Rain?!

 Even though we all ask Alexa for a weather forecast incessantly and look at the weather app on our phones and even READ the forecast (with pictures!) in the newspaper every day, the rain shocked us this morning.

For a few dazed, early seconds, we just sort of blinked out the gloomy windows, and then we stood in the dark kitchen looking at each other.

It has been beautiful here. Dry, crisp mornings, chilly evenings, sun-drenched afternoons at the pool. The little kids have been biking every morning to swim and tennis, biking home for lunch, and then heading back to the pool in the afternoon. Dorothy has run out the door for dance in her leotards and sometimes even tights— not too cold, not too hot, not even a little damp from rain. Minnie and I chalk on the driveway and sidewalk, fill up her water table, toddle around the block whenever we want to. Harry and Jack are either swimming, working at the pool, or playing tennis with friends. We have backyard— and even driveway— s’mores (sometimes simultaneously) most nights, after we spend our post-dinner time catching golden hour at the pool, that is. 

We’ve enjoyed textbook perfect Midwest summer weather. It doesn’t even feel like the dog days, a rarity for Wisconsin July into August which can be sticky, wet, miserable.

Today, though, the rain brought us up short.

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ALL DAY? How small is this house for all of us without the outside to go with it? Where can we go that will be sort of fun and also not give us the vid? THESE ARE ALL IMPOSSIBLE QUESTIONS.

Water ballet practice during the golden hour. I was actually a little chilly on my pool chair.

Did I mention that after the rain we are going to get the kind of nasty, humid either we usually dread all summer long? (I say we, but of course I mean me).

Here’s Minnie yesterday afternoon. She loves the pool until she doesn’t anymore, and then she says HOME and TOWEL. (Oh, that pigtail).

We spent an ideal afternoon in a tiny town west of us (I think west— I am… not good… with directions) at our very favorite park where there is now also a fantastic (like, serves the stuff of fantasy) ice cream place.

We’ve been going to lots of parks, actually, and Minnie loves them all

Before ice cream the other day, Minnie spiked a tiny fever from her vaccine, but she woke up from her nap feeling better (she had Tylenol, too), and she hasn’t had any other problems (not that we expected her to, but I thought this might be reassuring for anyone on the fence about getting the vaccine for a bebe).

The ice cream store had a perfect IG photo wall, something I am seeing more and more around here, and I love it. The children also happened to match it (and the park!). (Also, Cooper. Never stop wearing socks and sandals, man.)

From the sounds of it, the kids have opted for fight to the death as their activity of choice today, and I think Minnie is winning. Hashtag blessed.

Boss Ladies

 I was talking to my oldest, dearest friend on my way into work on Tuesday, and we actually had a pretty deep conversation despite being two busy moms commuting to our busy jobs. Here are 2 takeaways:

1. When people in your life are jerks, it’s almost always because they are jealous or insecure. Instead of feeling bad yourself or being angry, you should just buy them a copy of the Untamed journal and call it a day. Basically, other people treating you badly (or just being big negative balls of sad in a way that drains your own happy energy) is about them not you, so be a helper. Find some grace to extend even if you feel overextended, and don’t think that their behavior is a reflection of you.

2. If you feel sad or just not content, you deserve to spend time thinking about how you can feel better instead of just powering through to the next task. Maybe this is an audiobook while you fold laundry. Maybe this is therapy. Maybe this is yoga. Maybe it’s a date night or a night with friends. For me, I need to finish writing my silly novel that I have been thinking about more and more lately, and I need to do yoga every day— something I have also wanted to do forever and also pretend not to have time for because I am worried I will be bad at it. So, you heard it here first: I will finish my novel by the end of fall semester, and I am starting a 30 day yoga challenge. I started it Monday with 20 minutes of flow, and I feel wonderful. My sore shoulder is almost not even sore, and I barely even walk like a bear when I first get out of bed.

Minnie is half Moderna’d, and we are thrilled. Ben made the appointment and invited me on Google Calendar. I replied that I was not emotionally available that day (or any day— I hate to see her get vaccines ). So, he sucked it up and took her, and she didn’t even cry.

Old Lady

 I had an 18-day menstrual cycle, you guys. This means if the calendar falls just right, I could start having 2 periods some months. HOW AWESOME IS THAT? Not awesome at all. Some of my well-meaning, white, cisgender, upper-middle-class friends are panicking about reproductive rights and insisting everyone should delete all period tracking apps. I am not going to do that (because I have been studying this stuff for a long time, and people like me can likely still exercise our reproductive freedoms and have been able to pretty freely even as Roe has been slowly eroding. We don’t need to panic selfishly and talk Handmaid’s Tale; we need to open our checkbooks and follow the lead of tireless reproductive justice actors, if you want my opinion), but it would be nice of me to keep track of my cycle on the family calendar so everyone can know what they’re in for and we can teach the kids about kairos. Perimenopause is terrible.

Speaking of aging! My eyes have taken a serious downturn and I am for real wearing the reading glasses I have had a prescription for for YEARS because suddenly I need them. If I weren’t embroiled in so many inappropriate text threads, I would make my phone font bigger.

