Keith and I have challenged ourselves to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. I am very much looking forward to this. If you want to join us go to NaNoWriMo.org and sign up!

I have new clients!!! I have a very sweet little boy starting on the 31st of August! I think I am finally going to feel like I am running a daycare rather than just having another child of my own. Even though she goes home at the end of the day I feel like I have had another baby. Its just the one, and I am exhausted (from the early mornings, not nightime feedings.)
I have found that at the end of the day I need keith to take over with Kati, and AT LEAST once a week I need to get out of the house and have a conversation with an adult. We shall see how well this works out. Thankfully Tonda has offered to watch the Kati once every few weeks overnight. I think being able to have a morning to ourselves will really help.
I really wish my body would cooperate with this new schedule. Its not like we are going to bed late. It is normally lights out by 9 or 9:30 at the latest. For us its like going to bed before the evening has even started. I guess it is just going to take some getting used to.
The basement is coming along well. The first coat of mud and tape is up. We are waiting on sanding, another coat of mud, then the finishing can start. I so want to move to the basement.

Well, gtg for now.

I always feel like I can't keep up and that my life is passing me by too quickly. I want to remember, and possibly ruminate, but it is hard to do. I think I will go through the list again...

Kati's Klubhouse: Still needs more clients. However, my first two weeks have been fun and mostly stress free. I am LOVING staying home and being with the girls all day. Kati is needing some adjustment. Sharing Mommy with Baby I* (Names changed to protect anonymity) has been a learning experience. She wants to sit on Mommy and love on Mommy all while the baby is currently engaging my attention. Thankfully she will be older when we have one that DOESN"T go home at the end of the day. Its funny though, Ike came over to play on Friday (last) and she didn't care that Baby I was around. I DESPERATELY need another toddler for her to play with. I think we will both be a lot happier when she has something to focus on besides Mommy paying attention to someone else. It breaks my heart to have to tell her that I can't hold her or feed her right now. At the end of the day when she melts into my arms it is so wonderful. I love being a mom. She called me Mama for the first time on 8-7-09. So precious! Anyhow, Kati's Klubhouse is causing me to look at things a little differently. I am at home ALL DAY, but I am not at home, I am at WORK. It is sort of hard for me to sit and just focus on child care when I know there are projects calling my name from all over the house. I know I will get used to it, but it is hard to sit and feel somewhat unproductive, even when I know that the girls will get so much out of the one on one time I am spending with them. I love what I do, and I am glad I am not a CHF anymore, but this is a HUGE lifestyle change. I am looking forward to the basement being finished so I can have a place to escape to at the end of the day.

Basement: We have finished wiring the basement, with the small exception of bathroom lights, and lighting in the family area. However, with all of the major stuff finished we spent the day hanging sheetrock and cleaning out the bedroom and closet. We can start mudding and taping this week! Yay! It actually looks like a room. We bought vinyl flooring and tile for the tub surround this week. It is going to be a very pretty bathroom when we are finished. Now I need to go back to home depot and pick a paint that will match the tile. The paint I picked before I think won't match. We need to go with Keith's parents to the Floor Trader again and see if we can find some carpet. I want to get something nice, but I also want it to stay nice and last a while. Sometimes the cushy carpets don't stay nice with babies and dogs making use of it. The paint for the bedroom is all picked, and I want to get the mudding and taping over with so that we can actually paint. I think that will be the clincher for me. When we move downstairs there might be a few things that have yet to be finished (the window seat and built in bookshelf) but most everything else will be done....in the bedroom suite anyway. I can't wait!


Kati: Kati has decided that she can go up and down stairs by herself. She likes to climb, but now she is scooting down on her little behind. Scary for Mama, exhilarating for Kati. I was vaccuming the other day and Kati was on the floor. I was vaccumming one way and she was looking at me. I started to vaccum towards her and she RAN to the couch. Then I vaccumed toward the couch and she RAN to her chair and go up in it. The noise doesn't bother her, but she doesn't want anyone to suck her up with the "vaccum monster." I had never seen her run before. Oh boy, another mode of baby transport! She is getting so big. Baby fever is back with a vengence. Keith is NOT ready for me to be pregnant again. That's ok with me. I am not ready for another baby just yet. I miss the time when Kati was small, but I love where she is at. I have always loved the 8-20 month age and I am in baby heaven. I want to be pregnant again though. Gosh I loved it. Maybe sometime this fall. We shall see. I think a little more than 2 years is a good spread, but if they end up a little farther apart that is fine too. I love being a Ma-ma to someone.

