My Village.

Everyone always says "It takes a village to raise a child".

I don't think you truly understand what this means or how true it is until you have children. 

Ever since Lily was born, I have had a really hard time asking for help with my kids. I felt like I should be able to do it on my own (with Jake, of course).  Any time someone would take the kids, I felt really guilty about it.  

I would say that this past year or two, I have really started to embrace my "village", accept the help, and be grateful for it. 

Since we moved into this house, our "village" has grown a lot. 

Neighbors have turned into friends and then turned into family.

This is just a glimpse into our village:

Friends, family and neighbors will occasionally ask to take the kids to their house for a while, just to give me a break and give the kids a change in scenery. 

Sometimes someone will ask to take them to the playground for a while.

Some of our closest neighbors watch the kids for me if I need to take one kid to the doctor. Or on rainy days they will come over and stay with the kids so I don't have to drag them all out in the rain to go pick Lily up from school. 

Sara has been our #1 babysitter for the past 4 years and I don't know what we would have done without her. She is absolutely a part of our family and we love her so much.

Today, Grandpa and Cyndi took the kids all afternoon. And now that they live so much closer, we get to see them much more and it is so nice to have them nearby.

Aunt Mariah is now close to us too!! And she is amazing and wonderful and we all love her dearly. 

Grandma Jan takes the kids one by one for special overnights with her. She also takes 2 or all 3 of the kids if Jake and I need it. She took Jonah and Kate the other week while Jake, Lily and I went to a wedding. She is so wonderful to us. 

Our friends are incredible and I LOVE that we have seen each other almost every week for the past 8 years!  It is so fun seeing our families grow. We went from all being young single college kids to being married and having babies and our group keeps growing! You all mean so much to our family and we are so thankful for you.

There are many  more people that are a part of our village and without each and every one of you, we wouldn't be where we are today. 

I guess what I am saying is that I appreciate my "village" so much and am so thankful to all of you that help look out for my family. I am fairly certain I would lose my mind if it were not for my village. 

I am starting to be more comfortable accepting the help of my village, because it is oh so good for me, but it is also great for my kids too. 

If you have a hard time accepting help from others, I urge you to do it anyway. It really does take a village to raise a child, and that village is also what shapes them into the people they are becoming. 

Thank you, village, for saving my sanity, but also for loving my family so much.

Lately.

So far, summer has not been terribly relaxing.

In fact, I feel like we have not really started summer yet because we have been so busy. 

We've been working on my new laundry room and new half bathroom (pics to come! It's looking great!), we went to the Poconos, we went to a wedding, I had jury duty, Jake's been working lots and lots of hours at the fire station, we've been working on our garden (but honestly, it looks a bit unruly at the moment...), I started watching a new full time 13 month old, Lily and Jonah are going to our church's music camp this week, we've had doctors appointments, we've had family visiting, I won Red Sox tickets (Woohoooo, date night! Can't wait for August 2nd!), we had a bit of a plumbing emergency, and we found out that Jonah is having surgery on August 13th- tonsils and adenoids (if you have any advice on this, please share with me!). 

All of this, and more, just in the past 2 weeks. 

I am at that point in my life where I wish there were more hours in each day. 

Things have been good, just really busy. I keep waiting for life to slow down, but that just isn't happening.

But back to Jonah. 

After visiting an Ear Nose and Throat doctor a couple weeks ago, it was decided that it's best if Jonah gets his tonsils and adenoids removed. He gets so many throat infections every year. His adenoids are enlarged and his tonsils "look like golf balls". The funny thing is that Jonah is actually looking forward to his "injury", as he calls it (he means surgery, though). We've been reading the book "Goodbye Tonsils" and he is VERY excited for all of the ice cream, popsicles and gum he will get after. He also thinks he will get presents thanks to that book. 

My plan so far is to take him out shopping, just him, for things he can have after the surgery. He needs lots of fluids and only soft foods for a while. Then he will need lots of time on the couch resting. I am praying that recovery will be okay for him because 2 weeks later he starts up with his kindergarten visit day and screening at school. His first day isn't until Sept. 5th though, so he will have a bit more time to lay low if he needs it. 

