Updates for June, 2011

     Olivia is finally one month old. She's not completely sleeping through the night, but I'm definitely not sleep deprived throughout the day. As far as my ability to cope with two children as opposed to one goes: I thought I'd have more patience with Charlotte. As it turns out, I feel like I'm getting on to her for absolutely every little thing that she does instead of letting her be the wild child she just naturally is. I've decided I'm going to lay off a bit, if not for her own self esteem, but for my sanity, too. Not too much has happened in the past month. We're all still trying to find a routine that we can all fit in, which will be difficult since Olivia's schedule has already changed a lot.

     While my in-law's were here, we did a lot of fun stuff. We went to Sam's Club and bought a lot of good stuff that you can't get at walmart! We also bought some flowers from Grandma Ray, which we let Charlotte pick out. She loves the color purple! We also went to the Eagle Ridge Mall a couple hours from my house which has a carousal that Charlotte went on with her papa. She wasn't too sure about it! They also had a few other little toys she played on, but she wasn't real happy to be on them, until the very end! Oma and papa had a swimming pool at their condo that Charlotte got to swim at, and she loved that!

     In Sebring, there is a great children's museum that Oma and Papa took Charlotte to one day. They had different stations set up so she could experience different facets of life, i.e. she got to pretend she was a doctor. At another station she got to drive a race car and a truck and at another station she got to pretend to go shopping, ring up her groceries and make change. It inspired me to open her piggy bank and start working on our different types of currency and the importance of saving change. So far she has loved finding change and putting it in her piggy bank, hopefully this is a behavior we can get to stick!

     Olivia is still such a peaceful baby. She's happy 99% of the time and really doesn't complain if I have to put her down. She still sleeps quite a lot and doesn't seem to have any night/day confusion. I feel extremely fortunate for my situation, I know it could be a lot worse! Though it is still very stressful to balance the needs of two different children, I think this is something I'll be able to manage and grow from. Friday, June 10, Daddy and papa went deep sea fishing, so Debbie and I got to spend a little time together. We did plenty of relaxing and got some ice cream! As it turns out, while they were deep sea fishing, Craig caught a hogfish which is a rare rod and reel catch and became the spot light of the fishing trip.

     Craig and Charlotte have gotten to spend more time together lately which is great because they're so much alike. I always knew they would be buddies: Charlotte is such a daddy's girl and Craig loves the age that she's at. Other than the tantrums, fits and strong willed nature of her, she is at an age that's so much fun since she's starting to think outside the box and outside of what we're telling her. She's so smart and I'm so impressed with how much she knows without me telling her. Craig and Charlotte love to go four wheeler riding, and their newest game time is playing with the water hose outside:

     Not much has been happening with us with all our changes, but we're missing a lot back home. Our niece Kayla has been going to camps and learning and growing, and Uncle Ross has gotten back home from his mission. My little sister is about to turn 9 (And can you believe my older brother just turned 27?). My cousin Matt just married a beautiful woman, Ashley and we missed their wedding. We love that we are able to grow together as a family as we're forced to face daily situations without the influence of our families, but we're missing out on so much, too. We're definitely looking forward to Thanksgiving when we can get everybody together again, Charlotte needs to know her cousins and we're looking forward to seeing our families again!