Progress!

I'm happy to report that there has been some progress on several fronts this past week here in our hotel room. It's always encouraging to see progress! What kind of progress, you say?

The first exciting news to report is that Chloe is doing really well on the potty! She has seemingly adapted quite well to our new location, knows exactly where her potty chair is (in the bathroom), and has taken herself on numerous occasions. Most encouraging has been her ability to "hold it" while we've been out and about, and then come home, sit right down and take care of business. The most difficult aspect so far has been that she does not like to wear her nighttime undies (pull-ups). Though she knows she's not allowed to take them off, especially first thing in the morning when they are wet and/or dirty, I think she is tempted to do it anyway because she doesn't like the feeling against her skin. So we've had a couple of incidents of messes in her crib when she woke up and very quietly took off the undies without my hearing anything. Yuck. We've been keeping the laundry people in business!

As well, both girls are making good progress in their swimming/water skills! We've been swimming nearly every day, and Clara Anne particularly is really gaining some confidence in the water. Yesterday for a brief time she had her floaties off and was practicing holding her breath and putting her face in the water. I think it really helped that while we were at the pool, a class of young children (maybe 5-6 years old) came in and were happily and confidently splashing, playing, going underwater, and swimming around. She watched them pretty intently for awhile and then seemed to think, "hey, I can do this too!" It was so fun to see her be willing to try new things in the water. Chloe also is getting more comfortable and likes to get in next to the edge, hold on to the edge, and then kick her legs and float the rest of her body in the water. This is more bravery than she's shown before so that's encouraging, too. If we're here for several more weeks, we may have some little fishes for daughters by the time we get home!

And last but not least, all those contractions are making just a bit of progress in my body. I saw the doctor last week and she said I'm about 50% effaced, which is better than no progress at all! Of course, that still tells me nothing about when the baby will actually be born, but it's nice to know anyway. My contractions have continued, most often in the evening, but nothing too intense yet. We'll wait for the Lord and the baby to decide when is the perfect time to arrive!

So, progress is being made! We'll hope that the next week brings even more!