I’ve gone more than seven months without blogging here. Gee, you’d think life has been stressful or something…

Gladly, the stress in our home has been mostly distributed among the adults. Micah and Sophie are happily unaware of the majority of our family stress, although I’m sure they feel it from time to time, especially on days when Rochelle and I are not at our best.

Regrettably (and gladly, I suppose), we are aware that a huge source of unnecessary stress in our home comes from clutter, disorder and excess physical belongings. They distract from our spiritual needs, they cloud our thinking, and they impart their chaos to our thoughts. I’ve been aware of this growing problem for many years now, but only recently has it become so acute that I began contriving a solution and countermeasures.

As long as I can remember I’ve had a fondness for simplicity, a longing for a concise collection of belongings that could be easily transported, sorted and organized. Of course I haven’t always lived that way very well. I tend to hang on to things that I may need one day. Just in case. I love to be prepared, but preparedness isn’t about excess, it’s about necessary necessities.

I remember with great fondness my mission time in Mexico and my time living in small spaces as a student at SCAD. Moving from place to place required no more than a couple of hours to pack, and most (if not all) of my belongings could be carried by me alone. I sorely miss that mobility, and now my goal is to get my entire family into a position where we know what we own, why we own it, and how each item of our belongings is essential to our goals and priorities.

This will be a slow process, and one that I hope to share with you along the way.

If you’re interested, I highly recommend a book that I read recently called “Simplify” by Joshua Becker. I believe it is for Kindle only, but it is inexpensive and can be read from any Kindle reading application, even in a Web Interface that Amazon provides.

If you do not wish to pay for the book, you should still check out Becker’s website. Most of the ideas in his book are outlined in ample detail in his many blog posts there. I should warn you that I find his tone regarding simplification to be a tad overzealous at times, often coming off as a bit preachy. Rochelle didn’t feel preached at when she read Simplify, but I did in a couple of places. So if you’re not one to be preached at, perhaps just following our adventures here with my sporadic blog posts will be sufficient.

Although, in my excitement I can’t promise I won’t preach at you either. Simplification is something that I believe we should all strive for.

That is our great endeavor this year. It isn’t a new year’s resolution, but it is a change in our home that began with the new year.

The rest of our family news will be covered in greater detail below, but suffice it to say that we’ve experienced a wonderful close to 2011, and we are all looking forward to 2012.

In the latter half of 2011:

• Micah started at a new school.
• Sophie saw a neuro-ophthalmologist.
• We flew out to visit my parents in Arizona.
• Rochelle and I got new shoes.

Books We are Reading

Brian

Hurray! I’m reading again. My main Christmas gift this year was a new Kindle Touch. Since I got my Kindle, I’ve actually read several books. Most of them have been small, free books (just to get my reading muscles warmed back up after such a long period of minimal use), but I did read The Hunger Games, book one. I enjoyed it, but I can’t say it was one of my favorites. The story was excellent, but I wasn’t able to connect with the characters, and the first person perspective paired with the present tense writing style didn’t agree with me. I think I’ll enjoy the movie, and I plan on reading the next book in the trilogy soon.

Currently, I am actually attempting to finish nine books that I’ve started in the last year. The one I started most recently on my Kindle is The Frog Princess. I’m not going to recommend this book to anyone except the most curious. It’s not horrible, but I’m only a third of the way through and I am going to have to force myself to finish it. I want to finish it, but it’s not the best writing for me.

If you really want to keep up with my reading, I log all of my progress on books I am currently reading, rate and review books I’ve read, and I even keep track of books I intend to read at a site called Goodreads. Here’s the link to my profile page there: http://www.goodreads.com/brianhaddad

Rochelle

Rochelle has always read a ton. She is currently knee deep in her twelfth read-through of the Harry Potter series. I think she’s on book 5 or somewhere thereabouts. I lose track of how many times she’s read them and which book she is on.

For Christmas she got all 8 of the Harry Potter movies on Blu-Ray. We’ve been watching them since we got back home from our little vacation, and so far we’re halfway through the sixth movie. I haven’t read the books, so I’m trying to enjoy the movies just as they are, but I can’t help but notice inconsistencies in the characters and holes in the plots – all of which Rochelle assures me is the result of the movies being inaccurate. I plan to read the Harry Potter series once the ebooks are released later this year.

Rochelle is also on Goodreads, and she too keeps track of books she liked, books she plans to read, and sometimes even books that she is currently reading (unless she is reading something that she’s read before). You can visit her profile there at: http://www.goodreads.com/rochellehaddad

How the Kids Are

Micah

From Family 2011

This year Micah started going to a new school. For his first two years here in Maryland he attended a school just outside of the military base where we live. The school was mediocre at best, often causing more problems than it solved with new policies and rules.

By the end of his second grade year there, Rochelle had nearly reached the limits of her patience dealing with the school, and to her great delight a new public charter school was granted permission to operate on  base.

Unfortunately, the new school, called Imagine Andrews, does not yet have a dedicated, official school building (they are imagining they have a school building). For this year they are stationed in a run-down, hastily remodeled maintenance building at the edge of one of the base golf courses. By next school year they hope to complete construction on an actual school building, complete with a much needed cafeteria, gymnasium, playground and additional classroom space.

The curriculum seems to be challenging Micah so far, which is good. There are several problems, since it is a new school being run by a new faculty in cramped conditions, but we are doing our best to remain positive and supportive of their efforts.

Micah, along with the rest of us, was excited to go back to Arizona to visit his Grandma and Grandpa Haddad. Amazingly, neither of our children showed any concern that Santa wouldn’t be able to find them in a different home.

Micah came home with plenty of cool gifts, including some fun games and projects, Lego sets, spy gear, and some books. He doesn’t know it yet, but his toy collection is going to be drastically reduced under our new policy of simplification, and we are going to help him ensure that his toys are limited to the most versatile, fun toys that he can find. Of course, we aren’t going to be totally oppressive with this, but it will be good for him to be discerning and thoughtful about what to keep and what to get rid of. I learned a lot as a child when my parents would make me dump my toy collection on the ground and think hard about what to keep. I’m hoping he’ll remember the activity with the same fondness that I do now.

Sophie

From Family 2011

Sophie is doing especially well. Every day she shows us new ways that she is smarter than we previously suspected, and she is developing an awesome sense of humor, along with a sharp attitude.

As mentioned above, she did have to see a neuro-ophthalmologist. It started when her last MRI in November generated some concern. We do not yet have any real reason to worry, but there appears to be some thickening in an area that her doctors are sure is merely scar tissue. It is not unheard of for scar tissue to thicken a little, even a few years after surgery. However, there is a possibility that this thickening could be a type of tumor growth.

Some of you have been lucky enough to see Sophie recently, and if you’ve seen her recently it’s likely she’s shown you her “eye trick.” She recently learned that she can roll her eyes up and point them in two different vertical directions. When she showed her doctors, they decided to send her to a specialist (the neuro-ophthalmologist) to see if the anomaly could be related to a new tumor growth.

