The Blantons Go Rolling Along...: Nothing Much...

Nothing much to report, but it's been a while since my last update so I figured I'd let everyone know how we're doing.

Natalie is growing and learning so much. She's gone to two summer camps with her preschool and loves every second of it. When I come to get her she never wants to leave and we're usually the last ones out of there. Her vocabulary and sentence structure blow me away daily, although most of the time she likes to pretend to be a baby like Nick and will coo and cry... it's getting a bit old :) Anyway, her teachers told me that she did a really good job of fitting in with the older kids because of her language skills. I'm very proud of her. She loves her brother with such intensity it almost makes me sad that my parents didn't have any more children together. She's very protective of him and wants to be with him all of the time. Just the other day she went up to him, hugged him and said "I'll never leave you, Nicky." *note: only Natalie is allowed to called him Nicky, I hate it.

Nick is going to be an athlete. He's crawling, pulling up and cruising like a mad man. Every day I expect him to start walking. He's almost ready to walk, I think... he is just about able to balance while standing but still needs to hold on when he takes a step. Chase and I both walked at 9 months, so I think he might follow in our footsteps, ha! Lately, he's taken an interest in the stairs which has caused some alarm. He likes to go up them himself when we're on our way up for bath time. He can make it the whole way, supervised, of course. We've had some separation anxiety issues with him and he absolutely refuses to nap in his crib during the day. I don't have the luxury of devoting myself completely to his sleep habits like I did with Natalie so it's taking him some time to figure things out... I'm hoping that as he gets older it will all just sort of fall into place. Last night was the first night he has truly slept through the night. He went down (after much coaxing) around 9:30 and wasn't heard from again until 6:30. It was glorious. I had the foresight to go to bed at 9:30 too (thinking I was in for a bad night) and was wide eyed at 2:30... I realized it was because I had gotten 5 hours of sleep, which is what I've grown accustomed to over the last 8 months! Eventually I fell back asleep and had one of the best night's rest I can remember.

Chase is doing well with his new job position and is really enjoying getting to know everyone in the community. He's got some schooling and training coming up, as well as a longer "trip" (sniff) so we're prepared to spend some good quality time together as a family before all of that. He has a week off at the beginning of August so we're heading to the beach for some fun in the sand and to celebrate his birthday. He'll have some time off in September as well and we're planning to baptize both he and Nick, hopefully Chase's family will be able to make it out to share the special event with us.

I'm busy trying to find anything and everything there is to do to pass the time during these hot hot hot summer days. Fortunately I got Natalie to start taking naps again, so a big chunk of our day is eaten up by her rest time. Usually Nick and I use the time to do chores or to snuggle. I've been running almost every morning and I think I've become a bit famous in the neighborhood. I'm the gal pushing an 85 pound stroller up and enormous hill while carrying on a conversation with a tenacious 2-year-old and tossing toys at a fussy baby. I've gotten to know yard crews, garbage men and utility workers quite well and they've all started cheering me on. I'll start work again after labor day, and I'm really looking forward to getting back in the studio for a brand new year. Last year was crazy with my maternity leave followed by all the tremendous illnesses that hit our house during the winter. I'm praying God spares us round two this year. Fingers crossed...