Take a look at my updated adoption time line, I finally got Austin’s birth certificates in the mail today after begging for an expedited processing last month. I need it to register Austin for school, send him to visit Grandma this summer, etc.

In order for them to rush it I had to overnight an overnight envelope and a letter with proof of why I needed it rushed. It was more costly, but having (almost) everything done was worth it!

Isis has spent the last two nights in our room and has been doing fantastic. No chewing, no accidents. I guess she was just lonely; I have to remind myself often she is still just a baby. We picked up a new bed for her, I finally found one big enough at Walmart, and it may actually be TOO big, at least for our room, not for her… she will grow into it. It is roughly as wide as a twin bed and half as long. I need to get a picture of her in her bed, she curls up and looks like an egg in a huge nest, or stretches out and looks like she is going to hang off both ends.

We are also switching food again, from the Canadae to California Natural. I would eventually like both dogs on the same food and I love that the California Natural has no grains, fewer ingredients (eight + vitamins & minerals). My Golden Retriever has allergies and is overweight, so I am hoping that I can slim her down, fix her allergies and eventually get both dogs on the same formula.

Isis has been SO destructive lately. When she was teething, I forgave the loss of my only-worn-once $60 leather shoes.

Now that she is 6 months old it is CRAZY! Bobby’s $100 shoes, books, papers, toys, etc.

I want to bring her back into our room, but Bobby is against it after waking up twice to explosive diarrhea. We tried leaving her with rawhides and kongs, but apparently Christopher’s library book is a lot more fun.

She still does not do well in a crate, and Bobby thinks a muzzle is the solution, but I don’t see that working.

How can she be fine for up to 8 hours when we have left in the day/evenings, but freaks out for the 5 hours I sleep at night??

Since I have been neglecting my blog for the last two weeks, I will make a quick update on each of us (in chronological order).

Bobby just finished another semester at school, he made the Dean’s List for his grades. He is getting ready to start an Algebra class, which I think he is a bit apprehensive about. He will do well, I know he will. He started teaching a new group of GI’s today; for those of you who don’t know, Bobby is a civilian military instructor. He also got his annual raise this week, it is hard to believe it has been almost a year since he started working there. I love his employer, he loves his job, we are both thrilled he was able to get it. Oh, and he has cooties! Just kidding, but he was diagnosed with shingles, poor guy, he is in SO much pain.

Pretty mundane update for me; I found out that my face has been swelling due to inflammation of the parotid gland, which in under my ear and wraps around my jaw. We still don’t know WHY it was swelling, or why it would only swell Saturday mornings, but the antibiotics I was given at the urgent care center gave me my first swell-free weekend in over 2 months. Let’s see, I also got a cavity fixed, got 4 inches of dead ends cut off, and ordered a new loveseat and chair for my sitting room/front room. Oh, and I got a new baby! Bobby got my a 30GB iPod, and I already have 6GB of songs on it, (which reminds me, I am overdue for a good Synching)! Last night I had a horrible migraine that finally went away after laying down for a few hours (and popping massive pills, but declined one of Bobby’s). I sent a letter to Austin’s birth mother, pleading for copies of pictures and keepsakes from his first years.

Austin…. where do I start with this one. After some allegations that Austin was the one who instigated the bully, and accusations that Austin used racial slurs, the school has decided not to return my phone calls. Needless to say I am less than satisfied with how the school is handling all this, and I really want to move NOW. He brought home another mosquito fish from school yesterday, my fish tank is so overrun! He also had his placement test for middle school next year, and we are anxiously awaiting the results and placement; he was one of the first to finish and feels confident with how he did, so we will see. Austin will turn 11 this month.

Christopher… his updates are always the hardest. No calls from his teacher lately or notes home that he has not been turning in his work. He is still misbehaving at home, well, not so much misbehaving as he is just not doing what he is told to do, when he is told to do it. After a big lecture after lying to me, he has been VERY honest (Austin thinks TOO honest I am sure), and we are really appreciating it. Overall he is a bright, articulate, sweet boy; he tends to be a little lazy, and is a bit immature, but I do not doubt he will go far in life.

Matthew has backed off on potty learning a bit, which is OK… He is also talking like crazy, I am amazed how many words he can say already. He is a parrot and has a larger vocabulary than Austin and Christopher did at this age, combined. He is also using a lot of signing, and picks up on signs that I don’t even remember using. He is still strong willed and knows what he wants, but is a lot more flexible lately and does not throw the tantrums nearly as bad as Christopher did at this age.

The animals are driving me nuts, not all, but one. Isis has started chewing stuff at night. I won’t repeat myself since it is on my other blog, but it is really irritating me. By the way I figure it, she has exceeded $300 in damages and desperately needs a job! I will be making her an appointment soon to get her rabies shot and get her spayed, I can’t believe she is almost 6 months already!

Still watching baby A., she is also 6 months and watching her has been easier than it has when I started, but I am still non-functional having to get up with her; only 3 1/2 weeks until summer, I am SO happy for that. I still have not started watching my friend’s little girl, M., but that will be changing soon. Grandma has been watching her, but she has surgery tomorrow, so I will take over childcare while grandma recovers.

So that is it, maybe not so much in a nutshell, but that is what has been going on.