Got Josiah all signed up to go to Pre-K

What a long process...after being at the school for 3 hours I got Josiah all signed up to go to pre-k. They qualified him based on the letter from the state saying that he qualified for free preschool because of his history of being in foster care. Otherwise we made too much money for him to go. She said that when it goes to review, we may still get a letter saying that he didn't qualify, but for now he's set to go. I'm standing in faith that he will be all set to go. I really worry about his behaviors and how he's going to do in school. We have really been working on listening, not being demanding, waiting for things, not being agressive, to quit having accidents, and sitting still. He is making slow progress some days and other days he's as hyper as ever. My OT says that either he's going to pull it together for school and completely fall apart once he's home or he's just going to be a mess at school and we're going to get calls all of the time. I know we just have to see how he does. I just worry too that he's going to get bored. He is surpassing Emma in what she knows and he's 10 months younger than her. He's writing his name, he's writing his letters and saying the sounds that they make, he knows his shapes and his colors and his numbers. So, I think this year will just be really important for him to learn social behaviors and such. He is SO smart and picks things up so easily. I don't know how many times he just heard me trying to teach Emma something and when we'd work on it again, he was the one repeating it back to me where she struggled with it for a long time. Obviously, they learn differently and I'm ok with that, I'm just amazed at how bright he is. Then again, when we had him tested, he does have a high IQ so it shouldn't really surprise me. I'm excited for him to go to school this year though and see the progress that he will make.

Melina held her toy for the first time!

Awww! I've been trying to see if she'd hold onto her toys lately, but she really hasn't done it until today. She held her rattle for the first time today and then later on she was holding her teething ring. We are so proud of her!

Josiah's 4-year Well Check

He's 41 lbs (81%) and 41 1/2 inches (65%). The doctor asked if he was still in therapy and I said he's still in OT to work on motor skills and behaviors. We went over his milestones and he seems to be right on target. Physically, he runs all over, climbs, jumps, can get himself dressed and undressed, can do buttons and zippers...still not doing great with scissors but it just takes practice. Socially and emotionally, he has a hard time understanding other people's viewpoints and feelings sometimes, he loves to play and pretend, he's getting very argumentative and bossy, he's having a hard time with understanding lying and the truth (we know that's normal around this age), he is defiant and copies all that he sees and hears. Language skills...he talks and talks and talks. His favorite question to ask is "why?" He is calling names and is silly. He likes to tell stories. We are working on learning his phone number.

He loves to brush his teeth and take baths. We are still working on getting him back to being potty trained without having accidents. He regressed back in March when I went into the hospital and we haven't been able to get him back to being 100% potty trained yet. We have a sticker chart and for each day he is dry all day, he gets a sticker. For every 5 stickers he gets to go to the treasure chest. He's about 50/50. He loves to eat...sometimes I think we're going to be in trouble as he gets older. lol. No sooner do we finish one meal, than he's already saying he's hungry again and wanting to know what the next snack/meal is going to be and when. My goodness can he eat a lot when he wants to. He's really not a picky eater either which is nice. :-) I think his favorite food are cheeseburgers right now. He loves pizza too!

We're still working on safety too..this child has NO fear and is constantly having to be reminded of eveyrthing. He loves to read and to play with his cars and dinosaurs. He also likes his Spiderman toys and is always talking about what his superhero powers are. He thinks he can fly and make things change colors. ;-)

He got his 4-year shots and really wasn't too happy about it, but he didn't cry that bad. He's all set to start preschool this fall.

Melina laughed for the first time!

Melina was sitting in her bouncy seat by Andy and she was cooing at him. I had to get up to the go to the bathroom and I hear him say "she just laughed for the first time." Darn kidneys anyway making me miss it! However, she did it again a little while later and I was able to hear her. So precious!

Trying to take care of myself too...

I love my family more than anything, but I am realizing more and more that I am no good to anybody if I don't take care of myself too. I feel guilty taking time out for myself as so much needs to be done around here or the kids need this or that. But, I also know that nobody is going to take care of me and what I need for myself, if I don't take the time out for me. I got really upset at Andy this morning when I asked him to take Melina again so that I could take a shower before he had to leave for work and he just gave me a look like I was totally invading his time. I told him to forget it and went and fed Melina instead. I wasn't going to get in a fight over it, but it really hurt. All the juggling that I do around here and I can't even get a 5 minute shower. I haven't had a shower now for a couple of days. Part of it is my fault as I said that I was going to start taking them at night as this seems to be a sore spot for Andy in the morning to have to watch her for a couple of minutes so that I can get a shower in, but I have been so tired at night that I have been falling asleep on the couch.

I love to read and I love to scrapbook. I noticed when I got the kids involved in the summer reading program at the library that they had just started an adult reading program. I went ahead and joined. I've only read one book so far as it takes me awhile to read a book now with the baby and everything else going on, but I noticed that I've felt a little better with that time to do something that I enjoy.

I also got back into digiscrapping this week. I only did 3 pages so far, but it's a start. I felt better knowing that I got something accomplished in Josiah's scrapbook again.

I've also been trying to watch Joyce Meyer for a half an hour in the morning. I don't always get it in, but it's something to uplift my spirits and feed my soul with.

I am also back to doing sparkpeople and watching my calories and trying to start exercising again. I need to be healthier and take care of the body that God gave me. I need to be a healthy mom to all of my children as well as they all need me to be around for a long time (God-willing).

I am trying to pamper myself so that I can keep going. I hate feeling drained or burned out sometimes and I know that if I can indulge myself sometimes it will go a long way.