Where did the summer go?

This summer flew by. Working makes everything fly by. School started again (although I have no pictures to prove it). Chloe has a new sitter - that we l.o.v.e., one of our cousins, Stephanie. It has been a few weeks now and it seems to be working out well. Nothing stresses me out more than daycare. I'm not sure why - there are plenty of things to be stressed about but having this ONE aspect taken care of makes me so much happier generally. It's the little things.

Hface is in the 7th grade, Maya is in 6th. I'm finding that Maya is handling 6th grade a bit better than Hface did, I think mostly because she knew what was in store (projects galore. boo). Hface made the softball team and is practicing 4 days a week for 2+hours. She looks adorable in her softball outfit, but I'm sure that isn't really important when game-time comes. I believe her first game is next week, so I will try to update accordingly. Both girls are doing well and aside from arguing non-stop with each other, they are doing great.

We missed the family reunion this year due to baby Chloe's ongoing illness. It seems that she goes 3 weeks well, 6 weeks sick. This has been the basic rotation of health since her May pneumonia. She was sick on and off all summer which makes me DREAD this fall. Especially since there are so many new strains of flu - and since Chloe is spending more time around different people (sitters). I can't believe it is RSV season AGAIN. Seriously. How many years do we have to deal with this? Chloe has come leaps and bounds since last year for sure, but she was well last year for the entire winter. This year will be a different story I'm sure. At least we can count on two things a) we have medical insurance so *ha-ha* on them and b) my boss is still extremely flexible with my schedule so if I have to take time away to care for Chloe, it will be *okay*. And by *okay* I mean, let's hope he's reading this so that if he plans to react in a way other than the way stated, he'll rethink it.

One new development this week is Chloe's "dirty look" face. I'm not sure WHO taught her, but the girls thought it would be good to teach her how to give dirty looks on command. It is hilarious actually. I told my sister this and she said, "why teach her now, she'll be giving them to you on her own soon enough." True. Didn't think of that. She's trying to talk more and more, the most noticeable words she says are "Word World" which is a PBS tv show. She is starting to seem more like a toddler - taking fewer naps (unless she's sick) and sleeping better during the night. Since school started, the girls get up around 6:30 a.m. and Chloe has been doing the same. This makes for an earlier night (usually "early" for me is something around midnight).

Chloe loves to try and feed herself, but most of it makes it onto the floor. I'm not sure when it's gonna click (spoon+mouth=good job). Throwing everything is her favorite past time.