Another long overdue post, but I'm hoping to use Lucy and Hank's spring break to get myself caught up! I'm realizing how draining and time consuming school days are!! Despite the fact that the kids are being taken care of for part of the day while they are at school, I think the getting ready, commute time, and homework time involved with school/preschool doesn't actually make the time the kids are away worth it! Hopefully once all three are in school I feel differently, but for now, I'm enjoying this spring break with all three kids home and no place we HAVE to be.
Here are a few shots from the morning of June's 2nd birthday. This year, for multiple reasons, we decided to just do a little family party with the 5 of us. Birthdays are a hard time for me here in Akron because they are a reminder of the distance we have from our families. June is at the age where she doesn't necessarily have "friends" to have over, but with her birthday being just after Christmas, it also didn't make sense to have any family out here to celebrate. We had fun celebrating together and one of the things I love about being in Akron is the closeness the 5 of us have developed... but I do still miss being close to our family and friends in Indy.
So for June's big day we started with sprinkle pancakes (a tradition of ours!) and a few celebratory decorations and presents. Then when Ben got home we went to chuck e. cheese for dinner and some fun. As soon as we got there June pointed to Chuck E. and said - "bear scares me mama, bear scares me"... haha... I guess I should have taken into account that the giant mouse singing and dancing on stage would scare my little 2 year old. Whoops! She eventually warmed up though and of course Lucy and Hank had a blast running around playing, so all in all it was a success.
We had small group that night - and it just so happened that 3 other kids had their birthday that week and 5 kids total had their birthday in January, so we had a cake for everyone to celebrate! Our life group is BIG so having cake with all the littles was quite a feat... but we enjoyed celebrating with our church "family".
I'm going to combine this post with an update on June as well. June at 2 is quite the little firecracker! She is a spunky, hilarious, bossy, and lovable little sweetheart. This girl knows what she wants and she is not afraid to go after it. And I think because for so long the older two kids had to cater to her (out of neccesity when she was a baby), she's learned to manipulate them into giving her whatever she wants. She pretty much rules the roost. The tricky part is that she's so darn cute when she's doing it, that we usually let her get away with anything! I have a feeling she's always going to be my baby. :)
Height: 2'10" (58%) Weight: 27lb 8oz (59%)
We are still working on molding this little lady though! Time outs seem to work pretty well with June. She is the most defiant when it comes to telling her to do (or not do) something, but she also happens to be the quickest to turn around once we start counting or actually put her in time out. She is always quick to say "no momma!" but just as quick to say "ok momma, sorry momma". Overall she is a pretty easy kid and our biggest battles are typically regarding not snacking all day, doing something I ask her to do, and hitting her brother/sister.
June is a pretty good eater - she will try just about anything and seems to eat pretty good at most meals. She loves food off of my plate the most (it seems), but this often means she will eat a salad loaded with veggies, meat and a light dressing. I'm shocked (and a little angry she is stilling my food!) but ultimately love that she is getting all of that good food in!! She typically spends most meals sitting in Ben or my lap. It's not ideal, but it's also not something that I'm too worried about because I know she will eventually stop. If Lucy had tried to do this at meal time, I would have definitely been reading books and talking to friends about how to get her to stop... it's funny how things change with your third kid! I know this time will go fast and so I don't bother sweating the small stuff.
Sleep is great, as usual. June has always been a great sleeper and this past year that continued. She still loves sleeping with her paci and a couple blankis. Luckily she mostly keeps her paci to her crib, but she does love her pacis A LOT. She is a much later sleeper than the other two, typically going to bed between 8:30-9pm and sleeping in until 8-8:30am and takes a nap around 1:30/2pm... I find I push her a little later so we can do more stuff during the day, but she has no problem going with the flow. She has missed a few naps here and there, and seems to do fine with that also. Not that I think she is anywhere near giving up a nap, but she does seem to be pretty flexible.
She is still in a crib, but her latest trick has been climbing in and out of the crib, so I think her crib days will be over soon. She does seem to love her crib and does really well in it, so I'm not eager to move her, but we do need to make the plunge at some point. She now regularly comes all the way out of her room and downstairs after her naps - it's pretty cute. The first time she came down on her own it kind of shocked me, I couldn't believe she was standing right behind me!
At 2 June loves reading, dancing, running around outside (or inside!), jumping on the trampling, playing with Hank and Lucy, (really doing whatever Hank and Lucy are doing, she adores them), getting into trouble (by dumping, drawing, or destroying), snuggling, and playing with babies. In fitting with her opinionated personality, she also loves picking foods out of the fridge or pantry, picking out her outfits (which usually includes 1 of 3 t-shirts that she likes to wear), and doing things "all by herself".
We love you June bug!! You are the perfect addition to our family and you bring all of us more joy than we could ever imagine. Our family is more full, more fun and all together better with you in it.
We call the above June's "Guido" face - since she looks like a little mafia person, strong-arming others to give her whatever she wants. We love our little Guido.
A few pictures from our Chuck E Cheese celebration...
And cake with our small group!
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