counting my blessings

I live a charmed life. Here are some of the things I love about life right now.

Dave is in his 5th year of residency. He is on a research year and doesn't have as many hospital responsibilities as he has had in years past or will have in years to come. He is doing a lot of data analysis from home and it is nice to have him around. (It took some adjusting to really love having him home after having him not be home for 10 years but now I really love it). It will be sad to see the hospital swallow him up again in the future. Here are some perks to having him home: I can leave the baby home napping while I run errands. This is amazing since the baby still names 3 times a day. Sometimes he eats lunch with me. He often puts Alexey to bed. We have family dinner several days a week (this is up from 0 days a week). He goes for a run a few days a week and takes the dog.

Dan still lives with us. He has been here I think about 3 years full time and on the weekends ever since we moved her 5 years ago. FREE BABYSITTING... No explanation necessary. We also call dan "The Calvin whisperer" since when Calvin is having a bad day he can sometimes help him turn himself around. Often it involves taking him out to In-N-Out our something like that and that is just fine with me. Also, since he is a gamer and always home on the days that dave does go in to the hospital or lab I can still leave jojo home napping since he is here too!

Calvin is doing pretty well. He is playing soccer and basketball and he goes to scouts and he recently started piano/guitar lessons. All of these things are going well and remain very positive experiences. Church is also going pretty well. We've only had a couple of incidences in the past few months. (we used to have minor incidences weekly and major incidences once a month so church is a little less stressful than it has been). His special education class is okay. We are having one major problem in there involving another kid (deserves it's own post) but Calvin is getting more work done and seems to be happy and comfortable in school. WE had 3 very rocky weeks after Christmas break but things have leveled out now and hopefully it will stay calm for a while.

Clare is so great. She is beautiful, smart and sweet. She is a peacemaker in our home. A few nights ago I went to bed early not feeling well (MASTITIS- ah). And she went to bed by herself after staying up 'til 9:30 cleaning her room to perfection. She was so excited to show it to me in the morning. I signed her up for dance and she has loved it. I am always happy when I choose an activity and it turns out to be a good fit -- sometimes it doesn't always turn out just right. Dance has been great. She also started piano and is progressing well. She plays soccer this season on Calvin's team (I bumped Calvin down a division when he started several months ago and that was a good move as it has enabled him to keep up with his team mates. He would not have been able to keep up otherwise. Because he is playing down, Clare can play on the same team as him). They love having soccer together. It is only a 8 week league but we are enjoying it for now. I am assistant coach.

Alexey is my most challenging child right now. (She is winning this competition no contest. Yikes!) She is feisty and crazy! I love her. She has the prettiest curly hair and funnest personality. She likes to copy her siblings and play the piano too. She has a good ear. I think she will be good at music when the time is right to start. Joy school this year has been good for her. She loves her friends there and that is going well also.

JoJo is the cutest little baby ever! We just love her to pieces. What a joy she is. She loves to kick, sing, baby babble, take a bath with the kids, and eat baby food. Her laughs melt my heart.

Pictures next time!! :)

Happy Birthday to Calvin who will be 9 years old tomorrow! :)