It's December 15th

and time for another update.

Thanksgiving

We'll start at Thanksgiving.  We spent Thanksgiving with Rob's family up in Toledo, and it was fantastic.  Rare for a family get-together:  there was almost no fighting amongst kids!  All the kids were old enough to just go off and play, so we didn't see them all day.  I suppose I should be lamenting that my kids aren't constantly attached to my hip any more, and I should be singing a sad song about days gone by.  ...  Whatever.  It's GREAT!  Hurray to have the baby stage behind us!

Rob also was able to spend some one-on-one time with his sister, Chiara, and I don't think that's happened in a long time.  Good times.

While we were up there, Rob's mom asked Teancom if he was her baby.  He said, "No.  I'm my mommy's baby."  It just made me smile, cause I'm always asking him if he's my baby.  Sometimes he'll say that he's big instead, but usually he's happy to be my baby and sit on my lap and suck his fingers.  He's still a cuddle bug.  He's also possessive about the term "baby cakes," which is one of the pet names I use for all my children.  The other day I called Elijah my baby cakes and Teancom said, "I'M your baby cakes!"   He's actually really possessive about just about everything that involves me.  We were watching old home videos of Teancom as a baby, and I realized that he's been possessive of me from the very beginning!  What a stinker.

Nativities and a Migraine, a story

The weekend after Thanksgiving Rob went back up to Toledo to sing in his mom's stake's Nativity with his sisters.  Miciah went with him, so it was just me and the boys at home from Friday night to Sunday morning.  They had a great time and it went well.  Plus, me and the boys sounded like a treat.  Having only 2 kids around is not a problem, right?

All except on Friday night my vision started dimming.  It was really bizarre and sort of scary, since it's never happened to me before.  I was having trouble reading because spots of light kept getting in the way of the text, and the whole left side of my peripheral vision was black, like static.  It's not like I was up late, either; I was in bed, lights off, by 10 p.m.

I didn't have time to wonder about what was going on, though, because when I woke up at 9 the next morning I had a MASSIVE migraine.  The worst of my life.  So I called Corene and she took the boys for a few hours.  Then I called the Browns and they took the boys for a few more hours.  I was finally able to get out of bed at 1 p.m., the boys were back home at 3, and we survived the rest of the day.  We didn't go to a party that evening, which was a bummer, but what do you do.  Rob came home before church to get the kids because I still wasn't feeling good, but we did go as a family to our stake's Nativity display later in the day, and it was fun, even though it completely drained me.

No more migraines like that.  It was NO GOOD at all.  And it just figures that it happened on the day when Rob was out of town, right?  I guess that's the way it goes.  How else can we be deeply grateful and in debt to our friends? 

A Working Furnace is NOT a Luxury!

Yesterday morning our furnace wouldn't start.  Luckily, it wasn't very cold outside, so the house stayed at 65°.  Rob came home to take care of stuff, and he went downstairs and randomly started tapping things with a hammer until the furnace started again.  So we have heat now, but who knows how permanent that situation really is.  So we decided it was finally time to bite the bullet and purchase a new furnace.  We've had problems with the furnace nearly every year we've lived here, and some of the problems have been large problems.

Thankfully, this year we have more money in the bank to cover this, the tax incentives are better this year than they were last year, and we'd already been through the hassle of interviewing companies.  So we just called up the 2 companies that we liked best from last year and asked for an updated quote (we still have all the paperwork.  We saved it because we figured we'd be using it this year).  The prices didn't change, and so we easily picked a company.  Zimmer Heating and Cooling will be calling us on Friday to set up a date to install our new 95% efficiency furnace (our old furnace is a nearly 30-year-old 70% efficiency model).  So either next week or the week after we won't have to wonder any more if our furnace will turn on after a cold night.  Merry Christmas to us!

Rob's News

A lot of people have asked me about the news surrounding Rob and possible jobs for the Fall.  Well, there isn't any news to share, and that's why I haven't shared it.  Rob didn't get the Xavier job he wanted, but that wasn't unanticipated.  He has applied for several more, a few of those in Cincinnati.  He's still making connections with people and institutions and generally doing a good job of putting his name out there.

Some of the job-related things he'll be up to in 2010:
- In the Spring he'll be teaching a 10-week introductory genetics course for the University of Cincinnati.
- He's made contacts with Raymond Walters (a 2-year open enrollment college), and they asked him if he wanted to teach an on-line course at some point.  They tried to make it work for January, but it's not going to happen. 
- Raymond Walters has a position opening for the Fall, and he'll be applying for it.  His contact told him they expect about 30 applicants, and she gave him pointers on how to prepare for an interview.
- He's teaching the same NKU Bio 120 lecture and lab that he's teaching right now, from January - May.  He'll probably have 2 lab sections instead of the 1 he has now, which will mean a few more hours for him, but also a little more pay.
- In July he committed to teaching a 5-week Bio 120 course for NKU.  It'll possibly be as much as a lecture and 3 labs (but probably not less than 2 lab sections).  This means he will be ending his post-doc at the end of June so that he can teach this class.  He's happy that they'll pay him enough that he can spend a month doing teaching exclusively.
- Most likely he will be unemployed for the month of August.  Nearly every job starts in Sept. 2010.  So it's a good thing there's still money in that savings account after the furnace purchase, since we'll be living off savings for a month or two.

And there you go.  That's Rob's crazy life, and therefore our family's crazy life.  Rob gives his final tonight, and I'm looking forward to our family's 2 weeks of together time.  We're in need of it.  Some days it's super easy to do everything I need to do, and some days it's just not so easy.  With the Holiday season upon us, I've had more days of Not Easy, and poor Rob is taking it personally.

June will be our "off" month, even though he'll probably be scrambling to finish up with his post-doc stuff.  I'm thinking about trying to do an extended weekend camping trip to a local-ish National Park or something.  No 6-week cross-country venture for us this year.

