Daddy will be home soon... Right!?!?!?

A lot of my blog posts are my way of showcasing/preserving/capturing/bragging about my life. Our life. A life full of fun and smiles and events and happiness and pictures. But it is not always this way. No, indeed, it is NOT. This is a post about those other days. The real days. The 99% days. (Well maybe not 99% of my days, but when I'm having one, it sure feels like it!) Lest everyone who reads this think things are peachy all the time over here, I'm here to tell you the truth. The real truth and nothing but the truth.

These are the days of colds, bacterial eye infections, snot, headaches, spit-up, doctor appointments, tylenol, grocery shopping, house cleaning, errand running, diaper changing, food making, and mess cleaning. There are the counting-the-minutes-until-Daddy-gets-home, stick-them-in-front-of-a-movie, have-an-adult-beverage-with-lunch days. And there are times where I haven't showered for days nor remember when I last used the bathroom alone.

I don't often write about those days, the days I have most of the time a lot, the way I spent most some of my life, because I like to try to forget them. I don't care to relive those days so blogging about them is pretty much out of the question. I do have a friend with whom I text regularly, which helps keep me on the sane side of normal (if even by a smidge). I may or may not have texted her yesterday that I had launched Austin's sippy cup across the room (he's not allowed to throw it) because he kept dropping it. On purpose. After it (allegedly) went flying across the room, he (may have) turned to me and said "no Mommy, no throwing!" Might have.

I also may have texted with her about the fact that though I'm glad he's doing better language-wise, I might have actually asked him to stop talking. I might have actually said "please stop talking to me." See, there are times when one needs a minute of quiet to have a single, straight, coherent, fully-finished thought, and a non-stop talking toddler can do some serious damage to those thought processes!

There's the week I was so sick that we basically did nothing all week. We watched tv and movies and I laid on the couch willing myself to live. We barely touched any Summer "School" stuff and each day was a day to survive until 6pm (when Daddy gets home). So during that week, when Graham came across any number of dog chew toys and started using them as his own, I might have just taken a picture and attempted to comfort myself with some vague memory of a study showing kids who grow up with dogs to be overall healthier and have fewer allergies. "Just gonna make him heartier, right?" I texted my friend. "Absolutely!" she replied.

There's the time I left them (strapped in) in a grocery cart and went an aisle over because it was either that or something much worse. There's the time I went to Target and walked aimlessly around for 2 hours, with them in tow, because I just needed to get out of the house and see some adults. Even if I didn't talk to them (which I probably didn't which is no surprise to anyone who knows me and has read my stuff for very long). There's the time that I went grocery shopping and bought pretty nearly nothing but junk food because I was consoling myself through 1) retail therapy and 2) eating my emotions (later, upon arriving home with all the junk).

There's the time that after not having showered for 2 days, I slathered on deodorant and put on a new (but not not-stained--I only own about 4 shirts that don't have stains on them--snot, spit up, you name it) shirt to go to Starbucks drivethrough and stop off at Tom Thumb for necessities. And upon encountering a mom obviously having a day worse than mine, stopped in my tracks and prayed for her as she attempted to load her kids. Because see, while I don't regularly (if ever) blog about my experiences on a day-to-day basis, I do pray about them and text with friends about them and complain about them when I see friends face-to-face. If I didn't, I don't know how I'd survive.

I read The Feminine Mystique once, and now more than ever, I totally get what those 1950s housewives/SAHMs were complaining about. And while I do think that the internet has almost made the problem worse (Pinterest, Facebook, Blogs, etc) in that they've seemingly created nearly unreachable standards, I do think that our ability to stay so connected helps the situation. IF you let it. If you fail to take the grain of wisdom from the blog or appreciate for appreciation-sake the idea you saw on Pinterest, but rather put those things in the category of you-must-do-or-you're-a-failure-at-life, then you're using our ability to be so connected the wrong way.

Is it tempting to see all these recipes and crafts and home decor on Pinterest and compare your last meal, your craftiness, or your home to those pictures? Sure! But if you remember that they probably only posted the best of the best, then it's not so bad. I'm not a great cook. I don't enjoy it. So I stay away completely from Pinterest food and other sources of comparing my cooking/meals to others. I accept I'm not good at it, don't give it the time it would really need to accomplish some of those pictures, and just generally don't care. I've accepted that about myself so the pictures don't bother me. I don't feel worse because I haven't cooked some elaborate thing for my family (or bought all organic food, for example).

I do tend to be pretty crafty, but my sons thus far couldn't care less. And so I've learned to do a minimal job where "required" (Father's Day card for example) and call it a day. I can do whatever I want, at my level, when they're in bed. I don't need to compete with the mom whose toddlers all made their own valentines. Ain't Nobody Got Time For That. And besides, half the fun of being crafty, for me, is to be the one coming up with the ideas in the first place! And my house? I love it! When I need an idea for a particular project/situation, I look into it. I search online to find ideas. And then I get off because I'm happy with my house. Ain't Nobody Gonna Make Me Feel Bad About It.

And so while I've written what I have to encourage you and to be real with you, I'm done reliving those moments and plan to enjoy the rest of naptime because once the boys are up, it's still several hours until Daddy comes home. And please, if I post something on this blog it's because it's important to me, not because it should be important to you. Don't be adding stuff to your list just because it's on mine.

Me too, dude. Me too.

Graham's Crawling!

Graham started crawling! In my opinion, it came with terrible timing, just before our trip to WI so as to make our stay in each place more complicated (with non-babyproofing and all...), but things happen when they happen. He beat Austin at crawling by 2 months and so I'm super curious to see if he will be an early walker like Austin was (11.5 months)!