With this new specialist, Dr. Avery, Sophie was a little angel. He was particularly impressed with her every step of the way through the appointment. He assessed her vision with one of the most in-depth eye exams I’ve ever seen, always amazed at her intelligence, cooperation and maturity. He couldn’t stop raving about how well she was doing.

Near the end of the examination he informed us that she would need eye drops to dilate her pupils. He said that it would “S-T-I-N-G a little” and that there was usually a lot of “S-C-R-E-A-M-I-N-G” with other children. Rochelle and I looked at each other, then told him that he didn’t need to spell it out with her. We explained to Sophie that Dr. Avery was going to put some drops in her eyes that would sting and hurt a little, but that it would go away fast.

I had her rest her head in my lap and helped the doctor hold her head still while he applied the drops. She barely budged, and didn’t complain even a little. Dr. Avery’s amazement was complete. He couldn’t recall precisely the last time he had seen such a cooperative, brave patient.

In the end, Dr. Avery concluded that the eye issue is a result of the original tumor and swelling that she had two years ago, though there was no visible sign that it was a direct result of the swelling (apparently you can see that sort of damage quite clearly even years later on the back of the eye). He was certain that there was no evidence that this eye problem was a sign of any new tumor growth, which came as a great relief to us all.

Sophie especially loved the trip out to Arizona, and had been talking about seeing her uncles, aunt, cousins and grandparents for several weeks beforehand.

For Christmas she also got some craft items, some books, a few toys and her favorite: a pink Nintendo DSi. She may not look terribly excited in the photo above, but she plays it nearly every day, and has a particular fondness for a certain princess game.

Sophie’s next MRI is in February (on Valentine’s day) and we will likely post an update after we get the results.

Until Later

Especially now that we have something specific to write about, and since its process will help me feel more organized about life in general, I expect to be a little better about blogging. But alas I’ve never successfully promised to be better about blogging, and I’m not going to make any promises!

I trust that you’ve learned to be satisfied with my ineptitude at blogging, and I should likewise be more forgiving with myself.

It is our deepest and greatest hope that all of you have transitioned safely and happily into 2012. We look forward to making sure we blog at least once this year, and we also look forward to your emails, Facebook posts, phone calls, text messages and old-fashioned paper mail.

It seems I suddenly became a terrible blog administrator. I was doing fairly well for quite some time, only missing a month or two every once in a while, but then 2011 happened and it’s been five months since my last post (almost to the day!). I did do one little post on my personal blog in April, but that one wasn’t a very good one. So within the next couple of days I hope to have this one and my personal blog updated.

Going off our Family 2011 photo album, I can see that we’ve done quite a few things already this year. We’ve been to the tunnels of Crystal City, we went ice skating in Pentagon City, we’ve been to the Smithsonian, the Supreme Court, the National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy hangar complex, and we enjoyed a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Haddad for Micah’s baptism. We all enjoyed our birthdays (they are all within the first four-and-a-half months of the year), Rochelle’s family had a wedding and a funeral (both of which she attended), and I may have finally decided on a career path (this is a big deal). Some friends of ours left the area, some came to visit, and we’ve made a few new ones. Overall, everyone has enjoyed good health, and we are doing well.

Oh, and I got to ride in a helicopter.

Books We are Reading

Brian

Despite the recently circulating rumors, I can read. In fact, I recently finished a book, and afterward decided it was time to catch up on the last eight months worth of magazines I had been letting pile up.

I’ve always been an avid reader of Popular Science and Popular Mechanics, the former being my favorite, and the latter having several practical elements that prevent me from being able to ignore it entirely. As a subscriber, upon the arrival of either, I would have it finished before the day’s end under normal circumstances, but with work being as stressful as it has been, I began piling them up back in August and hadn’t gotten around to reading them until this month.

For more about the book that I read, you’ll have to wait to read about it at my personal blog (that post is up now).

Rochelle

Rochelle just finished reading the Harry Potter series again. This is something she does regularly.

After finishing that, she began reading The Poisonwood Bible. It took until about the  halfway point before she really got into it, but she seems to be enjoying it quite thoroughly now.

How the Kids Are

Micah

From Family 2011

While many of you share our religious views, much of our family may not be familiar with our beliefs.

In an attempt to quickly and briefly address any questions, I will share our views on what I think are the most common differences between religions when it comes to baptism: how to do it and who should do it (at what age).

We believe in baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, as taught in the New Testament. We also believe that the ordinance should be performed by one holding the authority of the priesthood, that same priesthood that John the Baptist held (he being a descendant of Aaron, the brother of Moses).

Finally, we believe that young children, before they are accountable for their own actions, have no need for baptism since they are not yet in need of a remission of their sins. Yes, we believe that baptism is a necessary step in our journey to Heaven, but small children are innocent before the Lord. Therefore, only after they become accountable for their own sins, knowing and choosing their own actions, are they able to make the decision to be baptized.

Micah, having reached the age of accountability, decided that he wanted to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He made this decision knowing that it was not something we required of him and knowing that he could wait to make the decision later if he should so choose.

The photo above is just moments after coming out of the chilly water.

I have to tell you, I felt bad for him. That water was cold. Preparations had been made so that the water would be warm. They filled the baptismal font earlier that morning with nice, warm water. Before dunking him in the water, we had a small service in which we prayed, sang and listened to some remarks about baptism from my father. He smeared peanut butter on his face. The children loved it. Then we all went into the room where the font is located and were shocked to find that all of the water had drained!

So, with only a little water in the hot water heater’s tank, they began to fill the font again. Of course, rather than wait several hours to fill it full of warm water, we had to settle for a little hot water and mostly cool water. We didn’t even wait for it to fill to the optimal depth. Having served a mission for our church and having done a few baptisms before, I knew that I could get him under water no deeper than my knees. So we filled the font until just after my mother’s remarks (she spoke about the Holy Ghost, a gift we receive after baptism as part of our confirmation into the Church). Then we all went back in to the font room. The water was pretty cool. Micah shivered pretty hard. With just one good dunk though he was baptized.

Because the immersion under the water must be complete, people often have to be dunked more than once if any part of them fails to submerge. Micah only had to endure the biting cold water for one submersion though. He was glad.

In addition to his baptism, he has enjoyed seeing the museums with us, he enjoyed the ice skating, and he’s been doing well in school.

Sophie

From Family 2011

Whether she’s cracking her mother up with the angry mean face, getting an MRI, or hanging out with me after work, Sophie is the brightest star in our home. She can cheer anyone up with a hug, melt anyone’s heart with a smile, or make even the angriest parent crack a smile with her antics. Undeniably, she has the cutest toes in the house, and she gives the best hugs.

