Adah is in her second week of school and has been enjoying it (although today she pulled the "mommy don't leave me" cry as I walked out of the classroom). She will come home talking about a new song, a little girl named Anna, art, and what Mrs. Wood said that day.

Ranen is crawling. This month has included too many developmental leaps; I can't keep up. When he started sitting up, I thought, "Hey, I should start thinking about 'baby proofing' the house." Too late. The little bud also has a cold that he's shared with all his new friends (sorry Nena, Aiden, and Clark!!!). Here, let's pass out a plate of sleepless nights and cranky babes. Ugh!

I thought that when Adah went back to school that I would have a lot of time to get projects done. That hasn't really been the case. Ranen needs his morning nap or the rest of the day is shot, so I fight being selfish about running errands. What Adah's absence does give me is this sense of breathing room. I'm a pretty introverted person and with children you don't really get emotional/physical down time. When Adah comes home from school, I feel much more energized and ready to give her my best then under normal circumstances.

***

When Ranen won't settle down for a nap on his own, it will usually escalate to a baby who is gulping for breath. So one of us has to go in and settle him. I don't seem to be successful at calming him. However, Christopher can get deliver him to sleepy town in just a minute or so. I duplicate his efforts, singing, swaying, laying him down gently, to no avail. It's just the daddy's touch.

Darcy took this wonderful picture of the new babes (though a few were missing). I love them! From left to right: Ranen, Nena, Cash, and Clark.

Adah will be starting preschool next week and I hardly know what I think of it (except, "dang, this is a lot of paper work"). I am one of those moms who wants to keep the little chick under her wing and put her back to the wind. But, I know Adah likes to feel the wind whip her hair in her face, so here you go, off you go, fly out into the storm. I'll be here when you break you wing, errr...when you lose a feather, I mean.

We are just strange bloggers. Too bad I can't get on here every few nights and tell you what's "going on." I guess, for the most part, I can't see myself reading my own blog with that sort of information in it. You would either think I was very boring, or irrational, or a poor mother (all of which is possible at any given moment in this household). Now, don't think I'm critiquing those sorts of blogs, because I honestly look at all of my friend's blogs (who blog with that consistency) and am amazed at how full (in a good way) their lives are.

Here's what I was posting for in the first place, not for you at all, but for me. To blog as a way to remember what happened when you somehow access the compressed backup file 20 years later.

Ranen is sitting up on his own. He perfected this while my parents were in town this past weekend, but they didn't see the full fledged accomplishment. I called it official on Monday when I could walk away and he's still sitting a few moments later. He's also doing the "up on all fours and scooting" method of movement. The precursor to crawling. I must needs worry about the junk on my floors (and Adah's new jacks set).

Sleep is even more rare for me (oddly enough, the kid is almost 6 months old) now then it was a few months ago. Adah has been getting up in the middle of the night, repeatedly, afraid of "tigers and monsters." And, Ranen, thanks to his GER has still been waking up once or twice (sometimes thrice!). So, break up a night with 5 interuptions and forget it, sleep does not happen in the nice chunks that your body requires to think straight and accomplish GOOD stuff. Ahhh, see, I'm not even thinking straight now. I'm going to bed, however futile the attempt.

...oh, right, mashed bananas. Ranen likes mashed bananas. Time for solid foods. We busted out the high chair (with grimmaces, remembering the nasty messes).

Christopher and I picked out this verse for Adah a few months after she was born. The word "adorns" below is actually the Hebrew for "adah." (I believe.) I'm posting it here because I keep forgetting it.

Isaiah 61:10
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.