Super William

Z just turned 9 months old over the weekend, but if you haven't noticed, I've subtly switched to bi-monthly updates. Even numbers only! So sorry, you'll have to wait to hear ALL about the pain she's been inflicting on me with her two new teeth. ;) 

This is a post about a little boy. A little boy who never stops talking until he climbs into bed with an oversized dump truck toy and a water bottle with ice and lays down for a snooze. 

Of note:

// When he argues in favor of something, it's because "We ALWAYS do X." Fancy logic. E.g.,

• Will - I want a cookie.
• Me - No, we don't eat cookies before dinner.
• Will - BUT WE ALWAYS. We ALWAYS eat cookies. ALWAYS.
• Me - No.

// If you ask him whether he wants to do something fun, he will say with great exaggeration, "That is a GREAT idea! I'm so exciiiiited. I can't wait!"

// He thinks that "diarrhea" is a body part. (Don't ask me how this came to be.)

// When he directs you to do something, he will tell you to reply "Yes, ma'am."

                 "Daisy, sit! Say, yes ma'am, Daisy. Sit!" -__-

// If you ask him to do a little task for you, he'll say, "Yes, please." E.g.,

• Me, carrying Zelie and 23094834 other items - "Oh, Will, can you open the door for me real quick?"
• Will - "Yes, please!" And runs to open the door. 

// "I AM SUPER WILLIAM!"

// He says his favorite thing about his daddy is that his daddy's name is William, too. 

// He says his favorite things about Zelie is wrestling with her. (Not allowed.) 

// He doesn't sign anymore, but when he emphatically wants something, he automatically rubs his tummy to sign "please." He doesn't remember any other signs he used to use on a daily basis a year ago.

// His favorite color is blue. 

// And he says his best friend is mommy. (Blogged this one down for all of history because you know that one won't last much longer.)

That's all for now.

Time to go sneak some cookies before dinner. 

Because WE ALWAYS.

Latest & Greatest

My baby boy is TWO! We did it big with a mailman-themed Happy Birthday extravaganza. (AKA we invited three people over for cake.) Will's parents sent this HILARIOUS mailman get-up for his birthday, just in time for the little party. That mail carrier bag has seen all manner of vehicles . . . planes, trains, automobiles, you name it. It's not quite as beloved as his cowboy boots, but it has a special place in his heart, for sure.

He was pretty pumped for his b-day this year. He practiced blowing out candles leading up to the big day thanks to Advent. And we taught him the Happy Birthday Song through the whole month of January. He still bolts out a "Happy Bahhday, YAH YAHHH!" x 4 … blows air, "YAYYY" + claps every so often. 

All of his hard work definitely paid off. 

Those candles didn't stand a chance.

Hashtag fun fam!

Indulge me for a sec, because I really can't believe how old and big and smart he's getting. Every few days he'll really surprise me with something new he says or does. For example, he just started shouting "PANCAKES!!!!" every time we pass The Egg & I on 64. We love brunch. It's just odd because you really can't even see the building from the highway. In the same vein, he shouts "JESUS!!!!" every time he passes our church. (We have a Ordinary Time routine, okay?) 

He just started recognizing where we are when we drive around. He cries tears of agony every time we turn in the direction opposite of the base. Because he knows when we go on base we get to see airplanes, the occasional freight train, and, of course his favorite, his daddy. 

He's getting more serious with his toys and it kills me. 

When he wants to do something specific with his toys, he'll usually whine "HELP PEEEZ!!" and then just do it himself because he can. I really think he underestimates his own abilities sometimes and defaults to asking for help.

Toddlers, man. Keep you on your toes.

Hi Z.

Zelie's all, I'm bald!

Zelie turned two months old today. I'll have a full post that includes all your intricate poop deets, but I want to wait until after her checkup on Friday so I have her stats. She is still tall. (Pic above was from a couple weeks ago. And how cute is the bandit bib from Whole Parenting Goods? Obsessed.) 

You may have noticed I chopped all my hair off. I just finally had to take the plunge and get the mom lob. It was time. 

I had no idea that my cut and style would be free as a perk for donating. I was super pumped! And of course I haven't been able to get my hair to look as good as it does in the pic above, but c'est la vie, no? I could straighten my hair ALL DAY and nope.

