Speech and other stuff

I'm not sure where the time has gone, but we have been very neglectful of our blog! There aren't many spare moments when you have a teenager and a toddler!

Lots has happened...where to begin...

Ian got Life Scout recently. Jeff says even though it is the rank before Eagle, his work is still only half done! Winter has been filled with camping trips for Ian. He has been camping with his own troop and with his Jamboree troop. Jeff was able to go on the last campout with him also. Rowan and I stay home where it is warm! Ian signed up for jr high classes recently. He decided that he does not care to remain in Honors English, his least favorite class, but will do Honors social studies, science, and math (geometry).

Rowan will be starting to work with an early childhood teacher and speech therapist soon. We referred him because of his lack of words, not using nearly as many at age 2 as expected. He qualified for services so they come to our house. They also found a slight delay in processing when he is given verbal instructions that are unfamiliar, so they will work on all areas of communication with him. He will get serviced until age 5, longer if needed after that. We are hoping that intervention on the front end will prevent the need for help later on.

My recovery from surgery was long, but I feel so much better now. It took the entire six weeks to get my energy back. Then when I returned to work it was hard to get back into the routine, but I am feeling much better now. Jeff had his hands full with taking care of all the household duties, kids, homework, etc, but to nobody's surprise handled it with a smile!

After taking that unexpected, mostly unpaid medical leave, we found ourselves coming up with ways to save money! The least favorite was taking the Christmas money from my mom that was earmarked for a new flat screen tv and paying medical bills instead. That was most hard on Jeff, I believe. Luckily our old clunky tvs are hanging in just fine! I have been using more coupons than in the past, finding it worth the time to plan the list ahead of time. And, of course, we are finding ourselves in restaurants for dinner much less. That is probably just as well with Rowan entering the two's!

I will have to post current pictures at a later date...as I am posting this from school, having just finished my third night of conferences!