J squared + 1: November 2012

As per usual I have been very bad about posting, so here are a bunch of pics and updates from the past couple of months. We have been keeping very busy. Jeremy has been traveling every other week since we returned from California in July and that has kept us on our toes.

After a lot of angsting, I decided to turn down a part-time librarian position at my old school. It was very tempting, but we are all very happy right now and I decided to just keep things the way they are and enjoy the time that I am able to be home full time with E. At the time it was a very difficult decision but in retrospect I am more relieved than anything else.

We had to spend one day at the ER a couple of weekends ago because E came down with a very sudden very severe case of croup. After a terrible night's sleep she could barely breathe and so we took her in. After a few breathing treatments, some steroids and several hours of observation we were able to take her home and spend a week or so recovering. She bounced back pretty quickly. We spent the following weekend at the emergency dentist when one of Jeremy's root canals failed, so we are pretty much over dealing with any emergency services.

At her 18 month appointment, E was looking great. She has grown 3 inches and lost 4 pounds with all of her activity. It's sad to see the sweet chubby rolls disappearing . . . she's looking so grown up to me! She is a handful but also a ton of fun. All she's saying is "Mama, Dada and Obama," which of course I am loving. She is still signing like crazy - J and I started counting all of her signs the other day and gave up after 30. She loves to dance, and to demand that everyone around her also dance. Her favorite day of the week is Tuesdays because we go to library story time. She gets extremely excited whenever we see any construction vehicles, airplanes or motorcycles. She likes to snuggle baby dolls and to look at pictures of her baby cousin Solomon. She will pretty much only eat food if she has a "dip dip" of some sort to dip it in. When she wants something she yells "MAAA!!!" at the top of her lungs over and over . . . and over. We spend lots of time outside, just taking walks around the block and saying hi to the neighbors.

Now we are in Austin visiting friends and family. Next weekend we will fly to San Francisco - Jeremy is going for work and is taking E and I along to celebrate my birthday. Then back home just in time for the holidays to get rolling! Phew!

Lots of pics below covering the Grolnar happenings over the past several months. Enjoy!