Postpartum running is going well! I have been taking it slow. My longest run so far has been 3.66 miles on the treadmill. The weather is supposed to get really nice over the next few days, so hopefully I can hit the pavement with the duallie. I've managed to lose a couple more pounds, but I still have about 11 pounds to go to hit my pre-pregnancy weight. But I finally bought a pair of jeans that actually sort of fit, so I am in less of a hurry. 

Can't hang.

Lent is here! You may or may not have noticed I haven't been on social media much. Here's what I've been up to: 

• Deleted social media apps from my phone (Bloglovin', Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat). I can fire up the old MacBook to check Facebook or read blogs, but I generally don't because it. is. so. slow. I've been trying to especially limit time spent on my phone during the day when I am supposed to be parenting. So far, so good. So, so good. 
• I am working on the Blessed is She Lenten Workbook. I've been loving the journaling. (Big surprise right? I mean I do have this crazy blog.)
• I've been limiting processed sugar. I say limiting because I am breastfeeding and stopping my nightly chocolate milkshake is a big freaking deal for me. 
• Less screen time for Little Will. It got out of hand there for a while. I'm feeling like I have much more energy lately to get out of the house and/or figure out things to do with Will at home, so it's been a lot easier to implement this. 
• We are donating a portion of our tax refund.

I did a bad thing and tried to bring both children to Ash Wednesday mass by myself on base. It made this bad morning look like child's play. My first mistake was going to a different parish than our usual so that we could attend a full mass that didn't interfere with meal times or naps. We arrived early because it was snowing and I wanted to make sure I got a parking spot close to the building. Little Will was unusually hyper waiving and yelling "HIII" to everyone who walked in as the unofficial greeter. Once mass started, he didn't want to stay in the pew, which is normal, but when I took him out to the vestibule, he screamed his head off. Nothing would console him. I had Zelie in the Moby wrap because I knew I'd be in and out of the pew with Little Will. ANYWAY, once the meltdown of all meltdowns occurred a whopping five minutes into mass, I decided that we just needed to leave. WELL, I had to go back into the church get my bag. We slowly and quietly creep back in as not to be any more of a disturbance. At which point Little Will ran up the center aisle and bum rushed the priest as he gave the homily, yelling "HIIIII!" and waiving. I grabbed my bag and power walked toward the front. A parishioner grabbed Little Will and pointed him back toward me. At which point I made awkward eye contact with a gentleman who I'm sure was at least an O-6, probably a four-star general because that's what happens. Zelie's head was bouncing around in the Moby, pretty unsecured, while I make the looooong walk of shame down the aisle out of the church. More melting down while I buckle poor little sis into her car seat and we slowly make our way outside into the snowy white abyss.

So I guess what I'm saying is Lent started off with a bang. Just trying to make things extra penitential around here.

I promise the transition from 1 to 2 has still been pretty smooth! We've just had a few … moments.

Last, but not least, you may remember back in October when I blogged about how we would soon be getting our next base assignment. Well, that notification got pushed back to February. We waited and waited and waited as Will's colleagues got the news. And finally, today, we got the "unofficial" news of where we'll be living come July. Hint: it's NOT in the direction we were trying to go (East).  I won't jinx it by disclosing it here, but as soon as we get official orders (in a couple more months), you'll be the first to know. ;) 

One Month with Zelie

Dream baby!

Dream. Bay. Bae. 

Shameless intro: We love her so much! Besides being innately cute and wonderful, she is just beginning to coo and smile at us. When awake, she is super alert and can really hold her head up well. It takes a lot for her to cry, but when she does cry, it's real tears (just like big brother). All in all, we can't imagine life without her! Blah blah blah, all those postpartum baby love hormones talking here. 

I had just three days with the two of them by myself in between Will's parents visiting and my mom visiting. It was like starting this two kids thing on training wheels. I went really well, even with Little Will sick and skipping naps. I managed to make it out of the house with both of them two of the days (Starbucks —> Target & Commissary, the usual). Big Will is working long hours (he had a discharge board and has been prepping for trial all weekend), but truly - I'd rather be taking care of two kids not pregnant, than one kid while super pregnant and uncomfortable. I really really like being not 9 months pregnant. The training wheels come off this week, though, while Will is in trial and I have these two kidlets all to myself all day. 

Sticking to the syllabus, let's talk eats, sleeps, and poops.

