Where has the time gone...

Sorry for the long absence. I have not really felt like blogging, besides, I had little to say. Last Thursday was my 37th birthday and along with that came the normal "I feel so sorry for myself" annual pity party. It was short-lived this year. I guess I am finally coming to grips over being closer to 40 than to 30. That being said, I really don't feel all that old, which is fabulous.

One good reason for my absence is that we purchased a new double jogging stroller and Bob and I have been taking the kids for walks on warm evenings. I guess this is much better for me and my kids (Bob, too) than sitting on my fat butt playing on the internet. I also spent one evening taking a cake decorating class. It was nice to get away for an evening, even if it was only for a few hours.

Nicholas continues to grow. He was up to 15 lbs and 26 inches at his doctor's appointment on March 28. It is hard to believe that he is already four months old. He is just one big smile most days. He is just so happy and pleasant.

Sophia is finally on her way to potty training. I never thought that the day would come. I bribe her at times. I took her to the Maryland Zoo a few weeks ago and she was totally freaked out by the automatic flush toilets. They may have scarred her for life. She screamed and did everything in her power not to go on those toilets, so I had to give in and forego the training for the day.

We have also been working on getting Sophia into a new preschool. Her current preschool will be closing after this school year. We have issues with her birthdate and starting kindergarten. She misses the cutoff by 20 days and we were originally going to fight to put her into kindergarten early. We have now decided not to do that and send her to pre-k for two years at two different schools. We would love to put her in Montessori for a year before starting Catholic school, but it will totally depend on how much money we can save over the next year or so. It is so hard to know what to do. Those of you who have read me for awhile know how active Sophia is. She is also very smart and can figure out how to manipulate any situation. That is why we originally wanted her in school early. We thought that if we could keep her challanged, we could also keep her out of trouble. Now we figure we will just take care of things as they come up. I just hope we are making the right decision.

I have been told by a few different people that kindergarten is now like what first grade was when I was a kid. They expect the kids to be able to write and have early reading skills by the time they reach kindergarten. My only problem with this is, what happens to those kids whose parents cannot afford preschool? Are they behind before they have even begun? School and learning are so important to Bob and I that we are pretty much willing to do what we need to to give Sophia a good start in school.

Tonight Sophia was down in her playroom writing letters on her Magna Doodle. She is still writing with both the left and right hands. I really don't know how to help her choose which hand is best. It would be nice if she could use both, but I think they make you choose one or the other once you reach kindergarten. I got a preschool handwriting program and hope to work on writing with Sophia over the summer, so maybe she will choose once we start concentrating on writing.

The pictures at the top are from Easter Day. I love the top picture. Nicholas and Sophia really love each other. I am so lucky not to have an overly jealous big sister. Nicholas will smile when she talks to him and I encourage her to talk to him when he is sad. They are really cute together these days.

We had beautiful Easter, except that the temperature never got out of the mid thirties. It has been so cold over the last several days. I felt so bad for all of the kids at the local Easter egg hunts.

Like I said, there really has not been much going on , but it has been a month since I posted, so I thought I should at least update.

I hope you all are well!