More daily life

What a week! The boys are putting themselves to bed every night, at the same time, in their room. It's amazing, phenomenal, I feel like a new person and I really didn't think it would happen this soon! You have to understand, that having your sleep interrupted for an entire year, longer if you count the pregnancy, can be hugely detrimental; it's hard to explain if you haven't experienced it recently.

I know some women have their babies sleeping through the night by 12 weeks old, or their babies are just sleepers, and that's great. I just wasn't comfortable forcing our boys to sleep through the night until they were ready (Kyle started doing this at 10 months old, Micah is 13 months old). When we moved to Nashville, Kyle regressed some and required one of us to lay down with him while he fell asleep; only since Micah has started going to bed with him in their room, has this request completely vanished! Don't get me wrong, I love snuggling with my boys while they fall asleep, but some nights it would last a LOOONNNGGG time and by the time I stumbled downstairs, it would be 10 o'clock already, so I'd head straight back up and go to bed until Micah's midnight feeding or just stay up and do stuff around the house until Micah's midnight feeding. Anyways, it's all very exhausting the first year of an infant's life and having the boys' sleep life falling in to place is an ENORMOUS piece of the puzzle to me feeling like a human being.

Kyle is really starting to get excited about his 5th birthday coming up next month! Kevin and I have been exploring birthday party options. It's all quite amazing what you can do for a kid's birthday party these days; My 5th birthday is the first party I have clear memories of, including the purple, frilly party dress I wore. It was at McDonalds on Arizona Ave. in Chandler (no longer there). I don't think McDonalds even does birthday parties anymore. Do you remember your 5th birthday party? Let me know in the comments.

Well, we went back to the church we tried last week. Sunday school was good all around; Micah hung out with us because he has a runny nose, but no one gave us a hard time about it and the sermon was fine. This church has great community outreach and activities for the kids. We'll see, there are a few red flags, but these are known to us and are more personal issues, then true make or break issues with the church itself (it has to with the denomination). And that is all I have to say about that! Here's to starting year #2 of church searching.

The boys both continue to grow up. Kyle has just recently been able to really verbalize what he wants/needs/is feeling. It's been quite the developmental leap that I've noticed in him from concrete to more abstract. Micah is starting to develop a love for reading, something he had not been interested in up till now. Both boys still love to play with sticks, throw rocks, and wrestle; it's non stop action around here! Micah has gone back to two naps a day since we arrived home from vacation. This means Kyle and I play games/read during nap #1 and Kyle does his own quiet time during nap #2.

Hey! We got new furniture, new to us, but our current furniture isn't yet sold, so the family room is full of couches and chairs. It's a cushy wonderland for the boys. Micah can now climb up and down all of our furniture himself, and then often rolls off.

Oh man, and did I tell you about the ants. Ever since we got home, there have been ants in the kitchen. We have regular pest control, but they forgot to schedule us for July, so they hadn't come while we were on vacation, ugh. So I called and scheduled them as soon as we got home, they sprayed and we saw more ants, so I got ant traps and wow did they love those! It's been since Wed. and I only saw one ant today, thank goodness. I'm crossing my fingers that they are gone for good.

Well, Kevin has now beat me up to bed, which rarely happens, so goodnight! And I'll update again soon.

Home...

...if you could call it that.  We've been in Nashville for just shy of a year and it's still not exactly home for me.  We even tried out a different church this morning, *sigh*.  

Our summer vacation was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  Lots of time with family, lots of time on the beach, and plenty of new experiences for everyone.  We drove to Charleston, SC first, then to Washington, DC, and lastly to Bridgeville, DE.  We have family in all of those places.  Kyle is finally old enough to enjoy some touristy attractions, so it was a lot of fun to take him around to museums, aquariums, and other notable places.  Also, he got to see my uncle's real, working farm and shot a BB gun for the first time (even hitting the can a few times!).  It was great!

Micah has come in to his own even more since we initially left for vacation.  He is talking and walking more than ever!  Just tonight we started our "learn to put yourself to sleep" phase of Micah's world, and both our boys fell asleep in their room, in their own beds, of their own accord!  Truly a milestone and one we have been looking forward to for many, many months.  

I am starting the search for a part time job, evenings and weekends when Kevin  is home to watch the boys.  As much as I love and appreciate being able to stay home with them, I am excited to get out a little bit in the "working world".  Also, I am beginning to plan Kyle's 5th Birthday Party, which is very exciting, as my 5th Birthday Party is the first one I have clear, concrete memories of!  

Good night! 

Whirlwind

Well, about the time I stopped posting last week (or was it the week before?), Kevin drove off to a mini work retreat in Huntsville, Alabama and my mom arrived to spend a week with all of us in Nashville, before driving with me and the boys to South Carolina.

We are in Charleston right now, having a wonderful time with family and hanging out at the beach. Kyle was a little nervous the first night we went for a walk on the beach, but by the next morning that water was calling his name and he has been jumping waves and boogie boarding ever since. Micah loves to walk on the wet sand, chasing seagulls and dogs, while collecting seashells. If he does end up in water, he waves "bye bye" to it until I come get him and move him to higher ground, LOL! All of us have had a great time building sand castles and knocking them down too.

Micah has been teething pretty much since the day we arrived here, which has meant a lot less sleep for me, and a much more clingy baby in general during the day. Kyle has been amazing with Micah, and his little cousin B (10 months), whose house we are staying at right now.

We will be in SC for a couple more days, then start to make our way up to Washington, DC to see more family on Tuesday! This is so much fun and the boys have been fantastic in the car thus far. I don't miss Nashville, but I do miss my husband; he will be joining us in DC next week!

Micah is walking more and more, which means he is also falling more and more. Little guy busted up his chin on the sidewalk at the mall today. The thing about Micah is, you go to comfort him and he starts whining more because your picking him up and all he wants to do is try, try again! He is talking a lot and I can't believe how grown up he is. He is able to play more and more with Kyle everyday! They play chase, wrestle, tickle, peek a boo, hide n seek, etc...

All right, I'll update when I can/have uninterrupted access to a computer. Happy 4th of July!