I’ve really fallen behind updating the blog. I’ll try to summarize our last few weeks so I can get caught up:
- July 30 – we received the very good news that Amelia’s seizures were fever-related and not related to any seizure disorder or malformation of the brain. This means Amelia should have no ill-effects long-term and in the short-term, no more trips to the doctor for more testing. This reduced our stress level greatly.
- Aug 5-10 – Becky and I were on vacation. We still worked, but her mom agreed to take the kids for a week, which meant when we came home from work, there was silence in the house. It felt very strange, but it was a nice break for us to recharge our batteries. The girls had a great time with grandma and their aunts, so it worked out well for everyone.
- Aug 6-7 – I had to go to Topeka, KS for work during our vacation week. I may or may not have eaten Kobe beef for the first time. If I did, it was very cheap (too cheap, that’s why I don’t think I did), but it was pretty good. This has been a quest for me for some time, so we’ll see when I know I’m eating the real thing if that was actually it.
- Aug 11 – Becky’s cousin Sarah got married in the Cities. Katie was a flower girl, so she got to dress up like a princess. Becky took her to get her hair done and with her white dress, she really did look like a princess. She performed her duties almost too well – as she walked up to the front of the church, she was supposed to sit with Becky when she got to the front. Instead, she kept on walking up to the priest and stood there with him while Sarah walked down the aisle. Not as planned, but it worked out well.
- Aug 12 – my good friend John Wind from high school returned from Jinan, China to spend time with his family and friends and made a visit to my hometown. It was really interesting to catch up and to understand what life is like over there. He said he can’t afford not to hire a maid, because they are only $2.50 per day. That’s less than I pay for an hour of daycare, and this lady takes care of the kids and cooks the meals. He has two daughters now – Clara Anne (2 1/2) and Chloe (1) so it was nice to get to meet them. He plans on spending the majority of his life in China, so I doubt I’ll see him again for some time. His wife is blogging now, so we will have to stay connected via the Internet.
- This week – not much news to report. Our daycare lady still hasn’t had her baby (which is good since it’s still 6 weeks ’til the due date), so we’re likely in need of day care help beyond Labor Day. It sounds like Becky and I might get another vacation the first week of Sep. Amelia has been demanding to drink out of a glass instead of her sippy cup, so it’s been fun watching her learn. She’ll take the glass and tip it parallel and hold it there for about 2 seconds as nothing comes out, then she’ll tip it up further and as the water comes down, she’ll get spooked, so she drinks a little but lets most of it roll off her mouth. It’s fun to watch – and she’s made pretty good progress quickly. Knowing her aptitude for anything food related, she should have it mastered soon.
That’s all for now. It’s been a year now since I started blogging, so thanks to those readers who’ve made it this long. It’s been a lot of fun for me to look back throughout the year to remember when everything happened and the detail around it. My senility is starting to creep in prematurely, so I really count on memory aides now.
Eric's space 
I wanted to add a couple points so they aren\’t forgotten:
-Amelia\’s hair is really coming in now and getting fairly long. When I wash it, the curls straighten out in the back and it touches her shoulders.
-The girls are doing much better at the daycare center. Katie has made some friends and seems to be pretty ok with having to go. It helped that about a week ago she got invited to a birthday party for one of the other girls that goes to the center…birthday cake and hats go a long way towards making things better. Amelia is starting to nap for longer periods during the day. She is down to one nap. If it lasts from 11:00 – 2:00 she does pretty well. The last couple days she has accomplished that and she is much friendlier at night and in the mornings. She still cries a little when we drop her off in the morning but I think it might just be a game for her as she stops within 30 seconds.
-I am now in my 3rd week of my new job. I\’m still doing training and so far it is going pretty well. I think I will like this role once I get the hang of it. I love being in training for several weeks in a row – it is like an extended vacation.
-We may be getting a new car soon to replace our silver Hyundai. The car only has 80,000 miles on it but it squeals all of the time which is fairly embarrassing. We took it in last week to have it fixed and that visit cost us $600. This week it still squeals like a pig so it is obviously not fixed. The car is only worth around $5,000 so if we have to invest another $600 to get it fixed we are probably going to kiss it good-bye.
-Lastly I wanted to thank Eric for starting this blog and having maintained it for the past year. I thoroughly enjoy reading it. Whenever I\’m bored at work I come out here and read the old articles and look at the pictures. They all bring me back to the memories that have made our past year. I think this year I will make an effort to add my thoughts onto the articles in order to add some more details to the memories of the week.