July has so far been a pretty good month for enjoying the sun and catching up with old friends — exactly what summer should be. We were at a friend’s BBQ the other night where there were five kids under the age of four, and it was good to see them all playing together and running around. When Justin was a baby it was next to impossible to find kids his age for him to hang out with, but I’ve finally developed a circle of mommy friends whose kids can play with mine. Awesome.

I’m also very excited to see that Brayden is FINALLY learning how to put himself to sleep. He was a perfect sleeper for the first six months or so of his life, but since then we’ve had to rock him to get him to settle, which usually only takes a few minutes but can sometimes take an hour or more. But last night his dad rocked him for a while, then just tucked him in and left…and the little guy actually went to sleep. We never had this problem with Justin (although he did get up at 5:15 this morning, which didn’t impress me too much), but of course every kid is different, and you just have to go with the flow.