WOW, is it really July 18th already? Summer seems to be flying on by, like usual. It’s definitely my favorite time of the year and I continuously ask myself why I live in a place where my favorite time of the year is only 4 months long…when we COULD live somewhere that it is like this ALL of the time! Truth be told, I wouldn’t live any place else; being a Marylander all of my life, we’re not going anywhere. At least not until retirement – then we might consider moving South. If it were up to my husband, we would have moved south 12 years ago when we got married. At this point in our lives there is no way he’s getting me to move anywhere; including out of this house, even if it would be local – we love our family & friends too much to even consider leaving…no matter the weather.
I mention this because yet again, my husband is convinced that we’ve grown out of our house and if we don’t add on, we’re going to have to move. I could not DISAGREE more. I love where we live. I love our house. I love our neighbors. I love our yard. People with 5+ kids live in homes much smaller than ours. They make it work. We will too. We just have to keep cleaning out the junk. The community dumpsters are here this weekend so I’ll be making MANY runs to the dump. Most of which while C. is not home since he has a problem parting with old things. Why after all, wouldn’t it be smart to hold on to golf clubs from 20 years ago? Or the old lacrosse pads (smelly at that), helmets and sticks from his glory days at BHS? Or the weight lifting set from high school? As he says, our kids might really enjoy playing with these things someday….right? Ahem...not so much. I will probably regret sneaking these things to the dump but we have to make room for all of the plastic stuff for the kids that we have accumulated over the past year so something’s gotta go. I’m not a pack rat – in fact, I often regret my actions when I’m looking for things later that I wish I had saved.
All of this discussion was spurred from the fact that last weekend, C. had to part with the last remaining “free” room in the house – which was his “guy room” where his weights, golf paraphernalia and other items which were not approved to be anywhere in the rest of the house, were stored. This included the sports pictures from his college apartment that decorated the walls (Orioles and Redskins from the 80’s). Knowing that his days were numbered, I could tell he was very sad to have to give up his last place of solitude where he could crank up the tunes, grunt and do guy things whenever he wanted. He looked at me a bit bewildered on Sunday when he went in to start packing things up. The only thing of "his" remaining is the beer frig (from college, mind you) - which ended up on top of the full size freezer, for lack of anywhere else to put it aside from the dumpster. If that thing could talk, we surely would have our children in "ear muffs"; it's been through a lot, the trusty old frig. Game over. His room is now the new playroom.
I’ve been working on it this week in my “spare” time (staying up until all hours of the night painting, sewing curtains etc.). It’s coming a long nicely. It’s a small room so I’m trying to use my space wisely. I'm just happy to be able to move all of the toys to one place and not trip over them constantly. The amount of toys that the kids have already is borderline ridiculous; it’s only going to get crazier. Especially with their 1 year birthday quickly approaching. And the toys get bigger, the bigger they get…
So, back to this birthday thing. In a little over a month, we’re going to be celebrating one year since the little munchkins were born. Holy cow. I remember wondering what it would be like when my babies started to grow up; and do things. I couldn’t really imagine what it would be like. We’re there. NOW. They are growing up. Before our very eyes. I can’t wait to celebrate this special day with them. And have their family there to show them how special that they are. It brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. The biggest thing I have to worry about right now is making sure that Cole learns how to eat solid foods so he can enjoy the biggest, richest, dreamiest CHOCOLATE CAKE he’ll ever have. There must be nothing like that first taste of chocolate when you’re a kid! And the sugar high that follows…
So, we’re on to investigating new car seats. What a task. JD’s feet are hanging out of his carseat – I guess it’s time to move him into something bigger. Not to mention that getting him out of the car in that infant seat is starting to be hazardous to my health. The bruise I have on my thigh would scare anyone who saw my naked leg. The convenience of the “bucket” has ended now. Sad. I’ve been looking at some things on line trying to figure out what to buy. The britax gets the best ratings, no question. But when you’re buying FOUR (yes, I said 4) carseats, boy, that’s a punch in the gut at $260 a pop. We need one set for my car and another set for floaters (nanny and C’s cars). I just saw the Eddie Bauer 3-1’s at BJ’s for MUCH less than that…those are looking pretty good at this point. I will not compromise safety for price but when reading the reviews, I am surprised to say that I’m actually finding just as many pro’s and con’s for the britax as I am for the E Bauer one. I’ve never been one to be too cheap with things but I’m having a hard time justifying paying $260 for a car seat when the other one has more versatility and the same safety ratings. There is nothing in writing telling me WHY the Britax is the best. Is it comfort? safety? good colors? what?
