Family Update

I apologize for skipping the month of February! It was pretty busy, with Mia's surgery in the middle, then the start of Lent toward the end. Plus, Will was gone a lot with baseball. I have so much to say about our darling Euphemia, but I also want to share a little about both Will and I. After all, we are part of the family!

Will is in full swing now (um, no pun intended!) with the baseball season. In February they spent a weekend in Tennessee, then one in Alabama. The first week of March, they were in Texas for Spring Break. Practice goes until 7 pm each evening during the week. We are thankful he's able to come home for lunch just about every day, and it hasn't been too hard to adjust to a 7:00 dinner time either. Will is officially the pitching coach, which has been an adjustment for him since he's not really a pitcher. However, he knows plenty about it after being a catcher for years. He has really embraced the role of a coach and is much more content than he was playing. He's reading books by great coaches (John Wooden, Tony Dungy) and trying to apply what he learns. They had their first home games the weekend of the 17th. We were happy to have Will's parents and brother here for that weekend (and 70 degree weather!). Will has a couple more weekends away, but only to Ohio.

I am now 24 weeks pregnant! Thankfully I feel fantastic (for being pregnant!). I need a little rest during Mia's nap sometimes, and can't stay up too late. Other than that, I just notice a growing belly and wiggling arms and legs inside! At the beginning of March, I started babysitting a one-year-old girl a few days a week. It wears me out, but it is good to have some practice at juggling two! It will be different with a newborn, but I'll still be able to transfer the lessons I think. I'm already trying to prepare for when the baby comes. It's getting so close! I was blessed to have my best friend Carrie and her two boys visit for most of the week while Will was in Texas. Lots of good mommy and girl time. While she was here, she helped me redesign my personal blog, which I've been spending a lot of time writing on. I enjoy the challenges and growth that writing brings.

And now for the exciting member of the family: dear Mia. She is now 20 months old. Wow, how she is growing. Shortly after she started saying a handful of words, she started putting two together - already! She is learning to say please and thank you, "Yes, Mama", and on her own will describe and label things, like "purple cup." She seems to love purple (and no, I didn't try to influence her!). She is really into babies now and will walk around with a doll in her arms saying "shh, shh, shh" or singing. She saw me do that once with the girl I babysit and since we've done it with Mia plenty of times, it must have stuck! She is still loving reading. Now she likes "The Little Engine that Could" (the full version) and "The Cat in the Hat". I thought "Are You My Mother?" was long... They're just going to get longer, which is fine with me! Sometimes she multi-reads. She'll give me a book to read while she looks at another! She's into the alphabet and counting. She can count to two, and when I've counted things to ten, sometimes she'll say the next number first, but she hasn't done this independently yet. She is fascinated with the buckles on her booster seats (kitchen and car) and any others! She can climb into her kitchen seat all by herself and buckle herself in with only a little help. It won't be long until she's doing the same with her car seat. I see this as a great thing as it will be very helpful when the baby is here!

We are all looking forward to celebrating Easter/Pascha here together for the first time! We wish you all a blessed remainder of Lent and a happy spring!