Catching up

I haven't updated in awhile, which is not so unusual for me, but I have been extremely busy with work lately. I'm potentially working myself out of a job because I have been fervently settling cases. Hopefully, I'll have some new ones come in to replace the ones that have settled. While I really would like the opportunity to try a case on my own one of these years, I truly believe my highest calling as a lawyer is to make peace when possible. This is particularly true since I'm paid by the hour, and preparing for and presenting your case at trial isn't cheap.

On the home front, Kerensa had a viral infection all week. She was so miserable, but she did get to watch a bunch of movies, which is a rarity for her. She's been better the past 2 days, so hopefully tomorrow we can allow her some social interaction. I haven't posted on her accomplishments for awhile so here's a rundown:

• I think I can officially say she's potty-trained. We haven't had an accident in over 2 weeks. We let her go out wearing just her underwear, and she only wears her pull ups for bedtime. Even that has been dry a few nights. Before she got sick, she was even getting us up in the night when she needed to go. It's been really freeing letting go of diapers (well, at least for one kiddo)!
• She can count to ten, and she's not just repeating the numbers. The first time I heard her do it, she was actually counting grapes in her coloring book.
• She knows all of her colors (which she's known for quite some time) and most shapes.
• She dislikes saying her ABC's. For the longest time, she would tell me to stop anytime I started singing the song. Here lately we've gotten her to sing along with us (fairly quietly, though, so it's hard to know how many she knows).
• She does recognize the letters. The only ones she occasionally mixes up are W and M.
• She's a computer whiz! A little bit before Ryan started staying home she had mastered using the mouse on her own. Since he's been home and they like to have computer time after nap time (picture Ryan at his desk and Kerensa sitting at mine - it's too cute), I've been amazed at how adept she's become. We bought a new laptop at Walmart at the beginning of the school year when they had a blow out sale that ended at 6 am or something crazy like that. So we've let Kerensa essentially take over the old one. It was running very poorly, but now that we've taken everything off and reformated the hard drive, it works fine for simply surfing the web. We have the home page set to starfall, and this site has her well on her way learning to read.
• As for her language development, it's coming along. It's been neat as a former language instructor to see how the brain works when you are learning to talk. If she wants to hold something, she points to the item or says its name and then says "my hand." Instead of saying "where is it," she says "it's where?" She also repeats bits and pieces of things Ryan and I say. One cute thing she's picked up from me is, "we'll see."

Little mister Brennan is doing great. He can roll over both ways and has been doing that for about 2 weeks. It still surprises me, though. You'll leave him one direction, and he'll stay that way for awhile. Then all of a sudden, you'll look down and he'll have turned himself the other way. He also is already trying to sit up, but I'm assuming we still have quite a bit of time before he manages it. Anyway, he does little baby sit-ups on his changing table all the time. He loves to smile and watch whatever Kerensa is doing. He'll turn 4 months old on the 18th, which means its time for Ryan to go back to work. His first day back is this Tuesday. He has done a fabulous job holding down the fort, even on days I didn't get home until after 6.

Well, I should upload some more recent pics, but I haven't. So I'll leave you with the Christmas pictures we had done. Oh and Happy Valentine's Day!