Let's try this again.

It’s funny – the crazier life gets, the more organized I become. I’m not sure why this happens, but throw a full time job at me and my scheduling gene just kicks in to overdrive. All of a sudden I get the urge to make those things happen that had fallen behind when I had more time on my hands. Things like blogging.

This phenomenon is perplexing to me. In the past nine months I have had lots of flexibility – being in school allowed me to run errands during the day, drop Jill off and pick her up from school, keep the house (relatively) clean, etc. Even when I started contracting for Nordstrom, I was only working 30 hours so I still had a little time to spare. But for whatever reason I felt less organized, more scattered. Go figure.

Anyway, I have a goal to get back to blogging! It might only be once a month, but that is better than once every nine months, right?

So looking back on the month of August...

NATE

This month you:

• Are still saying “Am I’m all done?” every time we finish brushing your teeth. It’s so dang cute. The day you say “Am I all done?” it will break my heart!
• Love trucks, cars, boats, trains – anything transportation related.
• Ask lots of questions about how things work. Your inquisitive mind is very active!
• Are a picky eater, but when you decide you like something, you eat LOTS of it. Your favorites are tofu, strawberries, vanilla honey Greek yogurt, but other than these few things, you are very discerning in your food choices.
• Gained confidence in the water. You aren’t quite ready to start swimming on your own, but you are quite happy to motor around the pool with a life jacket on. You’ve also started dabbling in going underwater. Still not a huge fan (see next bullet).
• Freak out every time we try to wash your hair in the bath. You do not like getting water in your eyes or ears. Hmmm, we are going to have to work on this one.
• Wear a pull up to bed, but you are very proud (and so are we) when you wake up with a dry one!
• Still use a binky. We should have gotten rid of these long ago, but you’re the baby and we’re just not ready for you to grow up.

JILL

This month you:

• Swam your heart out – in Crescent Bar, in Chelan and in Yakima (oh, and in Boise in July). You logged some serious water time! You are now able to swim in the deep end by yourself, without a life jacket. Future swim team star!
• Made some new friends. On our various trips you bonded with some new buddies. I'm so proud of how accepting you are of others and how quickly you make friends.
• Ask me to wait outside the stall when going to the bathroom in a public place. Happy to be out of the stall and proud of your growing independence, but a little sad about how old this means you are getting.
• Groan at your dad and me when we say something you don’t like. Maybe it is less of a groan and more of an exasperated sigh – hard to tell.
• Still wake me up at night. Not every night, but most nights. 6 years and counting…
• Turned 6! You celebrated with a trip to the zoo with several friends, popsicles and dinner at Red Robin.

In other news – we got a new garage door (automatic!), we planted a vegetable garden, we bought bunk beds for the kids, Justin and I went to Sonoma/San Fran with Jennifer and Chris for a few days to celebrate her 40^th, I started my full time job at Nordys, Justin got a promotion (!), etc. Life is good!

So there you have it. See you next month! :)

Jill & Nate in Chelan

Jill turns 6!

Sweet Nate