I realized as I clicked on the "new post" button that I really don't have a lot to report and hardly any pictures. That's the problem with getting behind and catching up with one big picture post - it screws you for a bit. But it is January after all and it's the blah month, so I'm guessing you are not really surprised that I don't have a ton to share. On a personal note, my company announced a few weeks ago that they would be laying off 20% of the sales force the next morning. So once again I had to sit at home and wait for my District Manager to call me to share whether I had a job or not. Once again I was spared for some reason. Some of my nice offices have stated that they aren't surprised that I was spared, I'm good at my job, I'm not one of those annoying reps, blah, blah, blah. Of course I thank them for the compliment but in my heart of hearts, I know that it's basically a lottery and one of these days, my number will come up. I had quite a few friends lose their jobs this time so it has been harder on me this time to be "ok" with the news. Plus, I lost one of my partners, I moved districts so I have a different manager and I'm in an entirely different region than all my old counterparts. I'm glad that I have my job and that the choice to find a new career was not thrust upon me, but I can't help feeling that I would have rather taken the severance and found something new. I don't really mean that of course, because it's not like it's an easy time to find a job, but I'm not sure those of us left behind are being left with all the good stuff. I also lost one of my products and picked up another that is a dog, to say the least. I was in Las Vegas at the end of the month, where I basically sat around watching other people get trained, so it wasn't as good of a meeting as I'm used to. I'm thankful to have a job, but also worried about what is to come. I just found out that I have to go to Chicago at the end of the month to get trained on my new product - for some reason, I'm not really looking forward to it. I guess I really need to do some soul searching to figure out what I want to do when I grow up (haha) and this quote from the movie "Say Anything" keeps running through my head since in my first career I was a buyer and now in my second, I'm a seller!
So enough about me! The kids are really getting bigger and smarter and more challenging and more fun every day. Harper has finally mastered crawling, but really only prefers to stand as she pulls up on anything she possibly can - which also means she bumps her chin and forehead daily when she loses her balance. She has 4 teeth now - she seems to get them in 2's as her bottom teeth came in together at 6 months, and now the top front teeth are coming in at 9 months. She is still a joy of a baby and smiles constantly - even at Gavin (he's not exactly the kindest of big brothers). Jon and I swear that she answers questions and says her version of words - she'll answer yes and I think she says "Di" for dog. She's also very determined and opinionated - I gave her an orange wedge the other day and when she had sucked it to a pulp, SCREAMED bloody murder when I took it away and cried until I gave her another piece. She has recently found her voice too - she likes to use her upper register, if you know what I mean. I remember Gavin used to do the same thing - you'd be eating at a restaurant and he would suddenly let out a scream that attracted ALOT of attention.
Gavin is doing very well in both of his schools - both teachers are good communicators and have both agreed that he is on track. When we signed Gavin up for his "smart school" it was to work on his social/emotional development and his fine and gross motor skills. I had mentioned to his teacher that I wasn't sure his lack of motor skills was due to ability or desire....well turns out it was desire. Both the occupational and physical therapist have decided to discontinue services for Gavin due to his stellar performance! All of the plans that they had wanted him to accomplish this school year have been completed and then some. In fact, Gavin tested several years greater than his age in both categories - fantastic news! (And can I just say, I knew it!). He does show delay in his social/emotional development still, so he will remain in his class where they can work on enhancing those skills with him. He's getting much better about communicating with peers and will even initiate conversation now, which is an awesome sight to behold. My personal opinion is that Gavin is a strong willed child who will do things when and if he wants to, and so far, he hasn't wanted to. We still struggle with temper control at home and we are getting a lot of back talk, but we are working through them and hoping that he will eventually see that screaming, crying or talking back gets him nothing except time outs. It has been a challenging couple of years to say the least. He still whips out some funny statements that crack us up and his memory is still just crazy good. He was playing soccer for a while and finally at the last few classes, he was starting to participate and enjoy himself. He's starting swim lessons in a few weeks and I hope he really enjoys that.
So now let's see what they have been up to since Christmas...
Harper and the infamous orange...
Gavin got a new tent from Uncle Mark and Aunt Tami...
Riley likes it too!
Harper turned 8 months old in January
I think I bribed Gavin to take this one pathetic picture, but it was so long ago I can't really remember :-)
This was an attempt to get action shots of Harper pulling up...I never did catch her in the act, but it doesn't really matter anymore. She now officially stands on her own and pulls up on everything and cruises around at the speed of light! We may have an early walker on our hands!
Standing tall!
Harper turned 9 months old in February
Valentine's day
I took this today (wanted SOMETHING to be current) - her hair is growing! My Aunt Barb knit this vest for Harper - isn't it cute and isn't she talented?
Gavin had a bit of a fever today so I didn't get one of him.
Gavin had a bit of a fever today so I didn't get one of him.
Well that's about it folks - I better get this posted before 2013! I had Harper's pictures taken for 9 months so I will get those up before long (I hope). Can you believe she's going to be a year old in 2 months??
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