Bye Bye Summer, HellllOOO Fall (and almost winter!)

Well here it is, the update post.  I wish I didn't have to keep doing "update" posts, but since I see it has been 3 months since my last post, well....update here we go!!!

Lets see...summer went out with a bang!  No, not really, things were pretty low key as we prepared for Jake's big kindergarten first day!!!  Kevin and I were a nervous wreck, more so because Jake is so super shy, how on earth would he get onto the BIG bus with the BIG kids all by himself?  The day before school started, we set up a meeting to sit down and teach all of his teachers about his "ears".  Well of course, I prepared myself with tons of handouts, pictures, guidelines, and information....prepared to meet with all of his new teachers (kindergarten, teacher of the deaf, speech teacher, physical therapist, classroom aide, gym teacher, music teacher, art teacher....you name it!)  (*Side note, I EVEN prepared info for the bus company and his bus driver and dropped all of that off a few days before!)  So...Jake and I walk into the school and guess what...no one had ANY IDEA about this big meeting.  Yup!  Gotta love it.  So, after waiting almost an hour, we were finally able to scrounge up the kindergarten teacher and speech teacher; sat with them for about 10 minutes; and that was it.  I was not a happy parent.  I mean, seriously...Jake is the first child to go through this district who is mainstream with cochlear implants.  FIRST KID EVER  in this district.  In my eyes, that should be a big deal, right?  I mean, when I'm told as a parent that everyone who is anyone that will even have contact with Jake will be there and then we show up and there is a miscommunication and no one even has any idea who we are??  Ugh....

Well, the next day comes...Jake's first day of school.  We wake up and its raining, and dark.  But Jake still wants to walk down to the bus stop (its at the end of our road).  So, Kevin, Austin and I all get ready...Jake's excited....Kevin and I are a nervous wreck strategizing how we are going to throw him on the bus and run off if he starts crying and refuses to get on.  We get down to the bus stop and there are TONS of kids.  Great.  Strategizing more.  Waiting.  Rain starts to come down harder.  Trying to get Jake excited.  Waiting.  And waiting.  Then it starts to pour.  Yep.  Waiting some more.  Then I see the bus.  Jake hesitates as we start to walk toward the bus.  I'm ready-ready to do what I have to get him on the bus; after all, this day is the start of a whole year of getting on the bus; it has to go well; he has to get on.  Walking closer and closer to the bus and all of a sudden I heard "THERE'S JACOB!"  WHAT????  I look up to see two of Jake's friends from preschool...at his bus stop.....getting out of their van...running up to him.  Jake gets a huge smile on his face, gives us a quick kiss goodbye and runs onto the bus with his friends.  And there he was,  waving goodbye to us with a big smile on his face.  Turns out that these friends live right up the road from us and we had no idea.   And so began every morning at the bus.  Jake LOVES the bus and gets on with no problems every morning.  Phew...

Waiting for the bus

September 19, 2012, Jake turned 5!  We had a small celebration for him this year, just family and he loved it.  Everyday I look at him and am just amazed at what a perfect child he is.  So smart, so kind, so loving and just fun.  Thank you buddy for being so wonderful!!

Austin turned 18 months old on October 12, 2012.  What a personality he has.  He is busy....so active.  And everything his big brother does, he has to do.  He's obsessed with cars.  Loves them.  As long as he has some sort of car, he is happy.  He is quite the gabber now too.  He says "mama, dada, a-bob (for Jacob), uh oh" and lots of other sounds.  Oh and he throws quite the temper tantrums and he has been hitting.  Yup, hitting.  So we are trying to work on that.  Thankfully Jake never hits back.  And Austin he has grown quite obsessed with Barney, much like his big brother.  I was hoping Barney was going to die off in this house, but now I'm feeling we have another few years to go.  And Jake is back to watching it all the time with Austin!!!!  Yep, I can sing every song and know the moves to every dance; don't be jealous!!

Hurricane Sandy hit this area very hard.  And the Jersey shore is "close to home" for me; having a lot of friends down there and having lived down there for my college years.  I'm still speechless when I see the devastation the storm brought.  Praying for all of the people who were affected by the storm.  Life was pretty hectic here for the week (or two) following Sandy...with the gas shortages, power outages, trees down, flooding.  We were thankful to have no damage to our house with fallen trees and only lost power for a day. Many others close to us lost power for a lot longer.

Life continues to move full speed ahead.  I find that I have no time for anything other than the same old grind.  But as long as the boys are doing well, I'm just fine with that.

Here is just a small clip of what life is like in Weyville....these two keep me busy!  Haha....