Random Thoughts

Life is more than a bit hectic right now, and here are some random thoughts rolling around in my head.

• Two of my best friends are in Korea right now adopting their son.  I've been thinking about my friends and their family a lot this week.  
• Archer and I have decided to stop looking at houses until our house is ready to put on the market.  Despite seeing (we still haven't been able to get an appointment to see the inside) what I think maybe the "perfect" house, we know there is not point in looking.  At best, we'd only be able to put in a conditional offer, so we're pulling back until our house is on the market.  We won't feel comfortable putting a bid in on a place until ours is sold.  If we don't move this year, we don't move this year.
• Archer and I have started the necessary improvements to our house.  I organized our office this weekend, and it looks really good.  We've scrubbed the walls in Bear's room, and Archer has taken down all the pictures and patched the holes.  We were both pleased to discover that Bear's room only needs to be touched up.  
• This weekend I'm going to go through all the boys' old clothes to figure out what we can keep for Bear and what we can get rid of.  This will be incredibly hard for me, as it reaffirms our decision not to have a third child.  Getting rid of Bear's and Wild Man's baby clothes definitely signals the end of babies in our life.
• As for Wild Man and school, if we don't move, we've decided to keep him in kindergarten at the school affiliated with his daycare.  Honestly, this is primarily for convenience (and yes, I feel like a horrible parent for admitting that).  But it is also to prevent him from going through two major school transitions in as many years.  To prepare him for French Immersion, we are planning to hire a tutor to work with him 2 days a week.  I've already emailed some people in the French department to get recommendations for tutors.  We're hoping to find a grad student who is looking for extra money.  
• Bear has settled into his new room at daycare very well.  He is now in a toddler room, and he will be there until he is two and a half.  Since leaving the infant room (b/c our province offers a year of paid maternity leave most babies don't go into daycare until they are 10 months or older, so they stay in an infant room until about 18 months old), his vocabulary has exploded.  He is already talking in short sentences, and he repeats everything.
• Yetta arrives next week for a week long visit.  She has called Archer every day for the last four days asking about what sort of "special" things she can do with Wild Man.  She's upset that he isn't in swimming lessons right now, not to mention the fact that she's annoyed that Canada's growing season means she won't get to take Wild Man to pick strawberries or to pick anything else, something she always does with our nephews who live in Home State.  Does anyone else notice that she seems to have forgotten that she has two grandchildren living in Canada?
• I have a meeting with Dr. English next week to ask all sorts of questions about research.  I've been looking at the faculty profiles online, and let's just say that I'm a bit intimidated.  I've asked myself more than once why he thinks I am a good fit for this school.  Archer keeps telling me to stop questioning myself.  His logic is Dr. English thinks I can do it, so just do it.  It is good advice, and I'm working on silencing the voice of self-doubt.  I have some ideas, and I want some feedback as to whether or not Dr. English thinks they are worth pursuing.
• I have to finish inputting my grades for my Women's Studies class--the last class I will be teaching for that department for the foreseeable future.  I'm equally happy and sad about that.  I'm happy not to have to be a part of a department that I never felt like I was a part of, but I will miss the students.
• That's it for now.  I could write a lot more, but I need to get to work.