A Rainy Day

In our neck of the woods today was a rainy day. So the kids and I were playing inside today. This week has been a slow one with Brian in San Francisco all week (he left early Sunday morning). I seem to have picked up some kind of head cold over the past couple of days or so as well which has zapped my energy right out of me (the little that I had left!). But thankfully God's grace is sufficient to carry me through each day and I am doing my best to remain content and joyful in all circumstances!

Sydney has entered the "I love to hear my own voice" phase ... which means that we have a little girl who is constantly squealing and screaming when she's awake ... at least it's a happy scream! She loves it when you make noises back at her, she thinks it's very funny. She is also very close to rolling back to belly (she's done it a couple times, but only on soft surfaces, not the floor).

Many of you will be excited to hear that Justin is talking quite a lot these days. Even we're a little shocked to hear everything he's saying! He tries to repeat pretty much anything, and a lot of things he says are actually understandable! So that's been a blessing. He is also growing a lot in responding to us ... although he still has plenty of strong willed defying moments, we have seen much growth in the little guy which has been very encouraging. Now if only I can get him to stop throwing his food when he's done at every meal and get him potty trained!! Oh well, one thing at a time! In the meantime you will find me changing many dirty diapers every day and often on my hands and knees cleaning up his messes (thank goodness for hard wood floors!). Since I know this season of life is only a breath, I will continue to enjoy every minute of it ... yes, even when I'm on the floor!

Hailey is becoming more of a big girl with each passing day ... it is a lot of fun to have conversations with her and watch her imitate me (the good and the bad!) as she pretends to be a mommy. She has also mastered the art of "pumping" while swinging all by herself. This is great news for Mommy because now she can go outside all by herself, and without even getting a starter push she can get swinging nice and high! She's been getting better and better over the past couple of months, and then all of the sudden it just clicked and she really got it, so that was exciting for her too!

All in all things are going well and we all eagerly anticipate Daddy's return (late Friday night ... or actually Saturday morning around 1:30 a.m.) Hopefully everyone else has enjoyed this day with fresh mercies ... rain or no rain!