I forgot.

So earlier this month I was on an exercise kick. You know, that one you get on when you have a trip to the beach coming up? So anyway I went down to work out at the facilities here in our neighborhood. I was running along on the treadmill, with Lyle Lovett crooning in my ear about rodeos, ice tea and old Texas porches and then wham! I totally swooped off the back of the treadmill and landed boomp! right on my rear end. I was mortified but otherwise unhurt. Beyond being really embarrassed I was fine, truthfully I forgot all about it. Fast forward 4 weeks to today, I have felt like poop all week, with a horrible nagging back ache so I went to the doctor thinking maybe I had a kidney infection or bladder infection or I don't know what. Well, they did all kinds of tests and found ... nothing. The doctor said it seemed muscular not my organs (good news if you've ever had a kidney infection, they are not fun) and had I perhaps suffered some sort of injury, like maybe while working out. (because you know I look like a worker outter right???) and I'm all like, "no, no, no injuries.." then, DOH! Suddenly I knew exactly why my poor back is hurting. I felt so embarrassed for wasting all of her time like it was some deep medical mystery when really I just fell off the treadmill. So some joint in my lower spine is very very unhappy right now so it's off to bed with some Advil and a heat pack for me.

Where did July go?

I know it has been a while. I remember as a kid that July was the summer month that always seemed to last the longest. And so it has been this year, busy and fun but sort of one week melding into the next, nothing really standing out in a major blog worthy way. We’ve been swimming a lot in the evenings. I regret to say Jacob did not “pass” his Session 1 lessons. He did put his head under, float and paddle around, he just waited until Lesson 5 (out of 6) to begin to try all those things. We intend to re-enroll him but we all needed to take a bit of a break (including, I think Mr. Pat the swim instructor). We are proud of Jacob, he even dips under to look at things – we play the game where I hold up fingers or make a sign that he knows in sign language. This past weekend we tried these new swim vests, they are awesome and on very good sale right now. With the addition of the vests Jacob is now paddling all over the place. This is a huge deal compared with where we were just three weeks ago, so all in all I would say swim lessons have been successful. Ah, my two babies are so opposite in many ways. Bella knows no fear. Bella’s favorite thing to do is to leap right off the edge into the pool; she doesn’t necessarily concern herself with jumping to an adult, so I have to be hyper vigilant with her. The vests make me feel better, though of course we are very watchful. I have been shopping and planning for the kid’s upcoming birthdays. Bella’s birthday will be a Sesame Street theme and Jacob’s is going to be Backyardigans. I’ve found this really nice vendor on eBay for birthday supplies. She went out of her way to help me get everything on time, and even refunded me some money because she was able to ship it for less than what was originally calculated. She could have kept the difference, I would never have known, but I was really impressed that she did that. I’m reading a lot again. That’s the other reason I’ve not been blogging lately. Will and I hit up the new used bookstore down in Kingwood and we both found great books so we’ve had several nice evenings with candles and books instead of TV. Will is reading a biography of Jackie Kennedy and I’m reading the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare and also rereading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I want to see the movie but I like to refresh myself on the book first. Anybody that wants to go see the film with me please let me know! YAWN. Sorry, I know none of this is particularly riveting, but that’s how July is – long, hot, blissfully redundant. Swimming, supper on the grill, curled up with a book – perfect.

Swim Lessons

This week Jacob began Level One Preschool Aquatics. The website says the Learning Objectives are: Enter and exit water using ladder, steps or side Blow bubbles through mouth and nose Submerge mouth, nose and eyes Open eyes under water and retrieve submerged objects Front and back glides and recover to a vertical position Back float and recover to a vertical position Roll from front to back and back to front Tread with arm and hand actions Experience wearing a life jacket in the water Learn how to stay safe in, on and around the water, including the use of a life jacket, recognizing lifeguards and sun safety Jacob has his own objectives. Climbing up and then sliding down the banister by the pool steps Staring off into the distance and singing the “Oh Doo Dah Day” song Stating loudly and repeatedly “I don’t do underwater” (To which know-it-all classmate Kaitlin says “You have to, that’s the whole point of swim lessons” ) Splashing know-it-all classmate Telling instructor “I want to learn to swim on just the top part of the water” Throwing a big fit and being placed into Time Out. Throwing Bigger Fit because he missed the rest of the lesson because of Big Fit #1 Throwing Bigger Still Fit because he didn’t want to get dressed (see fit #2) Throwing Massively Huge Fit because his t-shirt fell onto the wet floor during Fit #3. Sigh. Just between us, I really wanted to quit. There’s a big part of me that wonders if it is too soon, maybe he isn’t ready, why not wait, why push him to do something he emphatically states he does not wish to do? Why spend a happy summer evening being miserable? And then that selfish, petty part of me wonders why the other kids are having fun and my kid is in the bathroom crying? And I paid $55 for this? I want very much for him to learn to swim. He will be safer and have more fun at the pool and beach. He will gain confidence by overcoming fear. He will learn to respect the swim teacher’s authority. He will learn that “practice makes progress”. He will learn that we don’t quit just because something is hard. It’s not about swimming, it’s about life. So Thursday afternoon we went back for lesson 3 out of 6 in the session. We drug our feet a bit, but we went. If I know Jacob, it will be about lesson 5 before he gets into the swing of things. It isn’t so much that he doesn’t “do” underwater; it’s more that he doesn’t “do” New. If we keep at it, he’ll get it and by the end he will shine (or at least, maybe, dunk his head under!) Jacob is the Jacob that the Lord has made him to be, every bit of who he is was created according to God’s purpose and plan. I believe in him and I believe that God will grant me patience and wisdom to parent him. And that, Kaitlin, is really the whole point of swim lessons.

