The one about swimming!

We love to swim!! I make learning to swim as soon as possible a big priority not just because we love it but because I know how dangerous water is when you don't know how to swim. My parents have a pool and my kids spend a good amount of at their house so it's very important to me that my kids are comfortable in the water and can swim on their own as young as possible.

Because we prioritize learning to swim young, each of my kids has learned to swim across the entire pool with no help the summer after they turn 3. Flynn is looking like he might learn while he's still 2 because he's an older 2 than my others were in the summer. We don't do formal swim lessons. My mom and I teach them together and through the years we've kind of come up with a method that seems to work pretty well! It's very relaxed, relatively simple and mostly kid led. No drama!

I will preface our method with the warning that it may not work well with older kids. We usually start training them when they’re 6-12 months old. So my tips are baby age related mostly. I’m not sure if I’m very knowledgeable teaching a toddler or older kiddo to swim at all. I've never done it! 

Also the most important disclaimer, I am NOT a licensed or trained swim teacher/coach in any way, shape or form. Any advice you take from this blog post is at your own risk. You are responsible for your child in the water at all times.

With that out of the way I'll get started!

Once they are 6 months or older we start by just dunking them in the water and teaching them to hold their breath so they're not afraid to put their head under. This is the only time of training that the child may not enjoy the process much at first. We do this for just a second or less at a time, really just down and up for the first few, then gradually move up over time by half seconds to maybe 3-5 seconds eventually. (I just count in my head) They are usually closer to a year before we get to 3 seconds I think. Before we dunk them we take a deep breath with them then blow in their face right before they go under. (it's a natural response for them to close their mouth when they feel air blow on their face) When they come out of the water we’re all really excited for them!! Like way more than we should be. ;) Everything super encouraging and positive. We only do 2 dunks each swim session for the first few weeks and move up from there. Eventually they will start asking to go under! As different as all my kids are they have all asked to go under water after they turned 2. For a kid that's a little older and maybe afraid of going under I would try putting goggles on yourself and your kiddo and go under with them. It might be fun to take a toy under the water to look at or try to play with a little to encourage staying under a little longer than a second at first. 

I wouldn't worry too much about them coughing up water from time to time. It happens often when they are learning to hold their breath. If you are doing the gradual method they are only getting a tiny bit of water at a time if they do suck in any on accident. Still be careful! If they keep coughing every time they go under I would stop and try again in a couple weeks. I would say in an hour swim I only really want to hear them cough up water 5 times or less. If it's been about that much we take a break from swim practice and play in the shallow water or use floaties for the remainder of our swim time. (I have nothing to back this up other than a mother's intuition! Please use your own discretion)

Once they are up to 3-5 seconds of holding their breath with almost no coughing, we start passing them from one person to another under the water. (this usually isn't possible until 18 months or more likely 2 years old) We do this so they get the idea that they are supposed to move under the water. It’s not long before they start moving their arms and legs naturally to reach the next person. Of course we remind them to kick and move their arms verbally.

Once they are consistently making swimming like motions we start practicing getting to the stairs and standing up on their own to get out. I give them a launch in the water so they reach the stairs without much movement on their part so all they have to do is put their feet down on the stairs to stand up. I will move their feet downward while they're under the water at first to help them know what it feels like to straighten up in the water to stand up. Each time I give them a little less of a push so they have to move themselves towards the stairs and get out.

After they have mastered getting to the stairs from my arms a few feet on their own. I will let them jump off the stairs/side to see how far they can swim. I start close to them but back up as they swim to see how far they can go, I will pick them out of the water when I can tell their almost out of breath. It's about 5 seconds still when they are still learning to move through the water, it can be more though. I just know by how they move in the water they need a breath soon. (it's hard to explain but their movements will change from smooth to more urgent and they start reaching for you)

Around this time I like to make sure they know how to swim to the side of the pool reach up with their hands and climb out on their own. So no matter where they are in the pool they can get out and they are not relying completely on the stairs to get out. It's the same method as going to the stairs but instead I push up on their feet or their bottom to get them to reach upwards to the side. Each time I try to give them less help upwards until they can do it on their own. 

