The Rest of Summer

I'm going to start off with a gross story that happened a few weeks ago. It was the first week of September, and I decided I would take the kids to the splash pad for maybe the last time this summer. The happy pictures above are not from that day. We had been there for about ten minutes when Quinn came up to me and told me she had to go poop. Now, probably 80% of the time we are at the splash pad she tells me she has to poop. I don't know if it's the cold water that just sends her digestive system into overdrive or what. But I hate when she has to poop because one, the bathroom is kind of far away. Two, I have to carry Jameson the whole way and he is heavy. Three, she is wearing a wet swimsuit, which I will have to pull down and everyone who has ever worn a wet swimsuit knows this is difficult. Then I will have to wipe her wet butt, and then try to pull her wet swimsuit back up. 

Ok, so she comes and tells me she needs to go and I ask her if she's sure, because I often suspect that she maybe just likes trekking all the way to the far off bathroom. She says yes, and I tell her to get her shoes on, I pick up the heavy baby, and off we go. The grass had just been mowed and it was sticking all over her legs. I kept looking back to make sure she was following me and she was, and I noticed that her legs were kind of yellow colored. I told myself it was from the freshly cut grass. Then we made it to the bathroom and she walked in front of me and that's when I saw it. The poop colored stain on her butt. No. Why did she have to poop in a wet swimsuit? I was already in a bad mood because I don't know why, I just was. I definitely should have been nicer because I know she didn't poop on purpose. It was just so gross. I set Jameson on the floor and he just stood there and watched everything. I pulled her wet, diarrhea swimsuit off of her and set her on the toilet so she could finish. The poop streaked down her legs from pulling her swimsuit off and it was all over the seat of the toilet, which is when she noticed it and started crying. I told her to just finish going and I took her swimsuit over to the sink to rinse it out. The sink had one of those drains that has a bunch of little holes in it like a strainer. Just think about that. Also, there is no soap in this bathroom. So I rinse out her swimsuit the best I can, and then I go back to the stall to try and clean her up. I didn't have wipes with me, all there was in that bathroom was cheap, public bathroom toilet paper. So I use that and just clean off the toilet as best as I can, wipe her legs off, and try to get her as clean as possible before I have to put her watery poop swimsuit back on her. I did not want to put it back on her, but I did not have our towels with us, they were back at the splash pad a million miles away. And I couldn't have her walk back to the car naked. When we got our stuff, I wrapped her in a towel and put her in the carseat, and we went home. That night she peed on the bathroom floor. I really don't know what was wrong that day, she's been potty trained for over a year. I texted Kelly and told him that I was not making dinner and I ordered pizza delivery. I hope one day Quinn does not kill me for posting this story on the internet. 

Isn't he cute? Probably the most exciting thing that has happened in the last month is the discovery that Jameson sleeps so much better in a pack n play compared to his crib. I wish I would have known this a year ago, I would have less eye wrinkles. 

We have stayed at my mom's house a few times this summer, and every time Jameson would sleep through the night. I thought maybe it was because he shared a room with Quinn so I put the pack n play in her room. They liked it at first, but then they also couldn't settle down when it was time to sleep so I put it in his room. And it's the pack n play. He has only slept through the night like 4 times since we've done this, but before we moved him out of his crib he never slept through the night. He still sleeps through the night at my mom's house, we were just there last weekend. I told her I was moving there. 

You'll notice that there are blood stains on his sheet. This was the saddest day. Jameson had a bit of a lip tie when he was born. It never caused any issues so we weren't worried about it. One day, Kelly was playing with the kids in the living room while I got lunch ready. Jameson tripped with a binki in his mouth and it somehow got tucked under his lip as he fell on his face. It tore his skin up where his lip meets his gums. He started screaming immediately and we took him to the kitchen to try and stop the bleeding. It bled so much and we had to hold him down, it took probably ten minutes for the bleeding to stop. He screamed the whole time, it was terrible. Later that day we noticed some broken blood vessels around his neck from screaming so hard. Just typing about this makes my heart hurt. His lip was really swollen, we have a video of this but no pictures. That day and night during his nap he would drool and there was a little blood mixed in. My poor baby. He acted very normal by the next day even though his lip was still a little swollen. It re-tore a little bit a few days later, I'm not sure how because I didn't see it happen but he bled just a little. That must have hurt so bad, I hate when my babies are in pain and I just wish that I could take it away. 

