If you can't sleep, blog...

A mug of coffee that I worked on throughout the day is responsible for this update, which I'm writing at 2 a.m. :)

It's been a couple of months since my last post. Lydia is now 3 months old and starting to sit up a little, grasp at things, and is smiling the sweetest, most friendly smile. She still loves her bath, gets wide-eyed with excitement (and probably some alarm, as well) when Benjamin's around, and is thankfully settling happily into the fall schedule. We had a bout with her refusing the bottle but it only lasted a couple days.

The music academy is back into full swing and I'm teaching 3 days a week, about 5 hours each day (plus another hour for travel time). I'm blessed with an excellent advanced student this year and have been enjoying hearing some of the more difficult repertoire (some Gershwin, Debussy, Mozart, Grieg...beautiful stuff), and also enjoying the little beginners and the various levels in between...plus my faithful guitar students, many of whom have been with me going on three years. I learn so much from them and enjoy the interaction with each one. I was remarking to Jeff the other day how much fun all my students are this year. They are so disciplined, dedicated and friendly and are just a pleasure to work with. I've had the other kind, too, so that makes me extra thankful!

We had a few weeks of extreme excitement for us Hobbit-like homebodies...a houseguest from the wilds of New Zealand (not actually sure he's from the wilds, actually he's from Wellington, but he was still quite an exotic native to us). John is a friend of Jeff's cousin and came highly recommended to us as a houseguest in need of a place to stay while he conducted research at Emory. He's studying modern literature and pursuing his doctorate, and Emory houses a collection of works by the poet he's studying. It worked out perfectly for Jeff to take him with him to work since he drives right past Emory. It was a little crazy that John's coming coincided with the first week of Academy lessons and a visit to the pediatrician gone horribly wrong (more on that later), but things settled in eventually and we enjoyed having him here very much.

The terrible twos have begun a little early. Benjamin, my sweet, obedient, sensitive child (ok, sometimes he is) pitched a quite impressively long fit in the doctor's office. Lydia was there for a checkup, and either Benjamin did not like a stranger touching his "Lydda," or he just didn't like the attention she was getting...I'm not sure. In any case, he screamed, raged, balled up his little fists, and generally conducted himself like a drunken Irishman. The visit ended with a lecture about keeping Lydia safe from her brother and me close to tears and ready to give Benjamin the "talk" of his life. I've since learned that children have a remarkable gift for saving any unsociable behavior to the place where it will have the most effect, i.e., in public in an already tense situation (Lydia screaming, perfect time to do something crazy!)

I've been learning that mothering two children is incredibly sweet and rewarding, and also that I need God's help like I never needed it before. I'm also learning what to let go and what is absolutely not important, such as the dusting that has not been done since Lydia was born. I'm trying to remind myself every day that it is the time spent with the kids they will remember, not whether Mom had her act completely together.

Even with the two kids and the chaos that ensues, I've found some time to rediscover and learn some Debussy pieces and start reading The Chronicles of Narnia in Spanish...a fun way to keep up the Spanish skills that have been rapidly disappearing since college. I need to find more time for Bible reading as well, and somewhere in there I should fit in another mothering/childcare book. But if it gets done, it gets done...not stressing about anything if I can avoid it.

So...that's my caffeine-induced blogpost for the month. :)