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.