Progress!

I usually don't have time to write a whole lot, but as our little family has come down with colds (Iris is the only one who doesn't seem to lose any steam!), I've determined that I have to take it easy today. I didn't feel great yesterday, but as a mom, how do you take a day off? So Josh worked from home to keep from spreading his cold, and I cleaned, and cooked, and did everything I normally do. So, inevitably, today I'm worse. But the house is cleaner (I don't know if I will ever achieve the elusive "clean"), and my energy level is almost nil. So, I'm taking it somewhat easy (its never a complete vacation with an almost-walking 10-month-old prowling around!). I've found that one of the biggest problems with being sick at the same time as the rest of the family is that I can't pass her off to the in-laws or parents, for fear that she will pass the creeping crud off to them. Oh, well!
So, Iris has made some huge progress in the last couple of weeks. After months of discouragement and frustration and trying to guess what we were doing wrong, Iris is now signing. Of course, as she had to know the name of the favorite family member first, she has been signing "doggy" for months. But nothing else. Certainly nothing helpful. But in just the last two weeks, her signing has ramped up. She now raises her hands when she's "all done", puts them together for "more", and sometimes slaps her forehead and chin, which we are hoping means "Daddy" and "Mommy". We would at least like equal standing with the dog. It is so nice to see the fruit of our labors. At least it will give us more encouragement to start more signs--I wasn't going to even try "please" and "thank you" until we got the basics down. Now we can teach her manners!

Summer Days

Summer is one of life's greatest paradoxes. It is a season when you have much more time at your disposal--no school (if your life is run by the school calendar), longer days, vacation time, etc. However, even with more "time" on our hands, we're always busy. Here in Corvallis we have flung ourselves whole-heartedly into summer and all of its joys. First we went on vacation--the biggest trip we've taken so far. Then, Josh bought me a new, gorgeous bike, which he surprised me with for our 6-year anniversary, along with a night at Eugene's nicest B&B, the Campbell House Inn. Ever since then, we've been biking all over Corvallis, enjoying events like Da Vinci Days, berry picking (Iris appreciates the fresh blueberries, as you can see above--and no, even though I don't like berries, I'm not depriving my child of them!), taking a waterbabies class, and working on our yard. So, it's been a busy summer, which is why you haven't heard from me that much. Also, keeping one step ahead of Iris is growing ever more difficult, as she is now crawling VERY quickly, and cruising around the furniture. She can even walk with her push walker--watch out world! If you would like to read my writing more often, please feel free to check out my Live Journal page, which is where I am concentrating on freewriting and getting back into writing fiction. Just have patience with me--it is primarily freewriting, which means it's unedited (other than spell check). But it feels good to stretch my wings again! I'm actually working on a long story idea, which feels very nice! Happy reading, and happy summer!