Updates

I have had SO many ideas for blog posts lately, but alas, reality limits my time right now. Here's one of those posts that tries to catch you up on interesting points in each of our lives - oldest to youngest.

Scott is amazing. I don't even have words to praise him high enough. He's such an amazing, playful and attentive father. Grace adores him. I'm so glad he's done with his out-rotations so we can have him at home, even if he gets home at 7 every night and leaves at 5:45 in the morning (which is the case this month). His current rotation is Neuro-ophthalmology. I know, sounds impressive.

We were informed this week of some unfortunate events regarding Scott's residency potential. Of the four places he traveled to do auditions for residency, two of them are closing down their programs immediately and a third might also. This includes the rotation in Michigan that we were most excited about and Scott had the best impression at. Suffice it to say, we are seriously considering how realistic the dream of going into ophthalmology is with these new circumstances or wondering if we should look into a new specialty. Application deadlines have passed, so we're in a bit of a pickle.

Britta is kind of making everything up as she goes along. This week I've finally had days where I physically felt normal and happy! It's an interesting balance to have two kids, but so far we haven't had any catastrophes. I'm eating a lot more cereal and sandwiches than I used to, but hopefully I'll get back into the swing of cooking in the next couple weeks.

I'm also starting to work a little bit again. I finished the book cover for the sequel to Psion Beta, if any of you read that book. The new book, Psion Gamma, will come out 11-11-11.

Grace is adjusting to having a new baby brother really, really well. She is so smart, gentle and obedient! I am loving this adjustment. I guess I expected it to be a lot worse, seeing that she's two. The worse part is that I don't have the energy to play with her as much as I used to and that makes me sad. She watches a lot of Backyardigans and VeggieTales on the computer.

I decided at the new year that when she expressed interest in changing her own clothes, I would tackle potty-training. I assumed she'd be interested earlier, but sometimes it takes a kick in the pants, like a new baby brother, to realize that you can do things for yourself, like get dressed. This week was the first time she picked out her own clothes and got entirely dressed on her own (except I still put the diaper on). The ensemble is pictured above. She was so pleased with herself that she happily posed for the picture (rare) and even said with a big smile, "CHEESE!"

Henry is starting to focus and look at us more. He is such a handsome little man. He eats a lot and sleeps a lot and cries a lot. You know, the normal stuff that comes with a baby. I feel like he's huge now, even though he's probably only two pounds heavier than at birth. Some days I look at him and think, "you were smaller this morning than you are now." Seriously, he grows that fast some days. We don't mind, though. Every step is exciting.

I love his hair. I'm learning how to style it with a tiny bit of gel, but I don't do it that often because I feel like I'm soiling it somehow. Below is a shot of his unadulterated hair, freshly cleaned. It's pretty crazy, but it's also got cool blond highlights at the tips. If you enlarge either of these photos of him, you'll see it. As one of my sisters said, Henry has "cool guy quality." His hair is even getting in on the action.