Well another month has flown by. We have been busy with all sorts of stuff. The kids and I have been going to Gatorland on weekend mornings. I have lived in Florida since I was a kid and had never been. Now that I have kids I have been twice in the last month. It’s a nice little half day if you get there early. They have a playground, train and a water area that Paigie really loves. Not to mention alligators, turtles and snakes of course.

Chris’s fire station has started a tradition of doing a barbecue once a month rotating between different peoples homes. The first was in Port St John near Cocoa. It was a fun day. Paige played in the pool with their daughter Maddie. We also went to a one year old B-day party for another firefighter at Daddy’s station. George has 4 boys and they are hilarious and the food was great.

We had family pictures done. (see the photo section) It only took three settings to get it done. Yup….that was fun , glad it is only once a year. Paige and Peyton started at a new school this month. They are going to the same preschool that Chris went to when he was a kid. There are a lot of adjustments for mommy but overall we are happy with the change. The major benefits are it is closer and they open earlier. Paige’s behavior seems better at the new school. Now if I could only get her to nap consistently. The second day of school was canceled because of Hurricane Faye. Faye really didn’t bring much to Orlando but a lot of rain. It rained really heavily for five days and we had to keep wasting the water from the pool.

Daddy got his degree from Valencia…I am so proud. I have a copy of it hanging on my door at work. He is taking this semester off school and has been working a lot of overtime. While the paychecks are good, we miss daddy. Mommy had a minor surgery this month. I was happy to be done with it; I got a hernia when I was pregnant with Paige.

Peyton has been very busy changing this month. He started the month by sitting very well. Then he was pulling up and now he is cruising. He can crawl up the step in the living room and even more impressively down the step with only minor traumatic moments. He is trying to climb Paige’s bathroom step at the sink….mommy’s not ready for that yet. He is very strong and can move almost anywhere he wants to. He is eating everything in sight and is about to start protein. He continues to eat at night but is very efficient. He is all business; he eats and then goes right back to sleep. We had a problem with him standing up in his crib and not being able to get back down this month which I seem to remember with Paige as well. While it only lasted a week or so it was very painful for Peyton and mommy. He can get down form standing now without any problems.

He is very talkative and babbles in a conversational manner. It is very cute. He thinks he is talking. The new school seems OK for Peyton. They don’t seem to show as much affection as the previous school caregivers. We miss the baby room at Friends’ Academy . He also got a GI bug (pukey dukies) the first week at the new school. It didn’t seem to bother him much except he didn’t eat his solids…just milk and a lot of diaper changes. He still doesn’t seem to have any desire to have teeth. I will miss his gummy smile when he does finally get teeth. I truly love Peyton and we seem to have a great bond.

Paige has been busy becoming a big girl. Mommy got her ear pierced this month. Paigie got to watch. She loves to play with it and is very curious. When asked if she wants her ears pierced she says “later”. She was taking a ballet class one day a week and decided she didn’t want to continue. So we played at the park and haven’t been back since. We were going to stop in a week anyways. She continues to speak well and is really showing a deeper understanding of things. She keeps asking about the pretty girl they keep showing on the news. (Casey Anthony) She asks why she is on the TV. I told her that they cannot find her because her mommy is a bad mommy. She paused for a good 30 seconds and says, “mommy…you are a good mommy.” And just when they break your heart they try to break your spirit. She has thrown a few good sized temper tantrums this month. She is not napping at the new school consistently. We continue to work on her behavior. She is very smart. She can count to at least 25, recognizes and can write many letters. She understands that she is two but doesn’t seem to understand what that really means. She is an adventurous eater and is very strong and brave when she plays. I continue to see so many excellent qualities in her and love her so much.