July Ramblings

I’m just going to jump right in and start rambling about the thing I ramble about best…my boys. Hey, people talk about what they spend their time doing…and I do projects and parenting.

So this month Elijah’s vocabulary has expanded a ton. It’s long overdue as he is a bit behind speech wise and I think taking away the pacifier last month really helped. Not only will he repeat ANYTHING he hears (which is a bit scary), but he is stringing words together as well.  Along with his newfound communication skills he has also formed opinions about everything. If I ask him what he wants for breakfast, he will answer with something like: “toast, cream cheese, grapes, cookies”. Of course it doesn’t sound like that, it sounds more like “toes, kee-tees, gays, COOKIES!” (He has no problem saying cookies, and no, I don’t actually give him cookies for breakfast, but  he’s always hopeful.) My favorite new thing that he says is “Amen”. Not only does he say it after prayers, but he says it after he is done with anything. When he finishes reading book he slams the cover shut and says “Amen!”.  Just now he was coloring, and when he was finished he yelled “Mommy…Amen!”. I love it…I don’t think I’m going to correct him. I’m sure he’ll figure it out eventually.

On a not-so-cute note, my boys fight. If at two and nine months old they are fighting then I am scared for my future. It’s mostly from Levi touching the toys, which Elijah considers his. Chorus’s of “NO! Mine!” constantly ring throughout the house.  Also, Levi is teething so he will crawl up to Elijah and bite down on an extremity, which or course ends up with getting pushed over and tears from both parties. Of course, there are times when they are sweet as well and those times more than make up for the fights. Elijah calls Levi “brother” which is adorable. If Levi wakes up from a nap Elijah tells me “Mommy! Brother cry. Please hold.” They share snacks, sometimes they play on the floor and giggle together and it melts my tired mommy heart.

This month we finally cut Levi’s hair. It was so long that we were starting to look like neglectful parents…or just parents that were in denial that they had a boy. Either way, it needed to get cut. Now, not that any of you read it, but I did a post on Elijah’s first haircut (you can read it HERE) and I figured it was only fair that I do one for Levi as well. I had this big plan to style his hair like different celebrities and television characters, then posting the Levi version next to the real thing. It was going to be awesome and the lineup included hairstyles such as the  Uncle Jesse, the Dwight Schrute, the Beiber, the Cindy Lou Who, the Kim Jong Il, the Fawcett, the Medusa and the Beckham. However, I ran into a problem. I’m pretty sure you can guess what it was. It was IMPOSSIBLE to get a decent picture of a wiggly eight month old boy who wanted nothing to do with hairdos and pictures. Every picture I took was either a blurry disaster or looked a little something like this…

So I started looking back in my picture archives to see if I could find anything that I could use. I was able to come up with the Kim Jong and the Fawcwtt, but that was it.

So I scraped the whole idea.

Then I grabbed Adam, Levi,the camcorder and the clippers and got to work. I figured the least I could do was get it on video, after all, I filmed Elijah’s. After the haircut I went back to watch it and saw the camera ran out of batteries about 30 seconds in. Figures. Sorry Levi, sometimes it’s just plain crappy to be the second kid.

So, instead of some hilarious celebrity lookalike photos or a transformation video, we have simple before and after pictures.

(He looks a little worse for wear in the before, he had just finished busting his lip open on the floor and bawling his eyes out.)

 He looks handsome. He looks old. He looks more like Elijah now. People don’t know what to say when they see them sitting side by side in the grocery cart. I used to get asked how far apart they were, now people just ask if they are both mine. It won’t be very long until the confused “are they twins?” question starts popping up.

I’m not even sure what else to ramble about this month besides my kids. I haven’t read any books or gone on any vacations or have any great new products I discovered. It’s too dang hot to do anything outside. I can’t ramble about projects, that’s for every other post. I’m going to go check my calendar to see if it can jog my memory as to what we did this month.

Got something.

Earlier this month we went to Adams ten year high school reunion. We went to the same high school (he graduated a year before me) so I knew most of the people there. Anyway, I think facebook might have ruined high school reunions.  Adam had nearly 400 in his graduating class, but probably only 30 or so came. Everyone already knows what everyone else is up to these days, perhaps that’s one of the reason reunions have lost their luster? I don’t know, I’m still planning on going to mine next year and hope that a lot of people show up.

What else…oh, so this month I left both my boys for the first time ever. Well that’s not true…I left them once before for a few hours and it was a disaster, so I haven’t tried again. Anyway, now Levi is eating solid food and will take a bottle, so I escaped.  Let me just say…it is SO NICE to get away. So so so nice for someone not to need something from me for just a few hours. So nice for chores not to be staring me in the face for just a little while. I really should escape more often.  So Adam stayed home with the boys and when I got home he told me that I had the hardest job in the world. I asked if they were bad and he said “no, that’s the thing…they were good! They’re just so needy, and they get into everything.” Best thing someone has said to me all month :)

I’m also pretty disappointed that we’re not able to watch the Olympics this year. Our TV doesn’t receive any channels, it really more of a DVD/netflix machine and we watch nearly all of our TV on our laptop. Last Olympics we could stream the games online but this year that’s not being offered. I’m not sure why. Actually I am, you can usually trace stuff back to one thing…money. After all, that’s why we don’t have any channels… we’re too cheap (ahem, frugal).