The last step is getting them to take a breath on their own. (this is the step Flynn is on!) I let them start swimming on their own towards me then instead of picking them up out of the water after 5ish seconds, I push up on their chest just enough to bring their head out of the water to get a breath and then let them drop back in and repeat until the reach the other short side of the pool. We do that over and over and over until they naturally bring their head up on their own and can swim across the pool on their own.

All of this is child led! They want to do it! Other than the initial part of learning to go under water, I've never had to force them or even ask them to try. They ask to learn to swim themselves. And if they are not into it that day, we do it another day.

The last tip I have is for floaties/life jackets. If you really want them to learn quickly don't use floaties at all. (I'm talking about the puddle jumper like floaties, not baby floats when they are infants) Flynn has never worn them and is the fastest at learning to swim so far. All of my other kiddos have used floaties from time to time because I just needed a break or I had two non-swimmers at a time and it was impossible to go swimming without them. I only have one non-swimmer this summer, so I have the luxury of not using them this summer. 

Now, If you do use them, make sure to take them off right before you get out of the water and let them go under the water for a couple of seconds. That way the last memory of the pool is that they cannot swim on their own! We also tell them they cannot swim on their own. They are not allowed in the pool without an adult! We tell them this no matter what their verbal abilities may be. I say this from experience. Little 2 year old Alexandria and I had just gotten out of the pool and I took off her floaties and went to grab in a towel that was 10 feet away. Little did I know she had turned right around and gotten back in the pool down the steps. There was no splash, no noise, nothing to tell me it was happening. One of my other children was stripping his swimsuit off and I stopped to tell him to keep it on until I could get a towel around him and that's when I saw her head bobbing just below the water, struggling to keep her eyes over the water. I get a lump in my throat and feel the tears coming on just writing about it. Immediately I rushed in and got her out. She was white faced from fear, but breathing fine. She is a very verbal child and told me she held her breath. Time did tell that she had. She hadn't swallowed any water! We had been doing our training to hold her breath and it had worked! I called my pediatricians nurse line and made sure we didn't need to get her checked out. The nurse said since she hadn't lost consciousness and was acting normal and didn't cough up water we were fine to just monitor her from home. Thank goodness!! This happened at my parents pool with 3 adults within 15 feet of her. None of us were looking at her for 30 seconds. (we know it was this long because there are cameras) That's all it takes. 30 seconds is so short out of the water but so long in the water. We are all so careful! I had just gone to get a towel and she is my kid that ALWAYS follows right behind me. It only takes one time... It could have been so much worse. She was totally fine. But I am scarred from that experience. We were already very intentional about water safety, but now we are even more so! Still it can happen to anyone. STAY VIGILANT!

The biggest thing about being comfortable in the water is frequency. Get in as much as possible!! In the summer we swim 2-4 times a week. (mostly 2 though)

Hope all of this helps someone!! Happy swimming!

Flynn the 2 Year Old

                    

That's my Flynn Flynn, with a big smile and dirt all over his face per the norm. Well, his birthday was like 4 months ago but so I'm a little tardy writing this birthday post, but his interests and skills haven't changed too much since he turned 2. When I wrote his 1 year old post, which you can read here, I thought he was going to be my last baby, well no need for that sentimentality anymore! He's going to be a big brother! I feel like he will handle the transition very well. He's so independent! He runs around the whole park on his own doing all the things with me watching from afar. He has never thought of himself as the baby and needs very little comforting. Not much bothers him and if does get upset he gets over it pretty quickly. As long as he is not restricted and can explore everything around him he's happy. He's a ball of energy and can cause a lot of destruction from his explorations but he's such a happy kid I can never stay mad for long.

I really enjoyed getting to soak up Flynn's whole year as a 1 year old without being pregnant. I've never really done it before. I was always feeling sick or had limited mobility expecting another little one while my other kiddos were 1. It was a blast and truly I don't even know how I would have kept up with him if I was pregnant then. At least now he will listen "No" or "Stop" some of the time and is not quite as destructive and hazardous to himself as he used to be. While I've had to put my excitement of moving away from the baby stage of life on hold I know God has what's best and this little sister for Flynn will be just what we need for our family to be whole!

