Weekend

This weekend we finally had beautiful spring weather so we spent as much as we could outside! We went for a walk to the local Forest Preserve today and had the best time.

#friends

21 Months

I'm seeing less and less baby and more little girl. It's fun and sad at the same time, but I love hearing her say and learn new things every day. Her vocabulary is growing. Words like "apple", "more", "I love you"and "mommy" she says clear as a bell. And then there are some words that she says that are so close and SO cute! 

"sank su" (thank you) 

"a-ma-na" (banana)  

"nah-nah" (Serena)

"me-now" (meow) 

Clothing size: 24m-2t tops, 18-24m bottoms
Shoe size: Toddler 5.5
Diaper size: 4

In other news, we moved into our newly renovated home last week. It's been a very easy transition, we only moved across town, but still I felt "at home" right away. I have lots of little projects around the house to do, but I just have to be patient that it will all get done in time.

With all the unpacking there are lots of boxes available 

so we made one into a play house

Reading books with Great-Grandma

Au Pair Extension?

It’s hard to believe but here we are at month seven of our year with Adine. That means it’s time to decide about extending. I’d be happy to have her extend with us however, I know that she has a life back home, and a family she misses dearly. When I got the extension reminder email from the agency, I approached Adine and asked if she has made a decision. This was something that we had discussed before, and she let me know at that time that she did not know what she wanted to do. She talked to her family and the Area Director as she considered. While some would have been hurt that she did not jump at the chance, I read it as a sign that she took the situation as seriously as I did and wanted to make sure it was the right decision for all of us.

It's likely that she will return home to France at the end of her year but she officially has until May 15 to make a final decision. In the meantime, I went ahead and renewed with the au pair agency. In order to get the maximum in renewal discounts I have sixty days to find and interview a new au pair who will arrive in September. Stay tuned…

It's Been Four Years...

Monday will be four years since my Mom died. April 15th, 2009 everything changed. Since then, I've worked through all the stages of grief. My perspective has changed. My thought-processes changed. I changed. I'm that same person, but I now know the fragility of life and how good we have it. I'm the same person, but now I am so much more.

I have had several signs in the last couple weeks that she is with me, they are private so I won't go into them here, but let's just say that these signs have been comforting with a twinge of sadness. Today, I was walking past the diaper aisle at the grocery store and thought to myself, “Won’t need those much longer”. That started me wondering about when I potty trained. Was I easy or hard to train? How old was I? How long did it take? How did Mom do it? The only people who can answer my questions, aren't here anymore. My brother is younger than me, and my grandmother doesn't remember. I feel I’ve lost touch with so many details of my past. I know I don’t have it nearly as bad as some, but that doesn’t make the missing pieces hurt any less.

I Love You...Today

I laughed so hard because I would repeatedly say "I love you" and she would repeat back "I love you, today." I was like where is she getting the 'today'?

I then told her teachers at daycare and they explained that "I love you...today" is part of a song they sing regularly in class. 

No matter, I will take "I love you" in any form!