So, I suppose summer is going well so far, it's just been non-stop so far. And it's flying by! At Target today they were already setting up the displays for back to school. 

I am sort of in denial that at the end of next month I will have a 1st grader, kindergartner, and preschooler. Where does the time go?!?

Heroes.

Jake has been a firefighter for just over 2 years now. 

He honestly never ceases to amaze me with the dedication and hard work he puts into firefighting. 

Now, don't get me wrong. If you know Jake at all, you know that he gives 150% towards everything he does. 

But there is something about firefighting, he makes the extra effort to give even more. 

And I must say, he is one amazing firefighter. 

And he loves it. 

It's different being on the other side of things. 

Like most everyone else, I never thought too hard about our everyday heroes. I respected them and thought they were incredibly brave and selfless. And you just know that in an emergency, they would be there helping and saving lives. 

But now that I am on the other side, I can see that it's so much more than that. I can see the sacrifices they make, how hard they work, how much training they go through, the sacrifices their families make, how they are ready 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to run out the door when that tone goes out, and how certain calls can really take their toll, emotionally and physically. 

Last night, there was a bad car accident, not too far from our house. The tone went off and Jake was out the door. He came home nearly 2 hours later- that's how I knew it was a bad accident. 

He comes home and I can tell that it was a hard call for him.

He came and sat down next to me- it was late, but I wanted to say up and wait for him.  He tells me a bit about the accident. How he was the one that had to crawl into the mangled car to check on the guy that was crushed and trapped inside. How he was holding the man's head still and talking to him the whole time, keeping him calm and still while firefighters outside the car cut and sawed pieces of the car away to free them both. How the injured man squeezed Jake's hand when he was scared and thought he might die and how he finally helped get him out and loaded into the ambulance after being trapped for over an hour. 

These heroes experience so much on these calls, and then they come home and sit on the couch with their wife, just like any other person. 

When Jake was talking to me about the accident, I couldn't help but think " You honestly just did all of that in an hour and half, trying to save a man's life, and now you are just sitting here on our stained IKEA couch sipping your drink. Something about that seems off."  

It seems like after doing something that heroic and amazing, it just seems strange to be doing something so ordinary. 

These men and women at true heroes. Not that I didn't know that before, but now that I can see the other side of it, now that my husband is one of those heroes, it is just so obvious now. 

If you see one, just say thank you to a fire fighter or anyone else that works in public service. I promise it will make their day and they will feel so appreciated. 

This is the accident- pray for the man that was injured- we don't know if whether or not he made it. 

http://hamilton-wenham.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/car-slams-into-pole-closes-rt-1a-for-over-an-hour

Homeschooling Part 2.

Since my last post about homeschooling, Jake and I have been thinking, researching and praying about it. 

Honestly, I was thinking about it a lot. And kind of getting a bit stressed about it. 

I was waiting to feel led one way or the other. But that feeling never came. 

I have felt so torn, seeing the positives and negatives to both sides. 

Last week I prayed for clarity. 

The very next day I got an email. 

Starting in late August, and going through the middle of June, I have the opportunity to watch 2 little girls full time. 2 full time kids would be such a HUGE help to us and would allow us to really start saving for an addition for our house. 

Jake and I talked it over and realized that is our answer, at least for this next school year. 

So, just like that, our homeschooling decision was made for next school year. 

Lily will move up to first grade and Jonah will be in kindergarten. 

This is a great opportunity for us to really get ahead on our finances- pay off the little bit left on the van and then put all of my income into a savings account to save for a second story on our house. 

I will say that this arrangement is just for this next year. Next spring/summer Jake and I will look into homeschooling again and see if we can make it work. 

I am praying that next school year will go smoothly, that my kids will make good friends and have a positive experience in school. Jonah is not excited about going up to the school for kindergarten, so I am praying that by the end of the summer, he will be more open to the idea and be excited for all of the fun things that he will experience. 

