Thursday, March 22, 2012

Dreams


His naptimes are numbered...he's getting too big for them, which breaks my heart a tiny bit. But when he does nap, he sleeps hard and and deep and peaceful. I'll forever cherish the sweet moments snuggled up next to him in my bed reading "just one more" story before he goes to sleep for the afternoon.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

What We've Been Up To

We've had cold, rainy weather the past two days and a rainy week predicted for us...I am loving it! After a summer of absolutely no rain, I'm soaking up all the wet days we can get :) Mikko is laying on the ground next to me (well, really half on top of me) while I type this keeping me warm, so I'm going to do a bit of an update on us!

- Will is completely potty trained! He has been for a little over a month now and it's so nice. He's almost 100% at night too - he does have nighttime accidents every other week or so, but usually wakes up once to go potty. Potty training him couldn't have been easier. We followed the Three Day Potty Training method and he was fully potty trained by the end of it. I really think that a) he was just ready and b) he's an easy going kid in general, but I am so, so proud of him!

-  We're also coming off of almost a month's worth of sickness for the little guy. It started with a super high fever and sore throat, which even though it looked like it, tested negative for strep. A few days later, he started throwing up. A few days later, he got a rash on his trunk, hands, and feet (not hand, foot, and mouth); a few days later developed hugely swollen glands on the sides of his neck, and most recently, the skin of his palms/feet has started peeling off in large sheets. We're not entirely sure what he has, despite having been to the doctor every single week (or multiple times a week) over the past month. It's been narrowed down to Kawasaki Disease, Scarlet Fever, or a bunch of random viruses he keeps catching. The good news is that he isn't contagious and the peeling skin should be the last 'symptom' he develops if he has either Kawasaki or Scarlet Fever. I've kind of felt like putting him in a bubble for the past month, so I really hope he's on the mend.

- Will started swim lessons at Aqua-tots on Friday. I bought a Groupon a few weeks back for half off of a month's worth of lessons and have been really excited for him to start. I couldn't have been happier with the program - I even signed up for another month of lessons before we left. Will was very apprehensive about the whole thing at the beginning (at one point he was screaming/crying: "This is NOT fun!" hahaha!), but by the end he was having a great time and even started crying when we had to leave. I'm excited to get him started in something that pushes him a little outside of his comfort zone...I think it'll be great for him!

- Greg finished his first report for work and is well into his second report. He'll go to Germany again later this spring and he is absolutely loving the company he's working for. I am so glad that he is excited about what he's doing! I also love how flexible his schedule is. Though he has to work late a lot, he's also able to take off or go in late whenever needed. He had a doctor's appointment on Friday afternoon, so he was home around 3:30, which was so nice! He and Will played all afternoon while I got some uninterrupted time to work.

- My business is booming. I can't even begin to comprehend how much God has blessed me! I made the decision this year to keep Sundays as family/rest days and it's working out so well. I no longer feel like the weekend comes and goes without me seeing my family at all. I am completely booked through May with a few openings left in June/July and already have people contacting me about fall sessions. The relief of knowing that I have sessions on the books and knowing that there will be money coming in through the summer is indescribable and so, so different from last year. I know God has a purpose for everything and even my slow months early last year when we weren't sure where we were going to come up for the money to buy groceries had a HUGE purpose in us being where we are today. But man, I'm so glad we're not reliving those stressful days now! :)

- Working out is going great for me. I don't really have a set goal in mind right now, other than to be as healthy and strong as I can be, and it's enjoyable and relaxing. I started following a Paleo diet in January and was VERY strict for the entire month of January. I've since relaxed some (and lately with all Will's sickness, quite a bit), but I feel good! Greg is even jumping on board with me for the first time this week and I think in the near future we're going to try to move Will that direction as well, though I won't eliminate grains and dairy from his diet entirely...I just hope they can take a backseat to the much more nutritious veggies, meats, fats, and fruit. He's going to be a hard one, I think! :)

Whew, I think that's about it! And because it's never okay to post without a picture, here's one from my P25 files (P52 is my version of Project 52. I am taking a photo a week with my "nice" camera and will make a photo book at the end of the year) :)

click to enlarge! :)