Checking in. . .

Whew!
I'm tired tonight, but want to give a quick update.

Ethan--whoa. He's growing and makes us smile. . . most of the time. About a week ago we weren't sure what to think about that boy. He was having the hugest tantrums--kicking, screaming, oh so sad. Tim wanted to have an exorcism. I'm thinking he was having trouble with his teeth???? That's the only solution I have. If it's the "terrible twos", then we have our work cut out for us. Nothing would help him feel better. . .not the usual distraction or trying to make him laugh. I take it back--drugs did help him. Giving him tylenol seemed to help in ten minutes or so. The moodiness lasted off and on for several days. Some others have suggested that it might have been an earache??? But there weren't any other symptoms of a cold or anything.

Ethan loves to "scare" us with a big ROAR and sticking out his fists. He has a big cheesy smile and likes to run with his hands up by his chest and his elbows sticking out.

Kate has had a fussy day, but most of the time is cute and pleasant. She has started smiling more. Her night sleeping schedule is pretty good--3 to 4 hours at a time--although sometimes I'll fall asleep feeding her and when I wake up she's staring up at me smiling. How cute! She's 2 months old now, so soon I'll write her "Happy 2-month birthday, Kate" post. I'm torn between wanting to get her on a good bedtime schedule and wanting to keep her small so I can hold her whenever I want.

Tim's job is calming down. There are still crazy days when he has to vent or just laugh. I think the biggest change with his work is that now instead of having a hometown feel like it did when he started four years ago, everything is run by corporate offices; there's plenty of red tape. They're pushing this new program that helps people (particularly older people) with their balance. They (as in, the powerful big-wigs?) want everyone to be on this balance program, so when one or two patients weren't on it, they questioned Tim, who just about lost it. The patient was a bi-lateral amputee!!! "The guy has no legs!" he reasoned. "And your point is. . . " was the administrators response. Some people will do anything for money. We bought a Wii two weeks ago to give us something to do in the upcoming winter months and to distract Tim from his work when he can't get out of the house.

Exercise--I wish I could get more of it. My life is really balanced right now as far as home and kids and work go. I'm loving it. Just a month or two more and I can get up early to get my yoga or treadmill time in.

Church--Wow. Yesterday we had an awesome outdoor service. The weather was perfect, so even sitting in the sun we didn't roast. We were celebrating some future plans for building and just thanking God for all he's done in our lives. Like any good church celebration, we had a potluck afterwards, and we enjoyed seeing many of our good friends.

Childcare--Speaking of thanking God for what he has done for us, I just have to express how thankful I am that we have our babysitter, Barb, in our lives to care for our kids. She comes to our house every day and she does so many cool things with Ethan. She's brought over some toys that she has at her house--trucks, dominoes, a baseball mit, etc. She's tried making a fort with Ethan, she makes "buildings" out of empty cereal boxes, she teaches him how to make a homerun, and today she made finger jello with him. Barb is not a woman who needs to be taking care of two small children at this point in her life. She's a grandma herself many times over, and she has lots of horses and land that she takes care of and she had breast cancer just over a year ago. But somehow she has felt led to be a kind woman to me and my family so that I can continue to teach. I had Barb's grandson in class several years ago, and ever since then she and her husband have held a special place in my heart, and even more so now that she loves my children like her own. What a legacy she will have. Did I mention that she had even folded our laundry one day while I was at work?

Cooking--I can finally say that I actually look forward to cooking just a little bit now. I have had a successful month of actually planning meals, instead of scrambling at the last minute to find something to throw on the table. What works for me is having ingredients for at least two new meals up my sleeve, plus ingredients for the typical old-standards like brats or sandwiches or spaghetti. Almost every week in the past month I've tried a grilled recipe that involves fruit and meat. I love them--they're so yummy and refreshing. Tim prefers to have plain old meat every now and then (did I mention that he eats bbq sauce with everything?). Anyway, at the end of the week, I write down every meal from that week on a calendar. I don't like having an exact plan beforehand because my plans might change based on what we have in the fridge or what kind of leftovers we have.

Kate's crying. . . gotta go.