Sometimes everyone has to enter into survival mode. Which is a way of saying that this blog is going to be a bit more quiet for the next few months. We will try to do what we can. We have oodles of videos that we've been meaning to put up for, oh, say, about a year now.  But mostly, we're going to be taking life day by day.  And we'll power through, and have faith that amazing things will happen.

In May, Jessica has trips for work in Maryland, North Carolina, and Texas. Hearings, meetings, and discovery all necessitate travel.  Justin has a trip to Philly for work as well.  Between those trips, Jess is delighted to help host her wonderful cousin's bridal shower, and attend her wedding.  Caleb is going to be the ring bearer, and Julia is going to light up the world that day.  So Jess's trips literally go - Maryland, back for 12 hours, leave for Julia's bridal shower, back for 1 day, trip for NC, back for a while, Justin leaves for Philly, and the next Thursday we're off to Julia's wedding, Jess is back for 12 hours, hearing in Austin, and leaves from the airport for dear friends' wedding in KY Justin is performing. Yeah.  It's painful to think about. But one step at a time.

Then it turns to Justin. 2 days after we get back from this wedding, Justin takes one of his two last big steps to ordination: a chaplain internship at a hospital.  It will be a LOT of work. Early mornings. Late nights. Requires 1 overnight stay at the hospital per week. And has 10 hour days. For three months.  And we have the pleasure of paying them for the opportunity.  It is clearly not structured with young families in mind, but once it is done, he'll be that much closer to being an ordained minister. Then he has his boards.  This is also painful to think about. But, again, one step at a time.

During this time, Jessica will be preparing for one of her biggest oral arguments to date, and leaving for Texas to argue it.  This is where Grandmothers come in. Thank God for Grandmothers.

Everything ends August 17th. We fully intend to be at a beach or a lake on August 18th. Fully.  The bright side to this is that we will both gain a lot of experience for our careers, and leave this experience stronger people. More exhausted maybe, but stronger. 

We, like good WWC graduates, believe in the inherent value of work, and hard work at that.  We also have faith that we are not given more than we can bear and, that if we follow our paths, we are led to good things.  Justin will spend his time giving pastoral care to those who will truly benefit from his presence and grow spiritually from the connections he makes with those in need.  Jessica will protect families and farmers and animals who need it.  Caleb will be our very strong boy and learn that even when things get tough, he will always, no matter what, be our number one priority. He'll be in daycare more than he ever has been, but it is only 3 months. And we have to have faith that hundreds of thousands of families have their children in child care full time and deal with travelling parents and that those children are happy and well-adjusted. And it's only 3 months. And oh we will miss him. But he will have some awesome family time to buffer this. Weddings with family and visits from Grandmothers and trips to see his "cousin" Annie.  That's the good stuff and will power us through.

We will get through each day one at a time.  And each day we will be finding the joy in it and sucking the marrow from it and being thankful for all it has to offer.  But we may be a little slower on the posting.

Caleb is making some serious leaps.

He's been acting a little funny lately and eating us out of house and home. Entire peanut butter sandwiches just after dinner. Bananas eaten at the speed of light just after breakfast.  And... for lack of a better word... he's been needy as all get out.  Even his teachers at school have noticed that he's not been his normal independent self.  Lots of wanting to be picked up and held. Lots of "I want Mooommmyyyy. I want Daaadyyyyyyy." Although we make sure he knows he has the tools to cope with what comes, we tolerate this with compassion and love. And honestly, a little bit of joy - he's such a fiercely independent bird that it's a little nice to be needed sometimes.

But it has become apparent that the reason for all the uptake in calories and uptake in emotional needs is that Caleb is having a developmental leap.  One day, he is talking like a Neanderthal (in a good way). The next, he's articulately speaking in full sentences. No, paragraphs. Speaking in full paragraphs y'all.  The past few days have been absolutely blowing our minds. For example, this was said during pre-bed potty time:

"Mommy, we have three stools. One! Two! Threeee! A biiiig big one for mommy to sit on for bath time. The big one for Caleb to wash his hands and brush his teeth. The little tiiiiny one for Caleb to use to go potty."

