Our Life, in Pictures

Apparently the new name of the blog should be the title of this post: Our Life in Pictures.  I just can't ever seem to find the energy to do more than post a bunch of pictures with whatever almost-funny captions I can come up with.  I feel bad - and also I feel like I'm missing out on one of my outlets.  But life right now is just madness.  I keep thinking it will get better "when" - but who knows when that "when" is.  Maybe tomorrow.  Maybe in June.  Maybe in three years?  Who knows.

So, for now, and probably for the foreseeable future, here's our life in pictures:

Looking at the TV through his binoculars, because clearly our TV isn't big enough.

Our most frequent view of Jayden swimming after swim lessons.  

And oh my gosh, how long is his hair!!!

Longer story: after swim class, Jayden wanted to go out to lunch at a restaurant where he could play.  So I took him to one of the only two fast food places I'm willing to take him - Chick-Fil-A.  He was playing in the play area while I was sitting at the table with Dakota.  There were a bunch of other kids playing in there, including a girl who I believe had Down Syndrome.  I saw her hit one of the other kids, but was hoping it wouldn't happen to Jayden.  Well.  It turns out Jayden went right past her to go down the slide.  She grabbed his hair, hit him in the face and pushed him down the slide.  (the picture shows the red mark on his face from where she hit him).  Jayden came down the slide sobbing.  The girl's mom asked him if he was okay.  I ran into the play area to check on him.  He was fine.  It clearly hurt and he wasn't happy, but he was okay.  It turned into an opportunity to talk about people who think differently and who don't necessarily understand when they're doing something that might be considered mean.  It was good to have that conversation, and Jayden actually absorbed it, because that's how he explained it to Carmen a couple days later.
BUT, the girl's mom said nothing to me.  And wasn't really watching the girl most of the time she was in the play area.  My primary concern is that there were a lot of little kids in there, like two year olds.  If she hit hard enough to leave this much of a red mark on Jayden's face, she could really hurt a smaller kid.  I didn't say anything, because it's obviously a sensitive subject.  And, I've never had a kid with down syndrome, so I have no idea what that is like.  And honestly, we're all moms just doing the best we can.  But if my kid made another kid cry, no matter the circumstances, I think I'd at least check in.  I think.  But maybe, in some situations, I wouldn't.  Maybe I'd be so used to being defensive or protective that I'd just want to get out of there.  In any case, I am in no way mad.  And, like I said, it gave me the opportunity to have an interesting conversation with Jayden about people who think differently than he or I do.

The struggle is real.  Uh - there's this thing behind me, but I just can't quite arrange my arms and hands so that I can grab it, chew it, test it out!

Freshly washed curls.  Mama has got some serious work to do working with Miss Dakota's hair.  It's quite dry and frizzy, but also fine.  I think I'll have to get her a haircut soon (which is crazy - I didn't cut Jayden's hair until he was 17 months!), and hopefully the hairdresser can teach me some tricks.  I definitely need to find the right hairdresser.  

On Sunday Jayden's swim buddy Maxwell had a birthday party at the Santa Ana Zoo.  I love Maxwell, and his family too.  I wish I could find a way to be better friends with them - we're just both so busy it's always difficult to coordinate.

Another lesson learned for me: we were doing a scavenger hunt around the zoo.  Maxwell was running and ran smack into a door.  He was really sad about it.  I could tell - I'd seen the same expression on Jayden's face.  I knew he needed his parents, but they were back at the party spot.  I had Dakota in my arms and was chasing Jayden, but I asked him if he wanted to go see his mom or dad.  He said yes.  So I was getting ready to do that when one of the other dads came along and said "oh you're fine, be a big boy, keep going - you're a big boy, you're fine!"  I didn't know this dad or his relationship with Maxwell, and Maxwell ran off and was sort of okay for a minute, so I let it go and didn't take him back.  Eventually, another friend's parent called Maxwell's mom/dad and his dad came to get him.  Later on I was texting with his mom and she said Maxwell told her how much he wished I'd taken him to see his mom/dad right away.  And my heart just broke.  I totally failed that little boy!  My gut instinct was right, and I should have stood firm with that dad and his "big boy" talk.  Sometimes they are so big, but so often they are so little and still need their moms and dads.  Poor kid.  

Luckily for me, the kids were on opposite nap schedules - as soon as Jayden went to sleep, Dakota woke up.  And when Jayden woke up, Dakota was ready to nap. The good thing about it was it let me have some alone time with Jayden.  The bad thing was I got no rest.
But I did get this cute picture of baby girl.

This is blurry, but this is her new face.  I love it.  I could stare at this particular facial expression all day long.  We have no idea what she's thinking when she does it, or how she's using it, but it's awesome.

My heart.
These two are just too much.  

Watching her daddy and brother goof off together.  Nobody can make her laugh like her family, but especially her brother.

Even though his eyes look funny, this is a real Jayden smile - sitting on the bench on the carousel at the mall - one of his favorite things to do!

Chillin at a birthday party on Saturday.  One of Carmen's co-workers had twins a year ago (after a really stressful and medically challenging pregnancy) and we were celebrating their first birthday.  It was a cute little party at a park.

And Carmen decided we should be the Jordan family - so all of us, including Jayden and Dakota, had our Jordans on.  I couldn't get Jayden to stand still long enough to include him in this shot.  But with the three of us you sort of get the idea.  

Tonight Jayden and I whipped up a skillet cookie before dinner.  If you're ever in need of a quick dessert, I highly recommend this one.  It took us about 10 minutes to mix everything and then 20 minutes to cook.  Another 10 minutes to cool while we were eating dinner, and served with a little ice cream - so yummy!!!  Even Carmen had some, and he almost never has dessert.

Two comments: (1) prettiest little boy ever, and (2) oh my goodness his hair is so long.

We'll get him a haircut one of these days, it's just so hard to schedule!

And now it's once again Sunday night.  Last night I slept about two hours (1:30-3:30) in our bed, and the rest of the time I spent in the glider in Dakota's room.  Something disagreed with her stomach and she had a terrible time sleeping.  Needless to say, I was exhausted today.  Rather than napping, I took Dakota and Jasmine for a run - and I actually got about three miles in!  It definitely made me feel better.  But if I don't get sleep tonight, the rest of the week could will get ugly.

Carmen wasn't supposed to travel this week because the Broncos won today, but now it turns out he's going to Alabama tomorrow and not coming home until Thursday.  My week is pretty brutal work-wise, so I'm a little anxious about the next few days.  I know we'll survive, but I'm not as prepared as I'd like to be.  I intended to have dinners made and the house a little cleaner.  But I did what I could do.  And the rest we'll figure out.

I hope everyone had a good weekend, and has a good week ahead!