Summer Summary

Saying that the summer flew by is a huge understatement. I really cannot believe it's over. We have Open House on Monday and Olivia's first day of school is next week. In some ways I'm very ready for her to begin school again but I've really enjoyed having her home over the summer. I know Peter will miss her! I wasn't expecting them to play together much but they surprised me. It was so much fun to watch them chase each other around. They also love to play in the pretend kitchen together. But their all time favorite activity is jumping on the bed together it doesn't matter whose bed it is....they love to jump! Peter also enjoys hiding and then popping out of his hiding place and yelling "peek-a-boo" to Olivia's endless enjoyment.

We have had some big changes this summer. Olivia started ABA therapy. It's only been a few weeks but it has been really interesting so far. ABA is hard to explain and I'm working on trying to get some videos that will help explain it a little better.

Peter is almost potty trained. I'm really surprised at how easy the whole process was. It basically took about a week. He wears a pull-up during his nap time and at bedtime but he is usually dry when he wakes up from his nap. He completes the potty process completely by himself with the exception of turning on the sink to wash his hands since he can't reach the tap. He has developed a bit of a fear of public toilets, especially the automatic flush toilets. Who can blame him though?

The kids are both seriously tan despite the constant application of sunscreen. They are just blessed to have Mike's great skin color.

Olivia will finally receive her wheelchair in 2-3 weeks. We began the process back in March. They warned me that it could take several months but it still took much longer than I expected. We are blessed to have health insurance but since our health insurance is managed by the world's largest bureaucracy everything takes so much longer. It wasn't even a question of whether or not the wheelchair would be approved for Olivia it was just getting all the right paperwork signed by the right people. It has been a pain in the A**!

Peter is becoming quite independent. He insists that "self do it" at least 18 times a day. He gets dressed all by himself. I love that each morning when I ask how he slept he replies that he slept "in Thomas bed". I love how literal he is. Peter loves to watch the Disney channel. Mike is also teaching him several Spanish words and phrases. It's adorable to hear them talk to each other. He was going to begin a preschool program here in the fall but with our upcoming move we're going to put that on hold for a bit.

I am still looking for a job in New Orleans. I have had several phone interviews and a couple of on-campus interviews. I've had a couple of rejections. At this point I'm hoping that I'll know more by the end of the month. We don't want to make decisions about where to live in New Orleans until we know about my job status will be.

Mike is finishing up his time in command. Lately that's meaning a lot of very early mornings and late nights. When you're in command you're responsible for the well being of a large number of soldiers and their families but you're responsible for an even larger amount of equipment--guns, tanks, Humvees, cannons, computer systems, etc. When commanders change the equipment changes hands and every single item must be accounted for. Like everything else in the Army its such a process. It absolutely astounds me that soldiers can travel thousands of miles and be ready to defend our country in a matter of HOURS but paperwork takes MONTHS.

We decided to fore go a summer vacation in preparation of our move this fall. We're very much looking forward to getting settled and having some time to relax for a bit. I think we'll have to wait for Christmas. It seems crazy to think so far in advance but we're expecting to spend Halloween in New Orleans. October is just around the corner.