New and Improved!

Do you like the new blog design?  I sure do.  All I did was change a few settings, but it is a refreshing change, if you ask me.

Well, hard financial times have befallen the Willis household.  The whole "nobody who lives here has a job" thing is really starting to put a dent in our bank account.  Who knew?  Okay, we saw it coming, but it's still a bit stressful.

But you know what?  Some really amazing things have happened lately.  Like friends and family sending money.  Lots of money.  Shocking amounts of money, when you consider how much we had to start with (which was about zero, by the way).  All I have to say is, God is good.  He is making a way where there wasn't one.

So we paid our mortgage this month.  Solomon gets to start preschool at Judson Baptist Church next week (yay!!).  Our electricity will continue to flow.  We get to eat.

We are taken care of.

And we are happy!

Peter and I just celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary last month.  He has been working lots of hours at several different clinics and the hospital (he sure works a lot for a guy with no job).  Micah is 14 months old and "terribly healthy," according to his doctor.  And did I mention that Solomon is starting preschool next week?!

Even though we're broke, we're some of the richest people I know.

Such a Great Day

Yesterday was a glorious day.

It started out so-so.  Peter was going to be gone all day at a conference for nursing students up in Portland, so I started the day solo.  Just me vs. the kids.  You know how it goes.  But it was fine, and thanks to PBS cartoons, we made it through the early morning hours peacefully.

Then my wonderful, beautiful, cheerful, helpful roommate Rebecca woke up and hung out with us.  What a blessing she is to my life.  Just having her in the house keeps me a sane woman.  Yesterday was my dad's birthday, and I was able to have a nice phone conversation with him thanks to Rebecca.  She played with my boys while I chatted with my dad.  And then I took a shower.  It was grand.

When Micah went down for his morning nap, Solomon and I played the birthday game.  He pretends it's my birthday, and he sings to me, bakes me a cake, blows out the candles for me, and gets me presents.  It's awesome.

The weather was amazing yesterday, so we spent a lot of time outdoors.  I was able to weed and edge a flowerbed in the front yard.

Oh yeah.  Lookin' good.

Peter called me in the early afternoon to say that his conference was already done and that he was headed home.  I wasn't expecting him until about 6 pm, so I was really excited that he'd be home in an hour.  Then 30 seconds later, he walked through the door.  He had called me from our driveway.  So tricky.

We all went outside and did some more weeding and puttering around, and then we went for a walk to the grocery store.  We got some vittles for dinner, strolled home, and chowed down.  Cause we're healthy like that.  Oh, and we also got a frozen pie to bake at home.  Cause we're unhealthy like that.  But it was gooood.  Definitely worth the walk to the grocery store.


All in all, it was a great day.  Sunshine on my face, dirt under my fingernails, pie in my belly.

The Occasional Blogger

Apparently when you are a blogger (as I evidently am, what with the blog and all), people expect you to post something every day.  Every day!  Do you understand what a challenge that is for me, folks?  I have small children!  Laundry to do!  Lots of other excuses that I won't go into here!

Okay, so I stink at the "daily post" type of blog, but here's the good news: I'm going to invent a new type of blog that gets updated whenever the heck I feel like it.  Ta-da!  I'm an occasional blogger!

So what has been going on in my life lately?  In a word, illness.  Peter, Solomon, and Micah are all on antibiotics right now.  For different ailments, all of which involve mucous.  Yuck.  So far, I'm the holdout.  No infections for me!  (Yet.)

Needless to say, it has been a snot-fest around here for the past few weeks.  Even the cat has a cold.

But despite being sick, we've kept our chins up.  And thanks to the miracle of amoxycillin, we're all starting to feel much better.

The weather has been cooperating lately, and even on rainy days we can find something to do outside.

And we've got this little guy around us to make us all smile!

Solomon James

Since my last post featured mainly Micah, I feel like it's time to put Solomon in the spotlight.  Which happens to be his favorite place anyway.

This is Solomon James Willis.  

Age: almost 3 (just 10 more days until his birthday).

Weight: barely 30 lb.

Favorite things: cars, playing chase, cars, candy, watching movies, and cars. 
 
Words that best describe him: exuberant, strong-willed, silly, verbose, quick to laugh.




I feel like I've moved into a second phase of discovering him.  The first phase started when he was born.  Then we figured out how to balance our life as I worked 40+ hours a week and he spent his days in the loving care of another person.


This second phase started when I quit my job after Micah was born.  Solomon has had to learn not only how to be a big brother, but how to live with me all day, every day.  He now has the luxury of getting tired of me, which he never really did before.


I have discovered that Sol and I weren't as closely attached as I thought we were.  It makes sense, of course, that he wouldn't be strongly attached to a mom who wasn't there most of the time and who really had no idea how to relate to a small child.  

I mean, I did the best I could, but all I can say is that I'm so glad I quit my job when I did.  He needs me.  In a tangible, physical way, he needs me to be there with him.  And now I am.  What a beautiful arrangement.



Over the past 7 months, we have both had to learn how to relate to each other.  And we're still learning.  But I can say now that life is great.  He knows what to expect from me, and I also know what to expect from myself as a mom.  For now, at least.

It's been waaay too long...

My last blog update was over a year ago. That's right, a whole year. All I can say is, life happens.

In my defense, it was a very busy year. I had a baby, quit my job, and now I'm starting my own business with a friend of mine (more on that later). So as far as excuses go, I feel like I'm justified.

Anyway, enough with berating myself. On with the blog!

This is our Micah. Micah Jacob Willis, born June 14, 2009. He was 8 lb. 6 oz. of pure love. What a joy to have a little baby in our arms again. I had forgotten some of the little details about newborns: the grunty sounds they make, the way they smell, the way they go from pissed off to dead asleep in 3.2 seconds.

He is so different than his brother in so many ways, but also very similar in other ways. He has dark hair, unlike Solomon's white-blonde. He has a good amount of baby chunkiness going on, whereas Sol was always a skinny kid. Micah also loves to eat as much as he can, and he sleeps very soundly (again, unlike his big brother).

But his emerging personality is strikingly similar to Solomon's. He has the same sense of humor, the same silly laugh (they do that funny inhale laugh - if you've ever heard them, you know what I mean), and he shares the same inner drive to be mobile and to command his environment. He sat up at four months, crawled at 5 and a half months, and started pulling himself up to a stand about a week after that.

Here he is at six months. What a cutie! Note the drool.

I have spent the last seven or so months adapting to my new role as full-time mommy. It's a different world, that's for sure. Now instead of working 40 hours a week, I work 24-7. Everything around me is messy: toys on the floor, poopy diapers, potty training, dirty dishes, laundry. Instead of discussing strategies for budgeting with my coworkers, I regularly utter phrases such as "Show mamma where the owies are" and "We don't wipe our nose on the wall." And let me just say that I have never, ever been happier or more content in all my life.