Tummy Time, A New 'Do, and A Winning Smile

Well, we are officially back into the swing of things around here, which means that Brian and I do not have a moment to breathe. One of my sisters told me last week that I needed to do a better job of keeping the blog updated, and I told her that the only thing I had to blog about lately was how hard I was working. That's not entirely true, though. There is a lot going on in the Sanders house. To begin with, Brian has just completed a total overhaul of the back storage area at work. He got pretty banged up during the process, but he is happy to have it done. My good news is that I have finally found a dissertation chair. This means that I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel (although the actual completion of my degree is still at least a year and a half away).


Owen is almost five months old now, and he is still not rolling over very well. Olivia was starting to pull up at five and a half months, so I have been a little concerned. Everyone keeps reassuring me that boys are generally slower to move than girls. He has rolled from front-to-back three or four times, and has rolled back-to-front once. I believe that he could do it if he wanted to. I just don't think that he is motivated at all. We are trying to give him as much tummy time as possible so that he will have the opportunity to practice.

Remy's news is that he has been professionally groomed and is looking good (for the first time in years). We usually groom him ourselves- which is probably why he has always looked so terrible. Lately, though, he has been acting ugly when we've tried to trim him up. So, we decided to let a professional try. The first place we took him wouldn't groom him because he was acting ugly there, too. However, we finally found someone who could handle him, and we are very happy with the results. I think that the haircut has improved his self-esteem, too. He seems a lot happier. It's like he knows that he looks good.

Olivia continues to be as sweet as she can be. We are having a family portrait made next week, so Olivia and I have been practicing our picture-taking skills. Olivia is notorious for squirming during pictures, so I feel that the extra practice is needed. She has gotten much better about staying still and looking at the camera. The only thing that we need

to work on now is her smile. When she smiles, she squints her eyes closed and shows all of her teeth. That smile is so ugly, that it's cute. Maybe for this family picture we'll use the "just look, don't smile" approach.

Update 8/17: Okay, so can you guess what happened after I posted yesterday that I was worried about Owen not rolling? That's right, he started rolling all over the place and has been doing so for the past 24 hours. Go figure! Maybe I should post that I'm afraid that I'll never win the lottery. Hmm...