The Middle Child

Before Fiona came, Brodie was the middle child. I have always hated the thought of the middle child sydrome and swore that I would not let my middle child be exposed to the syndrome even though he was the middle. Well, when decorating for Christmas, Clay and I shifted some furniture around and put out some new 8 x 10 pictures of the kids...except not all of them had an 8 x 10. Guess which one? Of course, being a hormonal pregnant woman, I was devestated because Brodie was exposed to the middle child syndrome and had never been taken to a professional photographer for photos. So, that's how this adorable photo of Brodie came about. Clay did not want to mess with my hormones so we went to the studio that I wanted to go to. We were both very happy with the results.

In other news, my parents arrived safely yesterday and will be staying for two weeks. Grandpa is already playing mechanno with Riley and Brodie and Grandma has been great with the girls, especially Fiona when she is fussy and needs to be burped. Once again, I am pretty much on holidays and finally can take some time to update the blog. I don't have photos with them yet, but here are some photos prior to their arrival.

The kids continue to love their baby sister and she is quite entertained and amused by them. She likes to watch them run around. Riley has even taken the opportunity to read a book to all of them. The boys are becoming more and more independent as they realize that Mommy needs help. No, I don't do it all on my own as everyone pitches in around here to get things done...even Grace loves to set the table for every meal.



As for Clay, he is doing really well on his masters. He has completed the writing portion of his rough draft and is getting it reviewed by his advisors. I think he plans on defending his thesis by the end of March. After that, he wants to take a parttime French course and get back up to speed on his second language profile. That will take him to mid-May when he convocates and then goes on parental leave just in time for our trip to England. By the way, what a pain in the butt to get all those passpart completed, but it will be worth it.