You Took My Cookie (an update)

Since the last update about the unspeakable 4-letter days off school, there has been little snow to speak of. In fact, for a while it warmed up to 50 and 60 degrees, and it was WONDERFUL. Made me anxious for Spring, even though I know it's still a ways off. The kids are ready to be able to play outside all day, and I am ready for them to be able to do that, too! I think we're all a little stir crazy.

Elijah

Washing Hands

Elijah is getting a lot better at doing everything he needs to do all by myself. Dressing, potty, that kind of stuff. Still, he often insists on me helping him dress, which annoys me. Totally goes against my independent spirit. And against my lazy tendencies ("Can't you do it yourself? I'm busy playing a game!").

I'm happy, of course, that he's getting the potty thing down, all by himself. We're still trying to get him to wash his hands every time. I was thinking we were doing pretty good in this category, but a few weeks ago Rob said, "Elijah doesn't wash his hands. He just makes the sound of the water and then walks out." I'd never seen Elijah do that, and I thought Rob was crazy. Rob asked Elijah about it, and Elijah said that he always washes his hands. Pat ourselves on the back, right? Of COURSE he ALWAYS washes his hands. We've been training him.

Well, last night Elijah said, "We always need to wash our hands, huh, Mom?" Yep. "Sometimes I forget, though, and then I make the water sound." ... It cracks me up, though, that him PRETENDING to wash his hands is good enough for him. He knows he needs to do it every time, but if he pretends, that counts. Kids are hilarious.

They Had Problems

Yesterday afternoon the weather was fantastic, so Elijah sat outside on the back deck to eat his lunch. Well, randomly two people ran through our backyard. From what I can tell, they hopped the fence on one side. A girl was running and a guy eventually caught up to her and grabbed her (not meanly) by the arm and then directed her back to the road. They exited through the gate. The whole time Elijah was shouting at them, "Hey! What are you doing?"

Anyways, it was a little weird, but whatever. Elijah came back inside and said, "Mom, there were people in our backyard." Right then I was glad I'd seen it, too, or else I would have thought he was lying. I said, "Oh yeah?" "Yeah," he continued, "Do you know why they were there? They had problems." Oh.

Miciah

The only Miciah update is about her Parent Teacher Conference. It went well, of course. And I say of course because, if you don't know, Miciah is pretty smart. We usually keep that on the down low, since we don't want people to think that we're bragging about her. We don't want to be one of Those Parents, you know? But the other day Miciah's teacher told her that she's the best reader in all of 1st Grade, and I figure that if the teacher can tell Miciah, if she thinks Miciah's mature enough to handle that kind of information, then I can tell my friends, right?

We're pretty proud of Miciah. She learns really quickly and really well. She has yet to come to a concept that she can't figure out in about 2 seconds. But she's not cocky, either, and that's always a question we ask. Her teacher says that she's very willing to help the other kids, and she'll coach them through stuff, instead of just giving them the answers or having an air of "I SO already know this."

The teacher is working on challenging Miciah with harder stuff, particularly in reading. We are all for that. She says that Miciah is the brightest child that she's taught in her 8 years of teaching. That's flattering, but we try to take it with a breezy air. You know like, "That's nice. Last night at dinner we ate fish sticks and they were pretty tasty." Aware of her talents but nonchalant in a good way. ... Not sure we (or that sentence about fish sticks) pull it off.

So, hurray for Miciah! We hope that she'll continue to enjoy school, and that she'll continue to wear her talent with such ease.

Teancom

Nap Time

Teancom's napping is back under control. After he tried to convince me that he didn't need naps, and I believed him for a few weeks, he started having night terrors mid-day. He'd be fine for a large part of the day, and then around 4 pm he'd crash, sleep for a half hour to an hour and wake up SCREAMING. He'd scream (and pound the ground and flail around and hit me in the face, etc.) for another half hour to an hour. ... Elijah did night terrors, so we're used to them, but when they happen at midnight, they're SO MUCH easier to handle than at 5:00 in the afternoon.

After a few episodes like that, I started praying to know what to do about his naps. Cause I am unable to handle night terrors mid-day. I will go crazy. And the next day he was tired at 12:30 pm. I laid him down, he slept for 2 1/2 hours, and woke up perfectly happy, just like normal. THAT'S our Teancom. And that's our answer to prayer. So Teancom is back to napping, and nap time is now more structured than it has been since he was a tiny baby.

