Here's another video from Baby Signing Time Vol. 2... Aunt Allie even knows how to sign dead tree :)
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Baby Signing Time
So, I'm on this kick of learning sign language again!! Let me tell you why... :)
Sometime before I had Hannah, my Father-in-law bought the first Volume of Baby Signing Time. He had gotten the recommendation from one of his secretaries and thought we might be interested. I watched the first one and LOVED it!! In the past, I had heard stories of moms that taught their children some basic signs to help with the frustration of not being able to communicate in speaking at a young age. I thought that it was pretty interesting... and just put it in the back of my head as an idea. But when Chuck gave me this dvd, I thought it was such a great idea. The video looked like something that a child would love, and Mommy and Daddy could sit and watch it too and also learn sign language.
I've always been interested in sign language but unless I have to use it everyday, I'm sure I'll never master it! But just to have some basics is great! Every now and then, we will have a deaf patient on the unit... at least now I can ask him his name, and where he hurts :) When Hannah was able to sit in her Bumbo, we started watching at least once a day. I know, TV is not good for little ones, but I disagree for this show! At about 9 or 10 months, I became more determined to signs when I spoke to her, even though she was a couple of months away from being able to say one word. But before I knew it, she was signing more! And from there her language skills took off!
By the time she was one year old, Hannah was able to say 5-8 words and could sign over 10 words. Soon she was learning a few words a week. By the time she was 15 months we were well over saying 25 words and signing 15 new words, and able to say some 2-3 word sentences. Usually when she can say a word she drops the sign, but there are some basic words that she still signs... more, please, all done! Sometimes we won't watch a video for a few weeks, and some how in the back of her mind, she will remember a random sign and start signing that word! She's so smart!!!
Now at 21 months, her vocabulary has expanded to well over 100 words + some signs, she can say 3-4 word sentences, and she will try and say or sign almost anything we ask her too. Her speech is becoming more clear and sometimes I think we are actually able to have a short conversation!
Do I attribute all this to Baby Signing Time? Definitely NOT! I do think that God is the giver of language, and He is the one who developed it so quickly in her head... but I do think that Baby Signing Time gave her the opportunity to learn it!
Baby Signing Time leads into the series of Signing Time... which is more for older kids. In a matter of fact, a lot of parents and teachers use this as part of their school curriculum to teach a second language! Luckily, our Library carries the series... because the complete series alone costs well over $800.
If you get a chance, you must read or watch the story of Rachel Coleman and why she started Two Little Hands productions ( http://www.signingtime.com/aboutus/our-story/ ). I can't imagine having to have to learn another language in order to speak to my child... but I'm so glad she was able to look past her difficulties and share her gift with us!!
So, now Sam is 5 1/2 months old and starting to notice the TV... so I've gotten out the dvd's again and we are watching them daily. It's hard to use ASL in your daily language when you are not use to it, but I am to make a conscious effort to use as much of it as I can... please, thank you, more, all done, when talking about animals, when counting, when learning colors!! I'm so excited to hear Sam's little voice and know what is going on inside his head... but most of all I can't wait to communicate to him :)
But more than anything, I would be absolutely THRILLED if one of my children learn it as a second language and use it in some way to bring glory to God! There are ministries that need help and lives that need to be reached to know the King of Kings and Lord of Lords... how awesome would it be if someone came to know Jesus all because it started with more, more, more :)
Sometime before I had Hannah, my Father-in-law bought the first Volume of Baby Signing Time. He had gotten the recommendation from one of his secretaries and thought we might be interested. I watched the first one and LOVED it!! In the past, I had heard stories of moms that taught their children some basic signs to help with the frustration of not being able to communicate in speaking at a young age. I thought that it was pretty interesting... and just put it in the back of my head as an idea. But when Chuck gave me this dvd, I thought it was such a great idea. The video looked like something that a child would love, and Mommy and Daddy could sit and watch it too and also learn sign language.
I've always been interested in sign language but unless I have to use it everyday, I'm sure I'll never master it! But just to have some basics is great! Every now and then, we will have a deaf patient on the unit... at least now I can ask him his name, and where he hurts :) When Hannah was able to sit in her Bumbo, we started watching at least once a day. I know, TV is not good for little ones, but I disagree for this show! At about 9 or 10 months, I became more determined to signs when I spoke to her, even though she was a couple of months away from being able to say one word. But before I knew it, she was signing more! And from there her language skills took off!
