Labor Day Weekend

We had a nice Labor Day weekend. We tried to make it as relaxing and fun as possible. We ended up doing quite a bit of shopping (I love Back-to-School sales), went out to eat twice, watched movies, played games, went for a drive in the mountains, slept in and stayed up late. It was hard to get back to school yesterday. And Henry cried when we dropped the kids off at school yesterday. Poor guy. He just loves having his siblings around.

Tim and I saw the movie, The Odd Life of Timothy Green on our date last Friday night. We both really enjoyed it. It was a well-done, interesting and clean movie. There were several parts that had me in tears. I would see it again and we will buy it when it comes out on DVD. We would definitely show it to our older kids, but after discussing it with each other, we've decided we'll wait to show it to our younger kids. There is a scene in it that is heart-breaking for adults, but would be scary for a child who had been adopted. Especially a younger one that might have trouble separating fantasy from reality. So we will wait until they are more mature and will be able to understand and express their feelings/thoughts accurately before we let them see it. But it is a fabulous movie that I would recommend to others.

Sahara's birthday is on Friday. She will be 17 years old. She is excited. She keeps telling us she wishes she were turning 18 and graduating from high school this year. Sahara has always been incredibly independent and she looks forward to the day she is "on her own". Right now she is wanting to drive everywhere we go and is happy she will be getting her license in a couple of months.

Henry is growing up so fast, I can barely believe it. He is so smart. He understands everything we say to him. He is trying out new words and doing something new almost every day. He doesn't seem like a 15 month old child at all. I don't know of he is doing his best to keep up with his siblings or he is just incredibly bright or both. It is fun to watch him though. And boy does he ever have a mind of his own! ;-)

Right now we are transitioning Henry from our bed to his crib. He sleeps in his crib for about three hours each night and then joins us in the middle of the night. He has always slept in our bed. In fact, in the hospital I had him sleep with me in the hospital bed. He never slept in that plastic bassinet they provide you with. I believe in a lot of aspects of attachment parenting, and this is just one of the ways our family does things. It is time though for Henry to start working toward his own sleeping space. He will be 18 months old in November and we would be happy if he has fully made the transition by then. Though, we're prepared for it to take a few more months than that. We just want him to feel safe and secure when he's sleeping and to understand we're always there for him.

We're still trying to perfect our morning routine. It is difficult to get everyone up and going by 5:40 am (Beth, Sahara and Ryland are all up before 5:15 am). Ryland's ride to seminary comes at 6 am, so we try and have a little prayer and some scripture study as a family before he leaves. I have dropped all of the kids off at school and am driving back home by 7:40 am. It still feels unnatural at this point, but I know in another week or so, it will be routine and normal. I do like the early morning. The sun is fresh, it is quiet and peaceful, and everything feels new and promising. I just need to get more sleep at night. ;-) I am working on getting to bed at a better time.

Anyhow, I better run. Tim and I are going to go to the elementary school to take care of some stuff and then go out to lunch. I'll write more soon.