You Took My Cookie

Teancom is developing his attitude. It's hilarious. The other day he became convinced that I had taken his cookie. He walked into the kitchen with a very serious look on his face, planted both his feet on the ground deliberately (almost stomping his feet), pointed straight at my face and said, "Did YOU take my cookie?" I told him I did not. And he said, "You did! You took my cookie!" I giggled at this little boy, completely serious, chewing me out for taking his cookie, when I didn't actually do it. I told him again that I didn't take his cookie, so he moved on to Rob, standing beside me. He pointed at him: "Did YOU take my cookie?"

After Teancom left, Rob and I couldn't help laughing about it. Rob said, "I felt like I was getting interrogated!"

Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day plans were totally ruined when our kids got a stomach bug that lasted just long enough to ruin our plans. Figures. ... But it's a good reminder, right? I mean, Rob and I met, we fell in love (insert kissy noises here), and then we got married and had kids and that's real life. Love is not as sappy as it used to be. But it's more substantial somehow. I'll take the trade-off.

So instead of our fun plans of alone time, we took down the wallpaper in our kitchen. Or at least started it. And the Home Project was launched. ... It was about 11:15 p.m. and I went to the closet to get the vacuum so that we could clean up, when I looked in the bedroom. Rob had made the bed (I'm not so good at doing that everyday), and on my pillow was a package of Milano cookies (my favorite), 2 glasses, sparkling cider, and a homemade valentine. How cute is that? Rob can be very cute sometimes. ... Of course, it was so late, and we were so tired from the project, that we ate a cookie or two, drank the cider, and went straight to sleep. How's that for romance? Keeping that fire burning!

Lisa Weekend

This last weekend we went up North to see Aunt Lisa. Hung out at M&K's with C and Mom and Dad and all the kids. So many kids these days. It's lovely. Used to be utter chaos, but it's managable as they get older. Anyways, it was fun to see Lisa. She treated us to lunch at a cute little mom and pop restaraunt. And she bought Lucky Charms for Elijah, so Elijah loves Lisa forever. Lisa thinks Elijah is hilarious. Truly Elijah's facial expressions are pretty dang funny. He's overly expressive, and almost everyone we meet comments on his expressions. I'll have to take a video of Rob doing his Elijah impression. It's pretty funny, and spot-on.

The Home Project

is another update altogether. The most I'll say about it here is that on Saturday, two days from now, we're taking out the wall. It'll be fun! And Rob's dad is coming down to help us, which is fantastic. I think he had other plans for the weekend, but as his wife said, "He just couldn't stay away from taking a wall out!"

Random Game

If you have a few seconds and you want to test out how good you are at eye balling angles and stuff, check out this game:
http://woodgears.ca/eyeball/

Rob's Calling

Of note is how we're doing with Rob's time-consuming church calling. It's been about a year now, and it's been a long learning process. Not sure I have anything concrete to offer for what we've "learned", but we've become better at trusting each other, respecting each other, and balancing our time and committments.

This weekend we went to church up North. Rob and I sat next to each other. We held hands. We attended Sunday School class together. We arrived together. We left together. ... I cried several times, just holding his hand. But they weren't sad tears or bitter tears. They weren't even tears over the knowledge that next week it would be back to normal. It was just nice to hold his hand for a minute. I thought about how lucky I am to be married to such a good man. A man so willing to serve and give of himself. And tears were tears of gratitude and love.

And I can't explain that. But the tension surrounding Rob's calling has gone away and been replaced with a quiet. It's not a calm feeling, because calm implies that there are memories of a storm just passed. It's a quietness. It's simple, deep, and powerful. I know this feeling didn't come from inside me, because I'm pretty convinced that on my own I am altogether incapable of such a feeling. It came from Heavenly Father, and I consider it a rare and precious gift.

For instance, last week Rob skipped his Tuesday night meeting so that he could fix our ceiling. Months ago I would have said, "You will call Tim (our Bishop) and tell him that you WILL NOT be there tonight, and if you won't call, then I will. And if he has a problem with it, he can just deal." Not only would I have said that theoretically, I HAVE said that. But now it's different. I started with, "Rob, you should skip your meeting, and if you don't call Tim then I will." But it didn't have the same weight. It was playful. And I followed it with, "Rob, I think your highest priority is to stay home and put up the ceiling. But I don't know what's going on with your calling, so you need to tell me where you're most needed."

In short, we're in a really really good place with Rob's calling, and that's lovely.

And that's life here.

