Friday's update

It's Friday and I must spill the beans on the goals that I set on Monday.  What do you want - the good news or the bad news?  Ok, the good news. Or maybe even great news - The Monkey and I ran 105.5 miles in April, our best month since we started recording milage in November. Super cool!  And that's where the good news stops. Lol! I did not accomplish the drapes or the chalkboard projects but I feel good about the research I've done on both. I'll get to those. I swear.

I wanted to jot down a few milestones on the Monkey before they get lost in the shuffle. She's officially standing on her own. Up until now, it'd be a second or two and it was almost like she didn't realize she even let go. But today, literally as soon as Mike walked in the door from his flight, she stood for honestly, it was a good 20-25 seconds on her own. I shrieked, which was not helpful, and she went down on her bottom. Way to go Monkey! She's really followed each of these milestones like right out of a book. She's a textbook milestoner, I guess. She sits up, she crawls, she pulls up, she cruises and now she stands. All have been right on an average pace. It doesn't seem too early, although just plain early enough for me - immobility was nice while it lasted:) - and not too late for me to start being a paranoid mom. I worry about enough.

Another milestone I think - she's picking up on words like a maniac. She might have "gotten" them before but she had no way to show me. Now that she's pointing, it's out of control. Just last night I was reading her a bedtime story and there was a butterfly in the book. So I pointed up to the ceiling where I have a bunch of butterflies hanging and I told her "those are your butterflies". She pointed, I agreed - "yes, those are butterflies." Just today I was reading her another book that happen to also have a butterfly in it. We were not in her bedroom and instead in ours. I asked her where the butterflies fly and she looked up to the ceiling again and pointed. Butterfly - check. This is really the case with so much. Water - check. Puffs - check. All day long as we go though the motions and the more I chat, the more she points and it's just amazing to me that she takes it all in. She probably has been taking it all in for awhile. Just like a sponge. But I had no way of knowing. And people said once they start talking, you'll see how rewarding raising a child can be. I feel like I'm reaping the rewards every day! Amazing. Truly amazing.

Ok, enough Monkey talk. Tomorrow is the Race for the Cure in Winston-Salem. My cousin Marnie is a true fighter and told breast cancer to shove it. And with that courage and tenacity she kicked cancer right in the a**.  So tomorrow we're gathering together for Team Marnie and we're going to walk our little hiney's off for all the people we know and love who have braved breast cancer and won and sadly for those who have lost.  I lost my Aunt Brooke to breast cancer in 1997 and I would be lying if I didn't say I think about her a lot. Like every other day. I really miss her. And it makes me sad that she never knew Eloise. But because I think of her so much I feel like she must be watching us. She knows Eloise is here and she told me that she loves her name:) And she also told me that she would have loved it even better if her name was Eloise Brooke Vail. I know Brooke, that would have been a great name too. ;)

Have a great weekend!

For pics....the Monkey's way into sticks right now. Do I have a tom-boy on my hands? Cars. Trains. Dirt. Mulch. Sticks! Hmmmm......