Archive for September, 2006

Well, this month has been both stressful and exciting, difficult and fun. And it's not over yet! First of all, we have big news: Jay has quit his job with UALR and taken a job with Red Hat. It will be quite a change for all of us, as it involves traveling to a different place almost every week. He will get to spend his weekends at home, though. It is a great opportunity for him, and he will likely do it for a year or two and then move on to something with less travel. Jay has one week to be at home to rest and prepare, and then he flies to North Carolina the next week for an orientation. After that, he will go wherever they need him. We would appreciate any prayers as we get used to Daddy being away for days at a time!

Eliza has been especially hard to deal with recently, but I think I have figured out at least part of the reason. She has been trying to get three of her first-year molars in all at the same time! Two have finally broken through, and the last one is not far behind. When it comes in, she will have 12 teeth! Eliza is also a very light sleeper, and therefore, she does not usually take a very long nap. Often I put her down for her nap, and by the time I finally get James down for his nap (he really fights it, but still needs one), she wakes up. This means that I don't get much time during the day, if any, when both of them are asleep. It's a little rough on me, but I try not to complain—it could be a lot worse!

James has started going to AWANA Cubbies at church this month. He is very good at memorizing his Bible verses, but not so good at sitting still and quiet for the storytime. He is one of the youngest kids in there, so hopefully he will get better as time goes on.

Eliza runs everywhere she goes, and falls a lot, too. She is saying a few more words, but she has about 5 or 6 sounds that she uses for multiple words. For instance, "nah" could mean "down", "nurse", "banana", or "no", depending on the context. One of my favorite words she says is "up", which she says like this: "uh-puh".

This weekend we are going down to meet Jay's mom at Lake Chicot State Park and stay in a cabin. It should be a lot of fun, especially if the weather stays as nice as it has been. James is certainly excited!

We've been partying lately! My birthday was Tuesday, and we planned to go out to eat as a family. When we got to the restaurant, my whole family was there! Jay surprised me by inviting them. We had a nice dinner with everyone, and most of it was recorded for posterity by my cell phone's voice mail, which Benjamin had called while playing with his new headset and apparently forgot to hang up.

For James's birthday, which is Sunday, we invited a few families from church to join us yesterday for pizza and cake. We had the party at Mills Park in Bryant, and it went really well, I think. At least the kids had fun! We got a giant cookie cake with a train on it and a number 3 candle that James blew out. He got lots of fun presents, including a Darth Vader light saber from my family. He has been asking for a "pretty cool red sword" for a while, after noticing that our Mr. Potato Head dressed as "Darth Tater" had one. He was very excited about it! We are planning on having another smaller family party this weekend in Memphis. Then I think we will be about partied out!

Eliza is walking really well now, but she still has skinned knees and bruises from her many falls. She is very strong-willed, and screams when I try to hold her against her wishes. Her favorite activity at the moment is waking up James from his nap (she doesn't sleep well during the day, and often wakes up long before he does). She stands by his bed until I put her up on it, then she crawls all over it, sitting on James, hugging him, rolling, and laughing. She also loves to read books. She brings them to me, saying, "Uhn, uhn?" and tries to climb in my lap. She gets very upset if I don't cooperate. James and Eliza usually get along, but they have started to have little fights, mostly over James's toys. Eliza's hair is getting a little bit curly on the back of her head, and I am so excited! I can't wait until her hair is long enough to put in ponytails!