Anyone still there?

So, I haven't posted here since I went back to work.  It turns out working 30 hours a week, running a baby to daycare and back, plus keeping it entertained and alive while at home takes up a good deal of time.  I have been wanting to post for a while but instead have been choosing more mentally lazy past times like reading my really fun fantasy novel, The Name of the Wind, or watching some tv with Joseph (and when I say "some tv," I mean barely making it through one episode of News Room, before dragging self to bed at 9pm).  The point here really isn't- or shouldn't be- that we are busy and tired.  

The point should be that at this moment Perrin is napping, Joseph and I are out on the balcony on this chilly morning, while it quietly rains around us. Joseph is studying, while I write this post just for you. I pulled the lounge chair over between us and put a blanket on it for Simon, so he is all cozied up out here too. Life is very good right now. Oh, and we are drinking hot coffee--you get it---it's awesome.  

In short, our new lifestyle of J being in school, P in daycare 3 days a week and me working 4 days a week, has turned out to work well for our family so far.  I am happier getting out of the house more and having more adult time (even if it is while I am working), Joseph is certainly happier in school than when he was working and Perrin likes the babysitter, Katie, just fine.  Especially because she has a gentle giant of a dog, a St. Bernard named Peaches.  Katie says that whenever Perrin is ready for her nap, she crawls over to Peaches, lays her head on the dog, and sucks her thumb--thus requesting her nap please. I love it.  It's too bad that by definition I can never see it happen.  Oh, well.  Perrin is happy, so I am happy.  

Perrin still only has 2 teeth, but we think that the top two are on their way.  She does enjoy brushing her teeth.  We have a brush for her to use and then another that we use on her, sort of at the same time.  That way, she feels like she is participating, and the teeth do actually get brushed.  She sits on her little yellow stool in the bathroom to do it right before her bath.  

 Above are pictures from her first visit to Monkey Bizness, an indoor play area near us.  Relaxing it is not, as you must make sure no giant 2 year old runs over her or that she gets up some stairs into this little Keebler Elf tree then can't get back down.  But, I'm glad to have found this Monkey Bizness place so that we will have a fun spot to play when it gets cold.  Winter is coming. (Like in Game of Thrones, duh...)  


Perrin is due to wake at any moment, so I can't get into much more right now.  But thanks for coming back to check in!  Hope you have a nice weekend...maybe with less flash flooding than we have been having.  Oh, and less water dripping from the ceiling in your daughters closet.