One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

A long week at home has ended. Because of Hurricane Ike, we did not have school or Bible Study this week, and David didn't work on Monday or Tuesday either. Changing up our weekly routine really caused Jacob to struggle. We had a lot of battles, tears, and time-outs. We will be glad when everything returns to normal next week. We spent a lot of time at home, on walks, at the playground, and simply playing outside instead of driving anywhere because I wasn't interested in waiting in line for gas if I ran out. Thankfully, the 'gas crisis' is over, at least around here.

Luke has struggled with sleep this week. Bedtime at our house is ~7:30pm for both boys, and Luke used to be really easy to put down after his bath and feeding, but it has been a lot harder to get him to sleep lately. We often times spend over an hour on the process. He'll seemingly be asleep in our arms, but shortly after laying him down, he is awake and crying. And he's not a crier, so it is sad to hear. Then, he wakes up at 2am or earlier for his first feeding, then 3 hours (or less) later for another feeding. I know that if we pushed back his bedtime feeding, we might return to only 1 feeding per night, but we like the routine of both boys in bed at 7:30. Hopefully he'll return to the longer stretches of previous weeks soon. In good news, he likes the swing now! We decided to splurge and buy a new swing for Luke (Jacob had a hand-me-down) so I was very upset when he seemed to hate it. He just cried and cried everytime he was in it. We kept trying, and finally he has taken to it and will sleep in there for hours if we let him. He continues to be more and more alert, smiling and cooing in response to people. Very cute.

Jacob continues to amaze us in his knowledge and skills. He makes strides everyday. All of a sudden, he knows his colors. I think he knew them before, but often times was lazy and said the same colors over and over when we would ask him what color something was. He also seems to have 'memorized' all of his 100 books - 'reading' them to himself and us. Amazing. He also loves to do his puzzles, and has mastered those as well, naming the animals, shapes, food, etc as he puts them back together.

Go here for the rest of this week's pictures.