Aichele's Out West: Survival Mode

I guess it is about time for an update since it has been awhile. The title about explains where I am at right now! Kurt was gone last week from Friday-Tuesday and it was really difficult on us. I had a lot of help from our church which really blessed me. I even had a family "donate" 2 of their 6 kids to clean my house and entertain my kids so I could get a bit of a break. Then on Wed, Kurt only went in for a 1/2 day and I got to go out to breakfast with a friend from church with only Nathan (who slept the whole time) and actually got to have an adult conversation. Amazing how that works!

So, sometimes I feel like I'm only hanging by threads, but learning everyday, which is what matters. The struggles right now is Silas is really showing how introverted and shy he is. He is struggling going into the nursery at church and to even go to people. There are a few people he will go to, but other than that, it is a crying battle if it isn't Kurt or I (and mainly Kurt!). I'm really struggling with this, because you see other kids playing and having a blast and there's Silas crying for us for most of the service. My friend reminded me so graciously that this is the child that God has given us and all children are unique and different. If all children were the same, the world would be so boring and parenting would be easy! How true that is. As for Nathan, he is a child with no schedule (which drives me crazy!). I can't seem to figure out his nap times yet and so it is hard to plan my day including when to put Silas down so that they can nap together. I'll lay him down and he will scream like you wouldn't believe and so I let him do that for awhile and then pick him up and he's happy as a clam! It drives me crazy. He really just wants to be in the action of everything. When he finally does nap, it is only for 45 min, which isn't enough time for me to do anything and he won't go back to sleep. It's so hard to get frustrated at a baby that smiles so much! The good thing is that he is sleeping so good at night, so I shouldn't complain too much. I'd much rather have him sleeping at night and I guess we'll figure out the naps when we can.

On a side note, Silas is starting to realize if he goofs off in front of Nathan, he will get Nathan giggling. We spent 10 min at the supper table last night watching Silas make Nathan laugh. It was hysterical!

Well, I think that is it for now. I had best wrap this up for today. Here are some recent pictures.