Another ... I Can't Even Say the Words Outloud (an update)

Well, at least Miciah was in school for 2 days this week before the first 4-Letter-Word Day was upon us. The kids have been enjoying playing Nintendo downstairs (no, not our Wii. The original old-school Nintendo) and I've been enjoying the peace and quiet upstairs. Rob decided to work from home to keep the craziness at bay. Hurray!

The roads are clear now, since the sun came out. So school should be on tomorrow. ... Really, I don't mind Snow Days that much. They can be fun. But last week was a LONG week. I felt better knowing that it wasn't just me that was going crazy. It was everyone I know, kids and parents alike. So, at least if I'm going crazy, I'm in good company! Universal Snow Day-Induced Craziness. I think that's an official medical condition.

I would take more pictures of the snow, since it is beautiful, and another 6 inches of gorgeous powdery snow fell yesterday. But, after a while, it's just snow.

Three Goblins

Monday ended up being one of the most productive days of my life. Mind you, this isn't hard to accomplish. I can make dinner and fold a load of laundry and the day would be tied for second place on my productive days list. (I despise the word 'productive' even. As well as 'effecient' and 'effective.' Why would I want to be those things? I rather value being relaxed and easy-going, and if that means sacrificing productivity, then so be it. Productivity: --shudder--)

Monday started with me cleaning the entire upstairs. I vacuumed every floor, and wiped down every hard wood surface by hand. I did all the laundry. I traced a full-sized Elijah onto posterboard for him to color and then put up in his room. I decided to put up curtains and they were too long, so I spent hours doing a sewing project to make them just the right length and look good, too (for me this was a HUGE accomplishment. Sad, I know, but normally I would just cut them off, leave the ends ravelling, and call it good). I babysat last minute for a friend who needed to go in for an emergency doctor's appointment (no, it's not someone you know. Yes, she's fine). So I even had an extra toddler while I got all this done.

the curtains, all finished!

To top of the "Tamra is Awesome" feelings, I have been finishing lots of projects lately, and it's been a good feeling. Projects I've left for YEARS. In January I finished a wood working project that's been on my To Do list for 3 years (1 year of thinking about it, 2 to actually start, stop, and then finish making it), finished a book that I've been meaning to finish for the last 2 years (Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling by Bushman--HIGHLY recommend it, but it's a thick read), made a few paper craft projects that I've been meaning to do for a long time, and completely and totally de-cluttered my entire house, top to bottom.

So I was standing downstairs, folding the last load of laundry and feeling pretty good about myself as Miciah and Elijah were upstairs coloring the Elijah poster so we could post it in his room. Mid-self-congratulatory thought, Miciah came downstairs yelling, "Elijah colored his face and hands!" Well, that was good, I thought, since he'd been avoiding those areas on his poster. I said, "That's good!" Miciah just stared at me. She blinked. "No. I mean, Elijah ACTUALLY COLORED his face and hands. With marker!"

Oh.

I thought about that for a minute. So what if he colored his face and hands? Was it hurting anyone? No. I chuckled to myself, thinking about how funny kids are, and said, "It's alright, Miciah." She was not expecting that response, and she jumped on her opportunity. "Can I do it, too?" "Sure! Just don't color on your clothes." What a relaxed, fun mother I was right then! I kept folding laundry.

About 10 minutes later Teancom came downstairs, his face, hands and feet COVERED in red marker. Totally cute, and totally funny. I went upstairs to see all of them covered in their favorite colors: Teancom, as I just said, was red; Miciah was blue; and Elijah was green. They were all goblins, they said. Elijah was the Green Goblin (a familiar character in our family). Teancom ran around the living room saying, "I red gobwin!" and shooting me with his pretend weapon that shoots out of his hand. I got out the camera and took pictures of the 3 of them. I was even composed enough to take a video.

And then I noticed a small detail I'd previously overlooked: They colored the bottoms of their feet. I could just see, in my mind, marker all over my house, rubbed into the carpet. I imagined myself on hands and knees for hours trying to get that red out of the carpet and being wholly unsuccessful. And suddenly, the fun was over: I sent them all into the bathroom to take a bath. Miciah complained, "You said we could keep it for a while!" "Well, that's before I knew you colored the bottoms of your feet!"

I went to turn the water on, and it wouldn't warm up. Our water heater has been acting up lately, and the pilot light hasn't been staying lit. Rob has been re-lighting it a few times every day, but he hadn't shown me how to light it yet. I put that on my to-do list. Then I got the phone and called Rob at work. He wasn't there. I looked at the water heater, trying to figure out how to light it, but all I could picture was a blown-up water heater. I thought about calling a neighbor to use their tub, but I quickly put that out of my mind. I went back to the bathroom and did what I had to do: I ordered the children to take a cold bath.

