Life...

Life has been pretty busy around our house these past couple of weeks. I've kinda slacked off of our family blog and been spending my blogging time on our adoption blog.

We're going to be going through a transition phase with welcoming Isabelle into our family. That said, there have already been a few things that happened that took Noah by surprise and we had to talk to him about with this transition.

Allowance

• Noah gets the amount of allowance to match his age. So he is 8 years old, so he gets $8.00 ($1 to church, $2 to savings & $5 to spend). Noah asked if Isabelle would be getting allowance and I told him yes. I explained that after her birthday, she would be getting $12.00 ($2 to church, $3 to savings & $7 to spend) allowance because she was going to be 12 years old. WELL, Mr. Man did NOT like that idea that she would be getting more money than he did and that she could save faster than he could! One of the growing pains of our family growing for our little man!

Birthday gifts

• This year, in light of the economy I felt it was time that Noah start learning how to budget and learn about money. We've had BIG money talks in our house where we examine how much HE thought it cost for certain items to run a home versus how much they actually cost. His figures of how much it would cost to run a home was $702 per month - LOL!!! When I showed him the actual amount he had tears in his eyes and professed how sorry he was for complaining that Daddy had to stay late at work some nights, etc! It was a VERY productive hour!
• So for his birthday this year, I gave him a budget of $100. I told him he could keep the money and spend it all on a present. OR He could have a huge birthday party and get no present. OR He could have a small party, get a small present and any money left over he could keep. This is what he chose and he ended up with $23 extra bucks in his wallet because he was SO conscious of what he was spending. He didn't even want balloons, to save money!!!
• SO.....for Isabelle (considering we don't have a lot of time to plan a party) we will get her a gift of around $100. When he learned this, he was NOT impressed that she got a $100 BUCKS and he didn't. Again, we had to explain to him that it was his choice to do the party, etc. One more of the growing pains of our family growing for our little man!

Dividing my time between activities

• Wednesday is the last day of Discovery Club (an after school Christian program that teaches kids both life skills and biblical verses, etc) end of year. As we are having Isabelle sleep over for the first time this night and I have to go pick her up (in a different town), I was not able to go to watch the award ceremony. It feels kinda weird considering I have never missed anything of Noah's - a growing experience of our family growing for ME.
• At special cuddle last night, Noah explained that his 'low' of the day was that 'even though he understood that I couldn't be there, it was still his 'low' of the day. I felt so bad...
• When I told Jacques, he said that he would leave work early so he could be there. When Noah learned that Jacques was going to be there, he was SO happy and thankful. I'm so proud of Noah for taking something like this (having to 'share his parents' - which was his BIGGEST concern when we considered adopting or having Isabelle come into our family forever). It is a BIG deal for him and I think he handled it better than I thought he would have!!! Way to go, BUDDY!!!

I feel SO very blessed these days, life couldn't get any better (I don't think) than how we are feeling these days. I have even managed to sleep through the night for 2 nights in a row. A full night sleep can produce a whole new woman.... I am thankful that Noah's transition is (so far) going smooth....time will tell for the rest!