Lots of growing

Wow!! Hope is growing so much. Not just physically, but emotionally and developmentally. She has truly hit a growth spurt. I took her to day care again today and she shed tears on the way there when she found out she was going to Kaitlyn's house. By the time we got there she had settled down for the most part, but wanted me to hold her. Long story short: AJ said to her, "Hope, wanna go play on the slide?" And although on the verge of tears, she said, "Sure. Bye bye Mommy." So she went off with AJ and Lisa and I exchanged high fives. By the time I could get out of the house Hope came back to me. She said goodbye one more time and then she was off to play. I was so happy!!! Lisa also told me when I picked Hope up this afternoon that she went ALL day without her pico (Hope's word for pacifier. Not sure where she got that one). She didn't even ask for it at nap time!! This is truly an amazing step for her. She doesn't usually have her pico except at naptime or bedtime, but still, she's growing up!! Then there's the whole potty training thing. Today wasn't as good of a day as the past few have had, but she was in a different routine with daycare today, so we'll take babysteps there. Yesterday I took her to see the pre-school where she'll be going this fall and she saw the little toddler sized bathroom and said, "Mommy, I have to go potty." I thought perhaps it was just the novelty of a bathroom her size, but I sat her on the potty anyway. And she went!! I've found that what works best for Hope is letting her run around the house bare bottomed. She always tells us when she has to go. But if she has her diaper or even big girl pants on, then she goes in her pants. So for her to tell me yesterday, with her diaper on, that she had to go potty, that was huge progress. Maybe we're getting closer to not having to buy diapers anymore. This is the only stage of Hope's life so far that I've found myself being a little frustrated with. I think I expected that because she's so smart she'd get this potty training thing down pat in no time flat. But I do understand that this truly is just a stage and soon it'll all click for her and she'll be wearing those big girl panties all the time.

On an entirely different note...please continue to pray for my friend Rachael. It seems as though she's given up the will to fight this cancer that she has. It's really sad and I think it's becoming really real to her husband Isaac that Rachael is indeed going to dye. Thank you for your prayers.

I was going to put pictures on from the retreat this past weekend, but it's almost 10:20 already and Brett Favre is going to be on David Letterman in a few minute. WooHoo!!! I can't wait to see him. I'm sure he's missed me. LOL So...the pictures will be here soon. I promise!