Just a family update

I won't waste time apologizing for not posting in a week, as I'm betting for some of you it was a welcome break. I will however offer some explanation:

A) I've just been busy as heck with work. I've said I seem to accomplish more now  in four hours than I used to in twelve under the old owners. I'm only half-kidding. It's amazing what you can get done when you aren't handcuffed by a budget the size of a pimple. I'm enjoying working under the new regime, although some of that might be a honeymoon glow that will wear off in time.

B) I haven't had any time to read anything. For instance, I just now finished 'Salem's Lot, which I've been plugging away at for weeks. With book reading down to a crawl there's been no time to visit other blogs. The guilt of failing to meet the tit-for-tat expectations of blogdom has slowed my desire to post.

C) I've actually been working on my fiction, which is a nifty change of pace.

D) Life, in general, has been hectic.

Ok, brief updates:

1. Me: still employed, still devilishly handsome. I kicked caffeine cold turkey four or five days ago, suffered through one day of exhaustion, and emerged with essentially the same energy level as always. The reason for the change?  I was downing two or three 20 oz. Diet Pepsi Max's a day, along with some standard diet soda, and I was getting a bit jumpy.

2. Lisa: still married to a devilishly handsome man. In high gear to prepare for LuLu's upcoming birthday party and YaYa's dance recital.

3. YaYa: 50 pounds at her last checkup and healthy. However, the doc did announce that she was constipated and prescribed a mild fiber supplement. Despite YaYa's best efforts to convince us that this was a malady worth mounds of sympathy and special attention, we've basically told her to be quiet and start pooping. :)

Last Friday I took a call at work from her school announcing that she had tripped and hit her face against the corner of a desk. No stitches, but a heck of a shiner and a small but glaring gash running horizontally across her left eye. Even now, nearly a week later it's still black and blue.

So guess what? Tuesday was 1st grade's turn to 'host' Mass, and during the homily on the Good Samaritan the priest said "And just last week one of our first graders - I won't say who because I don't want to embarrass them - fell when practicing for Mass and hurt her eye. And you know what? All the people who stopped and helped her? They were Good Samaritans too."

 You should've seen the grin on the kid - she loved the attention from her peers that gave her!

3. LuLu - 40# and healthy. Having some trouble with lower case letters at school but easily passed the 'entrance exam' for K5 next year.

4. Smiley - more and more often he goes #1 on the potty (standing up in front of it actually, which impressed me) and sometimes even #2. Just sometimes mind you.

Sadly, we've given up our long awaited placement at a great Montessori school for the fall and stuck with his special ed class for another year. He still barely talks, but he's shown some improvement. His non-verbal communication has greatly expanded in recent weeks.

5. Baby aka Lump - Lump being a nickname her Mom is trying to make stick. Just fine and dandy, sleeping through the night and a solid 17#. Of late she refuses all attempts to be spoon fed, preferring finger food and/or to slobber food in with her own hands.

I hope to post again tomorrow. Until then, have a good one.