Changes

Milo and Nora were laughing and joking around in their cribs this morning, so he seems to be feeling better today. Our plan was to get rid of their pacifiers this weekend, and I was kind of wavering since Milo has gone through so many changes already. But Jake said, "there will always be a reason not to do it, we just have to bite the bullet and do it!" so that's what we're doing. I don't expect we'll be sleeping much for a while.

This morning the kids went swimming in the lake with Buddy, their friend Millie from down the street, and Millie's nanny. They had a blast. This afternoon I took them to the splash park. It was an awesome day for it -- 90 degrees out, so you never get cold no matter how much you splash in the fountains. Nora was cautious, only allowing herself to get a little wet and then drying herself off with a towel every 5 minutes. Milo, however, was in heaven. He was running around with a huge grin on his face, jumping for joy, running straight through the biggest fountains of water, getting totally soaked, and loving every minute of it. What a classic summer afternoon.

The kids eat at the table now, so their trays are gone and there is more room in the dining room. Each step like this feels like we are grabbing a piece of our life back. I really don't like clutter. We have a small house, and we cannot have too much clutter or stuff taking up room. I am ruthless about getting rid of things. It drives me nuts to have piles of stuff all over the place, so I am constantly straightening up. One thing that was annoying about having babies in the house was all of the stuff they came with. Bouncy seats, swings, then an exersaucer, a doorway bouncing swing, all essential and necessary things but they took up a ton of space. One by one they disappeared as the kids got older, and we're finally getting our house back. Toys don't bother me because they can be put away each night, and these lucky kids even have their own play room, but it's nice to no longer trip over the exersaucer when I'm walking to the kitchen.

And time marches forward. Now we just have to get these kids potty trained (I won't miss diapers) and then, maybe when they turn 3, get them into real beds. It's a little bittersweet to see the vestiges of babyhood disappear one by one, I'll admit, but I try to focus more on the sweet than the bitter.