A new day

we went for a walk yesterday after supper, now that the days are getting longer. so this was actuallya sunset. there are so many people and buildings that we never get to see much, so it was special. hannah just knelt down and looked at it, like she was worshipping.

hannah is such a special girl, as trying as it is sometimes! she currently loves her dollies, colouring/playdough/crafts, playing outside, going to church, watching tv (i still try to limit that, but that doesn't stop her from loving it!), changing her clothes, roughhousing with daddy, cooking with me, and making charlie laugh. she makes him cry quite a bit too, but we hope that's by accident! i'm pretty sure she knows her colours now, and she counts to ten. she loves to sing, and her current favourite is swing low sweet chariot. she calls it sweet cherry hot. she knows all the words. she is fiercely independent, she gets very upset if you try to help her with her clothes/shoes/potty/snacks/etc. i try to let her do things by herself, but sometimes we have quite the power struggle. at night, she absolutely refuses to stay in her bed, or leave the light off. i've almost given up. i know she's supposed to listen to me, but i'm quite defeated in this department. i guess she'll fall asleep when she's tired! she's growing up so fast.

hannah actually took this picture, while i steadied the camera. i think she did a pretty good job!

and then i took this one! does anybody want a print? :-)

so charlie's just such a mellow contended dude that he's really made no progress in moving. anywhere. or sitting. i thought i'd try to help him use the boppy, but he just fell right over! he does like to pretend he's swimming, by waving his arms and legs alot. kind of like a windmill, lots of activity but all in one place. he loves toys, but is willing to accept substitutions. for example, he is just as happy to play with the drawstring on his pants, his socks, or the seatbelt strap on the carseat. he doesn't actually have teeth, but you can see the top 2 perfectly, they're right there! but not through yet. he is really starting to babble, making actual consonant sounds. that's a good sign for his hearing. which i know we haven't talked about in a while, we never got another hearing test, the day we went in they wouldn't do it because he wasn't feeling well. but i'm positive it's fine, the original impairment was a result of the infection and blockage. and while i'm on a charlie update, he does have another ear infection. he just got over it last week. i guess this is what they mean by chronic ear infections. i worked so hard to get donated milk, it kills me to do this, but i think i'm going to try a lactose free formula for a while and see if that helps. but he's a trooper!

so, about our title. life is full of surprises, and it's a good thing i like change, because we seem to have alot of it! patrick resigned from Premier Aircraft Sales on friday, after a year of making it with no salary. We finally decided that it was not what was best for our family, even though he really enjoyed the job. We are pursuing a couple options right now, and really praying for God to prepare the way for us. i don't know why, but i'm reticent to ask Him for something really great, because we don't deserve it, and life isn't supposed to work out so well, i guess i think it's supposed to be hard. but i want the best possible for my children, so maybe God feels that way too? we should know something in the next few weeks.

we're going to ks on monday so patrick's family there can meet our sweet charlie. i'm sorry i haven't been taking pictures, it seems we never do anything. the past few weeks have been dentist for me, dr for charlie, and church. next week will be better. then, mom and bob will be here for easter and we're really excited about that!