Another Round and a new house

We are well on our way to completing another round of a fresh cycle of IVF. Josh and I went to baystate yesterday morning (early! needed to be there at 6:45am. Had to leave the house at 5am. Carly came to babysit Jacob at 5am). The retrieval went well. They retrieved 24 eggs which is really great! They called today to say that out of the 24 eggs, 20 were mature enough for the ICSI procedure (putting the sperm into the egg) and from those 20, 16 fertilized!. They will call back on Friday to tell me how they are doing and if I need to come in for a Day 3 transfer (Friday) or if I can wait until Sunday for a Day 5 transfer (in the previous two retrievals, I have always done a day 5 transfer). We will be transferring two embryos so we will see what happens! Excited, nervous, all things!

We also have signed a purchase and sale on a new house. we will close on Feb. 15th, the same day we close on our current home. The story about how we bought the house is really funny. We weer all set to put an offer in on this other house in Williamstown. I liked it enough and so did Josh and the price was such that we could make improvements. Anyway, Jim and Sandi were taking Jacob this weekend so Josh and I could pack. I had to be at Baystate Sat. morning for an ultrasound and bloodwork so we decided to spend the night in greenfield on Friday; Josh and I would leave from there Sat morning and Jacob would stay. Since we were kid less, our realtor asked if we wanted to see a house that just came on the market at noon on Sat. We said "Sure" the whole time thinking that we would make an offer on the other home and "just look" at this one. Well, we LOVED it. The house is great (a small yard) but it is great! After looking at it, we told our realtor that we would go have lunch and let her know if we wanted to make an offer (it had already been shown 3 times in 24 hours). Well, we skipped lunch and went right in to make an offer. as we were there, there was another person making an offer. Long story short, they accepted our offer and we are on our way! Bu

House on its way to being sold

Purchase and sale signed, rental lined up. Excited for a new change and excited to be renters for a while and not a home owner and at the same time excited to see where we end up in terms of a new house. This weekend Jacob is going to Sandi and Jim's so josh and I can start packing. Looking forward to being able to go through our stuff and really deciding what we need/ don't need.

Just wanted to add a few pics of the house. I may add more later.

Skiing

Jacob started skiing on New Year's Day. We signed him up for the 3 yr old group at jiminy and it was great. The first day was a little bit rough. Watching him walk in skis was so sad. It took him so long to go a little way - kept crossing his tips. But today was lesson 2 and he did so well - went up the magic carpet and down the slope. I had my real camera on the first day and just my phone today. Excuse the distance - didn't want to be scene by jake and I have not figured how to zoom on the iPhone.

Halloween 2012 - recap

Jacob had a wonderful Halloween this year. the festivities started with the annual children's Halloween party at daddy's work (Berkshire Hills) on Tuesday 10/23. jacob's friend, Sara Isby, was going to join us as she did in 2011. I picked the kids up from school and we met conny and baby Lucas at the party. Jacob was a green Dino (costume made by Grandma!)

Then, a week later we have Halloween! I drove Jacob and Sara to Sara's house because we were going Trick-or-Treating there like we did in 2011. Conny and Dave live on a great dead end road and it is the perfect amount of houses for Sara and Jacob. Ocnny adn i went with teh kids, while dave and josh handed out candy. Once we were all trick-or-treated out, we enjoyed a pizza dinner!

It was such a great night. Here is a look back to Halloween 2011: (notice a theme in the costumes?)

Sewing

I am taking up sewing. I have sewn a little…in the past….in high school….almost 15 years ago, but I am ready to dive in. Josh offered to get me a machine for my bday and when we moved Jacob into the guest room, his old room (the old office) turned into an area for storage and a sewing area. We moved in a little table and I had myself a little sewing nook. During naptime on Sunday, I set up the sewing machine and walked myself through the manual, and threaded a bobbin and my top thread.

 

 Last night I set forth to make Jacob a bed skirt (we picked out fabric and ribbon on Sunday morning – he picked the colors). I am not working from a pattern for this little project, but it should be simple enough (or should I say, I am keeping it really simple). Wish me luck! I will post an after picture!

Jacob's Fall Progress Report Preschool One: Fall 2012

Williams College Children’s Center

44 Whitman St.

Williamstown, MA 01267

413-597-4800

Parent/Teacher Conference Report

Child: Jacob Hillman                                                                                                                           Date of Birth: 10/11/2012

Parent/Guardian:  Angie Hillman

Parent/Guardian: Josh Hillman

Teacher:                Shana Shippee, Blake Johnson and Roberta sweet                                                      Classroom: Preschool One

Autumn Conference:                                                                                                     Date:  11-6-2012

