Sorry that I left for a while, especially after such a depressing post. Things are better. That's not really surprising, is it? Most afflictions are momentary. There are/were some real things going on, and I'm not trying to make light of that, but I certainly haven't been stuck in that hopeless feeling for weeks on end. I've been juggling a lot of responsibilities and haven't made blogging a priority. I'm going to try to be a bit more consistent in that. (Comments help a lot! They are powerfully motivating.)

God has blessed me with an opportunity to work from home. I am contracting with a company that helps retailers to prepare their listings for Amazon. It's about as interesting as data entry probably gets, which is to say not too bad. I'm thrilled to be able to help with our financial needs without having to leave the house for hours on end. I'm just in the very early stages, but it looks like a good thing for our family at this point. I want to continue studying to transcribe music braille, but it is difficult to find consistent time and energy to devote to that in the midst of other things. I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on a couple of other projects. At that point, I think I can commit more to this.

Lúthien and Tinúviel continue to grow and develop. It is fun to see how different they are from each other! I admit that I find myself wondering how each of them would be different if their birth order was reversed. Lúthien is incredibly precocious. She has a shockingly large vocabulary and talks non-stop, narrating our day or telling me about her vivid dreams. She knows all of her alphabet and what sounds many of the letters make. She can consistently count to 15 before the numbers get a little crazy. She loves to be read to and flips through books on her own for hours. She can quote most of the Dr. Seuss and P. D. Eastman books we have as well as a few others. She enjoys playing with her dolls and stuffed animal friends, running and jumping and being rambunctious, and coloring. We're working on things like prompt obedience and not throwing fits when you don't get your way. Luthy can say the first several catechism answers, the Lord's prayer, the prayer of confession that we do at church each week, and she can sing many of the songs that we sing. She still has a hard time sitting still, but she is getting better at it as we practice. She is very tall for her age and quite thin. It makes finding clothes that fit well a bit of a difficulty. She is learning to sleep in a big girl bed, though we're still struggling there a bit. Potty training is the next big hurdle. She'll be fine as soon as she decides that she wants to do it. I've seen glimmers of hope recently, so we'll be tackling that soon.

Tinúviel is a very mellow, happy baby and not prone to extremes. She smiles hugely and easily at everyone, but doesn't giggle often. She squeals and "talks" a lot with growls, raspberries, vowel sounds and dadadadas. She fusses only when she needs something and gives plenty of time for those needs to be met before escalating. She rarely cries. She thinks that Lúthien is about the neatest thing on the planet and is always thrilled when Luthy stops to play with her for a bit. Nuvi rolls around quite well and especially loves lying on her back and playing with her feet. She is in the early stages of crawling - rocking on all fours and "splatting" as I call it. She gets up on all fours, then can't quite figure out how to coordinate all four limbs, so she just kind of "splats" forward and splays out. It's cute, and she can cover a surprising amount of ground this way! She sucks her thumb or fingers when she is tired or hungry. She's very large for her age - already almost 20 pounds and wearing mostly 12 month sizes! She has her first two teeth on the bottom, but shows no interest in solid foods. Every day I try to give her some cereal or vegetable on a spoon. Every day she sits there with it in her mouth, holding her mouth open and just looking around and grinning. She thinks it's pretty funny but doesn't try to mouth it or put her fingers in there or anything. I'm ready for her to start chowing down, since she has recently stopped sleeping through the night and it seems that her caloric needs are higher than what she is getting during the day. Other than trying to chew on electronic cords, she doesn't cause much trouble, and she's a lot of fun!

I'm learning to sew. I'm teaching myself with the aid of online resources, a couple of library books and some internet friends. I've made a couple of successful dresses for Lúthien, including one that I finished today and I'm really excited about it! You can read more about this adventure at my new blog: notasewer.wordpress.com and see photos of my latest creation.

Other than that, life goes on. We are in a stage of really considering what is best for our family not just now but long term. It is sobering but comes with a measure of excitement as well. Please pray for us as we seek God's guidance and wisdom and attempt to make the changes that we believe He is leading us to make. Thanks for reading and caring!

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!