lucky 7's

August was a good month for us--- 7 years of marriage and Simon's 7 months!!

Our anniversary has always been a thought-out, planned celebration. We usually go on a trip or plan some new adventure, but this year was different. First of all, we aren't around family that we could pawn the kids off to for an overnight, and second, we have two kids now! Heck, even a trip to the grocery store with both kids is a complete hassle-- let alone a trip that's intended to be romantic and relaxing. Forget about it. But let's face it, 3 hours without kids is a vacation in itself.

Even though this year was rather simple compared to other anniversaries, it was just as memorable as always. We hadn't made any set plans other than having a babysitter come over that night. An hour before she arrived, I asked Ryan what we should do. I had to pick up my jaw off the floor when he told me he had already planned something. WHAT???!!! This guy always keeps me on my toes....(literally, too. See picture above ^^)  The next part is hilarious...

We got in the car to drive and within three minutes, he pulled into a shopping center by our house. What the heck? Just past the grocery store, to the little shops next door, he parked in front of an Asian reflexology spa. This wasn't your typical massage spa with tranquil music in the background, soft white sheets to lay on, and where your masseuse talks to you softly to prevent disrupting the ambiance. This special place had red lanterns hanging from the ceiling, floral china decor, and concubine art on the wall-- Ryan informed me as we walked in that he booked me a massage "...aaaaand they don't speak English."

I convinced him that he couldn't miss out on a massage from such a place as this one, especially on our anniversary. What kind of loving wife would I be if I hadn't convinced him to partake in this interesting experience--- he agreed.

And then it was one of the funniest experiences we've had, trying to ask them if they could do a couples massage. They initially took us to two separate rooms where we had to ask again if we could have two tables NEXT to each other (talking loudly and slowly with hand gestures usually helps when speaking to someone in a different language). They FINALLY understood, so Ryan helped carry a massage table from one room to another, banging walls in the process and having the owner speaking some type of directions (or profanities??) to Ryan. The rather large exposed guy (or woman??) getting his rub down right next to us was probably much disturbed. Not much privacy in this place.

The massage was a whole other experience in itself--- One of those "I'm-going-to-jam-my-elbow-into-pressure-points-you-never-knew-existed" types of massages. I seriously thought at one point, he was trying to do the sleeper-hold on me as he grabbed the back of my neck and pushed really hard on some pressure points. I laid there thinking... "I'm literally going to pass out..." At one point, I even turned my head to look at Ryan. I was barely able to muster out a sentence before the guy grabbed my head, turned it back into the head rest, and pushed it down so I couldn't turn and talk with Ryan. I didn't have the courage to talk to Ryan much after that. AND THEN!!!! They managed to give me a second degree burn (okay, not really) on my back when he threw a scalding towel down without letting it cool for more than a millisecond. That was nice. Didn't even have to pay extra for that.

We later found out that they do speak a little English when they asked for a bigger tip. Oh Ryan, my love, thank you so much for such a memorable experience. You're definitely my "butter half".

And now for my other 7. 

My smiley Simon. 

He's seven months and is finally mastering his roll. I know every child is different and a parent shouldn't compare their children, but Lincoln was 5 months old when he started crawling. I would be lying if I didn't say I thought there was something wrong with Simon. Why isn't he rolling much? Why isn't he sitting? Is there something the matter with my child??! No. He's just fine. He's just doin' his thang...or not doin' his thang... whichever. :) I take comfort in knowing he doesn't succumb to peer pressure, even though I've laid down a heavy dose of it to get him to try and crawl...or sit on his own. 

He's got two little teeth poking through and is starting finger foods. He's got the perfect face for rocking a mad cow-lick and by his stellar fashion sense, he thinks I rock--- he's clearly very intuitive, too. Speaking of how I rock, I've been teaching Lincoln to give me compliments. The two we're working on are, "you wook pwitty mama," and "you my bes fren." Clearly I'm using my child to boost my ego, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do, right? 

He held the sitting pose for about a solid minute! WOOHOO! The trick is to put him in almost a splits-pose. He'll grow up with great flexibility.

6ish months later...

I'm trying to stay on the ball here with keeping our little family blog alive, but let's be real, I'm struggling just to keep the kids alive. To my credit, these pictures were actually taken just a few days after his 6 months-- it just took almost a month to post them. Maybe because Simon doesn't like to give me much of a break during the day. His napping is atrocious, but he sleeps 13 hours straight at night so really I can't complain.... too much. And yes, that smile. It makes his refusal to nap worth it...almost.

