Tuesday, 07 July 2009

• Out of Touch

  Okay, I know...I'm sadly out of date.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?

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