I have good news and I have bad news. The good news? Avery is capable of sleeping through the entire night. That's right, Avery slept the.entire.night the night before we left for the beach. It was fabulous and such an unfortunate tease. Not only did she not do that at the beach, but every night she got progressively worse. And every morning she woke up before 6am. Every.single.morning. Today she almost screwed up her streak and slept until 5:59. But more good news? There is a wonderful thing called naps that you can take when you're not parenting alone. So anyway, we were able to enjoy the beach extra early each morning.
"And over here you have the beautiful Atlantic Ocean."
We drove back to Chapel Hill this morning. We were loading up at 7:15 and Brady said, "I thought you said we were leaving early." Yeah, he got up before Avery. Need to teach my kids what "vacation" means.
Eric had to go into the office this afternoon and I unpacked and repacked for our next trip (my autocorrect wanted to change repacked to relax. Hahahahaha...right). We are now back on the road heading to Eric's parents house to stay the night then leave for a trip to Costa Rica!!!! With no children. Yes, I'm crying...but only on the inside. I've been so excited about this trip since I gifted Eric with it at Christmas. Perhaps a slight ulterior motive.
My view right now.
Yes, obviously Bragy is wearing an authentic football jersey (meaning....huge) an authentic helmet (meaning....heavy) and eye black. He's chewing gum, too (because 5 year olds are allowed to) which really adds to the package.
Oh hello, summer, where did you come from? I feel like life if whizzing by me at a very fast speed. If thinking about blogging would produce blog posts, you all would be very well informed about our life right now. But I actually have to make time and find motivation...so here goes.
But first, let me introduce you to the newest member of our family.
His name is Jackson and he is 12 years old. Seriously, where did my little boy go?
Today is Eric's last day of camp! Do you hear that loud noise? Those are the collective cheers of Eric and me. And that noise? Those are the cries of the moms who have their sweaty sons returning with sugar highs and dirty laundry. My mom came to visit during the first week and it was so nice having her here. I mean having someone else around who will pick up a broom because, you know, the floor needs sweeping? That is one magical thing. Among other things, my mom also painted the downstairs bathroom. Because I paint signs, not rooms.
Its purple and I love it. This bathroom had two teal walls and two neutral walls and I've hated it for three years.
The boys played outside with grandma a lot. Lots of water was involved, including water guns and water baseball.
Avery loved it too. She was great at crawling the bases.
We watched the camp game (current players vs former players) with Grandma. Avery is loving her new found talent of standing. She will use anything or anyone as a prop.
Business is going well. I've been trying to squeeze painting time into every spare moment of my time. I just put my Etsy shop on vacation. We are going to the beach, then on to Costa Rica!
You've been out as long as you've been in! Hope Earth has treated you as well as the womb. I personally have enjoyed you on this side of things, especially as you've gotten older. You are quite the ball of personality! No one can say you lack that! You don't want to be in your highchair unless you have food (that you like) in front of you. When you finish your food, you pound the table for more. Not the most patient of ladies. I am generally running around like a madwoman trying to keep food on your plate and meet the numerous requests of your brothers. You're crawling up a storm and are pulling up on things. You like being upright, and I think you're going to enjoy walking when that day comes. Which is the opposite of how I need you to be when I'm changing your diaper. That is always an adventure. I got you to lie on your back for about 2.5 seconds during todays 3 minute photoshoot.
Summer has just begun, but we've already put in some good time at the swimming pool Thankfully, you seem to love the water and don't mind getting splashed. Bath time with your brothers has provided some good training. You're my whitest child yet though so you and sunscreen are going to know each other well by the summer's end.
You're still not sleeping well at night. Moving on...
Seeing my kids interact has always been one of my favorite parts of parenting. I love it when the boys make you laugh...and when you make them laugh. "Here comes trouble!" is a Jackson favorite phrase. Their love for you is so sweet.
Grandma is visiting you this week while daddy is away. She has loved hanging out with you...but I think she'll be exhausted by the week's end. She wants me to design a sign for her right now, at 10 pm, and I told her first I needed to finish your letter. She didn't seem to grasp its importance and said, "Just say, 'she's great, pretty much same as last month.'"
Just know I'm not the only one short-changing you.
Every year since he turned three, I've asked Brady a series of questions. Below are his answers from when he was Jackson's age (in black) and his answers now (in blue).