Obviously, with five months having gone by, a lot has happened to tell about, but I can’t possibly remember it all. I’m really terrible about keeping a journal (these blogs are the best I can do most of the time, and we all see how well that’s working out).

In February she turned three. She is very aware of how old she is, and she knows she’ll be turning four next. She tells people this from time to time. Also, she understands relative age fairly well, tagging anyone younger than her as being one or two years old, and anyone older as at least four or five. Just recently she informed me that I am older than her, estimating my age as being four, then (seeing that I am obviously more than just one year older than she is) changing her guess to five (with an “oops, silly me” giggle).

Every now and then Rochelle and I share short little blurbs about Sophie on Facebook. Here are a few from each of us (more recent ones come first):

Rochelle:

I was watching a movie with Sophie. Two people started kissing in the movie and she said, “Look at those two people kissing.”
I asked her how that made her feel and she said, “Huhuhu, jealous.”

Sophie: Don’t sing anymore. It’s my turn to sing.
Me: Okay, you sing it then.
Sophie: I don’t know how to sing this song!

Me: We’re going on a toad trip tomorrow.
Sophie: Rearry!?!
Me: Really.
Sophie: Rearry!?!
Me:Yes. Really.
Sophie with a wistful look in her eyes: Can you take me to see the lanterns?

Brian:

Sophie (playing by herself) – “I did it! I am AWESOME!”

Sophie (holding MY flashlight): “I’m going to play with it.”
Me: “Can I please have it back? It’s mine.”
Sophie: “No, it’s mine.”
Me: “No it’s not.”
Sophie: “I’m Sophie and I’m the lost princess. It’s mine.”
I took it back. She’s getting better at this.

Rochelle: Sophie, say Wild Thornberrys.
Sophie: Wild Thornbabies. Wild Thornbabies to the sky!

As you can tell, we thoroughly enjoy having her in our family. She can be difficult, but it’s worth it.

Oh, and she’s in this video.

Also, her latest MRI looked clean again, so we won’t be going in for an MRI after three months like we had been. We get to wait six months instead.

Until Later

Despite five months worth of activity to report on, I wanted to keep this post short-ish to prevent you from taking one look and turning back out of fright. I promise I’ll try to be more regular than I have been so far this year. If you have anything you’d like to tell us, leave a comment or contact us using the contact information on the blog’s main page.

We love you all and hope you’re having as awesome a year as we are so far. Be sure to check out our Family 2011 photo album to see a few of the things we’ve seen thus far.

We are terrible about sending cards out, so consider this your holiday card.

In a lot of ways, this is better than any of the other cards you have received this holiday season. This one has links to videos that are long and full of kids opening presents.

So go check out the final version of our Family 2010 album at Picasaweb, and watch the videos below.

Oh, and I’m not going to embed it here, but on our channel you can watch a really cute video of Sophie praying in her sleep.

We are continuing a family tradition from when I was a kid in which we open one non-Santa present on Christmas Eve before going to bed. Both of these presents came from a program at work where gifts are purchased specifically for children using donated funds. Pretty neat stuff.

The next two videos will immerse you in our Christmas morning present opening extravaganza. Many thanks to all the friends and relatives who helped make this possible. We love you all.

Later that evening I went around to see what the kids were doing. This is what I found.

That’s all for this year, folks. Halfway through next month y0u can expect our January blog post. Until then, many thanks and much love from the Haddad family.

While there may have been no excuse for my negligence in posting here during the month of September, I hope that all of you know by now that I do not post normally during November. November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and I have participated for the last three years (and finished a winner every time).

Be sure to visit our Family 2010 album as the year is drawing to a close. There you will find photos from our recent date (no kids!) to an ice skating rink at the Pentagon Row in Pentagon City. Also be sure to visit our YouTube channel where you can see three videos that were uploaded since the last post.

Books We are Reading

Brian

I just finished NaNoWriMo. Give me a break. I’m still looking with guilt at my unchanging pile of books to read, and every day I feel that I inch closer to actually reading one. However, in the short term I really want to see if I can edit my NaNoWriMo novel into something bearable to read.

On a nostalgic note, I’d like to add that I’ve been enjoying playing an updated version of an old game I loved when I was younger. Nintendo recently re-released GoldenEye 007 for the Wii. It was originally one of the best Nintendo 64 games ever made, and they did a wonderful job refreshing it for the new system. If you ever played and loved GoldenEye 64, you must try it on the Wii.

Rochelle

Rochelle is currently re-reading “Reading Lolita in Tehran” for the third time. Reading has been relatively routine for her during the last several months, so she doesn’t really recall anything worth sharing. Keep watching this space for something interesting though, because I still haven’t been reading squat.

How the Kids Are

Micah

From 020

For the time being, I am giving up on trying to get Micah to write anything for this thing. Maybe it will be a summer only event. Until then, I’ll just fill you in on what he’s been up to.

He won three awards at school today. One for attendance because he thinks we’d sell him if he ever skipped school, one for being nice (while he is nice most of the time, we are a little surprised he got that one), and one for getting a 4.0 (the one in the picture, where he’s posing with his teacher, Ms. Reynolds).

He is both excited for and dreading Christmas, mostly because he really, REALLY wants a Nintendo DSi, but we’ve made it very clear to him that they are way too expensive for us to get right now, and we constantly remind him that he has a history of abusing electronics, and we wouldn’t want to let him have a DSi unless we knew he could handle it without breaking it. Plus, he manages to convince himself every year that he’s getting coal (and someday we’re going to get it for him as a prank, but when he’s older and won’t be scarred for life). Overall, he’s absolutely sure he’s not getting a DSi, but he’s still holding on to a last shred of hope that Santa will put one under the tree in spite of all we’ve said.

What he doesn’t know is that we have had a DSi for him sitting in my closet for over three months. We’re really excited about giving it to him, and we REALLY hope he doesn’t break it. We also got him a certain Pokemon game that he wants. I’m going to try to get good video of him getting this gift, because we’re sure he’s going to freak out. We are hoping for a reaction like this kid (YouTube Video), but it’s probably going to be more like this kid (YouTube Video).

I was going to just let you be excited with him, but in this case I decided to take you on our journey as the parents who are waiting as patiently as we can to give our child a gift he really, really wants.

Sophie

From Family 2010

No news for Sophie. She’s still just being cute. She now finds interesting words to append, “ies” to the end of (“pearsies for pears, “friendsies,” and many more). She has become quite a funny little girl. She even gets a lot more jokes now, and her little, “I get it” laugh is super cute.

Sophie has learned how to button buttons, and she helped extensively with the tree decorating (which happened almost two weeks late this year).

A long while back, when Sophie was learning not to be afraid of water, we used to have her lie down in the tub with a little water and we’d move her around “like a mermaid” (in her own words). I took a video with my phone, and finally posted it to YouTube. Yeah, it’s got a naked girl in it, but it doesn’t show anything she’d be too embarrassed about later in life, I hope.

