Eva-
Sweet little Eva has decided that sleeping long stretches is not for her anymore. She was giving us 8-9 hours at night from about 3 months of age until last month. On her 5 month birthday she started waking every 3 to 4 hours again (not as bad as our little friend Claire, but still not great). We've chosen this week to do Ferber so we should be getting our Z's back (thank God) by Friday (she'll be 6 months old next week). Besides sleep, she is growing and learning lots about her environment. The biggest thing we've noticed lately is how much she's fascinated by her brother. She will watch Will intently as he plays and turns her head to follow him whenever he motors by. She also likes the exersaucer a lot and the activity mat (grabbing toys is fun) but still doesn't love being on her tummy, so I don't think she'll be an early crawler.
Watching internet TV and eating ice cream with Mom and Dad
Will-
I absolutely love this age. He will be turning two at the end of May and he's learning so much so fast. His favorite things are balls (everything is a "basseh ball") and he loves hearing his dad play the guitar (ta-tar) and the piano (pano). One funny little thing is that he's been calling Rodney and me (but mostly me) by our first names quite a bit lately. I try to ignore it until he says "mama" or I say "I'm mama" and then he stops, but it's kinda funny. He's talking more and more lately and trying out new phrases daily it seems. Some of his favorites are "there it is," "I see it," "time to eat," "have it, want it," "shoot it (the ball)," and "you do it." Sometimes when we leave someplace he'll name all the people he can think of that were there and then say "that was fun." If we're leaving the house he'll say "bye bye Che, little bit" which means "bye bye Che (our dog), see you in a little bit." The one that was cracking me up yesterday was while we were driving he said "moon, where are you?" He's also fascinated with bikes and even tried to sequester a little toddler's bike-type ride in the park a little while back (much to the potential friend's dismay).
Pumping
Rocker
Rodney-
He has accepted a job at Lift for Life Academy in Soulard for the fall. This is a humongous blessing due to the turmoil at his current school, Imagine College Prep. He is very excited about the change and would start teaching there tomorrow if he could. It also doesn't hurt that the school is right across the street from the Soulard Market (my husband is as white as it gets when it comes to farmers markets). He's also getting ready to teach a May term class at Greenville (in Godfrey, IL at an extention campus) that will last 3 weeks. The class is called Christian Ethics, which is a new one for him. He'll also be teaching a night class at SLU in the fall, so he's getting some college teaching experience under his belt.
Gina-
I just finished concert week with the symphony with two performances of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust on Friday and Saturday. It was really amazing. We have one more performance left for the season which is Beethoven's 9th, and if it's anything like my first two concerts with this incredible group of musicians I should be in for some more greatness. I have a Bach Society concert on Sunday, the last of our season and we're performing Mozart's Vespers and Bach's Jesu Meine Freude at St. Xavier Church on SLU's campus. It should be a very good concert as well. Poor Rodney has been a little worn out becuase he's on single-daddy duty just about every night during concert weeks and to have two back to back should not be fun. But, he did secure a babysitter and was able to attend last night's performance at the symphony so he got a little "second wind" so to speak. I am truly blessed to be able to stay home with my kids and still pursue my musical career goals. Even though it can be tiring, it is extremely rewarding.
