SINCE I LAST POSTED with real words, sentences, paragraphs....
- Vi: Vi is almost 5 months old - able to roll around some, sit up some, stand up with help, and full - FULL - of smiles. She's still not "sleeping through the night," which, by definition, is a 5-hour stretch, but sometimes she'll do 4. (Those are nice nights for Mommy.) I'm actually not sure if it counts as sleeping if she starts grunting in her sleep, I take her out of bed, feed her, put her back into her bed, and she remains mostly asleep throughout the process...If that DOES count as sleeping, then she sleeps from 8-5 most nights, eating every 2 hours. (Yup, I'm tired.)
- Dan: Dan has developed a new passion for business-process and motivational information. He's listening to Zig Zigler and Jim Roan, reading "Unstuck," along with a Macroeconomics text and a marketing book. He's also reading a biography on Napoleon, that book "The World Without Us," and a guide to gas engines. ALL FOR FUN. He is reading ALL THE TIME lately, which I think is really cool. This is partly due to the low-volume aspect of this activity, and partly due to the fact that we cancelled cable. I'm not sure we'll turn the TV on again until American Idol starts up. (Okay...I just took what seemed to be an intellectual revolution and ruined it by admitting that we're AI junkies. We can't help it-sorry.) Back to Dan. He's still working very hard, his store is going through some major changes, he is being motivated heavily by his boss to succeed, and he's feeling pretty capable and positive. He continues to amaze me with his skills at his job, as well as his instincts at fatherhood. Dan's such an amazing dad to our little Vi, and I've never seen a grown man become such a puddle of sweetness before. *sigh*
- Me: I left my job, re-joining my step-father's bookkeeping and accounting firm as a Senior Consultant. I provide bookkeeping and consulting services to a widely varied clientele in Maine, performing an also-widely varied set of services. I get to keep my some-at-home and some-away-from-home schedule, which is key. I'm working about 30 hours a week right now, trying to increase that bit by bit. Vi is up and alert and in need of play-time more every day, so we will probably be needing a "mother's helper" on my at-home days. All in all, it's really nice to be back at my old job, doing what I love, and being able to keep my family life as my #1 priority.
Other stuff:
- We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Cape Elizabeth contingent for the first half of the day, and the Cumberland gang the second half.
- Random family news: Jasper is back at sea, somewhere in the Pacific. Jamie is back from Italy. JD and Steph are moving back to New England. Tim and Amy got a bird.
- We bought a video camera and started filming Vi as she grows and changes.
- We have emptied & re-filled her bureau with larger clothes, since she keeps gettin taller! She's wearing 9-month outfits already.
- We put up a beautiful Christmas tree in the back of the kitchen, and watched Vi become all wide-eyed at the pretty lights.
- We've been enjoying the incredibly snowy December!
- Christmas - we did our usual thing, spreading ourselves rather thinly and paying for it in energy. To Cape Elizabeth, to Cumberland, to South Portland on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Vi was a bit fussy for Christmas Eve in CE, but slept through most of the evening in Cumbie. Christmas Day she was a wonder-baby--happy, cooing, laughing, napping amongst us, and just being cute-cute-cute. She was especially funny with my sister, snickering and hunching over to giggle as they played. Her cousing-the-dog Lucy really liked her, and she got to see all of her aunts & uncs and most of her grandparents. She even got to meet her great-grandfather, Popps, who is 92. Dan drove to & from NY to pick him up on Sunday, and is bringing him home (right now). Everyone was so generous with gifts for Vi. She has so many new clothes now! They are so adorable, too. Plus, she has quite a few new toys. My sister brought home boxes of hand-me-downs and toys for her, so her bureau is full, her toy box is full, AND we still have to go through the brand-new clothes she received yesterday. She's a very fortunate little girl.
Things are good, as you can see. We're all very tired, but I can honestly say that I'm happier than I've ever been in my life. And this whole "motherhood" thing is so much better than I expected.
Oh, and 12 days until Birthday. :-)
