Showing my mommy pride

Today Melly went to swimming. She loves it and it is a very nice class for her and her daddy to spend together. Today in class (the second one of her second quarter) the teacher informed Mr. C that Melly was a superstar and that she was ready to move from baby swim 1 & 2 onto auqatots (which is the bigger kids class!)!!!! I am so excited for her. So not only will she get to learn some new swimming moves she will also have the older kids to watch and learn from! So proud! The teacher also said she will work with Melly on more advance swimming techniques so she will be able to be a superstar in the next class too!

What a girl!

Wonderful Child

A few months ago Melly figured out how to turn somersaults. Mostly by mistake and she was so shocked by it that she didn't do it again...until today. And once she figured it out again there was no stopping her (especially when she was very dizzy). And so, without further ado...

Stress level falling...

The weekly good news...
I have been granted in state tuition!
For those of you who know all about college tuition you will know that the cost of my grad school just dramatically reduced. We are talking $10,500 a semester down to just over $3,000. (Wow!) I had enough financial aid to get me through it at the higher cost, but with nothing left for living expenses... and now even after tuition we will have enough to cover childcare.

I didn't realize how off the chart stressed about this I was until I got the news yesterday.

Now, if only Melly would sleep in past 3am...then we would all be doing a lot better!

No chair is safe in our house...Melly will seek and pull off any sticker attached by the manufacturer in order to keep us safe.

And apparently we need to wear them too...

Sadly, sometimes stickers aren't enough...or chocolate chip cookies...

Childcare *warning, this is a whining rant*

I have to put Miss Melly into childcare again. I have several things I am looking for this time, including state certification. And I have found a very nice lady who has agreed to look after her and her brother, when he is ready for it. And this childcare even costs less than what we were paying in SC. (By just a little.) But what I wasn't ready for was how much it was going to cost to send both babies to childcare. In fact, I had a little mental meltdown last night on how in the world we were going to pay for school, childcare and the cost of living all at the same time. I'm not saying that people who do childcare don't deserve enough money to make it worth their while...and quality costs...But I honestly think that we are going to be paying more in childcare than in rent and bills combined each month. I have no idea how we are going to pay for it, even with Mr. C working and student loans. Yet one more step towards my mental breakdown...

Nightmares

For the past several nights poor little Melly has been waking up screaming in sheer terror. She is so scared that we have had to take her into another room and turn on the lights. Two nights ago she was so upset that she didn't want to be with only one parent...she needed to see us both. What is so scary to a one year old? Are nightmares normal?

What a weekend

So, this past weekend was very fun and action packed. Fluffy came to visit us and it was great. Melly fell in love with her right away and we had a lot of very cute snuggly baby moments. Fluffy sent took some very cute pictures...









Fluffy went home on Sunday. (Thanks for coming to visit!) And on Monday we went swimming...much to the dismay of my glasses which accidentally got stepped on. So Yesterday I had two doctors appointments...One to look at Ian and the other to check out my eyes. I will be getting new glasses next week and I am pretty sure that everyone is pleased to see Ian. So a good (long) weekend!

This up coming weekend we are thinking about going to a lake for some swimming... I wonder how Melly is going to like that... (The baby does not like grass and is afraid of dirt patches.)

The Verdict is in

Here his is... Everyone, please say hello to Ian!


In case you were questioning in any way...here is a clear shot of boy. (A clear view, just like Melly did.)


His foot! Right in the middle of the picture...

Last Night

For those of you wondering, last night was just fine for Ms. Melly and terrible for me. She did fall out of bed, twice. The first time she woke up and cried, but was quickly put back to sleep by her daddy. The second time, however, she was still asleep and her dad picked her up and placed her back into bed with no issues. I didn't sleep at all. I spent the night thinking I heard her or she was about to walk into the bedroom. I kept hearing phantom noises and seeing baby sized shadows. It was terrible. When she did finally get up (at 6:00a) I heard a pathetic little 'ma' and then crying when I sat straight up and called to her. (She was fine, by the way, just confused about the new morning freedom.)

So I just took a little nap while she was taking hers...and hopefully tonight will be better. (Probably not as Mr. C is away on business until Saturday morning.) Oh well. I'm proud of her. I just wish I was dealing with her growing up better.

Exciting day

A very exciting day in the house... Melly now has a big girl bed. We realized that she is wanting to do things for herself a lot now and there is really no reason that we need to keep her in a cage so... Here she is in her first nap in a big girl bed. Mr. C changed the crib to a bed while we were out and when we came home Melly was so excited. She has been climbing in and out of it all day. I wonder what tonight will be like?

Here is my smart little girl coloring. She just loves the pens (mostly because she can pull the caps off and put them back on). I love them because they are the crayola marks only on the special paper pens...so she can't color on everything! Cheers to the little Picasso!