Needless to say, they weren't thrilled with that prospect. I filled up the tub with a minimal amount of water and told them they could stay standing, but they HAD to wash off the marker. I left them in the 3 inches of water and went back into the dining room to find marker footprints everywhere. A little flustered, I started Windexing. I surveyed the livingroom as I went past, and there was no marker on the carpet, for which I said a small prayer of gratitude. Then back into the bathroom where there was marker EVERYWHERE. I must have Windexed every surface of that bathroom: the floor, the sink, the toilet seat, the glass shower door.

As I was finishing the Windexing, I could hear Teancom repeatedly saying, "It's cold. It's cold." And then Elijah said, "Mooomm! There's peeee in the bathtub!" "Do I LOOK like I really care?" is what I was thinking, but I said, "Why is there pee in the tub?" "Because Teancom peed in it." I almost rolled my eyes. "So don't drink the water."

Having finished the Windexing, I proceeded to the tub to make sure the kids were adequately scrubbed down. I had told them that they could keep the marker on their faces, but decided against it after wiping marker off too many surfaces. The kids were NOT happy about me scrubbing down their faces with cold water. Teancom doesn't like to get his face washed anyway, so the whole time I was scrubbing his face he was screaming bloody murder and the red marker dripping from his face made it look like he was bleeding bloody murder, too. Good times.

Afterwards I sent them downstairs to watch a movie until Daddy got home. I needed a little sanity time after that! And as they were marching downstairs, I called after them, "Oh. And you can't color with markers for a few weeks." Miciah wasn't happy: "What? Why?!" "Because I said so," I replied, and sat down to read a book.

Pink Eye

On Thursday Miciah's eye looked a little pink, but not a big deal. Cleared up on its own after a few days, and by Sunday she was fine. I called a medical student friend and asked what the tell-tale sign for pink eye is. He said, "If your other kids get it." So wouldn't you know that on Saturday Elijah's eyes started looking pink, too. Still not a big deal and no real goopiness or anything. And then Monday TEANCOM got it. His eyes, though, turned pretty dark red and were very very goopy. So I'm pretty sure, looking back, that they all had pink eye, and I'm very sorry that we attended church on Sunday. However, it appears to have been one of the most mild forms of pink eye I've ever seen. Teancom's case, with as bad as it was, is over now. ... Course, there could be a re-infection in a week or so. That's par for the course at our house.

Teancom's Naps

Teancom has decided he's done with naps, which is usually fine. Sometimes I find him on the floor, blanket over him, and I'll ask if he wants to go lay down. He'll say no and that's that. The other day, though, he was being pretty fussy all day, and then in the evening Rob walked into the kitchen and said, "Doesn't need naps." I looked at him and he motioned for me to come into the livingroom. I found Teancom like this:

His "nap" was short-lived, though. After 10 minutes or so he was back up and running. I guess he just needs cat naps. Like his dad.

Rob's Birthday Coat

Rob's parents came down for his birthday and took us all to Trader's World. Fun place. If you've never been there, you might want to try it out. It's a huge flea market, and it's totally random stuff. We found matching shelf/peg board things for our front entryway (I say entryway, but it's really just the livingroom wall right by the front door). We've been searching for just this sort of thing for a while now, we had the money for it, they were really inexpensive, and I really liked the woodwork. I'll take a picture of them, so you know what I'm talking about. I thikn they look really nice, and I would definitely go back and buy this guy's stuff again. I like the style. (They also had other cool wood stuff, like a kids' play kitchen set for about $50, and a rocking horse for $30.)

the little one is in our bedroom. I've wanted a little shelf there for almost 2 years. This one works perfectly.

One thing we did not find there, though, was a new coat for Rob. Rob decided that for his b-day he wanted a nice coat. Like mine. Not that I'm bragging about my coat, but I love my coat. Love, love, love. It's 5 years old now and it's not very stylish, but it keeps me warm. So Rob's parents took the kids home with them and we went searching around town for a coat. Burlington Coat Factory: No acceptable coat. Bass Pro Shop: No acceptable coat. Kohl's: No acceptable coat. We didn't even try after that. Figured if we couldn't find a coat to Rob's liking at Burlington, our chances of finding it anywhere else were slim.

