Busy Life

I have had little time to blog lately (obviously). We have been so busy, and our computer situation is tricky, so it's hard to ever get to sit down and organize pictures, stories, and thoughts. We have had all kinds of milestones in the past weeks, and not a lot of photos with which to document them. 

Potty training turned out to be a big success. It was a pretty rough month because Mark was SO busy at work and I was afraid to leave the house with a child who still needed to learn some bladder control. Finding time to grocery shop was the pits. Even if I just stuck a Pull-up on Millie, I still wanted to give her the chance to use the potty if she needed it. But having to hold her on a toilet while holding Luke in my other arm was exhausting. Bringing my cart into the bathroom isn't always an option, and neither was leaving him outside to wait for us. Then of course it would take about 4 separate trips to the bathroom before there was a success. It's painful just to remember it, but it's getting so much better. I'm so proud of this little girl! We were especially proud of how well she learned to put puzzles together while we kept her in the same room for a few weeks right next to her potty. These puzzles seriously saved our sanity (and probably Millie's as well). 

After weeks of scooting, moving backwards, squirming, and screaming, Luke finally got the hang of crawling. Which was good because I literally walked into a room where I'd heard him scream and couldn't find him because he had backed himself completely underneath the futon. He is happier, and now he loves the freedom to search for electronics to chew on, pull over lamps, pull books off of shelves, eat refrigerator magnets, crawl under the kitchen chairs, and especially open and close doors. One time he closed a bedroom door from the inside and it took me several minutes to get in because he was sitting right next to the door and would not move. He is so incredibly sweet and loving, adores his big sister, loves to be held, enjoys screaming as loud as he can for no apparent reason, and LOVES for us to make him laugh. I'm glad he tolerates it when I can't help but squish him with hugs.

This month has been especially challenging because Mark has been away every week so far for job interviews. The kids miss him like crazy, and I find single parenthood does not suit me at all. So last week I opted to head up to Dallas to spend a few days with some good friends from Ithaca. (If you are reading this, live in Dallas, and knew me in Ithaca but did not get a visit, please forgive me. It was a very short trip, and I knew I couldn't squeeze too much in. We hope to make it back up there again before we leave Houston for a Cornell reunion.) Camilla loved visiting the Children's Aquarium.

She also got a kick out of playing dress up for the first time in her life. The mermaid costume was a little long, but she was very happy to be a ballerina with Norah for most of the night. She even tried hard to coach Norah in the correct method of spinning in circles like a ballerina. I gave up trying to get decent pictures of them as neither one was willing to slow down and look at the camera. Millie loved meeting Norah and Alice and I loved spending time with old friends who never run out of things to talk about. I wish Dallas wan't 4 hours away. *sigh*