Answering the mail

Hey! Sorry, I have heard from a few people who have missed my blogging, so I will try and catch you up on my life. If you are one of those people, it is probably because you aren't one of my 53 Facebook Friends. Come on over but I worn you, it is a slippery slope!

DAU

Part of the reason that I have not been blogging is that I am 10-days into a 5 week "resident" course at Defense Acquisition University. My first set of exams is this Friday, and I have averaged about 20/100 pages of nightly technical reading due to a HORRIBLE case of bronchitis and the fact that the girls are just a lot more fun then trying to fully understand all of the intricacies of this.

The awful truth is that of all the people I love, this class is effecting me the least. Tom is doing double time with the girls in the evenings. The girls are having to put up with a very nervous and short tempered mommy (which is REALLY unfair), and Jeff/Susie have been having to do more then any grandparent should have to. In addition to continuing to pick Ms. Bean up at the bus everyday and spend the afternoon doing homework/driving to swim lessons/NOT RELAXING, my Dad now takes Leah downtown and picks her up 5 days a week. The worst part is that in the evening when I get back from class, I am often too cranky/tired to even say "thanks". So, if you see them, can you please tell them that their daughter/son-in-law love them very much, and could NEVER do this parenting thing without them? It really does take a village.

THE DIET

About 2 1/2 weeks ago, I got on the scale and got confirmed for myself what I already know, I had become FAT again. In fact, I gained back all of the weight that I lost with Leah, plus 1. So, I made an immediate visit to http://www.weightwatchers.com/ and registered for 3-months. To date, I am down 9 pounds. I was feeling pretty good about it until this mornings visit to the Doctor:

Nurse: I see that you have gained a few pounds
Me: Actually, I have lost weight, are you sure that your chart is right?
Nurse: Yes, you were here in May, and you've gained 5 pounds
Me: Hmmmm, maybe I lost weight before my visit in May because I was sick
Nurse: No, you were here in January (2008) and you have gained 12 pounds since then. I hear weight watchers is a good program, you should ask Dr. Mitchell for some information.

Ugh.

THE GIRLS

The girls are wonderful.

Ms. Bean LOVES Kindergarten and has become a little adult. Every morning she gets up without an argument and puts on her uniform. Every afternoon she has a huge smile.

"My teachers name is Ms. Dwyer and I like to play with my friends, make block towers, P.E., and I just LOVE art class. Today I made a pumpkin and tomorrow we are going to put the Jack-o-lanterns face on. I love to learn science with Ms. Ritchauskis and I love to learn respect with Ms. Price. I love to draw pictures for my mom and dad. My friends are nice to me and we are so helpful to each other like Ms. Price taught us. Everybody can be respectful. Ms. Jackson is very proud of us. We had a tornado drill today and we ducked our heads and stood on our knees for a minute, and then we went into the classroom to learn some more."

Little Bee starts a new pre-school next week and is really looking forward to the change. She will be very close to home and gets to wear a uniform like her sister! We are desperately attacking potty training to get her into an age appropriate classroom, and I suspect that it will all come together once she is there a few days. I am feeling pretty sad about pulling her out of the CDC, as it has been such a huge part of our family base. But, if there is one thing that this year has taught me, its that all change is good. Little Bee will be fine!

VOTING

We went to market Square last weekend and voted absentee. The girls came with us, and we each took one into the booth with us and we let them push the button to cast our votes. Ms. Bean proudly cheered and announced that she "just voted for Barak Obama". Then we were "shushed" by the surly man who was enforcing the "don't talk about candidates is the polling place rule. Please, I am a middle class 40 year old woman in Old Town with 2 kids and I was wearing an Obama Button. Was there any doubt?

THE MARKET

Don't want to address. I hate working and now have to forever. Tom and Jeff are sad.

WALK NOW FOR AUTISM

I registered for Walk Now for Autism again this year. As most of my readers know, I do a lot of walks/runs (of greater distances) annually, and this is the only one that I even suggest sponsorship for. It is my way of acknowledging how lucky Tom and I are. I have four close friends whose children are on the autism spectrum, and it is both heartbreaking and physically/emotionally/financially exhausting for their entire family unit. below is my pledge page if you are interested in sponsoring me. After all, if each of my readers contributes $5, I will only be $490 away from my $500 goal!

http://www.walknowforautism.org/dc/personal/devendorf

Peace for now! off to bed! XOXO D