Family Update

I thought it was time for a little update on all seven members of the Hunt Family. 

Leland

 

Leland has been working from home for about 14 weeks now. I love seeing how much more he is able to interact with the kids since working from home, that being said, they can be quite loud and distracting so I think he is about ready to go back to working in the office. Still he is the champ of keeping all the kids happy for long periods of time and also watching them while working if I have to run an errand, so me and the kids will definitely miss him when he goes back, whenever that is. Leland is studying for another actuary exam. He is scheduled to take it on Tuesday and is very nervous. Prayers and crossed fingers that he passes! 

Courtney

I have been enjoying summer and a break from homeschooling. I have been prepping everything for next year and I'm really excited. I will write a post dedicated to homeschooling soon. I've been enjoying watching our garden grow, and the nice weather, being outside a lot lately. I've also made more time for reading. Of course, most my time is spent caring for the children. I do enjoy that and I try very hard not to feel overwhelmed and stretched too thin between them all and taking care of the house etc. They are getting so big and it's fun too see how my relationship grows with each of them as they mature. I remember when I longed to be married and have a ton of kids, and I'm so happy to be living my dream.

Esther

Esther is getting fed up with everything being closed. She really wants to go to the children's museum, and the swimming pool, and every prayer she prays that the sickness will go away and things will open soon. Luckily, the playgrounds and splash pads are open now so I think she is happy with that. We recently found out that Esther won a prize for a birdhouse she entered into a competition at the Nature Center. She entered the contest back in March but it was postponed until now. The birdhouse is on display there, so I will have to get a photo when we go see it. She has wanted to enter that birdhouse competition for three years now and we are proud she did it! Esther is mostly our happy-go-lucky child. She is a reluctant reader (even though she's made great progress!), but loves math and science and especially engineering. Every time I turn around she is building something or inventing something. She is still all about mermaids and fairies. She loves Birdy her cat lately. Birdy loves her too and sleeps in her bed every night. 

Adele

Adele has struggled the most with us getting O, but she is getting through it. She loves to play with all her siblings and also loves to play by herself. She is often in her own little imaginary world. She feels big emotions and is not afraid to talk about them. She is very different from Esther, yet they are best friends most of the time. I've started working with Adele on letters and she is picking them up very quickly. If I didn't have so many babies I probably could have taught her to read by now. I think if I am consistent with working with her she'll learn this fall. Adele is my most helpful child and loves to be with me doing whatever I'm doing, and usually making a game out of it. Adele is mature for her age in a lot of ways and I often forget she is only four. 

O

O is a very easy going kid. I don't know if I ever put his age here, but he turned three in March. We are working with a therapist for him, but he does so good he hardly needs any help. The therapist is to help him with his trauma and also with bonding. She's been really good to help me navigate through everything.  He really has no issues though except a minor speech delay and that's pretty much a miracle considering what he's been through. He got glasses a couple months ago, and after one incident of him breaking them, he has been good with them since we replaced them. He looks so grown up with them on, and not much like the baby he was when we first got him. We also potty trained him in May, it was rough for a couple of weeks, but now he is day and night potty trained! This feels like a HUGE accomplishment for both of us and I'm so happy to have one less child in diapers. We have known since the day we got him that we would probably adopt him, and now we have more official word that we will adopt him end of summer or fall of this year! We are so happy. I could go into so much about how everything came together for us to have him, but I'll save that for another post. He is such a cutie and I can't wait to share more of him. Every time we say the word adopt he chimes in with "You adopt ME?" It is adorable.

Israel

Israel is a typical two year old. Mischievous and charming at the same time. He gets into so much mischief and is knowingly naughty. I can never stay mad at him for long though. He has recently had a "language explosion" and talks all the time now. He will randomly say words that I had no idea he knew like "bacoon" (raccoon) and Bambi when he sees a deer. He also says a few sentences most often "dat one you, Mama" whenever there is anything pink or girly in a book or show. (He learned this phrase from O). He is our most reserved child around strangers, but he seems like he's going to be a nonstop talker just like Adele. :) He is finally filling in his role as a big brother. He loves Baby Boy and says "Hi Baby!" whenever he sees him. He is also starting to be eager to help with him, getting a diaper or getting him toys when he's crying. Israel also loves O and they are best friends. Israel wants to do whatever O is doing, including potty training ha. Israel is all boy and loves diggers, dinosaurs, trains and sports (much to my dismay ha). He even saw football players in pads on TV and said "ball game, ball game". How he even knows these things I don't know. 

Baby Boy

Baby Boy is 11 months now. 11 months we've had him. He feels like our baby, but then I'm reminded of the harsh reality that he's not. We still don't know what his future holds. He has his permanency hearing next month, and we might have more of an idea where his case is going then. My heart just feels so heavy with all that could possibly happen with him. I just try to have faith that everything will work out and not think about it too much. The only way for me to handle it is to love him like he is mine and pretend like everything is normal. He is getting so cute though. He can clap and is so smiley. He is all over and into everything. We've been working hard in physical therapy with him. At 9 months old he still wasn't sitting independently, but now he is crawling, pulling himself up to stand, and standing by himself! He is finally sleeping well but it still an early bird. He has four teeth and loves eating. He also loves water, it is his favorite thing.