Christmas

On Saturday we finally did our Christmas shopping, which has made me much less tense.  2 weeks before Christmas is cutting it too close for me, but we just hadn't had the time.    I HATE that phrase now:  "Don't have the time."  Grrr.  Anyways, it's mostly done, and our Christmas time is pretty much planned, so I've got my calm again.  

Next week, Tuesday, this gift from my parents will arrive:

Hurray for a new stove!!!  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mom and Dad.

Our Anniversary

Next Monday is our 9 year mark for marriage.  To celebrate, we're going to hang out at the museum on Saturday.  Super lame, right?  But I love it.  Next year, for #10, Rob's been informed that the date can NOT be lame (even though I really do like lame dates).  He's already thinking about it, and it may or may not require reservations for a cabin.  I'm excited in anticipation.

A Miciah Story

To end this super-long update, I'll tell a really good Miciah story.  This is from Sunday.

I walked by Miciah's teacher in the church hallway and he said that he yelled at Miciah.  I was shocked because usually Miciah is very well behaved for teachers.  He looked at me and said, "I yell at her every week, but today was an exception."  I should mention that this is the teacher who does fun things like tease Miciah by calling her Queen of Yellow when she's wearing a yellow dress.  Stuff like that.  Perfect for Miciah.

Anyways, I asked what happened and he said that he asked her to stop touching his paper.  She touched it again.  He told her to stop or she would have to leave class.  She touched it again.  (At this point in the story I rolled my eyes.  That's just SO Miciah.)  He said, forcefully, "That's it!  Get out of class!"  Miciah looked like she was about to cry so he backed down and told her she didn't have to leave so long as she didn't cry.  Then he felt bad (this is the difference between me and him.  Miciah has taught me that I can't feel bad about it.  I would have kicked her out of class and not had even an ounce of guilt) and so he said, "Am I the meanest person in the world?"

Miciah looked right at him and matter-of-factly said, "No.  My Mom says that she's the meanest, most awful person in the world, so it can't be you."

Rock.  On.

It's About Time

I kept stalling on this update because we were waiting to know what our next step in life was. Our next step is so subtlely different, though, that it hardly felt update worthy once we got there. But I'll explain...

The Story of Dr. Colbert, Michael Jordan, and the NIH

So, in the Fall Rob decided to go with Dr. Colbert at Cincinnati Children's. No problems with that. A few months ago Dr. Colbert brought Rob in to talk to him. We assumed it was because Colbert just wanted an update on where Rob was with his dissertation, etc. Nope. Dr. Colbert had been offered a position at the NIH and was pretty sure he would take it. He went through a process of offers and counteroffers (strong incentives, he called them--it'd be nice to be Dr. Colbert), and during this whole process he told us we couldn't tell anyone else. He wanted to announce things himself. We respected that.

So he was going to the NIH, that was his final decision. This left us with a decision. Dr. Colbert had offered for us to go with him. Aah! The NIH is a great place to be and we knew this was a perhaps once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It's not every day opportunities like this just fall in your lap. So we thought and thought and thought about it. We went back and forth. It felt equally good to stay or go. There were hic-ups with both. If we went, how in the WORLD would we sell our house, and live in the DC area on $40,000 a year? If we stayed who would Rob do his post-doc with, and would he regret passing up the NIH? Colbert suggested a few people at Children's. It felt like we were doing this all over again, like we had in the fall. Rob re-contacted people, just to see what options were. There was no one that was jumping out at him.

Then he went to his Immunology Conference in San Diego. He said he got just about nothing out of the conference, and that was disappointing. Plus he re-injured his knee (that's another story). But the one thing he DID get out of it was he saw a booth there for Cincinnati Children's, and there was a Dr. Michael Jordan advertising for a post-doc. He hadn't been looking in the fall, but he was looking now. So it took Rob going all the way to San Diego to find out about this guy. Funny how that works. And then on the flight home he met a woman who works in Jordan's lab. Interesting, eh?

Anyways, Rob talked to Dr. Jordan and that's how things ended up working out. About 3 weeks ago Dr. Colbert FINALLY announced that he was going to the NIH (it felt like we'd been keeping it mum for ages), and we quietly transitioned over to going to Dr. Jordan's lab.

I fell in love with Dr. Colbert during this whole process. He looked out for us and gave us some valuable advice. Rob approached him at one point and said we'd decided to go to the NIH after 6 months to a year (Rob would stay here and work in someone's lab while we got our house ready to sell, etc.). He also discussed with Colbert how Dr. Jordan's research is more along the lines of what Rob wants to do, but Rob didn't want to pass up the NIH OR working with Dr. Colbert (he's a great guy). Dr. Colbert looked at him and said, in essence, "Rob, don't settle for me. If Dr. Jordan's research is what you want to do, then don't go with me." What fabulous advice.

There were lots of other pieces in this complicated puzzle of a process. Two of the most interesting things:
1 - We had a hard time with this decision just because both options were good. It wasn't easy to see which one was the better choice. Finally, after flip-flopping for weeks and getting super-annoyed with that (I have little patience for the decision-making process. I'd rather make the WRONG decision than have to think about it for longer than a few weeks), I had a moment of supreme clarity. I saw the decision for what it really was. It was about Rob's career and nothing else. Would Rob regret going to the NIH with Dr. Colbert if it meant that years down the road Rob wouldn't be able to get back to doing the research he really wanted to do? The answer to that was Yes. And that's the decision right there.

2 - Rob kept talking to Retzinger, his advisor, about staying or going. Retzinger kept saying, "I think you want to stay just because it's convenient to stay. You don't have to sell your house and move." Retzinger was pretty strongly of the opinion that we should go to the NIH. Rob finally told Retzinger that had he known of Dr. Jordan's lab in the fall when he was originally looking, he wouldn't have gone with Dr. Colbert at all. That helped change Retzinger's opinion on it.

End of that Story.