This is great representation of Flynn at just about 2. Wispy hair, his legs a blur, a dinosaur in each hand and his fox pacifier in his mouth. I'm pretty sure Jane took this picture because I am in background working at my desk. (I love it when my kids capture moments I wouldn't have noted otherwise.) The thing that sticks out the most about Flynn is his activity and physical adeptness. He is just so active! Always on the move and he's always surprising me with what he is capable of. When he was probably about a year and a half he moved the kitchen chair over to the bar stools and climbed up to the bar counter to try to touch the knives. I barely caught him before achieved his goal. None of my other kids have even attempted this at any age never mind you age 1!! Before he turned two he also let himself down from the trampoline without a ladder. My two middle kids still ask for help down if there's not a chair or ladder next to the trampoline. He was already dribbling a soccer ball just before 2 as well like someone had shown him how. Anything to do with a ball just seems to come naturally to him. It's interesting that my two kids that were more physically advanced as babies were both a little slower verbally and also Jane sucked her thumb and Flynn is my first pacifier baby. My middle two had no sucking habit at all and were a little slower physically, but they were very advanced verbally. I love seeing the differences and similarities between them all.

Weight

Birth: 6lbs 6oz

1 Year Old: 20lbs 13oz

2 Years Old: 26lbs 4oz

Just like his sister Jane at this age, Flynn will not sit long enough to eat a good meal. He is a snacker by nature and loves any food he can take on the go with him. Because of his constant activity he has always been a little on the lighter side. He's in about the 20th percentile in weight which I think is great! I was expecting him to be lower on the percentiles actually. Especially for being such a small newborn he has grown so well!

Height

Birth: 20 Inches

1 Year Old: 28.5 Inches

2 Years Old: 34 Inches

This was very surprising to me. I looked back at everyone's height at 2 and Flynn is the tallest! Of course he did have his well check a little later so that might be part of it but still! I can't believe he's the tallest at age 2 of all of my babies. He's still not high on the percentiles, probably about 25th percentile. I'm so proud of my littlest baby being my tallest now. Grow Flynn Grow!! Sam doesn't remember being tall until he was a teenager so we're going to have to see how it all works out later.

Flynn is slow teether just like all the rest. He ended up only missing a few of his baby teeth by his second birthday. All 4 canines were still underneath the gum when he turned two and of course his second molars haven't made an appearance yet either. Teething doesn't seem to bother him too much he only seems to get a little clingy. He loves to chomp his teeth like a dinosaur!

Firsts

It's time for Firsts! Some of these are traditional firsts and others are not as much but I love finding something special from each month and seeing him grow through the year! So much fun!!

Walking across the room - 12-13 Months

Booster Seat - 14 Months

Falling asleep eating - 14 1/2 Months

Hunting Easter Eggs - 15 Months

County Fair - 16 Months

Merry go round - 16 Months

(not a fan)

Manga ;) - 17 Months

Climbing on the counter - 18 Months

Hand Foot Mouth - 19 Months
(A first for all of us)

Playing in the cabinet - 20 Months

Climbing on the Washer - 21 Months

Giving momma a flower <3 - 21 Months

Winning cutest costume! - 22 Months

Riding a horse!! - 23 Months

Promoted to Big Brother - 2 Years old!

Favorites

Flynn is the most active of all of my kiddos. Jane was active but Flynn takes it to another level. He's always moving unless he's asleep, always finding something to get into that he shouldn't. ;) But he is soooo much fun and so good at entertaining himself because he's so independent. He's a super happy kid, not much upsets him for long. In his last birthday post I noted that he still didn't like the trampoline, well obviously that has changed! He's in love with it! He can already do a seat jump and land back on his feet. Super coordinated just like everything else physical he does. He loves everything involving a ball or water. If you couldn't tell from the "Firsts" section of this post he climbs anything he can! He enjoys dancing with all his siblings to some good music. Really he's into anything that gets him moving. He still hates to be restrained but doesn't mind the car too much anymore if it means going somewhere to explore, so going to pick up curbside groceries is probably his least favorite thing. ;)

Flynn LOVES Mac and Cheese. It's almost the only thing I can get him to stay still long enough to finish. He does enjoy other pastas as well. He's so busy he does not stop to eat much! He likes things he can eat on the go. Crackers, cheese, bread, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, tortillas, fruit snacks, poptarts, frozen yogurt, popsicles, ice cream and ALLL candy, especially if it's fruity. He's really not into meat right now. I'll keep trying though!

