Okay, I know...I'm sadly out of date. I just feel like no one reads this who I don't already talk to on a regular basis, so what's the point? Well, I should do it anyway. It's a good place for me to journal, which is always good for me, when I actually do it. I like to write and don't have a lot of opportunities outside of this right now. Plus, it will be nice to go back and look at these moments in our lives, and I can't do that if I don't capture them. I reconnected with some old friends recently, one of whom asked about my blog. It prompted me to get my act together, so here's the scoop:

I am getting used to handling two children and still managing to get some things done. I am officially a stay at home Mom now, something we've wanted since before our precious Lúthien was born. It's tough. We can't make the math work yet, and I feel like a big expense at any moment could reverse all of it, but we're trying to be faithful to what we believe God wants for our family. Kary has said he will get a second job to allow me to stay home. I am thankful for that, and praying that God provides the perfect opportunity for him.

Kary is still working as a field survey tech for a civil engineering firm. It can be long hours, or very short days depending on weather and jobs. He works in the heat, poison ivy, traffic, and other lovely situations. He works hard, and I'm proud of him. If he continues in this career for another 4-5 years, he will be eligible to sit for the test to become a licensed surveyor. He'd rather be working in IT, but knows that this could be a good career. We'll just have to see where God leads.

Lúthien is 2 and a half. She's tall, thin, and absolutely gorgeous. I know. I'm biased. But based on the number of people who walk across crowded public spaces to come and tell us that, I think it's still objectively true. She is sweet-natured, loves to help Mama and Papa, enjoys her baby sister but finds her kind of boring. Her favorite things to do include play with friends from church, play with letters and numbers, read books (she memorizes them after only a week or two of me reading them to her) and help in the kitchen. She's not potty trained yet. We tried once, and it was clear that she wasn't ready. We'll be trying again soon. She won't have any trouble once she decides she wants to. Motivation has been lacking on both her part and ours. We'll also be moving her to a toddler bed and out of the Pack 'n' Play. I'm nervous about that a bit. She can get into a lot of trouble climbing out of bed so easily, and this already sleep-deprived Mama doesn't need another excuse to be up in the middle of the night, but we need to do it. Lúthien has not been sick in months, for which we are incredibly thankful. Of course, now that I've typed this, I'm sure it will only be a matter of seconds before some illness hits hard.

Tinúviel is growing...FAST! At 4 months, she was in the 97th percentile for height and the 94th for weight. At over 16 pounds, she is already half the weight of her big sister. By the way, the EEG results came back completely normal. She has a brain, and it's beautiful. In fact, she hasn't had the tremor for quite some time, so it was clearly benign and she has outgrown it. She can roll over, sit up with some help, constantly flashes her toothless smile, squeals often, loves to watch her big sister, and sucks her thumb despite all our efforts to the contrary. I admit that I think it's kind of cute, now. She sleeps well, for which I am very thankful, and hasn't yet been sick at all. I still maintain that God, who never gives us more than we can handle, understands intimately my lack of confidence as a mother of two. Someday, He will give me a colicky baby. Then I will know that God thinks I've made it as a Mom. Remind me of this when it happens!

I am working on digging out from underneath the massive piles of junk in the house. (See this post for the background.) I saw a great psychologist for a while last year. Not as long as I would have liked, but she was very helpful in getting me to work out some things in my head. Of course, when I was pregnant, sick as a dog, and working, there wasn't much I could do to turn things around. Now that I'm home with a toddler and a baby, it's still not easy. I spend a lot of my time making sure the kids and I are dressed, fed, (relatively) clean, safe and we try to find some time for fun and learning. But I'm making progress. Most of my kitchen cabinets are completely reorganized. I have a major collection of stuff that was destined for Goodwill, then a friend's fundraising garage sale, and now is waiting on the possibility of another friend's garage sale in the future. If it's still here in September, it's going to Goodwill. I've also thrown away lots of stuff, which is hard for me, but getting easier. I'm starting to really be able to see the advantages in having this under control, though I still feel like that is a long way off. I have had repeated offers from several wonderful ladies at church who are more than willing to come out and help me. I'm almost at a point where I think that might work. My goal is to have the living room done by the time the baby is crawling. Time is ticking down!

We bought some immature trees this fall, in hopes of planting this spring. We bought them cheap through the Arbor Day society, and got a bunch of free ones. 10 in all. One is currently still alive, but at least it's the apple tree. So, we'll be ordering new peach and crabapple trees and try to get them in the ground while they'll still survive. Hopefully, we'll have more fruit than we can use in a few years time.

