Summer Update

I'm a really bad blogger. I was going to share more beach photos, but I realized I did that last time I blogged. Not that it matters because it's not like I have a wide audience of people that I need to keep entertained with my twice a month blog posts. Still, we have done other things than go to the beach.

I've sat at the optometrist office again.

That was fun. Diagnosis: my corneas are still jerks. I have at least four more weeks left in glasses and no eye makeup. While I know there are plenty of people who wear glasses all the time, I am not one of those people. Glasses are not what I am used to, thus this has been hard for me--especially in the summer. I'm ready to have my contacts back and hopefully when I see the doctor in four weeks, I'll get the all clear.

Tommy discovered that he loves salt and vinegar chips. Thanks to my migraine meds altering my taste buds, I've made this discovery as well. Salt and vinegar for all!


We all discovered that the grocery store has a tractor, which is confusing and entertaining.


We had a picnic lunch to celebrate my mom's birthday and Tommy put a flower in her hair.



And, of course, there's the beach, where we secretly wish we could live and dance in the waves

and fly kites



Not pictured: Luke learned to ride his bike without training wheels and I learned to maintain a sub-10 minute mile for five straight miles. Now if only Tommy would learn to SLEEP, we'd all be set. Oh, and our local Dairy Queen now serves Orange Julius. Huzzah! How has your summer been?

Beach Boys

We kind of love the beach. I love looking back through my blog at beach posts of days of yore. Like our first beach trip last summer (I'm happy we made it much sooner this year!). Though not our beach, two summers ago, we spent some time in the salty waters of the ocean in Salem, MA. Pregnant at the beach with Tommy. Or Luke at the beach when he was only 18 months old (picture me clutching my chest).

Yesterday, we made our first beach trip of the season. It was much-awaited by two little boys, the bigger who could not believe that we had to wait until after Tommy's nap. Lucky for him, Tommy woke up stupid early as always and thus, went down for a nap early. First we went for barbecue, where Luke ate an adult-sized pulled pork sandwich. My kid, the carnivore. Not that a full stomach stopped him from climbing a sand dune seven times in a row!

Tommy grew more fearless between this summer and last. He was unafraid to dash into the water, which meant someone had to be on him at all times (this is kind of the norm for Tommy, anyway). He was undaunted, though. He would lose his balance, go under, come up spluttering and laughing, and go back for more.


And, of course, Grandma and Grandpa were more than willing to swing him around to his little heart's content.


Although the temperature passed the 90s, it was the picture perfect beach day. Blue skies, puffy white clouds. We couldn't ask for better beach weather.


We like to get to the beach in the afternoon and stay later. It starts to cool down. People start to clear out and leave for dinner. You get to watch the sun sink lower into the horizon. It makes for the perfect way to end a day.


And the best thing about the beach? The shortest person in this house is so tired that he's still sleeping. Shh....

Seeing Double

This weekend, my bestie Leah (please go to her blog and say hi!) visited, and she mentioned that she thought I was smaller than with Luke. I've actually gained the exact same amount of weight so far, but I do feel smaller than I did with him. I'm not sure if it's that I'm carrying differently, or if it's because of the pregnancy workout DVD that kicks my butt HARD every night, or if it's all in my head, so I booted up my old desktop to snag a few photos of when I was 28 weeks pregnant with Luke.
For comparison, I even pulled out the same shirt I was wearing in these photos and tried to pose the same, but mostly I failed.

28 weeks with Luke


28 weeks pregnant with #2


I think the weight is definitely not going to my face as much this time (YAY), but past that, I am not sure. What do you think?
































And just to make this the most picture heavy post EVER, here is a photo of my mom when she 28 weeks pregnant with my older sisters!

Let me just go on the record as stating two things: I am so glad that there have been amazing advancements in the field of maternity clothes since the 70s, and I cannot believe my mom only gained seventeen pounds with TWINS (and she carried them to 38 weeks). Look at how tiny her arms were!

Can't Help...

Lovin' that MOM of mine.

I need to dedicate a post to my mom, because she is simply amazing. I feel that amazing doesn't even begin to sum her up, and there are so many things I could share with you about why my mom is amazing that I'm not even sure where to start.

I remember when I was in high school, and I first started to realize that my mom was amazing. It occurred to me on nights when my friends would show up randomly for dinner, and my mom would never complain, just set an extra plate. See, we were the family that always ate dinner together, that always had a delicious meal on the table, so my friends who didn't have this? They came for dinner. Right after I graduated from high school, I started spending a lot of time with my friends, knowing I'd be leaving for Indiana University soon. One night, my friends and I were out late at a movie, so they all ended up crashing at my place. When my mom woke up the next morning to discover my friend Rachel sharing my room and THREE boys in the living room, did she get upset? No, she said, "I guess Erin had a sleepover," and proceeded to make us homemade blueberry pancakes and bacon. See, my mom knew we weren't up to anything bad, no drinking or sex or anything of the sort. She knew we were just being kids, and she embraced that. I knew right then that I wanted to be this mom, the safe haven who made blueberry pancakes.

My mom is a huge fan of The Birth Story on TLC. See, my mom saw an OB who supported natural childbirth (even in the 70s!), but due to my brother having the cord wrapped around his neck, my mom had a c-section. And since VBAC was unheard of at this time, my mom had c-sections with all of us. Yet, my mom loves to watch these birth shows, even though when I lived at home, I'd make faces at the sight of a baby being born. When I was 8 weeks pregnant, and we told my mom, my mom said, "Get a doula!" And we did, of course. When I asked my mom if she wanted to be in the delivery room when the baby was born, she shyly said, "If you want me to..." but I knew she wanted to be there, and she knew I wanted her there. And so she was, she and my dad both. When I was in labor with Luke, she sat up with me while Shane slept. She helped out, and when Luke was born, the first noise I heard was my mom cheering. My mom is not the mom who cries a lot, but when she called my sisters to tell them the news, she was speaking through tears. The day we got home from the hospital, my mom had put clean sheets on the bed (my water broke while in bed), and we were greeted by a clothesline of onesies above the front porch that spelled out, "IT'S A BOY!" When I had trouble nursing at first, my mom who breastfed all four of her kids (two were twins!) at a time when breastfeeding was frowned upon, gave me calm advice and let me know that it would get better. And my mom who breastfed me until I was almost two has never been anything but supportive of toddler nursing.

And today. Today, I pulled into the driveway after a long day of work. My parents watch Luke on Fridays. When I got out of my car, I realized that my mom had planted mums out front. And when I came inside, I realized that my mom had washed a load of cloth diapers for me. My mom is who she is not because she feels she like she has to be this person, but because this IS who she is. Because she is amazing, because she is beautiful, and because when she became a mom? She meant it.

Right after her 5th grandchild was born...

Our welcome home greeting