Annabella’s first trip to the zoo.

After her first bath.

Sporting a gdiaper (we have decided to cloth diaper Annabella).

Her first bath.

Just being cute.

Sucking her thumb.

Hanging out with Ethan.

Hanging out with Hayden.

My water broke at 9:45 Wednesday evening. I was going to the bathroom, heard a popping sound, and a trickle of fluid started leaking out. I wasn’t sure if my water had really broken, so I went and laid down in bed.

After a few minutes, I had a real contraction. I figured Annabella would be coming sometime soon, so I went in and took a shower. At 10:45 I was starting to have more contractions, and the trickle of fluid was still running, so I decided it was time to call the midwife.

I called my parents first, and they said they were on the way, I then called the midwife. She said to stay home and come to the hospital if the contractions became 5 minutes apart lasting for a minute each or sometime between 5 and 6 on Thursday morning.

My parents got to our house and the contractions really started ramping up. Finally about 11:45 I called David (he was upstairs finishing up some work) and told him it was time to head for the hospital.

I was having contractions about 3.5 minutes apart and there were lasting longer than a minute. I had one on the way out to the car. I was kneeling on the driveway breathing through the contraction in front of the car while baby frogs jumped around me.

The car ride to the hospital, albeit only 10 minutes (actually I think it was faster than that because there was no traffic), was excruciating. I had at least two contractions. Between contractions, I told David that we had been anticipating Annabella’s arrival and now it was surreal that we were about to be meeting our little girl.

We pulled up to the door of the hospital about 12:15. We made it up to Labor and Delivery at the hospital, they checked us in, and moved us to a triage room to evaluate our progress. The whole time I am having one contraction after another.

The midwife came in and checked my cervix. It was 6 cm dilated and the baby was at station 0. David told the midwife, “It won’t be long before the baby is here.” I don’t think they realized how seriously they should take his comment.

The nurse came with a wheel chair and took me to the labor room. She got me onto the bed and said she wanted to start an IV and do some blood work. I was thinking, “Good luck.”

While she was collecting her supplies (David called it dillydallying) she looked at me and asked if I felt like I needed to push. I nodded yes (at least I think I nodded) and she said that she would check my cervix again.

Well, she didn’t get to check my cervix because I was already pushing. She called the midwife in who was also wanting to check my cervix, but when she got there and looked she saw a tuft of dark baby hair and knew the baby was on her way out.

I think I only pushed two or three times and out came our baby girl.

First step is to answer what kind of relationship I currently have with God. Second is to take action. If I have the type of relationship with God that He is my best friend how can I grow even closer and have an even deeper and personal relationship with Him. If I don’t have the type of relationship with God that He is my best friend, what can I do to develop that kind of relationship?

Well in today’s world we don’t do much letter writing with pen and paper, but who says you can’t write an email. Your email provider might send the email back as undeliverable, but what does that matter? Take time to talk to God like you would calling your friend on their cell phone. Tell Him about your day. Tell Him how your kids are doing and whatever is on your mind. He wants to hear it all, so why not start telling Him.

Well here is a trailer to the movie Letters to God. It is available Instantly on Netflix.

After we had eaten to our hearts content, we broke out the fortune cookies. There were four cookies, but only three of them contained fortunes.

Hayden was the first to get his fortune. It read: You will enjoy good health, you will be surrounded by luxury. This said of my child who wouldn’t sleep in his bassinet as an infant unless we first lined it with a pillow to make it nice and cushy (he still craves luxury and comfort to this day).

Ethan’s fortune read: You will sleep well at night. Apparently the writer of this fortune either doesn’t know our Ethan has had trouble sleeping since birth or has an awesome predictive power and our nights are going to change dramatically. (Hmmm, why couldn’t this fortune be for Annabella?)

My cookie was the one that lacked a fortune. I am not sure exactly what that means, but I am taking it as a good sign. At least there wasn’t a fortune that read something like: The big event you are waiting for will never come to fruition. So, I guess there is hope of me having a baby sometime in the near future.

David’s fortune was last and we are not quite sure what it means. It read, You have an unusual equipment for success, use it wisely.

We don’t put any stock into fortunes, but they did give us a great laugh yesterday evening.

Ethan and Hayden

David and his brothers and sister

David, Me, Ethan, and Hayden

Grandma and Grandpa Wilkes with their 9 grandchildren

The whole Wilkes clan

The original Wilkes family

Link to Video

What is worse is this cat is an indoor cat that our neighbor allows to go outside, and when it is outside it not only terrorizes me (and the other neighbors), but it also terrorizes the birds. It often kills them and carries them around in its mouth. The neighbor who lives on the other side of us has a beautiful set up for birds, containing several feeders, a bird house, and some DIY birds have even made a nest in the upper branches of the tree. However, the birds are constantly in danger as this despicable cat climbs the tree on the prowl for birds.

