I’m dumping and awarding medals. That sounds wrong. But it never stopped me before.
So this summer we have been trying to stay cool…Hotlanta is living up to it’s name…and been enjoying all things Olympics, all things family and all things milking-Will-as-our-single-child-for-now.
As with all the Instagram posts, I am featuring my favorites and giving them virtual medals…just my way of bringing a little competition to the table. c’mon Will…you don’t wanna lose to a photo of humus.
No worries this week though…You scored bigtime my little man with your ‘while-you-wait’ photo.
This was a moment as I was getting ready for our big gender-confirming appointment. Will waited patiently…reading his train book while I prayed silently for peace and for focus and ironed my shirt – which obviously means this was a big moment if I was breaking out the iron. I want to make sure I enjoy these last moments with Will as an only child…they are escaping me quite quickly…and I tend to worry about how he will adjust. I want the transition to be more than just a present exchange on the birth day…I want the transition to be filled with deliberate focus, a message to Will that our attention to him isn’t diminishing, and that this new addition to our family is going to be fun for all of us to love.
Silver medal goes to Mr. Cool. Because let’s face it – the random sunglasses and the mini double thumbs up just makes me laugh.
Bronze goes to my fish. Or should the medal really be white? Either way – I’ve had this fish-on-a-stand since I started dating Jeremy. I got it at a Pier 1 clearance store and it’s always been outdoorsy with it’s brown scales and maroon and hunter green accents. No more. That sucker isn’t spongepainted anymore people. Now it is a sleek and classy white color. I have no idea why I waited so long.
Second set up – summer continued….but this time, we end on a fun Florida vacation with Jeremy’s family.
I gotta give the golden prize to my little floor sleeper. He has been climbing outta his crib….and he’s FAST…basically if I lay him down and turn to walk out, he is right at my heels by the time I reach the door. And he’s persistent. We’ve tried the Super Nanny method, the no talk method, the time-out method, the attachment-parenting method…he wants out. This particular night, he climbed out, turned on the light, turned off the fan, pulled out a few toys and fell asleep while playing quietly in his room. I love that his hand is still on the toy. It’s moments like these that remind me that there are so many more firsts in his future. So many that I am excited to see him do.
On vacation, I had a rough time. Jeremy wasn’t joining us for the first three days. That meant that I had Will full-time day and night with Jeremy’s dad & stepmom who don’t get to spend that much time with Will. To put it lightly, he was being difficult and needy. I was weary. I just plain missed Jer. He’s my sanity sometimes. He lets me be free to be me – good bad and ugly…and encourages me to love on Jesus and be a better, more forgiving and more loving person. So on a particularly hard evening in Destin not for any particular reason, I was tearing up. Then I saw this sunset. What a beautiful reminder that God gave me Jeremy, He gave me Will, and He will give me a glimpse of his goodness when I need it most.
Third goes to my little swimmer. This was the first summer we have really enjoyed pools with Will. It’s been interesting. scary. exhilarating. and oh-so-fun. Will…well, he loves it. Both Jeremy & I are water people. I swam competitively for years, coached swim teams, life guarded, taught swim lessons to pay for college, you name it. And my darling boyfriend is a water-sport maniac…owned a boat when we first met and taught me how to wakeboard, knee board and how to throw a person off the back of a sea-doo. It’s perfect natural for our offspring to be relaxed with his toes wrinkled, casual with his trunks on, and excited about jumping off the diving board. You go my little Ryan Lochte 🙂
So how have you guys been spending your summer? Swimming? Eating? Passing out on the floor? Enjoying sunsets?
p.s. I am ‘bowerpowerblog’ on instagram. Follow me for random updates on what we are doing…it’s like a glimpse into our very boring everyday lives 🙂
LOVE that you’re on Instagram now. Instagram just got even more awesome.
As for our summer, things have been unseasonably warm around these parts. So we’ve been soaking up the sun’s rays, enjoying every minute of it. In Alberta, summers are short and sweet. might as well make the most of it. even if getting a good night’s sleep during a summer like this is about as rare as I like my steak. (thanks to the hot, muggy weather & practically no one ever needing or owning an air conditioner) .
