We're Home // Summertime

Well hello dusty ol’ thing; I’ve come to catch up over a cup of coffee and the most fantastic afternoon light beaming in over my shoulder. It’s my favorite place to sit in our new home; with my back to the bay window and all the light peaking through the backyard trees into the dining room. When we started looking for a house I had no idea it was going to be so emotional or take so long; in March after 8 months and 3 contracts that fell through (thankfully) we ended up here. A 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house with nice long back deck and a great outdoor space for the kids in a wonderful family friendly neighborhood just 2 miles from Target. We just kept saying over and over again it’s perfect for us; it meets all of out needs and some of our wants; it’s ours! Thankfully the previous owner kept everything in excellent condition so there is only minor updating needed but nothing immediate (I mean technically yes you can live with a duck themed ceiling fan in one of the bedrooms). Prior to moving in we painted the kitchen and dining Colorado Gray and the living room and entry way Moonshine, both by Benjamin Moore. I had great visions of painting most of the house and getting it all cozy with personal touches this summer by life had other ideas and by life I mean two rambunctious boys! Looking back I’m thankful I’ve had a few extra months to really hone in on what I want in this space and what will best fit our daily living.

This summer was wonderful and being four days into the new school year has only confirmed how glorious summer really is. We had standing play dates with our bible study group weekly but besides that we just beat to our own drum. The gym, the splash pad, the lake, Grammys, the library; we got into a little routine of after breakfast getting out of the house until lunch time then coming home to eat, take naps, and relax until Dad got home.

Speaking of Dad, in June he was ordained as a Calvary Chapel Pastor! As in yes, I’m a pastor’s wife. I know, right? How did God miss that critical error? I guess if anyone doubts that God doesn’t call the qualified but qualifies the called then they can just look at us and see wow, God really does change lives! There is nothing good in me except Jesus. It’s been so exciting to watch Davy obey God’s calling and to get a peek into what that entails. He still works four days a week at his 9-5er but spends one day a week at the church.

Towards the end of the summer I tried to bottle up as many lazy days as possible by enforcing we don’t get out of our jammies all day or we just take it really easy. This summer I have learned to love being home; love spending time playing in the boy’s rooms or cuddling watching a movie or taking a family walk out to check the mail or just walking around saying yes, this is home. And now here we are at the start of the school year and I have a kindergartener. Let that soak in. But more on that another day.

Happy Birthday Emery

Our sweet Emery; you’ve fit right in since day one. Your calm happy demeanor, your independent playing, your infectious smile. You bring us all so much joy and confirmed jumping all the way into their parenting gig (as if one kid didn’t already do that) was the best decision we’ve ever made.

Saying this for the 76 time but this year has flown by; I mean really, so much so we themed his birthday party Time Flies. Because it really does. Like wow. You’re one years old. With Moses it was more a celebratory YAY we’ve survived the first year but this time it was more YAY we’ve loved having you a part of this past year.

In no particular order here is a snapshot into Emery’s world. He loves to eat; I know last time I was battling the mom guilt over organic pouches but those days are long behind us now that he eats table food at every meal. Waffles with applesauce, sweet potatoes, strawberries, watermelon, steak, corn, black beans, you name it, he eats it. He still wakes up once a night! Honestly I’m used to it but man after 12 months I’d love to lay my head on my pillow and not open my eyes until the sun comes up; maybe one day I’ll stop making excuses and work on that whole sleeping through the night thing. He loves playing in Moses room; they wonder down the hall (oh hey by the way WE BOUGH A HOUSE) and get lost in cars and balls and climbing all over the bed.

In the few weeks leading up to his first birthday he got his first tooth and started walking! He’s been walking for less than a month but boy does he get around; runs up and down the halls and darts for any open doors. Just writing this I’m filling with such joy talking about him…he really does make our life so much brighter!

My first born taught me how to be a mother; to give up a large portion of my selfish ways and multitask both mentally and physically. We scanned the baby books looking for answers why our baby was up crying so much at night and used gas drops (HAHA). When our second came around it was old hat, second nature; no mommy meltdowns in the middle of the night or googling every new thing he did. It’s confirmed just how much I love being a mother and I wish everyone could have their second child first!

