so much going on

Wow, life is so busy. I know everyone can relate, but it seems to just get busier all the time. Here's my attempt at a recap since the last post.

As I write this Grandpa Gene is recovering from surgery. They were able to do the less-invasive surgery and believe the cancer was confined to the tumor they removed. Continued prayers for a speedy recovery! When we saw Grandpa this weekend, he seemed worried about the surgery and very focused on the week ahead. As we've said before, he has nine lives and he hasn't burned through them yet! :) We spent the weekend in Columbus, mostly relaxing at mom and dad's. How nice it is to get away from our busy lives and get spoiled by grandma and grandpa once in a while. It took becoming a parent myself to understand and appreciate my own parents, and that has been one of the most wonderful things about parenthood. Sometimes the most beautiful blessings are all around us, and discovering them as the blessings they are is the true gift.

Speaking of gifts, I got together with some good friends from high school on Friday night. You know your friendships are strong when you can get together after months and months have gone by like it was just minutes. We could have stayed all weekend and not run out of things to talk about. I miss them all terribly, but it makes the times we get together that much more special.

I'm staying busy keeping up with a VERY busy 11-month-old. Her favorite things right now are climbing the stairs, walking while holding my hands, stacking her cups (and whatever else she can find), licking all the salt off any food I give her *sigh*, and chewing... man, I hope those top teeth break through soon! Jon and I call her busy Lizzy. She's always on the move!! In the first photo below, she is making her new funny face. She wrinkles up her little nose, and breathes really hard out of it, making a funny noise. She thinks it's hilarious (and so do we).

This weekend we were again reminded of Lizzy's VUR. She was running a fever on Sunday evening and any time she runs a fever, we (I) panic a little bit because she is on antibiotics and a fever could mean they've stopped working and her kidneys are being affected. She broke her fever over night and we took her to the doctor on Monday. The doctor had to pull wax out of her ears and you would have thought he was taking an organ. She was hysterical, which made for an anxious mommy. Needless to say, we were happy to get out of the doctor's office! It seems she was fighting some kind of virus and we're all praying it has passed already. Speaking of her health, the balloon behind her head in the photo above was given to her when she was in the hospital. She was just six weeks old and it is still up! Crazy, huh?

I started the third class in my photography series, and this one is photographing people, so I'm very excited about it. Here are some shots from the first week's assignment...