Last of the Summer Wine

Hi! It's Ase. This is my new favorite picture of Finn, taken and then "cut out" in Photoshop by our buddy Todd. Finn was probably on my lap or sitting in the recliner in the original. I don't have many new pictures because the camera has been out of batteries for a little while now. So you won't get to see Finn rolling over (front to back), laughing, standing while holding my fingers, or any of the other amazing things he's been doing lately. I did buy some new batteries yesterday, so hopefully you can see some of these new pastimes very soon. Also, if you are wondering why Finn never seems to have a diaper on in his pictures, it is because we practice elimination communication, or EC. How it works is that he stays diaperless most of the time, so I can tune into his signals (yes, he signals when he needs to go) and his timing. Then, I pretty much know when he is getting ready to go and I take him and hold him over a potty. I make a "psssss" sound, which he long since associates with this whole procedure and he lets it go in the potty. Babies are able to do this starting from birth. I usually keep a diaper under him just in case, because we do have misses when I am doing something else and not paying attention. It's a bit more work for now, but we'll never have to potty train!

I am very excited for Grayson to be joining the family soon and looking forward to next spring when we can finally get all of the cousins together!

Since I don't have pictures, I'll give some news. The big things going on here besides Finn are:

Remember little Mojo? Well, he's a big boy now. He's actually going to be on the smaller side for his breed, it seems, but compared to as a young puppy, he is all grown up! He and Mark have been enjoying hour long walks every morning and evening. I play fetch with him in the middle of the day. And he still has energy to spare! But he isn't destructive in the slightest. He is very well behaved and a pleasure to be around. Hounddog and my schedule is a bit more laid back. He gets one walk a day during the cool evening usually and one good brushing a day which he loves and which produces more hair than you would want to know about. We are all ready for the heat to end and some cool weather to roll in. Which won't happen for another month or so, I guess, but it still feels like summer is ending.

Mark is in a great place with his work. He is applying for jobs now. It is very exciting to see which jobs are coming up and where we may move. He will interview in November and we will find out by February if and where he has been hired. We will move next summer. Keep your fingers crossed for us. We're really hoping for a nice smaller town in a beautiful part of the country. We'll see what happens.

Mark is way stoked to be at this point finally. All of his profs are very impressed with him and with his work, it would seem. He is TAing a Hinduism class this semester and then he will teach his own class next semester. He's very happy about all of that, because he wanted to be able to work in his field this final year of school and he is. He has been dressing up for class and going shopping for fancy clothes on the weekend and he looks very handsome and, for Mark, very dressed up when he goes into campus. He worked hard in a lot of areas of his life to be able to get to this point, and he definitely deserves to get to enjoy it now! I am super proud of him and happy for him.

As for me, I am taking art and yoga classes now that I am no longer working at the spa. It is a great time in my life, because this is the first time I have not had to worry about working a lot , and can simply focus on myself and take a few classes. I feel like I'm in college and my life is just beginning, even though I am really only taking classes from the local wonderful art program run by the Austin Museum of Art. They have several neat studios set up in a beautiful natural setting in one of Austin's nicest parks. The teachers are really great, too. The first class I took was called Art Start; it's art for adult beginners, learning basic concepts of composition. We did some drawing, collage, and watercolor. To my surprise, I fell in love with both collage and watercolor! I've really enjoyed practicing at home and making some cool things. Starting in Sept, the same teacher is teaching a 7 week course in collage, which I am going to take next. After that, starting in Nov., I plan to take one of the pottery courses. I am also looking into a yoga class for me and Finn starting in a couple of weeks. Moms and infants yoga, which is basically just yoga for post-pregnancy moms while infant care is provided by good care-givers in the next room, and they do some movement exercizes with the kiddos. Finn's never been left with anyone but Mark or me, so I want to meet the people, but from what I've heard it is a good situation, so I'm hoping to get going in that. It meets once a week for 9 weeks I think.

I'm probably forgetting something major, but that seems like the news for now. As for an update from between now and the time we took the camping trip, things got a little crazy getting back and getting settled in. Our old routines didn't really work as Finn had changed a lot and there was laundry and groceries to catch up on and no time to rest, either on vacation or after. It got a little stressful at times last week, but we are finally caught up on sleep, I think and the house and our schedules are comfortable again, thankfully. I think Mark and I need to shake things up from time to time, which going out of town did, so that everything can resettle in a new place again. Anyhoo, we're resettled and all is new and fine for the family Kaboom. Love to all of you!