It's been a hard couple of weeks

Don't get me wrong, overall we've been good...but life hasn't been easy. I haven't posted in awhile, so here are some updates.

1) The worst thing by far was Annie's concussion last Wednesday. She was helping me pour syrup into a pitcher and fell backward off the counter, landing on her head. It was, in a word, terrible. After being barely responsive for about an hour, she started throwing up and then showed a little improvement. We made two calls to the emergency doctor line and in the end decided to wait until morning to take her in, since they couldn't really do much. It was a loooong night, especially since she still wasn't talking much before she fell asleep and it was difficult to wake her throughout the night. We had lots of people praying--and when she woke up Thursday morning, she was pretty much 100% better! Kevin and I are pretty convinced we witnessed a miracle.

Also, we have a new family rule about sitting on counters.

2) I took the first part of my comps exam, and it went pretty well. Here is what my workspace looked like after two 8-hour days of writing:

There are a few things I enjoy about this picture. One is the NCTM book on the chair, which was a Christmas present from my dear grad school friend Jerilynn. Such a great and funny gift (and very helpful for comps.) Another is the article (Randy Philipp's review of beliefs and affect research) on the ottoman that has Nellie's scribbling all over it--I think that was two years ago. The large piece of paper on the bed has a single note from Nellie to wish me luck: "I love Jamie." The screen has been removed from the window in case the woodpecker comes back and Kevin has to shoot it. :) Now, I'm on to the paper part of the test. Pretty much every spare moment has been spent on it. ONE. MORE. WEEK.

3) We're getting into the swing of things with Nellie going to kindergarten. After being late for the first two weeks (like, really late), we're getting better. In general. My friend Katie (whose son is in Nellie's class) says Nellie gets the award for "best adjusted." And really, it has been a pretty smooth transition. She's finally talking to me after school! Last week was the book fair, which was a BIG HIT. She came home with books for herself, Annie, and DJ.

4) There are lots of DJ updates...he was teething last week, and he now has four teeth! He can also army-crawl very efficiently as of last week, and get himself into a sitting position. He'll pull himself up onto his knees on toys and furniture. He's babbling more, and saying bababa, dadada, and something squealy that means "hi." He's bigger than ever, wigglier than ever, and starting to look like a kid.

DJ's also in his own room, as of three weeks ago or so. Within a week, he went from waking up every 60-90 minutes to waking up "only" 3 or 4 times a night. Progress... His room is awfully cute; we're going for a "beach baby cabin" feel. I'll put up pictures when the Internet isn't acting so funny!

Of course, there's been lots of good stuff, too. Kevin's found time to go hunting (ahem) so he's been a happy camper (literally! ha! pun not intended, at first.) Yesterday was the fall festival at Woldumar, which meant hayrides, mums, and other fall fun. I started going to MOPS so I'll get to spend time with new and old mom-friends. I really do hope, though, that life takes on a slightly slower pace very soon.

More things they say

We had pizza delivered tonight since Emily, Mike, Mom, and Dad were all coming over at the same time. The delivery man clearly had some sort of nerve or muscle problem. Nellie, always the encourager, earnestly told him, "wow, you are a really good dancer!"

Turns out he has Parkinsons, and we talked at length about how he's waiting to get disability. I was half embarrassed by the "kids say the darndest things" moment, and half relieved because it definitely wasn't the worst thing Nellie could have said. Honestly, I thought it was a little sweet that she didn't see anything "wrong" with him, and thought it was totally normal for someone to dance their way through life.

Nellie goes to kindergarten

The first day!

Nellie woke up and came down the stairs, saying, "why does my alarm clock want me to get up at this time? It's so early."

 Princess lunchbox, princess backpack. Also note the shorts and t-shirt. Nellie has not worn shorts and a t-shirt in...maybe two years? She picked out her own clothes, though, and when I asked her about it she told me she was going to play on the playground and she needed to be able to move around without her dress coming off. Go figure.

Everything went well this morning. No tears, just excitement. The fact that she's only going every other day makes it easier; it's pretty much like preschool but all day. She did get a little nervous once we got to the classroom, so I slipped out in a hurry. From the sounds of it, she was fine. Though I can't really get her to tell me what she did at school today...I think she was exhausted! I've never seen her so sleepy at bed time. Also, someone took her princess towel at nap time.

When we went to visit Kevin at work, he went to find a camera and didn't come back for a few minutes. At one point, Nellie climbed up on a huge rock and announced, "according to my calculations, he'll be back real soon."

I figure she's a genius already, and she's only been in school for a day!