Been FOREVER

To say that life has been busy is such an understatement that it's laughable!!  4 kids keep you on your toes but I think 4 little boys is a whole other story.  I'll try to do a quick update here since Melissa asked for it :)

Joey: Joey is 5 1/2yrs old now. He started Kindergarten in September, 2010 and he loves it. However I didn't listen to my very knowledgable friend who told me not to put him into school yet due to his summer birthday and boys especially not being as mature as girls. Joey's had a rough time of it in school. His speech delay has been a HUGE issue for his academics. He didn't start off well with his teacher refusing to use Joey as his name instead of his "legal" name. It affected him mentally and emotionally. He hated being called James and felt badly that no one respected his wishes to be called Joey. I felt really badly about it myself that I was so ignorant to give him a name we had no intention of using. Made things that much more difficult for my baby.
In December when he turned 5 1/2 he made a huge turn for the better. His "F" sounds finally after over a year started to come in and it's made a huge difference. It's very hard to understand counting when you can't say the dang words. Now that he can say (better) Four, Five, Seven, Fourteen, Fifteen, Seventeen.... it's much better.  Regardless, he's no where ready to move forward to the 1st grade and even if he was I feel that he'd always struggle to be an average student. So in February I'm having a meeting with all the essentials at school to discuss having him repeat Kinder again next year. Without explaining to him anything I asked who he wanted for a teacher next year and he immediately said he wanted the "other" kinder teacher so I hope that's how it will work for him.

Joshua: Joshy just turned 4yrs old on Friday. He's such a big boy, so mature for his age and so very smart. He's got some speech delay as well but as of right now it's not hindering him as much as it could. He's in a Early Childhood class and loves it. He's with 4K's and is thriving. I've already signed him up for 4K at Joey's school and I should find out soon the ins and out of it.
Josh is a huge helper around the house. He LOVES to pick up his room and the living room and wherever I need help he's usually willing to help. He's had a behavior issue but it's getting much better with age. He truly adores all his brothers. I feared for awhile that Jon would be his own friend but he's loving Joey now too :)
He's been going to my friend's house often when I need help getting him to school when I have a doctor appointment or something. He loves going over there so much, asks to go all the time, but is so shy that it's taken him months to open up and actually talk. He is a character, no doubt about it.

Jonathan:  Jonny is a 2yr old handful and such a lover. He's taken after all his brother's bad habits (ie throwing toys at brother's heads, pushing down, hitting, screaming, messy tantrums....) but when that kid is good he is GREAT!  I love how much he loves to cuddle and OMG the tight hugs around the neck are to die for!  He's been getting speech therapy here at home every other week but that's coming to an end soon as he turns 3 in April. So we're getting ready to have an IEP meeting and get him placed into a EC class starting in April then following though to next fall. I fear he won't qualify though as his speech has taken a huge leap in the right direction. But if he can get into an EC class, that's just free preschool for us! I have been taking him to a 2yr old mommy and me preschool class but since I don't have reliable sitters for Josh/Jack while we do this, he's missed more classes than he's attended :(  Really disappointing to me but nothing I can do about it.

Jackson: Oh my baby Jack. He's been a handful with not gaining weight as he should be. Difficulity in getting him to nurse or take a bottle much less being fed. No he was a PITA to be truthful. His caloric intake was so low he wasn't developing physcially either with sitting up, crawling etc.  But oh man, once that kid got it in his mind to do it he did it!  We had a physical therapist come and she had a magic wand or something. Every time she came she'd get him to doing something new. 6 weeks later she was done, met all her goals... He was much slower to walk than the other boys, waiting until 14months to take his first independent steps but he's doing wonderfully. He still falls all the time and poor baby has two huge bruises on his face from Thursday when he was trying to bend over and pick up a toy, lost his balance and went face first into the radiator at the doctor's office.
Back in December he became my 2nd child to ever get an ear infection (Josh was the 1st and only at that point) and then to really seal his fate he got another one on Friday!!! He presents different than other kids I guess, he gets a fever with diarrhea and diaper rash  LOL He's doing much better today, the antibiotic is working well.
He's a very mature baby and I do mean baby. He's much more baby today than I rememeber the other boys at this age. He's only got 7 teeth so far (4 on top and 3 on bottom) and he loves to cuddle with mommy and while sucking his left thumb. I love that he's been so much baby for so long just in case he's my last.

Yes we're going to try for a 5th baby. Is it bad to admit I'm secretly (well not so secret now when I publish this) hoping for twins??  Just then I'll have my 6 kids (even number) without having to have kids past 40. Yes I'm 39 years old now. My last year in my 30's. I didn't think it would bother me seeing as how I do have a wonderful life, 4 beautiful sons and a hard working husband. A house of our own, great school for the kids etc...  But it is bothering me already. I'm not ready to be 40. I can't be that old, my kids are so young yet!

I'll get some pictures uploaded tomorrow....