Flynn enjoys a multitude of toys! His favorites are definitely all dinosaurs! He knows the different names, T-Rex, Triceratops, Raptor, Pterodactyl and is learning more. T-Rex is his favorite for sure. He also enjoys playing with cars and doing sticker books quite a lot. He loves his blues clues phone and the leapfrog laptop. Building and knocking down block towers always gets an excited laugh out of him. And of course any ball!! He loves to throw and chase.

He will finally sit long enough to read a book that doesn't have textures or a special feature. It still has to be short and they aren't usually his favorite but we're getting there. His favorite books are his dinosaur sound books he got for Birthday/Christmas, All Better, Little Bear Needs Glasses, Nibbles Numbers and any books with flaps.

Activities are Flynn's absolute favorite!! Being outside doing anything makes him happy. He'll swing for a long time, he loves the trampoline. He'll jump by himself but he'd rather one of his siblings be up there with him. He'll cry if they get down before he's ready to be done. He adores the swimming pool. Last summer he started making motions in the water and could travel a couple feet! At 1! He's impressive when it comes to everything physical and takes coordination. I feel like he might get swimming down this coming summer. He's so independent so he loves exploring. Which is great but makes me nervous! He gets so far from me and totally does not care. I have a feeling he and Jane will go on adventures together when they're older.

It took Flynn a while to get interested in the TV and even though it makes it easier when they will stop and watch I'm kinda glad he wasn't into it and would walk away at anytime to go play. His favorite is watching YouTube videos about dinosaurs at Pappaw's house. He and Xan love it so much it's outlawed at my house because they throw such a fit when we turn it off and it's all they will ever ask for on the TV. He still loves Blues Clues and will yell BLUE whenever he sees a paw print anywhere. Other favorite are Team Umizoomi, Gigantasaurus, Zig and Sharko, Land Before Time and anything else with a dinosaur. He has a funny relationship with the movie Iron Giant. He seems sooo interested in it but he will hide behind a blanket sometimes when the giant is on screen.

Just like Jane Flynn LOVES to go places! Anywhere and everywhere. He gets so disappointed if we get in the car and end up just picking something up and not getting out. He loves Marmee and Pappaw's house, the park, friend's houses, Urban Air, the library, Open Gym, Mr. Gatti's, Etc. The only place he I found out he doesn't like it Zero Gravity (inflatable jump place) He warmed up eventually but it scares him for some reason which is funny because Atlas was that way too. Atlas loves them now so I'm sure Flynn will too eventually. Basically Flynn loves to put his shoes on because that usually means we're going somewhere and he is ready for it!

Flynn and Jane are the most alike for sure! They have that busy energy that thrives on excitement. They like to have water fights because neither of them care about water in their face like the other two do. Atlas and Flynn are probably the least alike so far. ;) But they do enjoy a good sword fight together from time to time and Flynn is super interested in Atlas's video games and tries to steal the controller if Atlas leaves it alone for a moment. Xan and Flynn share their love of dinosaurs!! So they are fighting over dinosaur toys often. Sometimes they will play with their dinosaurs together without fighting over one specific dinosaur toy, I love it when that happens! Also their likes of TV shows and other interests seem to align most of the time. Their personalities are pretty different though. Flynn loves all of his siblings and always wants to feel like he is part of the crew! If they go outside he wants to go outside if they all are playing in one room he will go to that room and of course he has to be right in the middle of school whenever we try to accomplish that feat. He makes all of his siblings laugh and then he starts laughing at them laughing at him. It's the best sound ever! I can't wait to see what Flynn thinks about being a big brother!

