summer vacation

4 weeks from today I have to go back to work.

It's like school all over again and summer vacation is over at the end of August.

Wednesday is August 1st, and I'm starting to get that "end of the summer" pit in my stomach.

I am ready to go back to work, and have adult interaction, and see my friends.

But it is so great to be here all the time, to not miss anything, and to do fun things with my boys.

(I know, I've been off since early June, so I shouldn't be whining.)

We now have our double jogging stroller, and went for a 4 mile walk this morning.

Both boys were very well behaved --

Sam looked around and was content for the first half hour, and then fell asleep and snoozed for the last half.

Pushing 40 lbs + of kids in the thing in this heat better make me lose some weight.

There is the perfect amount of space between the two of them, and if buckled in, Eli cannot get his little hands on poor innocent Sam.

We need a sign like this for our house:

I don't know how many days it's been, but Eli seems to have taken a break from slapping Sammy.

So let's talk about the iphone.

Or more specifically, the two year old and the iphone.

chubby little legs

or THIS two year old and MY iphone.

I really have created a monster.

LOVE his feet in flip flops!

My iphone is great when I only have 2 hands, and Sam needs fed or dinner needs cooked, or Eli and Sam want to be held at the same time.

It is a wonderful distraction.

But now I have one of those kids that is obsessed with a little computer screen, like I swore I would never have.

I always said, when I have kids... NO game boys, no xbox, no cell phones.

They can play with toys and play outside like WE did.

Eli is only two and I've already messed him up.

So now what?

I need to phase out the iphone and get more creative in keeping him busy.

It's just plain laziness to toss an iphone at him.

Tonight, we tried play-doh, which he LOVES!

Playing with his cars on his rug has also been providing hours of entertainment.

Mike has taught Eli that when a car crashes that the ambulance and fire truck have to respond.

Eli races them to the scene of the crash (with siren sound effects and all) with his match box medic and fire truck.

Once all is well, he takes them back to the "station" (which is spot underneath a chair) and backs them in (complete with the beep beep beep backing up noise) to their parking spots in the station garage.

He even has a chief's car that he knows should be parked out front of the station.

It's hilarious!

This little boy is going to be a fireman, I can feel it.

umbrellas make every drink taste better

Or a garbage truck driver, which is funny, because those are the 2 jobs that Mike wanted to have when he grew up.

Our other form of entertainment - the pond.

he's getting pretty good at actually throwing the rocks and having them land IN the water instead of just in the dirt along the sides.

He's just too cute carrying his little yellow bucket (but-kick, as he calls it) full of rocks back to the pond.

Anyway, a lot of moments in between are filled with the iphone.
What am I going to do?


And guess what?
I have another cute little baby boy to share pictures of ...


He seems to like his new home so far, and is a good little baby most of the time.

We have had our share of crying spells for unknown reasons, and I have invented this ridiculous bouncing routine while singing a song about bouncing -- and it works every time.
An added bonus is that Eli thinks it's funny. Or ridiculously stupid, and he's laughing AT me, not WITH me.

 (sam is shocked by my camera flash every time!)

Sammy loves his swaddle

and will sleep all night as long as he's swaddled nice and tight in his little bassinet.
I keep waiting for it to stop...
and everyone I tell likes to share their story of how their kid stopped sleeping through the night randomly for no apparent reason.
For the record, Markie slept through the night at 5 days old and never stopped.
So I'm just gonna go with it, and assume Sam is just like Markie.

We had a great weekend with anna Jack.
She gave Eli a haircut and played trucks and brought me some drinks and entertainment.

(she however, did NOT change any diapers... which I can't believe she doesn't like to change diapers?!)

we have no more visitors planned for awhle, so i called up wauwau and asked her to come visit.
Eli already has plans for her, whether she knows it or not.
(wauwau RUN! --- he loves for wauwau to chase him on his bike through the house!)
i think she's bringing papa too!
and i'm sure if we try real hard, we can convince mimi to come back before i go back to work.


happy last day of July...
pray my august goes really really slow.