Since my last post, quite a bit has happened. We took our much anticipated Mexico trip...7 days of no kids, absolute luxury, sunshine, warm temps and pure paradise! My dear friend Crystal got married to her Alaska sweetheart and we joined them at the all inclusive Melia Cabo Real in Cabo San Lucas with several other friends and new friends. We flew first class, stayed in an ocean view suite and ate and drank, swam and tanned all day long the end of October and first week of November.
While we were gone, Grandma and Grandpa Shierman watched the girls, who did very well, the longest we'd ever been away from them. However, when we got back, Adaya stared at us like she didn't believe we were really there and Chloe told us every day for a week, "I'm glad you came back from Mexico!"
Coming home was not all a happy reunion, though. Chloe, in true almost-three-year-old-fashion, took a week of tantrums to re-adjust, and is still (two months later) very difficult most days. Chloe just had her 6th week of pre-preschool and while she can now recognize all the letters of the alphabet, say the letters of her name and recite the sounds that some letters "say," I can definitely see the developmental differences between her and her other three year old friends, whom are all 4-10 months older than her.
With all the concentration on Chloe, I often feel like I am letting Adaya's development slip through the cracks. I guess I am so used to referring to her as a baby, I forget that by the time Chloe was her age, I was already teaching and expecting so much more from her than I do Adaya. Is this 2nd child syndrome? She continues to show us her temper at any given moment with screams and crying, but now that she is one, I am seeing her understand things more and more, which is a relief. She is not quite signing yet, but I am certain she knows what I mean when I sign "more" and "all done" to her. She got 4 new teeth (two of them molars!) in the last two weeks, which I am sure has not helped her mood, either. She is now 16 pounds and wearing almost all 12 month clothing now, crawling quickly all over the place and will pull herself up to her knees, but absolutely refuses to stand or even let me help her stand! According to the pediatrician she is above average in her fine motor skills, but behind in her gross. Am I enabling this by not teaching her as well as I could for Chloe, being an only child? At what point do I chalk it up to being a mother of two versus neglecting her development? Man, having two kids is hard!
But I digress.... Their birthdays were so much fun, being only days apart and falling within a week of Thanksgiving and Jon's major shoulder surgery, it was a hectic two weeks, but I loved every moment! Adaya's party was a princess theme with only immediate family invited. My parents, Kaylin and her family and even Eric and Shana attended for a full Thanksgiving-like meal, cake and ice cream and presents.
Three days later, we celebrated Chloe's birthday at the Portland Children's museum with all her little friends from Mom's group and church with a Cars theme and presents. 
On her actual birthday two days later we went out to dinner with my parents and they watched the girls for another couple days while Jonathan had his surgery and post-op recovery at home. Thanksgiving we went to Auntie Alexis', got the girls back and have been taking it easy ever since so Jonathan can heal.
His surgery was to repair a torn tendon off his rotator cuff and required his bone to be drilled into to reattach, along with 7 staples and a sling with no use of his left arm for 6 weeks! It's been three weeks so far and his pain is still pretty bad so he has to take meds at night. It's been rough on all of us, but we're coping the best we can and hoping for the best recovery and physical therapy in another 3 weeks. We're trying to make the best of it, but at this point, I am just trying to survive feeling like a single parent with three children!
As Christmas approaches, we decided not to get our own tree since we will be in Salinas for the holidays, so we helped mom and dad decorate theirs last weekend and we will do our own little gift exchange this weekend.
We will drive south next Wednesday, the 22nd, hopefully earlier in the afternoon, as I have no idea how much driving at night Jonathan will be up for. We are now having to take Kodi with us, since my mother is having all sorts of issues with her thyroid and does not have the energy to watch her while we're gone. Seriously, could life be any tougher right now!!? Thankfully our family in Salinas is so wonderful, it really will be a very relaxing vacation once we're there. Hopefully Jonathan will not have to work too much and it really will be what we all need to recharge our life batteries!
Another stress in our life right now is deciding where Jon wants to be professionally. Both of us are tired of his long commute and ridiculous hours in Salem, both of which have not been worth the slight raise he got in January, nor does it seem like things will get any better. There have been a couple opportunities presented, neither of which seem to be panning out, so we continue to pray earnestly that God will reveal his will and give us peace...in this and every hectic part of our lives right now!
