The end of Daycare and updates

Life is funny sometimes. We finally got into a routine with daycare and work. We dropped Becca off at daycare on our way to work (we carpooled), then we picked her up on our way home. It was kind of crazy, but it worked. Becca seemed to advance pretty well. She became more confident with her crawling after the very first day. She stopped crying when we dropped her off and she seemed to be okay. Then came the snag. Kyle's new job pretty much ran out of work for him after the first week. After a month, they decided they'd overestimated the hours they had and the laid him off. The good news was that Becca didn't have to go to daycare anymore. The bad news was that our source of income for saving for tuition next year was gone. One month later, and Kyle still hasn't found a job. We're getting things done around the house though. Kyle has organized the garage and is working on improving our landscape. He does such a great job with it all. I think things will work out eventually. We just found out that Kyle's major that he's been working towards is going to be terminated. I'm hoping we got in soon enough so that he'll be able to finish the necessary classes to transition to a similar major without having to retake all of the credits. I think the counselor said they're going to keep the classes for one more year so that students in the major can finish it all. We still need to talk to one more counselor to find out if we'll be able to finish everything in time, but I think the future looks good. I've decided I'm just going to have faith that Kyle will be able to find a part-time job to help with the costs of going to school. I'm sure it will work out somehow.

As for Becca, she is wonderful. She has three teeth now and she loves to cruise around the living room. She hasn't ventured any steps on her own, but that's okay. She says mamama and dada when she looks at me and kyle, and it seems she knows those sounds are tied to us, but I'm not sure. She loves to see the dogs and the kitty. We went to California for my brother Jordan's graduation a few weeks ago, and she absolutely loved all the attention. She seemed to enjoy the beach, though she discovered that sand is not fun to swallow. I'd tried to keep her from putting it in her mouth, but she kept doing it when I wasn't looking, so I decided that a little sand probably would hurt her. I did intervene when she put shell fragments in her mouth. I got them out, which made her cry. I think that when she cried was when she actually swallowed the sand. I think it was just in her mouth before that. Once she started swallowing sand she started screaming really loud. My mom and I got a water bottle and rinsed the sand out. She wasn't as enthusiastic about eating sand after that. I also took her down to the water. She seemed unfazed by it until a wave got up to her waist. That's always the depth that is hardest for me, so I'm not surprised she had the same reaction. Once it got that high, she decided she was done for a little while. She spent the rest of the day hanging out with my mom under our tarp.

As for me, I'm doing well. I absolutely love weekends when I get to hang out with Becca and Kyle. I try really hard to make sure I have quality time with Becca when I get home from work, and especially on the weekends. I've made some progress on a quilt I cut out years ago, in high school. I got held up on one part, but with help from my mom, I think I know how to proceed. I'm hoping to finish the quilt top this month, and then eventually buy backing for it and quilt it. I'm hoping to have it quilted by the end of October, but we'll see. Kyle doesn't think I'll finish it, which probably means I will finish just to show him. I'm one of those people who occasionally rises to the challenge just because someone says I can't. I try really hard to make sure this attitude only helps me and doesn't hinder me in any way, and it definitely has had its advantages in the past. In addition to that quilt, I've a few other projects that I'm going to try to finish this summer. The hardest part of working on projects is that I'm at work during my most productive time of the day, so by the time I get home, I don't have energy to do much. Weekends are my time to really tidy the house, so they pose obstacles as well. Anyway, as long as Kyle keeps doubting me, I'm sure I'll finish at least a few projects. :)