the sweetest thing

My mother-in-law called today and pointed out that I haven’t blogged in awhile.  That’s not the only reason she called, but she is right that I’ve been on a bit of a blogging hiatus.  It’s been about a week and a half, but I think in grandparent time, that’s like going several weeks without seeing pictures of the grandbabies!

Well, we all know what a people pleaser I am, so I’m blogging.  It finally cooled off enough that we were able to take the kids to the park last weekend.  Connor struck this pose for me.  He is really growing up!  He is absolutely loving first grade, and I am just so thankful for his little mind that absolutely loves to learn.

Logan struck this pose for me.  He is as full of life as ever, and I love that he is wearing his sock monkey shirt.  Don’t tell him, but Derek and I call him our little sock monkey…there is a striking resemblance…

And Camryn let us all know when she was all done with the park and ready to go home.

Speaking of Camryn, this is one of her newest things.  You can ask her “where’s (fill in the blank with anything under the sun)” and she does this.

I love it.  She is just getting to the most fun age!  She gives kisses on command.  She claps along with “If You’re Happy and You Know It”.  She says uh-oh, mama, and dada.  She loves to read books, and has been known to dance along with any music playing.  She loves to play with toys, and does her best to get into anything and everything.  She is turning into a full fledged toddler and I love it.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the baby stage too…but I honestly prefer toddlers.  They are way more fun!

In other news, last weekend our 20 year old hand-me-down refrigerator began to go kaput.  It could either keep things frozen or keep the fridge cold, but not do both.  So we took advantage of the good Labor Day sales, and this beauty is now in our kitchen.

I didn’t know I could love a new appliance so much!  The kids seem to like it, too.  Connor is fascinated with the water dispenser and the fact that we can lock the control panel on the front.  He compulsively checks that it’s locked by pressing the water button, which means I’ve wiped up more than a few puddles off the floor.  Hopefully the novelty of that will wear off soon, or I’ll just remember to lock it every time.  Yesterday, Logan opened and closed the freezer like 10 times, just to look inside.   Derek and Camryn are pretty ambivalent.  All Cami cares about are that her magnets are within reach, and all Derek cares about is if it cools everything appropriately.  Whatever.  Don’t rain on my shiny new appliance parade!

Funny Connor quote…”mom, before we got that new fridge, we were fallin’ apart here!”  Cracked me up.

Other than park time and the new fridge, we are just busy settling into our school routine.  Summer is fun, but man do I love the start of the school year.  It’s such a refreshing change of pace!

Hope everyone has a great weekend, and to the grandparents, I’ll try to get my blogging back on track!

Camryn’s a big girl now, playing outside and all.  She loves it the most when someone plays out there with her.  Logan sometimes worries that Cami doesn’t love him as much as she loves Connor.  It’s totally unfounded…she adores both her brothers, and as you can see,  she has plenty of love for Logan.

I wish you could hear her laughing when he peeked over the side.  It was the cutest thing ever!

Cami wishes there was room for two.  I know this, because about 30 seconds after I took this picture, she was throwing a temper tantrum to get in the car.

Logan didn’t get out of the car, but he did reach out and give her the sweetest little hug.  It made her happy.

And it made me happy, too.  I know there will be years ahead where the boys fight with Camryn, but for now I will just enjoy the sweetness.

Our summer officially came to an end today. Good thing, since Connor has declared it the “100% worst summer ever” every single day over the past week. His reasons include a sore neck from sleeping funny, a broken tire swing at the park, a scraped foot from tripping on the patio, and having to go to time out quite frequently over the last few weeks. Ay yi yi. I just don’t know where he get his dramatic tendencies from…

(and anyone who knows me in real life is laughing right now, because lets just say that apple didn’t fall far from the tree.)

Suffice it to say, we were all more than ready to get back into our school routine. Connor was pretty nervous about the new year until we went to meet the teacher yesterday. Once he met his sweet teacher, sat at his desk, and took in the classroom, he was feeling “1000% ready for first grade.” (He likes numbers. A lot.)

What he doesn’t like so much is the obligatory first day of school photo.

I had Logan take one of my baby big boy and I.  I like that he still has his early morning, tired eyes.  He did great waking up early, but he definitely didn’t wake up on his own.

And then we were off.  He didn’t even want me to walk him inside, little Mr. Independent!  But he let me.  And he let me give him a hug and a kiss in his classroom.  I’m not sure how many more years I’ll get away with that!

We found his desk, which he loves because it’s a real desk this year, not just a table.  First grade is big time.

Then he was off and working hard.

And then came my favorite part of the day.  One of the best things about school is I get a chance to miss him while he’s gone.  And that makes when he gets off the bus one of my favorite moments of each and every day.  I love this picture so much!  My happy, sweet, first grader.  You can see all over his face that he had a great day.

