My Crazy Life ...

I feel as though each time I have a child I lose a significant amount of brain function. I forget things, I lose things, I am late to everything. I think my brain thinks I had a 4th child because it seems to have gotten exponentially worse with the addition of Alex. I lose my phone on a regular basis, I'm late to EVERYTHING, and twice I've forgotten to put nursing pads in only to discover it after I'm sporting a giant wet spot on my shirt. One might say it's due to the lack of sleep. I would agree that that is a major contributor, but as I think about what my life is like now and what my life was like the last time I had a baby I can't help but think that it has to do with the high number of commitments I have this time around compared to last time ......

As I mentioned in my previous post, Isabel started 1st grade on August 18.

We are still getting used to the schedule of being up and out of the house by 7:45 am, but I am thankful for the excuse to get up and moving early because it gives me more time in my day to accomplish what needs to get done! Isabel has been doing a great job in 1st grade!!

(Is that uniform off the cute-charts or what?)

She loves her teacher and is adjusting well to her first year of all day school.

We think she is going to be quite the little math wiz - she seems to grasp the mathematical concepts really quickly. She is also doing very well with her reading. I often catch her around the house in a quiet corner reading a book. She will often grab a book that is above her reading level and sound out the letters until she can make out the word. If I hand her a book that is at her actual reading level she turns her nose up at it. I think she enjoys the challenge of those harder books. She has already had her first math test and we got our first spelling list this past week. School is in full swing!!

Gabe also started preschool a week ago. He is going on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a couple of hours and he is also loving school! His class has 16 kids and 12 of them are boys!! Those are some BRAVE teachers. He wasn't sure he wanted to be left there the first day, but once he gave it a chance he realized that preschool really is as fun as we told him it would be! He looks forward to going and is beginning to make some friends. (We suspect that he has a small crush on a little girl named Violet. He comes home each day and tells us what Violet was wearing and how pretty she looked.......I can't handle the cuteness!!)

Before the end of Isabel's first week of school, it became very apparent to me that Gabe was going to need some sort of activity to keep him busy while Isabel was in school. He was driving me crazy with all his nagging and whining about having no one to play with and nothing to do. He wanted to sit in front of the TV all day long and he was extremely bored. In an effort to save us both from this routine I signed him up for swimming lessons two days a week. That turned out to be a great decision! He loves to go swimming and he's learning a ton in his lessons. Since it's the fall session, all the kids are in school and there are only 4 kids in the pool during his lesson time. He gets a lot of one-on-one attention. So, the swimming lessons give Gabe something fun to look forward to on the days when he doesn't go to school and it also wears him out so he takes a fabulous nap in the afternoon!!

Along with all these fun activities, I walk with a friend on Monday mornings after dropping Isabel off at school, I work 2 days a week, and Isabel has gymnastics on Monday afternoons. We are busy busy busy around here, but only busy enough to keep us from getting bored. Most of the time I really enjoy all of the little activities we have going. It keeps me from getting cabin fever and it gives me a sense of purpose. My mini van and I are becoming very good friends!! :)