I am about to leave Geoff and the kids for 3 full days and I am sad. I thought I might actually look forward to the rest and relaxation, the 90 degree Arizona heat, and hotel luxuries; but all I can think of is how hard this parenting is when you're flying solo. And, because I am me, what happens if something happens. To them, to me. Its a good thing we got goin, this family. Trips without them feel weird and wrong. So, I won't whine too much, but I'll say that I don't know how people who travel a lot do it.
To divert my attention and lift the spirit of this post a bit, here are some great updates: Jack is on the move! At 9.5 months old, he still doesn't roll off his back, but he is crawling everywhere! He goes head down, like a steam engine right into your leg, then tries to climb up. Its the sweetest thing. He also beams and gets very excited when we pick him up from school. It can turn even the worst day around when you go get him.
And, tonight, we had Eleanor's parent-teacher conference at her school. They administered the Ages & Stages Questionnaire on her and she did great! Exceeded all scores except for gross motor since she still doesn't jump with both feet together. She does this little half hop instead. Her teachers talked about how she has become the biggest helper since three new "babies" (18 month olds, the youngest you can be to attend ICC) arrived in her class. They said "She is obviously very intelligent" and "She knows a lot of words." The one area of minor concern is her speech. Her teacher theorized that bigger kids tend not to learn how to use their back tongue muscles until they work on it. For example, Nora will pronounce bath as "Baff" and something about gutteral sounds. Basically, they did not think she sounded like other kids her age and although that did not worry them yet, they wanted us to be aware of it. Duly noted.
Well, even as my mind cannot stop racing, I better get some sleep if I hope to actually wake up to my insanely early alarm. If you're reading this, send good thoughts to Geoff as he single-parents the best kids ever and to me as I work my ass off in Scottsdale. Love you family, Mama
A couple weeks ago Grandpa ("Ampa") came over to spend some time with the kids and watch the Bengals game. Turns out the kids dominated his time so he didn't catch much of the football game. After reading some books, Eleanor took him upstairs to play. For the next 45 minutes, while I watched the game, all we heard were giggles from both of them so whatever they were doing they had a good time. The next day several times she looked out the window calling for "Ampa".
The previous day we went to the Italian Festival. These fests have become more fun as Eleanor is able to enjoy the rides, bounce houses, and balloon animals (which lasted about 3 minutes before popping). 
Jackson stays wide-eyed and enjoys watching everything going on around him. It's pretty clear he wants to get down and enjoy the fun. I can't imagine the craziness once he joins his sister in running around and exploring.
Enjoying some good pizza, which was only a sample of the Italian foods we ingested.
