It's Been A While...

So life around our house has seemingly returned to normal (whatever that means), and we are just about caught up from all the issues that have pained us over the last few weeks. I am happy to say that we are all healthy and happy right now after dealing with my recent afflictions as well as a stomach ulcer resulting from pain meds or antibiotics, Grace's cold, and Claira's double ear infection. Somehow Matt has managed to remain healthy and helpful, as he has been somewhat of a slave since our return from Disney World. He is wonderful, and I love him for it!

Tonight when I got on the computer, Matt asked me what I was going to do. I told him that I needed to blog because it had been a while since my last post. He asked me what I was going to say, and I had to admit that I didn't actually know. Our life has been pretty pathetic the past few weeks, but I think (or at least hope) that everyone has little breaks from anything and everything every now and again. We have enjoyed a few new happenings though, so I thought I would give some credit to the following noteworthy activities/achievements.

Grace participated in a basketball and soccer camp during the last week of July. She was very excited for basketball as she had never participated in the sport and anticipated that she would be "very good at dribbling". Much to her dismay every morning she managed to get a "crazy ball" that "just wouldn't listen to her". Despite her best dribbling efforts, that ball somehow managed to get away from her every time. She spent a great deal of time chasing it across the gym floor trying to stop it with her foot like you would a soccer ball. It was highly entertaining, as was the way she covered her head with her arms to avoid being hit by the ball whenever she would try to shoot a basket or someone would try to pass the ball to her. She was definitely the cutest one out there and such a GIRL (I am quite certain the WNBA is not in her future-phew!)

Soccer was also lots of fun, especially since some of our friends from Dublin also participated in the soccer class. It was great to see them, and I have to wonder how we can live so close, but still only see each other a few times a year at best (note to self: make a better effort to keep in touch with Dublin friends). I have to say that the 40 minutes for soccer flew by each day with friends to chat with, while the basketball class seemed to drag by, and I oftened wondered how many water breaks they could take before it would be done. Grace loved playing the "buffalo game" in soccer and soon became obsessed with buffalo (apparently Jamba Juice makes a Strawberries Wild Buffalo smoothie that is sooooo good!). She also spent a great deal of time sitting on her ball as well as trying to balance standing up on her ball. I feel as though she really took a lot away from this camp and is really ready for a much more advanced soccer class. No seriously though, it was a fun week for Grace, and I was happy that she was able to participate in a couple of sports this summer even if it was only four days worth of simplified fun and games.

Our big achievement news is about Claira. On her 7-month birthday, she woke up and decided that she no longer scoots around the house but rather crawls on her hands and knees (see video taken on the morning of August 1st). She has been getting up into the crawling position a lot lately, but hadn't made any huge progress in actually making this her primary means of getting around. After having our carpets cleaned on Thursday, which did not allow for her to be on the ground pretty much at all that day, she woke up on Friday morning and just started to crawl. It has been pretty amazing to see her progress so much in such a short time frame.

Her other big thing is that she pulls herself up to everything (couches, tables, chairs, walls, steps, etc.) and has even attempted to "cruise" along the couch and let go thinking she can stand on her own already. When she's not crawling to her next destination, she is in the standing position trying to reach things that are definite "no-no's". I am quite alarmed by this turn of events because she is way too young for this move. We have already moved our coffee table out to the garage to avoid any major head injuries, but there is just no way to completely protect her from all things hard and ouchy. She has already gotten a couple of good bumps, and we know that we are only in for more with the coming weeks and months. It will be interesting to see when she walks since she is about a month a head of Grace on all of these milestones, and Grace was walking by 10 months. Oh, and not to downplay this achievement, she finally sits up by herself now too! Question: Shouldn't your child be able to do this simple task before she is crawling, standing, or attempting to walk?

Other than that, we have kept busy by doing the usual summer fun-parks, pool (Grace is a little fish, and Claira is actually loving the water now), friends, jumping off furniture, laundry (wait that isn't summer fun, but it sure keeps me busy), and just hanging out at home. We are now starting to get in to the back-to-school mode (I can't deny it any longer--school starts in less than a month). On Saturday, Grace and I went shopping for a few new clothes (like she really needed any) for kindergarten. We went to lunch and just had a very fun day together, plus Grace got some really cute new clothes for school. Anyways, that is the jist of our life for now. Summer is almost over, and there are still so many things on our list of things to do. Hopefully we can still squeeze a couple of fun activities in to the few remaining weekends before school starts. We shall see!

Wow for not having anything to say, I sure said a lot!