That is some waffle sitting on a lawn chair on our balcony. The day before I took this picture, Kelly was sitting with Quinn in the living room and she came in eating something. No one was in the kitchen and I hadn't given her anything. He asked her what she was eating and she told him it was waffle that she had gotten from outside. We were both concerned and confused. The next morning I went outside and I saw this. Mystery solved. She must have taken her breakfast out there the day before and left it out there, and then gone back to eat some of it that night. Kids are strange. 

That picture of Quinn on the pony kills me. Could she look any angrier? We went up to Quincy for Farmer Consumer Awareness Day (a local holiday). We took the kids to watch the parade in the morning. They loved it. Quinn refused to wave at anyone going by but she did learn to get aggressive when it came to going for candy. Jameson loved the animals in the parade and squealed and pointed whenever he saw any. I guess he didn't really know what to think about sitting on the horse. 

I played in the Rally in the Valley 4 on 4 grass volleyball tournament. It was the first time in a few years that I had played volleyball, and I got real beat up... by the ground. Seriously I hit the ground hard, a lot. The others on my team all coach high school volleyball so they were in better shape for it than I was. My arms were killing me from passing the ball and I had bruises on them for a week. That night I felt like I had been ran over by a truck. My whole body hurt so badly. Our team placed 3rd out of six teams. We are pretty sure that all of the other teams were high school students. They all referred to our team as the "old people" team. Yeah. We had fun though, and if they'd had someone better than me on the team they probably would have placed first. But it was my idea, so they had to keep me. 

This is just a cute picture of Kelly and Quinn at his mom's house. :)

He is wearing a diaper, two socks, and one shoe. 

There is a show on Netflix called Little Baby Bum. Jameson LOVES it. These pictures are all taken while he is watching it. 

Grandma Sandra bought him some Nikes and he is obsessed. For the first few days he wanted to wear them, always. He would bring them to me and squeal until I put them on him. And it was no longer acceptable for me to carry him out to the car, he had to walk. I don't know why that changed, he'd worn shoes before these ones. 

So sweet, they were reading books together.

She loves baking cookies with dad. And eating them. Jameson only wanted to eat the chocolate part of the peanut butter blossoms. He quickly shoved as much of the cookie in his mouth as he could, then he scraped the cookie part off his tongue with his fingers. What a waste. 

Sleeping babies melt my heart. 

Sometimes, at the kids club they fill this little house with balls and Jameson loves it. He only looks like he's trying to get out because he saw me. He is always happy to see me and I love it. I hope that lasts forever. 

Kelly took this last Sunday morning as I was making everyone breakfast. I love these pictures because of Quinn's hair, and the cute look on her face. 

He was really excited that Quinn was sleeping and he was able to get into her precious Candy Land. He picked up the cards and moved the little guy around the board, it didn't matter that the board was still folded, he had a good time. 

Classic.

Things are going really well for our family. Kelly likes his job. I am teaching 3-4 classes a week at the gym. The kids play together quite a bit now. Quinn is very protective of Jameson. Last week she told another kid to be nice to her brother. I love how only she can pick on him, that's how it's supposed to be, I guess. Quinn is always watching out for him on the stairway up to our apartment. I love that about her. We decided not to put her in preschool yet. She would have probably loved it but I want things to stay the way they are for another year. She still loves to dance, she loves princesses, singing songs, tickle fights, watching me make dinner, and she is determined to learn how to go across the monkey bars. She's not quite strong enough but we will keep practicing. 