We just blinked at him. That was a dern treatise on stools!  And took differing sizes into account! And counted things! And knew the uses for each one! And BAM!! went our minds.  Who is this kid?  Surely not our little boy!  And then he did it again at the museum looking at a small airplane and a big airplane:

"Daddy, that's a Caleb-sized airplane.  But Daddy can ride in the big airplane."

This has been going on constantly and the new found language isn't just descriptive. He's starting to use his skills for evil - aka to try and bargain at bed time. "I want the almond milk in the special cup from the kitchen. That milk is in a regular cup. That is not almond milk."  First of all, kid, there's no bargaining at bed time. Second of all, WHEN IN HEAVEN DID YOU LEARN ALL THOSE WORDS???

The baby monitor now sounds off things like "I need to go potty like a big boy" because he knows it will get us running at full speed into his room. Which of course then just leads to playtime in the bathroom and pushing back bedtime.  But oh, no longer.  While we happily respond to his daytime requests - even the needy ones - this act is now routinely dealt with by pouring a glass of wine and keeping very very quiet. Caleb may be developing my leaps and bounds, but his parents still have the edge.. or at least that's what we tell ourselves.  And then we change the sheets.

We're definitely in a whole new world.  It's an exciting one, and a welcome one, but holy moly is it crazy to see how they develop at light speeds!  At least he tempers it with his ongoing adorableness. At least that doesn't change overnight:

Yeah, that helps.

3...2...1... BLAST OFF SPACE SHUTTLE ATLANTIS! BLAST OFF SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY!

This is what has been repeated in our home pretty much since last Thursday.  That's because, on Thursday April 17th, the space shuttle Discovery retired in style and graced an excited D.C. with a series of flyovers.

The 747 flew the shuttle over the city at 1500 feet, which is amazingly low. So low, in fact, that Caleb kept trying to pluck it out of the air. So low, that everywhere you looked throughout the city, people stopped on the sidewalks, stopped their cars in the streets, and looked up with child-like wonder and excitement.  You could feel it - an entire city taking joy in the moment.

There is nothing better than living in D.C. when there's something to make you feel patriotic. For about 30 minutes on a random Thursday morning, we were all a community in the deepest sense.  We were proud of this country's accomplishments, sad at the ending of an era of exploration, and fiercely dedicated to solving the problems that brought this decision about.  If we all don't agree on how to make that change happen, well, that's why we have events like this.

Most importantly, it was a magical day for Caleb.  He not only drank in the excitement around him and loved seeing the shuttle, but he ran around and played with his friends on the Mall.

This week, Justin took Caleb to the National Air and Space Museum (Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center out near Dulles as opposed to the one at the Smithsonian) to see the Discovery getting prepped for its retirement there.  He loved watching the workers preparing the shuttle and being so close to something he saw flying in the sky.

Caleb officially knows more about space at 2 than his mother knows at 31.  Jess is only mildly embarrassed about this.  After all, this kid is serious about his rocket ships.

While Christmas may be Justin's favorite, Easter is definitely Jess's favorite.  Because Justin has to be at church extra early (before Caleb wakes up early), the Easter bunny doesn't come until after nap time, so it's leisurely.  It's got everything. Some awesome presents like Christmas, but in a basket so no pressure like a big giant tree,

there's church (with Easter outfits!) so it feels a bit more real than something like Valentine's day, but still with lots of sweets,

it's got a Sherlock Holmes-esque hunt,

a big meal like Thanksgiving but with less side dishes and more flexibility, and most of all, it's almost demands really fun craft time.  Because dye and fragile eggs are EXACTLY the perfect afternoon activity for a 2 year old.

As you can see, Caleb chose the decorating theme for a lot of the eggs, involving (SHOCKER) sports and (GASP! SURPRISE!) rockets:

Mommy kept one egg to reprezent the ladies (note the flowers, pink bunnies, and adorable ducklings):

This year's basket involved something really exciting: a pinwheel! For any parents reading this, we highly suggest you spend the $1.50 and see your child have a ball with one of the cutest toys on the market!

And of COURSE there were bubbles:

(Zuba likes them too):

But there's still no escaping the mess of a holiday, and Easter grass is pretty brutal:

Happy Easter!