Constant Beginnings

Since our lives have calmed down a bit, I have been finding myself sitting, staring, and feeling completely overcome with emotion as I watch our children. I marvel at how blessed we are to have two amazing girls. Truly amazing. They are so similiar, yet unique. Claire has become a young lady of sorts, interested in babies, doing things herself and yet, doing things just like us. She is in love with Mya. She dotes on her like no other and when Mya expresses any sign of unhappiness, Claire changes her voice into a sweet, melodic tone and rushes to her side. Claire still loves to be held, snuggled and smothered with love. She cries when one of us leave to run errands, but is completely thrilled with her time at Miss Maureen's house. Claire loves to talk on the phone and is already such a tech-savy little princess. She'll definitely surpass our knowledge soon. She talks like a little grown-up so much of the time that we need to remind ourselves that she is only two. It is sometime...

We sing. Alot. We've been working on a few new ones. I finally got Claire singing "Jesus Loves Me" on video. However, we didn't practice before the taping, so the song is a bit lost, but you can hear the words which are too sweet. Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

i typically am not one for family reunions. there is something about having to identify who you are everytime someone talks with you that drives me crazy. just introducing yourself by name isn't enough. you have to identify who you are related to. case in point...chris' family put together a family reunion of sorts. it was mostly extended family, so chris did alot of explaining. it went something like this--"i'm chris, jeannie's son." "who's jeannie?" "estelle's daughter." "oh, estelle." not my cup of tea. i prefer those relationships a little less removed on the good old family tree. regardless of my preferences, we went and enjoyed ourselves--hanging mostly with his cousins and aunts/uncles. it was nice to see everyone.

Our sweet baby girl is 4 months old today. She truly is a sweetie. Her personality is shining through more and more everyday. Mya giggles at all sorts of noises and when we tickle her under her arms or chin. She is a pretty mellow kiddo who is thrilled all of the love and attention. Her smile can light a room. She is eating (6 ounces) and sleeping well (8 hours). Mya is wearing size 2 diapers and three to six month clothing. She is enjoying toys and other objects more and more. Mya likes to watch the ceiling fans, jump in her supersaucer or grasp rattles on her tray. Our baby girl has a special love for Claire and vice versa. Claire can make her smile like no one else. She is also the one who right by her side should she make a peep. They are certainly developing the bond that I could only hope they would have--all that sisters should be. Mya has been and continues to be such a blessing in our lives. She has filled an empty place in our hearts we didn't know existed and we poss...

At Mya's 2 month checkup her pediatrician made a referral for physical therapy to eval and treat suspected torticollis. Mya has a tendency to tilt her head to the right. She also prefers to keep her head turned to her right side. I had never heard of such an issue, so this was rather interesting. July/August was such a flurry for us that I never had a chance to schedule the eval. I finally got her into a PT this week even though I was certain nothing would be identified. The condition had improved so much over the last month that I felt the final slight tilt that remained would eventually self-correct as well. The PT herself left so much to be desired. I think she sized us up as a typical, uneducated military family. Chris, who was in uniform, tended to Claire, but listened and watched as I worked with Mya and interacted with the PT. She talked to me as if I were an idiot. I really hate people like that. Anyway, after she beat the dead horse by telling us how assymetrical Mya's...

claire says some funny things. here are a couple of her latest... -when she is hungry, she'll say "my tummy full." it took awhile for us to catch on. -one day we were running some errands and i opened a pack of gum in the car. she smelled it all the way back in her seat. she asked what i had, so i said "gum." we went back and forth as she thought i said "some." i attempted to set her straight, but she obviously didn't understand. from that point on "gum" is known as "some." now when she smells my gum she says, "you have some , Momma?" i think this is incredibly cute and it makes us laugh everytime. -my parents gave her the book "pinkalicious" after it was such a hit with our niece. it has quickly become claire's all-time favorite. she quickly began repeating several lines and often reads it to herself. when she does this, it sounds mostly jibberish, but she clearly says the lines that she repeats when we ...

sophie can chew through anything. she's chewed through every toy we have gotten her. chris ran to the store with the chore of finding an indestructable toy and returned with a giant bone-like thing that said "puncture resistant." within 5 minutes of playing with this toy, sophie had ripped it apart. it was guaranteed, so we took it back. petsmart was awesome, simply exchanging it with no questions asked other than what kind of dog we had. hmm...and to think she is just a puppy. upon chris going to return the toy, i left him with the instructions to find something more durable. he replied, "what am i going to get, a tire?" i said yes and away he went. low and behold, he returned not 5 minutes less with nothing less than a.......tire! it was such a funny thing. one week later, i am pleased to say that sophie has yet to "puncture" the tire. she is loving the toy and i think just carrying the thing around (it weighs 5 pounds) is draining her energy. ever...

Yesterday was a gorgeous day. The weather was perfect. Our city farm opened earlier in the week, so we decided to spend some time picking apples. This is definitely a highlight of living in New England that we will miss when we move. Chris and I have picked apples, berries, pumpkins, etc. each season. We love doing so, and enjoy even more, sharing this experience with our children. Claire was in heaven. She wandered from tree to tree trying to find the apples. Many of them were hanging on the low parts of the tree, so she could even reach. It didn't take long to fill our bag. Mya even got a taste of the experience. She sucked a bit of an apple and took in all its goodness. As you can imagine, she smacked her little lips in delight. This morning Claire and I made an apple pie with our freshly picked apples. I am not a pie girl, but Chris and Claire will enjoy later. I am not a great crust maker either, but I will say that they seem to look better each year. Perhaps in fifty years, t...