Would you look at these two?! Yes, there's the spontaneous jealousy when Ryan holds Simon instead of Lincoln-- or when I give Simon a toy and Lincoln suddenly feels a strong urge HE has to have it now, simply because his brother has it, but overall, they're great brothers to each other. Simon will watch everything Lincoln does and laugh at all the goofy faces Lincoln pulls-- and Lincoln is incredibly sensitive to Simon's needs and showing him love, even when I'm not there to witness it. How do I know this? Because this morning, as I went to pick up Simon off the floor while he was playing next to Lincoln, I noticed he had white gunk in his hair. My initial reaction was, "what the heck is this?! I just bathed him!" uggggggh. .
"Lincoln? Did you put something in Simon's hair?"
"A kiss!"
I looked up at Lincoln's face and realized the yogurt he just demolished off for breakfast was all over his face, chin, neck, shirt.... and now, in Simon's hair. But why was it in Simon's hair?? Because he went over and gave his brother a kiss on the head when I wasn't even there to witness. I was incredibly grateful in that moment that Simon and Lincoln have each other and that I have them. One of the other ways Lincoln shows his love is cheering Simon on after he belches from a feeding, "Good burp, Simon!" Or when Simon is crying, Lincoln will come over and say, "Don't cry, Simon" and hands him a toy. If that doesn't do the trick, he tells me in a concerning voice, "Time for Simon's nap!"
Life is good though, really good. I've got these two boys keeping me busy, keeping me laughing, cooking, cleaning, chasing circles around the kitchen, playing trains, laughing some more, building forts, playing in the sprinklers, keeping my feet sore by the end of the day and helping me work on my patience. :)

Smiley

Simon turned five months on Tuesday and naturally, I had to take a bunch of pictures for such a HUUUGE milestone. :) Everything is a mile stone from a mother's point of view, right? I love experiencing little milestones all over again-- He smiled? Awww. He laughed? Awww. He did a half roll? Awww. He cough-farted? Awww. Yes, we celebrate the first of everything around here. And this is the part where I start bragging about how awesome my baby is and bombard you with lots of pictures.  

I will refer to Simon as Smiley from here on out though because -- do I really need to explain? I mean look at him. Ryan got home from work early and came home to me taking his pictures and jumped in on the 5 month photo shoot.  It's a good thing too, because rubbing his grizzly scratchy beard on Smiley's neck really brought out the giggles. 

Smiley has been that chubby blob of constant happiness and joy in this home. We started introducing solids a few weeks ago and I'm already seeing this kid is going to put a huge dent in our grocery budget. Smiley can really put the food away, like really put the food away. This makes me extremely happy. I'm not the only one who finds joy watching their kids eat a lot of food, am I?-- I know, I'm weird. I just want to fatten them up so I have more squishy kids to cuddle up with.

the birthday father

I don't think Ryan will ever let me forget the year I didn't do anything for his birthday. That was last year, and it was kinda a big one-- the big 30. But I really do have a valid excuse, or at least I'm really good at making myself feel better with not-so-valid excuses. First, we had just moved to Austin, Texas like 5 days prior. Second, we were living in a crammed hotel room. Third, I didn't know the area or have any special idea where to take him out. Fourth, it was crazy hot and humid, I thought I was going to die just walking from our hotel room to the car. And lastly, but most importantly, I was in the very early stages of pregnancy with Simon. That stage where all I want to do is sleep all day because my sleep at night is nonexistent. He was gifted a 5lb bag of peanut M&M's and a dinner to Texas Roadhouse. TEXAS freaking ROADHOUSE? We're in Texas with all these amazing bbq places that I have no idea where they are and we end up at Texas Roadhouse? It's a little comical, but their rolls and honey butter don't have me feeling TOO bad. 

Anyway, Ryan couldn't care less, but the whole thing turned into a joke and me promising to make it up to him next year. It also doesn't help that his birthday is the same weekend as Father's Day... He was gypped Father's Day, too. 

I know he's been wanting to go fishing, so I ended up renting us a pontoon boat to take to the lake. Ryan did a little fishing, I did a little bit of relaxing, Simon did a lot of sleeping, and Lincoln did a lot of eating.

It ended up being an awesome day together and it probably had something to do with me getting in the water. I'm the loser who doesn't like swimming in lake water. I'm such a wimp to any water below 85 degrees and not being able to see below me really freaks me out. I think the Loch Ness monster and movies like Anaconda have ruined me, and I've never even seen that movie... Anyway, maybe it was the fact that Ryan turned 31 and I'm realizing that one day I'll be in my 30's (heaven forbid) that made me feel a little crazy and spontaneous that day and I did something crazy, I got in the lake. But I didn't just get in the lake, I stayed in the lake and swam in the lake. I was like a little kid laughing and screaming "Look at me!!!! I'm swimming in the lake!!!! THIS IS SO LIBERATING!!!" (Even as I'm typing this I'm thinking I need to get out more if swimming in the lake is liberating HA!) But it WAS!! My boys all thought I was crazy, I'm sure, and they're right.  

and a not so memorable memorial day weekend

Onto our 4 month old Smiley Simon and him discovering his tongue. 90% of his pictures, from here on out, will feature his tongue protruding from his mouth. It really ups the cute-factor on this little man. These pictures are a little late, but with a valid excuse. 

We had made plans Memorial Day weekend to stay in a beach condo. Three days before leaving, I started developing a headache, each day getting worse and worse. We were planning on leaving first thing Saturday morning, but by Friday night, I thought I was literally dying--literally. The headache turned into the most debilitating migraine. I couldn't get any relief from medication. The slightest light or any noise softer than a whisper brought shooting pain to my head. I couldn't walk, I couldn't lay down, I couldn't move. Around midnight, I began feeling nauseous and had developed a high fever. After throwing up, I decided  I really needed to go to the hospital. 

