Leveille Family: November 2008

Things are going pretty well at the Leveille household these days. Jade is doing very well in school and is enjoying it for the most part. The pre-k teacher has been sending home some activities and worksheets for us to work on so she can stay up to speed with that class. I know I've said it numerous times, but I can't get over how smart she is! She is starting to read simple sentences and is a whiz at adding and subtracting. One of her favorite games right now is chess. She's still trying to understand the whole idea behind strategy, but she has learned how all the pieces move and she understands the object of the game. I don't remember learning chess until I was around eight or nine; it's amazing how quickly she is picking it up. Soccer is over and she is back to gymnastics for the winter. She has her first show on Dec. 12th and she is very excited to show us all she has been learning.
Erica had her six month checkup a few weeks ago and she, too, is doing well. She is in the 50th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height. I don't think Jade has reached those percentiles yet! She babbles constantly and is always laughing at her sister. She really adores her. She can sit up on her own and she is trying very hard to crawl. But she just can't quite get it and it is very frustrating for her. She is eating baby jar food a couple times a day and has started eating biter biscuits and corn puffs as well. She has decided that when we are eating, she has to be at the table eating as well. Unfortunately, she still is not sleeping through the night, although she is doing significantly better with usually only waking up once. We have decided that if she is still doing this at eight months, it will be time to get tougher. She has also entered separation anxiety and stranger anxiety phases, which drives me nuts!
Justin's office has moved back downtown. The building is absolutely beautiful and is in a great location. We are very happy to have him closer to home. He is continuing to enjoy his work, although it is starting to enter the more stressful part of the year. He continues to work his way up and will soon have a couple people reporting to him.
For those of you who don't know, I am back working at Roundup for the time being. This time I am at one of the group homes which works with troubled teens with dual diagnoses. Due to a number of reasons, including going on maternity leave and losing some clientele, the inability to really sell myself, and the present day economy (no one wants to pay for skin care), I have taken a temporary leave from aesthetics in order to bring in a steady income. For a long time I felt very defeated, but I know sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get by. I enjoy working with the kids but the hours are hard on the family. I work a couple evenings per week and pull a ten hour day on Saturdays. At least it is only part-time and when I look at what kind of shape people around me are in, I am very thankful I have a job at all. Another thing that came up recently was that we had a cancer scare. The lymph node on the right side of my neck has been swollen and on watch for the last couple of years. Well, this time around, my doctor felt a palpable mass and decided it was time to get it checked. I had a fine needle aspiration done and the results came back that it is benign! So we will continue to watch it in the upcoming years. We are very thankful all is okay, and I am glad to have finally had it checked so we know for sure nothing is wrong. On a lighter note, last weekend my siblings and I took a trip up to Cripple Creek for some much needed bonding time. We spent some time at Justin's parent's cabin hanging out and riding the four-wheeler. We also had lunch in town and spent some time gambling away our earnings. We didn't win anything, but we had a good time. Well, we will update again after Thanksgiving. Hope everyone has a good holiday!

This was Erica's first Halloween and the girls really enjoyed it. I had to work unfortunately, but we made the most of it and spent as much time together as possible. I took the girls to the pumpkin patch in Pueblo a few weeks ago. We all spent time together two weeks ago decorating the front yard like a cemetery. We also were together to carve pumpkins on Wednesday. On Halloween, I went trick-or-treating with Jade's class at the nursing home next to the school. Then Justin took the girls that night, along with their cousins, Emily and Nathan.