So we looked on-line after we got home. Still, Rob wasn't finding a coat he liked. I finally looked at him and said, "You know, the coat you want: someone has to SELL it." Finally he found the coat he wanted, and he got it in the mail on Friday. He likes it. It keeps him warm. Happiness. (In the picture of the wooden peg shelf things, the green coat hanging up is his new coat. Not that you can see it well in that picture, but whatever.)

He also got a birthday goodie box from his Aunt Lisa. She sent candy and a movie (which we haven't watched yet. I'm slow on movie-watching).

Rob's parents got him 2 new games and 2 new movies.

He's 30 this year. I threw him the big 3-0 party last year and told him it would be his 29th birthday this year. Really, I won't insist people say he's 29 all year, but the idea was a good one, apparently, because it made this year feel really nice. All the big hullabaloo stuff surrounding the party was over with, and we got to spend a quiet birthday with just his parents around our dinner table. Best of both worlds, I think.

Taxes

Finished our taxes already. Nothing special about that, it's just nice to be done with them! Plus, we got a good chunk of money back from the feds, so we'll be able to buy that new water heater. And fix our van. And still save some.

Spiritual Gifts

I have to give a talk on Sunday about Spiritual Gifts. If anyone has any insights for me, let me know!

MarioKart Wii

We've been having fun with MarioKart Wii lately. Rob has been impressed with my driving SKILLS. I'm not really a gamer, but MarioKart is My Game. SNES was my system, and MarioKart was my game. I played it for countless hours. MarioKart Wii is different, of course, but the same sort of idea. I'm having a good time with it.

And can I just say that I love that the Wii keeps track of your "accomplishments" for the day, and the "accomplishments" list is exclusively how long you've played? This cracks me up every time. I always check out how long I've played, and I think this is a useful feature, but not in an accomplishments sort of way. In a making sure I don't play too much sort of way. I may not like the word 'productivity', but I know what NON-productivity is, and video games pretty much defines it (sorry, my gaming friends, but you know it's true, too). Accomplishments, indeed.

Rob's Career

Rob is developing relationships with colleges in Cincinnati. He made contact with a wonderful woman at Mount St. Joseph's (if you aren't familiar with this college, don't worry, you're not the only one). They spent a lovely few hours talking about what life was like as a professor there. It was a great meeting, and it gave Rob all the information he needed about what it would be like to be a professor at a teaching-focused college. Rob is more excited than ever about his future, and that's a WONDERFUL change for us.

He also has put in an application to teach at least a night class at a local college. He was encouraged to put in more applications to more places. ... It seems it might be likely that we could stay in Cincinnati long-term. This is weird to think about, since we came here thinking we're be here and then moving on in 4 years. We're on year 5 and we wouldn't mind at ALL spending many more years here. Cincinnati is a lovely place for us.

And that's life from here.

Latest Update

If it would be closer to Thanksgiving, I would appreciate that. I have not been able to think about anything except the season's great food for almost a week! It's tantalizing. I might just make pumpkin pie early, but would that spoil the greatness of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving? One never knows.

I sent you all Halloween pictures. Halloween was good. We had our traditional Dinner-in-a-Pumpkin meal (which the kids actually don't eat--we feed them hotdogs), and it's always fun to cook a meal in a pumpkin. It makes me want to cook ALL my meals inside a cleaned out pumpkin. Cause it's cool.

Cutting Back on Stress

The last few weeks have been good. Around last month I was about done with all the activities our family was doing. We were busy with so many good things that I didn't ever feel like Rob and I got to spend time together or even have a normal conversation. It felt a little out of control. So we slowed WAY down and it's been nice to breathe a little bit. We took out anything that wasn't absolutely necessary and spent a lot of evenings at home together instead of out and about doing stuff or having people over. The break has made us better able to do the things we need to do, and the things we want to do. We have just started to add a few more things back in: having a few people over for dinner, stuff like that. So now I'm not bitter at Rob being so involved in his church calling. :) I was bitter for a minute until we took this break and I realized that a lot of what I was upset about was the fact that our family was too busy doing other things. Though, I have asked Rob to cut out some of the things for his calling, too. Balance. This is a hard word for me. A work in progress.

Miciah

Miciah is getting better and better at reading. We have a parent-teacher conference at the end of next week. The teacher said she would have a reading assessment for us when we went in to meet with her. The teacher said Miciah is "just cool", but she could have just said that to make all those parental pride emotions inside of me feel good. :) She's a great teacher and we feel lucky for Miciah to be in her class.

