What a busy month it's been. We ended summer with a bang. Since my last post, we spent a family day at Six Flags in San Antonio, part of a weekend at Schlitterbahn with the Crider-Bleil family, and then a long weekend at the Hill Country Hyatt in San Antonio with our three kids and three friends of our kids.
We always enjoy the Hill Country Hyatt and it worked out well even with so many kids :). We watched movies on the lawn, made s'mores, tanked up on the breakfast buffet, enjoyed the lazy river, visited the Long Bar and had a lot of fun visiting with friends from the neighborhood who came in with their families on the last night we were there. On our last night, I awoke in the wee hours with a raging fever and chills. I had developed a kidney infection, without ever having signs of a UTI/bladder infection. Weird, but apparently it happens sometimes. I was no help at all with packing and getting out of the hotel, and in the midst of all of that, we left two envelopes of cash that two of the other kiddos' parents had given us - one of which had $100. What's worse is that since I was so sick when we came home (fever up to 103-104 for three nights in a row) that it wasn't until today that I was sure we had left the envelopes. I called the hotel on a whim because I was just mad at myself and couldn't let it go. I was SHOCKED to have the housekeeping manager tell me that they have our money. Yes, it was the right thing for the employee to turn it in, but even if we called and were SURE we had left it, someone could always have argued that they threw away the envelopes with the papers they were with (schedule of events for the hotel, etc.). Regardless, I am so extremely impressed and just wanted to plug this hotel. It's a blast for the kids. It's pricey, but once you're there you don't have to leave and it's just good fun for the whole family. We actually typically get a rate of less than $200 by booking in advance and using a AAA discount. Be sure to ask for the breakfast coupons if you have AAA; they make a big difference in your overall costs as well - they are supposed to be for two adults but our waitress last year comped all four of us for the breakfast buffet with the coupons.
On Monday we started our first ever bout with lice. Yes, it's a yucky topic but I'm finding it is AMAZINGLY common among our friends. I'm grateful to Sydney's friend's Mom for giving us a heads up and to Martin for having a clue what to look for. I would never have pegged the tiny little dots in her hair for eggs (nits) but that's what they were. It's not unheard of for a first time occurrence within a family to hit every member since people don't know what to look for and don't catch it with the first victim. Thankfully we did and now I know that when your kid says, 'Mom, my head really itches when I sweat' - the appropriate answer is NOT 'Oh yeah, mine does too, I think that's really common...' Doh! If someone could follow me around right now and count the number of times I itch my head in a day it would be comical - it's amazing what the power of suggestion can do! My last word on the subject - I highly recommend Lice, M.D. as an OTC product to treat if you are ever unlucky enough to take on this vermin in your household.
We rounded out the summer with some math tutoring for Sydney at Mathnasium. She went with friends and seemed to enjoy it. She wrapped up her reading tutoring and Jake his keyboarding that they did over the summer. As long as the kids stay up to speed, we won't be doing any outside tutoring this year - fingers crossed!!! Sydney's reading really seemed to take off - Jake has been telling her she needs to be reading chapter books in 3rd grade and she has stepped up to the challenge. She's been capable, but has enjoyed the picture books more. But, I think with the continued tutoring through the summer she's really ready to make the switch to all chapter books - we'll see.
The kids are back in school and Jake is already loaded up with homework. He is NOT happy about it and a little worried that his teacher doesn't like him. She seems nice but a little reserved, and very firm with her rules. Jake is used to having some leeway (in the past teachers have cut him some slack on his behavior, he's sometimes gotten extra time on tests, etc. - in short, he's historically gotten some special treatment at school that he's enjoyed), and he doesn't typically deal well with people who are inflexible or call him out on stuff directly unless he's really sure that they are on his side. It will be interesting to see how things work out for him with his teacher - regardless, I'm sure he'll learn a lot and it will be good for him. I think it's going to be a tough year - lots of writing, which is hard for any kid but esp. for one with his learning challenges, as it involves so much focus to take your thoughts and form them into words and meaningful sentences and paragraphs. Then just the mechanics of writing out those words can be tough for him. I've noticed he still reverses some of his numbers and letters when he's not really focused, and his handwriting isn't great. But, he's overcome amazing hurdles and I don't expect him to stop now.
