Hey, what happened to fall??

Okay, so who flipped the switch two months early here??? Saturday afternoon, Jeff's sitting at the computer working, Esther is napping, and I'm puttering around trying not to wake her up. I look out the window.
Guess what I see?
SNOW!
It has been fall for less than a week, and it's snowing! Shiminy, people, what happened to fall?
Okay, yes, it is much warmer today, so the snow has all melted off, but it was weird. I'm used to not seeing snow until November at the earliest, maybe Halloween. So does this mean we're going to be up to our eyeballs in snow when Taemarin is born?
Not a pleasant thought.
Still, we can definitely use the water. Our water year was way low, about 65%. Blessing in disguise, dunno. We'll take what we get.
Jeff is well into school now, working on his second project for computer class, and getting royally sick of Greek mythology in Humanities. For some reason, in his high school, they didn't study greek myths so he's having trouble with the "who's who" part of it. The Greeks generally didn't bother to explain all that much since it was their history. They knew who was who! But he'll survive. Work is going well, his company recently did computer support for a fundraiser for Mitt Romney's campaign, so they're getting some name recognition out there. His jaw has been giving him issues, probably grinding at night like I used to, but we're working on it with a rubber guard at night.
Esther is growing up so darn fast! Getting into everything, learning more words, she finally called me Mama a few days ago. Hasn't since, but she generally has the idea of who is who when we name names. She's getting better around strangers too, not quite so freaked out. We went out to eat Saturday because...well, see below for that whole story...and she was charming all the servers, grinning and chattering at them. I look through our old pics, and she is looking more and more like a little girl instead of a baby. More like "herself" instead of either Jeff or me. She's a willful, stubborn little stink at times, but hey, all little kids go through the phases of learning their boundaries, and she is no exception.
And as for the Mommy? Well, this was not a good week. I had a jaw infection that sent me to bed on pain meds for two days while poor Jeff picked up the slack and tried to do school and work as well. Man, I love that guy! Mom was out of town so she couldn't help. My brother's daughter had a seizure at school, so she was freaked about that too, and then for the cherry on top, I fell flat on my face spread-eagle on the sidewalk on Saturday when I went out to get the mail. I felt like the world's clumsiest walrus. Fortunately, I landed on my hands and knees first before continuing down to my right side, so the baby didn't take the brunt of the impact. Other than a twisted leg, there doesn't seem to be any lasting effect.
I can't wait to have this baby!
I know, all you moms out there are saying "just you wait till she's out, then you'll wish she was back in again!" Taking care of two babies at once will be quite a challenge. But hey, at least I'll have my body back to do it!
Life otherwise is...well, life. We've just about got things organized in the nursery, though Taemarin will be sleeping in our room until Esther gets used to her "big girl" bed. She's taken to peeling the decorative stickers off the wall, I have to keep getting after her about that. Someday, maybe, she'll prefer putting stickers ON the wall as opposed to ripping them OFF.
I suppose that's our news for now. I'll attempt to post a bit more often. Especially when Taea is born. Can't wait, 40 more days.....!!!

Fall is coming!

As anyone in Utah could tell you, fall is finally attempting to make an appearance. Already, the foliage in the upper mountains is changing color. Apparently, the hotter the summer, the earlier this happens. In fact, we could have snow on the peaks by Tuesday.
From what the weatherman says, we could have a very wet, snowy winter.
Most people are probably groaning in dismay. Me, I say "YIPPEE!"
No, I'm not a skier or snowboarder, I just happen to like colder weather. Driving in it is a pain, and keeping my girls warm will probably be a bit of a challenge, but hey. BUGS ARE DYING BY THE MILLIONS! I hate bugs. Anything in our house with more than four legs gets slaughtered on sight. There are two exceptions. Ladybugs and Daddy Long-legs spiders. They eat other bugs, so I just catch them and throw them out the door.
I love the colors of fall, and I'm looking forward to our first decent sized leaf pile to throw Esther into. She loves being outside. All you have to do is say the word "outside" and she runs for the front door. I got her up from a nap yesterday and said "Outside?" She practically tried to run straight through the bars of her crib!
Weeds will also be dying, which is a boon to this part of the state. The city council has decided to crack down on people with messy yards, only they're taking it a bit far. If you have weeds more than six inches high in your yard, or anything laying around that shouldn't be, like unused construction material, they will give you a warning, then start fining you $50 a day.
Yup, we got a warning. We haven't been able to afford grass for the backyard yet, so the weeds get out of hand pretty quickly. We'll have to do something this spring, unless a last-ditch attempt at seeding this fall actually works. The soil out here is so poor, it's hard for any seeds to take root unless you amend the soil half to death.
Well, that's my take on fall in a nutshell. Watch, three months from now I'll be posting my latest whine about how cold it is. Oh well, at least I won't be pregnant anymore!

Introducing our Family

Well, it's been a while since I've last posted. For anyone out there that was actually following the Aathea saga, I'm still working on it. I cancelled most of my blogs while working/moving/having major upheavals in my life, and I do not know that they will ever return. Still, if anyone is interested to see how the world of Aathea has grown, send me an email.
Yes, my screen names etc have changed. This blog, of course, will be focusing on my real-life family rather than the imaginary world I used to inhabit. If I ever do get back into posting my stories, it will be under a different blog.
So, what am I up to now? Well, I am married now, I have one daughter and another on the way. My second daughter will actually be named Taemarin, so eventually, I'll have to surrender my email names.
Oh well. Life goes on.
I'm living in Utah now, and as the title of this blog suggests, I am a Stay-at-Home mom. It's fun, frustrating, exhausting, and rewarding all at the same time. I think any Stay-at-Home mom would tell you the same. As we go more posts, if there's any working moms that would like some reasons to quit and stay home, I think I can provide them.
This one will be short as it's rather late (for a preggie, that is!), but I will try to make an effort to keep this reasonably well updated.