Spread the Word

I'm officially done starting every post talking about what a bad inactive blogger I am. This will be the last mention of it:) I'll assume from here on out that you guys know I'm sorry about my lack of blogging.

On to my post...
An acquaintance of mine recently told me a story about how as a young unmarried woman she made some poor choices and found out she was pregnant, about 6 months into the pregnancy. Quite the shock, I'm sure. But she said "I didn't worry for a second. I knew exactly what was going to happen and where that baby was going. I was friends with a family that was eagerly awaiting an adoptive child and I knew I was the answer to their prayers."
Of course, the situation was hard and sad for her, but can you imagine how much worse it could have been if she didn't know from the start that her baby would have a loving, complete family?

So I'm spreading the word. Kenny's sister, Jeannette, her husband, Jeff, and their 4-year-old daughter, Laura, are eagerly seeking an addition to their family. They're a wonderful family, incredibly talented, tons of fun, and so full of love. Laura is adorable and bright and well-behaved and that little girl deserves to be a big sister.

They've done everything they can and have completed their end of the LDS Family Services Adoption process, and have nothing to do now but wait and hope. Check out their story and spread the word.

How things are coming along:

The Hair:


He has legit ringlets in the back but is still bald on top.
The Walking:

This is actually from about 3 weeks ago, but you can see he's gotten pretty good at walking. He doesn't "plerp" nearly as often. Still can't get to standing from sitting though.
He's also finally learned how to clap! Yay!
The Yard:


It no longer looks like a checkerboard, though it has some patches that are still "filling in". It's definitely taken root and parts grew up to 5 inches in a week last week. Whew! That's a lot of mowing (thanks, Kenny)
The Novel:
It's not. I've been way too anti-computer, then I lost my copy of MS Word (and all my files are .docx), and I've given up for a little bit. Once Daniel is old enough to understand "please don't eat the computer cord" I might start back up.
The Resolutions:
Well, it's been five months. Which of my resolutions are still going? None!
Well, not entirely. We still meal-plan and only shop once a week, and that's been a good budgeting thing for us. I no longer keep to our weekly cleaning schedule mostly because our place just doesn't require that much cleaning. I clean when needed. Unfortunately, this means there are days when I have no idea what productive (and baby-friendly) thing to do. It doesn't help that Daniel HATES the vacuum cleaner.
I did stop hanging out on my online bulletin boards- I was spending way too much time on them and in the end I got too emotionally involved and when the board started falling apart it hurt too much. It's been 4 months since I've been on those sites at all, though I still miss those ladies and the friendly, useful mommying advice I got there. I still use my internet timer and generally I spend one hour on the internet a day (it may seem like more if you follow me on facebook, but really- I just hop online for 3-minute increments at a time).

A Day Downtown

I've been bugging Kenny for months to take Daniel and I down to Discovery Green park in downtown houston so Daniel and I could play in the fountain. Finally, Saturday was our day. We had a blast. At first Daniel just hung out on the side, looking a little confused but still interested:

Then he ventured in:




He happily weaved through the fountains (which popped in and out of the ground at random):

And was even a good sport when he got overwhelmed:


In other news, Daniel has learned how to get into kitchen cupboards (no worries, any cupboard with something dangerous in it has been baby-proofed).

The Lazy Blogger

I am so behind in blogging, I think I'm overwhelmed by all the things to post so I'm just ignoring the computer.

Let's see, what's new?
-If you haven't yet heard, after three promising interviews and an unofficial job offer from a closer (nicer) High School, we learned that that district has a hiring freeze so they simply can't fill their vacant positions, whether Kenny is a shiney teacher or not. I think I took it harder than Kenny- I was excited for him to have less of a commute so we could share the car more. The idea of another year without a car during the day is fairly depressing.
-Daniel is a pro at walking now, and has been for a little while. We've had a good month- he's been giggly and agreeable and is really catching on to things (he knows how to locate mommy's nose now- I tell you, my kids a genius, though we're still working on clapping, "mommy", "daddy", and not running into walls.) He's been sleeping and napping well and loves vitamin-fortified Nesquick (and he tolerates normal dairy milk occasionally).
-I'm done breastfeeding, as of about a week ago. I'd been feeding once or twice a day for a while and didn't feel like I had much milk left, but I've discovered in the last week I had plenty left- and now it's trapped and oh, it hurts! It's been wonderful, being able to take Aleve/Naproxen or sleeping pills when I need. I even drank a caffeinated soda the other day!
-I start this Friday as a respite care worker for an 18-year-old autistic boy in my ward. 5 hours every Friday night all summer. I'm looking forward to it and to the extra cash (which, who are we kidding, will probably go straight into savings).
-Kenny has less than a month of school left- his last day of normal classes is the 4th. He'll be working summer school though, which will take him right up until June 30th, the day before we go....
-HOME! We're headed to Portland, Vancouver, Seattle, and British Columbia in a 2-week trip for a family reunion. I haven't been home since my wedding 2.5 years ago and I'm SOOOO EXCITED.

I can't think of much else, so here are some pictures.
Daniel having fun in the bath:


And after the bath:


This picture demonstrates his proportions well (10% for height, 50th for weight and 90th for head- short, fat, with a big ol noggin):

new blog layout

It had been a few months so I made a new background. The problem is I'm determined to not use anyone else's stuff for my backgrounds now, so I have to wait til I have time to make something. I made this one out of a picture I took at a park of a tree, turned into a stamp then run through a filter in photoshop. I'm rather proud of myself, if I do say so myself.
I still cheat and use other people's fonts. Don't have THAT much time (or skill) on my hands.