8 Years =

= 2,922 days
= 70,128 hours
= 4,207,680 minutes
= only the beginning

Re-Programming

Over the last four months there have been four nights I was able to sleep until morning (5:00 AM) without interruption. These interruptions, for the most part, have been caused by one member of our household and tonight, I hope, is the first step towards the beginning of a new pattern — one that involves sleep (for me) in more than four hour increments. Wish us luck as we embark on the battle of a lifetime. I expect it will be worse before it is better but better is what we’re hoping for.

Splintered

When I was a child my father seemed to get great delight each time one of us would get a splinter. First there was a lot of gleeful expressions and rubbing of hands. Then he would ask my Mom where he could find a needle. After selecting his torture device he would light a match and put the tip of the needle in the flame – to sterilize it I think – while the patient victim watched anxiously. Since splinters were almost always on our feet the victim would be lying down on the couch on their stomach, knee bent so the afflicted appendage was sticking up into the air. He then would proceed to tilt the lampshade and commence surgery by sewing needle. Now I have always said that my dad is a little bit mean. I love him and we have a great relationship but, especially when we were kids, he wasn’t always nice. But I’ve wondered, was he really that mean? Last night I found out.

In the Weeds

Our house is a disaster, Di-Sas-Ter, both inside and out. The inside runs on a two week cycle since it has to be picked up before the maid comes and we’re about to turn over the clock, leaving a sparkling interior come Thursday afternoon. The outside, however, is a different story.

We’re still here…

…it’s just been a crazy week with a yard sale on Saturday — $627 woohoo! — Stefan’s triathlon on Sunday — finished in just over three hours without drowning, crashing, or collapsing from exhaustion — and Katie’s first day of school today. This week promises to be hectic too with all the fall activities starting up so in the meantime here are some of our favorite images from Summer 2006.

Word for Word

It’s so interesting to witness the language development of a child. Katrina is generally past the I-can’t-understand-what-the-heck-she’s-saying stage and while she still does mispronounce words she’s gotten way better at pronunciation too. Now we’re pretty much full into the learning new words at the speed of light stage. The funny thing about this is that a kid only learns the words to which they are exposed. This is, of course, why we are sometimes addressed in Spanish. But Dora aside, it only makes sense that a child learns the words he or she hears.