By the time she was one year old, Hannah was able to say 5-8 words and could sign over 10 words. Soon she was learning a few words a week. By the time she was 15 months we were well over saying 25 words and signing 15 new words, and able to say some 2-3 word sentences. Usually when she can say a word she drops the sign, but there are some basic words that she still signs... more, please, all done! Sometimes we won't watch a video for a few weeks, and some how in the back of her mind, she will remember a random sign and start signing that word! She's so smart!!!
Now at 21 months, her vocabulary has expanded to well over 100 words + some signs, she can say 3-4 word sentences, and she will try and say or sign almost anything we ask her too. Her speech is becoming more clear and sometimes I think we are actually able to have a short conversation!
Do I attribute all this to Baby Signing Time? Definitely NOT! I do think that God is the giver of language, and He is the one who developed it so quickly in her head... but I do think that Baby Signing Time gave her the opportunity to learn it!
Baby Signing Time leads into the series of Signing Time... which is more for older kids. In a matter of fact, a lot of parents and teachers use this as part of their school curriculum to teach a second language! Luckily, our Library carries the series... because the complete series alone costs well over $800.
If you get a chance, you must read or watch the story of Rachel Coleman and why she started Two Little Hands productions ( http://www.signingtime.com/aboutus/our-story/ ). I can't imagine having to have to learn another language in order to speak to my child... but I'm so glad she was able to look past her difficulties and share her gift with us!!
So, now Sam is 5 1/2 months old and starting to notice the TV... so I've gotten out the dvd's again and we are watching them daily. It's hard to use ASL in your daily language when you are not use to it, but I am to make a conscious effort to use as much of it as I can... please, thank you, more, all done, when talking about animals, when counting, when learning colors!! I'm so excited to hear Sam's little voice and know what is going on inside his head... but most of all I can't wait to communicate to him :)
But more than anything, I would be absolutely THRILLED if one of my children learn it as a second language and use it in some way to bring glory to God! There are ministries that need help and lives that need to be reached to know the King of Kings and Lord of Lords... how awesome would it be if someone came to know Jesus all because it started with more, more, more :)
Thursday, January 20, 2011
So Many Changes
This last week has brought on so many changes in my life.... ALL are good, ALL are progress forward, but each comes with it's own set of growing pains! Change is hard and sometimes all I want to do is curl up and sleep and let things changed on their own. I use to give my parents (more specifically my mom) a hard time about not wanting "to change"... but as I get older, I realize how much work it is to make changes in your life. It is so much easier to just stay complacent where you are and learn to live with it!
All this said, I just want to make clear that there are no MAJOR changes in my life! All is well, just a lot of little ways things are changing around here! Last week I decided that the house needs a good "spring cleaning" and of course, I got motivated to clean on Thursday. When I set it in my mind to really clean, I get detailed and clean EVERYTHING :) So, over the last week, not only did I vacuum and dust and pick up... I took everything off the shelves to dust, threw away things that we didn't need or want, washed the base boards, walls, cleaned the carpets, couches, kitchen floor and windows. And I rearranged the furniture downstairs. Most of it I did after the kiddos went to bed... but the downstairs looks awesome!! When I told Josh I wanted to rearrange to make more room and just for something different (our furniture was in the same place we put it when we moved in almost 5 years ago) he kept telling me that there was nothing we could do different to make more room... but he still helped me move everything around :) an now he loves it too!!
I have to do laundry today, and it has to be one of the chores I hate the most! YUCK! It's just soooooooooo boring and time consuming! And of course I'm putting it off by blogging :) Next week, my goal is to clean the entire upstairs. This may be a little challenging because I'll have to do a lot of the cleaning while the kids are awake, but I'm determined to have my house as clean as possible. I was joking with Josh last night and told him I can't get pregnant again until this house is finally clean! After that, I want to focus room by room and paint and redecorate each room, starting with our bedroom. That room has become clothing storage central, and I need to get rid of everything and clean it out!
I find one of the frustrating things about having an infant is that as soon as you get a schedule down with them, you have to change it again! When I was only breastfeeding Sam, it took me a long time to get him on a good 3 hour schedule, and then we started on rice cereal. Actually, this was an easy change... we went to a 4 hour schedule and I was able to get the kids on the same nap schedule... which meant I got to take naps too :) I just feel like every week Sam's sleeping habits are changing. He use to take 3 naps a day, but he was not sleeping through the night very well... so a couple of days ago, I decided we needed to try and skip that last late nap. I feel so bad for him because he seems so tired, but it has really helped him sleep well the first half of the night.
