the days of our lives

Well, after 13 weeks, I am finally feeling like I am getting some sense of order in our lives (knock on wood). At the risk of completely jinxing myself, here's where we're at:

1. Greg turned 36 - maybe I already posted that. For his birthday, we (sans the kids) went out to dinner, had dinner and cake with just our family, and then this past weekend, we had a picnic by the lake with some of our good friends and their kids. The weather was perfect, the kids got to run around, play, and get loaded up on candy from the pinata (Nicholas and Sophia's idea to have a pinata for Dad's birthday party), and we got to catch up with friends. Even though we see most of our friends often, sometimes it's hard to have adult conversations because we are usually distracted by our children. Would have had pictures to post, but I realized as I pulled the camera out to take pictures that I left the flash card in the computer at home. Nice. Other than aging oh so gracefully, Greg is working non-stop to get chapters written (yes, dissertations come in chapters) and get things in order to go on the job market this winter. (I added pictures--my friend Sarah was sweet to send me the pictures she and her husband took--thanks!)

2. Nicholas started a baseball camp and he LOVES it. He goes after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and he now says it's his favorite part of school, even though it's not really school.

3. Sophia wants to take ballet. She loves to pretend she's a ballerina and it made her day that she met Heather, a girl at church in the Singles Branch, who is a real-life ballerina.

4. Naomi still does not sleep much during the day, but she has become a relatively good night sleeper (knock on wood really hard). And for the past two days, she has taken a decent morning nap (knock again). But I know better to think that this is a pattern or that she's getting herself organized. I told my friend Katie the other day as we were comparing notes on sleep deprivation, that if we combined Naomi with her baby Sam, we'd have one baby that slept all day and night, since Sam sleeps well during the day but not so at night. But she smiles a lot and that makes up for a lot of things.

5. As for me, I really do love this time at home with the kids and Greg. It makes me dread going back to work in January, but at the same time, I know I will be ok when I do go back. There's much drama in my office I don't care much for, but I do miss my friends there and that sense of knowing what I am doing (well, most of the time). Anyway, my parents are coming tomorrow to celebrate Naomi's 100 days this weekend, so I'm super excited to see them.