Ups and Downs

Playtime with the Munch has been full of 'up's.  She has several little friends her age at church, and a couple months back, we started having weekly playdates with one of them.  Little 'K', who's about a month younger, is just starting to walk and is an active little explorer who keeps Munch on her toes, so to speak.  It's been so much fun to watch these two growing and developing together--I get just a little picture of what it must have been like for my mom and my best friend's mom to watch US when we were that little.  This past Wednesday was the first day that K and her mama were able to come to our house instead of us going to them, and what a reception the Munch gave them!!  The doorbell rang, I buzzed them in and opened the door, asking her, "Who do you think is here?"  Well, she started bouncing up and down in my arms (side note, 25+ pounds is not an easy thing to hold when it's bouncing itself), laughing and smiling as big as she possibly could, and she continued to do so when she saw who it was.  I can't say that she and K played *together*--More like, they each thought the other's toy was better and tried to claim it as their own, without relinquishing the toy they currently had...every time.  But I know that interacting with others her age is what's pushing Munch to do more and try more things.  K took 8 steps in a row (the most she'd done to date) while she was visiting us, and Munch was watching closely.  She wants so badly to be able to stay upright on her own now.

Here's a couple pictures of the two playing together, side by side.  I didn't even have to try very hard to get them in sync, which was pretty cool.  Oh yes, and note that darling bow (!!).  :)

Munch's desire to be up and around all the time now caused a couple of downs today...as in, down straight on her poor little face before Mama could catch her.  (Yes, I feel very guilty.)  She now has a little scratch on her chin from one of the falls, and of course howled a-plenty both times.  I think back to the couple of instances we didn't catch her in time when she was learning to sit up, though--after those couple falls, she didn't tip over nearly as often, and I'm already seeing a lot more balance in that little body since this morning.  She knows now that Mama isn't always *right* there, and that's making a difference in how she does things--though it hasn't slowed her down.

But the major down today came in the form of Daddy's job.  Three months back, he interviewed for a position inside his current company that would have meant he finally could have gotten the promotion he'd been promised 3 months before that.  It would have been doing the same thing he's doing now, and for the same boss, and that boss was of course part of the group that made the hiring decision.  Well, the man decided not to hire him.  A job still exists for Daddy within the company, but it will mean that once again, he is being pushed into some other group, doing something else, and denied yet again a chance to rise in the ranks of the company, despite having already put in over 3 years with them.  It hurts.  The financial implications of it also cut us deeply, as we were counting on getting this promotion, which meant a substantial raise, in order to make it back to my family for the holidays.  Now I don't see how that's going to happen at all.  It will take something drastic, that's all I know...