Wow! It’s been a long time since I’ve written an update. And so much has happened these past couple months. I’m not sure where to begin. I guess I’ll start with the kids.
Michael turned 5-years-old November 5th and he is about to start piano lessons, which I am very excited about. School is going very well for him and he has become very interested in reading so I am going to start teaching him sounds and how to read them. We are working on some disciple issues with him at the moment. Right now I’m working on getting Michael to obey me completely. He’s got the immediately and cheerful part down but it’s not full obedience without complete obedience so we trying to get him squared with that. And he has some issues where he totally wigs out, we call it his ‘fits’ because they aren’t really temper tantrums. It’s like a meltdown that can happen at anytime regardless of hunger or tiredness and it’s triggered by the silliest of things like me not answering him right away or him not hearing me. We had a week of training and now we are in the week where he will be disciplined if he doesn’t control himself. So far he hasn’t had a single fit. So we’ll see how it works out.
Sarah is doing really well in school as well and she as become interested in writing letters. It’s so fun to watch them right ‘e’ for the first time. We’ve had some issues of her being a bit mean to Jessica and we are trying to work that out. She has been eating a lot more recently so I think she might be about to have a growth spurt. She’s still my sweet girl and we might be putting her into piano lessons as well. We’ll have to see.
Jessica is 5-months-old today and you won’t believe what she is up to. She is crawling and sitting up and transitioning with ease from one to the other, but not only that she is pulling herself to a standing position. And this morning she just crawled from the living room into my bedroom following the sound of my voice. What 5-month-old infant does thing like this. She’s almost spooky. I’ll be hold her facing he and she’ll turn her torso to face out and then she’ll arch her back to face me and then turn her torso again and before I know it she is literally spinning in my arms. She has gotten to be really funny lately doing things she knows will make us laugh. She is really becoming a joy and I am so glad we had her. I think I’m at the point where I can say I do it all again for her.
Daniel is doing great! His class will be over next week and right now he is in RI for work. He and his brothers gave he dad a surprise party for his 70th birthday in NY the week before Thanksgiving so we went and stayed for Thanksgiving. It was so much fun. We went to Manhattan the night before the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and saw the balloons blown up. It was awesome. Then we had a wonder Thanksgiving with Daniel’s dad, Maria, John, Joy, Steven, and Nicole. It was great seeing them all.
On a very sad note, my Grandma Sanfilippo passed away very unexpectedly November 4th just 2 weeks before we were going to see her. It’s still hard to believe. She never got to meet Jessica. I have so many wonderful memories of her and I will always hold them dear. She was everything a grandma should be. She loved her grandchildren and would give them anything they asked; all we had to do was name it. And she was there for us always. She always had a loving hand if we needed it, a loving kiss, a loving hug, and many sweet, loving deserts. She was laid to rest next to my grandpa on their 60th wedding anniversary, how poetic is that. I am filled with loving memories and I will miss her very much.
It has been a very chaotic 2 months for me. As everyone knows, I have been struggling with finding time for my Medical Transcription studies, which I look forward to doing as a career someday. The material is challenging, but very enjoyable. The struggle comes with the need for a 2nd income and trying to juggle running a household, raising children, and studying all at the same time. Three-weeks-ago my mom was going to start watching my children 2 days a week so I could devote the whole day to school work. The day this was supposed to start was the day we got the bad news that my grandma passed away. So instead of finally getting a jump on my studies I was on a plane to NJ with Jessica; leaving Michael and Sarah for the first time in their lives. I returned home Midnight on Friday only to prepare for Michael’s 5th birthday party which was starting at 11am Saturday morning. As soon as the party was over I rushed to get things done for my friend Shelly Well’s bridal shower which was the next day at 11:30 in the morning. When that was over I started doing laundry, packing, shopping, and borrowing clothes for our trip to NY. I have been on the go for 3 weeks straight.
When we got back a week later I thought, “Ok I can finally start attacking my studies” only to find out that my mom wants to find a job and won't be able to watch my kids. So I'm going to have to study in the 4 hours when Michael and Sarah are in school. After I brought Michael and Sarah to preschool, I finally started schoolwork . I put Jessica in her playpen and started transcribing. Five minutes into it she started crying so I brought her into my room and let her play on the floor. Five more minutes into my work she fell backwards and hit her head on a computer cart. After calming her down I put her in her exersaucer and went back to work. And again, 5 minutes later she started crying because she pooped and I had to changer her diaper. By then she was ready for a feeding and a nap. She fell asleep but to keep her asleep she had to lay on my chest. So there I was in the rocker for an hour. It was during this time that I looked around at my house and thought about my husband and kids and realized… this was not how God wanted me to care for my house and family. There were dirty dishes in the sink and on the counters, dishes were still on the table from breakfast, the floor was covered in toys. There were piles of dirty laundry and more piles of clean laundry I haven’t had time to put away. My kitchen floor hasn’t been mopped in a month and I can’t remember the last time I did the bathroom floors. I then started thinking about what my kids do when I’m doing school work. They just watch TV and pretty much fend for themselves. I want to do daily devotions with them and start teaching them Bible verse memorizations, but I don’t have the time. So after a lot of prayer and meditation, Daniel and I have decided that it is in the best interests of my family that I stop my medical transcription studies for now with the plan to resume them when Michael and Sarah are in Elementary school and Jessica is in preschool, which will be in 2 years. It was a difficult decision because it means even more time will go by that our family won’t have another income. Plus we are now out the tuition for the course. That being said my families emotional needs come first and I will now be there 100% for them. I think that God has made my ability to finish my studies so difficult in order for me to realize the roll he has planned for me, what I am supposed to be doing 100% of the time not 75% or 80% of the time, which is running my household and raising my kids in the knowledge and Glory of the Lord. I am confident that God will provide for our needs without me bringing in another income.
I pray you are all well. Take care and God bless.
Love,
Dawn
