Spring Will Eventually Come

We've had a very busy last month. Grandma and Grandpa came out for five days over Super Bowl weekend. We loved having them here and having all the help with the kids! Thanks! While they were here we had a mini Super Bowl party and Fr. Ron joined us for the game - an especially fun one to watch! Judith can't read, so I can write here that we'll see them again in April. We're surprising Judith with a trip to Disneyland, and Grandma and Grandpa are going to fly out to join us. We have our character meals booked and are very excited!

Other than that, we've been working on getting healthy. Our previous sickness worked through everyone. Eventually Robert ended up with it and was miserable during his parents' visit. He finally got totally over it, but only for about six or seven days. Now he's been miserable again for the last week. I don't think he had any voice left at all on Friday.

Fortunately he was in good shape last weekend, because he had to watch kids on Saturday and Sunday while I did the Call to Continuing Conversion and the Rites of Election. During the dinner that we have on Sunday for the Rites of Election (for those of us who are there from 11 a.m. through 8:30 p.m.), Bishop Blaire was telling me what a wonderful husband I have that I'm able to leave two children with him for the day and trust that all is OK. And he's right - I've got the best husband! These two children never stop moving, and are especially good at timing their naps such that at least one of them is almost always up!

Both Judith and Gregory are doing well. They are enjoying the warm days when they come. We've been to parks a few times and Judith is getting back in the swing of riding her bicycle. She's also been enjoying her new cozy coupe. Gregory is moving as much as he can without walking - which we presume is about six to eight weeks away or so. We'd be thrilled if it took a bit longer though.

A few weeks back we went up to Lodi and Stockton for a Saturday morning. Robert played with the kids at the park, while Auntie Terry and I took a master gardener class on landscape planning. It was fascinating! We followed up the class with a nice lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant in Stockton: Dave Wong's. We figured it was a good way to mark the new Year of the Tiger. And Judith was able to show off her chopstick skills!

Next Friday we'll have Gregory in for his nine-month check-up so we can see how much he's grown. We're having trouble fitting quite a few of his size 12 month clothes on him at this point, and so we're going to start transitioning to the size 18 month outfits. I can't believe how fast he's going through it all and growing up.

Now Judith's refrain each and every day is, "We don't have enough children in this house, Mommy. We need another baby. And this time, I want it to be a girl!" I've told her several times that there are certain things in life that she has absolutely no say in, and the number of children her parents have, or the gender of the children, really tops that list! She's unconvinced.

But while she's frustrated by not having "enough" children in the house, she's doing a good job feeding Gregory and helping with his baths. Of course we have to continuously work on the notion of sharing - as in she cannot say, "I want to share that with Gregory!" and grab something out of his hand that he's playing with. But we figure that will naturally work itself out a bit as Gregory gets closer and closer to her size. We're guessing he's just under 20 pounds at this point. Judith hit 20 pounds after 18 months. So he seems to be catching up to her rapidly!

We'll let you know how he's doing next week. We know the milestones he's reached lately include banging two toys together. He still has just the two bottom teeth. He's stood on his own without holding onto anything one time. And he's having a lot of fun saying "Dada, Dada, Dada!" with the occasional "Mama."

Of course each and every day I look at Judith and cannot believe what a little girl she's turning into! She's very excited about going to school (even though it won't happen for another year and a half), and is working on her numbers and recognizing and writing her letters. She skips "16" when she's counting, but then can go up to 50 on her own when she's in the mood. She often wants us to count to "100" but when we ask her to do it she just gets bored part way through and says, "That's enough!"

Have a good Sunday.