Here’s to many more great days, just like today.

The picture portion of this post is brought to you by the sweetest, cutest, 4 year old I know.  Logan loves to get my camera and take pictures, and I always love to see what he comes up with.

(And just so you know, I didn’t crop any of these.)

Last weekend, I had to clear all the furniture out of the living room to steam clean the carpets after the Great Vomit Fest of 2009.  Derek and I discovered that Wii bowling is really fun when there are absolutely no obstructions.  We played a somewhat embarrassing number of games that day.  (The kids played, too.  But not as much as us!)

Camryn looks thrilled to have her picture taken here.

Soccer season has started up again.  This season, only Connor wanted to play.  Logan is going to be taking gymnastics.  He wanted to “do that thing where you do tricks.”  I think it’s going to be a great fit for him!

Legos.  It’s all about the Legos.  Usually, they play with the small ones, but everyone once in awhile they dig back into the big ones.

I think I will have to get Logan one of those kid digital cameras for Christmas.  He’s pretty good with mine, but it always makes me nervous!  Do any of you have a kiddie camera?  Are they any good?

So yesterday, we had one last event before school starts.  Derek took the day off work, and we all went down to Schlitterbahn in Galveston with some of our good friends.  It was such a blast!  Even Camryn was able to do a lot of the rides with us.   They have these double tubes that have a bottom in the front seat, so Camryn could ride with us.  She ended up falling asleep twice while riding the lazy (really, not so lazy) river.  The river has a lazy part, a whitewater rapid part, and a wave part.  It’s so much fun!  She could also do a lot of the smaller slides on my lap and some of the family style rides where we all ride in one big tube together.  We all had such a good time, but of course we were exhausted.  It was 12 hours from the time we left our house that morning until we were completely done, kids bathed and tucked in, food put away, showered, etc.  It’s totally worth it, though.  I’m such a waterpark freak!

In other news, I’ve decided to sign Camryn up for Mother’s Day Out this year.  I wasn’t going to…I love the school, but Cami is my baby and I just didn’t think I would be ready.  Well, I’m ready, lol!  This mama needs a break, and I know she is going to absolutely love it.  She is such a social litle thing.  I wasn’t even sure the school would have an opening (most of the classes have a wait list), but wouldn’t you know that there was exactly one spot left on the days I wanted.  Now I’ll be able to do things at Connor’s school, I’ll be able to grocery shop alone, and I’ll just be able to catch my breath a bit.  I have been feeling really worn out…almost burned out lately.  I think having 10 hours a week alone is going to be a great thing.

I have to admit that I totally struggled with some major mommy guilt over this decision.  I didn’t sign the boys up this young (Logan was 2.5, Connor was almost 4.)  I feel like I should be able handle everything better than I do and needing a break makes me a failure.  But after a talk with a good friend I realized that I really can’t compare life with 1 child, or even 2 kids, to my life now.  I don’t have to be a stay-at-home-mom hero.  It’s okay that I need time, that I feel overwhelmed, that I struggle with keeping my cool, and on top of that, my better half has a job where he travels all the time.  It’s okay.  I’m okay.

Talk to me Wednesday, though.  That will be the first day all 3 are gone at the same time.  I’ll probably be here, sitting on the couch, trying to figure out how to deal with all the silence and free time.

(and isn’t it funny how 10 hours of free time seriously feels like all the time in the world?!)

Since I haven’t really had the time to scrapbook lately, I put together a little video of Logan’s birth.

Warning: This video contains actual footage of Logan being born. But don’t worry-it’s not a health video. My doctor wouldn’t wear the helmet cam.

Click here to see the video.

For the past few days I have been wondering if Logan’s little smiles were more than just gas. Today, I am sure of it-I even caught it on film. Here are Logan’s very first smiles!

Look how strong my neck is!

Our little munchkin.

It only took a little bribing with jellybeans to get Connor to hold Logan.

In the nine days since Logan was born, I have noticed something about babies in general. People are fascinated by them. And I can’t help but ponder this fascination. I mean, when it comes down to it, babies really don’t DO much. Logan’s day pretty much consists of eating, wiggling a little, and sleeping. But I just can’t take my eyes off of him. It just amazes me that Logan started out as two single cells and in nine months formed into a tiny, perfectly formed, distinctive person. It really is a miracle. I don’t want to miss a second of this miralce.

That leads me to my next thought. In my quest to soak up every minute of Logan’s life, I have managed to take 202 pictures related to Logan in 9 days. Right now, Logan is about 216 hours old. That’s almost a picture an hour! Out of control…maybe just a little.

I’ve posted a new photo album (don’t worry-not all 202 pictures are in it!) For a brief glimpse of Logan’s first week home, click here.