Wow, it has been awhile since I’ve written anything, hasn’t it. Hmm… well, sorry about that! We’re doing well here - busy dreaming about house plans, figuring our our plan of attack for getting on the land, and trying to keep the munchkins happy, clean, and fed. We’ve also be going through the house and garage, throwing away things, getting rid of stuff, and selling some things. I’ve sold a few things on Craig’s List, a bunch of books on Amazon Marketplace, and given away a few more things via FreeCycle. We also had a free e-waste day in town last weekend, so we got rid of a few things that we’ve had sitting around for ages. Next to my computer I have another whole stack of books to go through and list (if they’re worth anything, which so many books aren’t!). It will be so nice to not have to move all this stuff!
Things with the property are going well - we’ve been approved for the loan, and we’ve seen all the disclosures and reports except for one. We don’t expect any problems from the one remaining report - it is just being held back because a lot line adjustment hasn’t gotten final sign-off from the county. We’ll get the report once that’s done, which should be very soon. We’re going back up this weekend to take some pictures, spend some more time on the property, and to sign a whole whack of papers.
Emma and Gregory are keeping me really busy, perhaps even more so than before. Emma’s requiring a bit more focus and direction these days. Last week was a difficult one - I kept wanting to peer inside her head to see if her brain had somehow vacated the premises.
She’s really taken quite a leap in her ability to imagine, think critically, and her physical coordination. Which is all well and good (and really neat to see) but it also means that she now wants to climb and jump off nearly everything in the house, and that she wants to do all sorts of complicated art and craft projects. She’s coming up with some amazing questions about what we’re reading and experiencing in the world, but she is really, really easily distracted from whatever task is set before her because she is constantly falling into some flight of fancy or another. All of which are really interesting and wonderful developmentally, but practically speaking can be rather frustrating at times! As Matt said last week, “I sometimes wonder if letting her listen to Anne of Green Gables was a bad influence on our daughter”.
Gregory has decided that he wants to be mobile - NOW!! He’s figured out how to scoot himself around on his bottom, and he’s beginning to army crawl (although it is more of a worm wiggle at the moment) as well. I can no longer put him down in a spot and expect him to be there a minute later. He doesn’t go far, but of course he heads straight for the electrical cords, Emma’s small toys, pieces of paper, etc. Baby toys have almost no interest anymore this this little boy! He’s trying to pull up on things too, and while he’s got a ways to go before he can do that, he’s really quite determined. He’s also having a harder time napping and such, because he keeps almost falling asleep then struggling up on his hands and knees and fussing. He has to be really, really, tired for him to pass out now, which generally means he only takes one nap a day. Sometimes he will pass out for a second nap in the late afternoon, which then means he doesn’t go to sleep until much later in the evening than usual.
So, yes, things are busy in this household! To top it off, I’m starting RCIA tonight (yes, all you Protestants out there can start praying that I’ll come to my senses :-P) which will be every Thursday from 7:30-9:30 until Pentecost. I rather wish there was some way to make this work with my family life better, but short of waiting until my youngest child is two or three years old (and really, I have no idea how long that’ll take!) I don’t think there’s any way around it. I’m glad that there’s such a strong educational program for joining the Catholic Church, and I think that the parish I’ll be doing this through is going to do a good job… but still, this is not going to be easy. (Although really, what easy things are really that important and/or worth doing?) If I didn’t feel that this is absolutely where God is leading me… I’m just very thankful that my husband is being as supportive as he is and that he’s willing to make it work.