May Update

May has been full of hot days – sunshine, backyard, beach, and some ice cream! It’s been fantastic.

We started off the month with some time at the beach:

It was Rose’s first real introduction to the ocean and she loved it! Didn’t even squawk when we dipped her in the sea. Pearl can happily spend hours running through the waves and turning over rocks to find crabs.

We had Bella the Dog staying with us for and it was surprisingly great. (I was nervous, let’s be honest, about taking care of a toddler, a baby, and a dog all day.) The good weather definitely helped as we spent most of our time outdoors and Bella helped keep Pearl busy. They kind of love each other.

Rose is not quite sure.

Rose is now eight months and finished the month out strong by figuring out how to crawl. She’s not super fast yet but she can get where she wants to go. Sort of. Sometimes she ends up going backward and gets her legs stuck under the couch. This changes things around our house and we are suddenly back into the world of baby-proofing and fishing grass out of mouths.

But you can’t really be upset at that face, right?

The girls continue to charm me with their growing sister relationship. I know that Rose-on-the-move will add a new element to it but so far Pearl has taken it in stride. She fully embraces her big sister role and loves to “teach” her baby sister. She’s the biggest proponent of baby sign language in our house; I think she’s eager to hear what Rose has to say.

I feel like we are getting into a really good groove in our day-to-day and the stages that Pearl and Rose are both at are full of fun. Pearl’s imaginative play grows every day and I am continuously amazed at what she comes up with. She loves arts and crafts so I’m always trying to come up with new activities. I’m seeing her interact more fully with her peers and want to branch out and do new things, which is big for our little introvert. Rose is sorting out a new sleep schedule (only 2 naps a day!) and we recently moved the girls into the same room at night time with fairly good results. (Fingers crossed as we work out a few kinks.) The hard moments are still really, really frustrating and many days I get to the end without being able to remember if I brushed my teeth or not but every day I am so thankful that this is my life and that I get to spend it with these people.