Happy Summer

It has definitely been summer here in Southern California.  Last week we had thunderstorms and crazy humidity.  This past week, in some areas around here, it was 97 degrees, probably close to 100 degrees.  At our house it was "only" 93 or 94.  It's just too hot.  Today it was a little better.  In an effort to get out of the house, I decided to go for a walk, of course at noon, to get lunch.  Turns out the closest grocery stores and restaurants are really only about 1-1/2 miles from our house.  It took me 20-30 minutes to walk there, and a little longer back since it's uphill.  But it felt really nice to get out and to not have to drive.  Most drivers in SoCal do not pay attention to pedestrians, so I was super careful crossing the street (yesterday when I was walking a driver turned left while I was crossing the street and probably came within ten feet of me, Dakota and Jasmine - not cool at all).

Dakota is continuing to grow and develop.  She's smiling a lot more, interacting a lot more, and making funny little noises a lot more.  It's quite cute.  I really don't remember this feedback from Jayden.  But I have discovered I remember very little of the first few months.  In my head, Jayden's first smile was at either four or six months.  But that's probably not really true.

This is Dakota's downstairs "crib."  She's been sleeping in there, and in her real crib, a lot more recently.  Unlike Jayden, I think the transition to a crib won't be such a big deal, which is awesome.  BUT.  I put her down for a nap in this crib, and she was laying straight.  By the end of her nap, she had turned her body and her legs were sticking out of the crib.  So apparently she's a mover and a shaker when she sleeps too!

Look at the long skinny legs!  I swear she's grown two inches.  I haven't measured her, and it seems a little unrealistic that she'd grow that much that fast, but she seems so much longer!

Speaking of growing, Jayden and I were talking the other day, either at breakfast or dinner, about how he needed to drink milk to grow.  So he could grow bigger and bigger.  And he said something about how I'm not growing anymore.  And then he adds "except growing wider."  Which is so not cool.  But what's even worse is that Carmen laughed (encouraging the comment) and then gave him a high five.  Seriously?  Six weeks post-partum and my husband and son are making fun of my weight?!?  At least I can understand the three year old not understanding the meaning of the comment.  But the forty year old?  I still don't think I've completely forgiven him.
[and on a side note: I am consciously not talking about weight, losing weight or anything weight-related in front of Jayden.  When we were in the park, my friend's 10-year-old son asked her "mom, should I worry about losing weight?"  She obviously told him "no."  And he said "But you and Dad always talk about it!"  I definitely do not want either of my children thinking they should lose weight - both are going to be active enough that they will be fine, I am guessing.  Also, I am planning to create a shortened version of this article, and remind myself every day not to say these things to my children.  There are some things that are worth instilling in them, but there are some that are common sayings that just don't make sense.]

I can barely remember what we did last week.  Carmen had to work late Wednesday, so Jayden, Dakota and I met one of my friends at a park while her daughter had soccer camp.  I got dinner for me and Jayden and we had a picnic in the park.  It was nice, and even better to see my friend.  She has a 14 week old baby, and is going back to work (she's a friend and a co-worker) in about a month.  Neither of us are really ready, but neither of us are ready to be home either.

And on that note.  Motherhood.  Working motherhood.  Stay-at-home motherhood.  Being fulfilled, finding your passion.  There are so many conflicting feelings.  At the second birthday party on Saturday I had a conversation with a woman who is a few years old than me and has a five year old son.  She was recently laid off from her job, and was thinking it would be an opportunity for her to explore other career paths, to find her "passion," etc.  But then another company offered her a work-from-home job that started a few days after her last day at her old job.  And she couldn't pass up the financial stability, particularly since she and her husband and son were moving a few months after that and needed both the work-at-home aspect and the financial stability aspect.  We both don't love our jobs, but we do like working, and we both don't know what our "passion" would be.  I have a tendency to resent my job when it makes me work more than I would like, or at hours that I don't like.  But I've also read articles that say finding your "passion" is crap; how many people in this world just go to work and fuel their passion in their personal lives. At this point in my life, my passion is my kids (even if I wish Dakota were one already!).  So who knows.  It's an interesting problem, and one where there is no true answer, since it will be different for every person.

Saturday was a crazy day.  We had swim lessons, and then two birthday parties, one nearby and one in San Diego.  We knew the San Diego one would be rough, but it was for Bard and Jody's son, and we couldn't say no.  We almost cried "uncle" on the way down, but decided to power through.  It was good that we did, but man it made for a long day.  We drove about 3-1/2 hours to hang out at the party for just barely 2 hours.

