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Now We Are (One + Five)

June 23, 2009--Time for another webpage update! It's been a few months, I know, but we've been very busy. Joel has been putting in extra hours at work lately, doing some big projects. It's nice to have the money, but some more time with family would be nice as well! Melissa has moved offices again, for the 3rd time in less than two years. As she prepares to teach her summer course, she hopes this office will be hers for at least 3 more years!

In late March we celebrated the joint birthdays at the "Train Park" in Los Gatos with lots of friends. Soon after, we hosted our 2nd annual family-friendly seder with 5 approx. 1-year-olds, a 4-year-old, and a 5-year-old. We've had wonderful visitors over the last few months: Melissa Aczon flew up for a corporate meeting, Uncle Daniel was able to come over from Monterey twice, and Melissa's godmother Evalina visited for Memorial Day. Melissa flew to a conference in San Diego, leaving Joel as a solo parent for a few days -- lots of work! Then we all took a trip to Texas in late May, to see Nicole Martin's graduation and visit other friends and meet Lisa's daughter Ella in Austin. Benjamin did very well on the plane, as he's now mature enough to read and be more patient with the long flights, but Eliza was somewhat more squirmy. But she is a much better airplane sleeper than Benjamin was at her age so we were grateful for that! We've done our usual library trips as well as journeys to the beach, the zoo, the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum, and playgrounds of all sorts. When we had a brief heat wave, Eliza and Benjamin really enjoyed splashing in their grandparents' backyard pools!

Benjamin is reading up a storm -- sometimes we have difficulty finding books which are age-appropriate for him. He likes reading our whiteboard up in the kitchen to find out what's going on every day, and write things down there to plan. Benjamin had a good dance performance at the end of his preschool year (he was on-stage for about five minutes out of a two-hour show). He's learned how to do some tap-dance maneuvers and will occasionally demonstrate them. He's working on learning how to tie his shoelaces, as it's one of the things he wants to learn for kindergarten. Benjamin will be attending Haman Elementary in the fall, our local public school. We've visited on a few occasions, both with and without him, to get a feel for the place, and we think he will like it. They place a strong emphasis on reading and writing skills, and that should fit well with Benjamin's interests. His next big challenge is swimming lessons. We're trying private lessons for a few weeks to see if we can help him overcome his fear of putting his whole head in the water. He is definitely making progress as he nearly beat his instructor getting into the pool yesterday he was so excited!

Eliza is now 15 months old, and about to move up a room at her daycare. She is walking around everywhere and climbing on boxes and stools, she loves to go to the playground and go down slides. Her crawling days are long past. Eliza has been weaned from the bottle and is almost entirely on solid foods now. We're starting to teach her to use a spoon herself, to pick up food, but it's a long process. Her favorite food at the moment is ears of corn dipped in guacamole! She doesn't speak too many words yet, but is very expressive with gestures, and understands much of what we tell her. We're reading to her every night before bedtime, and she loves turning the pages of books to see what's next. She's got six teeth with more coming through. She sleeps pretty well, all told -- straight through most nights, 30 minutes of whiny protests every once in a while. Seems like as much as she likes corn on the cob, she has trouble digesting it... We're grateful for how happy and healthy she's been, with only two ear infections in her entire life (so far!); much better ear canals apparently than her brother.

While we knew that caring for two children would be challenging, some days we are just SOO exhausted! We're overwhelmed sometimes, but on the whole happy and tremendously thankful for our friends, families, and fulfilling work. Sometimes we even play a board game or two at our house in the evening, as our children contentedly sleep...

Melissa Aczon visits	From smallest to largest	Uncle Dan and Benjamin reading	Eliza with her uncle and her dad
Benjamin posing for the Army	Bicycle ride to a birthday party	Eating oranges on our front lawn	Happy birthdays, first and fifth
Getting ready to blow out the candles	Happy in her high chair	Cuddling with GranJack	Cupcakes and muffins spell B E !
Riding in the train with friends	Gathering of strollers and children	Benjamin loves Eliza	Passover celebration
Daniel, Eliza, Joel, Melissa	All the Passover babies	Daniel and his niece	Benjamin ringing the doorbell
Benjamin smirking	Happy with Auntie Suzie	Eliza likes writing on the magnadoodle	Matching tie-dye from mommy's trip to San Diego
Benjamin and Ellie	Alex and Benjamin at the beach	Happy babies and daddies	Benjamin's dance costume
Helping with the laundry	Fun to sit in the freezer during cleaning	Pulling the wagon to ice cream	Sam, Eliza, and Julian in a row
Patiently awaiting their ice cream	Proud to have risen a step	Evening Agricola at our house	Happy Mother's Day, Lucia and Melissa
Eliza with her grandparents, for Mother's Day brunch	Benjamin builds a lego zoo	First time in the safari "trick" pool	Look, I can pull the roof down
Playing some piano music	Dancing to the beat	Relaxed for a stroller ride	Cleaning up the Sunday newspaper
Daniel, Melissa, and Eliza	Corn is my favorite food	At the Gold Pride women's pro soccer game with GranJack	Dinner at the Gilberts with Evalina
Making the Longhorns sign	Eliza ready for breakfast at day-care	In Salado, feeding apples to the Davises' neighbor's horse	Eliza doesn't think much of the horse
Eliza loves fountains and water	Go Longhorns!	Picking pebbles from the stream	At Fonda San Miguel restaurant
Melissa, Susan, and Sally	Playing piano at the Martins'	Riding the train (and sleeping) at Zilker park	Melissa at UT-Austin
Clara, Ella, and Benjamin	Clara and Eliza can climb up the table	Melissa and Lisa	Benjamin and Ella on a sugar high
Outside the ice-cream shop with Don	Melissa and Nicole	Benjamin graduates from preschool	Benjamin's certificate
Benjamin's classmates	Eliza likes her sunglasses	Eliza in Benjamin's old clothes	Benjamin after his dance performance, with Pauline
Helping to put away the laundry	Riding to the pizza shop in the wagon	Impatiently waiting for ice cream	Celebrating Auntie Suzie's birthday
Corn dipped in guacamole is even better	Benjamin with his "answer cards"