Update in 5 parts

Zintis: Almost 5 months old now, he's amazing.  He is so big!  Of course, I only have his sister to compare him to, and he's way bigger than she was at his age.  Actually, he was bigger at 4 mos, than she was at 6 mos!  He's not a chunky baby, but he's solid and tall.  I just started the process of moving him up to 9 mos size clothes.  I think he might actually be growing as I write this RIGHT NOW.  The last few days he's been very nearly either eating, sleeping or crawling.  Definitely seems like a growth spurt!
Also, he's crawling!!  Only an army crawl right now, but still.  He's very intentionally moving himself forward- dragging himself with his forearms, and helping push himself along with his toes.  It is ridiculously cute, and amazing. :)
He's very interested in what happens around the dinner table, which I know is a sign of his natural baby curiosity, not of hunger.  He tries to grab food and plates all the time.  It's awesome.  I'm excited because I plan to do Baby-Led Weaning with him (yes, because I pretty much hated the whole experience of purees with Beni- it was stressful, and I have no intention of repeating it!).  Yesterday he actually managed to grab a handful of my salad- some lettuce and carrots and dressing- but I took it away from him.  Not quite yet, buddy!
He drools and gums thing in the style that has everyone constantly saying, "Oh, does he have a tooth coming through?"  But, there is no sign of any actual teeth yet.  No doubt they are moving below the surface, but, none coming through yet.  And, if you look at his gums, the biggest lumps he has under his gums are at his cuspids- not in the front on top or bottom.  It will be interesting to see where the first tooth pops through.  It is rare that children teeth "out of order" but it certainly does happen.
He continues to smile, smile, smile and watch the world go by.  He is very alert, and very intent on watching.  People comment on it a lot.  Hopefully, it's a sign of his amazing intellect. :)

Benita: Officially two and a half now!  Fully day potty trained, and working toward waking up dry.  It isn't happening yet, but, she's waking up with a much lighter diaper than she was for a while there, so maybe soon. She is still sleeping in her own bed, though most mornings she comes into our room around 6 or 6:30 (when Joel is up already anyway), and snuggles in.  Sometimes she'll fall back asleep for an hour, and sometimes she'll just climb on us, talk to us and sing loudly until we wake up (this applies to weekends, of course).  She seems to do better overall on the days that she sleeps a little longer, but what can you do.  So hard to tell a kid they'd feel better if they just kept sleeping.
We had an afternoon the other day when on the way home from running some errands she was just sitting in her seat screeching about nothing.  I told her right then and there that she was acting that way because she was tired because she hadn't taken a nap that day.  She quieted down and listened to what I was saying, but, I doubt that it will have any impact next time she's telling me she doesn't want a nap.
She is starting to get very interested in letters.  She can and does recognize the letter B in print anywhere she comes across it.  I taught Kindergarten long enough to know there are 5 year olds out there that don't recognize letters, so I'm pretty impressed with her.  She had me writing out her name and her cousin Gabe's names the other day- when she saw the B in Gabe's name, she said, "Oh, Bubba has da B, too!"  She's so smart!
But oooeeee, does she have a temper.  She goes from zero to screaming at an inanimate object in 2.2 seconds.  She gets so frustrated when she can't get something to work like she wants it to, or like she thinks it should.  I don't know where she gets that from. ;)
She talks in lovely full sentences- except on Skype, where she stares blankly at the screen, only to talk up a storm as soon as we've said goodbye to whomever we were talking to. She repeats things she hears whether on tv or said by us.  She has started experimenting with using angry words, which I prefer to using angry touching (hitting, kicking, etc).  When she does this I can ask her if she is angry, without having to reprimand her actions.  It's very interesting to watch.  She is also repeating loving words though.  The other night at bedtime while giving Joel a hug goodnight she said, "My best, best friend!"  This is from a show called Giggle and Hoot that has a snippet and song about best friends, but it was more than heartwarming to hear her say it to her dad.  We can only hope that feeling lasts a long, long time for her.  Joel and I find ourselves listening to her and smiling at each other often.  She has a very creative imagination, and she seems to remember a whole lot.  She makes up stories, or repeats things that happened days ago.
I'm not big on fostering independence in very small children, except, I realize, in one thing- play.  And Beni does really well with this.  Her imagination takes her all over, and she certainly has enough stuff to fuel the fire.  That said, recently, her favorite things to do are to go outside and play in her sandbox and swing on her swing (which she does by herself), to use toilet paper and paper towel tubes as clothing, telescope and horn (by herself), to read books (by herself), or to play with her dolls- which she often does by copying when I am actively taking care of Zintis in some way.  It really is amazing to watch her.

