Ten on Tuesday

1.  The most current, but likely least interesting, news is that our dryer appears to be broken.  Brent is busy trying to fix it while I google replacement lint filters and similarly only semi-helpful things.  A bit nervous that clothesline maybe in my future for a few days at minimum..... The number of "handy" projects has been escalating here of late.  I guess the newness is starting to wear off here as we begin year five in the house.  Given how much we like being hand it may encourage us to think about moving one of these days.

Oh, did I forget to point out which one she is?  I suspect you guessed, right?

2.  M's first tap dancing lesson was today.  The biggest surprise to me was the sheer number of falls.  It turns out that tap shoes may be too slippery for some three year olds.  Not as surprising, it was very loud.  M was adorable and so happy.  Whenever, she was waiting for the next instructions she would stand and wiggle her little body (read bottom) around with her hand on her hip.  Just too cute.  She did fairly well following directions, although sometimes she was more just walking around in circles than she was going on tip toe or something similar.  I am SO glad we got to watch this week!

3.  On Saturday, I made my big return to book club after a couple months away following E's arrival.  I had such a wonderful time.  I am so lucky to have so many fabulous friends surrounding me.  It was great to have some girl time and just be together.   Meanwhile, our kids were home with Brent.  He sent me the following picture of what they were up to:

Awwww.... and look what a big sister she is!

4.  B has had an eventful week.  He lost yet another tooth (that makes six for those keeping score at home).  He conquered his first week of Kindergarten and is now being dropped off curbside (with some help from the "Dolphin Squad")  rather than being walked in.  It is much faster and he seems cool with it.  We are getting an ongoing assortment of interesting facts about his days and have some assigned family activities to do to support his learning in class.  They are way too easy, but we're playing along and upping the difficulty where we can.  He did get a heart sticker this week for "making Ms. S's heart full of happiness".  When asked how he achieved this he said he and some classmates were just being really good listeners (Hooray!) Open house is this week, which may provide some more clues as to what the learning objectives are.  Meanwhile, he is so very tired in the evenings and by the end of the week.  I'm hoping he adjusts or that we find a way to sneak in some more rest.

5.  I have, at long last, retired my beloved Brooks Glycerin running shoes for new Brooks PureCadence shoes and resumed my "run like a mother" exercise. I have already managed to suffer a very embarrassing, if not particularly damaging fall (No, I don't want to talk about it).  I am woefully far away from where I was last winter as far as distance and endurance, but keep reminding myself that I did this before and can again.  (Going clothes shopping this week was a reminder that not only can I, but I must...uggghhh).

6.  I am also doing a fair bit of  Continuing Legal Education (CLE) these days.  It is not so fun, but Oh so mandatory.  Aside from the gym and occasional CLE time, our maternity leave days center around napping (E), errands (Me), and picking up/dropping off the other kids.  As I've been running errands these last few days I wonder how families with multiple kids and activities and two working parents ever get anything done.  I sort of wonder how we will when I go back to work in just 2.5 short weeks....

7.  We are heading to TX this weekend for one last road trip for the summer.  We are visiting family and celebrating a birthday with friends.  It will just be a short run, but I'm hoping fun for everyone.  B has both Monday & Tuesday off for Labor Day so perhaps we'll have some special Mom & Boys time.

8.  My Mom and Brother have at very long last returned to OK.  It was funny, for seven years we only saw them maybe 3-4 times a year for a few days at a time.  Now, they are such a fixture of our daily/weekly life that it felt like forever when they were gone for this 2.5 weeks to Denver.  We are so glad to have them back and excited for their OKC Savory Spice Store's opening very, very soon!

9.  My favorite M quote of the day "Grandma is the best fixer EVER!"  She's right, of course, particularly in situations like this where her dress needed mending.  On the one hand, perhaps I should work on my fixing skills.  On the other, I'm quite sure that my Dad, Grandma Dotter and Mom are thrilled at the compliment.  M is also making new friends at school and kept insisting we call G and C this evening and could not fathom why this was not possible.  She proceeded to make up telephone numbers for each since we don't have the  real ones.  One more tidbit, we are running most of errands between pick up times and M is turning into an amazing helper and much better at minding when she is the oldest.  It is weird, but I'll take it.

10.  E@ 11 weeks - You remember that whole taking a picture every day for the first month thing - it has definitely gone by the wayside now as I have very few pictures at all of E or anyone this week.  Today, we had a mini photo shoot while laying in the grass.  He is quite adorable!

I do wish I knew what he was thinking though  :)

I am so tempted to say he is just the best baby ever.  During the day, he takes about a three hour nap, admittedly mostly in his car seat while we drop off the bigs and I do my gym time and an errand or two.  He then wakes up and has lunch and we play for an hour or so before the next round of pick-ups.  I adore the smiles on his face when he sees me and listening to him giggle at his sister or his dad.  He has the most endearing smile - often with his tongue out, and a very relaxed personality generally.  I am so blessed.

That is not to say that it is all rosey.  For example, breast feeding is basically over now.  With the shift to more formula comes more spitting up and more fussy time in the evenings.  I also have been struggling mightily to get him back to sleep after feedings in the night.  He sleeps well from about 8pm -2am, but things get rougher after that.

Otherwise, he is fascinated by his fingers.  He spends a lot of the day clasping and unclasping his hands and trying mightily to get his fingers or hands in his mouth.  He is very alert, active, and strong. I love our time together and our snuggles.  For some reason, we've started rubbing our ears together and it is weird, but nice too.  Hooray for happy baby thoughts!