Updates!

In a (wordy) nutshell, here's what we've been up to:

BRANDON

• Pulled his first 4.0 last quarter in school (while in college, he usually reminds me.  Apparently he was a genius in high school, too!).
• Has been helping proofread and do some research for a book his professor is writing...and is getting paid for it!  Another perk: this text book he's proofreading is a revised edition for the textbook they are using in class this quarter.  Bonus!
• Has been offered an unpaid, but really great internship for a company who specializes in management consulting and education...in other words, it's right up his alley!  He will be reporting to one of the managing partners, and will be starting on Monday.

REBECCA

• I've made it my goal to feed my family real food and not just processed stuff, and other than cold cereal and potty training bribes for Nicholas, we're actually sticking to this!  (Another bonus: more energy and a 5 lb. weight loss since the beginning of the year is a great perk that I wasn't really expecting!)
• I'm now working in Primary as a helper for a girl with autism...not a typical calling, but one that I love very much!
• I've started to brush off the old sewing machine and have started to repurpose some of our old clothes to make fabric flowers for pins or hair bows and dresses/skirts for Renae.  It's been a lot of fun figuring out how to create these things based on what I have to work with.

NICHOLAS

• Is doing remarkably well with potty training...some days.  Once I introduced rewards for staying dry and using the potty, he started doing much better.  It's an ongoing thing, but I'm optimistic we'll figure it all out.  And then it's Renae's turn...
• Has figured out how to use our Wii, DVD player, and our computer much more quickly than we ever figured he would.  He loves to play Wii Sports Resort video game and a Caillou alphabet computer game; I love the amount of time allowing him to do these things has freed up for me.  (Don't worry...we do have limits on how much screen time he gets!)
• Is quite comical!  He has created his very own "Naked Dance" that he likes to do while we're trying to eat dinner (fully clothed), after he goes potty, when he's in a silly mood (again, fully clothed), and after taking a bath (not so fully clothed, hence the name Naked Dance).  The other day we were both sick, and I was trying to help him with something, but he was griping about it.  I told him he could say, "Thank you for taking care of me, Mommy."  His take on it was, "Thank you for tyranny, Mommy."  You're welcome, Nicholas.

RENAE

• Is a definite chatter-box!  Her newest words are book, dog, chair, bee, Mommy (instead of mama), grandma, grandpa, and Let me out (usually heard after nap time).
• Has been able to command our dog's respect better than any of the rest of us.  Bailey immediately turns away from Renae as soon as Renae turns on the get-away-from-me-dog-before-you-regret-it attitude.  It's quite impressive to witness, actually.
• Has had 4 seizures in the past month, but recovers from them pretty quickly.  Since all of her tests except blood work comes back normal, I'm not too concerned.  When we take her in to the doctor again in about 2 weeks, we'll be getting more blood work done, and I'm anticipating her anemia showing up again now that she's going through a growth spurt.  Anemia seems to be a genetic thing among the women I'm related to, so despite my best efforts to feed her a diet rich in iron and despite being on iron drops, she still gets anemic, which exacerbates her breath holding spells and seizures.  We'll probably need to up her iron drops dosage because she's growing so much, but until we see her doctor, we'll just try and keep her happy so she doesn't pass out!

BAILEY DOG

• Will be attending school starting in February.  She pretty much had very little discipline her first 6 months of life, so now we're trying to break a few bad habits, like jumping on people and nipping at us and pulling us on her leash when we walk her.  She's a fast learner, but we are needing some direction from someone else in how to do these things, and since the Dog Whisperer is a little out of our price range, we figured some classes at PetSmart will do just fine.