Book Club

Recently a couple of my girl friends and I started a book club on Tuesday mornings in order to "stimulate" our brains with more than just gossip. We were getting together and just catching up, but then decided it was high time we did something intellectual! So, we are trying to read one book a week and then get together to chat about it and anything else that may come up. :) We have each chosen a book to read and now it is back to my turn. I was wondering if anyone can recommend a good book that is not too long, but that is reading and conversation worthy. So far, we have read Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor, Glass Castle, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Thanks for any ideas you may have! Have a great weekend!

Play Date

For the past few weeks Evelyn and I have been visiting some new friends for play dates. Kevin and I met Jana and her husband in our Bradley Method child birthing classes and we managed to stay in touch with them. They have a darling boy, Aaron, who is almost 9 months old. I was finally able to, thanks to TC, capture some of what our experiences are like during these "dates." Just in the last two visits, the kids have really started to play together, crawl together, and enjoy each other's company. I swear they even carried on a conversation today!! It is also a great time for Jana and me to share mommy stories and have some adult conversation! Here are a few of the photos I snapped today. PS...it's hard to capture 2 babies at the same time!!
Baby Aaron

Jana and Evie

The fun begins!
We're learning to share! :)

Sneak attack for his favorite toy!

Ok, check out the look on Evie's face!! Think we will see that same look in a few years?

We're still learning to share

Life...Is a Highway

As the song says, life is a higway and I think that we can finally say that, (for the time being) we have left the difficulties that plagued us for several weeks, in the dust. In a continuation of the last post, I would like to explain that because Evelyn was having a difficult time sleeping and would not nap, we had to, as parents, do something that went completely against the way that we have parented this far and let Evelyn "cry it out" in order to learn how to sleep. It was something that we swore against and never expected we would have to do and it was the most stressful thing we have been through as a family. Because of this, we were unable to tend to many of the things that we had been able to in the past. Thank you to all of you that led me by the hand and assured me that despite what I read, Evie would still love us as parents and still be a happy baby in the end. I will say that each day is getting better and she is now napping much more consistently and sleeping through the night. It might seem, to some, like a small matter to be so upset about, but it was challenging and we have all made it to the other side!
In addition to all of this, Kevin has been very busy at work and at home, building a deck for us in the backyard and taking over the nightly parenting duties because I am working each night until 6:30 or 7. He does such a great job and I have to take the opportunity to mention that he is really the best daddy!
I sat, yesterday, for my certification test to officially become a Reading Specialist in the state of Oklahoma. I should have the results back in a few weeks and hope to be able to call myself a certified Reading Specialist.
Last, but not least, Evelyn celebrated her first Halloween on Wednesday and had a blast! She went as a flower (that I tried my best to make) and visited several friends and family members around Tulsa. It was our own form of trick-or-treating and she even got her first Halloween goody bag! We ended up at mom and dad's house where we had dinner and were able to enjoy handing out a bit of candy. Overall, it really was the best Halloween that I have had in a long time. Please enjoy some of the pictures from that evening and some of Evie's new talent...clapping!