THE EATS.  Breastfeeding was rough for the first two weeks. Really rough. Around Christmas, I was wincing in pain (and there may have been a few tears) during the first minute or so of her marathon nursing sessions. Things took a turn at the two-week mark, when the ole nips healed. Ever since, she's been growing more and more efficient at the boob and it's wonderfulllll (especially during those middle of the night feeds). She is really easy to nurse. I was a loyal Boppy-user with Little Will, but now I never use it because she seems to actually help me out and hold herself up to the boob. (Will was just a super floppy babe. I know this to be a thing now.)

I've been feeding her on demand and she's more of a comfort nurser than Little Will was at this age, I think. I think it's in part because my oversupply isn't as bad, and partly because she just likes it. I definitely do have forceful letdown/oversupply again which leads to some coughing and choking. She only nurses from one side per session and has trouble keeping up with the flow, so she takes breaks, leading to cluster feeds. But this is usually in the mornings and evenings, so that we can run errands in the late mornings/early afternoons before Little Will's nap and all is well. 

Breastfeeding in public. I think I've nursed her more in public this first month than I did with Little Will during his entire 11 months on the boob. I've nursed her in the pew all but one Mass, I think. It's made getting out and about so much easier. I figure most people are going to be looking at the crazy toddler climbing on things, spinning around, making animal noises, rather than the discreetly nursing mom. I'm always covered anyway. Amateur lactivist that I am.

THE SLEEPS. She's been sleeping in the Rock n Play next to our bed, swaddled in the Halo, usually with the help of a pacifier. I mentioned before that at 2 weeks old she slept 7.5 hours straight. While she hasn't kept up quite the same stamina for sleep, she consistently sleeps in 3-5 hour stretches. WOOT WOOT. About 70% of the time she wakes only once between 10 and 7. And then the other 30% of the time, she'll wake twice, but usually she goes right back to sleep (and on the rare occasion she needs a diaper change or some rocking, daddy to the rescue). 

She typically takes itty bitty cat naps throughout the day in arms or in the car seat, but she'll usually have one long nap coinciding with Little Will's when I can furiously clean up toys and try and make our house not-gross. 

THE POOPS. I switched her to cloth diapers for a few days and we had a few too many blowouts out the leg holes. I figured her legs were just too skinny for the one-size all in ones we have, so I went and bought disposables. The first Pampers I put her in . . . blowout through the leg hole. Obviously. So we'll probably be back in cloth soon. (For the record, Little Will is in disposables for the rest of his diaper career.) She seems to have big poops less often rather than the stream of poop all the time that Will had (with accompanying NEVER ENDING diaper rash). AND!! She usually doesn't poop at night, which is great and means no diaper changes in the middle of the night. Dream baby, dream baby, dream baby. 

The poop section is your fave, admit it. 

Highlights:

// Being born.

// Being baptized.

// Her first pumped bottle (not a huge fan, only took 2 ounces).

// Surviving her first month at home with a sometimes curiously destructive (and contagiously sick with croup and a cold) big bro.

During our little photo shoot, Will kept running up to me with one eye shut, like he wanted to look through the camera. And touch it. And destroy it. With his crusty face.

This kid. Speaking of, here's Little Will's One Month Update. Squish.

Lately

We've been happily settling into a new routine since Will got home from TDY! Look at this happy reunited family. 

Spoiler: Will probz appear on our Christmas cards.

That is, temporarily at least, until Zelie comes on the scene and we find ourselves in a new routine. Yep, fret not, I'm still pregnant. 

Here I'm 33 weeks and some change during our trip to NC a few weeks ago to visit family. I'm actually currently 36 weeks on the dot today. My girl has dropped. I was growing increasingly forlorn from the state of my Tums consumption situation, when one day Zelie dropped and almost all my heartburn disappeared. Magical. And I also have the feeling every time I bend over that I am actually crushing a baby. So lots of bending in the knees these days. 

How I feel during the day has everything to do with how well I slept the night before. I've been having lots of practice contractions and cramping already. I'm skeptical that I'll make it to my due date based on the contracting, my progress so far (see below!), and my history of gestational hypertension. I've been keeping tabs on my blood pressure and it's been slowly creeping up again. The highest reading recently was 110/85, with my diastolic reading consistently in the 80s, and so we'll see what happens there. I have a LOT less stress about having the baby this time around, so fingers crossed I can just go into labor naturally . . . a little early. ;) 

At my appointment yesterday, I was already 2.5cm dilated and 60% effaced. Pretty similar to my progress at my 36 week checkup with Will actually. I hadn't gained any weight since my last appointment despite lots of ice cream and second helpings at dinner (sitting at 30 lbs gained, woot woot!), but was measuring right on track for 36 weeks. She's been moving a lot less, likely attributable to dropping, but for peace of mind, we had an ultrasound to check her fluids. We saw her puckering up and practicing her breathing. I can't wait to squish her squishy squish face.

