Well... I really didn't intend to leave the blog sitting on a low note for so long. The semester is now over, and my usual natural optimism has been starting to reassert itself. Arazyr and I have been catching up on Dr. Who, and I just finished a pair of socks. (I may post pics and link to pattern, later). I've actually been having brief snippets of time in which I actually get sort of bored. I'm hoping this is a sign that I'll have time to write again, soon. Well, a certain little girl has just informed me that it is time to go to bed. And since, well...

So...after yet another long hiatus, I decided today, on my way home from class, that I have a burning desire to blog, again. At least, to blog today. Perhaps because I have enough to say that I don't care to cram it into tweets.

KB:"What are you doing, Mommy?"
Mommy:"I'm doing my homework?"
KB: "What kind of homework?"
Mommy: "Organic Chemistry homework. I'm learning about protein."
KB(climbing up on couch next to Mommy): "Oh, protein."
Mommy: "Did you know that there is protein in lots of the food we eat, and then our bodies use the protein for lots of things? Like building things in your body? There is protein in your skin, and in your muscles, and your hair, and your fingernails..."

This morning, I put fresh batteries in KatyBeth's baby doll (it's the kind that says, "mama", and general baby babbles). This delighted my soon-to-be-three year old, who has been walking around cuddling the doll ever since, proclaiming (as one would expect) that she is the baby doll's mama. Lily is also fascinated with the doll, smiling whenever it babbles, and often reaching for her. In an unsurprising addition to the game of pretend, the baby doll's mama declared Lily to be "the baby doll's big sister".

... I should be in bed. Instead, I'm up - knitting, listening to podcasts, blogging, and enjoying the quiet. Last night, Kate fell asleep rather early, and actually slept through. She got up relatively (but not ridiculously early), scoring probably about 12 hours of sleep. She was great, all morning. Come afternoon, however, fatigue started setting in, and, as usual, she wouldn't take a nap. I got her to snuggle up with me on the couch, while Lily slept for maybe three minutes, before she was up and moving again. She started getting squirrely.

Well, folks, here I am, again, up late. We had a nice little succession of little girls keeping others awake. First, Kate did a bang-up job of keeping Daddy up too late, while Lily kept me up, then Lily fell asleep, and I tried to put her in bed, and take over getting Kate to sleep, sending Arazyr off to bed. Kate woke up Lily, who then hindered Kate's falling asleep process, and prevented mine. Finally, Kate fell asleep, and I took Lily into Mommy and Daddy's room, hoping to be able to nurse her to sleep, and drift off, myself.

Just because I've got the strange desire to make a list of what I've done, today (possibly because I'm not sure I want to think too much about how much around here still needs to be done, here are my accomplishments for the day, so far:
• change diapers of a serial-pooping baby
• amuse said baby, who apparently decided that 4am was playtime, by letting her try to eat my hair
• eat breakfast (a bigger accomplishment than you might think, around here)
• straighten out a problem with an online catalog order I made recently
• unload the dishwasher

...and, it is another late night blogging session, this time from my new iPod Touch. I actually got it a while ago, but it was after my last post. Typing is a bit weird on this thing, but I can reasonably thumb type, with a baby on my lap. I really can't do regular typing without running a substantial risk of disturbing my secondborn, as she nurses to sleep. My little darling is often quite the little bottomless pit, and today was definitely one of those days. While I certainly don't begrudge her the milk, it is a little impossible to do much else, while she's dining.

Once again, I'm up late, with a sleepy baby on my lap, with only my knitting and the computer for company. Fortunately, I don't require a lot of company. I actually quite like having just a bit of quiet time more or less to myself. It is something I rarely get, these days, as a parent of two small children.

Just because, here's a list of things that KB says that strike me as particularly cute. Please excuse my mom-ness...

"Snow White and the Seven Dorves"
"I'm a cwanky baby"
"Aw.... what's wong, Wiwy-bud?" (said to baby sister)
"I know, honey" (also said to baby sister)
"I'm wike a pwincess!"
"My baby is cute!" (said OF baby sister)
"I'm just like my Gwampa!" (said when she puts on a hat)