A few pictures of his party and a sneak peak at the house!

 

 

Emery, the eater.

I was under the assumption that with your second kid you would first laugh about all the paranoid things you did with your first born like clean the fallen pacifier and never let them get dirty; you’d continue to do all the “good stuff” you did for you first and then just do better for the things you knew you kind of sucked at round one. So for me it was a no brainer…of course I would make all Emery’s baby food. But this time I’d kick it up a notch and add spices and blend more together and have a five star restaurant in the form of frozen pureed baby food lining my freezer. Well, then life happened, and that was so completely not the case. I has reading up on Baby Led Weaning and thought that was a pretty good idea (when explaining to my mother she simply said “like we all used to do when you were little”….well yes mom, except not the part about us gumming on McDonalds hamburgers at 6 months old in the backseat) so entering his sixth month I picked up a banana and avocado. We diced up the avocado and set it on the tray; he slid them around in his mouth then out they went. Maybe he swallowed a few, maybe. We tried that a couple nights and then the banana which yielded similar results. Well dang, that was the plan.

Strolling Target one day I decided to pick up a few of those organic pouches they offer for babies 4 months through toddler years to see if maybe he’d enjoy some good ol’ mush before finger foods. You know, I’d let him sample the options before making big batches. The pouches went over much better and before I knew it I was loading them in my cart every trip because he wasn’t finished sampling every fruit or veggie under the sun and OH MY GOSH THIS IS SO MUCH EASIER. The time I bought the organic produce myself, diced it up, cooked it, pureed it, froze it, yadda yadda yadda it was not worth my time. And by the way making baby food is so stinking easy and accessible and rewarding yet here I was telling myself I’d start next week. Well weeks piled into more weeks and by this time we gone back to more finger foods (turns out four months later he still doesn’t like banana and avocado) and then the whole thing just turned silly. Caroline; why are you making yourself feel like a failure when you’re feeding your child organic produce and nursing like a champ? When he’s thriving and growing and happy and life is all good? Have I defined the definition of Mom guilt yet?

So here we are in our tenth month and Emery pretty much eats a small amount of whatever we eat. Although I have noticed we eat a lot of raw vegetables or Brussels sprout which are too hard for him but I try to give him softer veggies at different times of the day. He loves meats and rice and gluten free waffles or sprouted toast with puree spread on top. He still nurses all day and all night (No! Sleeping through the night! Ever!) but I’m totally okay with that because these are the good ol’ crazy baby days.

Parenting is one big foot in your mouth, am I right?

 

 

 

 

 

Blink, we're here.

It was a silent wave that crushed me when I pulled up the archives. There he was; those big blue eyes and blond hair staring back at me. The mindless words I typed over four years ago are now treasured memories and I'm high fiving myself for hitting publish. So now my poor second child has iPhone Notes app to thank for the very small blips of information I thought to write down while nursing. I won't regret a moment because life has been pretty incredible blogging or not however I won't second guess myself next time I want to pause and publish.

September 14th: Emery was away from me for 5 hours and did great while we enjoyed a football game with dear friends who came into town.

September he started enjoying his exercauser and loves finding his toy hanging on his play mat then bite on them. Extreme drooler just like his brother!

End of December we decided enough was enough and it was time to sleep train! Yeah yeah yeah we let our kid cry it out in return for some much needed structure and SANITY within our house. It's been over a month and there are still nights we are working on it but for the most parts after a week he had got into a rhythm. Hoping to write more on this later!

Mid January started to crawl, intense burst of separation anxiety, eating baby food of all variety but no chunks yet. Sleep training success has been rough after a small sick bout but we are slowing getting our structure back. Always gives Davy a big smile then sticks his tongue out at him; it's their thing. Chews on everything like he teething but still no teeth! Nursing like a champ and mom is still his number one :)

And there you have; the smallest snapshot of Emery's life so far.