Oh what do we do in the summertime?

Oh what do we do in the summertime, when all the world is HOT?

I have never been much of a summer person, but it has felt abnormally hot and dry to me this year.  It may have something to do with the fact that I am expecting.  Whether it’s really been hotter or not, I haven’t wanted to stir much out of doors.  I am so thankful for air conditioning!   Here’s what we’ve been up to:

 

1.    Visiting the local kiddie pool and splash park

 

All four kids love the kiddie pool.  Maddie and Gwyn aren’t huge fans of sprinklers, but they all have fun wherever we go.

Incidentally, when I was shopping for swimming suits in the spring I bought three different suits for the girls and decided I’d let the girls pick what they liked best.  If necessary, I’d go back to the store and exchange them for three matching suits.  I took each girl into a room one at a time and had them choose.  (I wanted it to be unbiased—I have a couple of sweeties that will change their minds so that a sister can have what she wanted.)  Well they each chose a different suit.  I wasn’t terribly surprised.  These kids are definitely individuals!

 

2.    Enjoying fresh food from the garden

 

3.   Going to church (as usual)

I let Everett pick his own clothes.  Without fail, on Sundays he wears a vest and tie.

 

4.   Playing indoors (Be glad this picture doesn’t come with sound!)

 

5.   Trying to establish/maintain order

The kids enjoy drying dishes and making interesting sculptures (cities?) on the table with the pots and pans.

My experiment with taking away their toys and shoes went pretty well.  The kids have earned things back, and lost them, and earned them back again.  I still have to remind them about a LOT of things, and we definitely have less toys available than we did before, but the order has gotten better.  I have more time to focus on MY jobs when there is less nagging to do about the kids’ jobs.  And we have more time for games and outings.  It is hard to have any kind of structure when you’re working to achieve “square one”.  Once we’re there, I’m a lot less stressed and the rest of the routine can be built.  It’s hard to say where we lost it in the first place, but I’m guessing it was during morning sickness :)

 

6.   Making our weekly excursion to the library

 

7.   As always, striving towards normal eating behavior for Lana

In the morning, we give her a choice between “pink milk” (strawberry soy milk), “white milk” (vanilla soy milk), or chocolate.  One day Cary made Neapolitan for her.

I’m sure we are making progress slowly but surely.  Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it until I take a good look back and see how far we’ve come.  There was a time when I was feeding Lana by syringe and she was still throwing up all the time.  She still needs lots of persuasion or outside motivation, but she drinks from a straw or an open cup.  She can feed herself with a spoon or fork, though I’m usually the one giving bites.  She has three meals per day where she chews food.  She eats some things voluntarily because she is interested in them.  She is no longer taking any medication, and goes months without throwing up.  This may not sound like much to most people, but for us it is a big deal.  I know we have a long way to go, but we are making progress.  I still have this dream, but I see little glimpses of it every now and then.

 

8.  Building anticipation for “Peanut’s” arrival

This one was taken at my last ultrasound—where we had hoped to see the gender.  We didn’t, so baby is still “Peanut” for the time being.  I love Maddie’s facial expression.

I am trying to take good care of myself.  Diabetic control was excellent before pregnancy, but is becoming increasingly difficult.

 

9.  Looking forward to the imminent completion of Cary’s dissertation,  and getting “Dada” back!!!

(To say that I am REALLY looking forward to it is a gross understatement.)