Now to the point of this  post: The neighbor who owns the cat also has a bird feeder out behind her house. I am sure she has not thought about the fact that she is providing birds for her malicious cat to destroy, she is probably just thinking how nice it is she can do something for the birds.

This made me think about the things I do and say. While my intentions and motives may be good, am I really looking at the whole situation? Would someone interpret my kind acts as cruelty? Are my acts of kindness motivated out of selfishness or a true desire to be kind to someone else? Truly something to ponder…

I am frustrated, angry, sad, disappointed, and I feel like a complete failure as a mother, because potty training shouldn’t be this hard. We have been working on this process since October, it is now July. By my calculations that is 9 months, and he still doesn’t get it.

As I am sitting there on the bathroom floor watching him on the toilet, crying my eyes out because I don’t know what to do to help him be successful in our potty training endeavor, he looks at me and says, “Thank you Mommy. You are my hero.”

I am sure one day he will get the whole potty training thing. He has to, right? I just pray for the daily patience and wisdom to help him be successful not only in this endeavor, but in life.

The boys have been pretty involved in our curriculum so far. They really enjoy our school time and even ask for it throughout the day.

Below is a curriculum outline for what I want to cover with the boys this school year. We may cover more in some subjects, and less than others, a lot will depend on the boys’ maturity, grasp of concepts, and interest level.

Bible, Language Arts, and Math are our core subjects. They will be studied on a daily basis. Social Studies, Science, Fine Arts, and Foreign Language will be studied two or three times a week.

Bible

Our study of the Bible will focus on three main areas:

Bible Knowledge

We will begin our year using A Child’s First Bible to learn various well known Bible stories.

Memorization

We will be learning the Catechism for Young Children and ABC Memory Verses during the course of the year using this memory system found at Simply Charlotte Mason.

Character Development

We will be using the One Year Book of Devotions for Preschoolers.

Language Arts

Our study of Language Arts will focus on three main areas:

Beginning Reading and Handwriting

We will be using the Explode the Code beginning with the primer workbooks A, B, and C. Although the boys both know their letters and letter sounds, we will be using these books to develop handwriting skills and following directions skills.

Literature

My literature goal for the boys is to expose them to variety of well written and well illustrated picture books through read-alouds. I will choose one book to be read aloud to them during school time, and they can choose others that we can read throughout the day.

Poetry

We will begin the school year using The Random House Book of Mother Goose.

Math

We will be using a variety of different activities including hands-on activities, worksheets, and online activities to reinforce and learn the following pre-K math skills:

• Shapes
  • identification of circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles
• Counting to 3
  • counting dots, shapes, and objects
• Counting to 5
  • counting dots, shapes, and objects
• Counting to 10
  • counting dots, shapes, and objects
• Counting to 20
  • counting dots, shapes, and objects
• Comparing
  • groups (more or less), in charts (fewer or more), in mixed groups
• Positions
  • inside and outside, left and right, left, middle, above and below, top and bottom
• Classification
  • same and different, by color
• Size
  • height, weight, capacity
• Money
  • identify coin types, count pennies

Social Studies

• People in the Neighborhood
• Basic Geography Concepts
  • Globes and Maps
  • Continents
  • Oceans
  • Rivers, Lakes, and Mountains
• Around the World: Continents
• Holidays

Science

• Your Body
• Five Senses
• Animals
• Taking Care of the Earth
• Taking Care of Plants
• Seasons and Weather
• Physical Science Concepts
  • Shadows
  • Light
  • Color
  • Sound
  • Motion
• Rocks and Dirt

Fine Arts

Visual Arts

• Elements of Art: Color, Lines, Types of Art
• Artists and Their Works

Music

• Elements of Music: Rhythm, Dynamics, Tempo, Pitch
• Composers and Their Works

Arts and Crafts

Foreign Language

I want to teach the boys Spanish, but I am still looking for a good preschool curriculum to accomplish this task.

Today, apparently, Hayden went into the laundry room and got a sharpie marker without me realizing it. He took the marker to the time-out chair, buckled himself in, and proceeded to draw all over his hands, legs, clothes, and even the time-out chair.

After I realized that Hayden was being very quiet, I went to check on him and found a very inked up child. I guess he knew he was going to get into trouble for the whole incident anyways, so he put himself into time-out so I wouldn’t have to. Luckily, no sharpie marks ended up on the walls or furniture….this time……

Well, the other day we were up pretty early. While we were getting ready for the day, and in a moment of weakness on his part, he said my baby belly was the size of a beach ball. So, I guess my baby belly is quite sizable. Oh well, only 9ish more weeks…….

