The Update

Baby Update:
Well, we have been home with our little man for about a week and a half. A few people have asked how the adjustment from 3 to 4 kids has been. I can't really say since I haven't had to really live with 4 kids yet. Nick was completely off last week and this week he has been working half days from home. It has been so nice to have so much help. I have been able to take a nap most days and have gotten to focus a lot of my energy on just taking care of the baby which has been a huge blessing. Monday will be my first full day taking care of all 4... so I will let you know how it goes! Speaking of all 4... I snapped the Little R's first group photo last night after bath time...

And this was just the best one I got. They all took turns holding him for the pic! It was sweet. All of the kiddos have seemed to adjust really well to having Sam here. I thought Jack would really struggle since he is just 2 1/2 but we haven't had any issues with him which is a huge praise!

I snapped this picture of our sweet youngest child this morning...

I could just gobble him up! He has been a really good baby. He is pretty unpredictable at night (as you might    expect for his age. Most nights this week he has woken up every few house. BUT, last night he woke up at 12 and I got him back down to sleep at 1 and then he slept until 6am!! Pretty sure I heard the hallelujah chorus when I woke up! Now if we could just keep that going! What do you say, Little Buddy?

Homeschool Update:
I realized the other day that we have completely changed everything we are using for homeschool this year. We switched reading programs a few months ago when Hooked on Phonics started moving at warp speed and we weren't making progress anymore. We started using The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading (we didn't start from the very beginning, so I just flipped to a part that seemed reasonable) for phonics instead. We are also using BOB books from the library. Things are going so much better now and we are both really enjoying reading again.

For math we started the year with Horizons math for kindergarten. I really wasn't happy with it. I felt like it really wasn't giving him a solid foundation and was mostly just teaching him how to use a number line. A few weeks ago when I was sick Nick did the math lesson and he immediately shared my frustration and encouraged me to get another curriculum. Thankfully I had two friends lend me their books to look through. I decided since Nick is our math person (he has a math minor) that he should pick our math curriculum. I had him choose between Math U See, Saxon, and Singapore Math. He chose Saxon because he felt like it gives a good foundation and teaches in a straight forward way. Since we were starting at the beginning again I decided to let Sophie just join in with us. So, they are both now working through Saxon 1.

Weekend Update:
We are really looking forward to this weekend. We have an event with some of our homeschool friends in the morning and then get to spend some time with family in the evening. My sister and brother-in-law will be in town and will get to meet Sam for the first time.

Blogging Update:
I know that I have been a terrible blogger. I probably will continue to be. I absolutely adore the newborn stage. I do get a little sleep deprived but it is still just such a sweet and special time. I kind of wish I could always have a newborn! So, needless to say, I will be soaking it up and savoring every moment of newborn-ness! But, I will jump on here and update when I can!

I hope everyone has a blessed and fabulous weekend!