Today is a Good Day

As the entire family waited in line at our local polling place this morning, I was reminded of the last time I was there with Julia, 18 months ago.  I woke up that morning with terrible cramps and let's just say what I thought were signs of a miscarriage.  I called the doctor, made an appointment, took Julia to the polling location, then school and then made a bee line to my OBGYN.  As we all now know, an ultrasound showed that everything was ok and little Sam's heartbeat was a strong as ever.  Looking back I can't believe I had the presence of mind to vote (and continue the tradition of Julia always coming with me to vote).  However, seeing little "I VOTED" stickers on my kids today and teaching Julia today about why we vote (and listening to her complain that she has to wait 13 years until she's 18 to fill out an actual ballot), I knew it was worth it.  I thank my parents for that lesson.  They voted in every election - big or small - and taught all of us the importance of feeling empowered and influencing decisions.

And now onto the other normal kid topics....
Sam is crawling, pulling up, cruising and eating like a champ.  We thought his first word was "mama", but it turns out it was "ma" which means MORE in his baby speak.  He can babble mama and dada, but really prefers to just stare down something he wants and grunt.

Julia is finishing up preschool this June and will be headed to kindergarten (yikes!) in July.  She is still very active with ballet, gymnastics and taekwondo.  She is reading like a champ and is an amazing big sister to Sam.  Let me tell you one funny story before I sign off.

So, a few months ago we were going to see Matt, Jenn & Ady, but Julia got sick and so I told her we would no longer be able to go.  I remember distinctly that she was standing on a ladder in our bedroom (Chris had been replacing an air filter in the ceiling return) and said very firmly "I want to go see Ady, damnit."  I looked at her and asked "what did you say?"  She repeated her statement just as Chris was walking into the room.  I said "Julia, where did you learn that word?" and her response was "Daddy says it when he watches basketball."  It took every ounce of our being not to crack up.  Instead we agreed on an approach where daddy puts money in her piggy bank if he says that word again and vice versa.  That seemed to solve the problem and she learned not to say that word.  Oh my goodness, the things kids these days come up with ;)