****i started writing this post a month ago, and it seems outdated and incomplete, but I must post it or I never will****
July has been a very big month in this family!! We gained another member, when my baby sister had a baby on July 8th. Jon and I were out for breakfast in Chicago (after our big night out celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary!- more on that later) when I heard the official news that my niece Dehlia Jean had made her arrival into the world. I was caught off guard at how much it pulled at my heart strings to see the beautiful picture of this new sweet baby show up on my phone, and know that my little sister had just had her whole world changed forever. I wished I could have been there immediately, but we were lucky enough to make it there within a week. Mandy and Nigel were so gracious and allowed the Koepke clan to invade their home the following weekend after sweet Dehlia's birth. I was able to hold her and once again fall immediately in love a tiny little lady. I was in awe at what an awesome job my sister and Nigel were doing, as I always knew that they would because they are a wonderful Auntie and Uncle already.
This past month Harper started crawling!! She is mobile, and that little girl is fast!! She is also so smart, and is very quick to check everything out. Of course, I do not have the house completely baby proofed yet, and it only takes her two seconds to find the item she is not supposed to have and immediately race towards it. So, slowly but surely out have come the outlet covers, corner protectors, baby gates, etc... Olivia is an amazing big sister and has done an excellent job at keeping all of her teeny tiny toys out of her reach and picked up off of the floor. She calls them her "choking heavens"
Speaking of Olivia....she continues to amaze me every day. She is so busy that I fear she is just turning into a big girl in a blur. I need to get better at writing down all of the funny, clever things she says on a daily basis. This summer she has played T-ball (receiving her first trophy!!), continued with swim lessons and took a few classes at the Park District. One of her favorites was called "our own Olympics" and they did a bunch of activities centered around the summer Olympics. She brought home her own glitter covered torch and gold medal.
there are too many memories that I want to have written down to try and elaborate on each of them and even too many to have then in chronological order, but here are the ones that come to mind from the last month or so of summer.
- tonight after Olivia's bath Jon asked her to pick out her story for bed (after she was supposed to get dressed), he was then helping me give Harper some medicine. When he went back to check on Olivia she as not in pj's looking for a book, but downstairs naked eating icing out a tupperware container I had left on the counter. Then when Jon yelled at her (and I had to hide my laughter) she started to cry.....then I asked "why are you naked downstairs?" and she sensed I was giggling she shouted at me "DON'T LAUGH AT MY NAKEDNESS!" ahhh!! too funny!! I did apologize for laughing, but told her that I thought she was being pretty silly.
- Olivia measured herself every time we went to the pool to see if she was tall enough to go on the big slide. Finally, I told her she had reached the mark (she had been about there all summer, right around 42 inches) She was SO excited and goes down that slide at least a dozen times each time we go to the pool.
- Olivia has become a very good artist and spends a lot of time every day coloring and drawing .
- Harper, I guess like all babies, is very inconsistent and likes to keep me on my toes! One week she is refusing to nap and I'm losing my mind, and the next week she will be sleeping until 9:45 am and taking 3 hour afternoon naps....of course the latter should have me chill and relaxed but instead I'm in her room checking her breathing to make sure she hasn't lapsed into a coma. (why else would she still be asleep?)
- The girls have both given me my share of heart attacks this past week, Olivia fell off of the bed while sleeping with me at Aunt Mimi's and Harper took a tumble down a few steps onto the wood floor. I hate to even write that down...it makes me feel like a horrible mother, but of course I didn't even think she COULD go up a stair (let alone 4) and in the time it took me to take dinner out of the refrigerator, THUMP THUMP THUMP, THUD, SCREAM and then both of us were crying. Poor baby!!! I checked her over 10 times and checked her eyes, and kept a close watch on her. Within 30 seconds she was laughing and playing with Olivia. Unfortunately now both of my girls can answer yes if ever asked "WERE YOU DROPPED ON YOUR HEAD AS A CHILD?" sigh. bad bad mommy.
- Olivia is quotable every single day....just as I am writing this she came up to me and said, "Mom, I love my new slippers so much I am going to keep them until they grow smaller!"
- I wish I could pinpoint when it happened, but Harper is not a baby anymore, she is this tiny little person that understands what is going on around her and she listens and responds to us. She knows when she is up to something she shouldn't and will peek at you and even HIDE what she's not supposed to have! She had a tissue the other day, and I was going to take it away from her and she stuck it under her leg and looked at me like, "what? I wasn't going to eat it, I swear"
OK, that's all I have time for now, but I swear I will post tons of pictures soon soon soon!!
