Summer Fun

So what's been going on with us? A whole lot of playing outside (Makenna), house projects and working out (me and Josh), and getting into everything (Maryn). Life just seems to be in fast forward for us right now. I can't believe that it's already the 4th of July... where has the summer gone? That always used to be my marker when I was a kid that summer was halfway over. I just don't know where the time goes. I seem to spend most of my days hovering over Maryn and her every move and trying to corral Makenna to either stay in our yard or convince her that it's more fun to play inside with me during Maryn's nap time rather than play outside with the neighbor kids. This has been our main issue lately - the neighbor kids. I always wanted to live in suburbia and have a million little kids running around playing, but now I live smack dab in the middle of it all and I think I'm changing my mind. I try to tell myself that we just got a bad draw with some of our neighbors, but I'm not so sure. Makenna has an EXTREME desire to be outside with kids (any kid, doesn't matter who) anytime she hears someone playing outside. Since we have 15 kids that live in the houses just immediately around us, this is pretty much a constant thing. She gets upset when I'm cooking dinner and she can't go outside or if MarBear's in bed and we have to stay in our yard with the monitor. The biggest problem we have is that none of the other kids have ANY parental supervision (even the 16 month old neighbor roams the neighborhood aimlessly for hours... no I'm not kidding, just ask anyone that has visited my house lately and see the little blond-haired boy in my yard) and they don't seem to have any rules (ie. no bedtimes, they can run wild all over the neighborhood, etc). Since Makenna is still so young, she doesn't understand why she has all these rules and the other kids don't. Trying to explain this to her doesn't go over very well, but it is getting much better and I'm proud of the progress she is making. Plus since Josh and I do believe in parental supervision, that makes us the official neighborhood baby-sitters. Fun, huh?! Now if it would only rain for a few days to give us some peace and quiet...

Maryn has been living up to the 9-10 month developmental boom that I love so much and has been trying all kinds of new things lately. Yesterday she started climbing the stairs (much to my dismay) and already this morning she was able to climb 2/3 of the way up our huge flight of stairs without even staggering once (yes, I was right behind her!). She loves to walk around with someone holding her hands and I think she might be even walking along the furniture when I'm not looking but I haven't caught her yet :) She has been sleeping a ton lately (as did Makenna whenever she was growing or developing a new skill) and is almost always in good spirits!

Unfortunately Maryn decided that she was done breastfeeding last week. I had a hard time letting it go, but I know that it is better to follow the baby's cues than to hang on to it. She was fighting me horribly towards the end (back arching, pushing me away, crying) so I knew it was time. She was a very sweet baby though and gave me my one last moment to cherish the other day and now we're done. I can pack up the breastpump and all the nursing bras for now! Whoo Hooo! As sad as I am to not have that special bonding time with my baby girl, it is also pretty liberating to be done. I haven't been able to have a caffeinated or alcoholic beverage for what seems like forever! I could care less about the alcohol (since I think I figured out last night that I've had only one alcoholic drink in the past 4 years!), but the caffeine is not fun for me to give up. Last night Josh made us some strawberry daiquiris and we enjoyed the beautiful evening on our deck after the girls went to sleep.

Makenna has been on a kick lately talking about wanting a baby brother or sister. Nobody get excited because she can talk all she wants and that's not going to be happening anytime soon! The other day while we were coloring she was talking about wanting a baby brother and I asked her what she wants to name her baby brother. She immediately replied "Derek" which is hilarious because we don't know any Dereks. But then it got even better... she stopped and said "No not Derek, how about Jesus!" I just got the biggest smile on my face and tried not to laugh! I asked her that same question at lunch in front of Josh that day and when she said "Jesus" Josh seriously almost spit his food out. Don't worry... Josh and I are pretty specific when it comes to naming kids and Jesus is not on our list :)