500

This marks my 500th post milestone.  I guess the whole post is about milestones....warning, this post is way too long.  I combined posts because of my internet situation.

The girls started school last week.  Allie is in fourth, and Mary is in first.  They are so happy at their schools, and weren't hesitant, but they were really tired by the end of the week.  

I made a collage for Allie's school book this year.  This is her 5th year of real school, so I made a milestone page.

I just now finished last year's school books on Shutterfly.  I haven't done Garrett's yet.  My plan was to do them a book every year at least through elementary school (They probably don't want me walking right behind them with a camera on every field trip after 5th grade.)  

I'm not sure if that's realistic now that there are four of them!  The dilemma is that if I put all their school activities in our family book, then it becomes too much.

You see the debacles I face as a scrapbooking addict:)

Sweet sisters!  Mary was not able to play much with Allie on the playground last year because they keep the kindergarteners separate.  She told me she was looking forward most to playing with Allie...not sure how Allie feels about this.

Switching gears.  I'll go ahead and do a 3 month update on David because it's almost here!

We had our 3 month visit with our social worker yesterday.  I had to turn in 8 pics of him in a collared shirt.  He NEVER wears collared shirts in the summer because it's too hot.  Therefore, I had to change his clothes five times on Thursday to get some pics.

He looks so different than he did when he first came home!  He's grown 2 inches and gained 2 pounds...oh my!  My back is tired!

Here are a couple of videos.  David LOVES to sing.  He is trying so hard to say the ABC's but he is still missing quite a few sounds in the English language.  

He and Garrett are making some real progress!  They still fight quite a bit, but I think boys play by fighting...so I'm not used to it.  

I happened to be videoing David when Garrett walked up, and I caught a rare sweet moment on video.  They've started sharing a little better.  David is giving him more of a chance now that the girls are at school.  He even asked to hold Garrett's hand yesterday.  That was HUGE!

Overall, David turned a corner about 3 weeks ago.  He seems to be very settled and very attached to us all.  I was putting him to bed last night, and he always shuts the shudders.  He saw hubs drive in from work, and he went crazy screaming, "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!"  He adores Mary like no other (shhh..don't tell Allie).  Mary has really surprised me because I thought she would resent more chaos, but she really enjoys him, and wouldn't change a thing.

Our social worker was describing another family by saying that the dad would come home from work, and feel anxious right before walking in the door because he didn't know what to expect when he walked in.  Would his wife have been "spent" by another day with their new child?, etc.  

She said that for him, one day, that feeling just disappeared.

I could DEFINITELY relate.  Every morning, when I walked in David's room, I had that same described anxious feeling.  There were many days that I didn't want to walk in!  And everyday, I'd walk in and say, Good morning, good morning.  Three months ago, he'd sheww me off and say (yell) no!  Now I'm greeted with a HUGE CHUBBY SMILE...followed by  , "MORNIN'!"

That feeling did disappear.  I'm totally attached:)

Thank you God for this sweet boy.