General update

So I figure we're due for a general update here, since I've been totally slacking on keeping up with this blog.

Let's move by family member, oldest to youngest.

Joe is oldest. Heh. He's finishing his semester. Thankfully, he doesn't have any papers to write this semester. It just worked out that his courses require exams instead, which is less time consuming, in some respects. So he's been busy but not as frantic as the end of last semester.

He is TAing a philosophy of law class, and he does have quite a bit of grading for that. He's a slow grader. We're in agreement on that. He's got to be finished by the time we leave for Spokane, May 20th.

He's gearing up for a crazy summer. He'll be doing an intensive Greek course this summer. It's here in Austin, so that's a good thing, but it means he'll be in class every day from 8-3, plus studying.

No, it won't be over by the time I have the baby. Yes, we will be fine. Really, friends. This isn't our first rodeo.

I'm next oldest. I have to grade for my two courses, and I want to have a draft of my last chapter with my advisor before we go to Spokane. That sort of means I should be doing something besides writing this post! Yeah, well. I'm a fast grader, so that should be done this weekend. Besides that, my grades are due on the 12th. They have to get done.

As for the chapter, that's not going to be tough, either. Once that's out of the way, I need to get prepared for our trip to Spokane. Then I'm going to chill out and do nothing. By which I mean nothing but corral a pair of insane monkeys on a four day road trip and then keep them from running over my grandmother and trampling her in her own house and/or falling down the basement stairs and/or drowning in the giant fish pond out back. It's going to be relaxing! Really!

I'm joking. It will be relaxing. We're looking forward to it. I'm only sorry that we didn't make it in time to see my grandfather one last time. He died on April 22nd.

Technically, Sonja is next. Sonja continues to be herself. She likes to bark at the mailman. Frances calls her Seeeya! Seeeya! Sonja, for her part, prefers to be left alone. She hides in her crate. You might, too.

Allison is next in line. She is finishing up school. She's working at coming to terms with being five. Five year olds are grown up. She's trying to navigate whether it's still okay to play, and whether she should still suck her thumb, and keep her Winnie. She's figuring it out. She's such a thoughtful little girl. It's adorable to listen to her process it all.

She's looking forward to kindergarten with some apprehension. I think by the time summer is over, she'll be pretty ready for it. The school she'll be attending is really great, so there are no worries there.

She's looking forward to Jude without any apprehension. She prays for him to get here quickly and grow up fast so she can play with him already. See, she needs somebody to be the prince.

She's also talking about baptism. We're starting to get her prepared to be baptized next Easter.

Next we have Frances. She's really turning into quite the talker. She talks non-stop. She's saying lots of sentences and asking lots of irritating questions. Mama...what are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? Dude, the same thing I was twelve seconds ago when you asked. Oh, she says. Oh! Oh!

She has a favorite song--same favorite song as her sister, actually--and she asks for it as soon as we get into the car. Then she tells me Turn up, Mama! Pweeese! I turn it up a little and she says, Tank ewe, Mama!

She's adorable. Seriously, I want to bite her she's so cute.

Speaking of which, she does bite. Getting better but sometimes she gets so excited, she just bites.

In general, the girls get along well. They have some disputes now and then. The only consistent problem is bedtime. They both like to read books for a while before they go to bed, but Allison is often ready to sleep before her sister is. Frances throws things at Allison to get her attention because she still wants to talk and play. A sleepy Allison pads into the living room to say, Mama...Frances just will not leave me alone and I'm tiiiiired.

Poor Allison.

They both love to hear me sing, though, so a couple of songs often does the trick at bedtime. Not always, though.

They are sweet, funny, wild people. And sometimes they are brats, but we'll save those stories for another day.

The baby is the youngest, I guess. The latest word on him is that he's doing fine. He's in there. He moves around. His heartrate is good. He's making me unbearably hot, but otherwise everything is fine with me. I'm quite happy with my midwives. Yes, all is well with the baby boy.

And that's the update. We continue.