Summer, that is. I am driving home with my MIL next Sunday and starting back to work on Monday. I'm excited to be back home and get back into a routine that does not involve crying and spit up (not mine, of course), but I'm also going to miss my two little ladies. They have stolen a piece of my heart this summer and it's going to be so hard to leave them. Will and I given them names that we think are oh-so-appropriate: Brooklyn is my Squishy and Brylee is Pickle. Brooklyn has such a round angel face that is perfect for squishy kisses and Brylee is like a pickle, a little sour sometimes but so good you just can't resist her.
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| Squishy |
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| Pickle |
They've started staying awake a lot more during the day, like for 2-2.5 hours for feedings instead of 1 hour. Last week was probably the hardest week of the summer, just because they were so fussy for about three days in a row. As in, inconsolable, I-don't-want-my paci-or-my-bottle-or-you, screaming till they choke fussy. Luckily my friend Brandy was visiting and was able to help me out a little during the day and the one day she went with Will to NASA I took them on a walk to get them to calm down. Yesterday and today have been much better. They've wanted to be awake and with me but haven't been fussy about it (so long as I do what they want). It's kind of weird, because I know they're not my children but I feel so protective of them. For instance, I do not like the new nanny simply because of principle. I met her and she's really nice and I'm sure she'll do great, but she doesn't know that when Brooklyn wakes up and won't go back to sleep it means she wants to be held. Not cradled or cuddled, but held so that she is either standing or sitting, as if she is a part of what's going on. If Squishy wakes up in the morning she needs to go back to sleep, but in the afternoon she can stay awake; it's opposite for Pickle. Why Squishy moves her head in a certain way and acts like she wants either her bottle or paci but she spits them out, it's either because she wants to be held up standing or she wants to breastfeed, which you can't help her with. They like to watch HGTV, specifically House Hunters and Property Virgins, so long as you sit by them so they can see you and you coo at them every once in a while. And they both have a specific cry for when they're tired and want to go to sleep but they want just another ounce or so before falling asleep.
Some more pictures just because they're so precious:
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| Pickle hardly ever smiles, so I always try to capture it when she does. |
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| Pickin out their future cribs (houses, not crib cribs) via House Hunters. |
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| Don't mess with this. |
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| Her awesomesauce chair. Again, HGTV. |
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| The day Squishy was being particularly difficult. She wouldn't stop crying so Will held her up so the TV would distract her for a few minutes. |
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| Will loves taking naps with Pickle. One time she spit up ALL. OVER. his chest. Yum. |
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| Grandma and Grandpa visited for the weekend and needed a little help. |
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| Best pic of Pickle ever. |
A summary of what's gone down over the past few weeks since I'm terrible at blogging:
The Family Reunion went without any major catastrophes. About 40 people showed up and all seemed to have a good time. The caterer showed up and the hotel staff was great. We did game night on Saturday, where Will and I decided to set my cousin up with one of our friends. They're both Aggies, so obviously it's meant to be. Saturday went pretty smoothly, although it wasn't nearly as organized as I had hoped. We ate, had the auction (where my sugar scrubs and jewelry sold for $155 total) and chilled out before going to dinner at Blue Sky and then we saw
Texas the musical, which was ok. I would like to plan the reunion again, but not until I'm out of school and have some actual time to plan better.
My friend Brandy drove back to Houston with us to spend four days with us. I hadn't seen her since the beginning of June so it was great to spend so much time with her. We made some failed no-bake cookies (my fault, we used regular oats instead of quick-cooking ones), ate pizza virtually every day, went to Galveston since she'd never been to the beach, went to Ikea so I could share the awesomeness that is Ikea while also getting into a little
mischief, made some homemade Oreos for Will to take to a party at work, and basically just had a blast.
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| Worry not, the small jelly fish was dead on the beach. No person was harmed in the picture taking of this dead jelly fish. |
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We were so sad to say goodbye at the bus stop on Thursday night.
