The problem with waiting six months months between blog posts is picking up where you left off. It's not really possible. So with that in mind, I'll just jump right in, and try to hit the highlights.
I last wrote in January, since which time Eleanor has grown considerably larger and cooler, Dashiell has finished preschool, I have finished my first year of law school, and Amy has moved steadily closer to finishing library/information science school altogether. Our lives continue to be more hectic than we perhaps would like, but we manage, and at least we're not bored.
Anyway, let's start with Eleanor. Eleanor is now a beautiful, active, happy 9-month-old. Unless hungry or tired, she is generally delighted about something or other, and now spends most of her time crawling around the house and either putting things in her mouth or trying to stick her fingers in the fan. She can pull herself up using the furniture, and does a lot of babbling. She is also learning to "swim" (i.e., bob around in the water for a half-hour) with dad four days a week.
As some of you already know, we have for several months now been vacillating between worrying and not worrying about Eleanor's weight, as her weight-for-age percentile has moved steadily down from 50th to 5th. The doctor is clearly concerned, but Eleanor is clearly happy, strong, and active; we tend to think the latter is the more important and persuasive evidence. Plus the fact that her weight-for-length percentile remains perfectly steady. All the same, it's hard not to let the doctor's fretting get under your skin. Anyway, long story short, we finally spoke with a pediatric dietitian the other day, and she was far more helpful and encouraging, and far less alarmist, than our doctor. (Related side note: we're now in the market for a new pediatrician.) Eleanor now seems to be eating better, and I for one refuse to worry or stress out about it anymore.
Dashiell is the same great kid he's always been. He loves his sister and plays with her and keeps her safe, and of course loves the fact that she finds him so incredibly fascinating. He, too, is taking swimming lessons, and loves them, especially the part at the end where they get to leap into the water from the edge of the pool. He's in his third week, now, and it's truly amazing how much more comfortable he is in the water.
Dash also, of course, finished preschool in May. He loved it to the very end, and got to finish out the year with a "Ladybug Hoedown" (the kids all dressed like ladybugs and sang songs; it was precious) and a field day (pictures of which may be found here). He is now looking forward very much to attending "5-year-old school," and we wave to the building, and the playground, every time we drive past it.
Last month, Dash and I took a sort of spontaneous Father's Day trip to Chicago to visit my dad, who hasn't seen Dash since Amy's and my wedding, and also to see the rest of that side of the family, who have never met Dash, and whom I haven't seen for over a decade. It was a great trip, and Dash had a great time with his grandpa and all his cousins and aunts and uncles. (Pictures of the trip may be found here.)
As for me, I finished Year One of law school, and had a pretty good semester, grades-wise. For the summer, I'm working as a research assistant for my criminal law professor, but this barely counts as work, as so far I have clocked about 17 hours, total. Still, it's something law-related to keep my mind in gear, and it looks good on a resume. In the fall, I'll be taking Constitutional Law, Property, and Criminal Procedure; I'll also be continuing as a research assistant, as well as working as a sort of TA for a first-year Contracts course, and possibly also as a TA for a Lawyering Process course (the one that's all about legal writing and research). It sounds like a lot, but shouldn't amount to more than about 20 hours a week on average.
Amy, of course, continues to support all of this by working her two jobs, among other things, as well as attending classes herself. She is now about a year away from graduation, which is very exciting -- except for the part where she has to decide what to do with the degree. Apart from that, the two jobs are going well. Right now, she's in the midst of the Publishing Institute -- the four-week event for which she and her team (at one job) spend the rest of the year preparing -- so she's working more hours than normal, and is more exhausted, but it'll all be over soon. Then, of course, comes the fall, and more classes, and more craziness, and so on and so forth. What can we say? It's what we do.
I think those are the main points. If you click on either of the two photo links above (or any of the photos off to the right on this page), you should be able to click through to several other photo albums I recently posted. I'll try to at least post monthly batches, if nothing else, in the future.
We hope you are all doing great and having a wonderful summer (with air conditioning -- we are doing without, and it is no picnic). Drop us a line in the comments, or by email, or whatever. We'd love to hear from you.
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