James and Jane: March 2011

Yes, it has been almost been half a year since I last updated this blog... but we're back! The absence was due to 1. a ridiculously fast pace of life that we are keeping up out here and 2. our camera broke and it took us quite a while to get a new one. I hope from here on out I can update a little more regularly than every six months. So, let me get you up to speed...

We've been doing very well these past months. We had a wonderful time visiting family over Christmas. James and Lucy took their very first airplane rides, and we spent about two weeks in the Midwest. The only thing that dampened the Christmas cheer was the fact that Lucy and I kept catching every flu and cold imaginable. On Christmas eve, all Lucy would eat for dinner was a blue sugar cookie. Sometimes she is a picky eater, so I didn't think much of it. We had only just finished opening presents with the Stanleys when Lucy began begging me to go to bed. I finally gave in, took her upstairs and put her to bed. About a half hour later... let's just say the flu began. Blue sugar cookie everywhere. About a half hour after that, my flu began. So, Lucy and I spent a long Christmas Eve night together, trying to get what little sleep we could. However, I would have to argue that the airplane ride home was even worse than that. I had a horrible cold, could not sit next to James and therefore had to wrangle Lucy myself, and if you've ever had a cold on an airplane ride, you understand what excruciating pain can result from the descent. But with all of those ridiculous midadventures, we really did have a great time seeing family. It was such a treat after not seeing them for so long! Lucy especially loved the doting attention and activity of all of her cousins.

James continues to enjoy school, even though the reading load proves to be larger than humanly possible. He did very well in his first semester, and is now about half-way through the second. His classmates are quite social, and we've had a really good time getting to know a lot of them. I'm still working babysitting the same little boy, who Lucy has gotten to be quite good buddies with. She asks for him almost every morning, and when we pull up to his house, she says in a high-pitched voice "Jaaaaaaaack! Hey you!" Their favorite shared activity is terrorizing the cats. They giggle hysterically as they chase them around, pull their tails, make them jump, etc. They've also recently started play-wrestling. Lucy will spin around the room, and Jack (who has only recently learned how to walk) will barrel towards her and playfully push her. They fall down and again, laugh hysterically. It's pretty funny to watch, and happily one of the few times during the day when I get to sit down for any extended period of time.

Lucy has changed so much since I last posted that I don't even know where to start. Her vocabulary continually astounds me lately. She recently surprised us quite a bit but suddenly being able to identify all of the letters of the alphabet (without me or anyone trying to teach her this). We'll be driving in the car, she'll see a sign and she'll shout "W! O!" and whatever other letters she sees. Counting remains another story. She loves to count, and will go up to six correctly, and then usually skips to nine. And whether there is actually two or twenty of something, it is usually pronounced to be "nine" by Lucy. She loves to read and I would say I sometimes spend up to two hours or more a day reading to her. Not because I am that devoted to it or anything, more so because that is just how much she begs for it and then clearly enjoys it. She practically memorized a library book about a cat, and frequently recites it with amazing detail. Oh, one last thing. She has revived an old love of "Old McDonald." Except now when she asks to sing it, we'll ask her "what animal?" Well, for a while she stuck with pig, cow, etc. But now she gets a little more creative with requests such as giraffe, rock, mouth, Grandma, and even Jesus. She clearly enjoys to think outside the box.

And, oh yeah, I'm pregnant! We're expecting this little one around June 8, and are very excited. I've had a healthy pregnancy, with the most prominent pain being our student health insurance. But really, I've been feeling good and only recently have I been getting worn out at the end of the day. But it's always a little difficult to tell whether that is because of just plain life, or pregnancy. Oh, and as with Lucy, we don't know the gender. However, with Lucy we somehow always knew it was a girl. This one will be extra surprising! It's also been funny to find that I have about six other friends who are pregnant and expecting their babies right around the same time. Unfortunately, most of them are back in the Midwest, otherwise we'd all be sitting around drinking non-alcoholic margaritas together.... or at least that's what I imagine.

Speaking of babies, both of our families also welcomed new little ones recently. James' sister Cathy and her husband Dave had number 3, Allison, on Valentine's Day, and my brother Jeremy and sister-in-law Leah welcomed Corbin (#2) on March 7. We are really missing seeing these new little people.

Though I could keep writing (six months time gives a lot of material), I think this pretty much gets you back up to speed. If you are just in it for the photos, be assured that future posts will be much less wordy.