A few days ago Miciah came to me with 28 cents. She asked if I could put it in her piggy bank. We created piggy banks for Miciah and Elijah for when they earn money. I told her she had to earn the money and where did she get it from (because she only earns money by doing chores and stuff like that--they play the penny game: a penny for every item they clean up). She said she got it on the bus. I asked her to elaborate and she told me a friend on the bus saw a "jewel" that one of her classmates had given her for her birthday. The kid on the bus wanted it and "traded" her the 28 cents for the jewel. ... I wasn't sure what to say about that. Miciah sold something to another student. In the end I decided that counted as earning money and put the coins in her piggy bank.

Elijah

Elijah is still a rambunctious 3-year-old. He's so sweet sometimes and then just all energy and boy at other times. But it's really cute when we see how sweet he is. He's more considerate than I am BY FAR, and that's refreshing. Sure, you can teach consideration, but we didn't teach him--he came with it.

At Halloween, there was a guy sitting on his porch smoking. He didn't have any candy. Now WHY would you sit on your front porch smoking on Halloween night without candy? Who knows. Elijah started walking up the steps and the guy said he didn't have any candy. We started calling Elijah back, but he wasn't really getting it. We said he could just tell him Happy Halloween, which Elijah apparently took as a go ahead and walk up to get candy. So he finished walking up the steps. We hastily explained to him that the guy didn't have any candy and went to get him down (cause he wasn't coming down). He turns to the guy in the middle of all this fun chaos-like atmosphere, smiles, and gives him a thumbs up. :)

Night Terrors

For a few weeks Elijah's night terrors spiked in frequency. He really hadn't had many until we took his binky away. We took his binky away 2 months ago now, and at first he just didn't go to sleep very well. Then he got used to that and the night terrors started coming back instead. There weren't that many at first, so I wasn't sure it was connected to taking away the binky. Then there was 2 or 3 weeks where they were 3 times a week or more. They'd changed in nature a little, but they obviously were night terrors. We were about to the point where we were ready to ask the doctor about them--if there was anything we could do--when they quit. I just realized the other day that he hadn't had one in like 2 weeks. He will now wake up occasionally in the middle of the night, around midnight (he's ALWAYS done this, even since he was a baby sleeping, otherwise, through the night), be a little sad but able to be comforted, and then go back to sleep. ... We just had Teancom's check-up on Friday, which you'll hear about in a minute, and we asked the doctor about the night terrors. I told him a little of the history and described a little bit about his behavior during them. The doctor said 1- we had it pretty easy compared to some kids' night terrors, and 2- it made a lot of sense to him. The binky was his comfort item which helped curb the night terrors. Then we took that away and he had to adjust again. Having a comfort item helps curb night terrors. So I was glad at least that what we were observing made sense.

But an after affect of taking the binky away is that Elijah now does not take a nap at all. He occasionally will fall asleep watching a movie, or he'll fall asleep in the car (even more rare, since I'm not out and about much in the afternoon now). But no naps on any kind of regular basis. In fact, I'm having a hard time recalling when his last nap was.

Teancom

Teancom is the cutest baby ever. He's dang happy and content with life. He still is not walking, though, and he's not really talking, either. At the check-up, our doctor asked if we were concerned about either of those things. We told him we weren't really, we just wanted to keep an eye on it. He described it much how we do, "It would be nice if he were doing those things, but I think he'll get there." He said he was encouraged by his interaction with us, and how active he was. He did tell us we could send him to Children's for developmental testing for his walking and his talking. He said mainly it would be for peace of mind--plus, we wouldn't have to keep addressing it at doc's visits in the future. We turned that down, just cause we're not really concerned. Teancom has done everything so far at his own pace, and just about the time where we're starting to be really concerned about it, he starts doing it. So, I fully expect that he'll start walking at 18 months, a week before the next doctor's appointment. :)

And then his language will take off, too, I'm sure. Right now the only word he says that is truly a word is "No." He's got that one down. Not that I'm sure he always knows what it means. There are just times I KNOW he knows what it means. He's developing his attitude. He's taken to throwing sprawling fits on the living room floor. Usually it's because he's hungry and I haven't fed him yet. He does know how to sign for food, but I've found that if he's REALLY hungry, he won't sign any more, he'll just throw a fit. Fun. :) But at least he has an opinion about it now, and that's nice. Before it was hard for me to tell when he was hungry at all, because he seemed not to care so much. Then we taught him the sign for food and he would wake up from naps signing for food. :) And now he's moved up a level from that--throwing fits when I don't feed him soon enough.