We LOVED Jake's teacher last year and hoped for her for Sydney this year. She got Mrs. Coughenour instead, but she seems really nice and like a very good fit for Sydney. Sydney is happy; she doesn't have any of her really good friends in her class, but I like that she'll have the chance to get close to a new group of girls and she's got a good attitude about it.
The kids continue in their music lessons - piano for Sydney and guitar for Jake. Sydney has started soccer and Jake has started football as well. Jake may also do some practice/training sessions at Catz to help him learn LaCrosse before the spring season. A group of boys from the neighborhood are taking lessons there and loving it. And, Sydney may do gymnastics with Bria, although I'm skeptical about that being a long-term activity for her (she's not very flexible). But, I love for the kids to try new things and Sydney and Bria would do just about anything they could do together :).
Kiley is standing - today she let go and took a step between a stool and my leg. It was so quick I don't know if we're officially calling it her first step - but she's definitely going to be walking soon. She still drags the front of her foot under when she steps forward - particularly on her right foot, and most of the time she just folds it under and goes down on her knee to crawl.
She's also getting a second tooth on the bottom left (first one was bottom right). We're working on expanding her diet and she's definitely eating more solids. She hadn't gained much weight at all when we had her 9-month appointment - her height and weight were right about 50th percentile - which is way down for her. But, since then her appetite has really picked up. She's no longer nursing, although she will try if she has the opportunity. I went on a weekend away (scrapbooking) and barely got any milk, pumping all weekend. I think her weight gain had stalled because my body just wasn't producing. So, we started her on formula at the first of August. I was going to stop nursing altogether at that point, but she seemed to really want to keep going so I did for a couple of weeks. Now, I've had that kidney infection and had to take wicked strong antibiotics, so I would have had to stop if I hadn't already. I miss that sweet bonding time with her, but I think it was time.
Other highlights of August were having Kiley's child dedication at the church, with my Mom and aunt and Martin's parents in attendance. My aunt was in town to celebrate her 81st Birthday with us! The dedication was a very nice ceremony where we broke into groups and prayed for the little ones individually with the family and a prayer leader. Our friends the Craxtons from church were there with their baby girl Chloe, and I hope that will be a special bond for the two little girls growing up.
I got to go on a girls' night to see Wicked with my Austin Jr. Forum friends (a volunteer group I used to be very active in). It was just as good as when Martin and I saw it in San Antonio in June! My friends have had lots going on - we helped one of them move out of her family home on Saturday and another close friend's husband has filed for divorce as well. At the same time, another good friend has been trying hard for a baby and just found out she's pregnant - what a blessing! And, a friend from church has adopted two elementary age boys. We are hoping to have them over for dinner very soon and meet her sons.
Finally, we celebrated Jake's 10th Birthday on the first day of school. We bought him a remote controlled helicopter at the mall and got take-out from Carino's. His real celebration was the long weekend away with two friends right before back to school. And, we'll have another little party with my family as soon as we can find a night that works for us all.
We haven't been great about taking photos but I know we have some and I will try to get a group together to post soon.
It's not a fundraiser... it's what Kiley took on Saturday. Her first couple of consecutive steps. I had gotten a bowl of strawberries for snack and sat down near where she and Martin were playing. I was feeding her little bites of strawberry when she decided she wanted her own whole strawberry. She walked two steps to me to reach in the bowl and get it! She's done it a couple of times since then, but still prefers to crawl. The only other thing I can think that's significant in her development is that we've been working to teach her to go 'feet first' when she gets off the bed or couch and it's been mostly working for awhile. I still hold onto her and ease her way down, but at least she no longer races to the edge and laughs as she lunges head first off the bed!
