This year saw the new addition of Sara Brown to our family. She was born July 19th, just after noon, and was 6 lbs 11 oz, healthy and strong. She's a precocious little girl; at only five months, she's up on all fours and rocking back and forth, right on the verge of crawling. She also grabs everything and babbles and is an adorable flirt. Alison gives thanks daily for such an easy baby; she's been a good sleeper and not particularly fussy since the beginning.
Our family has grown in other ways, too; in September we acquired two goats and four chickens. We live in an agricultural zone, so we now have a barn out back (a re-purposed garden shed that was here when we bought the house) and a fence separating the goat yard from the garden. Also, we all have goat shoes reserved for that part of the yard. We got the goats because Andrea can't stomach cow's milk, and they are cheaper than buying soy milk. Lala is already giving us about two quarts of milk a day, and little Belle will start producing in the spring. We're enjoying them a lot.
Speaking of Andrea, she's growing so big! She just had her second birthday in October, and she is quite grown up. She talks fluently now and has just learned to open doors and sing songs and wash her own dishes. She loves her baby sister and gives her hugs and cuddles. She's been using the tokens she earns for cleaning up her toys and using the potty to buy everyone Christmas presents. It's so much fun to watch her learn and progress.
Alison has adjusted pretty well to being a mom of two. With her birthday money, she bought herself a course on the Montessori Method for toddlers and preschoolers and is working to implement Montessori tools in our home. This means Mike gets to do a lot of woodworking; she's grateful he's so good at it. She spends most of her free time studying early childhood education and parenting techniques, but she still finds time to read books for fun as well.
Mike still is working at the Church and loving it. He's expanded his cheese-making repertoire (another reason for the goats) and has made us some excellent Gouda, Derby (a Cheddar-like cheese), and Parmesan. We're getting a larger cheese fridge from his parents for Christmas and are excited to continue experimenting. He has almost finished his card game Polynesia and is working to get it published; he's talking to three publishers and planning to take it to SaltCon, a gaming conference in Salt Lake this spring. He also made another game, Dancing Robots, this year.
Rusty has continued to calm down over the course of the year, but he has also wanted to chase the chickens. We have to keep him on the human side of the fence when they are out for this reason. He has also just started to show off the useful skill of mouse catching (the goat shed seems to be a popular place for them) and has two kills under his belt.
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