Hope's Independence

I know, I know...I'm a slacker blogger. I'd like to blame it on pregnancy and my more recent pregnancy-related carpal tunnel syndrome...but really, I'm just a procrastinator at heart. I start on the computer for one thing, and might even think about blogging...but lately, I've been addicted to the abundance of creative blogs out there. I could browse around on them for hours.

Anyhow, lest you wonder if I'm still alive, I am. And I'm doing well. As usual, blessed with health and happiness and a home and what more could you ask for. I know those of you with kids are already so much in love with your own kids and amazed at how fast they learn and turn into their own little people. That's the way I feel right now with Hope. Every day it seems like something new - she's this little sponge just waiting to soak up whatever we offer her next. Last week I took her for a short walk around the block, and she took her baby doll in a baby doll stroller. Knowing we wouldn't be going at a fast pace, I grabbed my paperback and read and walked along behind her. Later that day, we went to Target, and as we walked in the store, she picked a book out of the dollar section at the front, and proceeded to read and walk around the store with me. Too cute!

I don't know if it's her body needing the vitamin D, but Hope loves to be outside. Andrew has been giving me a break and taking Hope for a walk to the lake whenever the weather is nice. They feed the ducks, pet the dogs being walked, and just wander around according to the whims of a two-year-old. She loves it. A couple weeks ago, she wanted to go for a walk and I said Daddy was sleeping but when he got up they could go. Instead I said she could play out back in our own yard until Daddy got up. I didn't realize we were mis-communicating until I realized I couldn't see her anymore, and went around the side of the house, and saw she had her baby in her stroller and had carried her over the rocks on the side of the house to the sidewalk that led to the front of the house. I went to grab my jacket and proceeded out front and she had already made it to the sidewalk in front of our next-door-neighbor's house. I kept following her, and she would turn around and tell me to "go away." I did catch up to her and explained I wasn't going away. We walked all the way to the Lake and did her normal lake routine. She's definitely got her own mind. Here's Daddy and Hope on their way to the Lake.