So, there you go. That's what's going on in our life. Any questions?

I don't blog much, partly because most people who read it already see me pretty often! But, I'm going to try, for my own sake, to start keeping up a little better with some of the cute things my kids say and do. Here's today's report:

I was peeling a banana for Luthy for breakfast. It was nice and freckled, just the way I like them! Her reaction: "Mama! My banana has SPRINKLES!!!"

Well, it's officially February, and I could have this baby any day now! Everything looks good. I see the doctor tomorrow, and I'll let you know what he says. I've been having a lot of contractions, and been pretty uncomfortable the last couple of days. We finally packed the hospital bag and bought a carseat, so I suppose we're about ready!

Lúthien is all better, and had her last day at daycare on Friday. She's stuck home with me now!  We're all pretty happy about that! We just found out that Kary needs not just the surgery for his deviated septum/turbinate reduction but probably an additional surgery due to some remaining bone spurs from his wisdom teeth. Sounds like we have a fun couple of months coming up! I'm on antibiotics in a final attempt to kick the never-ending sinus infection that I've had since October. It seems to be working!

I don't suppose I'll be doing a lot of updating in the next few days/weeks. Lúthien and I will be adjusting to being home more, and I have plenty to keep me busy in taking care of the house and preparing for Tinúviel's arrival.

Feel free to try to predict fun things like date/time/weight/length/whatever! I'll post when I can, but there isn't any wireless in the hospital, so it may be a few days after she arrives. Sorry to keep you waiting, but most of you "regulars" will probably know by then, anyway!

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted. Well, I'm going to claim that I've been too busy. 8 months pregnant (I'm due 1 month from today!), working full-time (and lots of extra time lately), taking an online class, taking care of a 2 year old and a household, and all that... you know.

So, here's this week's update: I was planning a trip to Texas this weekend to see my family and go to the Fort Worth Stock Show. It's a blast, a family tradition, Lúthien would love it, and all that. But, not only am I approaching the 36 week mark...

I got a speeding ticket on Sunday on the way to church. My very first one ever, but still a bummer, and still really bad timing. We're trying to save every penny to allow me SOME sort of maternity leave, and this was just annoying. I suppose that means that I shouldn't have been speeding, which is undoubtedly true.

One of our cars (fortunately the older one, which has been on it's last legs, er, wheels, for a while) finally died. The radiator just gave up, spilling coolant all over the electrical panels and things in the process. Rather than dump more money into a car that we know needs even more work, we're going to deal with one car for a time, and look into buying a new (well, used) car. Unfortunately, that means 10 hour days at work for me to arrange drop off and pick up. Since we now need two carseats, and hope to continue to add to our family, we're in the market for an inexpensive but decently running large family car - wagon, van, that kind of thing. I've been encouraged by the ads I've been browsing.

We're all still sick. I've had one week of wellness since October, and we haven't had a day that at least one of us hasn't been sick. We have been trading around a nasty sinus infection, and can't seem to be rid of it. (Although I prefer this to the horrid stomach something I had a while back. I never knew how much it could hurt to throw up when your abdominal muscles are already stretched by a baby!) I'm pretty much out of options, and willing to deal with it until the end of the pregnancy rather than pump myself full of riskier drugs. Lúthien's ear tubes are working splendidly - the doctor could not believe her ears were fine considering the severity of her current sinus infection. Unfortunately, she's getting worse, not better. She may also have developed some asthma, and is certainly still dealing with some repercussions from this summer's pneumonia. So, three missed days of work so far this week, with not much hope for her suddenly being better tomorrow. (I hate that we're having to use up all of our sick time now, and won't have any left when the baby is born in a month.) The biggest problem: she has neither slept well nor ate well since Saturday. I admit that this makes me nervous, since a lot of what we're dealing with now very closely mirrors what started in June and ended with her in the hospital in July. Plus, I need more than 3 hours of sleep in a night to function well, and haven't had a full night's sleep or a nap since Saturday. We're all pretty exhausted, and that's not helping with the sleeping!

Sorry to sound negative! We're hanging in there, but it's kind of rough right now. I thought I might as well give you all the scoop. Prayers for quick healing, wisdom, and financial guidance are appreciated! We know God will take care of us. He always has before.