Summer "School" 2013; Pre-week

The first week we did Summer "School," we just did general stuff--all colors, all shapes, all letters, etc. We went to the library to get some books and then worked on doing some worksheets involving drawing lines. He did a great job.

This is where we keep all the library books for the week. Easily accessible for Austin, but too big of a reach for Graham.

Austin might be developing a color preference... He almost always chooses the orange option when given a chance.

I was pretty darn proud of these lines he made!

Cute Pic Post -- May 2013

May was a crazy fun month! At times I thought it would never end, and at other times I prayed it wouldn't!

We started off with a bang, moving both boys into the small room for sleeping and converted the big room to a play room. Except a few struggles with naptimes, it has been an overwhelming success! I wanted them to be combined well in advance of WI so that us staying in a variety of sleeping situations wasn't a huge deal/sleep depriver and I think we've had a good amount of practice by now. But I'm still praying it goes well.

Graham started really getting up onto his hands and knees and rocking back and forth this month. He hasn't started crawling, exactly, but he's everywhere! He goes from sitting to laying down and back again like a champ and has some combination of that strung together in such a way as to move himself from place to place. We had a day full of family fun early in the month. Mother's Day was amazing and we got some great photos of me and my boys. We finally got the 6 Month pictures of the boys added to the hallway. We got a new bookcase from Nonnie and Gramps and it led to Austin requesting a picture be taken of himself and then he asked it be sent to Nonnie. lol! Austin ate sweet corn (on the cob) for the first time and LOVED it. The school year ended. There was the super fun, super muddy family dinner party we had which taught me never to let mud sit on clothes for three days (if you want the mud to come out, that is). We had fun swimming at the pool for the first time and had a fun Block Party (both on Memorial Day). And Graham rode in a cart sitting up by himself for the first time. It wasn't a huge success because I had forgotten to bring a puffy blanket to help prop him up, but worked well enough. And we started Summer "School"! Whew! I'm tired just typing that!

We borrowed a video monitor so that we could spy on them.

Even at 2.5, I can't resist taking a picture of him sleeping.

He went through a small phase of wanting to take his babies everywhere with him.

This was the onesie he was supposed to wear in his 6 Month pictures, but he spit up all over it at the last minute (and hence he's wearing a plain white one in those pictures).

Love brother pictures! And they're both smiling AND looking at the camera!!

He almost always sleeps on his sides. His arm cracked me up.

Graham seemed to really start to notice Georgia this month. And she's felt his presence more too. --He means well, but pulling tufts of her hair isn't how she prefers to spend her time. ;-)

Big. Eyes.

What!? They're both smiling AND looking at the camera? again!?

They CAN smile, but they also can do these weird smile-less faces.

The bookcase box was huge and served as a great roof for the "house" we have.

Our boys are so not afraid of dogs. She's seriously doing some major licking here...

Multi-Tasking!

Sound asleep.
(Both boys had a bacterial eye infection this month. One symptom is super red eyelids.)

I was trying to take a picture of the bookcase and Austin insisted on being in it, making this face, and then asked that I send it to Nonnie. Which I did.

He had so much fun eating sweet corn!

Of all places he could sleep in the entire crib, he stuffs himself into a corner!?

Sweet Smiley Man.

Getting some pictures of our Rangers Boys.

I love this picture!

Despite the look on his face, he had a blast playing in the mud with Will.

And then getting hosed off by Daddy. (Followed by a warm bath!)

:-)

We got out the pool toys and Austin had to give Graham's floatie a try. In the front room.

Documenting Graham's first time sitting up by himself.

How is it even possible that they get this messy!?

Here's hoping we have a fun and fabulous June!

Cromwell Court Block Party; Memorial Day 2013

Cromwell Court recently had a Block Party for the first time in approximately 23 years! I'm not exactly sure when they stopped or what the history is (I was in elementary school in WI 23 years ago!), but one of the women who attended said she used to coordinate them and listed "23 years ago" in her comment. I've been dying for us to get together as a street for the four years (it became officially 4 years the last weekend in April! Can you believe that!?) that we've lived here, and I finally made it come together. (A huge shout out and thanks to the Smiths, without whom it wouldn't have happened!)

For the most part, the street is quiet, connected, and neighborly, but there just hasn't been large-scale get togethers as far as I can tell. We had a housewarming party in September of 2009, but we've not been aware of anything like it since then. (Or perhaps we've just been too busy having babies!) We truly have the neighborly relationships that I dreamed of having--ones that the 1950s are notorious for having, and it makes me never want to move. I love my house and I love my street. I love borrowing a cup of sugar (or vinegar or oil or a platter, etc.), helping mow a neighbor's yard, but getting everyone together so that names and faces and houses could all be better connected was important to me. The turnout was really good that I'm already praying it will happen again next year.

We set up in our yard and the Smiths' yard, each putting out as many tables and chairs as we had (or borrowed), rolled Seth's grill out front, set out different lawn games, and a table for the food. (This was the biggest "problem"--we need more tables for food next time.) The kids ate and played while the adults were able to mingle and either meet or get reacquainted. It was perfect weather and I think it's safe to say that everyone had a good time.

Graham was happy to be in the exersaucer most of the evening, which was awesome!

I think Austin might have had 3 brownies and 2 cookies that day. But hey, it was a holiday, right!? 

One of the original residents, Ms. Gordan.

The food table was seriously overflowing with yummy food.

Sheala hamming it up for the camera.

Some of the kids wandered over to the Hernandez backyard. Austin cannot wait til he's a BIG boy.

This kid sweats like nobody's business.

Overall, it was a very fun evening. The weather was great, the food was yummy, and it was the perfect end to Memorial Day.