Flynn is a joy! His laugh is contagious. He adores these party blowers and he gets so tickled every time he blows it. It's hilarious. Flynn is a force!! He knows what he wants and he will do whatever he needs to do to make it happen. He figured out how to move objects to climb on them to get to what he wanted way earlier than my other kids. Flynn is a super snacker. When we're at the park he will find any one with a snack and weasel his way into their hearts so fast that they immediately give him part of what they're eating. He thinks every drink is a communal drink and has slipped a sip of soda and coffee at the park as well. Flynn is not easily bothered. He may cry for a moment when something doesn't happen the way he wants but he moves on very quickly! He's never upset for long. He just moves on to the next thing he thinks is interesting. Flynn is a runner! He is soooo fast. I can look away for 1 second (probably more than 1 more like 5) and he can be halfway across the park. His speed combined with his love of balls, I'm pretty sure Flynn is going to be my sporty guy. Flynn is just plain fun. There's never a dull moment while Flynn is awake. Sometimes that can make life hard but mostly it's a blast. I wouldn't have him any other way.

Happy 2nd Birthday Flynn Flynn!! We love you so much!

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. So they do it to obtain a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way as not to run aimlessly; I box in such a way, as to avoid hitting air; but I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.

Happy New Year 2022!!

 

Woah, 2021 FLEW by. It was a great year, but it definitely had it's unexpected challenges! I was very happy to see my little world in Kingwood, TX mostly return to normal! We got back to our pre-covid park day numbers! Our group that comes every week is almost completely different than 2 years ago but it's just as wonderful! Everything is open and back to regular capacity. The only places I know of that still require masks in our area are medical offices and the Library. Covid is still around of course. It seems like everyone is getting the Omicron variant and although it's not fun, thankfully they seem to be able to get over it relatively easily. I'm super glad Covid is not halting life from happening anymore. I even see more people being more understanding and loving now than I did a year ago which is so good to see. Of course it's not perfect and we're still a long way off from being as kind and thoughtful of others as we should be but it's so encouraging to see improvement for sure! Let's keep working on spreading the love of God and being more like Jesus!! We don't have to change the world by ourselves but we can do our part by doing small acts of kindness or a little bigger when possible and loving others as best as we can with God's help.

Ok! In keeping with last year's post I will be treating this kind of like a Christmas Card letter that has updates on each member of our family going oldest to youngest.

Gotta represent Naruto and my Astros

Me first! This month I celebrated my 1 year work anniversary with Sequitur Energy! Still so grateful to be working for a wonderful boss and I am loving the settled feeling of being a year in. Like I really know what I'm doing now! haha! For those of you who don't know, I work remotely a couple hours a day doing accounting/banking for an oil and gas company. I got way back into Anime with Sam this year. We have anime nights on Saturdays. I am not ashamed! I love it. I'm such a nerd. It's perfect though because I got really consistent at working out at night because I would put on an anime to watch while I worked out. I did give myself a break through the holidays though. We started reading Manga together too. So much fun. OH! I picked up a new hobby. I achieved a childhood dream and learned to draw. I mostly draw anime characters, but I have dabbled in other things for Birthday cards. Here's a couple of my most recent drawings. As a result my blog has taken a big hit! I choose to draw or watch anime with my time a lot more than blog lately. I'm really hoping to get back to it though! I still love taking pictures and playing video games too. Still trying to find the elusive balance between home schooling 2 different grades, leading park day, keeping up with friends, working, cooking, cleaning and having time for myself and my hobbies. I'll keep doing my best!!