The (Short) Story of Rob's Knee

Upon looking at my last update, I already told you part of the story of Rob's knee. How he re-injured it at the San Diego Conference. How he went into the doctor for it, and the doctor sent him to physical therapy. Rob spent a good month going to Physical Therapy twice a week. After that month, he went back into the doctor who said something like, "Good. Keep doing the right stretches to strengthen it." Rob went back to Physical Therapy one last time to get a list of stretches and exercises he can now do at home. And that's good because I'm not sure how many more PT sessions our checkbook could have handled. But it's worth it for Rob to be able to walk/run/exist without pain. Now Rob can actually flex his left quad. I didn't realize he hadn't been able to flex his upper leg for years.

The Story of Ocean City, New Jersey

I went to Ocean City, New Jersey for about a week. We got to see LB on QVC. We toured the studio, which was pretty dang cool. The live show was an interesting experience, as far as just getting the live QVC show experience. It's fun to watch what's going on behind the scenes. And L is always a doll and fun to watch. We were pleasantly surprised that L's family showed up to be there for her 10th anniversary show on QVC. It was fun to see them.

It was also nice to relax for a week without the kids. I read 2 books, wrote a lengthy letter to my brother, sat down and did nothing, walked along the beach. Fun. It was not warm in Ocean City, but that's okay, cause I think it was the perfect weather: 50 degrees F. Perfect sweatshirt weather. I bought a grubby sweatshirt there that says OC on it. I was sad to not have been in Ocean City, Delaware (which doesn't exist), cause then maybe my sweatshirt would have said OCD and that would have made me very happy.

Elijah was cute while I was gone. Right before I left he said, "Can I go, Mom?" I told him no. "But I'm a big boy!" :) He'd talk to me on the phone while I was gone and say, "Mom? Can you come home now?" I told him I couldn't. Then a few minutes later he'd say, "Can you come home NOW?" :) On Saturday Rob and the kids went to a church activity. As they were driving back down our street Elijah said, "Maybe her is there now!" Rob said, "Who, mommy?" "Yeah!" Oh, cute. Elijah also asked Rob if he was "small enough to go with him to California." Rob figured out that Elijah was asking if he was small enough to fit inside Rob's suitcase, like Rob had joked before leaving for CA. :) It broke my heart to talk to him and hear his sad little voice that I wasn't coming home right away.

So I was interested to see what would happen when I actually arrived at home. I got back into Cincinnati late Sunday night, like at 11:15 pm. So the kids were already asleep. The next morning Miciah and Teancom got up first and Teancom came and cuddled with me immediately. Miciah was happy to see me and gave me hugs. And then Elijah got up. I expected him to run to me or something. Instead he opened his bedroom door and peeked out. His door is directly across from our door, which was open. I tried to play coy for a minute to see what he'd do. But he didn't do anything. So I opened my eyes and said, "Hi, Elijah." He just stared at me, a blank look on his face. Finally one corner of his mouth turned up just barely for a split second. Then he walked off. It cracked me up.

It took me almost a whole week to get used to being around my kids again (they're so LOUD compared to adults). And a whole week to make dinner for the first time since I got back. We ate out the whole time I was gone, so when I got home and Rob asked what I wanted for dinner the first night I said Ramen. :) ... Rob is a great guy. I told him I was most concerned about that Monday I got home. He offered to stay home so I wouldn't go crazy that first day back with my kids. I was so tired that I took a good 4 hours or more worth of naps that day. And I was STILL exausted and snappy at my kids by the end of the day. Good thing Rob was there to keep me sane.

The (Very Short) Story of G and M

G, Rob's little brother, married ML on May 16th. We got to go up for a few days and be with family. It was absolute CHAOS (family is chaos) with everyone there, but it was wonderful. And the wedding was beautiful. Rob and M sang some lovely songs and I got some of them on video. I also got a lot of great pictures of Rob dancing at the reception. Rob's an animal on the dance floor. The saddest part of taking the pictures and videos was that I had taken a stinkin' cute video of Miciah and Rob dancing all snazzed up (Miciah was a flower girl and looked like a princess, and Rob was wearing a tux), and then the next day I accidentally deleted it. That is absolute sadness.

We did get G & M two of the world's best wedding gifts EVER. I am exceptionally proud of them both.

The (Exceedingly Short) Story of My Camera

My brother bought me a new camera cause he's crazy. It's just like my old one that I loved, but it's updated. So it takes really really good pictures. Love, love, love it.

The Story of Our Digital Upgrades

Because of the camera, we needed a new SD card. A 256MB SD card isn't super useful for a camera that takes 8.2 Megapixel pictures (about 3.5 MBs each shot). So we got a new one of those (plus a friend gave us a coupon for another free one, so we now have a 1G and 2G SD card). Plus we got an external harddrive to hold all the glorious pictures. Then we had to get a USB port hub. We used to have 4 USB ports, but Elijah broke the 2 in front, so that left us with 2. And EVERYTHING goes off USB ports these days. So we got a 7-port USB hub, and it's almost all the way filled already. We were telling a friend that we opted for an external harddrive instead of a DVD burner, but we wished we had one of those still and they said they had an extra one laying around. Did we want it? Of course! It's nice that now you can upgrade your computer dramatically without replacing it.

Plus, we got digital TV finally. Sent away for the coupons for a converter box. Spent $10 on a converter box and now we can watch non-staticy TV. And we get like 10 new channels. It feels like we have cable, without the pricetag. Nice!

So, add that together with our hi-speed internet that we turned into wireless with a wireless router (free from the company--didn't know that when we first signed up), and we feel firmly in (but well behind) the digital age. Let's make a list, shall we:
-hi-speed internet
-wireless
-500G external harddrive
-1G and 2G SD cards
-8.2 Megapixel camera
-DVD burner
-digital TV

It's nice to finally invest in the digital age when the price is affordable. Those SD cards, I got the 2G, top of the line, Panasonic SD card for $15. Last year when I looked at them they were $60 - $80 (you can now spend about $60 on a 32G SD card). And most everything else we purchased was the same way. Yea for affordable technology!

