Oh my goodness, it's already mid-July! Huh? I am not sure where the last 14 days have gone, but they went all too quickly. Do you feel the same? I mean, people always told me that the older you get, the quicker life passes you by...but really, this is ridiculous! I feel like 85 the way we are cruising!
You might be wondering what we've been up to?
Henry--
This three and a half year old is operating on his own schedule and testing his boundaries. I pray for patience and wisdom every single day in order to be the best mom I can be to him. I keep asking all the smarter, experienced moms in my life if this is "normal" and I am assured that it is. I keep asking Scott when this phase will be over and he assures me that it never will be and that I must learn to roll with the punches. Are you kidding me? Forever?
We spent part of last week up North with my husband's side of the family. A ritual that we started within the past couple of years is to take the kids to pick strawberries. Last year, Henry ate so many strawberries his lips, fingers, and t-shirt were stained red. The berries he took home were in his belly, not in his bucket. This year was a different story.
Here is what his bucket looked like this year...
and here's what he thought about picking strawberries...
and here's his reaction when we told him we were all done...
This little dude, knows what he likes and what he doesn't. Like most people, he prefers that things go his way. Learning to deal with life when things don't go his way has been his biggest challenge at the moment. In between those moments, he says funny stuff, entertains us with his big ideas, and charms us with his smile and eyes. He loves to read books and use his imagination. He's recently discovered a tote of stuffed animals that I had stored in the basement. He drags them all over the house and chooses a different one to snuggle with every day.
Harrison--
Do I have to tell you again how happy this little man is 24/7? He continues to love to eat and sleep. Anything he sees his older brother playing with is what he is the most interested in playing with too. I probably could put away the baby toys because he's just not interested--I think I keep them out more for myself than for him.
In the past week, he has been scaling the furniture. I feel a walker on my hands pretty soon. Last night, I saw him pop his butt up in the air to walk on his hands and feet. He didn't quite get going and I figure I've got more time on my hands with a crawler than a walker. Henry walked at 11 months, yea, yea, yea, I know each kid is different--I get that--but I see so many similarities with patterns and timing. He still doesn't have control of his balance, but he tried to do some one-handed stunts.
We spent the July 4th weekend with my parents. During that time my dad referred to Harrison as Festus from Gunsmoke. I guess Festus had some messed up teeth. My little man has three teeth on the bottom and one big one on top. When he smiles at you, he scrunches his nose and shows you the big one on top. It's pretty cute. But what isn't cute about this guy? Babies are so sweet!!
Scott--
We had fun just hanging out with daddy last week. He managed to break away from work (For the most part but, technology always kept him connected to an extent). By the end of the week, I actually had to compete with him to be the one to sleep in. He's always the earliest riser of the family. Maybe his sleepiness was due to not having the newspaper to read every morning. He told us on Sunday night that he was going to miss not hanging out with us all day long. We were bummed not to have him around when Monday morning rolled around, but it was nice to be home again.
Me--
Life has resumed some normalcy now that I've unpacked our last suitcase, washed the last load of beach towels and stocked the refrigerator with our favorites. But I haven't put away the sunscreen or the swimsuits because summer is far from over.
I've been making (mostly mental) "to do" lists--spots to clean, things to organize, items to take to Goodwill. But mostly, I am enjoying hanging out with the boys, soaking up the sun, trying new recipes, tending to the flowers (although between Scott and the sprinklers, I haven't had to water them much), trying to decide how to redecorate my house on a budget (Do you see I changed my background again? Guess it's the quickest and cheapest way for me to redecorate something in my life!!) and hanging out in the backyard with the neighbors. Before summer began, I thought I needed to schedule this and that to keep the boys (mostly Henry) busy. I decided against over scheduling and it's been the best thing. Like I said earlier, we're mid-July and it's all going so quickly.
Well, that's our update. Thanks for bearing with the lack in postings! Keep enjoying summer!!
