About us these days

It's been awhile since I just gave the straight facts, so here they are:

Eric:

Eric continues to work in the vendoring field and is contracted to five "local" Home Depots. By local, I mean the furthest being 1 hour away, and nearest about 20 minutes. In November he applied for a management position, which he of course was awarded. These days he continues to reap the joys of being the fearless leader of a crew of about 8 employees. Some days are easy, some not as much, but he's definitely picking up some new skills and applying some stuff from college he wondered if he'd ever use.

When away from work, Eric is a great daddy and husband, who many nights has dinner cooking or waiting by the time I get home from work. He also is taking a weekly "social dance" class at a local community college where is gets to practice his salsa, swing and rumba skills. This is by far the bright spot in his week. Last semester he took a course in Modern Dance. He's thinking of auditioning for the biannual school performance next fall, if he's got the time.

Also in the works is the resurrection of our church's youth group. Eric helped facilitate the first meeting just last night. I would've been there too if it weren't for having some kind of cold/flu, which is why I'm not at work this moment.

Me:

Yes, right now I'm fighting a cough and runny nose. But typically I would be in Visalia for work at this hour. I continue as a Social Worker for Tulare county and assist families in the process of adopting. I've done this for two years now. It's been a good place to be and I'm surrounded by peers with babies and young kids so we are able to swap stories and advice on a daily basis. We of course get all our work done too.

As you know, I'm beginning the third trimester of my second pregnancy. Our son is due June 7th. The pregnancy has been uneventful to date. Although I have to say even I've been surprised at how many pillows it takes to get a good night's rest.

I am also getting involved in the church youth group, although I'm not sure to what extent at this time as I'll soon have two little ones that will need even more of me devoted at home. I also continue to teach k-5th graders on Sunday mornings. We've definitely had some fun moments, and I've been realizing more and more I do enjoy teaching....but don't think I could handle it on the daily.

Cadence:

She's currently a little under the weather too, and was kind enough to share her germs with me this weekend. She's talking more and more, can identify many colors and shapes, can climb just about anything, and is just an amazing ball of energy! She does however enjoy her animal puzzle and drawing. She's gotten pretty good at the puzzle, actually, and can match the animals to each other and to their places, but still needs some help getting them all in. She is also mastering the art of disrobing herself, thankfully, besides a few belly flashes, this hasn't happened in public. Oh, she also tries to dress herself once in awhile, which is particularly amusing when she tries to walk after stuffing both legs into one pant leg. Oh, and we successfully weaned her from her pacifier, which was surprisingly easy.

The phrase heard most often in our house is "No, uh-uh." One of coworkers said this is a good thing, expressing the word no is a sign of healthy ego development and individuation (yes, psycho babble, I know). I have to say that little ego of hers tends to be more and more at odds with my much larger ego. Take today for instance. Imagine trying to pry a defiant toddler out from behind a couch. Couch is about 5 feet in length, with about a 1 foot gap spanning the length in which said toddler can crawl back and forth. First strategy: Ask the toddler to kindly remove herself from behind the couch. Result: "No, uh-uh" (said smiling with direct eye contact). Second strategy: Tell the toddler to remove herself from behind the couch. Result: "No!" (and did she just laugh?!). Third strategy: Try to grab the toddler gently and remover her from behind the couch. Result: Toddler crawls to the other end of the couch with spidey quickness. Forth strategy: Try to grab any appendage or article of clothing that presents itself and drag toddler from behind the %&#!* couch. Result: Toddler is finally produced after some contortions on the part of mom and promptly receives a small thump to her forearm for her defiance. Mom then puts herself in time-out in order to catch her breath and purge all expletives from her mind before joining the toddler in her room to attempt putting on shoes and socks in order to make it to an appointment on time. Oh, and be sure to imagine doing all of this with something akin to a basketball lodged in your gut.

So that's us in a nutshell.