The temperatures have cooled down, schools are starting up, and just as we’re finally starting to really enjoy it, summer has to end. Over Labor Day weekend we took one last trip to my dad’s lake house. We had an amazing time riding around on the pontoon boat, fishing with the kids, sharing meals, and just spending time together (me winning the game of Scrabble was just a little bonus!). There’s really not much more to say, so I’ll share some of my favorite photos from the weekend instead.
It took me a couple days after we got Evie’s new Princess bedding to actually get it on her bed. With her allergies and sensitive skin, everything has to be washed before she can touch it. I snuck back and put it on the bed while she was playing and surprised her with it at bed time. She was SO excited to have her “Cincesses” in her bed!
First, she stopped to check them out.
Then she decided she better climb in for a closer look.
She refuses to climb up at the end of the bed where there is no guard rail, instead preferring to climb over it.
Then she dives in. She does this every night…over and over again…while she laughs like crazy. Apparently it’s fun to bounce on your head.
I think she likes it!
Perhaps I should enroll her in gymnastics?!?
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I’ve been feeling the urge to knit again. Check out my latest project goals over at Getting Crafty!
Dear Evie,
Seventeen months fly by so fast. Nearly a year and a half is gone in the blink of an eye. I think of those first few days with you, how tiny you were, and can’t believe that in seventeen months you have grown so much.
Last weekend we had a small garage sale. I sold the baby swing that both you and your brother used. The exersaucer, the play mats, the bathtub chair – they’re all gone now. I’m still holding on to the high chair, crib, and pack ‘n’ play, just in case. I sorted through your teeny, tiny, baby clothes. I put price stickers on a few and packed the rest back into the plastic tote they came out of. I can’t part with them yet. I’m not ready. Someday I will be, but not just yet.
You have decided all on your own that you are a “big girl” now. You don’t want to sleep in your crib any more. You climb right up into brother’s bottom bunk when it’s time for bed. We made it yours this weekend, and you picked out your very own princess sheets and comforter to make it official.
You suddenly want to do everything yourself, from brushing your hair to putting on your clothes and shoes. You pretty much have the shoe thing down, but you’re still a little confused on the clothes. Shirts go over your head, not on your legs.
You talk all the time. You say so many words, I cannot even try to list them anymore. Yesterday, as I was buckling you into your car seat, you were reaching for a brush on the floor of the car. I handed it to you saying, “Are you happy now?” You looked up, gave me a huge grin, and said, “Happy!” That may have been our first true conversation.
You have a fierce love for your brother these days, always wanting to be near him. I worry a bit about how you will handle being separated from him in a few weeks as he heads off to preschool. I’ve found comfort in knowing that even when I’m not with you, the two of you are still together. That will quickly come to an end. As I listened to the two of you giggling together until nearly 11:00 last night, I thought again that maybe it is time for separate bedrooms. Then again, maybe not. You need all the time you can get to be together right now. I’m sure it won’t be long before you are fighting like cats and dogs and begging for separate rooms.
Baby girl, you are so intelligent and caring and just everything I ever dreamed you would be. I know we’ll have our struggles down the road, but I hope that someday you can look back at this and know that you have filled every bit of empty space in my heart.
Love always,
Mama
This week the ladies at I ♥ Faces are taking a break so instead they are asking participants to share stories about their summer. For me, this summer has been all about family. Not only have we spent a lot of time with extended family, but we’ve also tried to make time for our little family of four to bond. We’ve had a lot of fun, but the best part of it all has been watching my son and daughter move beyond just being siblings and become friends. Tonight, as they played in the floor before bedtime, Zachary hugged Evie and said, “You’re my best friend forever.” Then my heart melted into a puddle.
Don’t forget to check out the other summer stories over at I ♥ Faces!
Comments closedThis week’s I ♥ Faces weekly challenge theme is “At the Beach”. Since we don’t live anywhere near the ocean, most of our beach outings are lakeside. On the few occasions that we have actually been to the beach on an ocean, I’ve been afraid of getting sand in my camera so I don’t have a lot of good shots. Since I don’t seen us visiting a beach anytime in the next two days, I’m digging up an old beach shot of Zach from our trip to Hawaii. He was about 18 months old in this shot. He had a blast playing on the beach, even if he wasn’t very interested in the water.