I’m really out of things to ramble about now, so here is my video for July.  Be forewarned, it is nearly ten minutes long.

And here are some of my favorite pictures from this month…

Sponsors

 Don’t forget to check my sponsors for this month! I have a new one, Designs by Tahra, and she makes awesome custom jewelry. Check her out on Etsy and use code tahra10 to take 10% off your order.

We also have Danyelle from 3 Stinkies who makes beautiful handcrafted mobiles…

And don’t forget about the various others lingering around on my sidebar, including Social Spark, Pick Your Plum, Shabby Apple, Ebates, Amazon and Cutting Edge Stencils.

And with that I usher in August, where its hotter than a stolen tamale here in South Texas. I see a lot of indoor activities and Curious George in my future.

Similar Posts

16 Comments

  1. Aww, cute kiddos- but I have to know, where did you get that adorable dress? I love it! I know I am horrible, you write a great blog post and that is what I take away from it.

    1. haha, I don’t blame you…it is an adorable dress! It’s from one of my affiliates, Shabby Apple, AND I’m hosting a giveaway on Friday!

  2. You can watch the Olympics on nbcolympics.com it gives you live feed of what is going on! It’s not to bad because then you can see it live instead of waiting or them to play it on prime time.

    1. I just got excited and told my husband this…he said he already tried and you have to have cable and enter their special password to stream it. Blah, they sure do go to a lot of trouble to make sure you can’t watch it for free. I say that not in the spirit of the games, but I don’t make the rules. Thanks for trying to help me out though!

  3. I can’t believe it will be 10 years next year!! Also, I watched a little bit today on nbcolympics and used my Comcast log in. I have no problem giving you my info so you guys can watch some of it live. I just cancelled my service, so you’re welcome to use it as long as it works. Seriously! Shoot me a msg on Facebook and I’ll send it to you. No one should miss something that only happens ever 4 years! :)

  4. Loved this post! I was going to ask about the dress too. I was wondering if you went shopping, and how on earth you did that with the kids. I don’t know how to go clothes shopping with G, not to mention even have the energy to THINK about going shopping! The last few times I’ve seen you, you have looked very cute. I haven’t been able to tell you that, b/c I am usually chasing a toddler, not chatting with friends ;-)
    You should match up L’s Dwight Schrute pic. It totally looks like him! The Kim Jong Il pic is perfect, love his expression. Those were all hilarious!
    I am planning indoor activities as well. I just picked up some water beads today…we will see if G can keep them out of her mouth.

    1. If I want/need to go shopping I take Levi and leave Elijah with my mom, it’s the only way non grocery/Home Depot shopping is going to happen. Usually I just shop online though and let the UPS man do all the work :) Now I’m trying to think of what I wore the last times I saw you, all I can think of is a swimsuit and a old goodwill dress…thanks though! And I have no idea what water beads are, but they sound interesting.

  5. Sounds perfect. I will come over, cook, and bring the water beads. You will make things, and the boys will entertain G, all the while safely and quietly playing with the beads…not eating or throwing them.
    This week is booked up already. Next week?

  6. You have such a lovely family! I enjoyed reading this ramble. :)
    Glad you were able to get out of the house and do your own thing for a change. It does feel nice to know the hard work you do at home is appreciated. ;)

  7. My boys fight ALL the time too! But then again, they can’t stand when the other’s not around. They have a love, hate relationship as I like to call it. They fight about the most silly things, but the times they get along really do make up for it all. Also, I get asked all the time if they’re twins, I Don’t think there’s been a time in the past year when I’ve been out and been asked if they’re twins. haha I guess that’s what happens when your 1st is tiny and the 2nd one, not so much :) Good luck, boys are so busy! But, that’s nice your hubby has figured that out already, I still haven’t gotten quite that compliment.

  8. Loved the post!!! (as usual. :o) I was going to say that if you think the boys fight now, just wait until they turn into hormonal teenagers!! My step-kiddos are almost 18 and 16 and they fight if one just looks at the other wrong. Lol!!! I tell you what though, as soon as one of them goes away to camp or some other school related trip the other one can’t WAIT for ’em to come back home. Lol!!! They fuss an fight but are best of friends at the end of the day. :o)

  9. It’s May 9th, and I finally am starting to get caught up on my email – you can see how far behind I am! That was a great post. They are such busy little guys! Fighting is par for the course, but because they’re close in age, they’ll probably become great friends, too. Enjoy this time, it flies past as quickly as your ten years of marriage…not on a day-to-day basis, but when you look back. Your blog is going to be a rich source of memories to look back on.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *