June 2016

"This is my circus and these are my monkeys" - Uknown

June. It was good. Ok parts of it were bad...but we made it right? Christopher was in Japan for the first 10 days. My mom flew in for some of those days to help with the kids and take a trip to Indiana to visit some family. She was definitely a huge help. However, Francine for the month of June was a piece of work. She denied food for like two weeks, she was teething, she full on started walking, she screamed when I would put her down, and we stopped nursing. So there was a lot of good and a lot of bad. Definitely I didn't win a parenting award this month. I know that I am tough on myself and on my kids and usually I am able to get through the hard phases of kids growing up (in my 3.5 years of parenting experience)...however this month was maybe the most challenging of them all.. Man - I did feel like June was a circus but so far July has been a breath of fresh air. 

Something else I read this month that has touched me and I have tried hard to do this with my kids is "warm hellos and warm goodbyes!" So good! Children should never feel like we are not happy to see them. When they wake up in the morning or when I drop Jack at school or when I get Francine out of her bed from a nap...it should always be warm. I gotta do this better! I will say Christopher does this very well. So I just need to look to him to make this happen more with me.

**Funny Story's of the month (I remembered to write down)**
We were at church one Sunday and he saw the people that were getting baptized that morning walk up on stage in there white clothes. He said in a not-so-quiet voice "Mommy why dont they have shoes on?" It made me smile because it was such an innocent look at life. 

#Jackamadeus - BIG BROTHER update!

Jack started a summer program two days a week at Community Bible Church. I think he has really enjoyed it. We have gone to the library a few times and been working on some summer reading. He loves books! We are definitely getting more comfortable with singing. The kid love music. This year he was still to little to attend VBS at our church but next year he will be 4 and thats when they allow kids to go. We did stay and listen to the openers most mornings of VBS just so he could see what all it was. 

• Favorite color - white
• Favorite number - 3
• Favorite food - Chocolate Chips in his oatmeal. Its changed breakfast! 
• Favorite hobby - Cutting. He has gotten really good at cutting paper
• Favorite song - Come People of the Risen King by the Gettys and He's Got the Whole World

#Francineclaire - LITTLE SIS update!

• Highlight - She is a full on walker and she is starting to blow kisses to people. 
• Her words - I cant believe I am writing this all down - Hi, Bye, Mama, Dada, Jah (for Jack), and LaLa (for Lucy), Water, Hello, 
• Sleep - Great sleeper still. 
• Clothes - She is in 12-18 months clothes. She wears size 2 shoes.
• Diapers - Size 4 diapers! 
• Food - We are done with nursing. She definitely had her moments this month where she didn't want anything to do with food but she came back around. 
• Skills - She started holding up her index finger for showing us she is 1. :) 
• Crying - We have had some serious separation anxiety since about 3 months old. Its hard to help her sometimes

Until next time....here are some photos from life lately!