The Story of N64

We stole the Thacker Family Nintendo 64 (G claims it's his, but we know it's not ). Our kids are enjoying playing Zelda and stuff. Elijah runs around saying, "I'm going to kill your guy, Mom." And then he lets people kill little Link. I actually play the guy and the kids watch. It works for us. ... When I get bored with it, I'll send it out to Bryant or whoever else.

Elijah Stories

Elijah is always doing funny stuff. Some of my favorite Elijah Stories:

While I was in OC, NJ, Rob bought the kids doughnuts (now every time we pass Dunkin' Donuts Elijah asks if we can get doughnuts--thanks, Rob!). Elijah was eating a jelly-filled one and said, "Dad! This one tastes like peanut butter and jelly sandwich!"

We were at the Nursery choosing the bushes for the side of our house (we can't keep grass there, so we thought we'd try bushes instead). The guy who worked there was helping us decide (we decided on lilac bushes--5 of them), and while that was happening, our kids were bored out of their minds. Elijah was throwing gravel into this little hole. The hole was maybe a foot and a half deep or so. While he was messing with it, he fell in. He wasn't hurt, just scared, and we were standing a ways off from him. A stranger came up, trying to be helpful, and asked if he was alright. Elijah scowled at her and shouted angrily at the top of his lungs, "YOU ARE NOT MY MOM!" ... We were pretty embarressed.

At the Memorial Day picnic yesterday Elijah and Miciah were going over to the playground. Elijah started running and Miciah told him to slow down and grabbed his hand. Elijah pulled his hand away, scowled at her, and said, "I'm not crossing the street, stupid!" ...

While that is pretty funny, his use of the word "stupid" got him in trouble later that day. Not with me, with a group of boys. He came and reported that a boy was hitting him. I told him to ask him not to hit. It was some boys that I wasn't familiar with, and they're apparently rougher than the boys I'm used to. ... Elijah walked off and I didn't think much of it until another mom came and reported that a group of boys were having issues. She said, "The boy in the blue was saying, 'My mom said not to hit, stupid. So don't hit me.' " Guess who the boy in blue was. Yep, Elijah. Then, as I walked toward the group, a 7-year-old boy was pushing Elijah and the 4-year-old looked like he was about to hit him with a stick. Seriously. As I got to Elijah, the 7-year-old had pushed him to the ground. I pulled out a little Mother Bear on him. Looked him right in the eyes and said in that don't mess voice, "Do NOT push or hit my son again."

I was glad I was there, in a way, to help Elijah out. I think he would have been pounded a little more had I not been there. However, I won't always be there for him. ... We had a long talk about how if you're trying to get someone to not hit you, you probably shouldn't call them stupid. A little counterproductive.

We took Elijah to the doctor for a well check last week. He got a shot. I was SUPER impressed with him. He said he was going to be brave. He asked if he could have 2 stickers, and the nurse said if he was really good. She gave him the shot and he got this look on his face like, "That HURT." He said, "Ow," and looked at his arm, and that was it. No crying, no nothing. The nurse told him he could DEFINITELY have 2 stickers. It's nice to know that kids overreacting to shots isn't my fault. :) After Miciah, Elijah's reaction was comforting to me.

Teancom Stories

Teancom is just dang cute.

He's finally decided to claim a blanket as his "blankie". We tried to make it the crocheted blanket that my Mom made for him, since that's the one my other 2 have chosen for their blankies. But he wasn't having it. I can't tell which of a certain 2 is the chosen blankie, though. For a while he said it was a duckie one with tied ends. I was happy with that, since it's the one I made for him (I didn't make one for my other 2 kids). And the second one he's been claiming lately is the quilt that Grandma D made for Elijah. Both good choices.

Teancom is talking a lot and it's fun to listen to him. He is deciding to walk lots of places instead of me holding him, and since he's almost 2, that's fine with me. He's very obedient and will stay close and not run off. And people love to see a cute little 2-year-old toddling around. I must admit, it's pretty cute to watch this little person walking around.

Teancom still loves it outside. He will literally spend all day outside if I let him, and hence he's pretty darn tan already.

The other day Teancom fell off the couch onto his head and said, "Woah," then went and did it again. So, as good parents, we didn't ask him to stop for fear of hurting himself, we encouraged him to do it again so we could get it on video. :) So we have this super-cute clip of a video of him hanging off the edge of the couch going, "Aaahhh! Help me!" in this high-pitched voice, then falling on his head, saying, "Woah," and then getting up to do it again. ... Rob and I have been walking around giggling to ourselves, going, "Aaahh! Help me!" Too cute.

Here's the link to the youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEfVHReXAi8

Teancom is almost constantly singing "Twinkle, Twinkkle, Little Star." He's also started singing when I carry him. He'll sing in beat with the gait of my walk, and that cracks me up.

He is also now saying, "Where's Teancom? There he is!" He'll cover his eyes and do peek-a-boo. Super cute. It's fun to hear him say his name, "Tay-tome". That's "tome" like "come", not tome the long book.

Miciah Stories

Miciah doesn't usually do cute stuff like that any more. But she's always making cute things for people. Cards and stuff. She is spelling creatively and making up jokes and stuff. The jokes are never funny, but she thinks they're hysterical. I've been creating a pile of things she's made to send out to you guys.

She made this one at church for Elijah:
"Wus the bilding toll yes.
I thek it wus smolle
but it wus big
i wunt it"
She translated it as:
"Was the building tall? Yes.
I think it was small.
But it was big.
I want it to be the way it is."
Then she said, "I didn't write some of the words down."

Another church creation:
"From Ceryoes
To Ceryoes"
That's:
"From Cheerios
To Cheerios"

A cute letter she wrote me the day before I got back from my trip:
"To Mommy
I love you. I
mist you a lot
Mom. Sume times
i Tenk tat you
r her wen you r
not.
love
Miciah
From Miciah"

That's: "To Mommy. I love you. I missed you a lot, Mom. Some times I think that you are here when you are not."

