Monday, July 26, 2010

Taking the Plunge

Well, I've been in the country since I was eight, so about 16 years now. Today I took a big step and mailed in my application for citizenship! I figured since I have a husband and two (almost three) kids who are all citizens of this country I should probably jump on the wagon. My Permanent Resident card doesn't expire for another three years, but Joseph and I thought it would be much less stressful to just get this taken care of. Especially since I expect it to take a while before everything is taken care of. So, I'll let you know in a year or so when I can actually call myself a citizen!

Here are some pictures of what we have been up to lately:
Lounging luxuriously...

Reading on the couch...
... and that's about it. We're not planning to go on any big vacations this summer, but we definitely need to plan something. We'll work on that.

Caleb working at his favorite activity - cleaning. We love this boy!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Stolen, but I had to post it

My friend Catherine posted this a little while ago and it took me a while to actually click on it and read it, but once I did I immediately saved a copy for myself.
I'm sorry to say that I used to kind of share the opinion of the girl writing in. Hopefully I wasn't quite so ignorant or offensive, but I did wonder...
I love the response. Definitely worth reading through. Enjoy!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

RPE Results

So, a Research Preparation Exam is where Joseph has to present the research he' s been working on for the last couple of years and talk about where it's going and how it fits into other research being conducted in the field. And he has to convince his committee that it's worthwhile.
Anyway, he did that today and was told that passing him was a "no brainer." He is hoping this will lead pretty quickly to his dissertation proposal, after which he will only have to work on the actual dissertation and defense. Maybe we'll be outta here in a couple of years? We are excited about this big step forward in the program and the committee's enthusiasm for Joseph's research.

Today Emily made her tummy big like mine. She told me that now we both have babies in our tummies. She's kind of a spaz.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Three Thoughts

Last year I complained bitterly about how hot it was. This year has been much better. I am so grateful to be pregnant right now and not last year! This morning I heard on the radio that we have yet to hit 100 degrees here (though the heat index has definitely been up there) and last year we had already had 33 days over 100 by now! Wow.

Joseph's Research Preparation Exam is tomorrow and he has been working like crazy for it. He's a smart kid though so I am confident things will work out. It has been a little hard on all of us - yesterday he was in his lab until midnight (he did come home for dinner and FHE and to help put the kids in bed) and this morning he was gone before 8:00. We will have to do something extra fun tomorrow afternoon to celebrate having that behind us.

Is biting an instinct? Are some kids just born with the desire to bite other kids? Is it a personality thing or a gender thing? Emily has never bitten but Caleb has started and it is awful. He makes Emily cry a lot and he makes me frustrated. Punishing takes a lot of energy and I don't have that right now. He also tackles Emily and pulls her hair. I wonder if it's all in self-defense. Maybe he has to be the aggressor in order to not be completely run down by Emily.

Sorry no pictures today. The camera and computer with all the pictures are both at school with Joseph.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Raisins in his foots


Funny Emily.

This morning she led our breakfast conversation.
It went something like this:

"Mama, look at those foots with raisins in them."
"That's not very good. We don't put raisins in our foots because we don't have holes in our foots. They would fall out when we are walking."
"But why do those boys have raisins in their foots?"

It's a good question.

***

Today Emily was humming "If I Only had a Brain" to herself (she's been on a Wizard of Oz kick lately) and said, "Mama, that boy was singing about a brain because he needs a brain."
I answered absently and she continued,
"... because boys don't have brains."

She's figuring things out early!

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Indoor Activities

Lately we have been busy, but nothing eventful has been happening. While the temperature hasn't been too bad this summer, thanks to a couple of tropical storms/hurricanes out by the coast, the humidity has been pretty horrible. We have been stretching our imaginations to come up with fun things to do inside, especially because a lot of days are drizzly too so the water parks would not be so fun. On one occasion we were doing laundry and the day was perfect and sunny as we walked to the laundromat, but pouring rain when we came out with all our clean clothes five minutes later. I put the clothes back inside and let the kids play outside in the water with some of the other kids in the neighborhood. They were drenched by the end of it, but I figured it was just like going to the water park but with less driving and less hassle. And more mud.

Here is Emily with one of her favorite things, the always awesome play dough. We pull this out probably once a week and it always brings much excitement and joy.
Our playdough man.

Emily's flying Barbie. Emily has been frustrated lately because she flaps and flaps her arms but she can't figure out how to fly.

After having multiple suggestions shot down, I asked Emily what she wanted for lunch one day. She wanted salad. I told her we didn't have tomatoes or mushrooms, but she was cool with eating romaine lettuce and spinach dipped in ranch with a few baby carrots. I wish my cravings were as low-cal!

Last night we had vegetable beef soup with biscuits. Emily decided this half biscuit was her tiny little baby and held it in one hand while eating with the other hand all through the rest of the meal. I asked her to put it down but she said it would cry if she wasn't holding it. I guess she has a good understanding of babies!

I am so glad to have these two so close in age. They are great playmates for each other, even though poor Caleb often ends up getting beaten up and having his toys stolen. He still loves big sister though and follows her all around.

Emily and Caleb are best friends, but it's always better with Daddy around. Here they are just hanging out with their popsicles.

Here is Joseph's new toy - he discovered his dream phone a couple of weeks before our Verizon contract ran out. So we ordered it (late Father's day present) and switched to T-Mobile. Now he can use his phone to access our wireless internet and not pay the extra $20 per month for a data plan through the cell phone company. We still have the basic family talk plan but he gets bonus internet. The phone has lots of other fancy features as well, but I don't really know too much about it.

I am now thirty weeks along and really feeling it. I think I am either getting old or the weather is getting to me. I just feel huge and sluggish all the time. Two weeks ago was especially awful - I think the baby must have been growing a lot then. I am feeling a little better now but I sure hope this baby decides to break with the Cooper baby trend and not come a week late! A week early and under nine pounds would be nice. :)