I mention this because yet again, my husband is convinced that we’ve grown out of our house and if we don’t add on, we’re going to have to move. I could not DISAGREE more. I love where we live. I love our house. I love our neighbors. I love our yard. People with 5+ kids live in homes much smaller than ours. They make it work. We will too. We just have to keep cleaning out the junk. The community dumpsters are here this weekend so I’ll be making MANY runs to the dump. Most of which while C. is not home since he has a problem parting with old things. Why after all, wouldn’t it be smart to hold on to golf clubs from 20 years ago? Or the old lacrosse pads (smelly at that), helmets and sticks from his glory days at BHS? Or the weight lifting set from high school? As he says, our kids might really enjoy playing with these things someday….right? Ahem...not so much. I will probably regret sneaking these things to the dump but we have to make room for all of the plastic stuff for the kids that we have accumulated over the past year so something’s gotta go. I’m not a pack rat – in fact, I often regret my actions when I’m looking for things later that I wish I had saved.
All of this discussion was spurred from the fact that last weekend, C. had to part with the last remaining “free” room in the house – which was his “guy room” where his weights, golf paraphernalia and other items which were not approved to be anywhere in the rest of the house, were stored. This included the sports pictures from his college apartment that decorated the walls (Orioles and Redskins from the 80’s). Knowing that his days were numbered, I could tell he was very sad to have to give up his last place of solitude where he could crank up the tunes, grunt and do guy things whenever he wanted. He looked at me a bit bewildered on Sunday when he went in to start packing things up. The only thing of "his" remaining is the beer frig (from college, mind you) - which ended up on top of the full size freezer, for lack of anywhere else to put it aside from the dumpster. If that thing could talk, we surely would have our children in "ear muffs"; it's been through a lot, the trusty old frig. Game over. His room is now the new playroom.
I’ve been working on it this week in my “spare” time (staying up until all hours of the night painting, sewing curtains etc.). It’s coming a long nicely. It’s a small room so I’m trying to use my space wisely. I'm just happy to be able to move all of the toys to one place and not trip over them constantly. The amount of toys that the kids have already is borderline ridiculous; it’s only going to get crazier. Especially with their 1 year birthday quickly approaching. And the toys get bigger, the bigger they get…
So, back to this birthday thing. In a little over a month, we’re going to be celebrating one year since the little munchkins were born. Holy cow. I remember wondering what it would be like when my babies started to grow up; and do things. I couldn’t really imagine what it would be like. We’re there. NOW. They are growing up. Before our very eyes. I can’t wait to celebrate this special day with them. And have their family there to show them how special that they are. It brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. The biggest thing I have to worry about right now is making sure that Cole learns how to eat solid foods so he can enjoy the biggest, richest, dreamiest CHOCOLATE CAKE he’ll ever have. There must be nothing like that first taste of chocolate when you’re a kid! And the sugar high that follows…
So, we’re on to investigating new car seats. What a task. JD’s feet are hanging out of his carseat – I guess it’s time to move him into something bigger. Not to mention that getting him out of the car in that infant seat is starting to be hazardous to my health. The bruise I have on my thigh would scare anyone who saw my naked leg. The convenience of the “bucket” has ended now. Sad. I’ve been looking at some things on line trying to figure out what to buy. The britax gets the best ratings, no question. But when you’re buying FOUR (yes, I said 4) carseats, boy, that’s a punch in the gut at $260 a pop. We need one set for my car and another set for floaters (nanny and C’s cars). I just saw the Eddie Bauer 3-1’s at BJ’s for MUCH less than that…those are looking pretty good at this point. I will not compromise safety for price but when reading the reviews, I am surprised to say that I’m actually finding just as many pro’s and con’s for the britax as I am for the E Bauer one. I’ve never been one to be too cheap with things but I’m having a hard time justifying paying $260 for a car seat when the other one has more versatility and the same safety ratings. There is nothing in writing telling me WHY the Britax is the best. Is it comfort? safety? good colors? what?
Ah, so many choices these days. I’m convinced that the amount of choices we have in today’s world is responsible for the high stress and anxiety that so many people suffer from. Things have gotten so complicated haven’t they? Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to have choices. But sometimes too many make life so much more complex and hard.
JD has finally cut his first tooth – yay! And he is quickly eating us out of house and home. He has a fondness for food, that is for sure. He's hit the 20 pound mark. Cole is learning to get in on the mac-n-cheese now too b/c he is realizing that if you snooze, you lose. He is coming right along with his eating repertoire. His unofficial weight this week is about 18 pounds. And he's mobile now too. The hatches are battoned!
JD has finally cut his first tooth – yay! And he is quickly eating us out of house and home. He has a fondness for food, that is for sure. He's hit the 20 pound mark. Cole is learning to get in on the mac-n-cheese now too b/c he is realizing that if you snooze, you lose. He is coming right along with his eating repertoire. His unofficial weight this week is about 18 pounds. And he's mobile now too. The hatches are battoned!
Here’s a cute picture of JD today while he was over at Grammy’s for a few hours. Think he was having fun? That smile is priceless.
And this is where I found him after his bath this evening.
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