Round 3

I can't believe we're beginning our 3rd year in Cairo! The summer was fantastic of course, expensive, but fantastic. Ramona charmed her way from Harrisburg to Philly to Seattle to West Virginia. We had a bad health scare with her, and she was actually hospitalized, but she's ok now and hopefully that's the last time we ever have to deal with anything like that. The flight back the other day was pretty rough. The bigger she gets, the harder it is to hold her. She doesn't fit across our laps anymore and so we have to have her straddle us and lay against our chests when she's sleeping. And then when she's awake, she's a squirmy worm and it's also pretty difficult. I can't imagine what it'll be like in December when she can walk! Also, I have an undying respect for all my friends here who have more than one (sometimes more than 2!) children and do that trip. It's not easy, but it's worth it to see how happy she makes her grandparents...

So what do we have on tap for the fall?? Well, Ira is on a "pre-tenure leave" this semester, which means he'll be working on his next book and won't be teaching classes. We have high hopes that this will mean more family time, since he'll be writing all day and then be home with us in the evenings without having to do grading/class prep, etc. I will be teaching yoga 3 nights a week to start, depending on how things go, I may add more. My yoga teacher, Bobbi, is coming again in October to teach a workshop and we plan on going to Dahab for a few days while she's here. We also have a big FIRST birthday coming up! Baby Ramona will be Toddler Ramona in a couple months. VERY hard to believe. I wish there was some non-cliche way of saying "I can't believe how big she's getting/how time flies/it seems like yesterday that she was born" but there really isn't. Other than that, I'll just be cooking, baking, sewing, and crafting with all the fun books and supplies I brought back with me. Can't wait to see what the next few months have in store, I'm sure there will be new friends, adventures, and Egypt-ness as always. Stay tuned...