Beginning of Summer

Oh summer, we are so thankful you are here! The whirlwind season has finally begun.

Although our household resembles a three ring circus most of the time, we are all enjoying the much anticipated joy of barbecues, sunshine, chilled wine, sprinklers, friends, family and dirty, elated children.

And I mean dirty. Like two baths a day and still going to bed with black feet dirty. 

It is mildly painful to watch the sand and mud build up over the coarse of each day, but I am soaking in my childhood 2.0.  The summer never seems to fail on its promise of freedom, giddiness and fun.  

Almost daily the girls and I gather with our neighborhood friends for picnic dinners, wine and venting (it very much resembles a support group).  I feel so fortunate to have found a group of 8 or so mothers who all share in the pain and happiness of parenting toddlers and babies. We don't judge, we use each other's children to entertain ours during the witching hour at the end of the day, we discipline each other's children, we love each other's children, and dream about the days when they are best friends or each other's prom dates. I don't know what I would do without this group of women. 

Everyone is doing wonderfully.  Charley is busy as ever, but the long windows of daylight have helped him get some time in with the kids at the end of his work days. He joined a community softball team, and has gotten the chance to know some of the other dads around our neighborhood.  

Riley is a little ball of fire and doing everything you'd expect out of a two year old on the verge of becoming a threenager. She is obsessed with outfits and dresses, loves riding around on her purple scooter, and has started to assume the role of protective yet pushy  big sister.  We are working on quite a few things with her at the moment, and perhaps not doing too well with any of them!  She decided to potty train herself a few weeks ago, and it is going well for the most part aside from the fact that she has days/moments when she just doesn't want to do it.  I am following her lead for the most part, and I feel that she will be fully potty trained in a month or two.  She has decided that she hates sleep though (this is no surprise I guess - this girl has never been one to sleep). I forgot that we went through this last summer as well - she definitely struggles to go to bed when it is so light outside, so we have been enjoying her company until about 9pm each night.  We figure after the summer is behind us and she starts school (tear), she will be forced to buckle down into a better routine. 

And little Nora is almost one!  It is mildly painful to type that.  She is developing such an assertive, strong-willed personality and (almost) always wears a smile on her face.  She is not scared of strangers... in fact, she loves to see and touch new faces more than anything else.  She is that baby in the checkout line who captivates everyone around her with her giggles, grins and games.  She is waving, saying hi and bye, clapping, nodding her head no (oh God), and saying dada, mama, doggie (daw-dee), kitty cat (ki-ki), and Riley (eye-ee).  She is incredibly interactive, sweet and rambunctious and very driven (she knows what she wants and will fight and scream until she gets it).  She is scooting on her bum instead of crawling the conventional way, and pulling herself to standing. She cut eight teeth in just over two months (the nights have been fun...). It is nuts for me to visualize her walking around in a few months...  I can't believe I will have TWO toddlers in a matter of weeks.

Health-wise Nora is doing well.  We had another round of X-rays and she is hip dysplasia free!  I think we are in the clear, although we will still have to get her checked every year or two.  Nora still doesn't have her index fingernails, and it looks like they will not come in.  It baffles all of her doctors, but they are all telling us with certainty that it is just a cosmetic bump in the road - hopefully she will get discounted manicures!  I do worry that she will be self-conscious about it as she grows older and other kids begin to notice, so we are already trying to be mindful of how to encourage strong self-esteem in her, and protectiveness in her older sister.  Nora saw a specialist for her eyes (we noticed that they didn't look in the same direction a while ago), and she has Brown's Syndrome (a tight muscle which keeps one/both eyes from looking upward and inward).  Luckily her vision is perfect, and as she gets older and taller she won't have many reasons to look in that direction, so the doctor's don't want to treat it (unless it worsens with age).  Again, another small cosmetic issue, but overall she is a healthy little girl and we feel very, very lucky.

I know I have written this before, but our favorite thing in the world right now is watching Riley and Nora's relationship bloom.  They hug each other without any prompting, they play with each other, they kiss each other, and look for each other.  I know in about a year their developmental gap with close even more and they will have so much fun together.  

Life is wonderful!

A few pictures from Instagram....