Simon's first time to the beach and 2nd child problems

Well, there was that condo we rented memorial weekend this year that a case of meningitis prevented us from going to. The owner "gracefully" let us reschedule (keeping our deposit made it much easier for her) and we were able to go last month. We had literally just gotten back from Ryan's dad's funeral and Simon had been sick that whole week. The idea of leaving again two days later seemed miserable, but I'm still glad we went--- not to say it wasn't partially miserable, because it was. We slept like garbage the two nights we were there and Simon was really struggling. He's actually just getting back to normal after getting on a second dose of antibiotics. This poor kid has been through the ringer (and subsequently putting me through the ringer and SUB-subsequently me putting Ryan through the ringer with my stress).

I would take Lincoln to the beach early in the morning and we got to have some one-on-one time. We ran around, we buried the car in sand, we chased birds and let the tide chase us. Ryan usually stayed back at the condo while Simon was sleeping after being up most of the night. They would occasionally make a few short appearances, but Simon just wasn't having it and his first time at the beach left us with about 2 pictures on Ryan's phone. This only confirms the "2nd child problems" when you compare the number of pictures we took of Lincoln the first time he was at the beach. It was practically a full-blown photo shoot. Sorry Simon. We'll have your photo shoot at your second time to the beach, okay?

And this is how we feel whenever we go out to a sit down place to eat that requires waiting for food and keeping Lincoln from terrorizing the place or Simon from getting fussy. When you join the parenthood club, you develop a talent that becomes very useful, almost a necessity. You learn to  inhale your food. Seriously. You don't do much talking or visiting with your spouse and you wait until you're paying the bill to ask if they liked their meal. 

And one of Simon's few pictures from the whole trip. We still love you, Simon... even if we don't have the pictures to prove it.

all about a sore foot

When Ryan and I were dating and living in Idaho, we would go over to my grandparents' house to visit them. My Grandpa had passed away shortly after we were married, so some of my last memories with him were from those little visits. This is what those memories consist of...

I remember a particular time when Grandpa was sitting in his usually spot on the couch in his usual clothing attire, a plaid shirt.  Ryan and I were talking with Grandpa when Grandma came whipping into the living room on her electric scooter. I believe the chair was fairly new because her steering was still a little erratic. Anyway, as she came ripping across the living room, we heard Grandpa let out a big painful yell. He hunched over to rub his foot that Grandma blindly ran over. He told her to come over and to stick out her hand. He gave her a tiny swat on her hand. I'm not sure what was funnier, him scolding her, or her barely pausing in her tracks to let mumble a half-hearted apology.

On another occasion, we were over to their house for dinner. We were all sitting down and Grandpa had just taken a sip of his favorite drink, root beer. He smacked his lips and said "aaaaaaah, that's the good stuff". Unfortunately, his moment of enjoyment was painfully interrupted as Grandma came wheelin' up to the table to join us... and then, another yelp of pain. Grandma, once again, ran over his foot with her scooter. Someone buy that man some steel-toed shoes, will ya?

That poor foot of his. It must have been so painful. Why am I sharing this story? Well, I've experienced a similar pain since I've become a mom of a toddler. My experience isn't exactly the same, but to be honest, I think it's equally as painful if not more. I don't know what goes through my toddler's head to think it's okay to come over to me when I'm sitting down, and stand on my bare foot. That thin layer of skin on top, gets twisted by that wide, husky foot of his and it KILLS!!!! And apparently me yelling "OFF! OFF! OFF!" doesn't get 30lbs off my delicate dainty foot any faster. It's one of the worst physical pains having a toddler has ever inflicted upon me. (First being the time I stepped on his tiny hot wheels helicopter in the middle of the night. I cried.)

I guess it's been a learning experience and as much as I like to think of Grandpa and me as a victim, there is some fault on our side. Grandpa, you should never have been anywhere near grandma's path while she was in her scooter. And for myself? Well, I shouldn't be sitting around the house unless I'm wearing steel-toed shoes.

My little Simon turned 8 months two weeks ago. Seriously, the second baby grows up faster. It's really not fair. Simon is by far my cuddle-bug and I just relish every time he lays his head on my chest and just sits while I rub his back. He's so content in my lap, in fact, that he is still holding out on crawling. That's okay; just one less child to chase after and one less child to be tearing the flesh off the top of my feet.

And I can't fail to mention how  extremely observant Simon is. He's always keeping an eye on Lincoln... probably keeping a close watch so his feet don't get stepped on, as well. Man, I love these boys...

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.