She has had a strong interest in letters recently, learning to spell her name and recognize most of the letters in her name. Of course, when she spells her name, she goes through the, “S – O – P – H – I,” then she gets distracted by the “H, I” and continues with, “J, K, L…” She recognizes the “S” the “O” and the “P” most of the time, though sometimes “corrects” herself and says that the “O” is a circle (which it is, but not when that circle is being a letter).

For Sophie’s gifts, you get to be with her on her journey. I’m not telling what we got her, but it’s going to be good.

Oh, and in November we took Sophie in for yet another MRI. Things are looking great in that little girl’s head. No new tumor growth, and her brain is finally starting to look more like a normal one (some of the cavities that expanded when the fluid built up and where the tumor was may never go completely away, but they are minor and hardly noticeable now). Also, the one year anniversary of her surgery is this Saturday (the surgery was on a Friday last year). We are full of gratitude this year for all that happened last year and we are looking forward to spending the holidays with that beautiful little girl again.

As for what lies ahead, we still don’t know. We’re waiting to get an appointment with the man who can help determine what to do from here. We’ll let you know as soon as we know anything.

Until Later

Well, that’s it for this month. Shortly after Christmas I’ll make an effort to get all of the videos and photos we take posted. Thanks in advance to all of you who may or may not have sent or are sending gifts, money or love. We appreciate all that you do as our cherished and beloved family, friends and blog readers.

I have AIDS. No, not THAT AIDS! I have Ambition Imbalance and Deficiency Syndrome. Sometimes I get a little overambitious, and other times I can’t muster enough ambition to even think about starting something. Often my ambition is killed off during the process of planning and anticipating an event.

For example, over two months ago I posted that we had some exciting things planned – and we did. And we did them. However, when it came time to do my favorite part – write about those events – my ambition was dead. I had planned on writing, I had anticipated writing, but when it came time to do it, I lacked the ambition to actually write about all the cool things we did.

So now, two months later, I’ll be scraping the bottom of my rusty memory bucket to attempt a portrayal of our exciting activities without leaving out the most important ingredient – the fun.

The first activity we had planned was the construction and use of a compressed air rocket launching system. The details of the build and our adventures launching the rockets can be found at my other blog in two parts. The first part details the building of the system and presents a few problems with it. The second part has some video of our launches, and includes solutions to most of the problems we encountered.

The cool thing about this system is that everything is reusable (no burning engines to replace for each flight) and the rockets can be made from common papers and things you have in your home already.

From Family 2010

Going out to launch rockets is a good excuse for a picnic.

In all, we uploaded five videos of the rocket launches ranging in length from ten seconds to a minute and a half each, plus two compilations – one lasting over two and a half minutes, the other being only forty five seconds. I suppose I could edit them into a single video for you, but I completely lack the ambition. So, instead I will take the time to list and link to each of them here.

Note that the first round of rocket launches were unsuccessful due to the rockets exploding. These launches were still fun though.

• Mom’s Rocket Launch
• Dad’s Rocket Launch
• Launching a Water Bottle
• Compilation of Successful Launches
• Shorter Compilation of Good Launches

In addition to launching paper rockets, we took the kids camping finally. More about that under each child’s section.

The rest of the time since August has been spent doing nothing. Not really, but that sure simplifies the process of writing this post for you. I’d get input from Rochelle on what she wants to include in here, but it’s three thirty in the morning and I doubt she’d enjoy me waking her to ask what I should write about. If I don’t do this now, it won’t get done until next month.

Oh, and I’m not staying up late for fun – I’m on a night shift schedule this month. Hopefully, this should be the last round of night shifts for about nine months. I’m not holding my breath though.

Books We are Reading

Brian

Nothing. Still trying to tackle the ever growing pile of magazines that I subscribe to. My RAI (reading ambition index) is at a zero lately. I did manage to model a more modest dream home than the one I featured last time. Maybe I’ll make a video of this new one for next months post. Maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll actually start reading a book soon. There are so many that I want to read.

Rochelle

Rochelle has read or reread hundreds, maybe trillions of books since I last wrote, so we’ll leave this blank until next month when I will actually consult with her on what to put here.

How the Kids Are

Micah

From Family 2010

Micah has been struggling to come to terms with the fact that nearly everything Sophie does to annoy him she learned from him. I’m hoping he’s learning lessons that he’ll actually take and use from all of this.

Micah really enjoys the rocket launching, and he had a pretty good time on our camping trip. See for yourself:

From Family 2010

Really though, he had fun. He especially had fun when… well, I’ll get to that in a minute. It has more to do with Sophie than Micah.

Sophie

From Family 2010

Sophie also had a good time launching the rockets, and she was the one who insisted we take that cute picture of her and Rochelle above.

On the camping trip she was especially good and very cute (took lots of video – see the links below). She especially enjoyed trips to the camp restroom.

From Family 2010

We did have one minor incident on the trip though – Sophie burnt her hand while roasting hot dogs for dinner.

Funny story actually, she was really excited to eat the hot dog, and before we could properly instruct her on how to remove and eat the hot dog, she grabbed for it. The hot dog wasn’t what burned her though, it was the metal stick it had been cooking on. We had warned her that it would be hot, but she’s only two and these things are easy to forget. Actually, while she was still cooking the hot dog I decided to pull out my camera and take some video since everyone was doing such a good job and following directions so well. Just as I hit the record button, Sophie decided she couldn’t wait to eat any longer, and I got video of the whole thing. It’s the saddest camping video I’ve ever recorded.

Of course, when she dropped her stick it landed on Micah’s arm. While he tried to play it up for a bit of a bigger deal than it was, his burn was minor compared to Sophie’s. He looked like he got a light sunburn through a hole in a long sleeved shirt.

Sophie’s burn, though, was a pretty serious light burn. It wasn’t anything we had to go to the hospital for, but it hurt bad and took nearly a week to fully heal. After a little while she recognized it for the cool battle scar that it was.

From Family 2010

She had a great time climbing around and talking about Toy Story.

From Family 2010

Here are the links to the videos I took at the camping trip:

• The Burn
• Buzz Lightyear
• Can’t Get Me
• Time to Go Home

Finally, make sure you check out all of the new photos on this year’s family web album.

Until Later

Obviously, that’s not everything we’ve done for the last two months, but it’s more than enough update for you, I’m sure. If you’ve been counting months, you know that we should have taken Sophie in for an MRI recently. It didn’t happen yet, but we’re scheduling it this week (the referrals were just approved at the end of last week). As soon as we know what the results are, we’ll post something on this blog (just a quick update).

I can’t shake the feeling that there are big, fun things I’ve left out. Such is the nature of really, really late blog posting. I’ll be sure to post something next month. Thank you for all of your love and support. We love all of you, our dear family, friends and random Internet citizens.