Maybe it’s because I am an elderly parent, but I don’t actually care where Minnie eats. I do care what (that gross pile on her plate is a shredded apple because she least like an iguana) she eats, though and when. She is very very picky about her clothes, so once she selects her outfit for the day, she is loathe to change it. So, I really want her eating breakfast BEFORE she gets dressed. I also want her to have actual breakfast food, not just a snack on the go. This means she eats some meals on the couch in front of Super Why. PICK YOUR BATTLES, I guess.

Definitely a lizard plate.

A few Minnie videos, just because I love coming across them in my archives.

As you can tell from photos, Minnie is a little squishy ball of delight. But it’s also fun to see her in motion:

 

Stealth Baseball

 After practicing every single day for 2 weeks and then playing baseball every night all week last week, Cooper’s district team lost their bid for state, and I thought maybe things would ease up, since that left Cooper with only one more baseball team (out of three). But then! The coach of that team signed the boys up for a last-minute tournament about 45 minutes away from home, so once again I single-mommed it all weekend.

Well, not really because the tournament was near an excellent little creamery that I love, so Dorothy and Minnie and I saw 2 games on Saturday and ate a very dairy-forward lunch. So fun! So delicious! So cute!

Matching H&M dresses

BEST grilled cheeses

Minnie insisted on swinging in a big kid swing, which really kind of freaked me out.

She could not believe her luck— a PURPLE TRACTOR?!

Oh my gosh— look at the teeny little bite marks on that pickle.

She’s just so sweet.

COW

Look at my nervous face as she lets go of the chain

The baseball field Coop’s team played on was right next to a toddler park, so I could see the games, and Minnie could get herself up and down the slide. It was ideal.

Even though it was only 78-degrees, it was aggressively humid and sunny. We all needed MUCH SUNSCREEN and also a snow cone.

Cooper hit SO WELL all tournament long, and he had a great time.

We brought a tent and lots of crafts, and Dorothy and Minnie were joined by younger sisters from many different teams.

Here’s Coop on the drive home— so cute!

His team ended up losing in the semifinals by ONE RUN in a game called for time (so close!!) and then taking 4th overall. Ben and Coop went solo on Sunday. We had plans to meet them for the championship game if they made it, but **sad trombone**. We could have watched the third-place game, but there was nap! And general housework! (Minnie ended up only sleeping for 45 minutes Sunday at home after a 30-minute car nap as her only siesta Saturday, and this makes me think we need to be very careful about her naps on vacay because I am not ready for life with a no-napper).

Still, I am glad it was a last minute tournament because I would have spent the week dreading it no all the solo house and kid work. Instead, I just had to deal with it (although I was kind of a jerk to Ben via text midday Sunday and left as soon as Ben got home to wander aimlessly through Old Navy and pick up a few grocery items I forgot despite 2 deliveries). Dorothy has softball this weekend (also a swim meet!), but otherwise, I think we are ball-free the rest of this week and should just have some practices through the end of the month with more tournaments to come August-October. 

And then it’s hockey season.

How did we get so BUSY?

 I have been solo parenting a lot (A LOT) because Ben’s job got unexpectedly busier this summer and he is coaching Cooper’s Little League districts team, meaning he has been on campus more AND he’s been at baseball every single night for the last 3 weeks.

GAH.

I know we only had a 3-day weekend, but I haven’t really known what day it is all week. Yesterday, for example, we just forgot to go to The Little Gym because I didn’t know it was Thursday. 

We’ve been doing lots of errands and dropping off of kids and tidying in the morning, followed by frequent work and housework during nap, afternoon water table and neighborhood walks, and evenings at the pool.

Ben and I see each other at about 9:15 pm for an hour or so before I pass out, and then we do it all over again. I thought baseball season was done, but then surprise? Coop’s travel team picked up a tournament for this weekend hashtag blessed. Swim and dive is over at the end of the month, though, so we really will have a few less busy weeks before the school rush (I say that now…).

I mean, it’s not all swimming with a toddler in the shallow end and waving goodbye to kids as they head out the minivan and packing and unpacking their sports bags. We also go to the zoo to spy on the new baby orangutan whenever we can, and there’s always sweet treat Tuesday to get us out of the house

I always forget how busy we are in the summer, especially since COVID summers threw a wrench on our routines. The first summer we did nothing except wait for Minnie to be born and go to the pool in 90-minute shifts we had to sign up for in advance. Jack had dive practice, but there were no meets. And then last summer, we did swim for 2 and dive for 2, plus baseball and dance team, but Minnie was an infant. Now she’s a person with her own schedule and ideas, and she can’t just be shuffled along with everyone else. Maybe what I forgot was 2 year-olds. Ha!

 

 

4th of July

We had a charming and delightful and delightfully Midwestern 4th of July weekend.

Here are Dorothy and Cooper making popcorn bags for outdoor movie night:

Here I am borrowing Minnie’s float:

Snack buddies:

(She never actually floated with this float, BTW, and, frankly, doesn’t seem to trust it)

BOY DID WE SLIDE.

This might be a totally different day. Who knows? She will only wear this swimsuit.

Popcorn bags:

Harry took her down the slide whenever he had a break

Floating Dorothy

SO CUTE:

I sure did borrow Dorothy’s floaty

No one lost any digits!

Movie night- classic cinema edition:

HBD USA.