Highlights from the week...

- My mom retired this week. It was her last week of work! (Well, one kind of work, anyway!) She had a retirement party at work and we drove up to attend. It's really exciting, and surreal. We are very, very happy for her. I'm pretty sure my mom is going to be one of those busier-in-retirement types; she's probably going to pick up a cool new habit, or at least find more time to pursue an old passion (cough, cough... novel-writing or sewing, anyone? :o)

- She and my dad also found a house they liked. They made an offer, reached an agreement, and are moving forward with inspections and such. If all goes well, they could be in the new house by the end of September. My mom has already started packing. (Typical.... I'd be doing the same thing.) The house is not as close as I'd like (yes, I'm selfish) but compared to their current house, it's only about half as far away (about 35 minutes).

- Nana (that't Nate's mom; Darling's paternal grandma) is back in town from her extended trip to another state. We're happy her travels were safe. We haven't had a chance to hear about her trip, but I'm sure we'll be able to catch up soon. - Nana's not the only family who came home! Mike, Amy, and Maddie are in Oregon for a week; Amy's family is having a reunion. The three of them spent a couple of hours in town before heading off to be with Amy's family, and it was great to see them. I think it still hasn't hit me that they are far away... somewhere in my mind, it's like they're still just an hour or two away, you know? We miss them, especially now that we both have babies.

- Gardening update: We finally planted corn seeds. I was waiting for the weather to be warm enough. The next week is supposed to be beautiful, and I decided to just get it started. Supposedly the squash needed a little more heat but they have been doing great even with the very cool/mild weather, and we need to get the corn down before it's too late! Overall the garden is looking wonderful -- the onions are very happy and I love it -- so I am pleased. I'm impatient to clear out another section of the backyard and plant even more goodies. (That's the plan for next year.) I will try to take and post some pictures soon!

- We need to get sunflower seeds in the ground, too. I meant to do that when we put in the corn, but Darling was fussy and there just wasn't time. This week, it'll happen. Maybe tomorrow!

- Baby Girl's language abilities are starting to expand. She has discovered a few new consonants, and she is starting to mimic us a little bit more and better. For instance, my in-laws have a dog named Hava. Darling spent a little bit of time around the dog last week, and she started saying Bava. Nate is convinced this is her word for the dog; I'm not totally convinced, but I wasn't there when she was interacting with the dog. There's no doubt that she understands mama and dada. She uses ma and da to indicate lots of things, but she definitely also says mama and dada in reference to us. It's awesome.

- I hope that Darling will start signing some words soon. She's using more hand gestures (pointing, clapping, waving, flapping her arm, grabbing for certain things) and she studies us carefully when we sign and say words. It makes it much easier to remember to use our signs, when we see her gesturing and trying to articulate.

- I've had Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah stuck in my head for about three days now. I think I am driving Nate crazy. I know that having one song on an endless repeat in my brain is making ME crazy. In case you want to join in on the madness: www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8AWFf7EAc4

See the next post, too; it's new and I go on a crazy rant.