A Bright Spot

In the midst of today's crazy weather, there was a definite bright spot.  It was one of the most brilliant rainbows I've ever seen.  Pretty incredible.

Good Night, Sleep Tight Continuation

A continuation of an earlier posting. 

I'm not sure how she does it.  Sound asleep...

And, yes, those are green fleece pajamas that she's wearing in the height of summer. 

11 Months

11 months...excuse me, rewind please.  I'm not yet ready for another month come and gone and another month closer to one.  I'm squarely in denial.  Despite my want to slow things down, time is marching on and you are growing.  And, as you are getting bigger, stronger our hearts are growing too.  Growing more full of love, understanding, patience and awe of the little person you are becoming.

These days things are busy.  And you, my dear son, are busy too.  Busy in every sense of the word. You leave nothing untouched, unexplored.  You can cover a lot of ground in a very short period of time and virtually nothing will hold your attention for more than a minute.  Sometimes not even that long.  You are curious and like to test.  You have no fear and do everything full force; there is no hesitation.

If I didn't know better I would swear you are part monkey.  You love to climb and it doesn't take you long to scale the stairs, any piece of furniture where you can find a way to boost yourself up and just the other day I found you on top of the toilet.  You used Carmen's step stool and pulled yourself up.  The toilet!  I can't fathom where we will find you next.  Your current favorite thing to do is climb onto the small kid-sized chairs, then climb onto the table, stand on the table, and play with the window handle and bang on the window screen.  Um, this activity is not so safe. We've tried countless tactics to stop you but how you howl.  If you do not get what you want or we take you away from something, look out.  The wailing begins and it is loud, loud, loud.  Big tears.  It's kind of funny because if we put you back or give you back what we took away, it stops immediately and all is right with the world again.  Apparently you have us trained and know that we can't listen to you protest for too long.

All of this climbing is getting you closer and closer to walking and just yesterday you stood by yourself, unassisted for the first time.  It won't be long now until you are taking off and cruising on your feet instead of crawling on your bare knees (yes, still not wearing pants very frequently). 

Your hair continues to grow and continues to stick straight up and little curls are starting to form in the back. This may just be the best conversation starter yet.  It's not just one comment a day anymore, but usually several.  "Wow, look at that hair!"  "Do you style it?"  "I've never seen such hair."  "His hair sure is fuzzy."  And on, and on.  I love it.  It's soft and fluffy and very blonde.  It's impossible to pat down so I just let it do it's thing.  I'm hoping that once it grows a little longer it will calm down on it's own but for now, it's perfect just the way it is.

And you are perfect too.  Your smile, the way you make a mess when you eat, the way you love to be held upside down, your strong personality, the way you run me into the ground by how busy and into everything you are.  I wouldn't change a thing.

Wine

We were lucky to have three nights away to celebrate our 10 year anniversary.  We were a little apprehensive to leave the kiddos at first as this was our first time away, but after being in wine country and in heavenly Napa Valley we barely remembered we had kids.  Not true of course, but we had such a wonderful time and we knew the kids were in good hands with Grandma and Grandpa for two nights and cousins for the third.

We stayed in the small town of Yountville.  Everything was divine and somewhat out of a dream.  The weather was perfect and allowed us to lounge by the pool, poke around the sleepy little town and of course taste lots and lots of wine.  We also ate like kings and dined in quaint French restaurants and were able to consume some of the best food we've ever had.  We expanded our pallets, watched sunsets over the rolling vineyards, enjoyed fresh baked pastries and yummy coffee every morning, spent time at the spa for a much needed massage and enjoyed driving around the area to experience a hand-full of the over 400 wineries in Napa alone.  It was a much needed balance of relaxation and exploration.  We will be back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Crescent Bar

We just returned home after 4 days of fun in the sun with the Skurski family--Grandma, Grandpa, Aunties, Uncles and lots and lots of cousins.  All 25 of us invaded Crescent Bar for the annual family trip.  We sunned, we spent time at the pool, Carmen and Max went for their first boat ride, Carmen swam in the cool river and played in the sand.  We ate, we drank, we played dice, had some Sea-Doo time, cooled off with ice cream, had movie night and hung out with family.  It was a great time but we are glad to be home and sleep in our own beds.  And, everyone else is glad we are home too, as little Maxy did a good job keeping all of us up at night.  All and all it was a wonderful trip and a fun way to spend a few summer days.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

Fun with Family

The last couple of weeks have brought lots of summer sun and the opportunity for us to spend some much anticipated family time together. 

We got to visit with Tasha, Dan and Zane--home from Morocco.  We enjoyed walks on the trail, good conversation over red wine, blowing bubbles in the back yard, getting check-ups from Doctor Carmen and just spending as much time together as possible during their short time in the states.  Carmen followed Zane around like a shadow and Max tried to keep up.  He was happy to finally meet his Auntie, Uncle and Cousin. 

We were lucky to have Grandma and Papa 'Son' here for two weeks as well and Carmen was over the moon.  We picnicked in the park, celebrated anniversaries, enjoyed a grown-up only dinner, and Grandma and Grandpa chased Max around and were on Maxy duty.  He is a busy boy so there was never a dull moment.  We were happy for the time we could spend together and look forward to their next trip back during Christmas. 

We are very blessed.