Obviously I have not been doing a very good job of updating the blog lately. Summer is for having fun and being outside, which leaves very little time in the house, let alone at the computer. I just wanted to let you all know that I haven't forgotten you. Here is an update on what has been going on around the Stivers' house lately.

Tomorrow Julianna goes to the eye doctor to find out if she's going to be wearing glasses now, or waiting until she's older. We know for sure that she will eventually need glasses, but tomorrow we find out just how blind she is so we can make a decision about fitting her for glasses at such a young age. I'm not sure the doctor was planning on checking this early, but I made it clear that I wanted to. I told the doctor that if I'd known that Drew's vision was so bad at Julianna's age I would have put him in glasses right away. For me, a blind person, I don't understand the point in waiting until later to see!! There has got to be so much learning a child is missing out on if there is a vision issue. If it can be corrected, why wouldn't we do it?

In other Julianna news, she is walking pretty much all the time now. She just wanders around the house sometimes- just practicing. I think she's enjoying her new found freedom. Also, she finally has her two front teeth. Thank heaven!! It's funny though, she's been without teeth for so long, it now looks weird to see her with teeth. It's just something new to get used to. Oh, and she went for a check-up last week and she still only weighs 20 lbs 4 ounces which puts her in the 6th percentile for weight. Sheesh!!

Drew is now POTTY TRAINED!! One day about two weeks ago I changed a particularly horrible stinky diaper. I told Drew that that was it. Mommy wasn't changing any more of these gross diapers. I put him in underwear and started pumping him with apple juice. He drank and drank and drank until he finally had success on the toilet. He's had a few accidents along the way, but overall he's not wearing diapers anymore. That is a huge milestone. And, now I know that he was just being stubborn. The boy was ready to wear underwear, he just wasn't ready to grow up (which he has mentioned in no uncertain terms, quite a few times actually).

Lily has been having a really good summer. We've hit a few rough patches when we don't have anywhere in particular to be, or anything in particular to do. But, overall, she's been doing quite well. She's really growing more and more independent lately. She's now pretty good at pouring her own cereal and can sometimes be trusted to do a couple of chores for me. As much as I loved having babies and toddlers, the older she gets the more excited I become about the next stage of development.

Sorry about my long absence. I will try and update more regularly once we get into a regular summer routine.