Don’t forget to check out the other amazing entries over at I ♥ Faces!
Comments closedThe last week and a half or so has been a lot of fun mixed with a lot of terrible. It all started the Friday before the 4th when (on my day off) I decided Evie needed to go to the doctor. She had some spots on her chest that originally looked like bug bites, but they kept getting more and more red and didn’t seem to be going away. She had also been sneezing quite a bit but we’re having major allergy issues right now so I blew that off. The doctor diagnosed her with a bacterial infection for the spots on her chest and prescribed her both a topical antibiotic and an oral antibiotic.
That afternoon we had an appointment to have Zach’s 4-year portraits taken. By the time we got there, Evie was a mess. The portrait studio was running behind schedule and it ended up taking nearly three hours from start to finish. By the time we left Hubby was cranky, the kids were cranky, and Evie was running a fever and had green stuff oozing from her nose and eyes. We should have just stopped then and gone home, but we were all hungry and Zach had been promised a trip to Target to spend his birthday money.
We celebrated the 4th with my family at Grandma’s where the kids got to swim in the pool. Fortunately, Evie was feeling a bit better. We celebrated our country’s Independence Day by eating tons of Mexican food, including Hubby’s homemade guacamole and salsa (yum!). Then we headed to Corporate Woods to enjoy the fireworks, though we weren’t sure we would even see anything through all the clouds. The kids loved the fireworks, but Zach decided about halfway through that they were too loud.
Sunday was a catch up/run errands/do laundry/snuggle with sick kid kind of day. It ended up being much busier than I had planned. It wasn’t a bad day though, until I realized that Evie’s Motrin had worn off and she still had a fever. That didn’t exactly bode well for heading back to work Monday morning.
Evie ended up at work with me Monday because I had things that just had to be done at the office. I worked as long as I could before she started getting too cranky then brought her home so she could get some sleep and I could do a little more work. Tuesday I ended up staying home with her, since her fever was still up. I was hoping that giving her a day to rest would help her recover, but the darn fever just wouldn’t come back down. Wednesday my sister took both kids so I could work and Thursday Evie was back at work with me. Her fever finally broke at some point on Thursday and I was thrilled to finally be able to take her back to day care on Friday after an entire week of fever.
Friday night was what I had been both waiting for and dreading all week. I picked the kids up, drove to my sister’s house, dropped the kids off with my BIL and Mom and headed out for a night out with the girls. It was for a friend’s bachelorette party and even though I knew I would have fun, I was pretty worn out from the week. The party ended up being a blast, just as I expected. We rented a party bus that drove us around all night while we consumed adult beverages, listened to music, danced, and chatted. We stopped off at a couple of bars, but mostly enjoyed our time together on the bus.
The next morning, we packed up and drove to Springfield where we joined my cousins, Aunt and Uncle for their annual 4th of July bash. They always have a huge BBQ and then my cousins put on an amazing fireworks display. The kids loved getting to see fireworks again and I really enjoyed seeing some of my extended family. The best part was getting to meet my cousin’s two week old baby boy, Kyler. He is just precious and instantly gave me that sad “I don’t have a baby anymore” feeling. I didn’t get to hold him for long since Evie was practically attached to my hip all night, but the few minutes of baby snuggling I got in made the drive all worth it!
The other nice part of the trip was getting to see my Grandma. She has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s so I’m never really sure what to expect when we’re around her, but she did seem genuinely happy to see all of us even if she couldn’t remember exactly who everyone was. I really wish I would have gotten a picture of her holding baby Kyler, but I already had my camera put away by the time she got her hands on him.
We didn’t check out of our hotel until almost noon on Sunday, stopped to eat and let the kids play at Incredible Pizza, then set out for the drive home. By the time we got to my house I felt like I needed another weekend to recover before heading back to work, but that just wasn’t an option. So far this week I’ve done nothing but play catch-up on the things I wasn’t able to finish last week and there’s a lot more left to do. I’d give just about anything for a long nap.
(Yes, super long post, I know. I just needed to get it all down. But at least I gave you pictures to look at!)
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