Back on the Hamster Wheel

It's true. My summer is officially over. I started back to work last Thursday and kids arrive at 7:45 (if not before) tomorrow morning. With a lot of my friends choosing to stay home with their babies, I know that I made the right choice to go back to work because I have the beginning-of-the-year itch to start with a new group of kids. I truly love what I do... most days. :)

With that said, Sage and I had such a fun summer together. Most days we would at least make it to the park or a walk around the block. She couldn't get enough wading in the pool on our back deck and "wing' was definitely one of her favorite words. However, she preferred that Ross push her in the swing because he would go much higher than I would! She loved to go shopping, even if it was only for groceries and made sure to say HI a million times to everyone in passing. We frequented the zoo, and Farmer's Market as well, and we escaped summer with her first goose-egg on her forehead and a bloody lip. Not bad, considering she still runs EVERYWHERE she goes, jumps off anything under three feet, and is outright careless in her antics.

Claire came over often and Lauren and I (Ross and Matt, too) worked hard to get the girls potty-trained. As soon as we returned from Europe, I removed all rugs and furniture from the side of the house with laminate flooring and let the adventure begin. It took a couple of days of Sage being terrified of the mere sight of the potty and peeing down her leg before she was willing to give it a shot. After a solid week of hell, our stubborn Norwegian child (yes, I blame this on Ross) decided that she was ready for training pants and has been pretty successful ever since. Hopefully she remembers to tell Lisa that she needs to go at daycare and we don't regress...

I also nested quite a bit this summer--organized the basement, painted our bedroom, purchased a new bed, rearranged furniture, touched-up paint, refinished our kitchen countertops with Ross, shampooed carpets, deep-cleaned, and created a big-girl's room for Sage. Her big move came last week and we were a bit nervous whether or not she would stay in bed. So far, she has been a champ and after rocking her for a bit she will read books or play in bed until she falls asleep. Some mornings she climbs down and over to the gate and quietly goes through the list of people she knows to come get her. The other morning it was, "Mommy, Mommy... Daddy? Opa! To no avail she grabbed the loudest toy she had and started playing it until we came to get her. :)

As of late we've been talking to Sage about having a new baby to take care of. We put out the vibrating seat, mobile, swing, etc. to get her acclimated to the idea. The first day the swing was out, she pushed it so hard that it fell over... I guess we will have to enforce the "no-touch" policy for awhile. She's more of a football player than a ballerina. :) Luckily we still have a couple of months. Although today she leaned down to kiss my belly and said, "Baby... open...". I'm not sure that she will actually be that excited when the time comes.

A few other highlights from our summer (in no particular order, and it's getting late so I'm sure that I will forget many):
*Indianola Balloon Festival
*4th of July
*Visiting CR/CF
*Welcoming Baby Clara into the world
*Having LOTS of visitors stay with us on a pretty frequent occasion (Sage still asks about Joey and Joey's puppy--even though she was scared of Kaeda)
*Europe--spending time with Brian and Kate!
*State Fair with Grandma to see all of the animals
*Deciphering Sage talk--you should hear her say, "Fox"
*Everyday antics--Wrestling, playing pretend, going on walks, watching Ross fly a kite...

*Making the most of our last summer with only one child... so much FUN!