Fall Family Update

Once again it’s been a long time since my last entry. I have a valid excuse this time however; my hard drive crashed about 6 weeks ago. My computer wouldn’t even turn on – it was bad! I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done a back-up., and the only disc that I had backed up some info on was also ruined. It was a tense couple of weeks as I didn’t know if I had ANY of the digital photos/videos that I’d taken over the past 3 ½ years. Pretty much Sofia’s whole life up to that point was lost. Fortunately, I found an economical data recovery specialist online and he was able to access my hard drive and get all of my photos back. I couldn’t have been more relieved then he called and told me that he’d recovered them. So, let this be a lesson to any of you who have pictures stored on your computer – BACK IT UP OFTEN!
Since my last entry we’ve had a ton of stuff going on. I thought having one child kept one busy! I’m going to try to update you on a few of the things that have been going on lately, with hopes to catch you up a bit on our family.

Stella is growing FAST! It seems that the months have gone by much more quickly with her than they did when Sofia was a baby. It’s likely because we’ve been so busy, but she all of a sudden is turning into a toddler before our eyes. She’s certainly the most chilled baby I’ve been around. We literally never hear her cry! She smiles, laughs, talks (3 languages, none of which we understand), and just chills the majority of the time. It’s so much fun to see Stella and Sofia interact. Stella could watch her big sister all day long and be happy. Sometimes she gets yanked around a bit more than she’d prefer, but for the most part, Sofia is fairly gentle with her. For the first few months it was obvious that Sofia loved Stella, but now that Stella is interacting and laughing at her, Sof seems to look at her as someone to play with, or at least entertain. It’s such an amazing feeling to have Sofia greet Stella first thing in the morning with a "Hi Sella!" in a very high-pitched voice – mimicking the way that her mom talks to Stella now and then. It just makes you feel like there’s nothing else in the world at that moment, but your happy little family.

Sofia started Montessori school in September and absolutely loves it. She goes from 8:30 to 3:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She seems to really be into the social side of it. She loves her teacher Miss Jackie, and has some great little friends that she talks about all the time. One in particular, a little boy named Soren, is officially her self-proclaimed "boyfriend". That’s a nauseating feeling for a dad, as you may imagine. It’s not like I’m going to have a talk with him yet ;) but if he pushes Sofia down or something , I may have to beat up Soren’s dad just to teach them a lesson! Anyway, I digress…Sof’s learning a ton at school. Montessori is a very unique type of teaching, one that’s very individualized and gives the children a lot of choices with what they want to learn. From the time we first visited, I was amazed how they were able to get 12 three year olds to sit nicely and quietly at the tables to eat a snack. I assumed they must be lacing their juice with Ritalin or something! I’m sure that sitting quietly has changed since Sof started – she’s kind of a social butterfly! She always says that she didn’t do "anything" at school when we ask, but then proceeds to surprise us each night with something new, whether it’s a new song about Christopher Columbus coming to America, or talking about "Space" including mention of "planets" and "Mercury". It’s crazy how quickly they pick things up. Sofia also started gymnastics a couple of months ago. Her first 8 week class went very well. Her motor skills are very good – pretty coordinated and very strong. She does the splits and holds herself up on the rings and bars – it’s damn cute. Not surprisingly she’s picked up a pretty good little attitude as well – stubborn as her grandpa!

Ang and I have pretty much been status quo for the past few months. Ang loves her work schedule – who wouldn’t like a 17 hours-a-week schedule!?! In all seriousness, she’s doing great, and continues to be the best and only mother that I’d ever want for my girls. One interesting trip back in history a bit – back to Oct. 23rd, 1992. Ang was just about to be picked up to head home after school – it was a Friday, and we were standing in front of the old "Total Stop" in Alcester. I nervously asked her to "go out with me", and she answered, "I’ll think about it!", with a big smile on her face. I wonder now if she wishes she’d have "thought about it" for a longer time? So it was 15 years on Tuesday since that day. Pretty amazing that we’ve been together for over half our lives and she still gives me that same feeling I had on that day 15 years ago! I’ve been blessed again and again throughout my life, yet it continues to get better every day.

I hope you enjoy the pics that I’ve put up and will continue to link. Thanks for visiting our family’s site.