Pretty little lady in her Kickee Pants outfit from Bardis and Jody.
I absolutely adore Kickee Pants clothing.  Most all of Jayden's pajamas were made by Kickee Pants.  AND I learned Kickee Pants is based out of the Pacific Northwest, I think near where I grew up, west of Seattle - I think maybe even on Bainbridge Island, although I'm having trouble confirming that.  So no wonder I like them so much!

Getting ready to fly!  The boy in the background is Maxwell, his swim partner.

When we got back we were hot, tired and more tired.  While I put Jayden to bed and grabbed dinner for us (drive-thru - unhealthy, but necessary for mental health), Carmen sat with his feet in the pool and Dakota passed out almost immediately in his arms.  A very cute daughter-daddy (Superman!) moment.

I managed to not take a single picture at either birthday party.  Oh well.  I promise they were cute.  The first one was a Strawberry Shortcake theme for a six year old girl and the second was a Ninja theme for a five year old boy.

Sunday I woke up overwhelmed and exhausted.  I just couldn't do it.  I spent a lot of the morning with tears in my eyes.  I went for a walk with Dakota and Jasmine (Jayden has been refusing to go for walks in the morning, so Carmen has been taking all the walks - I decided, for mental health reasons - I needed to get out and clear my head).  It was hot, and I spent part of the time with tears in my eyes, but it was probably good I was out of the house.

Asleep on the walk.

Out and about on the path.

Then it was soccer class, and then some of our friends came over to see Dakota and visit for a few minutes.  They have a one year old son and are expecting #2 in early 2016.  I swear, if you know me and you're not pregnant, you're lucky.  There are not too many people I know who haven't either recently had a baby or who are expecting a baby in the next year or so.  I think between January 2015 and March 2016, there will be at least 10 or 15 babies we know that will be born.  And there are no twins (so far!) in that group.  And since people who are in due in March/April 2016 probably aren't telling anyone yet, there may be more babies coming!

The cool cartoon effect on my phone!

Siblings hanging out in the ball tent.  Dakota's eyes were on Jayden for most of the time, either out of fear that he'd squish her or out of adoration.  Probably the latter; I don't think she's developed the healthy fear of Jayden yet.  

Sibling love.  Probably every 12 minutes I hear a "Mommy, can I kiss her?" from Jayden.  It's very sweet, except in order to kiss her, he often has to rather forcefully pull on an arm or leg.  So if she's sleeping we try to limit the kisses to every 20-30 minutes.  

I had MY 6 week doctor check-up on Friday and I was cleared, so into the swimming pool I went!  Sort of.  Basically Dakota and I got in for about three minutes, she started screaming and so we got out.  She was really tired - I missed my window.  But she did manage to pee on me while we were in the pool.  Turns out swim diapers don't really hold urine all that well.  Oh well.  And good to know for the parent and me swim lessons - ew.

Getting ready to swim the width of the pool plus some.  He has even stopped going completely vertical when he comes up for breaths, and is just lifting his head.  So cool.

Of course a potty break in the middle of swimming.  Carmen and I were lazy and didn't want to trek water all through the house (not because it's clean, just because then we'd have to clean it up), so Jayden had his first standing up pee!  Feel free to remind him of this moment regularly when he's a teenager; it'll be awesome.

We've been playing soccer pretty much every day, which is fun, but not when it's 90+ degrees and humid.  Of course Jayden isn't bothered at all.  Although one evening last week he was playing soccer and fell down and managed to roll in dog poo.  Carmen and Jayden had cleaned up the poo, but had missed this one pile and of course Jayden feel directly in it.  He wanted to keep playing, but it was almost bedtime, so I just took his pants off and sent him out there in his underwear.  No skin off his back - he happily ran around in his shirt, underwear, socks and shoes.  I didn't get a picture, but you can sort of picture it.  Basically completely adorable.

We are still under construction.  We should be able to use our garage now, although the workers have to clear it out before we can park our cars in there.  But in the next couple of days we should have a workable driveway and garage, which means we might even be able to start unpacking our living room and guest bedroom.  I'm going to do my best to clean out those rooms, by sorting through things and throwing out things that are unnecessary.  We have so much stuff that we don't use, that we have now moved two or three times when we should have just thrown it out.  And now with two kids, we are exploding with toys, books, and general kid stuff, so I'd love to more efficiently use our storage space and to only store things that we actually *need* to store.  Hopefully I can accomplish that in the next month or two.  If you talk to me between now and mid-September, ask me about it so I can be guilt-tripped in to actually getting it done.  :)

More later.  But one last picture to leave you with - this is our current situation while I'm typing this out:

Try to focus on her.  I have showered, but I haven't washed my hair in a few days and I got a little sweaty on the walk.  :)