Being the mom to 3 boys, I have learned cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Happy 11 Months Old

Isaac is 11 months old today!  Unfortunately, he is sick.  He woke up in the middle of the night with a high fever.  I took the day off work today to stay home with him...of course the older boys are somewhat happy about that turn of events!  I'm going to try to get some pictures of him this week once he if feeling better.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Dominic

With all the talk of the kids growing up, at times I forget for a moment or two they are still kids.

Last night after Isaac and Luke were asleep, Dominic climbed up in my lap - or most of him made it on my lap.  He snuggled his face in my shoulder and I could smell is freshly washed hair.  This is when my mommy heart melts...there is nothing like the smell of a freshly bathed child.

He looks up at me with his toothy grin and asks if I could rock him and sing to him until he fell asleep.  Even with as tired I was at the moment, there was NO way I was going to pass up this small window of time with my oldest son.  I rocked and sang and stroked his hair.  He fell asleep on my lap.  A little while later, I nudged him to tell him it was time to go to bed.  He says, "Carry me."  I chuckled because this is no longer an easy task.  I managed it...making a mental note I need to work out more...and laid him in his bed.  I whispered, "I love with my heart."  As I stood up to leave his room, Dominic whispers, "Love you too, Mom.  Thanks for letting me still be little sometimes."

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Results

We received a letter yesterday that gifted services are not needed for Dominic at this time.  That was the extent of the letter.  Last year we were given his actual evaluation numbers but not this year.  I emailed the coordinator of the program to obtain his results.  We shall see...

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Attempting some cleaning

Just like furniture in a room, I have gotten a little bored with arrangement of the this blog.  So today I have been attempting to rearrange some gadgets and spice up the colors a bit.  I'm hoping some of this is easier to read...let me know if it is not.  I think I'm liking the arrangement and I might attempt the background next.  The problem is I only do this..well....almost never so I might really screw it up!

Time?

Where has the time gone?  I just want to slow it down a little.....

Dominic has finished 1st grade.  I don't know who was more ready for summer - him or me!  We still haven't received his gifted evaluation results yet - and we are very curious.  We did get his standardized testing results back - he tested at the 99% in all areas and it said that is as high it is reported (there is no such thing as 100% on this test).  The results said his reading level is in 7th grade and his math ability is in 8th grade.  Crazy...I don't know how he can't get into the gifted program but we will see.  We have been fortunate so far with teachers that recognize his abilities and allow him to read quietly while others are working, give him more challenging math "just for fun" and put him in a leadership role in the classroom helping out others.  Dominic matured so much this past year.  His sensory issues seem to be getting better.  We don't know if he doesn't think about things as much now or if he is just now able to handle it/deal with it better instead of having a meltdown.  He wore jeans to school this year!  He hadn't worn jeans of any kind since he was about 18M old.  Same goes for long sleeved shirts.  He has also been willing to try a different brand of socks and wore cleats to his first baseball game this season without having to "get used to them" first at home.  For those that have never had to deal with a child with sensory processing issues, these little things probably sound silly...but to us, these were/are giant leaps forward!  Dominic begins his summer Dinosaur class tomorrow and he is super excited.

Luke is a proud preschool graduate!  As you can see from the pictures, he is now sporting his summer mohawk.  I have been working on family pictures and noticed how much Luke has grown and matured in the past year as well.  I was saying prayers with him last night and could hardly believe his is going to kindergarten in less than 3 months.  He is still my baby and shouldn't be old enough yet!  I was ready for Dominic to go to kindergarten.  I'm not ready for Luke to go.  I don't know why exactly.  I think it is because I'm not ready for Isaac to get older either....and if Luke gets older, than Isaac will get older too.  I digress.....Luke is going to be just fine in kindergarten and will definitely keep his teachers entertained.  Luke is loving summer and all it brings.  He loves playing outside, baseball, Baring Lake, chasing birds and butterflies, and "stay home" mornings (no school days!).  Luke is not afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve.  Everyone knows exactly what he is thinking and feeling...good or bad.....you know where you stand with Luke.