What can I say about these two? 

It's been really great having Will back home! As far as TDYs and pregnancies go (ugh), I think the timing of this TDY was really great. I was able to get into a routine of caring for Little Will and then Husband Will returned sort of just as I was getting to the exhausting end of pregnancy. But, due to inertia, I've been able to keep up the energy to take care of Little Will all day without losing my mind or utilizing Nanny Netflix for hours upon hours on end (though he probably gets at least an hour of screen time per day… just. keeping. it. real.) I even encourage Will to go to the gym after work. This does make me feel like a hero. ;) It's the little sacrifices. 

Little Will is 21.5 months. When people ask me his age, I officially tell them "he'll be two in February" rather than "he's just over one and a half." It is an emotionally-charged and significant change.

I can see you rolling your eyes, you know.

What a joy this kid is! He's always surprising us with new words we didn't know he knew. For example, Will showed him the parts of an airplane in a photograph a week or two ago, e.g., the nose, the wings, the tail, and the propeller, and he was able to point them out to us on one of his airplane toys. The mind of a toddler is a sponge. Take another example, however: Little Will really likes to angry-shout at the dogs to sit or be quiet. Don't know where he learned that . . . . Must be from a book. 

He's a total lover lately. During playdates, he tries to give all the other kids—and their moms—hugs and kisses. It's endearing and yet paradoxical considering he has extreme separation anxiety when I try leaving him with the kind ladies he has met many times at the Y childcare playroom. 

He's beginning to outgrow his 18m sized clothes. He LOVES trains, airplanes, and cars, and has no patience for things like crafts, crayons, or chalk. But he does love books! Especially those with subject matter pertaining to dump trucks, pickup trucks, or animals of any kind. Also, due to some loving/borderline obsessive encouragement from his parents, he's obsessed with babies. We're really excited to see how he likes having a little sister live in our house! 

We pushed back his bedtime to 7:30pm because he's been waking up before 6am. So far it's helped a little, but it's been nice for extra daddy time at night. We all get to eat dinner together as a family. He's still napping a solid 1.5-2 hours a day though, so the early wake ups are a tradeoff I can live with. 

I must mention he still poops 3-4 times a day. We introduced the potty ring a few days ago after he showed that he can control his peepee before baths. Every time we put him on the potty, he eeks out a little pee, whether or not he has to go. So that's cool! We have yet to see a pooper though. Suffice it to say we are not getting rid of the diapers any time soon. But hopefully he'll just pick up on communicating when he needs to go, etc., in the next several months or so. No pressure. Promise. 

These are the details you've been missing in your life! What is the diaper status of Baby Billy Brez!? 

Anyway, we are trudging along here. We'll be celebrating Thanksgiving here in IL with some neighbors due to pregnancy travel restrictions. And then Operation: Wait On Baby Zelie really commences. 

Third Trimester & a Coming of Age Story

Yesterday was officially the start of the third trimester with baby Zelie in my belly. Yep, less than three months to go.

I'm pretty sure I've gained approximately the same amount of weight as I did at this point last time, somewhere around 25 pounds gained. I feel about 100x better physically at this point, though, than I did with Little Will. Probably from chasing around a toddler and generally being too busy to stop and whine about the little aches and pains. I really do forget I'm pregnant and that I even look pregnant. (Even though during the first half of the pregnancy, I couldn't stop talking about how HUGE I felt.)

A bump-date of sorts:

Derp.

Turns out it's not easy to get the best bump angle when you have a little human clinging to your hair for dear life.

27 weeks with William. 

IN MORE IMPORTANT NEWS . . . Little man got his first haircut today. 

It's a real coming of age story.

BEFORE: BUT A BOY

Pure mullet.

AKA mad scientist hair.

He was surprisingly docile during the actual haircut. He sat on Will's lap and had this concerned look on his face that silently screamed WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING? But, alas, those two little fingers found their way to his mouth and then he settled in for a smooth finish.

