Anyone still paying attention?

I think enough time has passed that I've lost all two of you who ever read my blog. Sheesh. Here's a quick catch-up, but just a little.

So we're settling quite well. I love how things flow in our house. The girls can play in their playroom or downstairs in the kitchen/living room. They are rarely out of sight, but they have plenty of room to play. Hazel thrives on sprinting up and down our hallway, between the playroom and my room. Living in the Great Room permanently affected me in many ways, one of which is my deeply rooted dislike of kiddos playing on my bed. I let them do it when I need to fold laundry or print coupons, but for the most part, my bed is not a plaything. It was for about 11 months, but no more! I am deeply satisfied whenever I simply shut my bedroom door and tell everyone to skeedaddle back down the hall. It's nice. Oh so very nice. I'm slowly but surely reclaiming some space.


Speaking of Hazel. That kid. She floors me. I don't know when exactly it happened, but some time ago she quit referring to herself in the third person, and began to have normal/grown up/whathaveyou conversations. The third person references to herself ("Is this Hazel's? Yes, it's Hazel's. Mommy doesn't touch Hazel's book.") have somehow transformed ("Is this mine? Yes, it is. Hands off, Mom!"). It happened when I blinked. I put her to bed one night and the next day this longer, bigger, more communicative child pranced out of her room. Where's my chunky monkey?! Oh, and I began potty training her. She does well if she's wandering around in panties, but, once I put pants on over her panties, she refuses to get on the toilet. Oh the messes she can create. Blech. Ah well, it'll work out. Someday. Candy and stickers have lost their charm, so now I'm using Sunday School. "You can go to Sunday School if you learn to sit on the potty!" (It's Sunday School versus the nursery...Hazel is happy to stay a baby, and that's in her own words.)

Piper is shooting up! She's put on nearly four pounds in the last 9 weeks. I'm so proud of her! She's cutting one last little tooth in front, and then all of her baby teeth will be present and accounted for (although her two year molars are still ahead of us). Hazel never complained about her teeth; you all know my Piper was born whining. She has recently learned some impressive tantrum techniques. I don't know who to blame. I really would like to point the finger at someone, but I think I need to be honest and admit that Piper is just that creative. Piper Sue is chatting constantly. She has quite a list of words. Let's see..
baby
banana
water
bottle
shoes
chicken
daddy
mommy
down
bye
night
okay
thank you
cheese
no no
And I think she finally started saying the much anticipated "MINE!" today. Yippee.

Nate is in his new job. What a gift! He's working as a supervising construction coordinator for Banfield Pet Clinic. He travels the country to different pet hospitals and leads construction crews in rebranding projects. He's gone for just over two weeks at a time, coming home for about 6 days between jobs. Oh how I miss him! We're still trying to figure out the communication stuff. He works from about 7p.m. to about 8a.m. every night. He sleeps from about 10a.m. to 3p.m. Currently he's in Florida on his second trip for Banfield. (He comes home tomorrow!) So, Florida. A three hour time difference. Usually that works out okay in the afternoons. I can chat with him while he's driving to the clinic. Piper loves to talk to him, but Hazel is mad at him for being gone so she runs away when he calls. We're averaging about 10 minutes of talk time a day. That's not good. We've got a lot to iron out still.

Not having him here has it's positive and negative aspects. Positives? Much less laundry and fewer loads of dishes. That's been quite nice! Also, he's racking up the points for airmiles, car rentals, and hotels. We can hardly wait to put them all to use! On the other hand, everything else is a pretty strong negative. The girls miss Nate, I miss Nate, Nate misses us. But he was hired to be promoted, so we're praying for that change to happen sometime this next summer. This job has been such a blessing! Tomorrow he flies in while I'm at work. It will KILL me to know he's at home waiting for us while I'm stuck at Starbucks. I'm sure, though, that he'll enjoy a few minutes of quiet to eat and get oriented with being home again.

Shoot, this posting feels disjointed and random. I have no idea if a whole lot of it makes sense. Sorry. I'll do better next time!