Brothers

Jake and B really love each other. In fact, B laughs especially hard at Jake. He lights up when he sees him and it is really special.



We have tried to be careful with how we talk about B around the others. We don't want to give them false hope that he will be staying forever so we typically refer to him as their "foster brother". Or sometimes if they want to call him their brother I just say, "he's can be your brother for now." They are fine with that. They have all been with me on visits and they have seen his birthmom so they know he has one and they tell people we are taking care of him while she gets better. Cara is especially sweet about it. On days when we have had to go for a visit I hear her saying sweet things to him acting like he should be excited to see her. In her head, of course he should...isn't everyone excited to see there Mommy??

We made sure they knew that if something happened to us they had lots of family who would take care of them so they weren't afraid they would go to a foster home. They are fine with what we've told them and it works.

So....

Jake gets in the car at pick-up today and tells me from now on he's going to tell people B is his "brother from another mother." I couldn't help buy laugh because I guess he is...kinda. Too funny!

I still am trying to figure out where he heard that or if he concluded that on his own?!

Speaking of Jake...

He is loving school this year. He enjoys reading, math and recess. He really enjoys being with his friends. His teacher had nice things to say about him at his conference. He (and two of his pals) got three minutes off recess yesterday for taking too long in the bathroom...I wanted to tell his teacher that he used to strip down (completely) to go to the bathroom. It took much longer back in the day...but, I didn't. I refrained. I'm getting better at "letting it go..." It's hard for me.

Love him so much!

Progress

The end of the first quarter of school is next week and I have to note that today was a BIG day for Caraline. She decided she could walk herself into school this morning. This is HUGE for her because she has been so nervous to do it. I was so proud! She is getting braver.

This is a picture of the day Jeremy had lunch with her. So fun!

Once she is in school she is fine. She loves the work, she loves her teacher, and she loves her friends. She is very social and talkative once she is in the room. Getting there was her challenge, and finally, I think we have conquered it. Again....HOORAY!!!!!

Prior to this one of us had to walk her in which meant that I had to get ready and take the little two in. That was working out very good so my Mom started to help by getting her out and letting her do traffic duty with her. She enjoyed this, but I think she is realizing it isn't as much fun on chilly mornings!

My Guy

September flew by and I didn't really mention much about our 10 year anniversary. I was thinking about it today though and thought I'd do a quick post.

So, about our 10 year anniversary......

It is so great to be celebrating being married a decade with this guy.


I think there were a couple times between years 1-4 when we both wondered if we would still
like each other by year 10. We had normal newlywed stress. We were getting used to living with someone (both of us had strong personalities). I remember sitting down and doing a budget and Jeremy trying to cut out my haircuts :). He was going to give them to me...you can imagine how well that went over.

We had family stress that landed us in some counseling...which was very helpful.

We had stress over "will we be able to have a baby?" My first surgery was right around or maybe the day of our first year anniversary and later that week a mean nurse said, "Honey, you'll never have babies." Well, obviously God thought otherwise.



We had job stress. Jeremy quit his job at a big company right after Caraline was born to start a new company. It has been a ride. Ups and downs for sure, but worth it. He loves going to work and has a generous, kind boss who has mentored him over the years in all kinds of things besides engineering.

He has traveled since Jake was born. I have had to "get over" my fears of being home alone. I have taught my little ones the song "Jesus is always with me." Funny things is, I have had to sing this in my head for the last 8 years as I have been home alone with little people A LOT.

With the traveling, we have had to get used to transitioning from ME doing everything for the kids to US doing things together when he is home. Harder than it might seem.

Somewhere along the way we learned to come together and help each other. We still have two strong personalities that clash from time to time. We get on each others nerves and sometimes don't agree. We are a good team when we make an effort. We divide and conquer. We are friends although sometimes it seems like we don't have a darn thing in common. Then, we realize we have a lot in common, we just don't have as much time to do those things.

Someday.

We have big plans for growing old together. Maybe we will get that tandem?? As long as I don't have to wear spandex :)!

We love each other...


... more than when we got married 10 years ago.