Summer is flying by! I seriously don't know how the kids already start school next month!
It's been a pretty chill summer! Neither of the boys wanted to play baseball so we have been just been hanging out! It's nice not to have any obligations sometimes. Maybe that's just me, but I don't mind being at home most days. I'm definitely not one of those people that has to have something to do ALL the time. It overwhelms me. All three boys will do soccer in the fall. I'm excited for that. They did a few golf lessons this summer and have been going to the driving range with Dan-which they love. We've been getting into that a lot more- and I love it! I like that it's a sport they can play all their life and the fact that they don't need a whole team to play it.
Rocky just turned 2. She is the so fiesty and mean sometimes! terrible two's are hitting hard! She can also be the sweetest, but it's about 20% of the time. haha, we love her so much so we let it slide. She loves to sing, she loves Frozen, barbies, playing dress up, and putting on lip gloss. She also loves to scream when she doesn't get her way. She makes the meanest/funniest faces. Our favorite right now is she scrunches up one side of her face and lifts one eyebrow. It's so funny. She growls and jabbers in a deep voice when she's mad. She's been saying the boy's names and it's adorable. She says Damon like day, rafe is fay, and jag is yag. She's real good at saying "No mooooommmmmm!" she runs to her room and slams the door when she's mad. I'm a little nervous about hows she going to be as a teenager!
Damon and rafe are getting huge. They are the best helpers. This summer we have stepped up our chore chart and it's been so nice to assign them bigger chores and have them do a good job. They scrub toilets, vacuum, take out the garbage, clean the garage, do the dishes, put away laundry...... pretty much everything now. It's been so nice. We got them little kid fitbits and set a step goal for them that they have to hit before they get TV or screens, then a goal to hit for the whole day. They were super competitive at first and it got so bad we had to take a few days off, but theyve been much better since. If they can hit their goal every day we're going to take them to lagoon. As jag and rocky are getting older they always want to be where the older boys are. And it causes some fights and screaming sometimes but the boys are usually pretty good about it. But I try to make sure that they get time to themselves without the little ones. They've been staying up so late every night watching movies or just hanging out. Jag hangs for a while but usually goes to bed around 9:30/10.
I find myself putting too much on their shoulders sometimes. Either too many chores, entertaining jag and rocky, or just expecting them to act good all the time. I try to catch myself when I do this, but it's hard! They don't complain and sometimes like being treated as more of a grown up, but I have to remind myself they're just kids and they can make big messes, wrestle, hurt eachother, and cry over silly things.
Jag is in my favorite stage right now. He's old enough to understand more, communicate better, and is so sweet. He's always telling us he loves us and loves to cuddle up and talk. He is still in speech therapy, but he just wrapped up occupational therapy. He's going to preschool in the fall and i'm excited to see how much he grows and learns. I love his teacher! I actually put him in the class that's 4/5 yr olds, he turns 4 in october so he'll be a little younger but hopefully he will be able to keep up. Having delays in his speech makes me nervous he will be behind in school, but we'll have to see. He is just the cutest best little guy!
Dan quit his job almost a year ago and has been taking on his own clients and running his own business, and it's been amazing. It's so great that he has the freedom to take days off, do his work from home, and he decides how many clients and how much work he can take on at a time. He's been working for a dermatologist here as one of his clients and it's been great because he can go there and work during the day, and i've been getting some amazing perks for my skin which I LOVE. It's more of a real job, he does their marketing and some HR stuff. It's been great and he likes it for the most part! it's kind of been the best of both worlds- to have his own clients but then something that's a little more of a corporate feel- but still being an independent contractor. Anyways, it's been great. So good for his confidence and it's what he's always wanted to do- be his own boss. He's really happy which makes me really happy because he has had super high stress/horrible jobs for YEARS!
I've just been trying to keep up with the kid and Dan! Sometimes it's hard to be the mom and have to be taking care of everyone, but i'm trying to find time to make sure I take care of myself as well. I often put myself on the back burner, at the beginning of the year I really wanted to work on that and it's been great. I feel so much more myself and human! haha I just felt like shell of a person just going through the motions of raising kids and keeping everyone happy and taken care of, so it's nice to feel like I really matter too. Dan's always been great about making sure I'm good- but it's different. When you start doing things YOU love and things YOU want to do, it fills your cup back up. It's just a different feel. I've really been focusing on my health and trying to get passed this PPD that just doesn't seem to want to go away. Losing weight has helped me a lot to feel more like my old self. I've been loving taking care of my plants and roses, doing puzzles, watching my favorite movies, going shopping by myself, making sure we do date night once a week, and decorating my house. It seems selfish to me sometimes to just shut everyone and everything out and just focus on what i want, but it's been the best thing for me and i can take better care of everyone else when I'm happy and my whole entire being isn't allllll about everyone else! I'm sure some of you mommas can relate! If you're not being selfish- try it! hahahaha but seriously, make sure you're doing things you want to do that fill your cup! Life changing.
That's about it! We are all happy and healthy and i just feel like we are in such a good place all together. It's so nice but I always worry when the other shoe is going to drop and things get hard again. I'm soaking up the good while it's happening- i'm thankful for the tough days and years we've had because it truly does make these moments so much better. ;)