Jameson loves to be outside. He loves to throw a ball, or any object, really. If he walks up to you with his elbow cocked back, take cover, because he's got an arm. He likes to color with Quinn. He likes to build towers and push cars. When we go to the park he likes to just wander around and play with sticks, rocks, and dirt. He climbs up the stairs but never wants to go down the slide. 

One more story about him that I want to remember. Two months ago, Kelly bought a 10 cent picture of Jesus at the bookstore and gave it to Quinn. We put it up in her room. Jameson saw it a little while later, and he immediately pointed to the picture with a big smile on his face. He kept babbling about it and so I took it down and let him hold it. He held it up with both hands and beamed at it. I told him that it was Jesus. Then he held it up to his ear, and talked like he was talking on the phone. A minute or so later he gave it back to me and I put it back on the wall, but every day he would come back in her room and point at the picture and say "Jesus" with a big smile on his face. It is as though Jameson remembers Him from before. I believe the veil closes slowly for our babies. Not long after this, Jameson noticed a picture of the Idaho Falls temple that has been hanging in his room since we moved here. He pointed to the temple (which is just the temple, nothing else), and said, "Jesus!" I told him that it's the temple and still, every day, he points to it and says "Jesus" and "temple." 

I just want to learn as much as I can from my children. The scriptures tell us that we need to be "as a little child." Children are the most forgiving creatures on the planet. You could be the worst parent in the world and your little child would still love you. Children are teachable and kind to everyone. Their innocence as they learn about the world has taught me so much. I am so thankful every day that I am a mom and a wife. Nothing could be better. 

The Children, our Family Vacation, and Very Burnt Eggs

 Every time we come home from anywhere, Quinn covers her eyes and asks us to find her. So we ask, "where is quinn?" over and over until we open the door and she uncovers her eyes and we say "there you are!" and she laughs. Every. Time. 

This picture was taken on Father's Day

First, let's talk about the children. They are changing so fast and doing so many new things all the time and I know that I've already forgotten so many things about them that I haven't written down. Sorry, kids, mom is a procrastinator. (I like to think that they will love going back and reading this blog, which is my main motivation for starting it). 

These pictures are obviously dark and if I was smart, I would figure out how to brighten them. Jameson and my dad share a birthday so Jameson turned one on the same day my dad turned 50. A big day for both of these boys. We had a party at my parents house. It was the first time we've had a party for either of our kids and I didn't realize we'd end up with so many toys! Which was great, obviously, the kids love them. Quinn basically steals everything from Jameson so I should say that Quinn loves them. It has been so ridiculous trying to teach them how to play together. I don't even know how to describe what it's like. Sometimes, Quinn is nice to Jameson and lets him play with her. Other times, she steals his toys. Probably every day she does that. She also drags him by his foot while he screams in protest. Or she lays on him. She really doesn't like when she has things all set up in her kitchen and he comes in and destroys it, but I guess I probably wouldn't like that either. Sometimes they are cute and push each other back and forth on their car. She likes to boss him around. Especially when he is in his high chair. He is really naughty when he eats and throws his food. I cannot figure out how to get him to stop. He doesn't care if I take his food away. He throws his sippy cup every day. I know that he knows he isn't supposed to do it. He does it anyways and laughs. If he wants attention, he just gets into things he knows he shouldn't. I tell him "no" and he just turns and smiles at me. Such a turd. He is really sweet at times, and he definitely loves his mama. But I feel like he is getting to be more and more of a trouble maker! He does love to crawl over to me and come lay his head on me, which I love. 

He looks so innocent.

He was sleeping on me because he was sick. He had roseola. 

Jameson likes to get his teeth in large groups at a time. In February, he had six teeth come in one after the other. Right now, he has eight coming in. Yes, eight. Four molars have come through, and the canines are making their way in as well. 

He is still not walking. He has been able to walk for a few weeks now. Every few days, he will randomly stand up and take a few steps, laugh, and then get down and crawl and go back to playing. 

His favorite toy is a ball. If he sees a ball, he wants it. He will throw a ball and chase it around our house for a long time, and he has got quite the arm on him. 

