Well, as usual, it's been ages since I've blogged! I would love to do it more often but it's so hard to just settle down and write. I have a new blog in the works that I may begin after Jonah is born. For now, I thought I would send out an update on how the girls are doing. Just a reminder that I'm using substitute names for privacy :)
We are eagerly awaiting baby boy's arrival! Well, I'm more anxious than eager :) Juanita is eager, often talking about baby Zeke...and when she will hold him. She is very concerned about how loud he will be. Grace wasn't loud but I think Juanita picked up that idea from a book that she read. Every once in awhile she'll say out of the blue, "I know! I have a good idea! I'll cover my ears when baby Zeke is loud!" Too cute!
I'm pretty sure Grace will just feel like she was hit by a semi-truck upon the arrival of Zeke. There's just no way to prepare an 18 month old! There was hardly a very effective way of adequately preparing Juanita when she was two. But Grace will adapt and I'm sure will follow Juanita's lead that all is well. She mimics Juanita regularly now. Nini will say something assertively, a request or something of that nature. Grace will mimic it in her toddler Chinese, clearly having no idea what she's demanding. It cracks us all up, including Nini. In fact, we are regularly entertained by Grace right now. She regularly entertains us with toddler somersault attempts, headstands, etc each night before bed.
Nini begins preschool in three weeks. She seems cautiously optimistic about it. I guess that describes how I feel too. We've been discovering that her peanut allergy extends to cross-contaminated foods that one would never think could contain nuts (cheese snacks or ice cream that came in contact at the manufacturing plants). So I'm relieved to at least know that the preschool teacher is peanut and tree nut allergic too. In fact her allergy began just like Nini's. As a child she had somewhat moderate reactions and eventually one exposure became life threatening (this is what the the allergist explained could happen with Nini if she is exposed to peanuts). So Ms Teacher is very aware of the seriousness and how to respond if Nini does ingest peanuts or something contaminated with them. That is a relief. I can't express how strange or stressful this peanut allergy thing has been. We've learned some things the hard way. It weighs on me regularly to see food as an enemy that could seriously harm my daughter. I feel offended by the very existence of things like pb & j, annoyed by the lack of information the public has, and frustrated by the amount of label reading and caution I need to take. The irony is that I am the type of person who is quite "overly" cautious. Ironically, I have proven not to be cautious enough when it comes to her allergy. But we are learning quickly thanks to folks like the No Nuts Moms Group on Facebook.
So, I digress...anyway, preschool begins in September. We found a school with small classes and affordable non-coop rates. It's technically a co-op but we'll pay a little more so that I don't have to volunteer. We'll still have a few jobs / assist days each year, but I won't have to be there in class 2-3 times per month. I would love to be, but it's just too much with Grace and Zeke too. Tomorrow we head over to the preschool to play on the playground to make it more familiar to Nini. We already did a two-week trial that Addie was able to attend, too. Nini liked it (and so did Grace- she would love to go too!)
I've been soaking up the time with our current family as we wait for Zeke. I'm excited to meet him, but part of me just wants to hit the pause button on the remote control of life. I just want to absorb and cherish this time with Jeff and I and the girls. I know change is coming. It will be part challenge as Zeke's birth coincides with Jeff's return to school and Kiki's return to school and sports (unless we can somehow sabotage her volleyball try-outs, as we've been plotting to:). Each time I've dug down deep into the ground of my worries, God has provided reassurance that He will provide for our "new" family and that I can handle it. Recently, we were blessed to make an arrangement with a friend of the family to watch their middle schooler after school in exchange for him being a mommy's helper. He has two younger sisters as well, and is just a well-rounded, sweet kid. I feel so blessed that we'll have his arrival to look forward to each school day. It will help us all stay a little saner / calmer and will give him somewhere to be after school until his parents get out of work. Yup, God is good.
So that's what is going on with us. Today is my last day of summer office hours. I've passed my new licensing exam. (Yay!) Now all we have to do is rearrange some car seats, move a crib, and get some dresser drawers organized. And then we sit back, soak up the last days of summer and wait!
I hope you and yours are all enjoying this summer!
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