Back from the Holidays

We're back from San Antonio. It's good to be back!!

Reflecting back over the last year, I came to realize there were many things I was thankful for. My wife and kid have been a tremendous blessing, even if some times one (or the other, or both!) of them can by pretty trying on the nerves. A's had a pretty tough time here at home the last month or two, because S got sick (see previous post) and hasn't really been able to shake it.

Add to that the fact that right before the Christmas break, I had to work some loong hours to support the last shuttle mission, b/c some of the stuff that they had to get done to the international space station (ISS) so we could continue to build the ISS didn't work correctly right away. Dave York and I put in alot of time, and I was really worried that Amy would get so sick of my hours. She did really well for the most part. One day after they finally fixed the ISS (Thank you, Beamer and God for making that happen) Dave and I were comparing notes about how the wives were responding to our being gone. He had it worse, since his wife was actually feeling pretty bad herself during the ordeal, so he was often going home or whatever to be able to take care of her and the kids.

I think we're all giving thanks that the ISS is back to its nominal configuration!

Another thing I'm giving thanks for: That S is sleeping well here at home. I don't know what happened. I don't know if it's San Antonio, the dry-er air, the temperature it reached in his room at night, sleeping in the Pack-n-Play, the lingering congestion in his head, or the possible (again) ear infection in his right ear, but he slept pretty bad while we were there, making it hard on A and I to get our own sleep. Not to mention, nobody wants to hear a baby cry!

Well, I say baby, but he's getting pretty grown-up. He's 17 mos old now, and starting to say some words pretty clearly. His repetoire now includes: mommy, daddy, up, down, kitty, Gracie (our dog), NO, sit, stay, light(s), "all-done", and fan. And new words are coming all the time. It's a great time to be involved in his life.