June in a nutshell, kind of

I never used to understand why people would let a whole month go by before they updated their blog. But I think now, three weeks after my last post, I'm beginning to understand. My beloved little blog is badly neglected because there isn't enough time to do everything that needs to be done, and writing a blog post when I've got a dirty house and bored kids just doesn't seem as justifiable as it once was.

Also, I have a one-year-old. And he doesn't stop moving unless he's getting into trouble. I forgot that fact about one-year-olds, but its all coming back to me now.


June is the best month of the year, but also one of the busiest. Three out of the five of us (Ryan, Jeremy and I) have birthdays in June, as well as my dad. They are all about a week apart which means we have birthday cake weekly. What's not to love about that? We were camping with Jeremy's family this year on my birthday, and at this stage of life that's about as good as it gets for my birthday. I didn't have to make breakfast, lunch or dinner, I didn't have to bathe any kids (though I probably should have), they played with cousins all day, Jeremy put them to bed, and I got to go out on the Rhino twice.

I turned 29 this year, and I've been thinking about how my life has changed while in my twenties. I think for most people that's the decade of their life that changes them the most, and for me it's definitely true. I got married two weeks after I turned 20, so it's hard to determine what changes and growth were a result of simply getting older, and which were a result of being in such an important relationship at such a young age. But while in my twenties I gained a huge amount of confidence. I still have such a long way to go to become truly confident in myself and my abilities, but compared to my teenage self I am now a confident person. I've also learned more about what my talents are. I used to think I didn't have any talents, especially because as a youth it seems that everyone focuses on "measurable" talents. Good grades, scoring well on tests, being the star of a sports team, being a performer, those are all measurable talents. Being a friend to the lonely, having an innate sense of right and wrong, being a good listener, dispensing good advice, those are all immeasurable talents and I've found most of my talents lie in that realm. What I didn't know when I was young was that those things are talents and that they are just as important, if not more than, the types most people focus on. I've also learned that some talents emerge later in life. Just in the past six months I've started to develop a talent I never thought I had. It makes me excited to think about what my life will look like in another ten years.

The thing that I find the most amazing is that I've learned all of these things and developed this confidence in myself all while being a stay at home mom. I haven't had a corporate world instill any of this in me, I've developed it all while doing a job that most people overlook as not being important. Yet, it's the hardest job of all and forces a lot of growth and introspection, and I consider myself extremely blessed that I get to be home with my kids, all day, every day. (Even on the REALLY bad days!)

Now onto those kids that keep me employed:

It has been nice to have Alexis home. I was a little worried she would get bored and that she would make a lot of messes. So far she hasn't gotten bored, but she has made a lot of messes. I think that will always be life with Alexis. She thinks big and her excitement and ideas cannot be contained. There's a direct correlation between how excited she is over her latest idea and how much junk is all over the floor of her bedroom; she simply cannot stop to bother with things like cleaning up. She is also a big help with Ryan. The other day she fed him all of his oatmeal without me even asking her too. I'm starting to really see the advantage of having a daughter first!


Tyler seems to be struggling a bit with being the middle child and with getting older and wanting some independence. He's had his share of troubles with Alexis, but she is also his best friend. When they fight, they FIGHT. When they play well together it's heaven on earth. He knows how to spell "Tyler", "Alexis" and "Dad" all by himself. Yesterday he wrote "DAD" on a piece of paper, then drew a circle around it and a line through it and then gave it to Jeremy. He was trying to be funny, and he succeeded. Then to really get at Jeremy he took another piece of paper, wrote "Mom" on it with a heart around it and gave it to me. And he hasn't stopped laughing about it since. He's inherited a funny trait from me: whenever he's concentrating he has to stick his tongue out. And since I'm trying to teach him how to swim now, he swallows a lot of pool water with that tongue always out. He has also decided to start complaining about having to turn lights off after he leaves a room. For some reason he REALLY hates that he has to turn a light off and will whine about it to no end. If it were just at night that we had this issue I would understand that he might be a little afraid of the dark, but he only complains about it during the middle of the day. Of all the weird things to get upset about! I wonder how long until he figures out that he should just stop turning the light on in the first place?

And that leaves Ryan. He once upon a time was such a happy baby who rarely cried, but he now lets his opinions be known. Unfortunately because he has yet to say any words, I don't know what those opinions are. He is just generally whiny for the last half of the day. Is he hungry? Thirsty? Tired? Bored? Uncomfortable? Sick of hefting around all of that weight? No one knows! Despite the whining (which really isn't terrible) he is still adored by everybody that sees him. He is a mama's boy, though he likes to tease me by always giving Jeremy a kiss when he asks for one, but rarely giving me one. He's thinned out some but is still very solid, has the worlds fattest feet (I've only found one pair of shoes that will kind of fit him), and has some very cute curls crowning his head. He loves to be outside any chance he gets and has recently discovered the joy of throwing rocks. He has also learned how to turn himself in a circle and will do that until he's dizzy. Then he gets mad because he's too dizzy to walk straight and starts crying. While he's crying he tries to walk to me so I'll pick him up, but usually ends up somewhere completely different because he can't tell where he's going. It's very funny to me, but not ever to him.
Now, I must go. I hope my next post won't be a year from now, beginning with: "I used to never understand how someone could go a whole year without posting on their blog..."


*All pictures are from our recent family reunion with Jeremy's family at Yuba Lake. It was so much fun and we are so blessed to be part of such an incredible family.