And then one more month went by...

Well, what is the saying, if you want to see God laugh, make plans! Here we were, the happy little family, adjusting to two kids, a new job, school, nannies, trying to define "normal" when WHAM out of nowhere, I end up in the hospital. Seems my gall bladder decided it had quite enough living inside a stress ball and took an early exit. I was in the hospital for four days while the doctors tried to figure it out - no stones, hmm?? So, here was David, thinking he's going to enjoy his FMLA with his girls, bonding, playing, going to the zoo, instead, he's taking care of a baby, a toddler and a infirm. The rest of his time off he pretty much spent being ordered around by us girls and trying to keep a household together. If you haven't got the jist by now through this whole journey, David is -and always has been - the glue of this family, but now he is MORE of a Super David in our eyes! He handled it all in stride, and except for the few occasions of forgetting to feed me, he was always there for us, how he does it, I will never know!

Enough of our drama, I'm finally feeling much better, albeit still a little weak, but thinner (yeah!). I'm sure you all want to know how Hope has weathered through all of this and what's up with Claire Bear. I am ecstatic to relay that Hope continues to be our Dream Baby, still sleeps through the night - I just realized last night, but there has not been ONE night since we got her that she has woken up in the middle of the night. Not one sleepless night (well, that I can attribute to her). She's gaining weight, almost 3 pounds now, walking about 10 steps, and only five weeks after Gotcha day, she was understanding English. We know this because when I asked her where her belly button is, she went digging for it and proudly pointed right to the sucker!
Claire has also continued to be the optimal Big Sister- aka- Little Mom. The nanny tells me many times a day Claire has taken it on herself to correct Hope, tell her to stop sucking her hand, not to cry, etc. She's very nurturing though and has more patience than Mom, and except for the occasional groans of "I just can't take the crying Mom", she's never complained or displayed much jealousy about Hope. In fact, Claire has continued to be the little love bug she is and still reports loudly each day her "I LOVE YOU" to me and dad, but now she interjects with "I LOVE our family!"

We have had two great visits so far, David's brother Mike and our niece Francesca came out for a weekend. Claire and Francesca are only a month apart and really get along so well. We took them up to Breckenridge and played in the stream and hung out. We really really enjoyed having them.

Our niece Janey also came out for Labor Day to help out and boy did she! I was still pretty sick that weekend, and she just jumped in and took care of the girls like the pro she is. She was also our first visit from a niece or nephew. When we moved out to CO from MI, we would say "some day" they will visit us on their own, and Some Day has arrived! Our door is always open, we hope to see more visitors soon!

The next exciting thing we are looking forward to is my little brother, Rob's wedding! In October we are going to Michigan for the big event and we can't wait to see everyone and introduce Hope to her family.

Fingers and toes are crossed that the black cloud is gone for good, but if it isn't, at least I know I'm in excellent hands!!