A joke she wrote out for me:
"To Mom
I mad up
a jok and
this is
how it go's
wut did
the hen
biy
[a box for me to fill out:]
a__________"

I said, "An egg."
Then she wrote again:
"no he bot
a egg sandwich.
Git it?"

That's:
"I made up a joke and this is how it goes: What did the hen buy?"
"No, he bought an egg sandwich. Get it?"

We told her we didn't get it. But she thought it was dang funny.

:) She makes us happy and makes our house a sunshine-y place.

Miciah is done with school at the end of this week and then it's summer! We have no big plans of travel. The only big summer thing is Rob switching jobs.

The Story of Rob's Life

Rob is stressed out of his eyeballs right now. He wasn't really stressed and then the Monday after we got home from G's wedding, BAM! he was stressed. He has to have his dissertation turned in at the end of next week (but he's hopeful to get it done by Friday of this week), and he has his defense on June 16th.

Then Rob goes to Scout Camp for a week, the week of June 23rd. Super excited about that. :)

He officially starts at Children's on July 7th. I'm half-hoping that we'll get to see him some of that time after his defense and before starting at Children's, but he really doesn't sound like that's going to happen. He'll be revising and finishing his dissertation after those last-minute changes they suggest. I think a break with his family might be in order (hint, hint), but what do I know? I'm just the subserviant wife and mother.

The Story of Tamra Playing Soccer

I haven't played soccer for years. When I had stopped playing, in HS, I had a distaste for it. Too many power-hungry coaches and ultra-competitiveness. Lost my love for it. And now that I'm playing again, it's GREAT. Everyone I'm playing with is well past their prime, and so we can't be too competitive. Everyone on the field is there because they love the game. And it's a perfect fit for me.

Plus, it's a nice ego boost every week. People think I'm a superstar and I like to play that up. I played yesterday at the Memorial Day picnic and wowed everyone. (I like to be just a little cocky, just for fun.) It's nice to be in-shape enough to do what I want to with the ball. I still have my shot and my precision on passes, pretty much. It's nice to play and it's also nice to be admired. Makes me feel like I'm at least good at SOMEthing (since I'm clearly not a good mother/wife/housekeeper by today's standards and that's all I do all day). :)

The Story of Life

Life is good. Life will be nicer when Rob starts at Children's and we're paid a little more. He'll be getting paid about $3,000 more a year than they originally told him, and that's nice. The HR guy said it's because Jordan thought Rob was worth the extra money. That's gratifying for Rob, I'm sure. It's nice to be recognized as being worth something. Even if it's only pennies. We'll take pennies.

Hope you're all doing well! I'll attach some pictures and hopefully get some more out tonight or tomorrow. I have a bunch of pictures to send out from the wedding and other times.

We love you all!

Tamra

Attached pictures:

My wicked-cool bruise. Sweetness! It's been 4 1/2 weeks since I got that bruise, and it's still there as a hard knot under my skin. I'm hopeful it'll be gone in another 2 weeks. ... Got another one on Friday. You could see the lines of the soccer ball on my skin. I LOVE bruises. My skin just gets a whole bunch of awesome colors. :)

The kids. Miciah's holding a vase of lily-of-the-valleys. It's the picture I sent my mom for Mother's Day. Oh, that reminds me! I'll tell that story in the next e-mail.


A close-up of Teancom. It was a good picture of him from the shoot, but not of the other two. So I cropped them out.

Good News!

We have some good news to report and it makes me happy that we have any real news to report at all. :)

Rob's Post-Doc

First, as some of you know, Rob has secured his post-doc! Rob met with Dr. Bob Colbert at Cincinnati Children's Hospital yesterday. Dr. Colbert has the space and money for Rob to come into his lab if Rob wants, and Rob told him he wanted to. Apparently there isn't too much formality for a post-doc, so this is about as formal as it's going to get. Rob will be funded by a training grant that requires us to stay for at least 2 years and not longer than 3 (that's when the training grant runs out). We are excited to be staying in Cincinnati and all the good things that means. Rob really likes Dr. Colbert's lab and the people in it, and he has heard nothing but good things about Dr. Colbert. Dr. Colbert seems like he will be another good mentor for Rob. He promised to expect a lot from Rob and help him stretch and grow (including helping Rob write his first grant and get his own funding), which is perfect. He said he understands about family obligations and is willing to be flexible with Rob's time, so long as Rob has a good balance. All in all, this is a great opportunity and we're looking forward to the next stage.

Someone in Dr. Colbert's lab said that to do a competitive post-doc with the intention of going into academics (something Rob may or may not do), you have to work 70 - 80 hours a week. That's double the time Rob's putting in now, and that's insane to expect of anyone, I think. When Rob met with Dr. Colbert, he said that he of course DIDN'T expect Rob to be working 80 hours a week, since Rob has a family. That was a relief to me. I don't mind Rob putting in more hours than he is now, but 80 hours a week is more than I want him to work. I would like to see Rob every now and then.

Teancom is Walking

The other exciting news is that Teancom is now walking!!! This is fabulous news as he is approaching 17 months and we were starting to get a little worried. Walking is still not his primary mode of transportation, but he can walk about as far as he wants to. He's a little wobbly still, but he can manoveur around objects and turn around and stuff like that. Awesome! So we're excited about that. A woman at church looked at me and said, "Is he walking?" I told her that he was but that he's just walking. She said, "oh." Like, oh, okay, good to know. Then I said, "Yeah, at 17 months." She then said, "OH!" :) It cracked me up how different the response was when I said his age. Another friend of mine said, "Though I don't know why we're encouraging you to walk, since you'll be a terror soon when you're walking." I said, "Yeah, but if he doesn't walk soon, we have to worry about if he might be retarded. So walking at this point is good."