Over the past few months I have personally been submerged in some of the greatest work-related stress storms I’ve ever encountered. I hope the worst of it is over. To anyone who may have detected a sour note or two coming from my direction, I offer my apologies. Rochelle and the kids have handled it all very well, and we are glad to have pulled through the bulk of it.

Of course, during the mess, life went on. Though there isn’t much of anything exciting to share, I hope that this post can entertain you long enough to get to the end.

My favorite thing to do during times of stress is escape the chaos by retreating to dreams and fantasies where I retain more control over my world than I do in the real world. One of my favorite tools to do that is the computer, where I can run various “world creation” programs that give me complete control, total freedom and endless possibilities. I remember my father expressing a similar sentiment toward a blank sheet of paper. I was recently able to share this passion for my digital paper when Micah became interested in one of my favorite tools – Google SketchUp.

Earlier this week Micah and I sat down together and I walked him through the task of creating an object from scratch in the program. It was a tedious, often frustrating period spanning over four hours, but several times I saw him light up with excitement at how powerful the program could be. It is, in my opinion, one of the best, easiest to use 3D content creation tool. The best part is, the basic program is free. Here is Micah’s creation (he especially enjoyed adjusting the shadows by himself):

From Family 2010

Though I have used the program for many years, I only recently became interested in learning more about it. In researching SketchUp, I happened upon an interesting project the program is involved in. This project resonated deep inside of me, and I wonder what might have become of me had I had the opportunity to use SketchUp earlier in life, as a child.

Anyhow, for the last week or two I have been using SketchUp to build a dream house for Rochelle and I to build in Italy someday. It’s one of the most modest homes I have ever dreamed up, at a mere 18,000 square feet, but it is also only a rough draft. This time, Rochelle has been involved in many of the design decisions. We hope to reduce its size a tad and improve the design over the years. We are designing it around a single master bedroom and no bedrooms for children – we will retire there. It will, however, have two nicely outfitted guest rooms, and you, dear reader/friend/family member will be welcome to stay with us any time you wish.

Finally, by the next posting (or possibly the one after that in October) I hope to have video and photos of our first family camping trip and our next family project. We’ve begun researching local campgrounds and are waiting for a clear forecast on a mostly free weekend to get out and spend the night with the bugs. Also, we are pulling together the supplies necessary to construct a compressed air rocket launcher. While Estes rockets with their little burning engines are fun, they are also more of a hassle when you wish to launch – they require engines. If you’ve run out, you have to go to the store for more. While they aren’t all that expensive, the cost does add up over time. The compressed air launching system will be a little more expensive at first, but it will also be more fun to build, it will last a lot longer, and it’s practically free to operate. Rockets are made out of any paper you have lying around the house (reinforced with packing tape so they don’t explode when the air is released). We will document the whole experience visually and share it here afterward.

Books We are Reading

Brian

I’ve been spending most of my time working on the dream house or learning about electronics to make some small modifications to the compressed air rocket launcher design (today I calculated the values for the resistor I will need to prevent the 12 volt power indicator light I’m adding from blowing up on the 18 volt circuit it will be on). However, very soon I plan on attacking the growing pile of books I want to read. Newly added are two recommendations from a medical professional who has been seeing me regarding a few issues I was going through. The first is something about zebras and ulcers, and the other has to do with emotions.

Rochelle

When she is sick, Rochelle goes through books like a thirsty man in the desert. She finished a Harry Potter book in less than a day recently. I think she’s still finishing that series. Before picking Harry Potter back up for the hundredth time, she finished a book or two that she can’t recall because they weren’t great. She didn’t not like Peter Pan though.

How the Kids Are

Micah

From Family 2010

In all the excitement of the last four weeks, I neglected to have Micah write anything for the blog. I know you were really looking forward to another one of his candid, choppy contributions, but I promise he’ll have double the trouble ready for next month. School starts back up in just one more week, so he’ll be doing plenty of writing.

Actually, I can’t promise anything. Things could get crazy again and I might even forget to write. So scratch that. No promises except that we’ll try really hard.

As for updates, Micah has been excited because we’re letting him keep his handheld video game systems in his room. Therefore we haven’t seen too much of him lately, except that he does come down to watch movies with Sophie or go out with the family. He’ll also occasionally get on the computer and mess around with SketchUp or browse the websites we’ve authorized for his use.

Sophie

From Family 2010

I really should have taken more video of Sophie for this month’s post. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any. If I had taken any video the first thing you would notice is that she’s talking a lot. I mean, she is super expressive, very funny, and dangerously articulate. She asks the funniest questions, has the oddest comments, and knows exactly how to get what she wants. She doesn’t always get it, but she knows how to request it.

Also, her ability to come up with random, vaguely funny saying has improved. Her old favorite saying was completely random: “Apple in the sky with Landon.” (Landon is a friend of hers.) I think that saying was born when we misunderstood something she was trying to say before she learned to pronounce words better. Today though she kept repeating the following: “Guess what? Hercules is going to fight… IN THE CAR!” She knows it’s funny, she loves to say it, and we’ve all heard it several times already.

Yesterday Sophie was walking around in her diaper when we noticed it was sagging especially low. This generally indicates that it needs to be changed. Wondering if she was poopy, we asked, “What do you have in that diaper, Sophie?” She responded, “My booty.”

Until Later

There weren’t many photos this month because I thought the camera was a goner at the beginning of the month, and we just didn’t do many photo-worthy things. The camera is working fine though, and we have some really fun plans for the next month or two, so watch our YouTube channel and Picasa Album for updates.

If I were to ask you what the ugliest car on the road was, what would you choose? Here, let’s do a poll:

I picked a random coworker (a female) and without hesitation she replied, “The Cube.”

I have to agree.

So for Rochelle’s trip down to Mississippi, we reserved a compact four-door car, but little did we know the place we were renting from didn’t actually have any cars to rent. They are a little Avis satellite location nestled into the corner of a Sears Auto Center store. They get their cars from… elsewhere. So, we show up and the lady at the counter suddenly realizes that she had no idea what vehicle she could give us. She called up her… other location and asked what they had in the compact four-door category. Nothing. Guess what Rochelle got to drive down to Mississippi? That’s right, the ugliest darn car on the road.

The funniest part about this is that we had just seen a Cube on the road a couple days earlier and both of us had commented unanimously that it is the ugliest car on the road. I hope Rochelle enjoyed showing it off to her family.

Funny thing is, the interior is just as ugly, gaudy and annoying as the exterior. I wish I didn’t know that, but I do.

While Rochelle and the kids were gone I had some time to myself, which usually drives me mad. Since I was finishing up a Network + class the first few days of their trip, I took the opportunity to play with our wireless router since I’d have time to get it working again before it affected anyone but me. It needed a few adjustments, but I had long since forgotten the administrator password. For a fun read about how I figured it all out and got it tuned up, you’ll have to check my personal blog. Funny thing about the whole experience is that I don’t understand a lick of Swedish.

