Are you dead, mon?

I am not dead and everybody in the immediate family is OK. I don't think I've ever neglected this blog for so long. So, let me give you a few pitiful excuses of why I took September off.

1. My wife's father has continued to struggle with cancer. In Sept. he was rushed back to the hospital because he couldn't breathe. He has been having radiation treatments and Erin has put a lot of time over at her parent's house spending time with her dad and comforting her mom.
   


2. I had two 5 day/4 night trips. One week I went to NYC for my organization's Annual Conference. I spoke at two of the sessions and spent a lot of time preparing for those in the first couple of weeks of Sept.


3. Another week my boss and I traveled to Orlando to provide training to BETA testers of the application that we are about to release. Preparing for this dominated my time the second half of the month.


4. We are releasing a web application that we have been coding since January to out BETA testers in mid-October. Anytime you are nearing a deadline, you seem to just enrapture yourself in the code, trying to finish up all those little details and get things working exactly right.


5. I've started reading again. My big hobby and passion is reading Sci Fi/Fantasy books. For the longest time I just haven't read because reading is like a drug to me. When I pick up a book, I can't put it down. When I was going on my trips, I knew I would need airport/airplane reading material. Since Sept. 9 I have read:
   
   
   • Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb (Book 1 of Soldier Son Trilogy)
   
   
   • Forest Mage by Robin Hobb (Book 2 of Soldier Son Trilogy)
   
   
   • The Eye of The World by Robert Jordan (Book 1 of the Wheel of Time Series) (I'm rereading the entire series because it has been a long time since I read it. Two days after I decided to reread the series, Robert Jordan passed away.)
   
   
   • The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (Book 2 of the Wheel of Time Series)
     
   
   
6. Finally, I just haven't been interested enough in any news stories lately to comment on them. It is too early to be excited about the Presidential run. And all the news stories just seem so overblown. Maybe I am just becoming to moderate in my old age. It just doesn't seem like there is really anything happening to get one's feathers all in a ruffle.

Let me take a few moments and update you on the children. Mihaela is 3 1/2 now and precocious as ever. She seems very grown up for a preschooler.

Noah will be 2 1/2 next month and still is not talking quite the way we would like. He is getting better, but his words are very "thick" and he is only using one word to convey entire meanings. If this Language Development Chart is accurate, he is about 9 months behind where he should be. We are going to be having his hearing checked very soon to see if that is an issue. He is in the process of being potty trained. We started last week with the "Naked & $75" potty training method and are having a modicum of success.

Lannom just recently has his 6 month check up and is doing well. He is 15 lb 5 oz. He is working hard to crawl. He is up on his hands and knees and rocking back forth. He likes vegetables, but is not a big fan of fruit. He only likes Rice cereal; he can't stand oatmeal. We are holding off on introduction wheat into his diet right now.