Milestones!

Ah, spring. Flowers, sunshine, children playing in the streets ... and of course, a little rain. This weekend started the downpour that is still going on outside my window as I type. BUT, as it turned out, the rain was a blessing at our house. We spent the weekend doing our spring cleaning, and I must say, I feel soooo much better!

Even when you try to keep it down, it is amazing how much can stockpile in the closets and drawers and cupboards over time ... The pile of paperwork you store in the top of the closet "just for now" because it doesn't otherwise have a home; the clothes you've saved fifteen years, hoping you'll fit into them again one day, only to realize they are tapered leg and out of style (and you still don't fit them!); the mismatched dishes and kitchen utencils you save, thinking, I'll use it one day - then one day comes, and you find out the "tool" designed to make things easier makes the job that much more work in reality (like the rolling garlic peeler!) but you continue to save it anyway because it's "new."

You've all been there. And when it's all said and done, maybe we stockpile just so that we can experience the wonderous joy and sense of accomplishment when the closets are again found and the last trip to Goodwill has been made and you can sit back and know the house is once again "clean" for another year. It's a fabulous moment, and it repeats itself, at least for me, everyday for at least a week afterwards ... we clean (vacuum, dust, scrub, change linens, etc.) as we go too, so everything seems so nice and fresh! Even the messes are easy to clean up because everything again has a place to belong when not in use. Ahhh ...

So, that was one of the great benefits of the rain this weekend. The other benefit was that we stayed home with the boys and had some really great quality one-on-one time. Collin especially seemed to blossom this weekend, speaking new words and actually using his words more than ever! By Sunday night he was using words and phrases repeatedly and when appropriate! It was so nice!! I imagine he'll just keep adding words daily from here on out!

New words in the past week or two: outside, dump (he loves his dump truck and to dump liquid from a cup/bowl/whatever), butterfly, banana, sit, dish (*fish), moo, quack, meow, Melman (for giraffe - that's the giraffe's name in Matagascar), melmo (*Elmo), bath, t (*tv), book, bowl, bear, elp pease(*help please), tank you (*thank you), juice, wa-wa (*water), nigh-nigh (*good night), cheese (for the camera, not the food), poo, and icki (*Ricki - we had my girlfriend Lisa and her girls Ricki, 2 and a half, and Lily, 3 months, over last night, and Collin and Ricki really hit it off!)

And Owen had a huge milestone this weekend also! Saturday afternoon - with both Dad and I there and watching! - Owen rolled from his back to his belly without the assistance of human aid, blanket leverage, cushion momentum, etc! Congratulations, Owen!! PLUS Owen discovered the volume button on his voicebox! Our little chatterbox took it up a notch (or two or three at times!) this weekend. He's making many sounds, and does a great job mimicing us (for a four month old!) Also, Owen is now sleeping nights and naps in his crib by himself, and Mom and Dad have their bed back. Now we can work on sleeping through the night! Woohoo!

It is so nice that a work weekend can be (and was) so much fun and productive at the same time ~ I love the dynamics children have brought to our life!