This and That

It's been a while since I posted anything, so I figured a general update was in order. Here goes!

Ainsley

On November 1st, Ainsley had her 4-month check-up where she weighed in at 14 lbs. and was 26 inches long. This places her in the 55th percentile for weight and the 76th for height. All I can say is, Who woulda thunk I'd have an average-sized child? I hope it keeps up.

Ainsley is a pretty good little baby who doesn't cry much, except at the usual times: when she's hungry, tired, or being overly "loved" by Afton. If I could maybe add one little skill to her list of accomplishments, it would be taking a bottle. She absolutely refuses. We're talking beet-red face and full-on screaming whenever I place that plastic nipple to her mouth. Off and on this past month, we've tried some heavily diluted rice cereal from a spoon, and she's not much of a fan of that either.

(And back to normal when the spoon practice is done.)

Afton

Afton is... still 2. But I must give credit where credit is due. When we go to the grocery store, she will ride in the cart (rather than spend her whole time screaming and trying to jump out of it). She's willing to get in her car seat about 75% of the time now (as opposed to almost never). She's generally okay with eating whatever the family is having for dinner (as opposed to refusing to eat almost anything put before her). She no longer goes into hysteria every time I sit down to nurse Ainsley (think tears and tears and tears while yelling, "No feed her! No feed her!") And the only time she hurts Ainsley anymore is when she is giving her too many hugs and kisses.

In fact, Afton's nurturing side is coming out. When Ainsley starts to stir in the morning, Afton is the first one to run in and say, "ood orning Baby Eeslie." She tries to soothe Ainsley when Ainsley cries. Every once in a while, I catch her trying to read Ainsley a book. Sometimes she'll try to find toys for Ainsley to play with.

And sometimes she just wants to hold Ainsley's hand. (This wasn't posed!)

Tony

Bishop Tony treks on. When Ainsley was 8 days old, our stake president came to our house and called Tony to be the new bishop of our congregation. He was ordained when she was about 6 weeks old. In those intervening 5 weeks he lost almost 10 pounds. (He claims it was only 5.)

I suppose all bishops are busy, but our congregation is a bit unique. It has 538 people and 99 widows. Tony spends a full day at church on Sunday, as well as every Tuesday and Wednesday evening. It seems that every other Thursday he comes home for dinner only to turn around to go to a meeting. (There is no shortage of meetings.) And because our ward has so many elderly people, there are many funerals to conduct. The previous bishops averaged about 12 or more funerals each year. Tony has had three already.

Tony has laughed quite a bit about how the main beneficiary of our new 42" HD TV and souped-up cable (purchased just two weeks before he found out about the bishop thing) is Afton (who can now watch Nick Jr.).

Me

Needless to say, I was very excited for Thanksgiving this year (three whole days with Tony). And I'm very excited for Christmas (potentially seven whole days with him). I'm also very excited for January when I can start going to a nearby gym and get rid of the last bit of this baby weight and all the tension in my shoulders from carrying around little bodies all the time. I am very grateful that Afton no longer pats my belly each day and says (in a deep voice), "Mommy BIIIIG FAAAAT." (Yeah, that was a daily occurrence for the first three months or so after Ainsley was born. I loved it.) And I am building up the courage to drive--by myself with two little kids--to Oregon next spring for an extended vacation.

All told, although we are busy and tired, we are happy. We have two healthy little girls, and we still like being married to each other. In the worst recession since the Great Depression, we have been untouched. We feel grateful for all our good fortune.