AFTER: BOY II MAN

He was so satisfied with the results he did a little dance in the street for us. (As we screamed at him to get out of the middle of the street.) 

Both these guys got haircuts today actually. 

Lucky ducks.

Anyway, I wanted some snaps of what we all look like now, because by the time Will gets back from SOS (Squadron Officer School in Alabama - freakin' acronyms) in five weeks, I will [definitely] be much larger, William will [hopefully] have some curls back, and Will will [probably] be all slim, trim, and buff from working out in his free time. I guess we'll find out in time. 

19 Months

If you look at this picture closely, you can see a single tear coming from his left eye. He was literally CRYING to go "ow-sye" (outside). And then when he got out the door he saw our neighbor's dog and about bolted across the street to say "hiiiii, woof woof!" 

He requires constant vigilance.

Even though I haven't done a monthly update since he was 11 months (oops - small, single tear of my own), I thought, why not? He needs the attention. 

Stats: According to our home scale, he weighs in at 25 pounds. He is in 12-18m shorts, 18-2T shirts, and size 6 shoes. First set of molars are all in. Shock of blinding white blonde hair. 

MILESTONE: Will gave him his first haircut a couple months ago because the mullet was worse than it is even now.

EATS.

He is an EATER. He pretty much eats anything, but it MUST be at room temperature or below. Otherwise he shouts "HOT!" and screeches in agony and refuses to eat. We're routinely sticking his food in the freezer before eating. 

He wakes up in the morning asking for a banana ("nana") because he has priorities. Literally as soon as I pick him up out of his crib. He eats a banana every morning around 7:30 (plus whatever else is being served up - kid loves some pancakes), then lunch at 11:30, snack at 3, dinner between 5-6. Daycare taught him pretty decent table manners. If he's hungry, he will sit at the table and eat with a fork and can use an open cup. He'll still usually get pretty messy, so it just kind of depends whether we're in the mood for cleanup to allow him to eat on his own. 

SLEEPS.

Glory, glory, hallelujah! Okay, so . . . Will got ear tubes in July. (Four ear infections since his first birthday, constant fluid in his ears at every check, and mild hearing loss from the fluid.) Ever since, he is napping longer and sleeping in. It's been a dream come true. He goes down around 6:30pm every night and sleeps in past 7am every morning. Sometimes he wakes up, but he'll lay in bed happily and quietly for the most part until we go in and get him. (He used to NEVER do this — he would cry angrily upon waking — probably because his ears were hurting.) Sometimes when he's tired, he will take a pillow off the couch and proclaim "night night!" and lay down on it. 

He's down to one nap per day. He'll go down sometime between 11 and 12:30. He'll usually sleep about 2 hours, but sometimes he'll stretch it to 2.5 or 3. Currently, he's been in his crib since we returned from Mass just before noon. He rolled around, babbling "dada" and "night night" for over an hour, and just recently fell asleep. Whatever.  

Yup, he's a pretty dreamy sleeper lately. I am counting my blessings. And also deathly afraid of interfering with his sleep situation by tampering with his routine by way of introducing a toddler bed or anything of the sort. 

POOPS.

Dude. Duuuude. He still poops 4 times a day. Even the daycare teachers were like HOW?… WHY?… NOOOOO. He is in Size 4 disposables. I am thinking about putting him back in cloth, but I haven't decided yet because he still poops 4 times a day. Also, he had a really scary skin infection about a month ago (a strain of staph) and I am afraid that there is still bacteria cultured in his skin. (He has a few pimples here and there on his body, but nothing like the infection in his diaper area that required a lancing by the doctor and a round of heavy duty antibiotics.) BUT, he has been peeing through his diapers at night lately and I know his giant bamboo fitted diaper will hold it all in. 

Being a mom is so glamorous. 

HOBBIES.

// Proclaiming that objects are his by shouting "MINE! MINE! MINE!"

// Climbing and jumping off furniture.

// Waiving at Jesus and blowing him kisses.

// Brushing his teeth.

// Giving his dogs pats and kisses. 

// Playing hide and go seek in the Tupperware cabinet.

// Waiving and saying "HI!" to ANYONE and EVERYONE and EVERY OBJECT EVER.

// Airplanes ("ow-sye?" - yeah same word as "outside" - took us a while to figure that one out), trucks, tractors, and firetrucks. 

// Pushups, which he learned to do from his favorite person ever, his cousin Molly. 

// Fake chatting on the phone. 