Come One Come All - Father's Day Weekend

Warning - lots of pictures!

Fathers Day weekend was crazy. Self-induced craziness, but crazy. On Saturday we left to go to Austin. I always feel guilty when we go to Austin, not because anyone else makes me feel that way, but just my own self because I love and want to see everyone. So when we go I either don’t see everyone and feel bad, or we do see everyone, which totally exhausts my husband and children, so then I feel bad about that.

As an alternative to feeling bad, Will and I have devised what we call the “Come one, come all” dinner. This is where we put out a general notice that we are going to dinner at a certain time and place and anyone that wants is welcome to join us. This particular weekend we had 16 adults, 3 babies under age 2, 3 kids under 5, and 1 teenager with purple hair. It was very loud and very fun. Jacob told me “Mommy, this is just too much family, some of these people need to leave” – LOL, kids are hilarious sometimes.

My best friend since 5th grade Karen & her husband Mike.

Me & their daughter Stephenie

My brother and me

Will's Dad & My Dad

Bella - getting serious with the queso

Cousin Lulu (Will's brother's daughter)

Cousins! Jacob, Ashke & Kechara

My Mother in law Theresa

My Mom Julie, my Dad Michael & my new tiny baby niece - Kyla. Hooray for preemie's coming home!

Back row - my Mom, Randy, Leigh's parents

Front Row: Leigh (my sister in law) & Leigh's sister Laura & cousin Luella

Leigh's parents

Who are these people???

The next day was my niece's birthday - happy birthday Luella!

Her cake was shaped like a pickle because "Pickle" is her nickname. Luella and Anabel rock out on the new piano

Sunday afternoon we drove to Montgomery, where Will borrowed his Dad’s pickup truck. He needed the truck in order to pick up Bella’s early birthday present. I was able to get a really good deal on Craig’s List on a particular playhouse I have had my eye on for awhile.

I love Will. He spent Father’s Day Weekend driving. I googled it and here’s the breakdown: Humble to Cedar Park 190 miles Cedar Park to Austin (3 trips @ 19 miles each) 57 miles Austin to Montgomery 138 miles Montgomery to Cypress 36 miles Cypress back to Humble 40 miles That’s a total of 461 miles. At the end of which he unloaded, scrubbed and put together a playhouse. Then filled my car up with gas and set up the coffee for me so I could get off to work caffeinated and fueled. He probably did other stuff too, but I went to bed. Am I lucky or what?

Recipe for Fun

2 restless smallish children 1 hot summer Sunday afternoon 1 Mom, who is not feeling like a. wearing a bathing suit b. spending money c. leaving the house 1 sprinkler 1 Playhouse with slide 2 plastic cups 3 ice cream sandwiches Simple things are often the most fun. We set up the sprinkler so that is sprayed right onto the slide of the playhouse – woo – instant “water park”!

Bella has been into accessories lately. She picks something (a purse, string of beads or in this case a bib with a cat on it) and wears it all day. On this day she was inclined to wear her bib over her bathing suit and I was not inclined to disuade her.

They played happily for over 30 minutes while I sat and did nothing other than snap some photos and watch the blue sky. Then we sat on the porch and ate ice cream. Bella ate hers and then came around to mooch off Jacob. “I have some? I have some?” she says. The use of the word “I” is new for her, replacing the babyish third person she has used heretofore when referring to herself. It instantly makes her sound more mature, the third person “Bella want some, Bella eat, Bella poop” etc. is quintessential baby talk. This grammatical development has me feeling sentimental, in the space of a week she’s surpassed Elmo!