Quincy is our girly girl. She loves dresses and bows. And she LOVES to dance. We were watching a movie together and a sweet song came on, and she immediately jumped up and said, "I have to dance!" When she dances, she FEELS the music. Eyes are closed at times, there's slow and dramatic pauses, clumsy twirls and spins, and also lots of jumping and running in circles. We have lots of videos of her dancing. I keep thinking about putting her in dance lessons, but I don't know if I'm ready to commit to something like that. She's still so little and we have lots of time for those kinds of things. Almost every night, after her bath, she goes and gets her tutu or "skirt" as she calls it, and puts it on over her jammies. Or, if we are listening to music she will often go grab her tutu and put it on before she can dance. Sometimes she just starts dancing while at the dinner table. She sings all the time too, and makes up her own songs. I remember doing the same thing. She loves the Moana sound track. 

We took a trip to San Diego over the 4th of July. We rented a condo on the beach with some friends. Kelly already had a backpacking trip to the Enchantments planned with a friend June 29-July 1st. Our first night at the condo was on the 1st. So we decided that I would drive down there with the kids, and he would fly down when he got back, then we would all drive back together. We looked into flying us all down there but it seemed like it would be so hard to check carseats, and a stroller, and a pack 'n play. Turns out driving for two days is also hard. I left the 30th and stopped in Sacramento to stay the night at a nasty Super 8. The kids did much better than I expected they would. We took stops probably every three hours on the way down. I worried about how bathroom breaks would go with both kids by myself. I ended up just setting Jameson on the bathroom floor and washing his hands afterwards. I don't know how else I could've done it. The stroller was buried. I did have him in a baby carrier at one stop but I didn't want to get that out every time. I said lots of prayers and I feel so blessed that we made it there safely and that my mind was clear and alert even after so little sleep. 

There was so much traffic on the way down to California. So much. I don't think I used my cruise control at all. Lots of slamming on the brakes. The first day the drive should've been around 11 hours. It took us 13. The second day it should've been 9 hours, it took us 11. Quinn got sick the day before we left. She woke up every two hours crying. I woke up at 4:00 and we were on the road before 5:00. Then she kept me up every two hours in the hotel that night, coughing. By the time we got to San Diego we were exhausted. Quinn had a cough that lasted a few days, and kept us all up at night. The day she felt better, Jameson got sick. So he slept terrible. So basically I slept horribly for 10 days. Despite that, we tried to make the best of things. We went to a Padres game, the kids didn't last very long. Weird that they wouldn't want to sit still for a baseball game... The next day we took them to the beach. They both loved playing in the water for a few minutes. Jameson laughed when the waves would hit him. When they got cold, we walked back to our towels and Quinn proceeded to have a meltdown because there was sand stuck to her feet. Why can't you kids just lay here and sunbathe with me?! 

I had never seen so many beautiful, young, attractive people in my life before coming to San Diego. Every day there were very fit people running in front of the condo. They looked like professional athletes. And they were everywhere. We stood out a little with our young children. 

This picture was taken at Hodad's, a decent burger place. We ate lunch in this old car. 

We rented bikes and a bike trailer and cruised around the beach. It was really fun to see parts of San Diego that way. We could see downtown from where we were. We rode for probably 2.5 hours. If it looks like the kids are miserable in this picture, it's because they were. Jameson had a fever that day, he'd caught what Quinn had. He cried off and on the entire ride. Quinn fell asleep for most of it. Then she woke up and decided to lay on him. He did not like that. I thought they would've liked riding in the trailer. Better parents would have stopped riding and gone back to take the sick baby inside, but it felt like we'd been catering our whiny children all week, and Kelly and I needed a win. 

This picture was taken at Point Loma. We went inside the lighthouse there. Back when the lighthouse was first built, the light keeper had to live in the lighthouse all alone for weeks at a time to make sure that the light didn't go out. It's so interesting to step back in time and see the old furnishings of the rooms they lived in. Everything was smaller then. There are also tidepools you can hike down to near there, but we happened to be there when the tide was high. 