But, still, he's so dang happy and cute and cuddly! I don't know any other 15-month-old that still loves to be cuddled and squished and loved on like he does. He's very calm for a 15-month-old. And I love it. Miciah the other day said, "Mommy likes Teancom better than all of us, even Daddy." I smiled. I told her that I don't like him better, I just love that I can still gush him. I asked her if I could gush her and she said she wouldn't like it. I told her that Elijah didn't like it, either, and it would just be weird if I did it to Rob. So I have to get it while Teancom will still give it. I'll be a little sad when he's more active. It's nice to just carry him around during church and not have him going crazy because he's bored out of his mind. He's just content to be held while he sucks on his fingers and plays with his ear.

That's the kids.

Thacker Family Fireside

Family stuff. Something very cool happened last week for the family. Rob's parents and sisters and brother, G, came down to do a fireside for the ward. It was titled, "What Think Ye of Christ?" and was a wonderful evening of song and testimony. They each gave a personal story and then sang a song to go along with that testimony. The last song, entitled Tender Mercies, had C on the violin, the rest singing, and our friend in the ward, RH (who is a FABULOUS pianist), accompaning. It was AMAZING. As the presentation ended, I was almost in tears about the fact that it hadn't been recorded. It is my new goal in life to have them perform it (or something like it) again in C and M's branch, or V & C's ward, so we can work on getting a recording of it. (There are rules about what can be recorded where in the ward building. We didn't look very hard into getting it recorded, since they had told us no because that's the rule. I think had Rob or I made a personal plea about how this is a precious piece of family history, they would have let us record it. Because that was the right thing to do. But, alas, now we just have that regret.)

Anyways, it was amazing and a great family moment.

I am doing good. Working on this idea of Balance. That will be a life-long endeavor.

Rob is doing good, too. His paper (as always, it seems) is near completion and he's working on his second paper and his dissertation. We have a June 13th graduation in sight (it's a Friday, which I think is fun), and Rob has a committee meeting on Wednesday to try to convince them he'll be ready to graduate then.

Post-Doc Search

We're also still in the process of trying to find a post-doc. The woman he's been in contact with at the NIH is a flake and so we're looking into other options. This whole thing has been a process of better defining what exactly Rob wants to do for a post-doc. It is still possible that we will stay here in Cincinnati, but it's not Rob's first choice. There are lots of advantages for our family if we stay here, but it has to be right, whatever the choice is. I kicked the current "opportunity" out the door (the woman at the NIH he's been in contact with). Rob isn't as fed up as I am, but he's ready to start expanding his post-doc options now. Bottom line: There is no news to report. We're still in phase 1 (and in some cases, phase 0) of decisions about post-docs.

Cleo

Oh, and I should probably report about Cleo, our cat. We had given her to C, but she wasn't doing well there, so we took her back. There is someone here that is interested in her, possibly, but the day after she got back to our house, we found the elusive ringworm. You know, the ringworm that everyone in our family had, that C's family had, and that we were pretty sure the baby cat, Fumasa, had passed to us. We took Cleo in to get a treatment for it. We've been doing that for, what, almost 4 weeks. It's getting better, but slowly. A week or two after we took Cleo in, they found ringworm on Ceasar, too. The two different vets seperately concluded that Fumasa is a carrier for ringworm. Fun! So Cleo is with us until she is healthy, and then hopefully she'll go to another good home. ... So much for being cat free. :)

And that's our update.

Tamra and family

The War with Nap Time Continues

Elijah won't take naps unless he falls asleep on his own, exhausted. So we have lots of fun pictures of him asleep in different poses. They're some of my favorite pictures cause they make me smile.

Here's one from the other day.

Tamra

Family Update (Any baby name suggestions?)

I feel like I'm behind on family updates, but not a lot has happened lately anyway, so you're not missing much.

Baby Boy Names

Rob and I have decided for sure on one of the baby boy's two names: Robert. After Rob, of course. But we haven't decided on the second name, but whatever the second name is, that's what he'll go by. We won't actually call the boy Robert or any variation thereof. So if anyone has any suggestions on baby names, we're open to them. We already have 3 that we're thinking about: Isaac (Ike for short?), Talmage, and Jonah. Of the 3, we're leaning toward Isaac, but our goal is to go into the birth with 5 or so baby names so that we can pick which one he is after meeting him. Unless, of course, we really are struck with a name that says THIS IS HIS NAME! ... And do B & J have any names picked out? Cause we can't overlap names, that just wouldn't work.

Recovered!