He has also started talking a lot more. He will repeat lots of things you say, though I don't think his vocabulary has increased. He can repeat, "Oh, yeah" (which is DANG cute), "please", "thank you", and "you're welcome". He does more readily say ma ma and da da and bye bye, and they're becoming more understandable. He definitely says juice, which sounds something like "gunk gunk".

Teancom just isn't a very active child compared to most kids his age. He's getting more curious about things and more determined to do what he wants to do, but he's still really mellow. It is a wonderful baby characteristic to have. ... We went over to a friend's house so she could teach me how to make gingerbread (more on this story later), and she said, "Teancom's pulling on his ear. Does that mean he's got an ear infection or that he's tired?" I told her that it just means he exists. To which, in the retelling, my uncle quipped, "I have an ear, therefore I am." :) Teancom is ALWAYS sucking on two fingers and holding his ear with his other hand. This is part of the reason he's so calm. If he's bored, he'll suck on his fingers and hold his ear. If he's getting tired, he'll suck on his fingers and hold his ear. If he's hurt, ... you get the point. So he rarely cries and if he does, it doesn't last long. I think that while this is nice now, it will be hard to break him of the habit later. I'm not looking forward to that.

Elijah's Binky

Speaking of habits to break, how long has Elijah not had his binky? A few months now? Well, while playing in the basement two weeks ago, he found a straggler. He brought it upstairs and said, "Mommy, look! My binky!" He hadn't put it in his mouth, but he was intent on holding it and claiming it as his. Rob was wanting to take it away. He asked Elijah to throw it away. Elijah refused. I told Elijah to just go downstairs with it, which he did. To my amazement, he never did put it in his mouth, but for the next several days he was asking for his binky again. We'd say, "Elijah, you don't have a binky any more." He'd say, "Yes, I do! It's downstairs!" Funny. (Yes, it has been thrown away by now.)

Miciah

Miciah is still Miciah. She is loving to do her hair now (she did it the other day for like half an hour) and she gets pretty creative with it. This is good for me, cause I have no idea how to do hair and I don't care much about it. Miciah LOVES it, and I would also love for her to learn how to do it herself. It is odd to me that she is so into it. This is a foreign thing to me. She's much more girly than I ever have been (not hard to pass that mark). But it's also fun for me to be forced to like those things a little. If it were up to Miciah, though, we'd paint our fingernails every night and do our hair all fancy every morning. Since it's up to me, those things hardly ever happen, so I'm glad she's taking her own initiative.

She is also very creative with paper. She spends probably an hour or more every day doing a "project". She colors a ton and makes cards. And these aren't just normal cards. She makes cards with hidden pull-outs and cards with 4 pieces of paper and cards with an envelope on the inside. I'm continually amazed with what she comes up with on her own. Some of the things she makes I know she's seen before, but most of those things she hasn't. I scrapbook, but I prefer to do it alone (Miciah tries to take over projects, which I can't stand: is it my time/project or isn't it?), so she has seen me do very little scrapbooking or card-making. We have a collection of cards that I can't bring myself to throw away. They're so cute, and she takes a lot of effort to try to make us feel special with them. She'll also make cards for us from Elijah: she'll ask Elijah what he wants on the card, write his name on it, and then let him color some of it. She's even made us a card from Teancom! Her thoughtfulness blows me away. Almost every day I have a "surprise" waiting for me, usually a beautiful card. It's a fun thing and it certainly adds love and light to our home.

Miciah is an asset to our home.

Though she is getting much "better" at skillfully lying. She won't deny the truth, she'll just shade it differently. Like this story. It's a combination Miciah and Elijah story. Elijah is getting into EVERYTHING lately. He makes "mountains" out of couch cushions or out of the things that go on their beds (plus anything he can find on their floor). He takes everything out of the kitchen cabinets that he can reach. He pulls all the video games, videos and DVDs out of their spots and puts them all over the living room floor. And he does all these things on the same day. This is mildly amusing to me and I don't worry too much about it. Often it means Rob comes home to a house that is trashed, but it makes me think that someday I'll be wishing I had little ones trashing my house, so I can be amused about it while I can. (Though I must admit, it does not encourage me to clean my house. I find I clean my house less and less these days.)

The Wire Whisk Incident

So the other day Elijah was releiving the kitchen drawers of their utensils and spreading them throughout my house. Like normal. But this time he decided to throw the wire whisk at Miciah. I don't think it hit her, but it definitely came close. So she threw the egg beater whisk thing back at him. (Of course this happens while I'm on the phone, but if you're a mother, you KNOW that's when things like this happen. It's some sort of unwritten rule.) They both got time-outs in separate rooms. I went into Elijah first and talked to him about how it's not good to throw kitchen utensils, or anything else, at your sister, or anyone else. He was quick to say he was sorry (he usually is) and was out of his time-out. I went into Miciah next. She was by this time (maybe 5 minutes?) crying and fussing like a baby. This is her new tactic, though I have no idea why she thinks it should be effective. I asked her why she got a time-out. She said, "Because I dropped the thing and then slid it across the floor." Wow. That's a pretty skillful lie, I thought. She wasn't denying she did SOMEthing with the utensil, but she just gently slid it across the floor. Right. I said, "No you didn't, you threw it at Elijah." I had watched the whole thing happen, so I knew and she couldn't re-write that much. She said, "Well, I threw it, but I threw it at the ground, not at Elijah." :) Pretty clever, I thought. Don't deny the whole truth, just tweak it a little. I told her she could stay in her time-out until she was ready to admit she threw it at Elijah.

So round 2. I gave her another few minutes and went back into her room. We'll try the same question: "Miciah, why are you in a time-out?" She says, "Because I threw that thing at Elijah." "Yes. Yes, you did. Now why did you throw it at Elijah?" I realize the answer is obvious, so I quickly form it as a question, "Beause he threw something at you?" She says, "Yeah, and it hit me RIGHT HERE!" and points at her neck. "No he didn't, Miciah. He threw it near the ground." She says, "Well, he hit me right here!" and points to her knee. I start repressing a smile and I look at her with that "you better start telling the truth pretty quickly because I'm done with this crap" look that only moms can pull off. She then says, "Well, it hit me SOMEwhere!" And I lost it. I cracked up. Pretty soon we were both laughing. She still got the same lecture: be nice, don't throw things, even if he throws something at you. But we got a good story out of it!

