Whew........this summer FLEW!! I know I'm a couple weeks late on this but I'm telling ya, I'm blown away by how fast this summer has gone by!! I really don't think we spent a day at home the entire month of July. I think the exhaustion is going to hit me like a ton of bricks when we finally slow down.....but there are no signs of that happening in August! Ha ha
Family- We started July off with a BANG. The girls and I got to go to Hogle Zoo on the first and we were lucky enough to have Crystal, her kids, and her mom join us. The kids had a blast! Then we went to Pizza Pie Cafe for some yummy pizza. Then later that week we headed to Delta for the good ole Independence Day celebration. We always go to the parade, then grandma Joyce's for lunch. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon at Braden and Crystal's for a BBQ and topped it off with some fun fireworks with the kids at Tyson and Karlee's. The kids played so hard and had so much fun! They were all exhausted. We got to do so many other fun things in July including going to our first Bee's game and an RSL game. After work on the 19th, I took the girls to the Living Planet Aquarium. It was so incredibly crowded but we had fun. On the 23rd, the girls and I went to Delta to enjoy the festivities there. We also made our first visit to the Nephi pool to meet up with the Bliss family- that is such a fun pool! Hayden surprised me and went down one of the really big slides all by herself. She told me, "No mom, you go down there and I'll go by myself." Maisa and Carter welcomed their adorable little girl Quin on the 16th (a week late). We finally got to meet her when she was a week old and she is so precious.
Colby- Colby finished up his first semester in the PA program. His grades were outstanding and he ended up in the top 10% in his class, maybe even better but he won't admit it. He is thriving in this field and I am so so proud of him. He works his butt off and puts his whole heart into it. When we were in Delta on the fourth we stopped by Ashton's and they gave us some pigs feet to practice suturing. It's kinda fun to be able to do this type of thing with him. I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined that we would basically end up in the same profession. He has surpassed my expectations 10 fold.
Megan- I almost forgot to address myself in this post. But I pretty much sum it all up in the girls' sections. I ended up working a few extra shifts in July even with all of the other outings we did. I need to keep telling myself that we still have at least 2 more summers in Salt Lake (depending on job outlook for Colby when he's done) and I really don't have to hit EVERY tourist attraction in the valley this summer. But by golly, I'm going to try! Ha ha! I am still running 4-5 nights a week and I can safely say that I KNOW that I do not like running. I will try and find some other form of exercise to do once this 1/2 marathon is over. I was really hoping that I would notice more of a physical change with running so much but I have hardly changed a bit on the outward appearance (I do know my endurance level and energy has increased) but I definitely haven't lost any inches or weight. But, breastfeeding makes my appetite astronomically high!! Ha ha- so I know exactly what my problem is but there is not much I can do about that until Hanna is one.
Hayden- we had to do some vocabulary teaching this month. She surprised us by saying, "Oh my Hell" one night. She tells us she learned it from her swim teacher but we aren't too sure about that. We told her to switch that word to "heck." After a few slip ups, she came around to the milder language. We found out it is really hard to not laugh at things like this and parent through them. Hayden had so much fun when we went to the zoo and the Aquarium. She touched a snake at the zoo and one of her favorite exhibits at the aquarium was the "big giant snake." She has loved having Jacey watch her and she tells me that she misses her when she goes to Delta for the weekends. She also preemptively tells me she misses me when I tuck her in bed at night. She says, "Mama, I miss you tomorrow." She asks me every day if I get to stay with her tomorrow. She is getting really excited for preschool, which she starts the end of August. We luckily found one really close to our house at an elementary school. It will be 4 days a week and I think she will love it! She is a really good sister most of the time but every now and again when we are in the car and I want her to help me by giving Hanna her binky she will yell at Hanna, "Stop crying! I'm not going to help you!" Needless to say, that does not make her mother very happy at all.
Hanna- I swear, if I knew that every baby would behave like this one, I would have a hundred......okay maybe not a hundred......but really........she is so mellow!! She started doing the army crawl a couple weeks before she turned 7 months. She caught on very quickly and was able to motor around and get to where she wanted too. She woke up one morning and had a pretty heft eye infection that was all crusted shut. Luckily it resolved quickly with the help of some eye drops. I decided it was time to take Hanna out of her Moses basket in my room and put her in her crib in the girls' shared room. We stopped swaddling her at that time and put her in a sleep sack instead. I figured it's best to do them at the same time instead of waiting. It took a few nights and she still isn't completely sleeping through the night but she is getting better. Her schedule hasn't changed much. She still is taking 2 bigger naps and one catnap a day. She eats solids breakfast, lunch, and dinner and she LOVES them. She loves food. She gets a bottle or nurses 5-6 times a day. I am still sneaking into her room before I go to bed to feed her to help get her further through the night. Really this kid is so adaptable. She doesn't get super cranky if she hasn't gotten her nap on time, as long as she is entertained she can go a long time (this is a stark difference from her sister who HAD to nap on time).
Every time I see these pictures and her little gummy smile, my heart literally swells with complete and utter love and adoration for this beautiful little soul. She is seriously a ray of sunshine and I am loving seeing her grow but hating that she is growing up at the same time haha!
I am blessed........
