Happy Spring

I am not sure how it got to be April from January so quickly. But somehow it has.

Nick is potty trained now, except for overnights, which has been wonderful. The great thing about him taking so long is that once he decided he was ready, he had all of one accident and he was pretty much instantly trained. :) Nick loves pretending to be different things...lately it's been firemen. He and Michael fight when we're at home, but when we are outside the house, Nick is super protective and sweet to Michael, and they are learning that they can team up and get into even more mischief that way and I can only really catch one of them at a time. Nick is super active and likes to be busy. It will be good when we can play outside every day after work. When we get home, I give him jobs or have an art or science project ready for him so he doesn't come up with one of his own creative experiments. :) He knows his letters, but will pretend not to so people stop asking him. I actually didn't even know he knew them until last week when we were at the grocery store and he was reading letters off of packages. He likes learning, but doesn't like to be quizzed, and likes to figure out things on his own. He'll start preschool a few days a week next year with the babysitter's 4 year old son and they are both very excited.

Michael is still his sweet self, but has lots of opinions on things now and is starting to throw baby tantrums. He calms down really quickly though, and he actually responds when you tell him no, which I find amazing. Michael knows lots of words now, but his favorite is 'dog'. He has a couple of dog stuffed animals and LOVES real dogs and is really gentle with them. The babysitter just got a tiny little dog and the dog and Michael are best friends. :) The boys really want a dog, but we are waiting until we get a house, hopefully in a year and a half. Michael's other favorite thing is balls. He loves playing catch and has amazingly good aim when he throws things at Nick. :) I took him to the playground a week ago, and he actually fell asleep on a swing cuddling a ball. He is really friendly and social with everyone...babies, kids, adults. He just seems to like people a lot. Now that Mike has walking and running figured out, he is bored with it and prefers to climb up things. So I will walk into a room and find him on top of tables or whatever else he managed to climb up. We're working on that. :)

As for me, I just started in a new position at work, which is fun, challenging and interesting. I get to investigate and follow up on customer complaints and figure out a way to make things better. I feel really lucky to have been given a new opportunity so quickly but am still figuring out how to balance work, the kids, and life. I'm still running, but barely. I am determined to make it more of a priority to fit it in though as when I run I am a much happpier mama. :)

We celebrated Easter morning at home together and then went visiting and had Easter dinner with Mom, Dad, Sari, Emma, and Mom Mom Windle. It was really nice and the kids had a great time finding eggs there. And we all enjoyed the delicious dinner.

Things are still getting better, but I am still struggling with the challenges of being a single mom. I feel like each day gets better, and although we have some regressions, overall, things continue to steadily improve. And I am very determined to get the hang of it, so I know I will. I apologize for not posting more and for missing birthdays and not staying in better contact with all of you. I aspire to do better and one of these days Ill get the hang of it. :)

I hope you're all doing well and wish each of you a happy spring from myself and the boys!