Hiatus...

So, I took an unscheduled, month-long hiatus from blogging. I can't really say why, I just didn't feel up to writing. I certainly had plenty to write about, PLENTY of issues going on lemme tell ya, but I just didn't feel like writing about any of it.

So, what changed?

No clue. Just driving to work today I felt like blogging. So here I am.

A lot has happened in the month I've been gone.

We celebrated Evie's second birthday. It was a great party. I felt so blessed and grateful for our wonderful friends and family. So many came out to celebrate her special day and it was just spectacular! I loved it all. From the crazy, frantic rush of trying to get everything ready in the morning to the unbelievable exhaustion of the afternoon when I FINALLY got to sit down. Then I realized again that in six months I will be throwing yet another birthday party. And I felt a little dizzy. Eesh.

Also in the last month, Evie has decided to go on strike against pooping in the potty. She is accident-free on the pee front. But she simply does NOT want to go poop in the potty. It is probably the most frustrating thing in the world. I don't know why she's doing it. She certainly hasn't explained it to me. She just doesn't want to do it. Everyone tells me it's a phase and soon she will resume her potty regimen. I just have to be patient...but gosh, it is hard!

Let's see...Elly has decided NOT to pursue crawling. She wants to skip that milestone and go straight to walking I guess. Just like Evie. There were a couple of weeks where she was creeping and doing this funny inchworm thing around the living room. And then I guess the light bulb went off as she was watching her sister skip, hop and tumble about. Up is the way to go. Leave all this belly-business to the lizards! So now she's pulling up and trying to take steps and wanting to cruise, etc. She gets so mad that she can't just walk like her big sis. There's so much that Elly sees Evie doing and she can't do yet and she gets so mad when she tries! It's kinda cute.

My nephew celebrated his first birthday during the last month. It was a precious birthday party and made me realize I totally need to solicit my mother-in-law's input for Elly's party. The theme was cowboys and she got red-checkered table cloths for all the tables, mini hay bales, cowboy hats and an adorable banner. There was a bounce house for the kids. And the party favors were bandannas, badges, stickers and miniature plush horses! It was so cute! The cake was shaped like a big cowboy boot and Hunter's smash cake was a yellow badge. So adorable. So now I've set my goals really high for Elly's first birthday. I don't think I'll get that in-depth for every party, but the first one is a big one. Her birthday is close to Valentine's Day and since she's just going to be one and doesn't really have a preference on characters or themes, I was thinking of doing a Valentines theme. It will certainly be easy to find appropriate decorations and what not!

Like I predicted earlier, Elly has turned out to be a talker. She already says "mama," "dada" and "hi." She actually said "Dora" yesterday. And she tries to say lots of things. It's so interesting to see how different two kids can be.

In the last week, fall has officially settled on us. It is cold! We went from upper 80s, playing in the pool, running the AC, to 60s and wearing coats with the heat on at night. It is wild! But I am so excited. Because that means that our beach vacation is soon, followed by Halloween. And then Thanksgiving and Christmas will be right around the corner. Woot! I cannot wait! The holidays are going to be so much fun this year. Three babies at the Dowd family stuff and two babies at the Schmoll family stuff. Kids really MAKE the holidays.

Other than running around like crazy (we've had three birthday parties, including Evie's in the last month) and working weird schedules, that's about it for my hiatus. Sorry I haven't written. I hope to do better! Thanks for reading!

Love,

G