these days...

i am sitting down with a mug of hot tea for the first time in days. iced tea has been my drink of choice for the past ten days or so as it has been hot, hot, hot! we've been having record breaking temperatures around here. spring suddenly appeared and this is the one year (probably ever) where i didn't feel like i was waiting and waiting for it to come. our winter was so mild and really hardly even felt like winter - what a treat. the trees are budding and the flowering trees are blooming, daffodils have popped up, and the birds are chirping. we've been really enjoying the weather, although when it was close to 90 degrees the other day, this pregnant woman was struggling a bit! i told jeremy that if this weather keeps up, we will have to install our window air conditioner in our bedroom! i hardly have any summer maternity clothes, so i've been washing and rotating my three short sleeved maternity shirts with the one pair of jeans that i can easily roll up. it might get to the point of having to invest in some capris and a couple more short sleeved shirts, though i would rather not invest in those things since it's for less than two more months anyway.

our girl enjoying the weather and trying out her bike!

our little one is upstairs "resting". it seems that she has decided to boycott naps, but rest time in her room is still good for her. she sings and talks to herself and occasionally eventually falls asleep, or i get her up after an hour or when she starts to cry. i haven't even seen jeremy yet today because he left early for a breakfast meeting. the days when he is already gone when i wake up just don't quite seem like they start out right. i miss him. we had good playtime with friends this morning, which helped break up the day. it feels like the afternoon is slowly crawling by, but i shouldn't complain about that because usually i feel like the days fly by too quickly.

yesterday the little one and i drove out to the farm to pick up our milk. we arrived about two minutes after a calf was born in the field. it was laying on the ground by it's proud mama who was licking it off. beautiful. i love that we get to see things like that when we get our milk, instead of just picking it off the shelves at the grocery store. and i love that our girl sees the cows who make the milk that she drinks. it just seems so right.

after seeing the newborn calf, i was driving down the road marveling at the beauty of new life. then a bird flew in front of the car and i hit and killed it. it kind of ruined the moment.

this girl makes me laugh.

two!

our girl turned two on saturday! we had a fun time celebrating as a family and with a small group of friends from church.

making the birthday cake with mommy...

special birthday pancakes! she requested a teddy bear pancake...

ready for a celebration!

rainbow cake!

our girl is such a gift to us and we are so thankful for her!

sinus infections and potty training

i haven't been spending very much time here lately. i was sick for close to two weeks with a cold turned sinus infection. i have had one sinus infection before (when i was in college), but i forgot how bad they are! i was miserable. a trip to the doctor and some antibiotics later and i finally started to feel better. i'm someone who likes to trust the body to heal itself of such minor infections and therefore am resistant to taking antibiotics, but this is one time when i am very thankful that i was able to get my hands on some. i knew it was that bad when i spent an evening sitting on our couch just pressing on my face because that helped to take away some of the pain. thank goodness that's over.

our big news around here is that our girl is potty trained! it took very little effort on our part and she has been doing SO well with it. she is so proud of herself and we are so proud of her too! it's very exciting. and we are very excited to have this skill learned before another little one joins our family - how wonderful to have a bit of a break from using and washing cloth diapers before our little man arrives! of course, she still wears diapers when she sleeps, but a few weeks ago we switched to disposables for night time because the cloth diapers were leaking (they were getting to be too small), so a break from cloth diapers it is!

we also have a big birthday coming up at our house - our girl will be two on saturday! it's hard to believe it was already two years ago that i was very pregnant and so ready to meet her. we have plans for a family day with the three of us as well as a little celebration with a few of her favorite people from our church. it's going to be a great day.

today was a big day with a morning meeting, groceries, and then this afternoon the little one and i made granola, and brownies (a recipe from Feeding the Whole Family - a great cookbook with a lot of healthy recipes that i highly recommend!). i also have a loaf of bread baking in the bread maker. yum. i am finding it so much fun to cook with my little helper by my side. of course, it makes everything take longer and it makes a bigger mess, but she is such a little delight that i don't care. she loves to dump things in the bowl and mix them up. i love seeing her have fun in the kitchen and watching her learn. it certainly helps that jeremy has been doing most of the dishes lately - especially today. he spoils me.