It's OK to get tearful. I cry more often than not in each session with T (pretty sure I cried the entire last session, to the point that she had to get another box of tissues!) Yet I still sometimes apologize for crying, which I know is silly. It should be a place where you feel safe to let your emotions out.

And the starting with "how are things?" or "How have you been?" is fairly common--it lets them get a sense of how you're feeling then, how your last week or two has been, etc. I tend to just say "OK" or "Tired," then she may ask more questions. I'd echo what a few others have said and suggest going weekly, at least for a bit. I think it's easier when you just have a week to recap. The thing is, too, you don't necessarily need to talk about the past week. You could just say, "You know, I was really thinking about x that we talked about last time. Could we go back to that?"