No time...

Most days I feel so unproductive, but at the same time I am exhausted at the end of the day. My life feels like go-go-go 24/7 - but I am not sure what gets accomplished. At any rate I have not had a free minute to update either of my blogs lately. At this very moment the girls and I are outside enjoying a beautiful morning. Grace and Lily are hanging out in the new tent (sun shade) and playing with blocks and I am enjoying a cup of coffee and a cool breeze. Thought I should get a few things down before the day gets rolling and away from me...

It's been a pretty exciting week though - Lily is standing all the time. She absolutely refuses to sit and stay in any one place. She discovers new things to pull herself up on everyday. Just a few days ago she started with the ottoman. She then quickly graduated to the couch and love seat. After that, the LeapFrog table was a cake walk. Lately she is trying to reach up to the top of the coffee table and entertainment center to stand there. Once she is up on her knees, she can touch the table tops, but cannot seem to get enough leverage to pull herself up. For the second time, I have had to lower the crib mattress, since I find her standing up in her crib more and more. I just think I must say it again - She is going to be walking any day now. She has figured out how to walk around the edges of things once she is standing, pushing a toy is the next step. It's just so amazing to watch! Now - If she would only start sleeping through the night...

Grace figured out how to swim with flippers on this week and she has been in the pool everyday since! Thursday morning she woke up at 4:30 screaming "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" when I rushed into her room to see if she was okay - she popped up in bed and announced "I wanna go swimming!" Don't get me wrong, I love the pool and I love the water, but 4:30 in the morning is too early for the pool! We went at 7am though.

Now that she swims and loves it we have to get back to basics. "Grace, you cannot jump into the pool, until either Mommy or Daddy is in the pool AND we know you are going to jump in." She has taken to simply leaping in with out leaping to anyone. Part of me thinks... "Okay, 'baptism by fire' - 'sink or swim' - what better way to learn." But the other part thinks..."This is not safe!" Thank God for Mary! For the last few weeks of this swim session I will have Mary working on nothing but pool safety. I can do the swim instruction part myself, what I need is someone who is not Grace's parent to put the fear of God into her. No matter what - I am so proud of my girls!

Looking ahead, Grace will finish this session of swimming and be done and continue her instruction with me. Lily will then get her turn for a few lessons. She currently loves the water and is fine with bath water all over her head and face, but not so fine when it's pool water. My hope is that she will not need to be with Mary for as long as we've had Grace in lessons. After all I did spend a number of years teaching swimming, I should be able to do it alone. - Then Grace gets to start gymnastics. Part of me always thought, if I had girls, they'd follow in my footsteps and don a pair of ballet slippers. I am just not sure however, that Grace has the temperament for ballet. She would, I think, thrive in a gymnastic setting. She is fearless and loves to climb and tumble. She does have great balance, and boy does she have the compact little body of a gymnast. We'll see...

For now, Grace is calling "Mommy come build with me!" So I'm off... Ahh Sundays, so much for a day of rest - It's a good thing I Love My Job!