I attached a few pictures. One is of our cool gingerbread house! There is a family in our ward that makes gingerbread houses every year (one year they made Hogworts castle. No joke) and they invited us over this year to make them for a fun family night. They had it down, but we have never made a real gingerbread house. They had the gingerbread all made and cut out, so we just had to assemble it. It turned out AWESOME! So we took pictures. I returned yesterday so she could teach me how to make the gingerbread. It's a tradition that we plan on incorporating into our family Christmas celebration from here on out. Rob really grooves on gingerbread houses, actually. I never thought I liked the taste of gingerbread, but apparently I'd just never had fresh gingerbread or something. Because it was good. So now I theoretically know how to make gingerbread and icing. I'm going to attempt a batch this week and see if I can make some gingerbread people.



The other is of Teancom "cooking." We had left some mugs and other things on the table, and Elijah had brought out a wooden spoon. Rob walked into the dining room to see Teancom stirring with the wooden spoon in the mug. Cute.


And the last picture is of Rob's creation. :) Last night Rob and I went to the annual Christmas party for his department. We didn't go last year for some reason now lost to me. Anyways, they have a contest for the best ornament made with all lab supplies. It's a fun contest and they give a little prize for it. Anyways, this is what Rob came up with. Pretty creative, I thought, and so did everyone else, because he won the prize. The girl who got second place (she made a really pretty snowflake made with slides and sucrose (sugar) glued to the slides with silicone stuff) was upset because hers was actually a hanging ornament and Rob's was a decoration, not an ornament. :) Last night Rob took pictures of it on our tree, and he says that, even though he has to return a lot of the supplies to the lab, we can keep it around this Christmas. It's actually pretty cool, though something about it makes me shake my head.


Hope you are all doing well! We love you all.

Tamra, Rob, Miciah, Elijah, Teancom, and Cleo

Oh, we think we're going to keep Cleo around. Her ringworm is gone and she's doing really really well in our home. She's happy here and everyone in our home is happy to have her back, even me. Turns out having only one cat isn't near as hard on the house and everyone else as two cats was. Cleo's also a slightly different (and better) cat by herself. Plus, Elijah the other day was petting her, looked at me and said, "Mommy, Cleo is my best friend." How do you argue with that?

One Tooth Less, and Adventures in Young Mens

My updates usually feel like non-updates, and this one is no exception. And I don't even have pictures to send out to make me feel better about sending out nothing important. :) Oh well. This is the update.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving week was crazy and fun! It started with Rob's brother and his fiance (G and M) plus Rob's mom coming down on Monday night. Tuesday was Grandparents Day at Miciah's school. C had a great time with Miciah and it made Miciah feel special. Before school they had a great time making up stories and drawing pictures together. At school the Kindergarteners sang a few songs for the grandparents and then Carolyn got to check out Miciah's classroom and play games with her. Miciah LOVED it.

After school we left and drove up to P to spend the rest of the week with family. We played games, talked together, and had some great food. Yea for Thanksgiving food! Leftover turkey on leftover rolls. What's better than that?

A Wedding

Friday night we went to a wedding. D & N, two grad students in Rob's program. They are both beautiful people and her dress was GORGEOUS. It was a very fancy ordeal and it was fun to attend. We left when the party was really getting started--about 11 pm. Our kids were being watched overnight at a friend's house, and we thought, why would we stay at a public party and watch people become increasingly intoxicated, when we can go home and do whatever we want. So we went home. It was fun to wake up Saturday morning to a quiet house. A little strange, but fun.

Miciah's Tooth

Then Saturday night was fun. Around 6 p.m. Miciah started screaming about her tooth that hurt. We've known she's had a cavity for almost 2 months. We saw a hole in her tooth at the beginning of October. She had a scheduled cleaning for mid-October. At the cleaning, the dentist obviously saw the hole, too, and scheduled a return date of the beginning of November. They had to cancel that one, and the next time we could get in was mid-November. After waiting in the waiting room for 2 hours, the dentist told us that the hole was bigger than she thought and we'd have to come back another time when she had more time. That was scheduled for December 5th. Still a week away.

Anyways. Back to Saturday. Rob started checking out her tooth and noticed a huge bulge in her gum above her tooth. Bummer. So we gave Miciah some Ambesol and some Childrens Motril and started making phone calls. We called our dentist: no emergency line, of course. We called a nurses' hotline for our insurance. They suggested calling our pediatrician. We spoke to a nurse and then a doctor at our pediatrician's office. The doc said it probably was an absess tooth as we thought, but he didn't feel comfortable giving a prescription for an antibiotic until someone looked at it. So to the Emergency Room we went at 8:00 p.m. Fun times! We got in really quick. It was funny to see people's reaction when we told them what we were there for. It was a funny situation. A dental problem that was now a medical problem, too. Anyways, after fearing they would turn us away with some cop out answer like, "We can't do anything for a dental problem," the doctor was really nice and said it was an absess tooth and gave us the antibiotic we needed.

But we still have to take care of the tooth. On Tuesday we called our dentist's office, told them they were fired for not getting this taken care of in a timely manner, and then called Children's Dental Clinic. It's attached to Children's Hospital and they have a really great reputation. They also have a really long waiting list to get in. We weren't hopeful. But they got Miciah in THE NEXT DAY. Wow. So Wednesday morning Miciah went in to see what needed to be done about the tooth. Turns out that without us knowing or being able to see, her tooth had decayed away. Rob said there was a quarter inch gap between the top and bottom of the tooth. Eww. And of the 3 roots the tooth has, there was only 1 left. So they pulled the tooth. But Miciah did really really well and in a near-miraculous feat, she didn't even know they gave her a shot until I told her a few hours later. That's amazing! She stayed home from school Wednesday. Not because she couldn't go, she had just already been through a lot. So we let her chill at home.

