A long update

I’m praising God today…

I am glad to be at work and have a break from my normal everyday ‘home life.’ I am glad that the Priest’s are out of town so I’m having a quiet day at the Church I work at. Today I even went out for lunch and instead of fast food, I went to Panera which is by the mall, but it was super busy since it was 12:00, so I couldn’t even find a parking spot anywhere so I ended up at the mall, in the food court for lunch. I was delighted to find that Scholtzsky’s - a good sandwich place - has opened up at the mall so I went there and got cheddar broccoli soup & a 1/2 sandwich for lunch, which is what I wanted to eat from Panera - so that worked out well, and then I splurged even more and went to the Tropical Grill/Smoothie place and got a strawberry dacquiri smoothie- YUM! I even had time to walk around for a little bit so that was fun - it was very weird to walk around the mall by myself during the work day. I felt odd. But it was fun and I was amazed I could do all that in just a half hour! I think I’ll do it again sometime!

So our Easter went well… except that it threw off our napping schedule completely which is never fun. We didn't get home till 3:00 or so, and Chloe fell asleep in the car on the way home, but Maya, who had already fallen asleep while at Chris’ grandparents, woke up when we put her in the car! So I didn’t get her back to sleep until 4:00 and then we all slept until almost 6 p.m.! What a way to screw up your day! The girls didn’t go to bed on Sunday night until almost 10:30! Ever since then, Maya has been all messed up and yesterday she even took a 20 minute morning nap (she stopped doing morning naps about a month or so ago). After yesterday’s morning nap, she still took a massive nap - from 1 to 4! And then last night she fell asleep at 7:45 and took a 10 minute nap! I don’t know what her deal is lately. She’s been cranky, too. My Mom asked if it could be the rice milk - but I really don’t think so. Children can be allergic to soy milk, but not rice, is how the Dr. made it sound. So perhaps she is really just teething - her cheeks were a little rosy the other day ,as well, which is always a sign of teething for her. I don’t know… she just has her moments lately - she is either giggly & happy or super fussy.

So the other night we needed some things like diapers & milk so Chloe and I went to Kroger and she was an absolute angel! I was amazed & we had so much fun shopping. She sat in the cart nicely and she talked non-stop - just naming everything she saw - flowers - milk - juice - cheese - you name it. Everyday she says more & more new words. And she is really trying hard to put words together now to make sentences. My friend Erin came over on Monday to hang out with us and when she left I told Chloe to wave ‘Bye’ to Erin… and instead of waving & just saying “Bye” she said real slowly (you could tell she was really thinking about it) “Bye to Erin…” It was cute. She is growing up so much everyday - it is amazing. Last night I made a good dinner - broccoli, chicken, and stuffing… and Chris told me he’d be home at 5:00 so I allowed for him to be slightly late and had all the food ready at 5:15 - well, he didn’t get home until 5:45 and it made me mad. It is hard to keep the kids under control and try to make a nice dinner and have everything be cooked at the same time and it was just frustrating.. It makes for a VERY long day when he gets home close to 6:00. So at one point I was holding my head up with my hand while I was eating and Chloe, who sits next to me at the table, tilted her head to one side and looked at me with a puzzled look on her face and said, “Mommy?” and then she said something that sounded like, “What’s wrong?” but it wasn't very clear… so instead she said “Mommy? Sad?” It was precious.. to have her know & understand how I was feeling, without me even saying so. It is so nice to be able to communicate more clearly with her everyday. She is so smart and she’s such a well-behaved child compared to other children her age. Sure, she throws tantrums every so often… but it could be lots worse I have learned! She is the most polite 2 & 1/2 year old you will ever meet - the phrases that come out of her mouth most often are “Please” “Thank you” and “You’re welcome.” She’s such a darling little child. What is the best is watching Chloe and Maya love on each other… The moments when they are hugging each other or just contentedly laying next to each other in Chloe’s bed, those are the best and most precious moments to watch. It was really cute one time when Maya just went up to Chloe and wrapped her arms around her! That happened once. :) On a different note, Maya has learned to fight back when her big sister hits her. The other day Chloe hit her, which didn’t bother Maya, but I yelled at Chloe for doing it and then all the sudden Maya hit Chloe back & smiled! Oh, I can only imagine the fights to come. :)

Well, anyway, I guess I should get back to work… Hope you enjoyed this massively long update!