It's beyond late, but I wanted to document some of the things the kids are doing these days. I know these little snippets of life will evaporate, so this is my feeble attempt to retain a smidge of these precious days...

at the dinner table tonight, miles said, "mommy, you are my very very best friend." he refuses to eat the crust on peen sandwiches (that's how he refers to p&j) and lately he's boycotting the bread, too. he'd just as soon eat the peen straight off a spoon. he hates going to the doctor now - and he isn't a fan of haircuts anymore, hence the long locks. last week sean was in arizona for 5 days - miles went to bed with a picture of sean and i every night that sean was away last week. he cried a little almost every night because he missed his daddy so much, and when thursday evening rolled around, he was beyond excited to see sean return from arizona. parenting on my own for 5 days and 4 nights was an education. "mommy, will you come in my bed for a few minutes?"

last night, piper got sick for the first time. really sick. not just drippy nose and icky cough sick, but full blown stomach bug sick. and my heart broke as sean and i tried our best to soothe our pipergirl. she's all but given up her morning nap - so much earlier than miles did. miles was sleeping twice a day up through 15 months, but at 10 months or so, piper started dropping that morning nap. for her it is an inconvenience. even so, she continues to nap well in the afternoons and covets her early bedtime. the girl loves to be in bed by 6pm.

miles is 100% on the potty. about three weeks ago, he and i had a discussion one tuesday morning. i was entirely done with him being in diapers as i knew he knew what he was doing - and i knew that he would control it when he wanted to, and would choose to use his diapers when he preferred to keep playing. he was ready. so i told him he was done with diapers. and since then, he has had one accident - been dry every night and every nap - he just runs off to do his business, washes up and returns very proud - always asking for chocolate and gooby worms. dipes are in the rear view mirror now.

my pipergirl is crawling around like mad. she loves to pull up on the bookshelf in the family room. she managed to get herself stuck in the base of her exersaucer this week - and sure enough, sean reminded me that miles had done the same thing two years ago... i caught her standing in her crib last week, and she is not a fan of dipe changes. she constantly tries to flip. for such a wee thing, she's quite strong! she is changing incredibly quickly now - much more vocal. she thinks miles is hilarious. when he laughs, she laughs. and whatever he is playing with is the most fascinating toy she has ever seen. his paci/blankie are of particular interest.

miles and piper - you bring such light to my world - i love being your mommy.

and sean - if you read this - you are an amazing father and i couldn't do this without you. i'm thankful God orchestrated this beautiful messy life of ours.