Saturday, 15 August 2009

• Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da

  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!

   

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