Joel: Working like crazy.  His schedule at school is non-stop.  He barely gets any time to pause during the day, he works through his lunch hour doing extras (basketball practices and so on), he does more than his fair share of after school activities, and of course he's fulfilling his duties as classroom teacher.  Beyond all that, he is teaching swimming lessons to lots of kids around the city now in their private pools.  His intentions are the best- he's doing what he gets paid to do, he's doing what he sees a need for that no one else is stepping up to the plate to do, and finally, he's taking on the swimming lessons to both further support our family, and again to meet a great demand in the community.  He comes home every day absolutely spent.  It's tough.  We're all hoping that he might get to move from being a classroom teacher to PE teacher next school year.  It's a change he's been hoping for for a couple years now, and one that would rekindle his spirit a bit to where he might not be so completely exhausted when he came home, but instead tired but sort of invigorated by what he's done all day.
He's still nursing an injury he received in his regular, twice weekly, social basketball game.  He took an elbow straight to the jaw joint, which sort of impacted it or something.  At first we thought it was dislocated or broken. Then we found out it was just very badly bruised and swollen, but it was bad enough that he couldn't talk or eat.  His hectic schedule keeps him away from home a lot more than the kids and I would like him to be, so it's nice for US to have him not going to basketball for a few weeks while that heals, but, I know he misses it.

Mara: Plugging along doing what I do.  Nothing too special or impressive.  Mommying two kids, and trying to take care of myself and the house.  Some days it's overwhelming and some days it's good.  I started exercising in early September.  I set up a schedule for myself- I started with 4 days a week, and after 8 weeks, I moved to 5 days a week- and have kept to it religiously.  I haven't missed a single workout in that time, which frankly, I'm still impressed with.  I do short 30 minute workouts on the days I do them, but apparently they are working to some extent.  I haven't really lost any weight, but I just found out the other day that I have taken about 2 inches off my belly.  I'm quite happy about that!  And I am stronger and more fit- I can feel muscle definition below my layer of soft, even if I can't see it.  It feels good to know I am taking care of myself, to know I am modeling this positive behavior for my kids, to know I am doing what I can to be able to be there for them, and eventually to still be able to run around, go for walks, play on the floor, etc, etc with my grandkids, too.  It's hard to think about grandkids when your own children are only tiny, but, I know the time will come faster than I think.
I'm facing an end to my "cushy" (said with a bit, but not too much, sarcasm) stay at home mom lifestyle.  Our family's finances are begging for a second income, and given being able to work out childcare, etc, it looks like I will be heading back to work part-time.  It's a bit frustrating because the options for part time work around here are not as many as they might be elsewhere.  It pretty much comes down to doing substitute teaching at school.  It's not a bad gig, well, I don't think so, I haven't actually done it yet, but, I might choose some other option if I was in the States.  In any case, at this point it seems we may have found ourselves an English-speaking nanny, who will be available to us in April, when the family she is working for now, leaves Vientiane.  So, I have until then to enjoy still being at home, to nurse Zintis without the added responsibility of pumping, and to not worry about how someone else will take care of my kids differently than I do.
In sort of big news, after 11 years as a strict vegetarian, I have added fish back into my diet.  It was a pretty big deal for me, and it took a couple weeks of thinking about it and talking about it with several different people before I finally did it.  My first meat in so long was a tuna sandwich.  I ate it happily, having said a small thanks to the fish that gave its life for my lunch, and I felt fine afterwards.  Since then I have had tuna several more times, and I also had a prawn curry the other night.  Prawns were always one of my favorite meat foods, so taste-wise I was excited to welcome them back into my diet.  The curry was excellent, and I see myself enjoying a lot more fish, especially while we're still living here in Asia.  Although, I also foresee that most of my fish-enjoying will be in restaurants as Joel does not particularly care for fish, and so far, Beni doesn't either.  So, tuna, lots of tuna, at home, and salmon and prawns and who knows what else, when we're out.  And of course, I'm actually still eating plenty of vegetarian meals as well.  I have no intention of giving up the health benefits that come along with a mostly plant-based diet.  I still love tofu and tempeh and eggs and beans, and will continue to eat them as often as I can instead of animal proteins.  I can see that eventually I might add back in some other meats when we have access to my family's hunts, etc... but for now, I think I will stick with fish.

All of us: We're looking at moving back to the States.  Yep.  We've begun gathering papers for the application process for Joel's green card.  We're looking at how we would make it work financially, and how we would have to plan baby #3 around that.  We're looking into job opportunities for myself and Joel.  But, we also just signed on for another year in Laos- so the earliest we would be back in the States is June 2014, which is kind of a long way off still.  It's exciting and anxiety producing at the same time.  There are a lot of things about it that I'm looking forward to, and a lot of things I know I'll miss about living abroad when we leave that behind.  But there is that saying, "If mamma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."  I know that happiness isn't found based on any one place, but, creating circumstances in your life that support your happiness can make a difference.  Luckily, Joel likes the idea of living in the States as well, as long as we can figure it out financially, so we're good there.  I know the kids will love having more family around too (although we will DEFINITELY miss Jon, Courtney and Gabe!), and all the opportunities (you know, like, parks, libraries, sidewalks, movie theaters, playgroups and classes and clubs, etc) that living in the States will afford them.

 So that's the update on us.  Lots going on.  Lots of big and little things to think about, try to remember, to enjoy.  Although we also have plenty to worry about, we are definitely a blessed family, and we know it.