I also decided it was time to break him of being swaddled when he sleeps. This one has been the most painful, but it was time. He use to sleep straight through the night until 7:30am when swaddled, but the last couple weeks he has become a little magician and breaks out of it multiple times and won't go back to sleep without being swaddled again. So, we tried last week to stop swaddling, but by the end of the week we were using it again. I put it away for good this week and now he is able to put himself to sleep. At night, he usually makes it until 3 or 4 in the morning, and then I have to get up 2 or 3 times to give him a pacifier. Yes, don't worry, I let him cry for a while to see if he'll go back to sleep... but I've been able to distinguish the difference between "I'm going back to sleep cry" and a "I'm not going back to sleep until I get my paci" cry :)
Another change with Sam is that I decided the other night that I'm going to start weaning him. This one is probably the hardest change of all right now, and it makes me sad because I truly love breastfeeding. But since he turned 4 months, I just haven't been able to keep up with the demand and my milk supply just keeps going down. This week I've basically dropped to only feeding him 3 times a week and plan to just keep decreasing it. It will probably be a slow wean, but it still makes me sad know that this time is coming to and end. Sam is just growing and learning by leaps and bounds and I am losing my baby that was 100% dependent on me. But as I said at the beginning, change is hard but so worth it and I am so excited to see Hannah and Sam interact and play together more and more everyday!
The most important change is how God has been working in my heart over the last few weeks. I've been able to stay with my Bible reading which amazes me that I've made it this far!! And God has opened my eyes to things I need to change in my life and how I can live to serve Him better!!! I can't wait to see how He is going to use these changes in my life to glorify Him!
So much more I want to write, but Mickey is over and Sam just woke up from a nap! Have a great weekend!!!!
All this said, I just want to make clear that there are no MAJOR changes in my life! All is well, just a lot of little ways things are changing around here! Last week I decided that the house needs a good "spring cleaning" and of course, I got motivated to clean on Thursday. When I set it in my mind to really clean, I get detailed and clean EVERYTHING :) So, over the last week, not only did I vacuum and dust and pick up... I took everything off the shelves to dust, threw away things that we didn't need or want, washed the base boards, walls, cleaned the carpets, couches, kitchen floor and windows. And I rearranged the furniture downstairs. Most of it I did after the kiddos went to bed... but the downstairs looks awesome!! When I told Josh I wanted to rearrange to make more room and just for something different (our furniture was in the same place we put it when we moved in almost 5 years ago) he kept telling me that there was nothing we could do different to make more room... but he still helped me move everything around :) an now he loves it too!!
I have to do laundry today, and it has to be one of the chores I hate the most! YUCK! It's just soooooooooo boring and time consuming! And of course I'm putting it off by blogging :) Next week, my goal is to clean the entire upstairs. This may be a little challenging because I'll have to do a lot of the cleaning while the kids are awake, but I'm determined to have my house as clean as possible. I was joking with Josh last night and told him I can't get pregnant again until this house is finally clean! After that, I want to focus room by room and paint and redecorate each room, starting with our bedroom. That room has become clothing storage central, and I need to get rid of everything and clean it out!
I find one of the frustrating things about having an infant is that as soon as you get a schedule down with them, you have to change it again! When I was only breastfeeding Sam, it took me a long time to get him on a good 3 hour schedule, and then we started on rice cereal. Actually, this was an easy change... we went to a 4 hour schedule and I was able to get the kids on the same nap schedule... which meant I got to take naps too :) I just feel like every week Sam's sleeping habits are changing. He use to take 3 naps a day, but he was not sleeping through the night very well... so a couple of days ago, I decided we needed to try and skip that last late nap. I feel so bad for him because he seems so tired, but it has really helped him sleep well the first half of the night.
