Papa Ted came to town...

Dearest Papa was ready to meet our little man... he rode on the train out and back... what a unique time that has to be!  It was my goal to keep him busy as much as I could with projects around here!  Poor guy.  His good friend had urged him to take the trip... so glad she pushes him to break his routine and bond us.  He got rather skilled at keeping Zack happy... thank goodness Zack still likes his SOOTHIE.  Papa took all our outer doors down and put new weather strips on them, fiddled with our microwave, and fixed our psycho kitchen faucet... so exciting for me!  I had told my F-I-L I was determined to stain our fence with my Dad over the week and so he stellfully had surprised me and pressure washed it all!  Our fence is huge and desperate for stain thanks to our Colorado sunshine!  Well before I knew it was Dave again out there starting to stain with no help.  WHAT?!  Thankfully he was joined by Bart and my Dad before long!  Dave is known for getting a project done without much delay and wow my fence was totally stained in two days!!!  It looks so nice with that deep redwood tone, glad the labor was free... owe a few favors back!  I tried to catch some good moments in after daycare but it was hard to juggle work, chores, new baby, and company.

 

September Part 2

Obnoxious how many photos I take... poor kids!  I just feel like I have to capture it all so they know how much I love them and how hard I try to make their life full of love and meaning.  I do know every kid is so different depending on their genetics and how they are raised.  Kira definitely is very sensitive, intuitive, creative, and a people pleaser of sorts.  She cares more deeply than me often and reminds me of her Daddy.  Her desire to reach out to a stranger has been powerful to see... often it is her artwork that she will sneak into a store or resturaunt and give to the worker she meets!  It was amazing to see the QDOBA gal show it off to her co-workers:)  At Sunday School now she is so much happier... she loves her small group time, the Bible lesson, songs, and activities!!  She likes structure, I think it makes her feel more secure and engaged.  Since the older boys graduated and went off to Kindergarten she has matured so much!  Kira had a late start with my learning program here because she was so fragile up until about her third birthday when she went gluten-free.  YET that third year she absorbed more than I realize and really has caught up to where I would like her to be.  She knows quite a bit of memorized facts... like some states, vowels, counting by 10, the Pledge of Allegiance, numbers-shapes-letters... she writes VERY well and can focus for even an hour at a time on her artwork, bead-work, writing assignments.  It is awesome to see her get some alone time when the younger kids sleep.  For the last two or three years I had several that never napped.  What a blessing to get a better chance to have that time to tidy during work hours and focus on my two kids: ) 

Zack is a champ and has been more and more alert and interactive.  He seems to be rather flexible and peaceful.  He is so loved by all of us... his sister is his number one fan... she nearly smothers him daily with her overwhelming affection!  She can't wait to grow up with him and be his good friend.  I really think they will be a good support for each other.  Still can't believe God actually loaned out another one of his kids to us to raise up... HE is so good to me.  It is such a beautiful thing to have a chance to raise a healthy little one... I keep telling myself, "this is what normal is"... Kira was so abnormal but OH SO LOVED TOO!  I just love that he isn't screaming in pain, refluxing all the time, and sleeps for more than 20 minutes at a time.  I pray once we introduce food that he will continue to thrive and not be joining Kira on the gluten-free diet.  She still hopes some day she will be able to eat what everyone else does... today she was so sad that no one makes gluten-free goldfish crackers--- the little things are huge! 
Enough rambling... here are some favorites!

Nana's Visit

GOTTA LOVE THIS NANA!!!!!!!  I have the BEST MOM out there!  If you haven't met her, you sure need to!  She is so kind, understanding, generous, and compassionate... some qualities we all need: )

It was good timing with Daycare getting busier and my body still recovering from surgery... she jumped right in to help.  Kira is very close to her and takes full advantage of all the extra TLC: )  Honestly, as soon as we got home from the hospital I knew these days would be our only days OFF for the year so we HAD to take full advantage and enjoy some outings.  Nana just smiles at my craziness and rolls her eyes!