Everyone had so much fun bowling last year for Mom's birthday that she decided to do it again this year. I had 2 horrible games (as usual) Ava slept through the whole thing, and Katherine really got the hang of it right at the end. I think everybody had fun again.
Today I (Angie) visited work and let them know that I've decided not to come back to work after my leave (which was supposed to end March 13). I've worked there for 13 years now, and I've been really feeling ready for a change, especially after everything we went through with Joey. I've never gotten to be home with my kids for any length of time, and I want to have that experience.
Financially, this is very significant for us. We're leaving it up to God to determine how long I'm able to go without working. It may be for only a few months, we just don't know. I'd like to find some things to do here and there to bring in some income but not have to have work at a steady, full-time job for a while. I'm an accountant, so I'm used to relying on the answers from a spreadsheet. In this case, the spreadsheet says I'll need to go back to work sooner than I want, but we'll see what God has planned.
So far, it's been very different to be home. I'm very task-focused, so I have a long list of things to do each day. I don't get them all done, but it keeps me more focused and making sure that I don't spend my entire day cuddling with Ava (although I do a lot of that, too).
We had an amazing snow storm with the most snow I've ever seen here. We got almost 15 inches - the 2nd most ever for a storm recorded in Wichita. The kids ended up having 3 snow days (Thur - Mon), and Jon had to work several nights in a row. I spent most of the time in the house with Ava, but Joey and Katherine spent hours playing outside. They loved it. It was nice to have one good snow storm for the winter, but I'm ready for spring!
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Jan 25, 2013
I kept Joey home as much as possible during the flu epidemic, but I couldn't keep him home from school, and he ended up with Influenza A. He did get his flu shot in October, but it's hard to know how much it worked for him since he doesn't have a full immune system. He woke up with a fever and said his whole body hurt, so I took him straight to the doctor and asked for a flu test. By noon, he was already on Tamiflu and the rest of the family (except Ava) was on it too. He spent that day and one more day on the sofa, but we really dodged a bullet. He ended up having a minor case and it never got too bad, and no one else in the family got it.
On Feb 18, our baby girl was 2 months old already. I've been trying to get pictures of her for every month. I tried at 1 month, but none of them were very good. I think her 2-month pictures came out much better.
She grew a lot and is getting pretty chubby. From her 1-month to 2-month doctor check-ups, she gained over 3 pounds and grew 3 inches!
We surprised Katherine with a sewing machine for Christmas. She had never talked about wanting one, but I think she would like it. I don't know how to sew, but my mom does, and she agreed to help Katherine learn before I bought it. It took several weeks, but we finally took it to Mom's so they could spend a Sunday afternoon working on it. It turns out that I was right - she really liked it. For now, she's just working on learning the stitches, but she's having fun. The next step will be getting a pattern and teaching her how to put things together.
