Thursday, July 16, 2015
It is the middle of the summer and it is chilly! AH! I have been so frustrated with the weather this year. I feel like we haven’t had a nice hot summer for a long time and all I want to do is bring these kids to the pool every day. But, with that being said, at least it is bearable to be outdoors. We’ve been spending a lot of time in the backyard and at the park down the street and have had some really nice outdoor play dates with Maddie’s friends recently.
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| One of the few pool parties we've been able to have. Maddie with her friends, Jacob, Kaelum and Melaney (Photo cred Vicky Ras) |
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| (Photo cred: Vicky Ras) |
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| Fun at the park with some friends from church |
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| Some of our playdates were indoors with our friends from Minnesota! |
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| Rory was mesmerized by Sarah and the two of them are adorable together. |
Maddie has grown into such a sweet little girl. I can’t believe that she will be 3 next month. Her ability to retain information is astounding! I really think she is such a smart little girl: knowing lots of numbers, letters, shapes, colors…etc. When I ask her if she recognizes some letters, I am always surprised when she knows them. She has picked up so much information from the world around her. I wish I could take credit for teaching her, but her daily activities are her real teacher.
In terms of turning into a little girl, or rather, BIG girl, we have started potty training again. It is no walk in the park, let me tell ya. The first week was pure torture. She would hold her pee in for hours and hours before finally letting it out all over the floor, but she seemed to have a breakthrough on day 8. All of the sudden, she would say, “uh oh! I have to go potty!” and she runs to the potty all by herself, sits and goes right away. She does really great when we are at home (she even did #2 in the potty once!), but she still isn’t quite ready to use the potty outside of the house. We’ll get there. After she goes, she immediately says, “now I get a candy!” and when she role plays with her dolls, she pretends that they go potty on the potty too and then says, “She did it! Now she gets a candy!” Its so sweet and innocent. So, we are doing much better now, but potty training is by far my least favorite part of parenting.
We decided to try the potty training again recently after coming back from our road trip up to Door County. We didn’t want to deal with stopping in the car every hour for bathroom breaks, so we waited until after the trip to do it. I’m so glad we did.
we had such a nice trip, but it felt too short to me. We vacationed with Phil’s brother, Taylor, Jacelya (our sister-in-law), their kids and my parents and nephew, Brandon. It was so nice having all the cousins together and watching then play. They all love each other so much and all us adults had a blast together, too. I only wish I ate more ice cream. But, when do I ever wish that I wasn’t eating more ice cream? Never. It’s my favorite thing. Period.
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| Schlopfs Dairy on day 1. Yum! |
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| The girls with their eldest cousin, Brandon. |
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| Sarah's first time to the beach. She was mesmerized by and seemed a little wary of the crashing waves |
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| Maddie loved splashing her feet in the water, running up and down the shore, digging in the sand, building a "castle", and pouring water out of her watering can. |
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| More fun with the cousins |
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| Brunch at "Goats on the Roof" AKA Al Johnson's |
Sarah is growing like a worm, too. She’s getting so big, although “so big” is only 16 lbs 11 ounces as of her 9 month check-up. She’s a little peanut, but every ounce of her is pure, mushy, cuddly, edible goodness. I just want to eat her up. She’s such a happy little baby and she wants to get into the action going on around her so badly. She looks like she is ready to jump in whenever she is around other kids and seems so frustrated that she’s not mobile, yet. Soon enough, Sarah. Soon enough. I really expect her to be super adventurous and to get into all kinds of trouble. She is starting to use bits of sign language. she definitely asks for milk using the baby signs and I think that she waves the “all done” sign after eating, too. She mimics all kinds of sounds that we make, with my favorite being, “mmmMah!” when we are giving kisses.
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| Love this munchkin! |
Sarah’s big adjustment recently was moving into the crib. We had her in a reclined, bassinet-type chair at bedtime (I know, we should have transitioned her earlier!!!) and nap time and she seemed to not want anything to do with her crib. We decided to tackle transitioning her into the crib after the vacation, too, so we could use her portable chair in the hotel room. The first night was really rough, but then I found a way of adding a little extra cushion to her bed so it felt more soft (I put a plush blanket under her fitted sheet), and she all of the sudden loved it! She’s been sleeping through the night (most of the time) ever since! She’s always been really good at adapting to new things. I love this little girl!
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| But, let's be real. She can sleep anywhere. |
We also had a dedication service at our church for Sarah. It was so nice that our families could make it on such short notice to witness us dedicated our Sarah to God and promising to raise her up to be His child and to teach her His statutes and ways. We pray expectantly that she grows to love the Lord, be His faithful servant and follow His path!
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| Outside of church with my mom |
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| The cousins! |
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| Up front in the sanctuary after the service. |
Let’s see, in other news, the garden this year isn’t doing so well because of all the rain and little heat (so sad!), but we should get some yummy veggies from it. Maddie played her first board game!
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| Candy Land! |
And, I broke out in a poison ivy rash (so so so not fun. I will spare you the pictures). I think that’s just about it. Until next time!
