January has been just an ordinary month in our lives, no spectacular memories or moments, just the little things that life is made of.
The rung in the New Year with a "Noon Year" party at the library. They had snacks, crafts, stories, and a countdown. We also had our annual game night at church, but we didn't stay up till midnight this year, since church was the next morning. We all made it till about 11 or so.
We got Jenga for Christmas so we're working on mastering this game.
School at home is progressing really well, although many days I feel like we get nothing done, or the kids aren't learning all their supposed to. Abigail loves going to preschool in town two days a week, and when she's at home, we try to do a few activities, but she has very little interest in sitting down to color pictures unless it's her own idea. She has somehow managed to learn to recognize all the numbers up to 10 without me even teaching it, and now she's saying she wants to do her letters, so we're going to try to find something to help her do that.
(Here they're learning about solids & liquids with a cornstarch mixture that hardens to the touch.)
Jacob keeps us busy every day, running and climbing and getting into everything. He is the funniest kid ever, and always makes me laugh. He has such a fun personality. He loves to tackle his brother and sisters on the ground, and he loves to perch himself on the windowsill in the living room. He gets crackers out of the snack cabinet by himself. Don't dare tell him it's time to take a bath unless you're absolutely ready, or he's off to try to get in the bathroom by himself. He can flash his cheese grin on command. He says "no" and "mine" and "paci" and "Mommy" and "Daddy."
We had another doctor appointment for Jacob at a larger hospital about 1 1/2 hours south of here. His surgeon referred us to an epilepsy specialist who has seen many kids with tumors like the ones Jake has. We met the doctor, and have scheduled brain surgery for April 26th. The doctor gave us complete confidence in his abilities and in the tools the hospital has. For him, it's just another day at the office. He doesn't even have to know how right now exactly how much of the brain he needs to take out because he can do EEG and MRI during the surgery to see if there is still seizure activity. And even if he does have to take some of the brain out, at Jacob's age, the brain can re-organize itself to develop perfectly normal. (This is why they want to do the surgery now while he's still young.) Most days I don't even think about Jacob as being any different, because he really isn't. But when I think about brain surgery it can be terrifying. Yet the doctor made us feel completely comfortable and we know that he is in God's hands.
Brett had a minor car accident this month, also, which actually totaled our old Mitsubishi. (It took less than $2,000 worth of damage to total it, as the car wasn't worth much.) Thankfully, it was paid off, and my car is also almost paid off, so we were able to get another new [to us] vehicle that will be much more reliable for him to drive around.
And if that fails, Leah can always drive us around in her chariot....
