Isaiah Update

Isaiah is still a squishy little pudgy baby in my mind.  And in his mind, too.  Even though he has lost so much of his squish. And he's 5 whopping years old.  He still loves to be hugged and loved on and cuddled like a baby.  But he wants to be treated like the big kids, too.  

He's in Kindergarten this year and doing great.  He wasn't exactly ahead of the game when he started, but the learning environment seems to be just right for him and he's really flourishing.  He enjoys school, so he's willing to do the work. 

He and I both enjoy the time that we have together each day. He gets home from Kindergarten around 11am so we have a couple of hours where the focus can really be on him.

Isaiah is terrified of water bigger than a bath tub.  He barely got in the Ocean at the beach. He dances around the edge of pools.

So I put him in private swim lessons at a friends house.  And this is how he spends his lessons:

I'm seriously considering throwing him in at our next lesson.

Isaiah is a great kid. He's a great addition to our family dynamics.  He does need to work on "using his words" instead of just breaking into tears when he's frustrated. But, like I said, he thinks he's the baby.

Sammy Update

Sammy. What can I say about Sammy.  He's adorable. He's stubborn.  He screams like a banshee just for fun sometimes.  He enjoys tormenting other children.  He talks like crazy.  He loves his siblings.  He doesn't walk, he runs.  And if Isaiah was our "Poochy" holding our leg and sniffing around, Sammy is our Parrot. He repeats everything!

Proof on adorableness:

When this boy turns on the charm, you melt.

Proof he's stubborn:

Today we went to the school to do some quick copying for the PTA and Sammy decided he didn't want to be there so he screamed - not cried, just screamed - until I ran out of there with him under my arm and the stares of patient but annoyed faculty boring into my back.  

 Proof that he enjoys tormenting other children.  Just ask baby cousin Betsy who he discovered hated his scream so he would walk up to her and let out a succinct scream.  Or baby cousin Ollie who he discovered didn't like to be touched, so he would walk up, shove him and run away.  Or baby cousin Ethan who he alternates between screaming at, stealing toys, and shoving.  ...it's a miracle these families play with us anymore...

Proof that he loves his siblings: He puts on his backpack every morning and walks them to the bus stop in the hope that this will be the day that we let him join the fun on the bus.  When Sammy and I came back from our weekend getaway to Grandma's house (just Sammy and I met up with my sisters and their babies), Sammy was happy to see Daddy, but he was ecstatic to see his siblings.  He is often seen chasing after them yelling, "Hey! Guys!"  He asks me through the day, "Where Guys?"

We recently celebrated Sammy's 2nd birthday (squeezed into the 24 hours that both Richard and I were home between his trip to Brazil and my trip to Texas).  He loved being the star of the day.  And singing Happy Birthday.

 And this helicopter that has it's own remote control!

Semi versus Prius

Richard was very generous to me this year on my birthday. He bought me this beautiful Janome sewing machine.  It has 100 stitches and is digital and fancy and makes sense and is just a million times better than my old, refurbished machine.  My old machine growled at me.  Seriously.  Sometimes it yelled at me.  Sometimes I threatened to throw it out the window.  It wasn't a nice relationship.  A good comparison would be to say that my old machine sounded like a semi truck, whereas this lovely new machine purrs like a Prius.  

 I've been reading the instruction manual and trying this or that, but my first real project on this machine was a cover for my tablet.  I had looked at several tutorials online but the end result was kind of my hybrid of several tutorials and pictures (fitting, since this machine is my Prius).  You can't really see in the pictures, but I even machine quilted some of the circles to add a little texture and interest.

I think it turned out great!  My pretty new machine had to sew through eight - thats 8 - layers at one point to make this.  And it did it!  Without even complaining!

I love my cheery little tablet case, but what I really love is having a nice machine.  And a sweet husband.

(I'm thinking I should do a little red blanket stitch along the edges...But I can't decide.  What do you think?)