Now A Family of *gulp* Six.

Yesterday was a pop quiz day. Quick - how do you explain where a baby grows to a just-3-year-old? I apparently did not do a very good job. I told Roman I was calling Nicole to see if her baby was coming yet. Here is a general outline of our conversation: "Where is the baby coming from?" "They have to go to the hospital, honey. It's in Nicole's tummy." (danger! danger!) "I was in your tummy?" "No, sweetie, we went to a baby home to get you. Some people have babies from their tummy, and some people go to baby homes. We chose to get you from a baby home in Russia!" "And then you chewed me?" "What?!" "Chew me... eat me." "To get you into my tummy?" "Yeah!" "Oh, sweetie, no...." And then I was lost. I never expected it to become a "birthmom-baby home-adoption" discussion, although I should have known better. So it's time to go through his Russia book again and have a ...

Posted just a few pictures , but you can get the general idea from our trip. More details and links later. Other news in brief: Tomorrow is my first full day of summer vacation with Roman. Hope it doesn't rain. Planning a picnic at a park in Plymouth (kids' concert at noon) and swim class at 5pm. We bought a de-humidifier for the basement today. In 3 hours it made a huge difference in the feel and smell of the place. Amazing. Put up Roman blinds in the living room, and one in the burgundy room (ran out of hooks). Much different "feel" to the place. Next up - moving my computer upstairs to the dining room for quicker reference to Weight Watchers stuff, recipes I have that I have never printed out, and also so I can do my fiddling around and scrapbooking in a nice place during the day (if I ever have time during the day). Perhaps Roman can play a computer game or two now from the library. Doug starts his new job July 10. Friend Nicole has been induced today to get Per...

I can finally journal about our lives for the past few weeks, as there's been a big advance toward change that I couldn't talk about. But now Doug says okay. When Lorro went under a few weeks ago Doug got to being curious - wondering where he might have gotten a new job and who would be interested in him. Combine that with a growing frustration with his present job position (and no light at the end of the unpleasant tunnel) , Doug decided to actively search for a new job. We had always said we would have a "future talk" in December of this year. Well, this job revelation on Doug's part forced some pretty interesting conversations about where we want to end up living in the future, where we see our family growing, etc. It's no secret I want to live back on the "west side" and it's no secret Doug is slightly less enthusiastic about the idea. After having conversations in the car, during work, during potty training, and all other sorts of places, w...

Last Thursday morning Roman declared he wanted to wear underwear. This happens every few days but we usually explain him out of it - he will have to use the potty, tell people when he has to go before he goes, etc. This time Roman stuck to his guns, however. So off he went to daycare. He had two accidents so I thought when we returned home, he would be agreeable to putting pullups back on. Nope. He wanted to use the potty some more. Friday morning we thought we'd be back to pullups. Wrong again! He not only wanted to wear underwear again, he informed Daddy that he had to use the potty, and then proceeded to use it. Standing up. Like a big boy! So off we went again in underwear and had only one accident. Friday afternoon I convinced him back into pullups (after two more accidents within the space of 15 minutes) but he still wanted to use the potty, never complaining. Always tried. Saturday morning - he awoke at 2:30am calling for Mama. He told me he needed a new pullup and he had to...

An adventurous day. Amazingly enough, the contract has nothing to do with the fight. We are up for a new contract and the important things - school calendar and salary - have been agreed upon. Union meeting on Thursday which I will not be attending. All in all it looks pretty good. I'm disappointed in the school calendar as they insist upon an entire week for February break, did not lengthen our school days, and we still get out a week later than any other district around us. Frustrating. The kids have lost their minds. There was a big deal about today being 6-6-06, which I did my best to squelch by pointing out that the calendar is a man-made invention and therefore, I didn't think supernatural evil that is loose in the world would really pay attention to that. Anyway, two boys in 8th grade decided they were going to start a food fight today. The one began by throwing - get this - an APPLE at the other kid. Knocked him in the head. Apparently this wasn't what the 2nd ki...

After waking at 6am but then sleeping another 1-1/2 hours in our bed, Roman was rarin' to go this morning. He wanted to watch the show "Arthur" while I took a shower. When I got out of the shower, I heard some thumping around in the kitchen. I asked Roman what he was doing. "Getting a glass!" "What are you going to do with that glass?" "Get water." "Are you thirsty?" "No, I going to paint!" And sure enough, once I got some clothes on, I came out to the dining room to find: Roman had dragged a chair over to the counter. Climbed onto the counter. Opened the cabinet door. Got a glass. Back onto the chair. Filled the glass with water. Got down from the chair, glass in hand, and took the glass of water to the dining room (spilled some on the floor, which he told me about immediately). Pulled out his paints and Thomas and proceeded to paint for about 10 minutes at the table. This he did entirely by himself. Doug's and ...

Had to post this. Did it tonight in a little over an hour. Played with digital staples. How fun! I'm really pleased with this layout. I find that digital scrapbooking is great for me when I have 1, 2, or maybe 3 photos. I haven't attempted a layout with multiple pictures yet; probably because I don't enjoy measuring and spacing. All the math that would go into it! We had a breakthrough on the food front two nights ago. I wanted something quick and easy so I made "pigs in a blanket." For me, that's wrapping a hot dog in a crescent roll, maybe with cheese & onions too. Roman was just tickled with the idea and ate a whole one! I think this is the first time he has eaten what we eat at the table. Yes, folks, we missed the boat on giving table food. We tried it again tonight - with "silly stew" (goulash). We pretended the tomatoes were ladybugs, the pasta was worms, and Roman himself claimed the ground beef was sausage. He did try 2-3 bites but th...