Where is my summer going????

I can't believe how fast life is flying by these days. It's so hard to live life in the moment when the moments are going by at light speed. Yesterday I sat down to finish balancing the checking account only to find that I started doing that job on July 7. How did that happen?

Everyone at our house is doing well. Faith is continues to make great progress. She is now making more vocal sounds and just started to sign for Bye Bye and More!!! We are soooo excited! She is also finally eating solids. We just had our first real meal with all six of us at the table. I never thought that I would be so blessed!

RJ and Grace are playing every minute they can with neighborhood friends. It's nice to be able to stay around home more and have happy kids. They are growing up so fast. I love that they enjoy taking care of Hope and Faith. Grace is a mommy at heart and always makes sure everyone is following the rules-even if she isn't:) And RJ has been practicing Guitar Hero in every spare minute. He can now beat me and Jay at many songs!!

And I'm super excited to announce that Hope potty trained herself this past week! I knew she would get it on her own. No one tells Hope what to do:) That is a personality trait that will come in handy someday, but can make life VERY complicated when she's 3. Most recently I had to carry her out of our local Subway kicking and screaming because she refused to contain her loud voice during lunch. Later when I asked her about the situation she just shrugged her shoulders, gave me puppydog eyes and said "That happens!".

Hope you are all having a fun and happy summer too!

PRICELESS...

I can't believe this will be our last 1st birthday. It really makes me realize that I need to treasure every moment. Time goes by way too quickly!!!

What a weekend...

My sweet little Faith is now officially a one year old!!! I can't believe it!

We had a huge holiday weekend full of celebrations. It was wonderful to be able to spend time with Jay and the kids, as well as many family members and friends. She enjoyed every minute of the festivities. I haven't had time to upload the cake pics yet, but she made a huge mess:) We attend the local parade on July 4th and fun was had by all. We missed out on all this fun last year because of Faith's birth. So I was just as excited as the kids to have a fun and sunny Fourth of July!!

This was the day...

Just one year ago I was still preggers with little Miss Faith. She was still snuggled safely inside, just waiting to come into this world. I was sooo relieved to be in labor after making it through the hardest of my four pregnancies! I was literally counting the minutes that I had left!!! Little did I know that I was on the cusp of a whole new normal. It's really interesting to examine the mindset that I had in the past, not knowing what was just hours into the future. Could I have possibly imagined what this year would be like? Tiny, nonbreastfeeding newborn, months of struggles with bottle feeding, endless dr appts, endless therapy sessions, four visits to the surgery center, two broken bones(Grace), the list could go on and on!

WOW!! That's all I can say!

Tonight I am taking a trip down memory lane with my dearest doula. She was with me last year as my contractions were steadily going nowhere. She drove me to Walmart "just to walk around". She was beside me as we pulled into the parking lot and my water broke! She gently helped me labor and bring Faith into the world a few hours later. Tonight we will walk the isles of Walmart (a store that I dispise the other 364 days of the yr!). I will probably look for a few toys to spoil my baby with. It will be nice to relive those moments and just focus on my sweet girl!

Thank You Doula Friend!!!