Posting is clearly not for someone with my schedule. Sorry to those I continue to disappoint (fortunately, this is probably only 3 people!). So I will (yet again) make a resolution to do better, at least add pictures more often. Top updates since last post:
1. Christmas was fantastic for all and kids were thoroughly spoiled.
2. I worked New Year's Eve at the hospital, but there was apparently a party going on at my house that night
3. My work life is a complete and chaotic mess due to various complicated business and legal issues but I still love what I do and am grateful to have a job-- at all, in this economy-- that I really do enjoy for the most part. And am also grateful to have so many patients that I am really attached to and enjoy being part of their lives. Those patients really make all the other hassles worth it, and I've been blessed with a lot of those experiences recently.
4. We moved!! In a whirlwind span of a month, we put our house on the market and moved into a temporary place (apparently we have too much crap to be able to sell our house while we are actually still living in it...) in northern KY. This is fabulous for me because the hospital is 5 minutes away, as is Goddard, but stinks for Rodger, whose new job is quite a ways up the interstate in cincinnati... ugh. So it probably won't last for long, but I will enjoy it for now. Trekking 25 minutes there and back to a delivery in the middle of the night-- sometimes more than once a night-- has been hard for the past 5 years, so this is amazingly easier. I even sleep better because I don't have that hanging over my head every time I am on call. Thank you, God!
5. Anna moved into a big-girl bed with the move, and she is doing awesome! She is still treating it somewhat like a crib (lays in it anyway she pleases all night long) but at least she isn't falling out of it!
The learning curve might be a little steep, but we'll get there!
Aidan had to give up his top bunk for Anna, but he seems to like the new arrangement, and has been making room for all his friends in his new sleep set-up: (this photo was not in any way posed/staged)
6. Anna is also going on the potty regularly and I think we are very close to underwear... this will be about a year ahead of aidan's time-line, so I am loving that! And with the loss of the diaper/pull-up will go the last trace of baby in that girl; she seems so old! It is scary to listen to her talk; she has full conversations with complete and complex sentences. She doesn't just say "I need to go potty" -- instead she says " I need to go potty. I think I wanna go potty upstairs. I'm gonna go upstairs, mommy. You wanna come too? What a great idea! Let's go upstairs, mommy. Aidan, you can stay downstairs. We'll be right back!" She never stops.
7. My sister Rachel is engaged! The wedding is set for August in Nashville, and she is planning to have the kids in the wedding, too. I hope Aidan gets to wear a tuxedo; I will have to enlist some reinforcements in the photography department, though, since I am her matron of honor and will probably have to relinquish my beloved camera for a bit... I will figure something out, cause it sounds like Anna's dress is going to be adorable, too.
8. And last, but not least: Disney World 2010 has come and gone. We just got back last week-end, and this year was fantastic. Our weather was really pretty good, so the kids got plenty of pool time, too, so it was a perfect vacation. I think we have most of the park stuff down to a science after 3 years, but the weather is very unpredictable at this time of year, and last year we froze... so I was thrilled to have nice weather this year. Plus, I really love to get Anna into some shorts so I can squeeze those thighs! Aidan was still very much into all the characters this year, although he gave most of the princesses the cold shoulder (which was 180 degrees from last year). Most, but not all... he still retains considerable love in his heart for his beloved Mulan, and we happened to get the exact same Mulan this year as last year, and she deserves a raise in my opinion; she was really sweet to the kids and spent lots of time talking to them and taking pictures. Anna, apparently, is keeping her options open. Even though she acts like a tomboy most of the time, she was VERY interested in the princesses and kept saying she wanted a snow white dress like she saw other girls wearing. And she was mesmerizedby Cinderella when we had lunch in the castle; I thought she was going to go home with her!
Aidan's big interests this year were pins and star wars. He was obsessed with wearing his pins (on his lanyard) everyday, and had to show each character he met that he had one of their pins... and he kept wanting to trade pins with every employee at Disney World, even when he had no pins left that he was willing to part with... next year we will get a bunch of loser pins that no one likes, just so they have a stash to trade with. But he was very proud of all of his loot; I must have 20 pictures of him showing off his pins. He also developed a new obsession with Yoda from Star Wars shortly before our vacation, and this turned out well for him because there is a star tours ride at Hollywood studios, and they had lots of Yoda merchandise for him to beg for... He came home with a Yoda stuffed animal, a matted print (which is now framed and hanging over his bed) and a yoda t-shirt that says "My finger, pull." No joke. He picked it himself. Some of those boy characteristics are obviously hardwired on the DNA; no question of nature vs. nurture there!
I have whittled the 800+ photos we came home with down and put a selection in an album at the right top of the page for those who are interested; anyone who wants the abbreviated version need only scroll down for a brief summary:
Aidan actually did NOT have a Peter Pan pin, and was somewhat distressed about this when we met Peter Pan...
The Force was definitely with us... we survived another vacation at Disney World!
Those are the best pics, EVER!! We are getting ready to go to DW on spring break. I'm pretty sure that if any of the characters pick Lyddie up she'll completely freak out. I hope to get half the shots that you got. SO CUTE! I can't believe how big the kids are!! They look so much older. Congrats on living closer to work. I'm sure that is amazing. I can't imagine those middle of the night commutes. I hope that we get to see you all sometime before TOO long. Our house is always open and we actually have water in the pool :). Real water, not just rain water like on the 4th! Y'all take care.
Posted by: Angie Ennis | March 04, 2010 at 08:15 PM