The long update!

Well, we have been incredibly busy lately at our house… On Saturday we had Chloe’s birthday party (I posted a few pictures earlier today.) It was fun - it was a perfect day and we set up a tent in the back yard so everyone could be outside (and we didn’t have to worry about anyone eating inside with our new carpet!) We set up lots of tables & chairs in the backyard and it was a fun time. Chloe opened a few presents and then got all wore out and took a break - played with a few things she got (like Mr. Potato head which she liked!) and then we sang Happy Birthday and had cake & ice cream and then she finished opening presents. Everything she got she just loves; everyone did a good job knowing what to buy a 2 year old!

We are definitely on toy overload now - our entire basement is full of ‘old’ favorites and our family room is filled with all new toys now. However, with all the new things she has to play with, it has helped in our effort to wean her from her pacifier! For some reason now that she’s 2, I suddenly feel like she’s SUCH a big girl and that I need to wean her from all her ‘baby’ habits we’ve held onto.. (this is a good thing I’m finally ready to do this!) The pacifier is one and the other is her drinking a bottle of milk at naptime & bedtime & having to be rocked to sleep. I know, can you believe we were still doing this? I think sometimes it’s just as hard for the parent as it is for the child to give these things up! She has been doing so well, though… she is only allowed her pacifier when it’s time to go to sleep. . And when she wakes up I get her distracted doing something - eating or playing - and then quietly take it away from her and hide it. Just yesterday did she have a bad day and really kept asking & whining for her “num-num.” (I think she started calling her pacifier this because of how we always say “nummy nummy” when we try to get her to eat a new food that is yummy!) Anyway, we are staying strong and not giving the pacifier to her, no matter how much she cries or whines. We even have taken outings to the mall and to the doctor and didn’t even take the pacifier with us! I feel like this is a major accomplishment for me, too! haha. We’re also hoping Chloe is going to start talking A LOT more now that she doesn’t have anything in her mouth all the time. And I’ve realized that I got so used to seeing her pacifier in her mouth all the time that I feel like I’m looking at a different little girl now! She seems even MORE grown up! Anyway, as for the rest of the weaning process… not feeding her a bottle of milk hasn’t been a big deal at all. She hasn’t made a fuss at all or even looked for the bottle when we go in her room at nap & bed time. And as for being rocked to sleep... for a while she was doing good just getting right in her bed & not needing to be held & rocked... But not lately. So she got a stuffed dog for her birthday and we named the dog “Molly” (my Mom & step-Dad just got a dog last week whose name is Molly & we have a picture of her on our fridge which Chloe loves!)… But anyway! I am trying to get Chloe to want to just hop right into bed with Molly to cuddle, instead of be held in the rocking chair every time. Last night I rocked her for 5 minutes and then put her in bed with her dog and immediately she put her arm around the dog and after my patting her back for a few minutes, she went right to sleep. So the last few times she has slept with her dog really good, and it’s so cute… she always ends up sleeping with her arm around it! Chloe has never had a ‘security’ object so maybe this will finally be it. It’s exciting to think that she’s getting to be such a big girl. I’m not as sad as I could be about her growing up, probably since I have another baby that I can still ‘baby,’ if that makes sense!

Anyway, things have been going pretty good at our house. We’ve been enjoying lots of family time and that makes me such a happier person. The last 2 night’s we even ate dinner out on the deck - all 4 of us - we took Chloe’s highchair outside & everything, and it was just a moment to enjoy. It felt fun being a family. And it’s not all the time that I feel that way. Often I just feel burdened to be a mother of 2 young children. I think it’s so important for Chris to really spend quality time with all of us and not work so much. It’s then that I feel like parenting can be done as a team and not as individual’s working against each other. It makes me feel so much better about everything when we take turns and it’s like we’re working for the common good. Last night I was lying in bed thinking about coming to work today and for the first time ever, I didn’t really want to go to work. I felt like I was going to miss my children. What a wonderful way to feel! (I rarely feel this way -- Does that make me a bad mother? Or maybe just an ‘overwhelmed’ mother?) Anyway…. with Chris’ company as successful as it is - I think maybe in the coming year he may need me to quit my job and start working out of the home as the company’s secretary. But I am torn when I think about it, because I value my job outside the home and my time ‘away.’ But since I just felt this feeling of missing my children by going to work, I decided that maybe that feeling is from God and I should start praying that if He would desire me to stay at home in the near future, that he would continue to place that desire in my heart.

Well, on a completely different note… Chloe and Maya had their check-up’s yesterday. Chloe weighed 21.5 lbs. and Maya weighed 16 lbs. 10 oz. Wow!! Everything was fine with them - and the Dr. assured us again that Chloe should have the biopsy done. So it’s still on for August 14th. Maya got some shots but seems to be doing fine. All is well with them!

I better get back to work… Oh, and in case you wondered, I had an uneventful birthday… Yep, I’m 27 now. I got some beautiful flowers from our nice neighbor, Becky! Didn’t get any from my own husband.. but oh well! His truck is in the shop this week (after last week’s incident) so I guess that made it a little hard for him to get to the store yesterday! Okay, back to work now...