Update

I wish I had more pictures to show, but right now, we are once again having computer difficulties. Two weeks ago we had to delete our hard drive. Thankfully, we knew this needed to happen beforehand, so we saved everything important on CD. However, now we can't find one of the CDs (one problem), the computer still isn't exactly fixed (another problem), and today I can't even get the computer to read my SD card (third problem). So, hopefully sometime soon I can upload a few more photos of all the exciting events from my life in the past couple of months.

Pregnancy--it's going great. I'm at about six months and today someone even told me that I'm hardly even showing. That's a joke, if you ask me, but I must admit that I feel pretty good about my size, considering this is my second and I haven't had as much time to exercise. I definitely got bigger earlier, but at this point in the game, I'm not much larger than I was last time around.

Job--I'm loving my job this year. I'm not sure if I wrote about this, but in November when I found out I was pregnant, I went crying to my principal and told her that I was going to have to work part time next year and I asked if I could teach one less class per day so I could have more time to do some of the extra coordinating and administration that I do for the junior high team. She was so fabulous at working with me. Now I have the perfect job--I teach classes that I love, I have a reasonable amount of grading, I get to program and schedule things that I love, and I still get to leave at 4:00 on most days (although I get to work at 7 in the morning).

As much as I love this schedule, I know it just won't work when there are two kids. Recently we figured out our teaching schedule for next year and I'll only be teaching 3 classes! The times will be wonderful--about 9:00-12:00, but I have to admit much fear about this arrangement. I was heartbroken for about a week once I realized which classes I wouldn't be teaching. Will I still be able to do my job effectively if I'm only there a couple of hours a day and don't have the frequent interactions with students and teachers that I enjoy? Will I understand their lives and struggles? Will I even enjoy being home all afternoon and having to clean up after the kids and try to manage two of them at once? How do stay-at-home moms manage day after day? And now I'll have no excuse for not having dinner ready in the evenings. What fun will that be? Won't Ethan get bored being around our house all day and not having his buddies to play with like he does now? I know these all sound like stupid questions, when the real joy will be actually being around my kids when they need me. I know I'll figure everything out with both school work and home work. I'm just saying I have many questions running through my head and it will be an adventure to see how everything works out.

Ethan--He's getting to be such a big boy! He loves to make us laugh and he loves to help around the house. He is pretty good at picking up his toys (mostly because he thinks it's cool that he can throw everything into the box, container, etc.). One cute thing that he does is when he spills water out of his cup, he goes over to the towel drawer and gets a towel to clean up his mess. Ethan also likes to watch me make dinner. I might have to get him some kind of stool so he can watch and "help" once the new baby comes along.

It's amazing how right around 15 or 16 months all of a sudden Ethan could understand so much more. He understands directions most of the time and I try to explain things before they happen ("It's almost time to go inside" or "Brittney the babysitter is going to be here soon."). Some of his favorite words are "outside", "Grandpa", "book", "choo-choo", and "vroom". I'm not saying he can say these correctly, but we can at least understand what he means.

We've been working with Ethan on a few of the bad habits that he has developed. I'm actually not sure if they're bad habits or if they're just normal things for kids his age. He does the whole screeching/whining thing when he doesn't get his way or when he wants something and doesn't know how to ask. We remind him about the correct way to ask, but if he whines again, then we put him in his crib for a few minutes. I think it's helping. Most of the problem is probably that he can't communicate what he wants very well.

The other thing that has been stressful lately is figuring out what to do with him during church. I've always felt that a kid needs to learn about church and paying attention by sitting through the service from when he is very small. That's part of a parents' role, is to teach our kids about faith, the importance of worship, etc. Tim, on the other hand, feels that he's not getting anything out of the service anyway, so why not let him play in the nursery until he is older and can understand. I get where he's coming from, but I believe even small children pick up on more than we realize, even when they are young. Well, our compromise has been that Ethan will stay with us during church until the sermon, and then we'll take him to the nursery, whether he is being naughty or not. I don't want him thinking that he gets rewarded for bad behavior by getting to go play.

Last week was our first time of trying this new plan, and I loved it. I finally was able to listen to the entire message and get something out of it. I couldn't believe what a change it made in my outlook of church--in recent weeks it had been such a struggle. Typically Ethan can be very good during church, but the service we like to go to is right when he is ready for a nap, and he's just not a happy camper when he is tired. This week was even better, but I think part of it is that he is getting more used to not having a morning nap, and his disposition is better because of it. What a relief!

Tim--Tim is working harder than ever. His job has faced many changes in the past year or two, and now a bunch of people are quitting, which can be both good and bad, depending on the person. I'm praying that he will find peace either in where he's at or that he will feel clearly led to find something different. It could be that his job is just going through a time of transition and that things will be even better once everything settles down. It's been hard for us at times in the past several months because Tim needs and loves his time away, but he and I still need our time together and time to get things done around the house.

This weekend has been a wonderful blessing for us. The weather was finally beautiful, which somehow motivated me to be productive. We got the baby's room cleaned out, took old mattresses and stereo to good will, moved a bunch of candles, pots, boxes, and luggage out of the closet, moved around dressers and toys that were Ethan's, sorted out Ethan's big boy toys from infant toys, boxed up old clothes, cleaned up leaves and dead flowers from last fall, went out on a date to Texas Roadhouse, and looked for a crib for the baby. Wow. Today after church, I have already sat outside reading in the sun, Tim went for a bike ride, and I have typed, typed away. Now Ethan is awake and we are going to get ready for a bbq with our friends.