Dear Virginia,

I miss you.

Good times in Virginia

Our recent stint in Virginia was filled with water sprinklers, bounce house visits, playing tickle toes with Grandma and riding the lawn mower with Grandpa.

But perhaps the most exciting thing I did while visiting my family was wean Blake from his pacifier. I told myself that when Blake turned 2 it would be bye bye binky. But his second birthday came and he seemed even more attached to it. And I'll be honest, having the pacifier around to comfort Blake at bedtime was very nice. Secretly I hoped he would lose his pacifier and then I could just explain to him that it was gone. Weaning him seemed almost impossible if I had to throw his pacifiers away and then tell him they were gone. But him losing it and me honestly not knowing where it was made it seem easier in some way. And that's exactly what happened.

Day 2 in Virginia and the bink was gone. We think he may have flushed it down the toilet because we searched high and low for his binky and couldn't find it. At bedtime I took a deep breath and tried to explain to an inconsolable and exhausted Blake that blue bink was gone. He cried as I held him and rubbed his back, but eventually went to sleep. The next day nap time and bedtime were hard without a pacifier, but once he fell asleep, he stayed asleep. A week later I was worried when he'd occasionally say, "blue bink gone!", but he wasn't crying about it anymore and seemed to be able to drift off to dreamland rather easily.

Now we're home from Virginia and we are still binky free! Our problem now is weaning Blake from sleeping with me and going to bed at 10pm like he did when we were in Virginia. I'm sure in a few days he'll be back to his old schedule. In the meantime I'll try to keep from pulling out my hair when he decides to scream at the top of his lungs as he rebels against any form of sleep. You win some, you lose some. But at least there's no more bink!

Family: It's About...

For some people, going home means sitting around with family, laughing about the good old days, reminiscing about what life used to be like before everyone lived so far away. For us, it means reenacting the Hunger Games in our front yard. Yep, there's a flaming arrow, too.

ferocity

courage

family traditions

retrieval party

Can you spot the arrow?

Flaming arrows will be his legacy.

Impromptu fire dancing

In all honesty, I rarely do anything related to archery when I see my family. And there is lots of laughing. And reminiscing. And reenacting (just not of books made in to movies).