Playing Catch Up

Wow! It's been a really, really long time since I touched base here. And the funny thing is that it seems like it was just a few days ago. I simply cannot believe the alarming rate at which the past weeks have flown by! I'll give a quick catch up of the recent happenings, the good, the bad and the ugly. Or at least the good and the bad, since I can't think of any ugly.

Andrew was sick with his second cold this month. He had a really ugly cough and I did stay home with him for one day. You'd never be able to tell from this picture how lousy he sounded. We don't feed him in the high chair yet, but we do let him hang out in in while we are in the kitchen. Andrew likes to feel like he's part of the excitement. B took him for his 4 month check up and he weighed in at 15 pounds and 24 inches long. He's quite the chunky monkey now and I love it!

Life on the school front has been both good and bad. Good because I am starting to feel like I will eventually be able to keep all of the balls in the air even if it isn't happening now. Good because the kids are learning and things are progressing the way I would like. Good because I had my end of quarter report cards done early, last Sunday night. Bad because on Monday night some asswipe broke into my classroom and stole my district issued laptop computer. Bad because previously mentioned completed report cards were on that computer, and not printed out yet. Bad because I hadn't backed up my files. Good because I didn't need to back up my files because the server did it automatically. Bad because the 10 hours a day I work, not including weekends, just isn't good enough for a parent of one of my gifted students. Fantastic because I am currently enjoying my 2 week winter break.

Last week we had our first meeting with Andrew's birthmom since she was discharged from the hospital. It was good. Really good. I was a little anxious to see how it would all play out. I've been waiting for this since October and hoping and hoping she would set it up. I've had this real need to know that she is OK. After meeting with her I believe she is. I could tell that A was a little nervous when we arrived at the restaurant. I immediately took Andrew out of his stroller and handed him to her. She was a little teary, but even so the joy on her face couldn't be masked. She loved on him and we took several pictures. Andrew will know how loved he is.

Eric and Kari and the kids drove out from California on Friday and will be with us until Monday. We are celebrating Christmas early and just enjoying all of the kids together. Ashley just can't get enough of lovin on Andrew and Ryan is warming up to him. We don't have many pictures with Ryan because he is never still long enough to have his image captured on camera.

A few nights ago I caught B reading to Andrew after dinner

I did manage to get our decorating finished plenty early this year, despite my initial reservations and remembrance of last year.

This is, by far, my new favorite ornament on the tree.

So there you have it, that's been us for the last couple of weeks. Now that I have a bit of a break I'm looking forward to catching up on everyone's blogs and answering email. Thanks for sticking with me!