Just a little check in to let you all know whats going on here in the Provost household.
Louis:
Is still with the same company that he has been for about 10 years now. He was given the promotion I was speaking of in the last update. He works so hard for his family that it was really nice to see him get some recognition for it. Im so thankful to have such an amazing guy by my side. He makes so many things possible for this family and he does it with a smile and grace and never complains. I don't know what we'd do without him!
With Covid, he has been working from home exclusively since March of last year. I dont think there are really any plans for them to resume regular in office activity. They have the ability to be basically 100% remote, so there's no really no need for it.
As you know, he recently got a 3D printer, so he spends a lot of his free time messing around with that thing. He mostly just tinkers with it, but has actually made a couple pretty useful little gadgets. It's pretty interesting to watch actually.
He had a birthday in December and turned a handsome 45. He gets more handsome everyday. :) Of course, any big plans we may have had were dampened, but we managed to get a few people out to his favorite restaurant for dinner.
His company offers paid paternity leave, up to 3 months actually. He could never get away with taking anywhere near that long off, but he does plan on taking a couple weeks off when Jax gets here. It's nice to have some companies that are finally starting to recognize that and giving fathers the ability to take a bit of time off. It will be nice to have a little family bonding time after beastie 2 gets here.
Meagan:
I am almost 32 weeks pregnant and feeling every bit of it. I'm glad this is the last pregnancy i am having. As grateful as I am for it, I'm ready to be done. I've said it before and will say it loud and clear once again- having babies at 21 and 23 is MUCH different than having them at 35 and 36.
All complaining aside ( as you can see, I'm not nearly as saintly as my dear husband), both Jax and myself are healthy and doing well. We have decided to just do a c-section with a tubal ligation. Get a couple things done at once. My regular OB just had a baby herself, so she wont be back in the office until March 8, but the procedure is tentatively scheduled for March 22. It's nice to have a date. Gives ya some light at the end of the tunnel.
I am measuring a bit big- like usual, so I have an ultrasound scheduled for Monday to check sizes of the baby. I'm honestly not really sure why, its not like if he is a big baby they do anything differently really especially if I'm already having a c-section. It's fun to see him though so I wont complain.
Rachel:
Miss Rachel is doing well. She is getting pretty sick of being locked down for the pandemic, but has funneled that frustration into honing her artistic talents and is becoming an amazing artist. Her ability to draw people and animals so realistically blows my mind.
She is still taking piano and violin lessons and is doing her schooling completely online for the rest of the year.
Her mom has delayed her driver's ed for now, so unfortunately that has to wait, but she is looking forward to that when the craziness is over.
Bella:
Is finishing her freshman year up with hybrid learning. She goes in person 2 days a week. It drives her crazy. She misses her friends. They have the kids broken in half by last name and all her friends have last names in the other group so they go to in person school Tuesday and Thursday, where she goes Wednesday and Friday. Beside that, she enjoys school and looks forward to going.
She still skateboards and snowboards as often as she can and does jiu-jitsu 3 days a week.
She recently went to Sun Valley for 5 days on a snowboarding trip with her buds so she at least gets some social time outside school.
Zoe:
Starts school at Foothills on Monday. I thought it was last week, but the application process was delayed due to the director having an issue and being out of office. She had her official tour today and starts on Monday. She couldn't be more excited and either could we. We are looking forward to their very different approach and methods and are so grateful that she got the last spot available. There are less than 50 students in the entire K-9th grade population so the hands on attention they get is unparalleled.
She is in her 3rd year of horseback riding and has moved to more advanced stables out in Eagle. She's a talented little horseman that's for sure. :)
She decided to switch to cello this year after playing the violin for two years. She enjoys the cello more apparently so whatever. She plays in the school orchestra as well as takes personal lessons.
She is finishing up her first year on the BSU swim team and still enjoys it.
Tatum:
Is pretty much everyone's favorite little dude. Bella especially can NOT get enough of him, which really surprised me, because she was the least interested in my pregnancy and the one who never played with dolls or house or anything like that growing up. It's so fun to see your older kids with your younger ones. The bonds they form and the relationships between them that you get to see are just so special.
Big News: He finally started walking!! He got accepted into physical therapy and went in for the evaluation. The therapist told us what we already knew, in that nothing was wrong with him, he was just not doing it and would when he wanted, but that starting therapy would help give him the motivation to start trying to walk on his own hopefully. That was a Wednesday. By Sunday, he was walking around the living room, and by the following Wednesday, just one week after his PT evaluation, he was fully walking. We went in for our first official PT session and were told it wasn't needed. He was doing exactly what he should be doing and there was no need to continue therapy! Ha little stinker! Of course now he is all over the place and causing havoc. It's awesome!!
We continue speech therapy for him, but the progress there is much slower of course. He is beginning to babble way more and make way more sounds than he used to, so there is definitely progress being made, but he is still fairly delayed in the language department.
A lot of kiddos his age are putting words together and making sentences, can tell you and point to body parts, can imitate and know animal sounds, etc. Tatum is unable to do these things and still doesn't even really use mama and dada in context. He doesn't point or wave at all either. He does sign a few words: sleep, more, all done, and bath, but that is about it.
So we have some pretty good goals for him to work on in speech. Miss Kelly is her speech therapist and she is super awesome. She is patient and kind and really enjoys her job and it shows. She works with him for about 30-45 minutes a week and we are grateful to have her on our "Winskie Team"
He is scheduled to start Occupational Therapy in February. All of these pediatric therapies have waiting lists, but Tatum is considered High Priority since he is under 3, so the wait list has been fairly quick. His first appointment, as with the other other therapies, is an evaluation. Usually lasts almost 2 hours and entails you, the therapist and the kiddo playing and interacting in a room with various things while the therapist ask various questions and fills in a bubble form. The form then gets graded and Tatum gets scored on a sliding scale basically of where he falls in relation to the average, or other kids his age. At this point, it is determined if therapy is indeed needed, and if so, then you begin the following week for weekly therapy sessions.
I have to be honest, I don't really know what occupational therapy does, despite being told AND googling it, but will fill you all in on what exactly it entails later. :)
Other than all that jazz he is doing awesome. Growing like a little weed and has just the cutest little personality. Little bit ornery, so sweet, and the cutest little guy ever!
He loves the bath and the shower, playing peek a boo, throwing himself on the bed, climbing EVERYTHING, playing with the dogs, digging through the pantry to find snacks, snacking, reading books, chasing roomba and the braava, and loves his daddy more than anything else in the whole world. He is a daddy's boy!!
Jack:
Getting big- almost an estimated 4 pounds. Seems to be doing good. Moving around all night long.
House Projects:
I have accomplished nothing as far as the master bedroom. I know...I know....
We did get some paint chips to pick new wall colors, but haven't settled on one yet. We also have been casually looking at bedding both in stores and online and haven't seen anything that has really caught our eyes. With out either of these two elements picked out, you can't really do much of anything else.
As far as Jax nursery- we got paint for the accent walls and got all the nursery stuff, but still need to actually paint. It's on the agenda for this weekend. I also need to get his letters done and a few last minute little decorations- it's coming along though. :)
And that my friends, is pretty much the nutshell version of whats up with us right now. :)
