A mid-January Update

Hola, mi amigos.

These past couple of week have been jammed with busy stuff, so I haven't posted in a while.

First of all, Tony's semester at UNO started last week. He is officially a junior, and he started out taking four classes: business management, business statistics, accounting II, and junior-level conversational Spanish. After attending his conversational Spanish class twice, Tony's teacher said she thought the class would be too easy for him and recommended he move up to the senior level class, so he was happy about that. It will save him time and money. However, because the senior-level class is at 1 p.m., Tony has to work a split shift at work on Mondays and Fridays, meaning he works in the morning, goes from work to class, and then goes right back to work and closes the store in the evening. It will only last for a few months, though, so we will survive.

With full-time school combined with full-time work, Tony isn't home as much. He has to work a lot of closing shifts to accommodate his class schedule, so he misses his usual duties of giving Ruthie a bath and reading her bedtime story. Ruth also had a difficult time adjusting to Tony's increased absence and threw a lot of tantrums early on this year. She's starting to get used to the difference now, though, and seems to be handling it much better.

Also, since Tony has to do so much running around with school and work, I've mostly just been at home while Tony has the car during the day. Ruth is getting to the age where she gets bored at home, and I get stir crazy, too, so we are thinking about buying another car within the next month or so. It won't be anything fancy, I'm sure, but it will be nice to have another set of wheels.

Speaking of wheels, we had a lot of car trouble about a week ago. The temperatures here dipped well below freezing and our starter on our car died. It was an expensive fix, but our car is working now, and hopefully we won't have any more car trouble for a while.

I got a membership to the YMCA this month (no joiner's fee in Omaha for the month of January!) so I have been going there a few times a week. I want to get healthier this year and dip below 150. Last week I weighed in at 155 and I weighed the same this week. Hopefully, after a couple more weeks and some improved eating habits, my weight will start to drop. They have drop-in childcare, and Ruth enjoys going there and playing with the other kids while I work out.

We are moving in a month!!! I can't believe it. So far, everything is going well with our loan. Our landlords are sorry to see us go and offered to pay us $100 if we could find anyone who would move in and take good care of their house. So if you know anybody who wants to move into a 2-bedroom house and won't trash it, let me know!!! We have lots to do to get ready for our move, and I'm determined to start packing early this time. I waited until the last minute to pack when we moved from Grand Island to Omaha, and it was a nightmare. I've already made a list of all the stuff that needs to get done, and if I can divvy it out and do a little every day, I'm confident it will all go smoothly.

In other news, Tony and I are taking turns planning date night now, and last night I surprised him and took him to a restaurant called Peru, Mucho Gusto. It's on 77th and L streets, and it's believed to be the only authentic Peruvian restaurant in Omaha. Tony loved being able to eat the same food he had on his mission. It was super delicious, and we will definitely be going back.

Also, I know this is a little random, but Ruth started feeding Jack some Cheerios last week and it was really cute. Here are some pictures:



And here is another pic, this one of Ruth wearing her daddy's boots:



Ruth's latest words/phrases/noises are "please," "sit," "here it is," "yeah," "quack, quack," and "hoot, hoot" (like an owl), and "oooh, oooh" (like a monkey). She also really likes to sing and do the actions to "Twinkle, Twinkle" and "The Itsy, Bitsy Spider." Her speech gets better every day.

Hope you all had a fun weekend! I'll try to update more frequently. :)

-Meredith

First day of school and other adventures...

Tony went back to school full-time on Monday. He is taking 12 credit hours this semester, but his schedule worked out so that he only has a night class Wednesday night and then he's in class all morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Right now he's in the dual degree program for Spanish and business, so when he's all done he'll have two bachelor's degrees! Here's his first day of school pic:
Notice the lovely new bike that gets him to and from campus with much ease (unless it's raining... then I drive him).

Tony being in school full-time again takes some getting used to for all parties involved. There will be some days when he won't see Ruth for more than a few minutes, and I know that will be difficult. But in the end, the diplomas will be well worth all the sacrifices.

In other news, I am watching a little boy named Jack one or two days per week for a good friend of mine who works nights and needs sleep during the day. Jack is 18 months old. He and Ruthie like to watch a short video together in the morning.
He's a good little boy, and Ruthie gets along with him very well.

Ruthie is so close to walking it's not even funny. She can stand up now without holding on to anything, and every once in a while she takes a few steps without support as she cruises from one piece of furniture to another. It seems like all the other kids we know who are her age are already walking. I have a feeling that when she starts running around the house, I will be glad it took her a while to figure it out!

She's also starting to like putting on grown-up shoes, hats and other objects. Yesterday, she discovered she could crawl around while wearing an oven mitt:



It was super cute. Her hair is getting really long, too. Not quite long enough for a pony tail, but almost too long for just a barrette (not that they do any good, she just takes them out of her hair).

Tony and I are running in the Bill Seymour half-marathon in Grand Island on Saturday. We will try to remember to take pictures. Wish us luck!

-Meredith