So our baby boy turned six this past Tuesday! It's hard to believe. I still call him "Baby Jacob" all the time. We baked him a GFCF chocolate cake over the weekend. He enjoyed it. Rachael liked it, also. Joshua enjoyed the icing once he was over the stomach bug (last week's illness-of-choice), and we didn't let Abby have any because she was was still in the throes of the bug. Rachael asked for a piece of "chocolate birthday cake."

Speaking of Rachael, she is really enjoying her PPCD class. I picked her up from school today, and she was really put out. She usually rides the bus to and from school, and loves it. Her teacher said her favorite activity is circle time, and she loves the days when she gets to be the 'special helper' during circle time, passing out and collecting materials from the other kiddos. They have different stations in the classroom w/different themes. Rachael enjoys the dress-up station, and likes to put on a pink dress w/fringe over her clothes. Rachael also enjoys the kitchen station, and likes to serve her classmates pretend meals. One thing Rachael does not enjoy too much (at school or at home) is potty training. The teacher advised waiting until August to really focus on it, since the school year is almost done. That is a little too close to October for me, so I'll see what I can do over the summer. We beg, we plead, we bribe, we scold.. nothing works with our stubborn little 3 yr old princess!

As for Abby, she is moving around more and more. She pulls herself up on a lot of different things now, but cries because she doesn't know how to get back down. Her hips are gaining strength from all the standing time she is doing. She is starting to taking steps while she is holding on to things. The OT from ECI was here today, and was very impressed with the progress Abby's made in the past week alone. Her weight isn't budging much, though. I think she gained about an ounce this past month. The pediatrician's office has been calling to ask when we want to re-do Abby's labs. I'm waiting to get our new insurance cards in the mail.

Deren is doing fine at his new job. He has to take a shuttle van to a remote parking lot, do to lack of parking, and that adds up to 1/2 hour to his commute.