Our journey: Life as we know it...

Having fun together!

We have had so many great friends help us with Kate since I went back to work three weeks ago. Thank you to everyone!!! Kate has had so much fun, and it's been nice to know she is in such caring and kind hands each and every day!

I was hoping to get her in the More at Four Program (a Wake County pre-K program)... and found out she's eligible, however she is on the waiting list along with about 400 other children. Budget cuts have made it difficult to find every child a spot. With that said, I know she'd do great there, but I also know that other kids could probably use the services a little more. Kate is going to get what she needs as far as education, but some of the other kids are probably not as lucky. I know God has a plan and I trust him completely! I pray that he puts the kids that need it most in the class. I'll jump at a spot though if we're offered it! Financially it would help us sooooo much!

We are going to go look at an in home daycare tomorrow that sounds wonderful! I've e-mailed back and forth for about a week and everything looks perfect on paper. I really hope I'm just as impressed in person! Kate would be with three other four year olds and a two year old each day. They do preschool lessons in the morning and spend time on field trips and playing. They also have a nap time each afternoon- which Kate really needs! She is so tired every afternoon but doesn't want to take the time to sleep in case she misses anything. The routine of her daycare would do wonders for her! I really hope that this is the place for our wonderful four year old that desparately wants to go to school! The other day I was going to introduce her to her Sunday School teachers and then take her home with me. She begged me to stay, "Kate go to school?!!!" She stayed and did great!

Her speech is coming along so fast We are amazed at what she can say and understand! Some of her comments make us smile too! The other day at church I had my eyes closed while I was praying and Kate said (as she rubbed my cheek), "Poor mommy, so tired!" We also love how she is getting better at expressing her feelings with a few favorite comments being "No" and "Kate is so mad!" or "Kate is so sad!"

There have also been moments where I have been so frustrated only to realize later what Kate had meant by her actions. The other night Brennan was with Dave and it was about 7:30 PM. I had been gone the last two nights attending Brennan's parent orientation and then having my own second grade parent orientation. Kate was crying because I didn't want to put my pajamas on. I couldn't figure out why in the world she cared what I was wearing!!! I was frustrated because she was so mad and she was so frustrated too. Later it hit me... she wanted me to put my pajamas on so she knew I wasn't going anywhere. After two nights being gone, she wanted to KNOW that I was staying at the house with her. Talk about feeling guilty afterwards!!! Another moment happened this morning before church. I was packing her bag with books and other items to keep her entertained at church. She was dressed and all was good... until I started packing her bag. She completely lost it and started whining and crying- and I didn't help matters with my own whining. Then it hit me again... everyday I've been packing her bag only to hand her off to yet another person to watch her for the day. As much fun as she has with everyone, she really wanted to be with her family. Once I realized why she was so upset, I explained that we would stay together at church and she was happy again! It is confusing for all of us!

Everyday I pray for patience in order to handle her confusing times with as much clarity as possible... but boy does her whining raise my blood pressure in record speed! We have our tough moments but the sweet moments are so sweet! We'll definitely not earn any parenting awards this year- but I sure hope we'll earn "the most improved" in the future. :-)

Brennan has started fourth grade and so far enjoys it a lot! He made me smile the other day when I went to check on him before bed and he said, "Mommy, how do you know if you need your lungs removed?" Hmmm... that one had me stumped. I did figure out he was talking about his tonsils and not actually his lungs. LOL. His tonsils were fine (and so were his lungs) but it made me grin. Even my almost nine year old who grew up with English since he was four months old, gets his words confused.

Brennan has some very cute words he uses too. My sweet boy loves the survivor types of shows and will often play games that involve surviving the elements. The other day at the pool he commented, "Mom if you're ever in a water situation like this the best way to get out is to go to a corner and..." Or one of his favorite topics of conversation is, "If you had to eat something to survive would you eat a hissing cockroach or a worm?" etc. He makes me smile so many times! We both agreed that we'd never eat Zamboni though no matter how hungry we were! Zamboni can rest easy. :-)

Life with a sister is not always easy for him but as I am writing this, the two of them are playing together and being so sweet. It makes my heart smile when they have these moments! I truly pray that there will be more and more moments like this though! The last week has been a little tough for all of us. Being on vacation is always so much easier! They both have a hard time with a working mom that has other things to do other than play with them. It's always a balancing act! I do have to say I have the cutest class this year though, and I love my job! Everybody will get used to our new routine... it just takes a little time. We hope Kate will start her new routine too so her life won't be quite as confusing.

So the Ranheims are doing okay. We all need to be a little more patient with each other, but deep down we know that we love and care for each other. Brennan gave the best advice to Kate today, "Kate don't worry, we can all be grumpy but that doesn't mean we don't love each other. Families will always love each other no matter what!" I pray that Kate learns to trust this advice and believe it's true. She does worry that we won't like her, so we have to be careful with our words.... "We love you Kate and will always love you. We don't like screaming though."

Kate was so funny the other day. Zamboni had "stolen" her food and she yelled "I no like dogs- I like cats!!! No -boni". Then she proceeded to ask if we could get a cat instead. Today she commented, "Today I like dogs- I no want cats anymore." Zamboni just looks at her wondering when she'll drop some food again. He's so happy that he now has two kids to feed him! Life is good and so simple through his eyes!

Life is good through mine too- my dream of two children has finally come true! And boy are they cute!!!!