A Lot

So...last month...well, it sucked. A LOT of stuff happened. And it was all bad. Thank goodness for our health. And thank heavens for State Farm--without them, we'd be, well, even further up sh*t creek without a paddle than we are now. A huge thanks to the car dealership that didn't ask us if we wanted GAP insurance when we got our loan--but gave it to us anyway. And a big, big, big thanks to my parents for helping us out in a big way...AGAIN.

But, its now September. So we're moving on. And hoping for the best. After all we DO have new carpet (albeit at the hands of a mini-flood). I do have new (working) brakes on my car. And although we are down a car (with no hope in sight to replace it--it was, unfortunately, totaled), I did get a new fully-covered-by-insurance carseat to replace the one that we didn't like that much anyway (major kudos to it for doing its job right when we needed it); and I love getting new carseats.

Also, there are positive things in our future. Our 3rd anniversary. Jack, who isn't even 17 months yet (lol), will soon be 18 months...and that seems like a big deal. Jack is also on the precipice of being really verbal (I'll get back to that in a minute). Its almost fall (sadly, after fall, comes winter, but...)--and I LOVE fall. A lot. The trees. The smell in the air. The Covered Bridge Festival. Love it. A new season also means a new wardrobe for Jack--which is a wonderful, legitimate reason to buy him new clothes.

So I'm aiming for the positive; the hope of things to come...and trying to de-focus on what is and has been a seemingly difficult situation.

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Back to being verbal....our little Jackeroo is seriously kicking up the word skills a notch or two. New words are coming in on nearly a daily basis. And its incredibly fun to watch. The speed with which his brain is learning completely blows me away. A sponge, that's for certain. Here are a few of the words he knows well...and others that he'll repeat if you say it:

• Shoes
• Chair
• Tree
• Dog
• Duck
• What's that?
• That
• Here
• Book
• Please
• Thank You
• Done
• Down
• Sit
• Mama
• Dad
• Ball
• Poppi
• Car
• Truck
• Cow
• Here
• Okay
• Hello
• Hi
• Bye

He also has entire (pretend) phone conversations...which we have yet to understand anything other than hi and bye. But watching him learn, play, and come to understand things is by far one of the most incredible joys of raising a child. They are quite amazing at this age (and quite a handful, but, you know, we're focusing on the positives today). I am very excited to see how he progresses over the next couple months!!