But, for amazing feat #2 for Children's, there was a cancellation on Thursday morning, so Miciah was able to get in the next day for a new patient check-up! Wow. She was a little afraid to go back, but I promised they wouldn't pull any more teeth. They found another 3 little bitty cavities that aren't a big deal. Miciah goes back in January to fix those and also to get a spacer put in her mouth so that her teeth will still grow in the right way. The tooth that got pulled was a molar and it was supposed to stick around for another 4 years before she lost it naturally. Bummer. ... They also mentioned that Miciah doesn't have much space for her bottom teeth, so those will probably come in crooked. I told them that sounded familiar. That's my teeth, and that's what braces are for.

So it's nice that even though it wasn't a fun resolution for Miciah, we're at least now in good dental hands. Elijah will go there from now on, too. Who knows what his teeth are like. I hope he gets Rob's teeth, not mine.

So that was one adventure for this week.

Youth Fireside

Sunday was a second adventure. Sunday was the youth fireside where they basically have a Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, all that stuff, plus pies. Me and Rob and the kids all ate, then I went home with the kids and Rob finished the fireside. Not so much an adventure, really, until that night. Rob's stomach started bothering him right before we went to bed. And then from 1 in the morning until 6 in the morning Rob was up on the toilet cleaning out his system. He woke up at 9 or so the next morning feeling awful, not only because of the awful experience, but also because he hadn't slept all night. He stayed home and slept until almost 1 p.m. Wow. My system wasn't happy with me, either, but I didn't get sick like that.

The next day I asked a friend who was also at the dinner, "You guys weren't by chance sick yesterday, were you?" Yep, they were, too. None of the kids were (though Teancom did have a gross diaper on Wednesday--but that was 2 days after everyone else got sick), thankfully. Rob went to Young Mens Tuesday night and started asking around. All but 4 or 5 people got sick, most of them up through the night like Rob had been. :) They never did pinpoint what it was that got everyone sick (though the stuffing was a likely culprit, all information gathered), but it was a fun sharing experience anyway.

Pink Eye

And for our last adventure of the week, Elijah has pink eye. Not much else to say about that. I was hoping he'd get what I call his vampire eyes, just like last time. But they're just pleasantly pink instead of blood red like they were when he got them last. We called the doctor's office and they called in a prescription for us without making us come in. Yea! Her instructions were, "Try to keep him from rubbing his eyes." I laughed over the phone. Right. He's 3. She said, "It is highly contagious." Yes. Yes, I know. So we might be in for a longer adventure. Who knows? Cute little pink eyes.

Miciah is doing well. She watched the newest Barbie movie (we borrowed it from a friend) about 10 times in the week we had it. I now have most of the songs memorized. Elijah is still obsessed with Spider-Man. Miciah was watching the movie, and there's a lullabye in it. It talks about night time coming by saying, "Stars begin to climb." Elijah looks at me and says, "Mom, Spider-Man cwimb?" Yes, Spider-Man climbs. "Stars don't cwimb." No. Stars don't really climb. Cute.

Elijah also still likes playing pretend. Miciah still likes this, too, but Elijah is getting more and more into it. The other day we were in the car and Elijah said, "I play pretend. I be Spider-Man. And you, Ciah. You be Ciah." I thought that was awesome.

Teancom

Teancom is doing good. He's still not walking, but every now and then he thinks about it. The day before Thanksgiving he surprised us by walking about 10 steps. But he can't do it consistently and he refuses to try most of the time. I still swear that his left leg doesn't move straight. I call it his peg leg. :) He'll walk eventually. He is getting much more curious and that's fun. It's weird to me to think that he's almost a year and a half old. Because he's still very much a baby, not a toddler. He doesn't walk, he's still not really talking, and he's still very cuddly. Rob always says that he'll come home, and every time, within seconds, Teancom will crawl over to him and want to be held. It's cute. But it's weird to see other babies that are much further along and that are also younger than him. :) Teancom will get there. And I've no complaints.

Rob's Paper is Submitted!

OH!! There is one exciting update! Rob submitted his first paper for publication!!! That's AWESOME. I'm going to have Rob send out an e-mail explaining what it's all about. So be looking for that. We're celebrating tonight with a bottle of sparkling cider. Thought about a last-minute date, but with pink eye in the house, uhh, right. But, congrats to Rob!

Post-Doc Search

We also are getting a little further in figuring out where we'll go for his post-doc. It's been an interesting process. We will probably stay in Cincinnati (if it works out with the person he's negotiating with right now. They meet next week and so hopefully we'll know better by then), which is what we originally thought, but I'm glad the process has gone how it has. At first it was about staying here because we're comfortable here. Then we wanted to leave because it was Rob's career dream to go to the NIH. And then things started coming into focus. This is the first decision of this nature where we've had to worry about balancing work AND family. And it just gets harder, I think, to make these sorts of decisions from here on out. Because more and more factors will be added. Anyways, it's been a learning process. Particularly a lesson in patience, for me. I'm not a patient person when it comes to stuff like this. :)

Christmas

And Christmas rules! Our tree is up. The stockings are on the wall. We have 2 nativities out. One is ceramic, beautiful, and up where the kids can't touch it. The other is a Fontanini one that the kids can play with. Which is awesome--it's my favorite Christmas memory growing up: playing with the nativity set. Cute little baby Jesus. This year we added wise men and a cow (the pieces are expensive), so it feels much more complete this year. We have the holy family, a shephard, a traveller, and the 3 wise men. Plus sheep and a cow. I love playing with the set about as much as the kids do. It's awesome.

Hope you're all well. Sorry this is a boring update with no pictures. We love you anyway!

Tamra, Rob, Miciah, Elijah, and Teancom

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