Sam has been in the middle of our unexpected challenges this year. Near the end of July Sam started having extreme leg pain. Bad enough that it kept him from work for a few days. So he got an appointment with a PCP dr as fast as he could. That doctor sent him straight to the ER to check for blood clots. His ultrasounds came back clear and the ER found no other problems with him. That sent him back to the doctor who then sent him to an orthopaedic surgeon. The pain just continued to get worse that he could only move to get from the bed to the recliner with crutches. The OS doctor ordered an MRI of Sam's back. After reviewing it he didn't have any direct answers either. So he sent us to a Spine and neuropathy specialist. Now it's been a month with no answers. Finally the Spine doctor knew exactly what the problem was and how to fix it! The fluid around a couple of Sam's disks had drained and it pushed a disk out on to a nerve that was sending inflammation and pain signals all the way down his leg. So the doctor scheduled two injections to help fix the issue. Finally in the middle of September Sam found relief! The picture above is from when those injections were working well. After a few weeks the injections were starting to wear off. That sent us back to the spine doctor. Now he wants to try a implant that sends pain canceling signals to control the pain and inflammation. We were supposed to get that done in December since we met our deductible but the insurance dragged their feet in approving so it was all moved to January. Thankfully the injections are still working to manage most of the pain but his mobility is still somewhat limited. Because of all of that he was out of work on disability for 2 months. But he has been back to work since the end of September thankfully! The shop really missed him! (he's the shop manager at Xerox) It's good to feel needed! He's kept his mind off the pain and swelling by keeping up with his hobbies, anime, manga, video games, music and movies. The kids have definitely missed getting to play with dad, instead of getting on the floor and wrestling they watch music videos together. I'm sure they will love when Sam can play again like he used to but music videos are a fun way to still connect.

Jane is 7 1/2 and in 2nd grade. She still does not enjoy school. Her favorite subjects are still History and Science. She also loves our Bible stories. Handwriting is a struggle, we may try cursive this year to see if she likes that better because she loves fancy things. Reading is better but still hard for her. Math is not hard for her but she still says she doesn't like it. She has a more creative brain so she loves imagining and creating stories. She still loves everything girly the best and fancy dresses are her favorite. We finally let gymnastics class go. Jane didn't want to do harder skills but then when we put her in a more relaxed class she got bored. We still go to open gym from time to time. But she started Super Friday!! She loves it! Last year she did Rhythm class, Greek Mythology and Tap Dance. Her rhythm class was part of the end of the year showcase and they did bucket drumming and body jam. Jane LOVED being on stage. No surprise. So this year she will be doing theater class with Super Friday to have more stage time. She also chose Perler Beads and Duct Tape Warfare. She continues to make friends easily and has a never ending amount of curiosity and questions for how the world works.

Atlas will be 6 in February and he is in Kindergarten. He excels in school and has no trouble. He's almost finished with his Kinder math book already and he's right on track for reading. He's very motivated by video games so tries to speed through school as fast as he can to get to play. He has no attention for anything extra in school like Jane does. Atlas tried gymnastics class but he wasn't into it. He does enjoy open gym though! He's made a few friends of his own and has quite the group of boys to run around with at park day now. Atlas has grown a lot this year. Things you think he should have been doing on his own for a while he finally picked up. I learned that he needs training sessions for mundane tasks because if it's not related to video games he has no motivation to learn it. He learned to buckle himself in the car, to put on his own socks and shoes, to do the monkey bars and swing himself of the swing set. His video game skills continue to impress me. He completed an entire new game he got for Christmas in 2 days. He's also learned to calm himself down even if the game is hard. (most of the time) I'm proud of the growth he's shown! We're still working on that video game/life balance.

Alexandria is 3 1/2 and not doing any formal school. She always asks to do school! But I'm not ready. I have enough on my plate with Atlas and Jane right now. I usually figure out something that she can easily do on her own to help her feel like she's doing school. She's very good with shapes and colors. She recognizes a lot of letters and sounds even though we've barely worked on it. She can count pretty well too. Her biggest passion is animals! She loves playing with Milo and Cambria. She wishes she could have a real alligator or dragon. ;) She loves everything reptilian and dinosaur related. She makes almost everyone fall in love with her as soon as she meets them and loves to connect with people. She usually finds a mom at the park to chat with half the time. ;) She's my cuddly girl and would still like me to hold her all the time. She has big emotions and will put herself in time out if she feels like she's done something wrong and upset me. She recovers pretty quickly though. I'm still trying to decide if we're going to try gymnastics class with her. Mostly, I have to figure out if we can fit it in our busy schedule! I think she would love it.