Isaac is nearly 11 months old.  Wow.  It's been almost a year since he was born.  That is so surreal.  A year ago, we were packed and ready to drive to Michigan on a  moments notice.  We prayed every week he would not be born for another week....just so he would be as healthy as possible.  Hard to believe that a year ago we were packing and preparing for his arrival and now we are packing away all those itty-bitty baby things.  He has / is growing so fast.  Every morning another small baby part is fading....being replaced by toddler features.  Isaac continues to be so long/tall (thanks F for all your height!).  Isaac is wearing 18-24M clothes because of his length!  Dominic jokes that if Isaac keeps this up, he will be taller than Dominic by the time he is 5 yrs old.  Isaac learned to crawl on his hands/knees while we were in California.  He has recently mastered being able to sit up from laying down, go from a crawl to seated position, and seated position to crawling.  He can also sit on his knees and likes to bounce up and down.  We are still thinking he will walk before his birthday.  Isaac now has 4 top teeth and is working on 2 more bottom teeth.  We also don't know if Isaac's eyes will remain blue at this point.  They are no longer a deep blue.  They have this amazing green tone around the pupil that gradually spreads out to dark blue on the edges.  Isaac's eyes are very striking - especially for a boy (we tell him all the time he has H's eyes).  He is complimented on his eyes everywhere we go even by other children.   I think it is a combination of the shape and color plus his red hair/eyelashes that make them so remarkable.

My goal in upcoming weeks is to get some great sunset / sunrise photo sessions done with the kids!  These tend to have to be a surprise thing otherwise all I hear is grumbling about "mom and her camera" over and over.


Saturday, June 2, 2012

May 2012 Picture Update

 Isaac loves watching his brothers play baseball.  Ok, not really.  Isaac loves playing in the dirt and trying to eat rocks!
 Isaac and I joined Luke's preschool class at the conservation center.  Isaac is concentrating on flying a helicopter!
 Luke helped me take this really cool picture of a butterfly we saw outside one day.
This is Dominic's 1st grade parent program.  He looks thrilled!
 Isaac kept us entertained during the program.  As soon as it was over, he crawled up the aisle straight into Dominic's arms.
 Luke's before and after summer mohawk.  I was just starting to get use to him with hair again!  I used to think he looked younger with his head shaved but I think he looks older in this picture.
Isaac....loving the water at Baring Lake.
 Isaac loves the water.   He loves to try to drink it, to eat leaves, eat rocks, eat bugs, eat sand....

These are just pictures of Baring Lake.  I was trying out different camera modes and editing techniques.

Baseball Season 2012






Mother's Day 2012

Loved spending the day with my 3 handsome boys.  For the record, I do not dress Dominic and Luke alike.  They choose to do this and will often change their clothes so they match!

Disneyland Adventure

 We had a great time in California.  Disneyland and California Adventure were fantastic.  We all had a great time.  Here are just a few pictures.

Here is Isaac waiting for the start of the parade in Disneyland.  Once the music started and the characters went by, he started dancing and clapping.  He loved it.
 The Cahalan boys in Fantasyland trying to get the sword from the stone.
 Splash Mountain was a family favorite.  Just the right mix of thrill and speed....and a little cooling off.  Notice Grammy has her eyes closed and Dominic's hands are raised......Grammy is a chicken!
 Silly Luke.
 The boys enjoyed California Adventure more than Disneyland.  I refer to California Adventure as the Disneyland for boys.  There is not as much princess stuff - more boy orientated things like Bugs Life, Toy Story, Monter's Inc.  Dominic's favorite ride was the roller coaster pictured behind him.  He loved it and rode it 5 times.  It even goes upside down!
 Managed to get at least this one family photo.  This was taken at the resort.
 Isaac loved the rides.  He really liked the ones that spun really fast.  You can see his lack of interest in this slow moving Caterpillar train ride.



 Of course we had to get "ears" in the picture some time!
 Our day at the beach...the coldest and cloudiest day we had in California of course.  The air temperature was 60ish degrees and the water a very balmly 58 degrees!  Notice we are one of the few on the beach the only ones in the water!


Later that evening, we took the older boys on a whale watching trip.  We spotted many sea lions, dolphins, seals, and a group of gray whales.  It was an interesting trip.

Catch up time!

Well, yet another month has past without a post from me.  I really need to get better at this blog again.  We have been so busy....life with 3 boys is never dull.

I love this picture of Isaac during a bath.  He really enjoys bath time - it is favorite thing to do all day.  Isaac is turning into a water rat for sure.

The following posts will attempt to catch up the last month in the Cahalan household.