// Pointing out your nose.

// Beating on mommy's belly. Because OHMYGOSHIT'SSOBIG.

It's so funny that his fundamental personality really hasn't changed since he was a baby. I recently re-read his TWO MONTH update where I speculated that he was an extrovert/busy-body/people person. 

Most accurate. 

Begrudgingly dragged to the car to head to Mass because he didn't want to leave the neighbor's dog.

Catching Up

Oh me, oh my. I haven't blogged in five months. Whoops! Let's briefly catch up with some of the highlights.

The little guy turned one in February. 

ONE. 

We only had one H magnet. Improvise.

I went big on the smash cake. He ate literally one bite.

In late February I went back to my doctor for a Clomid fix, and just a few weeks later we learned that Baby Brez #2 is on the way!

Super pumped big bro.

The lil' nugget at 6 weeks, 6 days.

The giant nugget at 16 months. 

I am due in mid-December. Will is slated for another training in Alabama, this time for five weeks, at the end of September through October, when I'll be starting the third trimester. I already gave my firm notice that I'll be leaving and my last day is September 25. So I'll get some time with just me and Little Will again before the next baby comes. Frankly, I can't imagine having to do daycare drop-offs and pick-ups by myself on top of the stress of meeting billable hour targets. He goes to the daycare on base now, which adds a good thirty minute to my commute if there's no line to get into the gate (there's always a line in the morning). Add in all the rest of the single parenting obligations and it's just not happening! And the good Lord saw fit to add in Will's 2-year pay raise beginning in September and it was kind of a no-brainer that I should quit the full-time gig. Everything lined up to make it an easy decision.

How has work been going? At first, I was really enjoying the change of pace from stay at home mom life. Little Will weaned pretty quickly once the separation started, making the full transition at about 11 months. At the same time he started sleeping through the night! I didn't have my Illinois license yet, so I was given a lot of interesting research projects off the bat and was writing substantive motions. I think in my first two months I wrote something like 10 substantive motions. I really enjoyed that. However, once I ran out of that work, I still had no license, so I was confined to doing non-billable research projects and/or mindless law clerk/paralegal work. It was pretty lame. I didn't get sworn in to the Illinois bar until mid-April. At that point I was assigned my own insurance defense fender bender type cases. I got like 5 cases in two weeks so those kept me fairly busy, which I enjoyed. Being busy. Not really the substantive work. Buuut, as usual, once I worked them up there wasn't much left to do but wait for medical records to come in. I would sit at my desk during the day wishing I could just leave, and shoot out the door right at 5. I told my boss about a month ago that I was leaving in September, and a couple weeks ago he told me that he was taking all my cases and reassigning them to other associates so they could see them through. That's fine with me. Now I've been doing project-based work for partners, which has been fine. The problem is that they still want me to hit a certain billable hour target, but I don't have enough work to hit it all the time. That can be pretty stressful. But I only have a few months left with the firm, so I'm not sweating it!… too much… I need to keep all my options open when it comes to career. We just don't know what the future holds, i.e., where we'll be living next year, what the financial picture will look like, what life with two under two will look like! I'm all about keeping all the doors open at this point. 

And the pregnancy. I will have to start updating a little bit to compare the two. Right now I'm 13 weeks and 1 day, and I look about 18 weeks pregnant with Little Will. I have big important plans to find maternity work pants this afternoon. What a life. Morning sickness was pretty intense for about a month, just like my first pregnancy, but this time with added horrible stomach cramps. I had only gained two pounds in the first 11 or so weeks, but then the super munchies kicked in and I've gained a couple more pounds in the past 2 weeks. Still half what I gained in the first tri with Baby Billy Brez. But with my appetite lately, I'm not holding out hope that I will avoid gaining 50 pounds this time. My hunch is that it's a girl. We will find out (and tell everyone!!) in 6 short weeks. 

I guess that's all for now! I hope to check in a little more regularly now that I have an end-date at work. Side note: Will's MacBook died, which I used for blogging, so I am working off my even older MacBook from law school and I have no way to download photos off my Nikon, which is one big reason I've been putting off blogging. I still need to figure that out, but I guess it will just have to be crappy, unedited cell phone photos uploaded on the Blogger app for now. All about my interesting technical difficulties. I NEED to share some of the funny/weird stuff that William has been doing and saying because what else is blogging for? Anyway. Tata for now! But I will be back soon! Pinky swear.