Flynn just turned 2! He's not doing any kind of school at all but he wants to be involved. I do my best to keep him entertained with toys while we work but always wants the scissors, glue and markers. Anything that he can make a mess with. He is a ball of energy only stopping for snacks or mac and cheese. My busiest kid by far. Once he could walk, he was off! He is still a super climber and always surprises me what he can get to and do. He's amazing at jumping on the trampoline. He can do a seat jump and land back on his feet already. He's very physically advanced, but his speech is not. I'm not worried, it will come. He's on about the same level as Jane was at his age. He says lots of words but only a few are identifiable. One of his first words was Dinosaur. He's obsessed with them. He's almost always carrying one or two around. He also continues to love playing with any kind of ball.

It's time for the 4 New Year questions I answer every year! It's so interesting to go back and read what I wrote the previous year and see how what I was looking forward to and my goals played out. You can read last year's post here. The 4 questions are near the end of the post. I accomplished 2 out of 4 of my goals. I did not spend 30 min a day reading to my kids other than school or night time books. I'll still work on it! I also did not lose the last of the baby weight from Flynn, but I did get more fit in my muscle tone by working out, so I call that a win! I did spend less time on my phone and I did get better at being on time to things again! It was a pretty great year of not being pregnant or nursing. I enjoyed having my body to myself and I have no idea how I would have kept up with Flynn as a 1 year old or coped with solo parenting while Sam was immobile had I been pregnant! Oh, and things got mostly back to normal as far as Covid restrictions are concerned. Woohoo!!

1. What are you most grateful for in 2021?

It's hard to pick just a couple, but it's no fun to just say everything! One thing that I can think of that's a weight off my shoulders is we were able to save enough funds to replace our very old roof. It's an expensive thing to have done! Replacing the roof also allowed our A/C to work properly during the summer months for the first time since we moved in 7 years ago. This was because our roof had no ventilation, we put in solar fans when it was replaced and it worked wonders!

Honorable mention: Finding a wonderful Spine doctor for Sam that was able to identify his problem and come up with solutions. 

2. What was your favorite moment of 2021?

I think my favorite moment of 2021 was my girls weekend with Esther and Kae. I hadn't gotten to do something like that since before my kids were born and it was amazing!! So refreshing and rejuvenating and encouraging. It's something we want to continue each year if possible. 

Honorable mentions: Daugherty Beach Trip 2021. Everyone got to go! We narrowly missed being canceled by a hurricane but it ended up being pretty perfect. All 4 kids being able to go outside in the backyard while I keep an eye on them from inside and get work done. It's been amazing! Roller skating with Jane.

3. What are you looking forward to in 2022?

Sam being well again! His implant procedure is this month. We are praying for it to be the answer to him getting back to full mobility and no more problems from this disk/nerve. If this procedure doesn't work then the doctor has other plans. I'm believing in faith we will find the solution this year for Sam to feel normal again and hoping it doesn't cost us all our savings.

Update: Being done with pregnancy! Our surprise baby through me for a loop. Seriously though, I am so looking forward to meeting Piper and kissing her sweet face and soaking up all the cuddles. I also wasn't kidding about looking forward to not being pregnant and not doing again (please God? ;). Come on August!!

Honorable mention: Learning and recording some our family history and ancestry.

4. What goals do you hope to accomplish in 2022?

I'm going to keep being ambitious! Because reading last years goals and realizing I didn't meet all of them didn't bother me. Even though I didn't reach them I can keep pursing them and reaching forward!

1. Create more intentional family time and become more of a family team.

2. Grow my drawing hobby. To make a drawing with more than one character and some architecture.

3. Catch up on my blog! (This one probably won't happen but I want it on here!)

4. Keep being consistent working out and get back to walking regularly.

Gotta have a picture of the pets. They're part of the family!

                         Goodbye 2021!!!!! Hello 2022! Happy New Year Everybody!

Isaiah 55:6-9

Seek the Lord while He may be found,

Call upon Him while He is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way,

And the unrighteous man his thoughts;

Let him return to the Lord,

And He will have mercy on him;

And to our God,

For He will abundantly pardon.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts.

James 1:16-20

 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.