We are now completely recovered from being sick. It feels like that took FOREVER. Elijah is back to eating normally (he dropped 3 lbs., like the rest of us), I've put back on 5 lbs. (so with the sickness week in there, I'm at positive 2 lbs. from where I was) and am eating happily, and you can't see Miciah's ribs any more. I still have some congestion hanging on and a cough that afflicts me randomly, but nothing to complain about.

Spring Weather

The weather here has been fantastic, and that's the main thing to report. Miciah and Elijah are loving playing outside. I'm loving playing in my garden, and Rob is working hard to try to get the lawn to stop being a weed patch. On Saturday we worked from the minute we woke up until just past midnight to get things in order. We divided and conquered and did about 7 times what we normally do on weekends. It's amazing how much more enjoyable work is when it's done outside at 70 degrees instead of inside or outside when it's cold. It almost shouldn't count as work. But Rob did do a lot of work Saturday and now our entire front garden and the side garden is lined with nice looking pavers (that we got for free from a friend, which makes it even better). We will most likely use some more pavers when we cut out our vegetable garden in the back yard. It's nice to have a house project that didn't cost us an arm and a leg. Just took a bit of time and hard work. We have a lot more outside projects to be done in the next few months. But it's such enjoyable work. So we're looking forward to it.

Our Neighbors ROCK!

We just (meaning like 20 minutes ago) received a gift from the neighbors of a bunch of child toys. A play kitchen set, a play bus, things like that. How fun! They said when Lonnie moved out of our house (Lonnie is the elderly lady that used to live here) she gave them a huge wooden doll house for their grandkids to play with and that's all the grandkids play with now. First I thought, weird how things come and go around, isn't it? Because the previous owners of this house gave them a dollhouse, our neighbors are now giving us kid toys. Fun! And then my second thought was, "Wow, did he build it?" I don't know what his name is, Lonnie's husband, but he did a lot of woodworking, I know (our now office was covered in 20 layers of sawdust when we moved in. You could still smell it all over things). And he did build it. They said he even put electric lights in it. How cool is that?! I told them I'm going to have to come see it. Cause that's awesome. ... Our neighbors are about the friendliest people on the planet. And T is about the cutest old man when he dresses up for church on Sunday mornings. :) I hope when I'm older, I'm as cute as them. They're probably in their, um, late 60s early 70s? I dunno, I'm a bad judge of age.

Nap Time

Elijah is transitioning out naps which is a frustrating period for us. He still needs one most days, but how long should it be? If it's too long (like if I just let him wake up on his own), he stays up until midnight or wakes up at 7, or both. If it's too short, he throws a tantrum for like 45 minutes when he wakes up. I wish it was either full nap or full no nap, but I trust the transition will be shorter than it feels like.

Pinewood Derby

Other than that, Rob competed in a pinewood derby. It may be cute to see 10-year-olds race little wooden cars, but when it's 30-and-40-and-50-year-old men, it's not so cute any more. The elders quorum of our ward challenged the high priests group. The high priests won, but only because the same man took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd (two of his kids entered cars and they got 1st and 3rd, while he got 2nd). I told Rob that if they do it again next year, we're going to have to submit an "open class" double-decker bus. Cause that would be rad. Some kid this year showed up with a car with monster wheels and a rocket engine. He fired it off outside in the parking lot. It was kind of fun. And the guy that won the open class showed up with just the unpainted block of wood with random pieces of metal attached, plus a Samuel the Lamanite mounted to the top. It weighed 1 lb. 7 oz. Regulation is 5 oz. ... All I have to say is that pinewood derby is weird. But there was a ton of food there and I think Elijah (who was just walking around most the time) ate like 35 cookies. Man the kid likes sweets. I don't know where he got THAT from! :) (Right. My latest passion is icecream bars and we have 3 different variations in the freezer, and probably 30 bars total. Sad, maybe, but they taste good! And I do occasionally share, except for the Dove bars).

That's "news" around here. We're liking being homeowners and having little kids who make us laugh. Miciah and Elijah are playing so nicely these days and seem to really like each other, and that's so fun. Miciah is still sorely disappointed that we're having a little boy instead of a little girl (she asked the other day if we could change it to a girl). But I think she's warming up to it. And Elijah seems to be okay with babies these days, so I'm confident he'll do well, too. Next we just have to transition them to a bunk bed and get Elijah out of diapers (yeah, right). It'll all happen eventually.

We love you.

Tamra, Rob, Miciah, and Elijah

Oh, and I don't know how this family update of mine got a fan club, but I've had a lot of requests from people to pass these on to others outside the T family. So if I sent this to you and you DIDN'T want it, just let me know.