2016 Starts with a Bang (or ill Kids)

Life continues to go and I keep thinking that maybe I should post something and then I just don't.  So here is an update.  A fly by update of the last year and half or so since I posted last.

Isaiah joined our family last year and we will be celebrating his first birthday shortly after Samuel's fourth.  He is just a joy.  Isaiah is the baby that makes everyone fall in love with babies and brings a sharp contrast to our experiences with Samuel and Ruth.  Unlike Samuel he has not had too many physical needs requiring much attention.  He was born on his due date, so that eliminates the need for all the monitoring that tends to happen with 27 weekers and has also been a pretty healthy baby over all (though lately he can't seem to shake this bug he has, but he'll get there).  And unlike Ruth, he's a pretty calm smiley baby. There has been no pulling the hair out due to never ending crying fits with Isaiah, something I quite appreciate.  At almost 11 months he is wanting so bad to be walking, but isn't quite yet.  To do that he'll need to work a little bit on his balance, but I'm sure he'll be walking soon enough.

Ruth is now 2.5 years old and is such a hoot these days!  A sharp contrast to in infancy she is becoming just a lovable person.  She is our daring child and our loud child.  One of her favorite things to do on car rides is to serenade us with her loud singing.  Another fun preoccupation of hers is climbing in and out of Isaiah's exersaucer.  Whenever we are at the preschool for Samuel she seems to yearn to be there.  She just loves being around people and getting into trouble around the house.  We were not sure how she'd be around Isaiah when he came along, but she has done great.  For quite a while she mostly ignored him and played with Samuel, but has also tried to be helpful.  Bringing him things like his pacifier, a toy, or when he was younger, a burp cloth.  Just the other day, while I was putting Isaiah down for a nap, she insisted on putting about 10 toys in his crib for him to play with.  I think we have her trained on not giving Isaiah food, but that was a common occurrence for a time.  Brownies for a 7 month old are totally legit right?  She thought so...  She also is currently working on the curriculum I did with Samuel last year and loving to read the books.

Samuel will be 4 soon and is getting into playing games.  He got Richard Scarry's Eye Found It game and loves playing it, always wants to take it out and play.  Samuel remains fascinated by all things on wheels, but is starting to get quite interested in superheroes.  He has some Spider Man jammies and likes to tell us he is Spider Man Boy and then he shoots his webs.  He got some Batman jammies for Christmas (as did Isaiah and Ruth got a bat girl shirt) that he very much enjoys as well.  He is also in preschool and doing some homeschool.  For Christmas he got a write and wipe ABC 123 book and has enjoyed tracing letters and numbers in there.  Some days I am just struck at how big and grown up he's gotten.  It often feels like just yesterday when he was in the NICU.

Ben and I are doing the same basic things we have been doing.  I continue to teach for Wittenberg Academy and he does his DCE stuff at Church.  I have recently gotten into Suzanne Bowen Fitness (she has a streaming workout membership that I do) and I am loving it!  I have gotten off it with the holidays and kids being sick, but they are just wonderful workouts and fit my schedule as a stay at home mom beautifully.  So this was a short and sweet post, but hopefully if you have been wondering what we have been up to this answers some of your questions.  Below I have included some photos from over the past year.

And I say that this year starts with ill kids because with the New Year came Isaiah with a fever and "fun" diapers, Ruth throwing up and Samuel getting a double ear infection.  Hopefully now that the weather has gotten quite cold out we'll see a little less sickness.

Here are some pictures from throughout the last year and a half for you to enjoy: