I hope I never get over how amazing I think San Diego is, it truly is unbelievable. In fact, it’s really almost not fair that some people get to live in a place like this while other people live somewhere like...like...ummm...Cleveland. Sorry Cleveland, we loved it there but the weather is just horrible! Plus, I can say this because I truly am not bragging since I am moving from here in a few months! But in the meantime, I went running yesterday when Tom got home from work, on Jan. 15th wearing capris and a t-shirt!!! We are going to the park this afternoon because it’s warm and sunny, it’s just too amazing. I hope I never take it for granted! The other day at the park one of the girls was frustrated that her kids were acting up so she said “oh, it’s just these long winters!” I didn’t catch my tongue fastest enough and blurted out “Are you kidding me?” Luckily she wasn’t offended and didn’t realize how aghast I was because she responded with “I know, it’s only January.” My oh my... I guess it is true you get acclimated to wherever you are! Anyway, we feel so blessed to be here!

Yesterday I dropped the Odyssey off to get a nail taken out of a tire and we walked over to Burger King to play on the playground. Danica doesn’t usually enjoy that kind of playground but she wanted to to try it this time. So she decided to give it a try but she couldn’t climb up the platform things. I asked Hayden to go and help her so he went over to her, assessed the situation and preceded to lay flat on the ground. He said “okay Danica, this might hurt really bad but just step on me so you can reach the next level.” It was so sweet and cute, I was laughing so hard!

It seems like Danica has aged several years instead of just several months since Alyssa was born. She is starting to talk a ton and is so involved in everything. The potty training has gone really well and she is great at it. There is still the inconvenience of needing to use the bathroom in public but I know that will get better. Currently her favorite thing to do is ask me if Tom is home. She walks around all day saying “Daddy home? Daddy home?” And she likes to say “Hi baby” to Alyssa, over and over again! If Alyssa wakes up from her nap and is crying Danica goes in her room and climbs in the crib with her, this usually cheers Alyssa up. Except for those times when Danica steels away her binky. Yesterday I saw Danica walking around with Alyssa’s binky in her mouth, a minute later Alyssa was crying about something so Danica went over, took the binky out and put it in Alyssa’s mouth. Hopefully they are both healthy!

Alyssa is doing really well. The physical therapist said she looked great and he showed me a few more stretches to help her neck if I notice any more problems. She is so alert now and grabbing at everything. She had a little payback with Danica one morning by stealing Danica’s binky right out of her mouth! Danica had just woken up so she still had her binky and she was getting in Alyssa’s face saying good morning to her when Alyssa just reached up and grabbed it! We were both shocked and laughing!

Now, I realize these stories aren’t amazing but remember this is my journal and these are things that are happening every day in my life. My race with Tom is going really well. We are trying to see who can be the first one to reach 30 miles. Right now I am at 19 and he is at 17. The problem is he can go out and run 5 miles in a day so I have to keep up every day or he will just suddenly win! It’s a great motivator. The next challenge I am dealing with is how to get Alyssa to sleep at night. I am getting geared up to simply have her cry it out because she is getting ridiculous with waking up so often but so far my attempts haven’t gotten great results. I remember that with the other two kids I tried having them cry it out at 5 months and it was miserable and ineffective both times. Then I tried again at about 7 months and it worked beautifully. So I may just suffer through a few more months rather than torture myself with trying it now. But we’ll see how bad she gets at night. It’s been over a year since I slept through the night so what’s a few more months, right?

Okay, speaking of sleep, I am going to take advantage of my children being in bed and Tom being at work and I am going to go to bed, even thought it’s only 8:30! I would love to sit and scrapbook, read or watch TV, (and I should clean the house) but tonight sleep is going to win out. Besides, I have to run another three miles on the treadmill tomorrow because I know he is going to come home from work and run a ton! Good night!