Books We are Reading

Brian

I just managed to get my Network+ Certification, which involved lots of boring text to read. I’m preparing to take another big, required test for work (two, actually, but one doesn’t require any knowledge), so all recreational reading activities are on hold.

Rochelle

Rochelle is busy retelling her life story to a close friend on the phone, so I’m not going to bother asking what she’s reading right now. Last I saw she was reading something on her nook, meaning she must have finally finished that Anne series of books. I do know that, since I have been working twelve hour shifts lately and haven’t been able to read to Micah for a while, she has started reading that “Series of Unfortunate Events” book to Micah (the first one, obviously – or at least, I hope).

Next month I’ll cover more of what she’s read that’s interesting. For a moment I thought she was going to be done, but she just launched into another long episode that is going to last longer than I want to be awake. I’m glad she has people to talk to, because if she were talking to me (which would be welcome most of the time) I’d never get this done.

How the Kids Are

Micah

From Stuff That Happened: 2010 version

And now, for Micah’s segment:

There’s so much to write!

Sophie, Mom and I drove to Mississippi. So while Sophie was reading a book, I played my Didj (1). We finally came to Mississippi. It was a BLAST!!! My mom’s cousin Sarah played spy with me. Do you know why we played spy? Because my almost-aunt Emily (2) was putting on extra makeup (3). If you really know me call me S. A. M. (3) I got to touch clay mixed with sand. We went to a baby shower, and a birthday. We went to Ruby Tuesdays. We saw my two cousins. Grandma came with us! (4) We went home. Have a good summer, folks!

1. The Didj is a little handheld game system made by Leapfrog.
2. Almost-aunt because Rochelle’s mother has plans to marry Emily’s father.
3. I don’t get it either.
4. Rochelle’s mother accompanied them back home to Maryland, then she took a military hop flight back to Mississippi (she’s in the Army National Guard).

Lately I’ve been at work every time he’s written these things and he’s gone to bed before I could review them with him. Our next lesson is going to be on overusing the exclamation point and paragraph formation.

Sophie

From Stuff That Happened: 2010 version

A few days before Rochelle and the kids went to Mississippi for the weekend, Sophie was supposed to be taking a nap one afternoon when it was discovered that she had stripped herself of all clothing, removed her diaper, and relieved her bladder on the carpet, creating a fun little puddle to stomp around in and poke at. I thought it was funny, Rochelle did not. The best part was, when I went to get the little girl dressed, I couldn’t find the clothes she had removed from her body. She was on the ground waiting for me to dress her and I asked her where her clothes were. She pointed to the closet and said, “Right there.” Indeed they were put away rather neatly inside her closet, packed into a drawer of her dresser. I was impressed. So was Rochelle.

More recently Sophie has become even more cute. She will now randomly announce, “I have a superpower.” When asked what the superpower is, she responds, “good.” She also tenderly puts her baby down for a nap. She tucks the doll into her big girl bed, turns on the CD player for the baby, and puts up the gate in the doorway so the baby can’t get out (well, she leans the gate in place, but does an excellent job). I’m telling you, every moment I spend away from this little girl is a moment I could have been witnessing something cuter than anything anyone else has ever seen.

She is also beginning to take more of an interest in potty training. She will now request a diaper change at the proper time (after doing her business, unfortunately). Sometimes she even asks to go on the toilet. If we don’t get to her the very instant she wants to go, she removes all of her clothes (not just her pants and diaper), climbs up on the toilet, and does her thing. Unfortunately she only does it for number one, not the other one. She did, however, hand Rochelle a nice, full, stinky diaper full of number two the other day. Luckily none of the poo strayed from the diaper.

Until Later

Last month was interesting. Micah, Rochelle and I all survived an awful 48 hour stomach bug that made us throw up like a cement truck laying the foundation for a new Super Wal-Mart. It was no fun. So, we shared it with our good friend on the day before her birthday (sorry about that again). Sophie somehow managed to dodge that illness, thankfully.

Tomorrow we’re going back to the pool. I’ll try to remember to take more photos this month. You’ll notice that this month all of the photos come from Rochelle’s album. A big thanks to her for doing something interesting enough to photograph, otherwise I wouldn’t have had any good photos for you.

Have a wonderful Summer month, enjoy life, and we’ll see you next month. Not physically, unfortunately, but we’ll see you nonetheless. On here, the blog. Just making sure. Alright, later.

Wow, where did the last week go? On the 13th I remember thinking, “I’m going to write up that post for the family site,” and it didn’t happen. Then one thing led to another thing and here I am posting five days later than I ever wanted to. While not an official rule, I always hope to have something posted for you by the 15th of every month. So, here is an underwhelming and unforgivably late collection of goings on from the Haddad family.

Yes, we’ve engaged in various activities of varying levels of excitement, but we have, on every single occasion, neglected to bring out the camera and record anything for you to see. I know, we’ve failed you, and I also know you don’t really care. It seems you can’t make up your mind. I understand your frustration, even if it is only the frustration that I feel, superimposed unwittingly upon you in the wildly distorted version of the world that lives safely confined to my head.

For any of you who are still wondering, I am no longer working the night shift. This is a good thing. As of a few weeks ago, I am working days again. There has been much rejoicing. Micah’s final day of school was last Wednesday, Sophie’s 6 month MRI was a couple of weeks before Micah’s last day of school, and the local pool is open so Rochelle and the kids have been visiting it with much frequency. So, with more details on all of that, let’s get into the individual sections.

Books We are Reading

Brian

I haven’t read any books in so long, it’s starting to eat at me. How can I call myself an intelligent person if I can’t even make time to read? I’ll get there, I promise myself. I was doing so well for a while, then everything fell apart. When I finally pick a book back up with the intention of finishing it, I’ll let you know.

Rochelle

She recently reread Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, and Anne of the Island, which she just finished today. I remember we purchased the entire set of Anne books a while back, and, though I haven’t been counting, I’m pretty sure she’s read every book in the series at least fifty times since we bought the set two years ago. She really loves those books.

Tonight, before going to sleep, she will have to read, which means she’ll be picking out a new book. This usually involves several long moments of agony, in which she wishes she could simultaneously read several books that she wants to read equally, all while longing that her book collection were vastly larger. She’ll stand for what feels like hours in front of the bookshelf, staring at its contents, and if she can’t find anything there she’ll turn on her Nook and browse through the many books she’s downloaded onto the device, or peruse through the online selection, carefully pondering what she might purchase with her monthly book budget. In the end, if she isn’t feeling terribly adventurous, she’ll make her choice from among a very narrow set of books that she loves because she’s read them a hundred times or more.

Never mind, she’s not done with the Anne series. She’s on Anne of Windy Poplars. She’s reading it right now, as I type.

