Still here. Have been feeling overextended, overtired and have let the day-to-day get the best of me. Received more awful news from friends that just breaks my heart over and over. Certainly makes us feel lucky but I just wish terrible things didn't have to happen to kids. It's not fair. And yeah, I know, "life's not fair." Here's hoping for the best, but things don't sound good. There were layoffs at work this week which just added to the general gloom and doom feeling. So, I have to focus on the brighter spots here because if you wanted to be depressed, you'd be watching the news instead of visiting here. Happier things going on: nobody's got a cold this week, the snow is melting and only some leaked into my office, we're into what I consider the last month of winter, a birthday celebration later this month, and Valentine's day preparations for the Preschool's friendship lunch on Friday. Household chores will likely take a back seat today even though the house is screaming at me for a thorough scrub down. Ella Madeline...the baby I don't know what to call...isn't mobile yet but looks like she'll be hell on all fours. She's interested in everything, and everything goes into the mouth in a way that seems different from Emily. She seems captivated by Emily's every word and action, much more so than anything I do. But hey, I'm just a boring old grown up who literally wants to sit still for hours doing absolutely nothing.