In Attendance: Angie Hillman, Josh Hillman and Shana Shippee

Child’s Interests and Unique ways the child engages in play

Jacob is driven by curiosity and playfulness. He notices new items in the classroom immediately and will begin investigating them as soon as he sees them. He often likes to start his day by sitting quietly with mom or dad at drop off and sharing an activity with them. Then he will usually transition to playing quietly with a teacher before going off on his own or with friends to explore. Jacob loves conversation. He likes sharing stories about things he has done at home or things that have happened to him in the past. He has told his teachers several stories about what he used to do when he was a baby and he loves telling us stories about his dog Cooper. Jacob is very active and he enjoys playing games that incorporate elements of movement. He loves being silly and we hear him laughing frequently throughout the day. He really enjoys building toys such as Lego’s and Magna tile blocks and he will sit contently for long periods of time building elaborate structures. He also spends a lot of time in the dramatic play area and enjoys dressing up and trying on different outfits.  He incorporates pretend writing into his play which is an important step toward early literacy.

Relationships (peer & teacher)

Jacob has many friends in the classroom. There are several children that he spends a great deal of time with and that he seeks out over others but he really is friends with everyone. Jacob is very caring and gentle. He loves giving hugs to his classmates and parents have commented on his kindness when they see his interactions with their children. Jacob is friendly with everyone that walks into the classroom. He has a genuine interest in the people in his environment and he enjoys spending time with people. We often find him in small groups of children, sitting and acting out play scenarios. There are times during the day that he can become a little physical with his peers, especially if he is feeling silly or sees that other children are playing in a physical type of manner. We have reminded him in these types of situations that not all of his friends like to play in this way. Jacob has formed trusting relationships with all of his caregivers and will come to us if he needs assistance and to share his lively ideas.  He also likes his teachers to act as an audience for his play scenarios.

Language development & Expression of child’s needs, feelings and thoughts 

Jacob is very expressive and loves to just sit and talk. He has a large vocabulary and likes learning new words. He is easily able to communicate what he is feeling when he needs to. There have been a couple of occasions where Jacob has had his feelings hurt and he lets his peers or teachers know if this was the case. Usually a quick hug and a little communication between him and the other party is all it takes to make him feel better. He has a lot of great ideas and he likes sharing his thoughts. He often becomes very excited and will talk so fast that we have to ask him to slow down a little so that we can understand what he is saying. He is genuinely happy and has a terrific sense of humor often giggling as he shares stories with his teachers or friends.

Response to group learning

Jacob enjoys group learning situations. He sometimes will become a little over stimulated if the energy level in the room is high or there are a lot of other things happening. He loves stories and has favorite books that he will request, usually ones that have something funny happening in them! He asks a lot of questions to further his understanding about specific topics and he usually volunteers information as well. He has the ability to be very focused on a topic, especially if it is something that is very interesting to him. He enjoys silly songs that we sing and will often ask for favorite songs if I forget to sing them. He really enjoys when we play Do a Trick and always has an interesting trick to show everybody!

Independence

Jacob is generally very independent. He will at times need reminders during classroom clean up situations or when it is time to get ready to go outside to play but after a couple of reminders he will complete these tasks without assistance. Lately he has been very excited about getting ready to go outside “fast” and he will quickly find all of the items that he needs and get himself ready. He will often ask for help at lunchtimes with his opening his lunch, even if it is something that he has done on his own before. We continue to encourage him to do these types of things when he is able to. He cleans up quickly after lunch and snack and is almost always one of the first children to clean up his rest items after nap time. He is very independent with toileting and is moving closer and closer to not needing pull-ups during rest.

Health, Physical Development & Stamina

Jacob is very healthy and active. He enjoys movement and all gross motor activities. He shows a lot of enthusiasm for sports and shows a lot of athletic ability. He enjoys our walks to the library and other walks that we go on and he really loves just running around on the playground. He rides the bikes and scooters often and has great balance. He has a healthy appetite and eats well most days. During rest time he settles himself by moving around on his cot a bit and talking quietly to himself and then he usually drifts off to sleep on his own. He wakes up happy, sometimes sitting on his cot for a few minutes before getting up to use the bathroom and play. He is a good napper and usually sleeps for a couple of hours every day.

New information shared by the parents about their child

·         Jacob enjoys coming to school and playing with his friends

·         He talks about several of his classmates at home

·         He has an excellent memory

·         He has been staying up later and later, especially when he takes long naps at school

·         He has been pushing some limits at home

               

Parent & teacher hopes for the child for the coming year

·         That Jacob is able to enjoy the company of his friends without  being overly physical

·         That his natural curiosity and his desire to figure out the way the world works is supported and encouraged

·         That he continues to find joy in his physical play and that he be given as many opportunities as possible to engage in these activities

·         That he continues to develop his already vast vocabulary and that his natural skill for the use of descriptive language and story-telling be further developed

Pumpkin Patch

One of the activities we did while Jacob was down-and-out with a broken collarbone was make pumpkins. I cut out orange circles and then yellow eyes/mouths/noses of various designs and let Jacob glue everything in place. He loved it and I loved watching him create!