Middle September

How is it the middle of September and I've posted only once this month?! Yikes, time flies. I've made a list to help organize my scattered, blog thoughts.

1. School's in full swing for both Claire and Hamilton, though it's different this year for both of them. Claire's not only at a new school, but she's also going by a new name--Elaine. She's told all her teachers to call her Elaine, but her friends from her old school still call her Claire. She insists that we still call her Claire, though sometimes Mr. Morgan jokingly calls her Elaine. So all her school papers and books come home with "Elaine Morgan" written on them to which Mr. Morgan responds, "Who's this 'Elaine' person?" At Open House, I had to introduce myself as Elaine's stepmom. For Hamilton, he's learning so many new things at school that he's able to share with me this year. Last week all I heard was "AY-bee-see" over and over, though sometimes his pronounciation of the first three letters would morph into "ay-BEE-see." I'm pretty sure he thought "ABC" was a word. This week he's saying, "Gah may pee-puhl," so I've been saying, "What did God make?" He replies, "God made people." It's an awesome truth, though I wonder how much he understands.
2. I cleaned the master bathroom yesterday.
3. While to most folks the above statement doesn't deserve its own, separate number, trust me, it does. The master bathroom took over three hours to clean; the shower alone took an hour. It was disgusting. I won't even venture a guess as to how long it had been since the last cleaning because it would be embarrassing--even for me. But the bathroom sparkles now.
4. I'm looking forward to an upcoming weekend away with some women from church. I'm happy to have enough milk stored for my trip, and I'm thankful for a husband who'll watch the kids--yes, he'll have help. I love fall getaways!
5. I wanted to post my own memorial for Sept.11, but I missed it by a few days. So here's my I-remember-exactly-where-I-was tribute. I was a 21-year-old, college senior spending the fall semester at Keene State, which was only five hours from New York City. Students at my school knew people who worked in the Towers and as first-responders. In my Tuesday-morning class, we watched The Today Show's coverage of the attacks. I watched the towers fall live on television. I heard Katie Couric's live conversation with Jim Miklaszewski at the Pentagon when he said, "I just heard something that sounded like a bomb." I had been in New Hampshire--in a new region of the country, at a new school--for about two weeks, and I felt so alone. The local paper's front page showed a picture of the burning towers in its afternoon edition, published actually on Sept. 11, 2001. In writing about the attacks, it's hard for me not to focus on how life-changing it was for me--to make the events of September 11th about me. I didn't lose anyone or even know anyone who lost anyone that day. My fellow countrymen suffered that day, and I can't memorialize the events as well as news programs. But I can remember their sacrifices, our country's loss, and our only Hope for the future.

A Recent List

1. I have not fallen off the face of the earth as my mother so sweetly asked me this morning over email. Keeping up with two active boys has proven problematic for my blogging. When I have help with the kids, I usualy find more time to blog. Good thing you're coming for a short visit soon, Mom.

2. Mr. Morgan and I tag-team the boys' baths and dinner cleanup each night; so by the time our little ones are in bed, my brain is a little fried which doesn't make for a good blogging environment. We usually enjoy our new favorite show on Netflix streaming and go to bed early.

3. Yesterday I went to the library with both boys because Amanda and Grady had invited us to go to a toddler reading event. I knew Hamilton would love to see Grady and get out of the house (plus, who can resist Amanda?), so I loaded everybody into the Freestyle for the morning outing. Now Hamilton is a handful by himself, but with Grady's mischievous encouragement he's wilder than normal. Add in an infant who needs to be fed at the exact time we're enjoying storytime. Feeding Collier is a two-hand job, so I had no free arm to keep Hamilton in line. Disaster ensued when Collier spit up way more than usual. He was covered, his bib was soaked through, and the one burp cloth I had was soiled on all sides. Then I stood up to help Hamilton at the craft table after storytime only to discover my shorts were wet with the familiar liquid. As I longed for the comfort of home, Hamilton relished coloring his hands with the only marker in the pile of crayons. I've decided that feeding Collier cannot be done just anywhere if I also am responsible for Hamilton at the same time. I think we'll stay home for most feedings after that experience.

4. Since I spend lots of time feeding Collier and pumping, I watch several shows on Netflix streaming. Hamilton enjoys some of them more than others when he's around to watch with me. I only watch things that don't require all my attention, are entertaining in short snippets, and are not riveting--so I'm not tempted to keep watching once I'm done feeding Collier or pumping. I'm enjoying Clean House, Dress My Nest, and Bones these days. Hamilton likes the opening credits and closing music for Bones, so he asks for it by name throughout the day. I'm not sure when Bones will be inappropriate for him to watch even as sporadically as he does, as sometimes the images are gruesome. But I love to hear him say, "Wah Booh-wensth" (with his cute lisp), and he gets so excited when I turn it on.

5. Though we're one July boy short, Amanda and I are planning a small birthday party for Hamilton and Grady next weekend. I'm hoping they'll enjoy our efforts to make their firetruck-themed party fun. I'm on the hook for another cake, and Amanda found instructions for making what I hope will be a simple firetruck cake.

6. I'm so glad to have composed most of this post from Panera this morning while I waited for Christy. We're attempting to have a writers' group meeting after a two-month hiatus. Obviously, I need the encouragement to write and blog, since my last post was over a week ago. I have much to post including stats from Collier's latest appointment, cute pictures from camp last week, and a growing list of Hamilton's daily-expanding vocabulary.

A List

1. My favorite time of night is when both kids are in bed, and I can sit with my computer watching TV, blogging, or both. And, ice cream is usually not too far away either.

2. Thursday night we love to watch NBC, especially Parks and Recreation.

3. Sometimes it's hard to tell who's more excited--Hamilton or Mr. Morgan--about Mimi and Pops's coming this weekend. I'm excited too, by the way.

4. I opened my first birthday present tonight. Claire wrapped it and decorated the outside. Hamilton enjoyed helping me unwrap my gift, though he wasn't nearly as excited about the camera tripod as I was.