Some days are better than others

And some days are crappy. Fortunately today can neither be classified as crappy nor non-crappy. It is just a "meh" day. The weather outside is pretty bleak but I like rainy days. I just wish I was sitting in my beautiful living room with a roaring fire and my 3 favorite people. Oh right... I don't have a beautiful living room or a roaring fire. Well, technically I do have both but they are currently 2000 miles away and they do nothing for me today.

Aidan and Amanda are doing well. Amanda has a bit of a cold with runny nose and cough. Aidan seems to be pretty healthy. I guess this will be the roller coaster of daycare. Speaking of daycare, I should probably update how they're doing. Amanda absolutely loves her time at school. She gets super excited when it is time to go to school and when I drop the kids off, she immediately runs to whichever activity has grabbed her attention. Aidan also loves school. He is having a more difficult time getting acclimated. He gets very excited when we talk about school and get ready. He is also very happy when we get to school and they start their day. This is why it is very confusing when I arrive to pick up the kids and the afternoon staff tells me that Aidan had a rough afternoon. He has had more tear-filled afternoons than I would have expected. The girls tell me that he usually gets a bit upset when parents start arriving to pick up their kids. Unfortunately I have a 45 minute drive from work to pick them up and I don't get out of work until 5. They are usually the last ones picked up in their classroom. Their teacher, Ms. Jane, is a very nice person and she appears to really enjoy having the kids around. She tells me that both kids usually have a good time. They participate in all of the activities and are very polite and raise their hands. I think it is just going to take some time for Aidan to figure out the new routine. Things have changed so many times in the past year and it is hard for most 3 year olds. Fortunately Amanda is doing really well and she is able to help Aidan occassionally. I mention "occassionally" because the times that Aidan has cried at school, Amanda had no interest in helping him. The teachers describe Amanda as "intelligent, confident and articulate" but.... "she isn't very nurturing." One of the teachers described a situation where she approached Amanda while Aidan was crying and asked Amanda if she wanted to help Aidan. She said "no, thank you" and went back to playing. I guess you can't fault her for telling the truth!!

Amanda is fully potty trained and quite proud of herself, Aidan has no interest whatsoever! He is amazingly independent and wants to do everything himself, except go potty and dress himself. He always wants to open/close doors, climb in and out of the car, turn on tub and sink, ect. He never wants help with those things and he gets VERY upset if you try to help him. I know that this is all a process and I can't rush either of them. They will do things at their own pace. Other than that, I took them to their 3-year check up. They're both growing really well. Aidan is 35.5 lbs and just shy of 40 inches and Amanda is 30 lbs and about 37.5 inches. They are doing well developmentally.

Jon and I are doing OK. Things have been a bit rough lately with normal day to day stress. The house still hasn't sold. Believe me, you'd know if we had a bite! We've lowered the price numerous times but it is still a victim of a bad market. We're now trying to find a reasonably priced apartment so that we can have a place of our own while staying with our heads slightly above water. We did join a bowling league for some weekly relaxation. We were on a league in Colorado and we loved it. Most of our enjoyment was from the team we had in Colorado but we'll enjoy this nonetheless. We know quite a few people in the league and it is nice to have a reason to go out at least once a week. We can be quite the hermits and with the stress of living with extended family, we need to get out of the house more often. I just hope we can find a new place to live before the relationships are strained to the breaking point.

Fall is upon us. It is absolutely my favorite time of the year. I always look forward to the nice crisp air and being able to step outside in the morning and take a deep breath. Somehow I always find a smile.

I'm not really the praying type but we appreciate all good thoughts and wishes so that we can somehow move on with our lives...

I promise pictures. I have tons, I just need to get them on the computer.