After a CT and spinal tap, I found out I had meningitis. MENINGITIS! WHAT THE HECK!? On top of the meningitis, I almost had a heart attack after they told me they needed to admit me for a few days until they determined whether it was bacterial or viral. You're joking right? I have two kids at home, one of which is a 4 month old that's solely breastfeeding, PLUS, we are leaving town in the morning for the beach!!! That wasn't enough to convince them to change my diagnosis and let me go home. 

It was so hard for me to be away from my family, especially Simon. I knew Ryan and Lincoln would manage just fine without me, but I hadn't been away from Simon more than 3 hours since he's been born. I was convinced that Simon would starve because he wouldn't take a bottle, Ryan would have a breakdown taking care of two kids on his own, and that our house would probably burn down. Pretty much, no one would survive and everything would fall into shambles because the mother of the house wasn't there.  Through a humbling reality check to my ego, I learned it wasn't the end of the world for my children or husband--they all survived just fine without me. 

I'm sure it was a mixture of no kids, no house to clean, no meals to make and let's not forget, the lovely concoction of narcotics they were giving me, but my hospital stay sure felt like a much needed mommy-vacation. I laid on my adjustable bed in my robe, having people come check-in on me to see if I needed anything, and I even ordered room service.

Speaking of room service--

I was starving Saturday and called down to place an order for lunch around 11. By 3 I was hungry again and called down to order more food. 

The lady asked me.."Oh! Did you not like the lunch we sent you earlier?" 

"Uhh...yes, it was great." (Okay I'm embarrassed now) "I'm just still really hungry and that first meal was more like a late breakfast for me."

Is severe hunger a sign of meningitis? No? Well, that was really awkward then. 

By Sunday, my results came back viral and they began to cut back on drugs to see how my pain would be. I wasn't 100%, but the fact I was able to turn my head side to side without feeling like an artery was going to burst and after eating the two desserts I just ordered, I was feeling pretty dang good. I was able to go home by that afternoon and thank goodness because seriously, look at this kid, I couldn't stay away from him much longer. 

My parents flew out for a week to help take care of the kids while I was still recovering. It was pretty much the best thing ever. I slept more than I have in a very long time, my mom kept the house clean and cooked some meals. GLORIOUS. Unfortunately, the day they left is the day we found out Ryan had contracted meningitis, too! Luckily, his case was not as severe and he recovered quickly. 

guess what!? 

this home is meningitis free now!! YIPPEEE! 

potty talk

This post was from a month ago.... but I forgot to share! So even though this experience was traumatizing to ME, not Lincoln, we attempted some more potty training this past week and he's officially potty trained at home. I haven't been brave enough to take him out of the house without a diaper on... I'll save that adventure for a day when daddy can take him out. :)

A few snapped pictures that were post-nap, mid- snack time, and pre- buzz cut. 

We aren't really potty training in this household, yet (Or at least that's what I need to tell myself as an excuse for the horrific story I'm about to share). I was eager to potty train Lincoln after Simon was born to lessen the diaper load-- literally, but changing diapers on two kids isn't such a terrible trade-off considering the mess I've had to clean up already. Plus, Lincoln is already abusing the rewards system so I've already had a glimpse of the nightmare I'm going to be dealing with when I go full force on potty training. For example, this morning he went pee 3 separate times within 5 minutes-- I think he's mastered pinching-off mid flow to get more treats out of it.

Lincoln has used his potty a handful of times now, completely random over the past couple weeks. He will usually tell me when he needs to go, but the battle is getting him to go sit on the toilet. Even after I get excited for him and remind him he gets a special treat after, he still says NO! When has a special treat NOT worked on Lincoln? UGH!. 

One morning, he told me he needed to go and agreed to go sit on the potty!! YAY! He took care of business and he got a special treat! I wasn't in a rush to put a diaper on; clearly he emptied himself well, or so I thought. We were standing in the kitchen when he told me he had to poop again, and as I'm asking him if he needs to go sit back on the potty, PLOP! It hit the floor. I swooped him up to go put him on the potty, but then he started reaching his hand back to his bottom and got it all over his hands. I set him down next to the dining table to quickly grab a wipe for  his hands, but then another one plopped on the floor! SERIOUSLY? ANOTHER ONE? Forget his hands, I need to get this kid back on the toilet, STAT! I ran him to the bathroom and he started screaming bloody murder because he didn't want to sit down and I'm screaming bloody murder to make him sit down. He won that battle. So he stood in the doorway to the bathroom and dropped another one. Seriously. Another one. I had three separate piles of toddler feces in my house. THREE. I'm so glad he was keeping that all stored up just for this morning. Mind you, it wasn't even 9am yet. I wanted someone to knock me out with a bat, put me to bed, clean and sanitize my floors, and not wake me up until my son was potty trained.  Any takers?