day back to school. It went great. The girls were up around 6AM. Not that I wanted them up that early, but apparently they were a little excited about the first day back to school. They got to meet their teachers on the 3rd of September before school started, and were all excited about the people that were in their classes. Monique and apparently everyone at the elementary school did share in some sad news. Nurse Eileen, the school nurse, moved to California over the summer. We new it was coming, her husband is in the military, we were just hoping it wouldn't happen. Every teacher and parent we talked to that day shared their sadness of losing Nurse Eileen. She will definitely be missed. So back to the first day of school. The girls were dressed and downstairs by 6:30AM, ate breakfast, brushed hair, brushed teeth, and were ready to walk out the door by 7:20AM. So we had plenty of time for pictures and playing with David before they left. I brought them to school (I'm driving them to school this year, I don't feel like dealing with the school bus issues I did last year.) and they left with smiles. Then it was David and me, and my husband, who is on terminal leave from the Navy. I put David down for a nap, cleaned, and played Cooking Mama on the Wii with James. Then it was time to get Angel from the bus. It was her first time ever riding the bus, and because our Kindergarten bus drops each kid off at their front door, I wasn't quite sure when to expect her, so I stood out in the rain with an umbrella for about 20 minutes waiting for the bus. Now I know when to expect her. She was so excited when she got off the bus. Her friend, Kelsey, who didn't end up in her class, rides the bus home with her, and apparently they got to sit together. So I expect bus rides home to be one of her favorite things. So I talked to Angel about all she did her first day at school, did more cleaning, and I did some paperwork for the school, and helped Angel with her homework. A few hours later it was off to school to pick up Monique and Jacque, who both had good days as well. So we all sat down at the table talking about the first day at school, while I filled out more paperwork, and Monique and Jacque did homework. Then it was chores, dinner, and then they played for a few hours. 7:15PM roles around and it's time for packing lunches, picking out clothes for the next day, reading scriptures, family prayer, Monique's nighttime shot, brush teeth, Vitamins, and then bed (which for some reason took them a bit of time to settle down and actually sleep). So after hoping that the second day would go as smoothly as the morning of the first, my hopes were dashed. I was upstairs 15 minutes after the alarm went off trying to get them out of bed and moving. Oh well, I guess that's just how things go.

Just Like Mommy

So I told my sister, Jenny, I would keep my ear out for blog worthy moments. During dinner we were having a discussion about how Monique's personality was more like me because of her artistic quailities, and Jacque's personality was more like James because she is just all around smart and inventive. Then Monique says so what does that make Angel. I said I don't know, Angel's just weird. And Angel responds with, "That means I'm just like you." Oh the personalilty of my four year old.

Finally

So it looks like we are finally getting out of the military. It's not happening as fast as I would like, but it's finally happening. For those who don't know, we've been waiting about 3 years for the Navy to let James out of the military. I say "let", and not kick out because he should have been kicked out 3 years ago, but because my husband is so very good at his job, they have been passing whatever waiver they could come up with to keep him in. He's getting out because he's out of weight standards. The military is the only job you can have where you can lose that job because you are overweight. Anyway, when he was on his last ship he struggled with his weight too, but was able to get it down to move to shore duty, where he lost all of the weight, but then was put back on sea duty, and gained it all back. So anyway, they've run out of ways to keep him in. I honestly feel though that it wasn't just the Navy who had reasons for keeping him in the military. I think the Lord had a bit to do with it too. Alot of things happened since the first time my husband had failed the PRT. We have had all of our children, so I family is complete, and the big one for our family is that Monique was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. I wouldn't even have been able to fathom the cost of our medical bills if we weren't in the military during that time. Maybe one day I'll share that experience on the blog of when Monique was diagnosed and how the Lord helped us through and continues to help us. For those who read this and are in the military. I am grateful for things about the military. I mean hey who wouldn't want to not have to pay for anything related to medical. Yes we know this means we'll have to start paying for all of Monique's diabetic supplies, but we are prepared for that. I honestly was beginning to worry more about my husbands health. This last year he was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. Yes, that's an automatic 50% disability in the military. Guess why, because they realize that the lifestyle they expect their sailors to endure can cause this to happen. We realized many times that the Navy has not been good for his health when he would take two weeks of leave, and actually lose weight because of the better food, lack of stress, and actual sleep time. So I'm sure the question on most minds, especially those in my ward is, are we staying or moving. This answer is not 100% sure yet, but we are leaning more towards staying. It would be easier to just stay here, but we need to go where the job is. The good news is that there are a lot of civilian people in this area who have worked with my husband and offered him a job when he got out. He has contacted one of those, and is getting the application process started. He's also looked at the degree programs to get his bachelors degree. He's already got his associates, so we're hoping that he'll be able to get both his bachelors and masters degree with the GI bill. It looks like Engineering is the winner. It'll be an interesting next four years with him working and going to school. The best part though is that he will be home, and not out to sea all the time.

Getting started

So my sister, Jenny, set up a blog page for me to get started. It's been a few months since she set it up so I figured I should probably try to get it started. So I have my three little princesses getting started in school, and my little prince just getting into everthing.

I'll start with my little prince, David. So I want to thank my family for all they taught David at the family reunion this year. We left for the reunion with a little baby that could barely scoot around on the floor, and came home having to instantly baby proof the house. He is now crawling everywhere, still hasn't found the stairs, thank goodness. He is also just about ready to walk. He will actually stand in the middle of the room, and squat to pick something up, and then stand back up again. He is definitely trying to keep up with his big sisters. I figure that by his nine month check up at the end of September that he will be walking. He still hasn't started any mama or dada, but he has gotten the screaming part. Oh, the things that the girls have encouraged just by laughing. I'm guilty of this too. In fact I'm sure that parents have found many a times when they react excitedly when a baby does something for the first time, only to regret it later.

All of my little princesses will be going to school this year. Monique and Jacque are really looking forward to school starting again. I don't know if it's just from sheer boredom or if they really want to go to school. Monique is going into the fourth grade and Jacque is going into the third grade. I know that Monique is looking forward to seeing Nurse Eileen, the school nurse, again. Nurse Eileen spoils all my girls, and they eat it up. She really is a great nurse, and we are blessed to have her at their school. Jacque is looking forward to starting this year in the gifted program. Both girls are starting to get antsy about who their teacher might be. Too bad it can't be my sister Jenny. :) They also are hoping that certain friends are in their class. Angelique will be starting Kindergarten this year. She will only be four when school starts, but will turn five before the cut off date. I've had mixed feelings about her going to Kindergarten, but have prayed about it and come to a conclusion. Everything has been put in place for her to succeed. She didn't start talking until she was three because she had two older sisters who talked for her. She was able to start speech therapy in April. She is progressing well in that. At our elementary school they also have a program for the Kindergarteners. Our Kindergarten is half day, but they evaluate all of them for the first six weeks and choose 15 kids to put in full day Kindergarten. So if they feel that she needs the extra work, she will be put in that program. She will still get speech at the school regardless, and then I am at home to be able to help her. I think she most looks forward to being able to read. She loves books, but depends on others to read them to her. So David and I will be at home for at least part of the day on our own. What ever will I do?

So there's a little blurb about the kids. My goal is to try and update this every Friday, and maybe other times when something "blog worthy", as Jenny put it, happens in our household. Hope everyone stays well.

New Blog

Jenny made Heather a blog... here it is!