I took Simon out of preschool. Our Tuesdays and Thursdays started with leaving the house at 9am and being gone until 4 or 4:30. It meant packing everything in the car for the day, and so my car was a total wreck all the time, and when I was home, I had no energy to take care of the house. Things were out of control. Also, he started waking up at 4am on those days, and freaking out that he did NOT want to go to school, but I was making him, because we pay for it. And sometimes he'd fall asleep on the way there...and he was struggling with his anger there. So I said, "Deb, what are you DOING? He is 3. You don't NEED to be this busy. Life does not have to be this hard. Try again next year." So, he's out. And hopefully he'll stop waking up at insanely early hours with anxiety on those days very soon. I've started to get more control on the house, and my control in my soul. Being home those 3 extra hours twice a week has been a blessing. This past week was our first week without preschool. I'm a fan!
Rezzen has been doing fairly well for it's 2nd month of family portrait sessions. I have three more scheduled for October, and then we'll close out this month having done almost a dozen sessions. I could not be more excited. My facebook page for Rezzen hit 100 fans, and only 65 of those are people I am friends with. So 35 people I don't know have liked my photography page! I'm receiving referrals from families I've done for new sessions of their friends and family, and I'm in heaven! The website for Rezzen is ....slow coming. I'm just not getting wordpress at all. I have some fun marketing ideas in the works and hope to continue being able to book 8-10 sittings a month. I love how much I've grown in the past few months as a photographer. I'm grateful for the amazing photographers and friends I have in my life that have taken the time to teach, advise, and support me in this. It's been a blessing to have the small income this venture provides. So far, it's been going to car repairs ;) but soon, it will go to building our savings, something I've never been very good at.
Carter is amazing. The kid is in the 0%ile for everything, but he doesn't even care. By all charts he is "failing to thrive," but if you know him, nothing could be further from the truth. He's days..maybe a week or two from crawling. He's been working on it all month. He now says "uh oh" when he drops *(throws) his toys, and fully expects you to return his toy so that he can play uh oh over and over. He loves to stand at the couch or stool, or toys and his face beams with pride at how big he is that he can stand! He is also allowing me to wean him to whole milk. He will down 8 ounces like a pro! He adores Ava and doesn't mind when she gets overly excited (rough) when playing with him.
Austen, my baby. Though he was born only moments after Carter, Austen is my baby and knows it. He loves to be snuggled. He loves to sit and play toys. He has begun rocking a bit and spending more time on his belly reaching for toys, but is less excited about crawling than his brother. He is Simon's buddy and laughs uncontrollably at just about everything Simon does. We took him to see the ophthalmologist the other day, because his left eye will cross now and then when he is tired. He is slightly far sighted in his left eye, and we will take him back to the eye doctor, in April to track his eyes progress. There's a chance he will need baby glasses to help strengthen his eye.
Simon...my super hero enthusiast. This summer, Simon found Green Lantern, since then his love has extended to Spiderman, Batman and Superman. Occasionally there are talks of Iron Man-who shoots power from his belly, and Captain America. If I thought his Thomas phase was intense, I was not even close to prepared for this obsession. He is a super hero all day. He changes identities and costumes all day long. His tantrums are still an issue, but are *dare I hope* getting less frequent. His OCD is still very present in our day to day life. Added lately is the twitch that he cannot be called nicknames. He can only be addressed by "simon or Si-guy." Honey, Sweetheart, Buddy, Little guy are all unacceptable and will result in his screaming that his name is SIMON not (insert nickname) Also, the order or placement of food on his plate is becoming a bigger trigger for him. I sometimes wonder are these 3 year old issues, or should I be contacting some kind of therapist to help him. He gets so upset that he shakes and becomes unreasonable. I feel helpless as his mother, because when he has an episode I can't reach him. I've started using lavender oil on his feet in the morning and night, and I've noticed a calmer demeanor. I just hope that we work through his control issues soon. It's heartbreaking. His speech has improved so very much this summer/fall and he has started completing puzzles on his own. He loves them. I'm thinking there will be a few under the Christmas tree.
Ava--oh my sweet girl. She is growing up so fast~she loves kindergarten, but anytime we have a break in school, she gets nervous about starting back up. We went to our first parent teacher conference, and her teacher had only positive things to say about her. She loves to draw, and is really coming into her own. She is so helpful with the twins, and is super patient with Simon. He tells me that she is his very best friend. She's a saver at heart, and puts any money she finds lying around the house in her piggy bank. She deposited $100 into her savings account the other day. Not bad for a 5 year old. She's saving for a disney cruise for when she turns 7. That's really only a year away, so I'd better get with it ;)
well there's a bit of an update and something for me to be able to look back on and remember.
