Two Mommies AND A BABY!: Catching Up...

Hello summer!

The school year officially ended on Wednesday and I am now in the blissful first few days of summer vacation. It's been quite a while since I last wrote and I blame that all on the end of the school year craziness. Oh and I blame a little of it on Mille :)

Anyway, to start off our summer break, Millie came down with some sort of illness that has had her with a fever for the past three days. I actually got a phone call from day care to tell me that she was sick on the very last day of the school year, with one hour and twenty minutes left to go before the end of the school day. I was just about to walk into the gym to hand out certificates to my fifth graders when I got the voicemail. Luckily, Carla was able to leave work and pick up the little one. I am thankful in all kinds of ways that she was able to go because I couldn't really figure out a way to get out of the last hour and a half of the school year. Since we got her home, she has been pretty miserable as we wait out this fever and congestion. The doctor said it was all viral, so there is nothing much we can do. I hate when she is sick. It is the saddest thing. Her fever has gone down a bit today, so hopefully this is all on its way out.

Speaking of the end of the school year. This one was an emotional one. There was something so special about the group of fifth graders who just left our classroom. They were an amazing bunch of kids and when I think back on the story of bringing Millie home, those 21 kiddos and their families are all going to be a part of that story. Millie will be hearing about them for years to come. The end of the school year is always a bit emotional, but this year was exceptional. I think all of us knew that something special happened this year. The kids knew it, the other teachers who work in my room knew it, and I knew it. There was so much love in that classroom and it was sad to see it end. I am so proud of those kids and all that they learned this year and they will always always hold a very special place in my heart and in the heart of my family.

In baby news, Millie is amazing. She is now five months old and she is developing this adorable and quirky personality. She laughs and squeals at pictures on the ways, she smiles when we sing to her, she is sitting up and grabbing things on her own and she is even starting to get frustrated when she can't do all the things that she wants to be able to do. It is amazing to watch it all develop. I love her so much and am in awe of the little person that she is becoming.

In other news, Chicago is finally starting to understand that it is summer. There has been so much rain and cold weather that any nice day that comes along is cause for celebration. Yesterday was gorgeous and today looks to be wonderful as well. It has been so much fun to be outside with Millie now that the weather is getting better. She absolutely loves it outside and our goal for the summer is to take her camping at least once. Even when she is in her worst of moods, she perks up as soon as she is outside. It is one of the parts of the summer that I am most looking forward.

The other major excitement about summer is that Carla and I will finally both have days off on the same day. Since I went back to work, Carla has taken Thursday and Friday off and I am off on the weekends. This has been so nice because it has allowed us to have Millie in daycare for only three days a week and then she is with one of us for the other four days. It has been a wonderful arrangement but has had its challenges as well. It has been really hard to not have days together as a family. We have had a few random days off together, but they are usually when we have a big event to attend. We are both really looking forward to having two days off together as a family every week. There is so much that we look forward to doing altogether and now we will actually have the time to do it.

Well, I apologize that this hasn't been much of an update at all. I guess there is just too much that happens in the span of a few weeks that it is hard to remember it all. There are bigger things that I would like to write about (same-sex marriage bill in Illinois, upcoming Supreme Court decisions, Millie's birth family, and being able to share our adoption story with other families considering adoption), but Millie is way too close to the end of her nap to dig into any of those right now. But mostly, we are all doing well (aside from the lingering small illness Millie is dealing with). We are falling more in love with Millie every single day and now that school is out, I will be better about updating more frequently. I will end with pictures because there is nothing I love more than sharing pictures of our little one!

Enjoy!