How the Kids Are

Micah

I haven’t taken any photos of Micah recently, and I would go in and take one of him sleeping right now if it weren’t for two potential problems. First, he’s been staying up incredibly late these days. So, I don’t want to barge in there with my flash blazing if he is still awake or just falling asleep. Secondly, he has been very hot in his room, so he hasn’t been covering himself very modestly. Sure, he’s got underwear on, but you don’t need to see it. And if he’s asleep, and I take a photo of him, you’ll probably wind up seeing some tighty whities. I’ll get photos of him up for next month. Promise.

Now, his self written content. For next month, I’m going to try to get him to write a little bit more. Also, I didn’t get a chance to go over this with him before writing up this post, so I’m just leaving all the errors in there (though I’m changing the letters that look like other letters to reflect the intended letters).

Almost everyday my family goes to the pool. We just went to the shallow part and of coarse, we went to the deep end. (1) Then at school, we had a picnic. And we had the last day of school with a pizza party. And we had feild day. (2) Have a great sumer folks!

1. Just to shine a little light on why this is significant to him – he’s developed a borderline phobia of deep water. I remember him carelessly splashing around in deep water with those floaty things on just a couple of years ago, but something happened since then. Now, when we take him into deeper water, he literally freaks out – getting very tense, clinging on to anything he can as though letting go will mean instant death, and he becomes incapable of reasoning. This is often accompanied by sobbing and screaming bloody murder. Last time we went to the pool together, just yesterday, I worked with him for over an hour (at my own expense, since I was the only one not wearing sunscreen) and got him to calm down enough to be able to reason with him a bit. Though he remained very nervous, I managed to get him out to the deep end without him clinging violently to me, and once he stopped screaming hysterically, he even called out to his mother to show her how brave he was being. However, I had to keep at least one hand firmly gripping him at all times, preferably two. Every time I changed my hand configuration I explained very clearly what I was going to do in a calm, loving voice, I went over how I was going to do it several times, and I made sure he was ok with it. Then, when I actually executed the change, he lost it and it took many minutes to get him to stop screaming. Hopefully, if I can work with him with any regularity, we can prevent him from developing a real phobia that carries over to adulthood. I certainly identify with his feelings though, because, as many of you know, I am currently dealing with a phobia of needles that I developed as a child.
2. The picnic, pizza party and field day didn’t happen in that order. I didn’t get all the details on the field day, but I think it was just a big outdoor sporting extravaganza at the school. It wasn’t a field trip (which, to me, would have been much more exciting). Now that I think about it, I think they had their field day, then the picnic, then the pizza party. Not that it matters, of course.

Like I said, I want Micah to write a little more for next month, so if you have any inspiring questions for him to write about, ask away in the comments. He may complain about having to write more, but he loves the attention, and he doesn’t have any school work to worry about, so it’s no big deal, right?

Sophie

From Cell Photos 2010

First off, Sophie had her six month MRI on Wednesday, the second day of June. She went down fine for the scan, but woke up afterward a little early due to a coughing fit. She had been somewhat congested, which was a concern with putting her under for the scan, but the doctors decided it was safe. She was safe, but the mucous had collected a bit in her throat, causing her body to want to eject it, inducing a coughing fit. She was still very groggy, and we had to endure a very cranky little girl for over an hour before she was able to show the nurses that she could keep fluids down and they let us go home.

The following Friday, I called to see what her scans looked like. They looked great. Thank goodness.

Other than that, she’s been very healthy and very happy. She enjoys going to the pool, and she has become a lot more vocal and expressive over the last month or so. Most recently, she has decided that she doesn’t want to go to bed on time. This is fine with us, as long as she plays quietly in her room. We put the gate up, sealing her inside, and for the first few days she would stand at the gate and cry for a few minutes until deciding that we weren’t coming. At that point, she would go play with toys. She would often take one particular toy that makes music into her bed with her and fall asleep listening to it. She’s very sweet.

The last couple of nights have been different though, with her deciding that she’d rather scream and cry than play and get in bed. Tonight I stood outside her door for several minutes listening to her cry like a mad woman before she started pitifully calling out, “Guys, come here right now. I’m crying. Pweeeeeeese.” Her voice was sobbing and whiny. It was really cute to me. Eventually, these calls turned into, “I need help. Please, I need help!” It’s quite entertaining. With it being Father’s Day and all, I decided to go in and comfort her for a minute. I held her, walked around her room for a minute, then sat by her bed until she fell asleep (which didn’t take long at all because she was really tired). That’s when I snapped the photo above. She always goes to sleep with her bear, her cat, and her Elmo doll. She is a very sweet little girl.

The other day we got some Summer entertainment equipment. The adults got roller blades and the kids got skates. We all have or purchased helmets too. Sophie’s skates are the type that snap on over the shoes. She loves looking at them and wearing them (they have Tinkerbell all over them), but not skating in them. She enjoys watching us skate, but she gets very nervous when we put her down on the ground with them on. I figure she’ll feel more confident after watching us get better at it for a while. I remember being very good at roller blading at one time, but now every time I strap them on I feel like I’m going to fall on my rump the whole time. It’s frightening.

Oh yeah, the only new video I’ve posted recently is of Sophie making silly faces. It’s fun, but it was taken on Rochelle’s old camera phone, so the quality isn’t great. Next time we go skating I’ll have to take some photos and video. And I’ll try to capture us doing other interesting things as well. No promises though, we’re still very busy with other life stuff.

Until Later

I know you don’t mind the post being late, but I am striving to post regularly enough that you can always come around the middle of the month and see the latest news. This month, I apologize for posting late, and I will do better next month.

Rochelle is taking the kids to see her family in Mississippi this next week, so we should have news and pictures from that trip to post next month. I would love to join them on the trip, but there is no way I can take any time off work right now. Plus, even if I could get away, it’s better for me to save the time off for later in the year when the holidays start coming.

We love all of you, and want to wish every father in our family a happy Father’s Day today (even though most of you are probably reading this after Father’s Day).

I will do my best to keep the tone of this post from getting negative.

I will do my best to keep the tone of this post from getting negative.

I will do my…

You get the point.  This post is titled “Off Balance” because that’s the way we all feel around here. I’ve been on a night shift working from seven pm to seven am. It’s the same nice Panama schedule from before (two days on, two days off, three on, two off, two on, three off, etc. – I only work 50% of the days in a two week period). The only problem is, even on my “days” off, I still have to keep the same night-life schedule. I do not like the night-life, and it is not family friendly. I’m beginning to feel like a guest in my own home. This night shift won’t last forever, and when it’s over we’ll all feel better.

On a lighter note, let’s dive into some Haddad family news!

