Bad Blogger

Ok, so I have missed a while blogging. I am routinely checking other blogs that I read. I even have several drafts of posts that I was thinking about posting. I kept waiting for the perfect idea to pop into my head to catch up and post. However, SOOO much has changed in the past month and a half that my ideas were constantly changing and usually got so long that I lost my own attention just writing it so I know no one wanted to read it. I am going to do a quick catch up by Family member:

Mike: Mike started a new semester in August. Not much has changed for him. Still the same old job, same old school. He's taking Greek this semester, so life is a little intense right now. Also he is taking his philosophy of religion class which I think is helping him get an extra nap during the day. He is also taking on the task of watching Brianna during the day on Tuesday and Thursday while I am working (see post about Erin).

Erin: I started off July watching a 2 year old full time during the week. That ended in August and I got a job at Travis Avenue Baptist Church working as a teacher in their Christian Early Learning Center. I teach 10-2 year olds on Tuesday and Thursday from 930-2pm. I love it and was able to completely replace the income from the full time child I was watching and do it with only 11 hours of work. Also, I started watching a 3 year old little girl for a couple hours in the morning on mondays and fridays. It has been really nice getting out of the house more during the week and interacting with other adults. I feel like it has made me more productive at home as well since I have been utilizing my days home better.

Mary Kate: Mary Kate has reaped the benefit of me working at the C.E.L.C. She has started going to preschool there. She absolutely LOVES it!!! She is doing a lot of fun crafts and learning to properly print her letters and making new friends. Her teachers told me that she always knows all of the answers to the questions they ask at Bible Story time and she was the only one who knew the rhyme "Little Miss Muffet". I am a proud mama! Mary Kate also started her second year of cubbies and is starting to read! She is growing up so fast.

Brianna: She is growing like a weed! She just had her 9 month check up and she is 20 lbs. and 30 inches long. She is the average size of 15 month old. She also is developmentally on par with a 15 month old. She is saying a couple of words (mama, dada, peekaboo, up, ball, uhuh, hi, bye), crawling, pulling up, feeding herself, pinching food and small objects between her thumb and forefinger. Most of this (other than the crawling and pulling up) is stuff that most kids don't do until 15 months. My kids have always been talkers though. :) Brianna is also demonstrating her stubborn streak. Now that she can get to what she wants we have had to really start teaching her boundaries. And she doesn't like them! We have also discovered how social she is. She is not content to sit and play somewhere if no one is around. She will find you and crawl to you and follow you around. It is cute and sweet!

So that is an update on us in a nut shell. While a lot has changed we are grateful to God for his guidance and provision. I can truly say that the past month has been a test of Faith and that God has shown his power in our lives by providing more than we could have hoped for in all of this. Thanks for any and all prayers you have lifted for us!