The Busy Lives of Sands

Hello! Once again, it has been too long. Every time I think I should do a blog update, I find myself feeling like I shouldn't because there are other things higher on the list of priorities, such as: grading papers, preparing lectures, going to meetings, learning music, going to work, :) cleaning, doing laundry, cooking, grocery shopping, doing other errands, planning for holidays, raking leaves, playing with Jeff, working out, having conversation with Kirb, catching up on work/personal email, etc. I know to probably a lot of people, the blog should still exist a little higher on the list, but sorry. :) Also, I haven't had the best last month healthwise. I mean, it's nothing major, but I did have to miss work, so I have been catching up, doing lots of make up lessons for my students. I HATE missing work and having to reschedule! Oh well. Jeff was sick too for a couple days, and then one day a week or so later I had to get a call from the daycare telling me Jeff had a fever of close to 103 and I had to cancel my afternoon to take care of my little sick one! Poor little guy. So, we've just been busy. But it seems we are all doing pretty well now. And I am sure things will settle down around the holidays so we can get some rest. ha ha ha ha ha !

ANyway, we have also had a lot of fun things going on too. Two weekends ago, a bunch of friends came to town and we had a great time. The Landons, the Howers, the Hummels, and Mr. Massey were all here. So we had a full house and a lot of fun playing with the Landon's Wii, (those things are pretty cool I'll have to admit), eating, chatting, watching the Beavs win, and playing with all the kids. Jason and Kelly have Patrick who is about 5 months old, Andy and Sarah have Claire who is a little over a month older than Jeff, and of course we have Jeff! Patrick was fun to see, he's a big growing boy just sitting up on his own now, and smiling at everyone. He's such a cutie! Jeff and Claire were fun to watch. They both just run around and play and they played together pretty well. It was also fun to see the differences between them and their personalities and just being a boy and being a girl. I thought it was so funny that Jeff would be going around, banging on something or throwing a ball down, and always making some sort of sound effect, and Claire would go around saying the cutest most perfect little words for everything, or asking, "What's this?" They got to sit next to eachother for eating, and took a bath together, and just had a good time. I think Jeff would love to have her around all the time. He was always giving her things and really interacted with her well. Don't worry Andy and Sarah, we aren't thinking arranged marriage yet. :) They actually look a little bit similar, with the same hair color, both have beautiful blue eyes, anyway, you can be the judge by looking at the photos.

Patrick H with Sarah L

The Hower family

Jason letting Patrick get to know Jefferson

Jefferson and Claire sharing at lunch

Sarah and Claire playing in the morning

Beautiful little Claire Bear

Rub-a-dub-dub, Jeff and Claire in the tub!

Mohawk time

Brushing their teeth

Then last weekend, we went up to Portland to see Noah and Sarah. They are moving to Colorado at the end of this month. We will miss them! The guys went golfing, and Sarah, Jeff, and I went to the Portland Zoo. While I was there at the zoo, my brother Brent called to tell me that he had just proposed to Terra and she said YES! So I am so happy for them and we are excited to welcome the first sister/daughter-in-law to the Swisher family. They are planning a late summer wedding for '09.

This weekend Kirb is going to play in a golf tournament and I have to teach a bunch of make up lessons and the OSU opera scenes production is on Sunday, in which many of my students are performing. Kirb is going to take Jeff up to Portland and he'll get to spend the day with Sarah while the guys play in the tournament, and then they'll be back.

Leaves in the back yard

Helping Mommy rake

"Kissa" through the window

Eating a last apple hanging from our tree

Eating his Cheerios

So, that's what has been happening with us. Jeff is getting bigger all the time. He's not gaining much weight, but he's getting so TALL! I mean, he already was, but he just towers over all the kids at daycare now. He will be moving up to the next classroom in January, and so every now and then, he goes and spends part of a day in that classroom so that the transition is eaiser, and I noticed that he's taller than most the 2-year-olds. He's so cute, giving kisses (now with the sound effect, "mmmma ahhh!") and trying to say more things. He babbles using so many different sounds, and it's so cute when he goes to get a book and "reads" it. He also sings now, and it is about the sweetest little sound in the world. :) He can climb on to anything, and with his height it makes it pretty easy to get up on chairs, couches, coffee tables, etc. He has learned how to go down the stairs, and can now function pretty well in the back yard without one of us being right next to him the whole time. He loves eating cold cereal in the morning, (he can easily eat as big a bowl as I would eat), and uses a spoon and fork really well when eating. He has a lot of teeth, I think he's getting his 11th tooth in right now. His big smile is so cute! He's completely off bottles now (that was about the easiest transition ever), and he doesn't use his pacifier much during the day except for sleeping and early in the morning right after he wakes up. His seems to love the rain, and just smiles and reaches for it and looks up into it when we're outside. I guess he was born an Oregonian and it shows! He also loves imitating sounds. He makes truck sounds when he hears one pass when we're walking, he especially loves imitating the big black birds around here, and any other animal sounds he hears. He also imitates things that maybe we wish he wouldn't, like when he imitated a woman who loudly cleared her throat, and Jeff just kept making that sound again and again and Kirb and I couldn't help but laugh. His personality is fairly laid back, but he's also quite the entertainer, he's affectionate and sweet, he loves animals, and I know I'm his mom and all, but he's just such a beautiful child in every way and I feel so blessed that he is my son. I have been especially thankful lately for his healthy life so far, and how he sleeps well. I have been reading about and speaking with friends and acquaintances who have so many problems with health and sleeping through the night. Some of the parents haven't slept for more than a few hours in a row or without a child sleeping between them for a couple years!! I almost feel bad telling them that when Jeff goes down for the night at 8pm (this is of course after he's had his bath, got his pjs on, and had a little playtime and maybe a story or two), we just walk into his room, sing a little song, and then he dives into his crib and goes to sleep, or maybe "talks" to himself for a few minutes and then goes to sleep. It's wonderful! It's tiring enough doing everything we do, so it's nice that we are all able to get a good night's rest. Even when Jeff has been sick, he slept well. I have to admit I have not once spent a night with a child up crying most the night. I am sure it will happen sometime, but I'll call myself blessed for now! Anyway, those are some things I can think of right now to let you know about Jeff. I will hope to update again very soon, my sis Kaija is coming to visit for Thanksgiving, and so we are excited to have her here and celebrate the holiday and spend time with her. We hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving holiday! Enjoy and don't be stressed! It's not worth it. Have fun! :)

Helping Sarah H with her purse

Jeff "hugging" Marvie