I got a sunburn on the back of my neck that day. 

I did get to see my friend, Rachel on this trip, which was so fun. We became friends in Pocatello and our friendship has survived the long distance. I have lots of pictures of us on the beach but they aren't on my computer yet. I'll have to update this post. I saw her last December while she was living in Utah and we were there for a visit. Now she lives in Tustin so I stopped to see her on the way down and let the kids play. She came down to San Diego one day and we went to the beach by ourselves for awhile. It was so fun to just lay in the sun and play in the water and catch up. 

On our last day in San Diego, Kelly and I left the kids with our friends and we went down to the beach alone. We swam in the ocean and relaxed in the sun. We were kind of mad that we didn't do that until the last day. Our friends did the same thing while their baby was sleeping. 

Our trip was exhausting, thanks to our sick kiddos, but we obviously had some fun times or we wouldn't look happy in these pictures! 

Now, about the eggs. On Sunday morning, I put some eggs on to boil. My parents were coming over for lunch and I thought I'd replicate the cobb salad from Red Robin because it's delicious. It has boiled eggs in it, and I wanted the eggs to be cold by the time we ate lunch. My plan was to put them on the burner before I got in the shower, and then turn it off when I got out and then put them in the fridge before I left for church. So I put them in the pot with some water and turned the burner on high, then I got in the shower around 8:00 am. Church is at 9:00. I didn't think about the eggs again until I was sitting in Sunday School around 10:15. I turned to Kelly and told him I needed to go home. I grabbed my keys and my phone (in case I'd need to call the fire department when got home) and ran out the door and drove home. I imagined that I would see smoke or something when my apartment got into view. There was no smoke, no fire trucks. I took that as a good sign. I went in and the whole apartment was filled with smoke and the eggs had exploded all over the kitchen. If you'd been wondering what happened to eggs when they get really hot, wonder no more. 

Yikes. It smelled terrible. I grabbed our bedroom fans and tried to blow all the smoke out of the open doors and windows. I cleaned up all the egg and then drove back to the church. Kelly told me I smelled too bad to go to Relief Society so I sat in the hall with Jameson. He was right, I smelled terrible. Our house smelled so bad. And how did it not burn down!? I was kind of mad that Heavenly Father didn't remind me sooner that I had left eggs boiling on the stove. There's been so many times where I'm sure an angel has saved me or reminded me of something that I would've otherwise forgotten, but this time- nothing. The eggs did not cross my mind for over two hours after I put them on the stove. But I still feel blessed because I did remember eventually, and also looking at the pan and seeing how black the eggs are in there, doesn't it seem like there were flames at one point? It's a miracle that the apartment didn't burn down.  

Monday I spent the day cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom. I wiped down everything with all purpose cleaner and then again with vinegar and water. I washed all of our bedding. I've washed all of our clothing. That took three days of laundry. Our house smells much better and I'm so thankful. 

My parents still came for lunch, and I boiled new eggs to make the salads. Just like Red Robin, I had chicken, boiled eggs, avocado, tomatoes, bleu cheese, and bacon. Well, I forgot that my mom doesn't like egg whites or tomatoes. And my dad doesn't like avocado or bleu cheese. Turns out that it wasn't a great plan to begin with. 

Unfortunately, on Monday morning my landlord called me and informed that he'd be stopping by. There was a repair that needed to be made and instead of coming later in the week as planned they were coming today. Awesome. Now I have to tell him what I did because he's going to smell it as soon as he opens the door. I told him what happened and he was just like... "Samantha... you could've burned the place down." Yes. Yes, I could have. Then he told me he did the same thing this weekend. He boiled eggs and forgot about them, but then he remembered after about 15 minutes. There was smoke, he said. How did I not notice anything before I left my house nearly 45 minutes after I first put them on the stove?! Ugh. 

Hopefully no one calls CPS to take away my children after reading that I almost burned my house down and also that I made my sick child go on a bike ride instead of keeping him inside. I don't know. My kids love me and they seem happy so hopefully I'm doing something right!