Family updates

My goodness, it's hard to believe it's been a month since I last wrote. I made it through several weeks of preparing for and implementing advisory board meetings for my research assistantship. In the middle of the week of meetings I had to take the final exam for my summer math class, which I had foolishly believed would somehow be easier and more relaxed than a regular course. I survived, and now I have a week and a half to catch up on the rest of life before classes start again. Also, I came home from our vacation to find out that a conference proposal I co-wrote was accepted, which means I get to go to California in January!

We're still unsure exactly what Kevin will be up to in the fall, but it's looking like he'll be at Woldumar working full time. Unfortunately, we may not find out how that will actually pan out until we're already into the fall. Of course, he'll no doubt be spending time in the woods, too. He's out right now caring for his pigeons, which he'll use to train the dogs, whom he'll hunt with all fall.

Nellie has grown increasingly interested in weddings, princesses, and all things "being grown up." She's also ridiculously naughty, and has developed a flair for the dramatic. Lots of throwing herself down, head on her arms, with fake shoulder-shaking sobs. This is most definitely from watching too many Disney princess movies, since I noticed Ariel, Snow White, Cinderella, and Belle all do the same thing.

Annie is still not walking, which makes her generally grumpy because she wants me to carry her all over the house. We'll be working on that. Why did I think that having a big sister would make her want to walk earlier?

I do have one exciting thing to report: we are finally, finally sleeping better around here. I'm not actually going to come right out and say the girls are sleeping through the night--partly because they usually aren't, partly because I don't want to jinx it--but it has happened. The effect might be surprising to some, but is exactly what I expected. I am exhausted. It's like my body is saying, "okay, you gave me 4 hours a night for over a year, now I want 14 hours a night plus two naps for a few months." I figured my energy would come to a crashing halt at some point! The good sleeping started around Nellie's birthday and has gradually improved over the last month. I think Annie's slept through the night twice. I need to catch up with them, though--I'm usually up two or three times just anticipating one of them waking up!

We were at Pam's last weekend, and spent a couple of nights at Michillinda Lodge on Lake Michigan. I wish we had pictures to post, but I don't think we took a single one! We mostly ate, played, and napped. Heavenly.