Friday evening Will and I went to his Mimi's house to help my SIL paint. She had been planning on doing it all summer but with all the renovations happening around the house we just around to it. New backsplash and counters had just been installed the day before and new floors a few months ago, so paint was the last thing. Megan had almost finished the kitchen, so we helped finish that out and then decided to tackle the dining room. A quick trip to Lowe's and 2 pizzas later, we started what turned out to be a fantastic transformation. Before, the walls were white(ish) with a chair rail. We painted the top the same as the kitchen (kinda light beige color) and the bottom a darker color called Clam Shell (I think). The contrast really made the chair rail pop, and Mimi loved it. Now we just need to touch up the trim and a few other places that we couldn't see well without proper light. This is the only picture I have, obviously it looks much better in person:
Saturday we were finally able to sleep in and though we technically we had nothing that was a "must do", we still got a lot done. Please note it was all Will's doing; if it had been up to me, we would have done nothing. We cleaned cars, tried to help his uncle move some stuff, exchanged a gift card at Macy's, I went to the pool for an hour or so, and we went out on a date to BJ's.
Sunday we went to church with Megan and her boyfriend, Brent, at the church where she works. We came home with the intention of making a quick lunch, but it ended up being quite the mish-mash of food. Will wanted sausage and pasta, so he made himself angle hair pasta with spaghetti sauce and chicken sausage and made me shells with just the sauce. I made roasted potatoes and carrots and these T
exas Road House imitation rolls. We also had corn on the cob.
Pictures courtesy of Will.
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| His |
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| Hers |
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| I tried out the fishtail braid... if I can get it down in the time it takes, I think it may be a new favorite. |
And the Sunday evening Megan came over for dinner and to go on a run with us. It is so so so nice to be so close to her and be able to see her at least once a week while before we only saw her every two or three months. I can't wait till we move down here permanently.
I wasn't expecting our run to go well since we hadn't run since the week before my reunion, but I was determined to make it to the stoplight. And guess what? We did it. My shins felt pretty good and still do two days later, although my ankles felt a little weak while running (but I guess that will happen when you gain 35 pounds). We ran all the way there with about a 10:30 min/mile and part of the way, for a total time of about 42 minutes. I was really happy with that- I just wish we had such awesome running trails back at home. I used the same technique as last time: counting down the stop signs and mantras.
Yesterday I spent the entire evening studying and taking a test for my online Intro to MCOMM class. It was awesome. not. Will was asleep by 9:20 so he could get up and run before work but I wasn't finished until 11:30 and of course, I could not sleep.
I was busy thinking about how awesome it's going to be here in a year or so when we finally have our own place again. I know we are so lucky and fortunate to have such amazing in-laws who are willing to let us live with them for a year and a half. They have such a beautiful house and it's nice to have the back part mainly to ourselves. They help out where they can but don't intrude on our lives- it's as perfect a balance as it can get. But there's a part of us that is dying to have our own place with our own stuff. Where we can have the master suite and decorate the way we want. We've been trying to get our ducks in a row to get pre-approved from a mortage in 6 months or so, but in the back of my mind I'm really worried we won't get it just because we're so young and don't have much (though our credit is pretty good and we've worked out a budget so that we should have a pretty substantial down payment. But when we get pre-approved we won't have that total amount in savings yet, though we would by the time we were actually ready to put an offer on a house). However, last night it dawned on me that even if we don't get a house or condo next year when we move down here, we will still have a place that is
ours and it will be way nicer than our last apartment. It will a grown up place and it will be fantastic.
There are some other things on my mind that I don't feel are appropriate to share with the World Wide Web, but basically my prayer was this:
"Please don't let my hurt turn into hate."
It can be so hard to find balance between allowing yourself permission to feel hurt and letting that hurt fester into a much bigger beast. I am slowly healing, but every once and a while the emotion and situation will grab hold of my heart and sweep me off my feet all over again. And every time it does I have to talk myself down and remember that there is a time and reason for all things and all people in our lives.
Tonight we are going back to Mimi's house for dinner with some extended family that is in town for a cousin's wedding. Squishy is laying on the playmat next to me chewing on her hand and talking to herself. Pickle is asleep and Will will be home in a little over an hour. Life is good.
Closing thought for the day:
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