Judah & Dinah: The most miraculous thing has happened! Having Baby I dropped off and picked up every day has made them almost STOP caring that the front door opens. Sure they investigate, but it is no longer the push people over and jump on them deal that it was before. They take their sniff, then go wherever it is I tell them. I am SO thankful that it hasn't made them even more freaked out. They are actually becoming well behaved canines. I did have one family come interview me that didn't like them, but I think they were not dog people in general. Not that there is anything wrong with "not dog" people, but I think that dogs are good for kids. Granted, they have their moments when i would like to throttle them, but so do kids, and occasionally husbands. It just happens more frequently with them.

Keith: Keith is officially hired by Durham School Services. Hopefully by the middle of September he will have his own route. Until then I think they said that he can do ride alongs with an experienced driver. Probably not a bad idea. I am so thankful that God has provided a good job for him that will be steady through the end of the school year. Maybe by then his web design business will have built up enough clientele for him to stop. If not he can always do another year. I think this will be good to us. If I can get two more full time clients we will be financially steady, and actually doing significantly better than we have been since I finished nannying. Honestly, it has been a rough year since I quit nannying. I feel like we are finally starting to look up. I think that there is a light at the end of this tunnel and it is almost within reach. I really want to be able to pay off my credit card. I feel the weight of our mounting debt weighing on my soul. Thank you God for giving us the means to lift ourselves up.

I am always thinking of things to blog about as I go through my day. Unfortunately when I sit down to actually do it the thoughts flit right out of my head never to be thought of again.

Well lets see. . .

Old: I am officially done with CHF. It is actually really nice to NOT be in charge of that HUGE amount of stuff. I feel weightless.

New: Kati is walking. A lot. Drunken sailor walking, but walking. Very cute, very mischievous. Found her squatting over the dogs water dish, ducky sitting primly in the water. She looks up at me a grins a HUGE grin, with water dripping down her face from her hair.

Old: Dinah had what we thought was a recurring ringworm infection. Medicine didn't work. Apparently it is bacterial. Antifungals don't work on bacteria.

New: Caught mouse that was eating the door. Very gross. Was living in the warmer drawer of the oven.

Old: Not currently attending church. I think it might take me a while to want to go back to church. I have given myself about 6 weeks to find the "want".

New: Keith has a job! Welcome one of Durham School Services newest bus drivers for the 2009-2010 school year! Yay! I feel like a huge amount of stress has been lifted off of both of us. Knowing that money will be coming in regularly and at a decent pay grade is AMAZING!!!!!

Old: Grammie was very very sick.

New: Grammie passed away on July 10th. We will miss her. I am going to try to write a book about her and Grampy using the stories that the family has told me. Everyone seems to think it is a great idea. No one has returned my emails about actually writing out the stories. I might have to push a bit harder.

Old: Fish tanks are up and running. Kind of killed all of the Koi. Might get more outside fish. Might not.

New: Have 4 fantail goldfish in the living room tank - Fido, Rover, Spot, & Blaze. Have two Black Moor goldfish in the bedroom tank - Pot and Kettle. (Hey, I can't name my kids weird stuff.)

Old: Sold Jeep.

New: Might have actually fallen prey to a very elaborate con. Jeep has been gone for a month and we don't have a dollar to show for it. Actually, the guys first check bounced, so the bank TOOK $5. Lost the car and money. Not a good deal in my opinion.

Old: Kati has been doing Kindermusik and going to the library for story time.

New: Kati actually LIKES Kindermusik and storytime. She also had a blast hanging with the Illinois cousins when they were here this week. We went to the lake to swim and sail (always fun) and we went to the Exploration Place. Kati thought that buttons and wheels and gears and boxes and all of the other fun stuff (particularly water) that she could play with was AWESOME! She sat at the water table in the Kansas room for close to 30 minutes without even hinting that she wanted to get down. She thought that the Tot Spot was cool too. All of those things to sit on. I swear, if she can just sit on something she is happy. Kitty Kat Kati!

Old: Keith made a website for Kara.

New: Kara never gave him contact info to put on the website, just content. Her site was up for weeks with no way to get in touch with her. Poor girl.

I think that is all of the major stuff that I have been dealing with. It has been a fun and eventful month. I am ready to start watching other kiddos now. Isabelle starts this week. I am hoping to have some more clients by the middle of August, but we shall see. God will send the right people at the right time.

Blessings!