Daddy Days.....

  We have had more time with Chris this past month and a half than we have had in the past two years.  He has been on a private urology practice rotation at a hospital that is only about 10 minutes away.  To say it has been life-boosting and awesome is an understatement.  Dinner as a family almost every night?  It is as good as it sounds.  Dad home for bath and bedtime?  BEST THING EVER!!!!  I take that back.  Not being woken up 5 times in the middle of the night/having activities interrupted by a pager- now that is the best think ever.  No, I take that back.  Having a husband who is happy and less stressed and well-slept and who has a little free time to have a life outside the hospital- that truly has been such a breath of fresh air.  

Here are a few of the things we captured:

Apparently wood-peckers have really strong beaks.  I mean, strong enough to peck right through our house.   One morning I heard knocking coming from upstairs.  Both girls were with me downstairs and no one else was home.  It was creepy.  We continued to hear it and then discovered they had made two large holes.  We borrowed a ladder and Chris got to repairing the holes.  I couldn't even stand to watch him up there.  I had to keep telling him, your hands are really important to our future.   

 The Children's Museum has $2 second Saturdays and Samantha got to go with just Dad.  

You think she liked it?

We finally got some rain.  Monsoon season has been pretty weak this year, until this happened.  Our backyard became a swimming pool.  

Note how Chris was so excited to play in it that he didn't even take time to change his clothes.  

Ties and slacks are totally play clothes....

It evaporated by the next day

Ute football season began.  Chris has had luck streaming of  all the games so far.  

Too bad its just not the same without cooler fall air, sweatshirts, and noise.

We have gone on family jogs!  We have yet to purchase a double jogger, so we thought we would try fitting them into a single.  Worked great, until Madi started pulling Sam's morning, rats nest hair.  

Samantha continues to just crack us up.  She is starting to ask what words mean and using words like frustrated and tells us when we make bad choices.  If we punish her or yell at her she says, "you made me sad."  She can almost dress herself and insists on doing EVERYTHING by herself.

She loves putting on our shoes and walking in them.  I am telling you she has a bright future as a clown.  Here she is walking up the stairs with Chris' shoes on, naked.  That is no easy task. (not that I would know....)

She also enjoys some light reading while taking care of business.

We went to the zoo complete with giraffe feeding and train ride.

Madilynn finally found out for herself that her dad is indeed a really great guy.  I am so thankful that this rotation came at this time specifically for this reason.  They were having a really hard time bonding due to him never being home when she was actually awake and now she hears his voice and lights up.

We have enjoyed some backyard fun with good deals on craigslist baby food

We had foolish parent ambition that we could take the girls on an 8 mile hike in Sabino Canyon.  After getting frustrated that this was not going to be possible at about 2 miles in, we gave in and just enjoyed that we were there at all and that it was only in the 90s!

We went out to dinner on a Friday night. This has not happened in at least a year.  It was not relaxing and certainly not quiet, but it was fun. 

Madi is 8 months now.  She is changing by the day.  She has started pulling herself up to things and has gotten herself into quite the predicaments in her crib several times. 

 Just yesterday she really started crawling.  She flaps her arms up and down when she gets excited or sad and when she is tired she starts to climb up you.

She moans and jabbers and boy can she screech.  It is glass shattering.  

She is starting to want to be apart of the dinner table action and sets into attack mode when she sees a plate of food.

Another fun thing has been actually having Family Home Evening on Monday nights.  

This particular night we introduced Samantha to Muddy Buddies.  (This was actually Tuesday night because she had made some bad choices the night before!)

                             

All in all I feel revived and refreshed as a mother.  With no family nearby it is sometimes really hard being the only person your kids bond with and feel comfortable around.  It has been so rewarding to see them bond with their daddy.  Before this, Samantha would cry if Chris tried to put her to bed.  Now, she picks him.   

I am grateful Heavenly Father knew we needed some Chris time.  He makes me a better person and makes our home a better place.

(There, now I have it in writing to read when things get ugly again.....)