Mosquitos have been quite prevalent after some heavy rains in June and part of July, but thankfully after our county worked with a company to spray our area earlier this summer, they've been a lot better! So we've been enjoying time outside when the mosquitos haven't been out as much and when it hasn't been too hot and humid.
My Fibromyalgia sensitivities are on high alert lately! The weather roller coaster we were on a few weeks ago sure didn't help, nor does any extreme dew points or humidity levels {just like when it's bitterly cold}. Our chiropractor and my vitamin supplementations have been a fantastic help {since I know I'd be so much worse without them}, but it's still been a bit challenging to chase after an active 2-year-old!!
God's grace and strength are key to my survival on the hard days, and sometimes, admittedly, that means Elijah watches more TV than I'd like. But it's all I can do. And that's okay. I've had to come to terms with it.
So here's what's been happening lately the past couple months through pictures....
My beloved car hit the 100,000 mile mark!
My sister-in-law started selling Jamberry nail wraps and I enjoyed getting a couple of her free manicures. I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I really like it though, since I never have time to, nor do I enjoy, working on my nails. But they look pretty. :)
He would truly be in or playing with water constantly if we let him!
Lots of car rides. Lots and lots and lots and lots. We live near hardly anyone we know and are constantly driving to everything. 45 minutes to work and friends. 30 minutes to daycare. 45 minutes to the chiropractor. 20-25 minutes to the mall between us and most friends. 30 minutes to his pediatrician. 20 minutes to his dentist. Etc etc. Sometimes I feel like we live in my car and it's exhausting {and um, messy}. Sometimes we do great, sometimes not so great. He's started to hate the sun shining, so we're glad for cloudy days. He's obsessed with crossing railroad tracks so if we cross one, we sure better cross another set soon or there will be lots and lots of whining and crying! But it is what it is and we make it work for us. Thankfully Elijah has been used to this for a long time so he mostly just goes with the flow. Mostly! We sing lots of songs, talk about what we're seeing, practice the alphabet, talk about the stoplights and what the colors mean, ad naseum. Oh and in the below picture he's practicing his spitting. Fannnntastic.
Pediatric dentist trips are actually fun! We have to keep having his front teeth checked after his accident in April when he bashed his lip and teeth into our coffee table and got stitches. Two of his front teeth were pushed backward, and thankfully have been going back to their right places naturally {with just a bit more teething, him biting and chewing things}! We enjoy Dr. Bill though and visiting him isn't a big deal. They make it so much fun! We love the large fish tank in the waiting room and all their books. Here Elijah is watching the duck get a ride on the big chair and Dr. Bill is checking his teeth first to show Elijah there's nothing to be afraid of.
Watching the trash trucks brings major excitement in our house!! He loves waving at our trash guy and shouts "trash uck" with such glee. He dances and then gets really, really sad when they're gone. {Same thing happens when we pass them on the street. They are apparently the coolest thing ever. He's such a little boy!}
Daddy coming home after work is still the best part of the day!!
He loves running around our church. He doesn't love going into his room and goes through spurts of hating it so much we feel like we're torturing him by leaving. But he does just fine and we're grateful for the volunteers! Here's one day when he was leaving and jumping in the parking lot.
Spending time outside. Watching our neighbors across the street play badminton before bed, and cheering them along happily. :)
We live 2 blocks from the cemetery. It's super quiet and peaceful, and one of my favorite places to take walks. Tim thinks it's weird and we don't go through walks here with him ;) but I love it and Elijah does too! We pray over the section where the young children/babies are buried and I get teary-eyed every time. I have talks with God out loud and we enjoy the quiet. Elijah also loves their water fountain/stream where he can throw rocks.
There's always time for more water {when the mosquitos aren't around}! He loves jumping at the side and falling onto his bottom. Here he went all the way back and was laughing so hard afterward.
He is such a great helper! He loves helping us around the house with so many things, imitating us, and he even gets really upset if we try to do it without him!! Here he is helping Tim gather the trash around the house and take it outside to the trash bin.
He loves his outside toys {like his bubble mower} and could push them around the drive all day! I'm grateful he also likes to stop and smell the flowers. Er, pop them off.
We love when Grandma & Grandpa C visit!!
Hammock time
My mom & stepdad stayed with Elijah overnight so that we could have a little 15th anniversary getaway in June. It was fantastic!! So relaxing and just what we needed. We found a place on Priceline that was within a half hour drive and it was the BEST place, by far, that we've ever stayed at. Amazing. If ever near a Hyatt House, we highly recommend it.
We visited the downtown of a nearby city that we'd never been to and had a really good time, though it was surprising how much we felt like we were back in a tourist town like Gatlinburg, TN! It was a bit surreal, but we enjoyed it. Had a nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant.
And enjoyed the riverfront walk.
Hotel view of the sunset. I know it's not a perfect picture, but it was just idyllic to me that night. We were so relaxed and it was such a beautiful night!
Meanwhile, mom sent us pictures along the way, and here Elijah was "talking" to us on the phone via his fork and spoon. ;)
We both took that Monday off and enjoyed the day to ourselves - went to the nearby town where I work and had some super yummy lunch at Dickey's BBQ which is one of my favs... so very good {but lots of food}!!
We don't actually both enjoy the same things so our dates are rarely more than dinner and a movie. But this time Tim thoughtfully researched and found a Groupon for a local gun range safety class & shooting {something we both like!}. We got to spend a half hour with an instructor {though he was scary, mean, awful, and in pretty much every way a miserable part of the day} and another half hour shooting. We were really excited! Sadly the instructor was a disaster and we were bummed it didn't go better, but it was still fun and a nice stress reliever.
And Elijah was anxiously waiting for us
We loved our time away! So grateful.
Elijah also really loves water play at daycare - here's a picture of him there.
Elijah and his Grandpa D. So great to have him visit this summer too!!
When we need something to do at home, car races are a fun go-to.
He is totally obsessed with his new wagon. But he mostly just want to pull it everywhere. So we've been doing a lot of teaching about looking both ways, checking for cars, etc. Even though we're usually closeby, I still think it's vital to teach him that lesson, especially as he tests boundaries and doesn't listen anymore when we tell him to stop at the sidewalk (gah!).
He got himself up on my work chair, turned it, pulled it up next to me in the recliner, and sat like this to watch some TV. Wow. Growing up so much!!
Time to post this. I'll get some more pictures on my computer from this past month or so and will write more later. :) Hope you're all having lots of great summer adventures!
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