THANK YOU to everyone that gave me SO much advice about homeschooling! I am saving everything for next year when we start seriously looking into it again. I am so thankful to my network of moms who help me and support me so much. Thank you!

5.

Happy Birthday to handsome little man!! 

We love you so much Jonah! I hope you have the best 5th birthday. 

(We are taking Jonah to his FIRST Red Sox game on Tuesday, his birthday. But keep it quiet- it's a surprise! :) 

Updates.

Well, life lately has been extra crazy and busy (what is it about spring?!), so unfortunately, I haven't had a moment for my blog. 

So, here are some updates:

- Jonah's eye appointment went well. We found that he has perfect eyes and they are not causing his headaches. Thankfully, we have not had too many issues with his headaches in the past couple of weeks. 

- Kate is now 6 months episode free! We are thrilled that she has gone this long without an episode and are praying that it continues! 

- Our adoption journey is on hold for now- we discovered that our house is currently not big enough. Because our house has fairly small bedrooms, especially Jonah's room, it doesn't allow each child to have the amount of room required by the state to add another child. The door is not closed, but it seems that we will have to wait until we move, or add on to our house. 

- Jake and I are still looking into homeschooling, but we are waiting to make our final decision until we hear more about other doors possibly opening regarding Jake's job. 

- Since Jonah was 2, he has had a lot of issues with his tonsils. Each year he gets strep or a viral infection at least 4 times, usually more. And each year, the number seems to keep going up. So, next month he has an appointment with an ENT- ear, nose and throat doctor. Jake and I are hoping that we can get Jonah's tonsils out. Jonah has an infection right now and the poor guy- his throat is in rough shape.

- Jonah graduates from preschool and turns 5 in just 2 weeks!

-Lily has been doing GREAT in soccer and scored her first goal last week!  

Things have been so busy lately, but I am hoping they will start to slow down in a few weeks. Then maybe I can get out some good blog posts :) 

Headaches.

Since September, Jonah has been struggling with headaches. He seems to only get them in the mornings when he has school. 

In the fall, there were a few times that I had to pick Jonah up from school because of these headaches. 

I took him to the doctor, who referred us to a neurologist at Children's. When she told me that Jonah should be seen at Children's, I thought, "not again, we just went through all of this with Kate!" 

Jonah's appointment was in January, and went well. By the time of that appointment, Jonah's headaches had lessened and he wasn't having as many, so the neurologist didn't seem too concerned, but told me that if they start up again, to call. 

Well, since that January appointment, Jonah has still been complaining of headaches and I've had to pick him up from school 3-4 times. 

Occasionally he also complains of blurry vision, so back to the doctor we went. They are sending us to  ophthalmology. That appointment is at Children's too, and is this Thursday. 

If everything seems fine with his eyes, then he will have to go back to the neurologist, who will mostly likely say that they will need to do some imaging. Meaning an MRI, maybe an EEG. 

I am PRAYING so hard that this is an eye issue. I am praying that this is something that is easy to fix and that fixing it will stop the headaches. 

I am feeling rather nervous for this appointment. I don't want them to say all is well with his eyes. Because I don't want to go back to neurology. I don't want another one of my kids to go through getting an MRI and an EEG. I am terrified of what they might find if he gets those tests.

I know I am getting ahead of myself. 

I am trying and trying to calm myself down and just wait until his eye appointment. Because really, worry does nothing when we don't even have an answer about his eyes. 

But I worry. I have always been a worrier. 

Remember that post I wrote about fear?  Yeah, I keep thinking, "what if this is the beginning of my nightmare?" 

But I am praying, and trusting. Because really no matter what happens, my faith is in God and I know that everything will eventually be okay. 

But, the reason for this post- will you please pray with me? For Jonah's health, for his upcoming appointment, for my strength and sanity? 

I will update you all after his appointment, which is at 9:45 on Thursday morning, and will last 2-3 hours.  Hopefully I will be posting a picture of a cute boy wearing his new glasses.