a blessed January...

(modified family picture - didn't decide until the month was done that I wanted one! =)

Family updates for January:

• S had a very busy month and work due to cold and flu season (for employees and patients alike!), beginning of the year and people changing insurances for that fact, and semi-annual inventory

• S took a couple days off of work after inventory which was a good break for us all. Most of the time was spent finishing the new windows that we had put in last November. He mudded and taped (over their very bad sheet rock job!), sanded and painted. And with all the hours he put in, it now looks like it has always been there...sign of a good job, right? =)
• I am in love with these new windows! They let so much light into our kitchen! We now can function during the day in the kitchen and not have to turn the light. They have been a concept in our heads since we found out skylights weren't an option, and to finally have them finished is just awesome.
  
• I had to deal with the emotional event of enrolling G for kindergarten next year. We interviewed at Calvin Christian school which is 15 minutes from us, and G was accepted pending passing kindergarten readiness later in April. She turns 5 on August 29, so she barely makes the cutoff, and will be one of if not the youngest in her class. She is completely ready academically, and we know she will mature more emotionally and socially by then, but she is so young! Our sister-in-law homeschools our nieces, and many in our church homeschool too, and they all have really opened my eyes to the wonderfulness of homeschooling, so that was definitely an option for us, but we have decided to try school with Grace for a number of reasons. It is a great Christian school and will be a good place for our children to go, but I am just having a hard time moving on to this next stage in our lives.

• G is into all things crafty. She loves her art table and is always coloring or drawing or coming up with something to make. "Can we do something crafty, momma?" is heard almost everyday. She loves her new lacing cards and has been "sewing" a lot. Don't tell her, but I just picked up stuff for a little sewing basket for her, although with the 2 little boys it might only come out at naptimes!
  
• G has also been trying to do a lot more on her own this month, picking out clothes (always dresses and the pinker the better!), dressing, zipping coats, etc. She also has been learning more about helping out around the house with chores (not always happily!).
  
• G & W play most of the day together very nicely (although they are siblings and fight like them!), and their play is mostly imaginative role-play: "You be the momma bird and I'll be the baby bird just hatched" or "You be the Uncle J and I'll be the Auntie C"

• This little man is all about Legos! W discovered them this month and loves to build creations and then crash them. He also loves puzzles and of course his trucks and balls are never far from him either.

• And then there is baby C, who is no longer a baby! He is copying a lot of what we do, and saying and signing so many more words! Ball, Book, Bye, Da, Mu-muh, Um, Oh!, Light, Fan, More, Eat...
• He is also the wiggliest child we have had. And the biggest, which makes him hard to hold on to sometimes. He definitely is getting more opinionated, and that 1 year old temper that W had shines through some days!
• On a more serious note, we discovered at C's first dentist appointment in December that he has cavities in his top 4 teeth. They were going to try to do bandaid fillings on January 24, but turns out the enamel on his teeth has worn almost completely away so more serious measures are needed. So February 24 we will be bringing him to Children's hospital to be put under anesthesia and dental surgery done. He will most likely get at least 1 root canal and then crowns put on his top 4 teeth. He is so young to have this, but it is genetic and we went through it with G at 20 months so this time it is not as big a shock for us. We have noticed he is not eating as much, which we think is because his teeth hurt him, so we will be happy to have everything taken care of.
  
• But best for last for little C, he has started taking his first steps! He stands up all the time and has been cruising along furniture for a month, but finally ventured into taking solo steps! We know he will be running after the big kids in no time! Yay, C!