Mommy: No, not right now.

Hayden: It’s my dream.

• Last week Ethan and I were outside playing. I wrote the alphabet and numbers 1-9 on the driveway using sidewalk chalk. Ethan, for the first time ever, attempted to write them as well. He wrote a number 1, a number 2, a number 4, the letter A and attempted to write several others.
• We have a new neighbor, a 3 and a half year old girl, who lives two doors down from us. She is not very well socialized, whines a lot, and says she can’t do things. However, Ethan is so gentle in his dealing with her, urging her to play, initiating games, and showing her how to do things. It is amazing to watch him .
• Today I had two bags from the grocery store to carry into the house. I gave one of the bags to Ethan and asked Hayden to carry the other bag. Hayden didn’t want to help, so Ethan carried both bags into the house for me.
• Hayden fell down at the playground. Ethan immediately ran over to him, helped him up, and asked him if he was okay.

I know these little daily events might not seem that big to most people, but on our journey with autism, these tiny events signify huge growth. Ethan still has a long way to go, but he has come so far and I am so proud of him.

Ethan just came to me and said he saw a snail…but he won’t show me where it is…..should I be concerned?

David

good question…

nah……

Me

Okay…if you say so……If I find it we can have escargot for dinner…..

David

you said snail.. okay maybe you should be a little concerned… i thought you said nail… and it was one of his play nails or nothing big…

hmmm…

Me

LOL….

I love you….

David

i love you!!!

Me

I guess there is a big difference between a nail and a snail….

David

yeah….

1. Frame – Check (Scattante XRL 51 Blue)
   

   

2. Seat post – Check (Forte Precision Seat Post)

   

3. Saddle – Check (Forte Carbon SLX) Think I would like to eventually try the Forte Pro Sl.
4. Handlebars – Check (Ritchey WCS – This is not exactly it, but it is similar.)
5. Stem – Check (Weyless) – Would like to switch it out for a White Stem probably the Ritchey Comp Stem or WCS Axis-4
6. Headset – Still needed
7. Fork – Check (Scattante Carbon Fork)
8. Shifters – Possibly. Have not tested fully,  but they seem to be working shifters (Shimano)
9. Front Derailleur – Check (Shimano either Ultegra or Tiagra depending on which fits)
10. Rear Derailleur – Check (Shimano Ultegra)
11. Crankset – Check (Shimano Ultegra)
12. Bottom Bracket – Still needed
13. Brakes – Still needed (have one Shimano 105 Black brake)
14. Pedals – Check (Speedplay Light Action – Black)
    
15. Wheels – Check
16. Cassette Check – (Shimano Ultegra)
17. Chain – Still needed
18. Bottle cages (Non Critical)
19. Handlebar Tape – Check (Forte Cork)

This afternoon we went to the playground. The boys had a blast running around and playing. While he was playing, Hayden discovered a caterpillar.

He quickly picked up the creature and ran over to where my mom and I were sitting on a bench to show us his discovery. He exclaimed, “Look! It’s a caterpillar!”

In his jubilation I was afraid he was going to squeeze the life out of his new found treasure, so I asked him to put the caterpillar down.

He put the caterpillar on the bench beside me causing a slight panic from my mom (who was sitting on my other side, but doesn’t appreciate crawly critters of any sort). She jumped up from the bench to take Hayden away from the caterpillar.

Hayden seeing my mom’s quick rise to action grabbed the caterpillar and took off with it. (She was afraid he was going to eat it because he does like to taste many of his nature finds.) After much coaxing, I was able to catch up with Hayden (I don’t move too fast these days) and convince him to put the caterpillar down.

My mom got Hayden and quickly escorted him from the playground, while I checked on the caterpillar’s condition. It appeared to be dazed and confused, but it was still alive when we left.

I guess it is time to teach nature rule 573: Look, but don’t touch……and maybe get him a nice nature journal or a camera so he can capture his finds for an eternity without destroying them.

Hayden: Blue socks.

Me: That is not a choice. Do you want to wear red socks or green socks?

Hayden: Blue socks.

Me. That is not a choice. Do you want to wear red socks or green socks.

Hayden: Blue socks.

Me: That is not a choice. Do you want to wear red socks or green socks?

Hayden: (A bit upset and frustrated that blue is not a choice, he silently reaches out and takes the green socks.)

I guess tomorrow I will have to make blue socks one of his choices.

and then we relit them so the boys could blow them out too….