I also decided it was time to break him of being swaddled when he sleeps. This one has been the most painful, but it was time. He use to sleep straight through the night until 7:30am when swaddled, but the last couple weeks he has become a little magician and breaks out of it multiple times and won't go back to sleep without being swaddled again. So, we tried last week to stop swaddling, but by the end of the week we were using it again. I put it away for good this week and now he is able to put himself to sleep. At night, he usually makes it until 3 or 4 in the morning, and then I have to get up 2 or 3 times to give him a pacifier. Yes, don't worry, I let him cry for a while to see if he'll go back to sleep... but I've been able to distinguish the difference between "I'm going back to sleep cry" and a "I'm not going back to sleep until I get my paci" cry :)
Another change with Sam is that I decided the other night that I'm going to start weaning him. This one is probably the hardest change of all right now, and it makes me sad because I truly love breastfeeding. But since he turned 4 months, I just haven't been able to keep up with the demand and my milk supply just keeps going down. This week I've basically dropped to only feeding him 3 times a week and plan to just keep decreasing it. It will probably be a slow wean, but it still makes me sad know that this time is coming to and end. Sam is just growing and learning by leaps and bounds and I am losing my baby that was 100% dependent on me. But as I said at the beginning, change is hard but so worth it and I am so excited to see Hannah and Sam interact and play together more and more everyday!
The most important change is how God has been working in my heart over the last few weeks. I've been able to stay with my Bible reading which amazes me that I've made it this far!! And God has opened my eyes to things I need to change in my life and how I can live to serve Him better!!! I can't wait to see how He is going to use these changes in my life to glorify Him!
So much more I want to write, but Mickey is over and Sam just woke up from a nap! Have a great weekend!!!!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
My Second Little Monkey
Samuel Edward was born in August of 2010... and he is an amazing little baby boy!!!
A couple of months after we had Hannah, we decided that since she was such an easy baby, we should have another one soon! A few things happened that made me think I was pregnant, so I stopped by Meijer after work on a Saturday. The test was negative :( I was bummed... Something must be wrong with me. That following Monday, I decided to take another test and there was a faint 2nd line! I was so excited that I called Josh right away... poor kid couldn't concentrate at work the rest of the day!
We found out we were pregnant a few weeks before Christmas, so we decided to wait and tell our families on Christmas. We did tell Jeremy and Leanne about a week before Christmas, Justin and Ashley a couple days, and I told Allie the day before Christmas. All for different reasons, but I'm glad we told them when we did. On Christmas morning, we Skyped my parents and told them we had a Christmas present that we ordered in November but wouldn't come until August... it took about 10 seconds but they quickly figured out it was another baby!!!
At dinner that night, we shared with Josh's family that we were expecting again, and they were sooooo surprised and excited. Justin and Ashley also surprised them with Christmas cards of an ultrasound, they were pregnant too!!! Wow, 2 grandbabies are a great Christmas gift!!!!
At the beginning, I was convinced that I was going to have another girl. That's just the way it is in my family. The first two kids are always the same sex. However, as time went on, this pregnancy was way different. I had more nausea, I threw up a few times, I had more acid reflux and I grew out instead of wide. Before we had the ultrasound, I knew this was a boy and even started buying boy clothes :) Josh didn't believe me and was convinced it was a girl... and when the ultrasound revealed it was a boy... he was shocked and I think it took a few days for it to soak in!
I was really tired this pregnancy... I think working night shift AND having a baby really took it's toll on me... I think I am still recovering! Thankfully, Hannah is such an easy going and independent little girl that I was able to rest often. She took 2 naps a day until the week Sam was born, and I took two naps with her :)
A second C-section was scheduled for this kiddo! My OB said I could have a VBAC, but strongly recommended that I choose a C-section since my pregnancies were so close together. And honestly, I liked the idea of having this delivery planned and knowing that he would be here by that day. And I am glad I did!!!
Sam was born at 8 lbs 6oz and 22 inches long!! What a big boy!!
And since he was born, all he has done is grow grow grow!! At his 4 month appointment he weighed almost 15lbs and was 26 1/2 inches long which put him in the 95th percentile in height.
He is such an easy going baby. He didn't start sleeping through the night until he was 4 months old, but before that he only got up once during the night. He needs a little bit more attention than what Hannah did at this age, but now that he can play with toys and reach and grab things, I'm seeing him become more and more independent and able to entertain himself. He LOVES Hannah and watches her every move. And he is such a happy baby. He laughs and smiles at you all the time!! And I'm starting to notice how happy he is when he wakes up in the morning or from nap times. He rarely cries anymore... instead I hear him cooing and then I know it is time to get him!!
I look forward to him sitting up and crawling and walking and talking and growing up and playing with Hannah and any other siblings he will have!! He is an amazing little boy already and I look forward to what God has in store for this little man :)
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