Thursday, September 3, 2009

Wrapping up August

Today is Friday for me. Well, actually Thursday, but Dan’s off tomorrow, so it's Friday in my book. We're at the onset of a four-day-weekend and I COULDN’T BE MORE EXCITED. In addition to the summer blissfully coming to an end, I’m also a stone throw away from Avery starting school. She goes back on September 8, and instead of moaning and groaning about not being busy enough I will soon be moaning and groaning about being too busy. Although, I must admit that the idea of getting back into a regular routine sounds mighty attractive. Instead of indulging my desire to hang out in our pajamas all morning long, Ro and I will be shuttling Avery to school three mornings a week, and then she and I will do some mix of working out, errands, Bible study, and so forth. I really love fall. We’ve had the most beautiful stretch of 60/70 degree days and I COULDN’T LOVE IT MORE. Really.

We’ve wrapped up August doing our regular life stuff—some fun outings, some good times with family and friends. And it just feels weird that summer is already over. It’s been a lot of fun, although I’m glad to be hanging up my cruise director hat. Avery starts each day with, “Where are we going today, Mom?” And, she’s never satisfied with any type of errand or a visit to the store, but a park is acceptable, but a play date with a friend—Wow! That's the prize that earns me a: “Mom, you’re the best!” I'm not the best, though, when I'm constantly having to break up a heated sibling-rivalry face-off. I HATE IT. Avery can be so mean to Romey. I just don't get it. I feel like I say, "Don't pick up your sister!" or "Please listen!" no less than fifty times a day. And then the biting starts.....

And while we’re discussing Mom-Avery conversations/interactions I’d be remiss to not mention that Avery is stammering again. The doctor says it’s completely normal, but sometimes it’s just downright painful to wait for her to get her point across. Sometimes it is so bad that it sounds like a car is revving up. Combined with Romey’s grunting and mumbling, I feel like conversation in my home set up for failure (or hopelessly doomed cause we all know I'm a great conversationalist!). My name is Susan Nelson, and I do reside with the Stammer-er and the Mumbler, and all day long we look at each other and ...... laugh..... and attempt to decode all the expressive (and excessive) verbage. Yep, I'm on a thrifting hunt to see if I can’t find a coupon for BOGO speech therapy sessions!

And, when she’s not stammering, Avery’s favorite thing to do is play duck-duck-goose. When we play duck-duck-goose Avery’s eyes light up, and she giggles with excitement. While my family was in town recently they all agreed to play duck-duck-goose, and Avery LOVED it. My brother was ‘goosed’ and he was one heck of goose. Way to go, Tom! (Lea, you’re next).

And, I feel as though I need to post a ‘Headcount, Part 2.’ Although we’re not chiseling our decision in stone, we are putting our ‘lean or sway’ on the Internet (and that’s one step closer to picking up the chisel): we’re feeling as though we’re meant to be a two-kid family. There. I said it.

Seriously, we’ve had recent moments of clarity where we’ve felt that two is enough (actually, we’ve sometimes felt that two is more than enough; like maybe we’re already one beyond our limit!). We’ve spun the wheel three times, came out with two healthy, happy kids, and are feeling content. Instead of increasing our fold, we plan to focus on the children we have, and doing our best to raise them well. Based on what we believe to be our threshold for parenting well, we are embracing the magic number of two. And, since I’m posting this online you’ll undoubtedly be hearing an unplanned pregnancy announcement from us soon!

Have a FANTASTIC weekend, and, if we’re not connected via Facebook or Twitter, here are some of Dan’s recent Twit videos:

*Ave Abracadabra
*Ave wishing she were a penguin
*Ave sharing a tootsie roll with a dinosaur @Brookfield Zoo
*A summer-time meal
*Rockin' Ro
*Ro saying bye-bye
*Monkey Joe’s
*Ro Tinkerbell

Avery riding the carousal at Brookfield Zoo.

Avery with a dinosaur

Ro, Dan and Ave -- I love these three.

And, one last picture with Avery and a dinosaur.

1 comment:

Sarah Sikkema Seitz said...

Always love your blog posts Susan!
I hope getting back into the fall routine goes well. Oh and thanks a lot for your headcount post a few weeks back. It's not helping the "kid" cause in our household. Joel said "oh great" when I told him about it. :)