Hi Daddy! I just wanted to tell you...

JP has just 2 weeks left at his job, and then a hefty vacation coming up. We are all thrilled and unprepared.

I am taking a break from panic-mode passport form filling out, and photocopying of vital information. We still have not completely determined where or when we would like to travel, but apparently it all involves passports. JP's and mine are expired as of April, the girls have never had theirs. I need to take them to the Prothonotary Office tomorrow between 8:30 and 4:00 to apply in person. Since JP couldn't accompany us, he had to have yet another form notarized to excuse him from this requirement.

At the same time, I am filling out forms and copying information for my new job, which begins around Jan. 17th. This will be the first time I will be employed at more than an hour or two a week since J was just a baby!

So, as JP prepares to end one stage in his life, we are readying for the twilight zone in-between jobs, and then the madness of starting new jobs at the same time. SO...MUCH...FUN!

JP copied 7 years of messages left on his phone from the girls on to his iPod today. At dinner, he asked if we "wanted to hear the girls grow up". We gathered around the computer this evening and listened to little J say "Hi Daddy! I just wanted to tell you that I can count to 100 and I'm GROWING UP!", or to L saying "Daddy not dere!" (Mommy's voice in the background: "I know, you have to leave a message.") "NOOOOOOOOOO!" And later on, J says "Hi Daddy! I just wanted to tell you that I can use the BIG violin now!" and L reports "Hi Daddy! I got a tic-tac (tick) on my neck and Mommy got it off when she brushing my hair. I love you. Bye-bye Daddy!"

I remember some of those days we called and left messages, but some were just ordinary days that don't stand out in my memory at all. I hear hints of desperation ("Mommy wants to know if you are coming home today?") and victories ("I made pee pee in the potty and poo poo in the potty!"). A lot can happen in 7 years..who would have thought that today I would be in frantic passport preparation mode? It all works out in the end though, doesn't it? I'm in a good place now, and wouldn't want to be anywhere else, doing anything else (although I wish we could be ahead of the game enough once in a while to have the passports ready and waiting.)