Happy Holidays Everyone!

I know it has been forever since I wrote something here--I am so sorry. I can't believe the energy--physical and so much mental!!--that it takes to add another person to our family. Don't get me wrong, it is going very well, but the bickering, the noise, the mess (if I am saying that you know it is bad!!), and then add the holidays on top of it and well, let's just say we are lucky Dan and I haven't checked into Bellin Psych!! :)

The kids continue to be healthy and happy for the most part. Lily would tend to disagree with the happy part because she now has 2 brothers getting into her stuff and she has decided that she would really like to play only with Xavier's toys--of course, when he wants to play with them, so talking about sharing takes up what feels like a large part of our days! Xavier is doing very well. His language skills are improving every day. His vocabulary I think has quadrupled, if not more, since he arrived here. He knows the names of everyone in our extended family--and he and Brody love to look at pictures and name everyone they know. We are still having some problems with the repeating of words, but I think it is getting better--I sure hope it is not because we are getting used to it!! The Birth to 3 Therapists come weekly and they continue to see big improvements with him. It is still to early to be sure, but I think we will be enrolling him in the Head Start program which starts in fall for 3 year olds. I am thinking anything we can do to give him more positive learning experiences is good. But everyone who meets him tells us what a sweet, happy child he is. We are very blessed.

Here are some of the pictures from our Christmas get together last night with my mom, my brother, Eric and his wife, Nicole. My mom brought her dog, and Eric brought their large golden retriever--so we really did have a house full. But it was a lot of fun. We don't get a chance to get together very often. The kids loved having everyone here, and of course, presents are great too. I love the picture of Brody with the microphone--he is a hoot!! It was Lily's present but as soon as he saw it he had to pick it up and start singing "Day-o!!" The Banana Boat song, for those of you not familiar with Brody's obsession with that song. Brody will be getting his own microphone from Grandma Carol and Papa later today.

Have a great Sunday everyone!!