Some of you may remember that Rochelle got a Fitbit for her birthday last month. She has really been enjoying it, and it does a good job helping her track how much physical activity she gets and how well she’s sleeping. Her only complaint is that it isn’t an implant – there have been times that she’s gone out and done a lot of walking (like when she went with a friend and Sophie to an Air Show) but left the Fitbit at home. While she can go in to the online application and manually log the activity (guessing as best she can at how much and how intense the activity was), the Fitbit’s automatic tracking of your movements is much more reliable and easier.

So, she really likes all of the information that it makes available to her automatically. Apart from occasionally forgetting to put it on, she hasn’t had too many problems with it falling off. She hasn’t done any serious jogging outdoors with it on, so that sort of activity might be more likely to cause it to fall off. Knowing how much she detests jogging, I doubt we’ll ever know.

Hum… There really isn’t much else to report in the general notes, so let’s get into those sections.

Books We are Reading

Brian

I have made laughable progress in the Philosophy book that I am “reading.” Most of my reading time has been poured into catching up with my growing stack of magazines. The rest of my time has been spent on less productive entertainment endeavors. Basically, after midnight, I lose all motivation to do anything productive. I really want to sleep. No matter how much sleep I get during the day, it just feels wrong to be awake all night. Reading can often make me want to sleep even more. So, I just haven’t gotten much reading done.

Rochelle

Rochelle recently enjoyed Hunger Games and Water for Elephants (she warns it had some adult themes). She is currently reading Morning Glory. It is also after seven in the morning and I want to post this before I go to sleep. So if you want details or her opinions on any of those books, post your questions in the comments and we’ll get back to you.

How the Kids Are

Micah

Stock Photo (not recent) From Cell Phone Photos

Yesterday (1) I went to my friends (2) house to have a brownie sundae. I watched Matthew and Clay’s brother play a video game. Then Austin said it was time to eat a brownie sundae. Then everyone jumped up and eat (2). Then we left. (3)

1. Yesterday, meaning Friday evening. Thus this was written on Saturday, for those of you who can’t do day math.
2. As you can see, I didn’t bother editing this. I will go over the mistakes with Micah later, probably when I wake up Sunday evening.
3. Micah’s update is short this month for several reasons, most related to the basic fact that life is out of balance for us at the moment. He will likely be writing more about the past month, and you can look for that to be posted sometime between monthly posts, if not along with next month’s post.

Sophie

From Cell Photos 2010

Sophie is probably the most exciting of all of us. Most recently, she is being weened from her pacifier. Rochelle and I had both expressed a desire last year to take the pacifier away when she turned two, but just a couple months prior to her second birthday she had brain surgery, and her comforting pacifier became more important than ever. We didn’t want to rip it away in her time of need, so we held off.

Shortly after her surgery, though, we did begin restricting the pacifier’s use to nights and nap-time only. This worked well, and she quickly ceased asking for it during the day. So, with my three-day weekend falling on this weekend, and since my night-time schedule requires me to be awake all night anyhow, we decided this would be a good weekend to take away the pacifier for good.

Friday morning when I got home from working the previous night, we took Sophie and her pacifier to the kitchen trashcan. We explained what was going to happen and why, then we had her help us cut the pacifier to render it unusable (she called it “yucky” afterward). After she inspected the two pieces, we had her throw them away in the trash. Then we took the whole trash bag out of the can and she helped me walk it out to the dumpster. We had her say her final goodbyes, and that was the end.

I went to bed, and Rochelle kept the kids busy enough that Sophie didn’t even get a nap in (so she didn’t get to see how well she would nap without it). Due to her excessive exhaustion, Sophie slept through the night without a hitch. When we first tucked her into bed she did ask for the pacifier, but we reminded her that it was gone. She recited, “yucky,” and, “trash.” Then she turned onto her side and went to sleep.

Rochelle and I were shocked and amazed. Maybe we didn’t need to have waited for me to have a three-day weekend at home after all.

Then, Saturday night came. Nap time came late enough in the day that she fell asleep on her own, never even asking for the pacifier. At night when we tucked her in, she asked for it again. Once more I said it was all gone. She said, “go get it.” I said, “it’s in the trash, remember?” She said, “yucky.” I said, “that’s right. You’re a big girl now and you don’t need it so we threw it away.”

She went to bed right away after that. Another amazing night? No. Around midnight she began screaming and crying. Our air conditioner runs so loud that I didn’t hear Sophie until the screaming got really intense. By that time Rochelle was already out of bed trying to comfort the little girl. I relieved her of duty and tried to calm the hysterical princess myself.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“Pacifier.”

“It’s gone, remember?”

Her screaming intensified. I decided to avoid that subject, but she continually brought it up.

Eventually, I got her to lie down on my chest (like she did when she was a little baby). She protested loudly at first, but eventually calmed down and got comfortable. We talked about what she might want to do the next day. Coloring on the sidewalk with chalk is fun. Singing songs can be fun. What songs would you want to sing? ABC song. Popcorn song. Twinkle Little Star song. Our conversation went on for a little longer. I also deliberately avoided talking about anything on the television, because somehow she is smart enough to know that I’m awake anyway, and if I deemed it necessary, I could take her down to watch a show until she fell asleep. I didn’t want to set that precedent though since it would not be an option for Rochelle when I am at work. Eventually Sophie said, “I’m sleepy. Sleep in bed?” After tucking her back in she quietly asked, “Pacifier?”

I ignored the inquiry, asking her instead about her plans for the morning again. We talked a little more. Eventually she told me “good night.” She asked for several kisses, gave me some kisses on my scruffy cheeks, and I left quietly. Our stairs creak horribly. You can’t sneak up or down them unless you’re floating. I did my best.

An hour later she cried out. I called softly up the stairs, “Go to sleep, Sophie.” She did, I guess. It’s now just after one in the morning. No longer am I amazed. This is what I expected the first night, and after that impossibly perfect night, I began to suspect that the second night might be the hardest. I was right. I’m also beginning to wonder if skipping the nap for a while might make night time sleep easier on everyone. I’ll bring that up with Rochelle in the morning. I’m hoping that Sunday night will go better, because Monday night I work. I hope we haven’t opened a can of worms with this. If Monday night is still hard, Rochelle will be on her own until Wednesday night.

In other Sophie news, we finally got some great video of her singing. It’s almost three minutes of super-cuteness.

Also, and I’ll try to get video of it for next month, Sophie is starting to whistle fairly well.

Within the next couple of months we will be taking her in for her six month post-operative MRI. We are somewhat nervous about this one. Not because of anything we’ve observed in Sophie, but because most of the surgery related inflammation should be largely gone, and if they see anything unusual it will be a tumor. We are confident that she has been healthy and normal, so we are 70% confident that she will be clean. There is so much that we do not know though, and we are constantly praying for the best. We also are aware of and grateful for all of your prayers.

Until Later

I just haven’t had a lot of time to make notes of what is going on, so most of this is straight from memory and I’m afraid I’ve left out some good stuff that has escaped me.

As always, we appreciate your readership and love.