Thursday, January 24, 2008

FAQs

I get the feeling that it is time for a general update. So, here are answers to your most pressing questions!

How is Catherine?

Naturally, the first question on everyone's mind - no worries, no offense to me.
She is doing super. She is walking around like she's always been doing it, actually practically running at times. She is getting really good at stacking blocks and fitting things inside other things and putting things away in bigger containers, things like that. She can follow simple instructions (come over here, put that in there, etc.). She's feeding herself with a spoon... well, that's still a work in progress, but she loves doing it for herself. She now has 5 total teeth - 2 on the top, 3 on the bottom. And she LOVES food - we can't seem to find anything that she DOESN'T like! The one thing that I'm waiting for is that she hasn't really said her official first word yet. It sounds like she is about 2 minutes away from holding full conversations, and she talks all of the time, but it's just not correct words. At least in English -- maybe she's smarter than we all think and is speaking Russian or something. We'll see. I'm waiting for it.

How is school?

I'm liking the class, but I'm not sure how I'm doing. We have our first exam on Monday, so that will be the best indication of how well I am retaining the enormous amount of information. I have learned, however, that I can rule out a career in microbiology. As fascinating as it is, I am not patient enough to tolerate the tedious procedures.

How goes the house hunting?

If you haven't heard yet, we are officially planning on buying a house this summer. We are still in preliminary stages. In other words, we haven't talked to a lender to find out what we can really afford and we haven't chosen a realtor or anything like that. But that is our biggest goal right now. I've been checking out what's available for our price range... so we'll see.

Are you ACTUALLY going to Europe?

Well... probably not. As much as Stephen and I would love to join the choir in Austria and the Czech Republic in July, we have been struggling about this for months now. We're just on the verge of being able to afford it, but it's cutting it close enough that it would most likely add to our debt. And between going to Europe and buying a house, right now the priority is buying a house. That all being said, we still can't seem to make a final decision. And we only have 7 days left to do so. ARGH!!!!!

What are you doing for Catherine's birthday?

We are having a small party on her birthday, mostly for close family. It's going to be a princess party! Then later in the month we are having a bigger par-tay for all 3 of our birthdays. The party planner in me is leaping with joy!

Is there anything else going on?

Let's see... choir, house, baby, school... nothing else is really new. But if you have any other questions that I couldn't think of, let me know!

1 comment:

Jenny said...

House hunting advice: Talk to a lender first to get ideas of what monthly payments will be. We were approved of a total amount WAY beyond what we could afford each month. Ask them to include property taxes and homeowners insurance as well. This really helped us to look at houses we REALLY could afford. Very useful. Looking forward to seeing you soon!