Fun in the Sun!

Ardmore has a great little water park that I just discovered this summer and on Tuesdays beginning at 5 pm they have reduced admission so Michael and I took Piper this week for the first time. It took a bit for her to get comfortable, but she soon was having a ball! This is also where she took swim lessons last week each morning for one hour and on the last day, they let the children play! Swim lessons really helped Piper be more brave in the water! She asks to go swimming now and if you know my daughter, you know that is a huge accomplishment!! She's even been wanting to get in the shower with me which is unreal because she'd bawl her eyes out anytime I made her take a quick shower! I'm going to let her play in the water a lot for the next two weeks to prepare her for our beach vacation!

This is our first somewhat slow week of the summer! It's been a bit rough, actually! For 3 weeks now, Piper is waking up b/n 6-6:30 am and only taking a 1 hour nap but is completely exhausted and cranky! I've tried pretty much every idea under the sun to get her to sleep more b/c she needs it but nothing has worked. This has left me frustrated and exhausted also...yes, I've had a few meltdowns! But, at my monthly doctor visit I found out my iron is low so I'm having to supplement until the baby is born and in two days of taking the iron pills, I already feel like I have a little more energy! This week has also been challenging in disciplining Piper because I am certainly needing to stay on top of her. She is officially potty trained but during one of our rather difficult days which involved lots of time outs, toys taken away, and spankings she had 2 accidents which I believe were a blatant act of defying me! (Up to that point, it had almost been 2 weeks without an accident) But, luckily no more have occurred and she's even been wanting to take herself to the potty and pull her pants down alone! I'm very proud of her in this area! I'm trying to reread 'Shepherding a Child's Heart' to help remind me of my heart attitude towards my children, the Lord, and discipline! It sure is convicting! Anyway, that's what is going on. I'm really looking forward to getting out of town for vacation but it will be interesting to ride in the car for 12 hours w/a toddler!! Any fun car activities/ideas you know of would be appreciated!