We've been a bit busy lately, hence the lack of substantial posts. Avery had a 3-day weekend this week, with Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday off.
It was awesome!! We mostly lounged around the house, not because we were lazy, but because it decided to rain the entire time. Which, because it's so rare in South Texas, was actually very pleasant. Despite the rain, we did go to breakfast at our favorite restaurant, Jim's, and then walk around Bass Pro Shops for an hour or so on Wednesday. Then my parents drove down from Dripping Springs to join us for dinner Wednesday evening (they brought the pizza, I made the salad) and the next night we had dinner with some friends of ours. It also got downright
chilly this week...dropping down to the low 60's...so we enjoyed opening up the windows and cuddling under blankets. It's back up in the 80's today, so I'll probably have to break down and turn the AC back on in an hour or so, but it was really nice while it lasted! (I think I was able to keep the AC turned off for at least four days straight.)
The kids are settling into more routines...Kirk has gotten on a pretty strict, two naps per day schedule, and we feel like the worst parents ever if we mess that up (he's a grumpy mess if he misses a nap even by a few minutes). He also wakes up precisely at 3-o-clock every morning, regardless of when we put him to bed at night. The doctor has told us that we can start training him to sleep through the night, but we're not sure how to do that, since letting him fuss wakes Shiphrah up (they're sharing a room for the first half of the night). After his 3-o-clock feeding, he sleeps until 6, and then until about 8. I never realized what a challenge it would be to have only two bedrooms. But we'll manage...at least he's finally sleeping a good 7-hour stretch most nights! We've also started adding another solid food feeding sometime during the day, although getting him to eat remains challenging. He really only eats well when he's hungry, and his nursing schedule continues to be a bit sporadic (sometimes he's ready to eat after 2 1/2 hours and other times it's 4 hours). I don't really care how much solids he eats, but the doctor was rather insistent that we try to get more in his tummy. He's dropped off the infamous "growth curve" and in the past two months has only gained about 14 ounces (he's right at 15 pounds) and didn't grow in height at all. But he looks perfectly chunky and doesn't act hungry, so I don't think anything is wrong. His sister also hasn't gained but about two pounds in the past year and has grown maybe an inch or two, so I'm pretty sure it's just genetics.
Speaking of Shiphrah, she continues to increase her vocabulary...and her independence. I've really been struggling lately with raising my voice at her because she just ignores me otherwise. Plus, when I'm nursing Kirk, it's a little difficult to get up and spank her for getting into something. Yelling seems to get her attention, but I know it's only going to make things harder in the long run. So I'm working on keeping an even temper and correcting her as much as possible. She continues to be incredibly stubborn when it comes to meals. She'll eat a lot of foods, but since she prefers certain things she likes to hold out and see if she'll get them (i.e. strawberries, grapes, and Wheat Thins right now). She still refuses to eat most meat (with the exception of McDonald's hamburgers) and pasta (with the exception of Velveeta shells & cheese). So meals are pretty standard for her...breakfast consists of a banana and either applesauce or yogurt (sometimes grapes or other fruit), lunch is PB&J or a bit of whatever we're having (and by a bit I mean maybe two bites), and dinner is PB&J or a ham sandwich. *Sigh* She'll eat pizza too, but we only have that every other week or so, and she'll eat grilled cheese or cheese quesadillas about 1 out of 4 tries. Any other suggestions for good toddler meals? She likes frozen peas and canned carrots (but the grocery store has been out of no-salt-added carrots for three weeks now) and she loves any kind of cracker. Oh, and she'll eat just about anything dipped in ketchup, but she'll usually use about 10 times more ketchup than she needs. I guess I'm kind of just waiting until she's a bit older and I can start using the "stay at the table until you eat your food" or "if you don't eat this now you'll be having it for the next meal" tricks. Right now though she's so tiny I just feel guilty depriving her of food, you know?
Anyway, not much else to report. Currently Kirk is "crawling" (i.e. using his arms to pull himself wherever he wants to go) all over the living room playing with the toys Shiph left out and Shiphrah is asleep in Kirk's bassinet in our room (she wanted to sleep there instead of on our bed), since Kirk was asleep in the nursery when it was time for her nap. Sunday is the annual meeting at our church and I have to give the Women of the Church update (blerrgggg). Next weekend is the Life Chain and somehow I have to manage both kids and a bunch of signs and stuff too (I'm the coordinator for our church). It should be interesting. Oh, and I also have my friends baby shower next Saturday and an event at our church the Saturday after that. You know, sometimes I enjoy busyness, but not when I'm running on six hours of broken sleep. Ah well, we'll see.
By the way, I love these guys!!!
"Umm, what am I supposed to do on this again?"
Hanging out with Daddy.
"Big balls! Big balls!"
"No, Mom, I will not say cheese, that's just silly!"
"Oh, okay, if you insist." 
My brother-in-law, Kaitong, adopted from an orphanage in China when he was 12 or 14 (I can't remember). He has spina bifida and didn't learn to walk until he came to the U.S.
My beautiful sister-in-law and my goofy daughter.