Favorite color: Carolina -- Dark Blue Favorite thing to wear: Shorts -- Tar Heel jersey and shorts Favorite food: Peanut butter balls and cookies - Chicken Favorite breakfast food: Waffles - Waffles Favorite lunch food: Chicken sausage - Parfait Favorite song: Tar Heel song - Tar Heel song Favorite sport: Baseball - Basketball Mom's favorite thing to do: Play basketball - Paint Dad's favorite thing to do: Play hockey - Work Jackson's favorite thing to do: Be the catcher - Play with me Favorite thing to do with mom: Play baseball - Play against you and beat you in basketball Favorite thing to do with dad: Play tennis - Do some chores with him Favorite thing to do with Jackson: Play basketball - Play against him in basketball Favorite show: Team Umizoomi - Alvin and the Chipmunks Favorite place to go: Basketball game - Chic-Fil-A Favorite book: The soccer one - Big Bad Wolf's Birthday Best friend: Micah and Marcus Paige - Emmy Favorite Tar Heel: Marcus Paige - Brice Favorite team: Not Duke - Tar HeelsWhat scares you: Brice - When bad guys come What do you want to be when you grow up: Older...and a monster - Policeman
The funniest one for me was that Brice was what scared him when he was three, and now he's his favorite Tar Heel (I'm not sure what got Marcus tossed off the list). And he likes to do chores with daddy? That's hilarious.
Below are Jackson's answers to his set of questions.
Favorite color: Pink Favorite thing to
wear: Red Dragons shirt Favorite food: Macaroni Favorite breakfast food: Mini wheats Favorite restaurant: Zaxbys Favorite song: Twinkle Favorite sport: Hockey Mom's favorite thing
to do: Paint Dad's favorite thing
to do: Play with us Favorite thing to do with mom: Play with you
in the playroom Favorite thing to do with dad: Trying to
steal the ball from him Favorite thing to do with Brady: Watch him do
something like draw or paint Favorite thing to do with Avery: Play with her Favorite show: Blaze Favorite place to go: Grocery store Favorite book: Chic Fil A book Best friend: Sylvie Favorite team: Bull cats Favorite Tar Heel: Marcus What scares you: Lions What do you want to
be when you grow up: Fighter My sweet boy wants to be a fighter? Too bad for him that his big brother will be a policeman!
Back to real life in a real way. I loved my first week with three children and no school BUT I may have had a few moments when I missed preschool. Definite upsides, definite downsides. Upside: don't have to be anywhere in the mornings, so mornings are relaxed! Downside: Don't have to be anywhere in the mornings, so, um, I'm responsible for them. Upside: Don't have to pack lunches! Downside: I have to feed them at lunch....and breakfast...and dinner. These kids always want to eat. Upside: Pool is open and the kids love it! Downside: Kids are white and need sunscreen, and help with their shoes, and towels packed, and food packed, and toys packed, and yada yada yada and I'm exhausted before I get there (at which point I have a whole new set of responsibilities).
We had a great weekend here in Chapel Hill. Eric gets the twitches when he is actually in town with no plans....I love that man but sometimes I wish he would stay put and be happy. Brady and Jackson had their last soccer game on Saturday morning. Holy hot, but the kids had a blast. I pulled out Eric's phone when the refs declared the last play of the day (year) because I hadn't gotten a video of Brady scoring all year (I never have storage). We had a really young team (Jackson's preschool buddies) so Brady was the oldest and consequently, the only one that scored...the whole year. Brady didn't have equal competition, but I was proud of him for playing really hard the whole game on offense and defense.
On the car ride home:
Jackson: "Mom, the other team didn't get medals like us."
Me: "Yes, they got medals, too."
Jackson: "But why? They didn't win!"
Me: "Yeah, but everyone got medals."
Jackson; "But why? They didn't win!"
So I had to have the participation chat with my three-year-old, who seemed to understand the absurdity of the participation award more than the adults.
We went swimming at our friends community pool, which was amazing and I've had to field 88 questions today from Jackson about when we will get to go back. The gals had fun to playing with pool toys, and cell phones. Avery loves the water, which bodes well for us this summer.
We ate some pizza afterwards and Layla, (Jackson's age), apparently couldn't get enough of Brady, who obviously, is irresistible.
Here was their conversation after the
Brady: Tackle me again!
Layla: Do what to you?
Brady: Tackle me like what you just did.
Layla: What's tackling?
We had a cookout on Sunday night with some friends and set up a water tether ball. As if tether ball wasn't fun enough as is, just add some water.
There were 9 children at our house. I think at one point the majority of them were on Eric.
She has had lots of fun with her cousin. She definitely lets it be known that she is the older one.
