transitioning

That's what we're doing.  We're transitioning.  Last night when I talked to Brent on the phone, he said; "you sound like you're doing great. You're a lot happier than you were when I first left."

It's true.  It just always takes me a while to adjust to any new situation.  Once I get into the groove of things, life gets much more manageable.  So that's what I'm working on.  Still.

I'm not quite entirely unpacked, which is pretty strange for me.  I've always been one who has pictures hung within days of moving to a new place.  I like to make a home my own.  I like to feel comfortable.  Of course, compared with what we're used to, my parents' house is like staying at the Ritz Carlton.  

We finally made it to Lincoln's doctor today.  He's a wee bit behind on his immunizations, but the good news is that we're getting caught up, right?  He hardly even cried, the sweet kid.  And Cooper was a superstar.  

As an aside, might I comment that I SO DON'T WANT GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE!!!!  Let me just tell you that I've had not one good experience with it.  

But today was heaven.  It was so wonderful to go to a doctor of my own choosing, who got me in and out in less than an hour.  The nurses were actually SUPER NICE instead of big mean-ies, and the doctor was experienced, patient and understanding.  Instead of waiting in a room filled with puking soldiers for more than an hour (I'm not even exaggerating), we spent less than five minutes in the WELL BABY waiting room.  I LOVE LOVE LOVED it!

After a rocky first week of school in which she ranted about how much she hated first grade, Mercedes is loving school.  She often tells me that First Grade is the best (that's what her teacher tells them and they even sing a song about it), and that she has the nicest teacher in the whole school.  She doesn't even complain about the homework (which is what I was dreading).  She's gotten 100% on each of her weekly spelling tests (all three of them) so far, and that makes her feel great.  She's been on a soccer team and has loved it.  My dad gets a bit frustrated watching her play, because she's more interested in the people watching her than in watching the game herself, but that just Mercedes.  She's a people person.  Next up is gymnastics.  She's always had a knack for it, and I think that she'll focus better in that environment.

Cooper is suddenly OBSESSED with books.  He's always liked them, but suddenly it seems that all he wants to do is sit and read.  It's great!  Grandma and Uncle Chris read piles of books to him, and just this morning he was begging me to "go see the books," meaning the library.  He loves to help with the laundry, take walks to the park, and play with his friends down the street.  His imagination and speech amaze me every day.  Just today the doctor was commenting on how advanced his speech is.  I told the doctor that he must be making up for his sister, who didn't really start talking until she was three (the same month that she was potty-trained).  This morning as I was looking up directions on the internet, I heard him in the background saying into a phone: "Don't call me dumb.  OK, Stacey?  Don't call me dumb."  I have ABSOLUTELY no idea where that came from.  

And Lincoln.  He's my sweetheart.  He never talks back to me.  He doesn't yell at me.  He ALWAYS smiles at me.  More than anything else, he is loving.  I am so grateful for a peaceful baby!  He's finally graduating from the army crawl into a true hands and knees, tummy off of the floor crawl.  He's pulling himself up onto furniture and climbing over anything in his way.  He still won't swallow anything other than breast-milk, but he loves to chew (and spit out).  At least I don't have to worry quite so much about him choking, right?  Someday someone other than me will be able to feed him, right?  It's hard for me to believe that he'll be eight months old on Sunday.  Time flies, whether you're having fun or not.  But I'm trying to savor this time with him, and believe it or not, I'm mostly succeeding.

I've got TONS of pictures to share, but not tons of time to share them.  So hopefully someday soon I'll get around to posting them.

Here are a few that we took on Labor Day:

We had THE HARDEST time getting a decent picture of Cooper.  He kept picking at his face.

Poor Lincoln.  He suffers from an overabundance of love.