Sincerely, sleep deprived yet happily sun tanned in Alberta 😉
I have to know … Do you leave Will on the floor after he crawls out and falls asleep? Or do you put him back in bed at some point? My little man is almost 18 months and he is *thisclose* to crawling out of the crib. Makes me wonder when I should convert the crib to the toddler bed.
Where can we see bigger versions of your Instagram photos? Do you post them anywhere else?
Thankfully, neither of my kids were climbers. However, they were big fans of “big girl & boy” beds. When do you plan to convert Will’s bed, or get him a new one? He might like it enough so he doesn’t fee the need to “break out”. 🙂
Love the pictures!
Have a great weekend 🙂
*feel
Oh, Katie! You have such beautiful pictures of your family moments, big and small. Could you just follow my family around with your camera for a while? 🙂
Ah they joys of pregnancy. Pitting edema attacked me during my pregnancy as well. The most awful thing ever! My friend was pregnant and due just a few weeks after me and was complaining because she was swelling a little at the end and her ring was snug, I wanted to smack her. Some days my face was so swollen I could barely open my eyes and walking felt like I was getting rug burns around my ankles and toes. There was literally no space between my toes and my flip flops (and even husbands flip flops) wouldn’t fit. I worked until the day I went into labor. I love you for suffering.
I love them all! The “waiting” picture is priceless though. Good job.
I love love love his little toes in the water! What a great picture that showcases the little joys in life.
I love the tipi!! Where did you find one if I may ask? I would love to get one for my son. He’s loves to get into little hiding places with all of his toys!
Omg, just looking at that bottle of stuff the OB makes you drink brings back my gag reflex! Yuck. 🙂
I’m expecting my 3rd and thinking my son is not going to adjust to a new baby as smoothly as my daughter did (I think girls automatically act like mini mamas), but realizing that attention does not equal love was important (because the baby will definitely take MORE attention 🙂 And even if it’s a rough start, he will not be scarred for life, he won’t even remember life without a brother and he’ll be happier for it!
I’m pretty new to your blog but love the way you love on your family! (and your decorating has already taught me a lot). I had a span of time recently where I was really down and then I got to sit out in a rain storm. Admiring the power and creativity of God was so wonderful. Glad he opened your eyes to his sunset=)
I loved the pool as a kid. Currently 39 weeks pregnant with our first and this hot summer makes me so excited for when she will get to learn how to swim!
I love the *twinkling* going on in that shot of Will in his chair reading. It reminds me of simpler times with my kid folks. My son was a jailbreaker from around that same age. He got his land legs and he wasn’t about to be put in any corner. After a week or two of chasing him down after bedtime we just changed him to a toddler bed and he got it. He slept through the night and woke up at an appropriate hour. We turned it into a bed changing ceremony with sheet capes and all and it was a big to-do to make him feel special and so he didn’t want to get out of his new bed after that. Hope that helps? :o/
My best, Lynn
hey katie!
apparently dr phils son (who just had another baby) went on tv to talk about how they had their first child adapt to the second one was they put pictures of their first child on the bassenet of their new second child – heres the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddt5JKz_l0U
its under the title on youtube – Dr. Phil Uncensored: “Meet Baby London and Dr. Phil’s Most-Talented Kids”
i thought since you might be worried about will adapting to another baby that this might be fun!
so funny that you called Will “lochte” because just slightly, your husband reminds me of Ryan Lochte, not sure what it is, but from seeing pics of both of them, just thought they could be brothers or something!
I’m glad to see that my 2 year old isn’t the only floor sleeper (she also has the same birthday as Will)! Even with a big girl bed, she rather sleeps on the floor 🙂
My mom is friends with one of those hippie doula gals… not my cup of tea but they do know some interesting stuff. She told me that a newborn releases a pheromone in the first hour after they are born. It has some effect on the people around it that’s almost like a love potion. She told me to get my toddler in the room asap so that he could soak up his tiny baby bro’s love potion. Now I can’t say I really believe it BUT we did and he is absolutely head over heels in love with his baby brother… even through undiagnosed acid reflux that lasted for TWO AND A HALF MONTHS OF NON STOP CRYING! You’re gonna see some jealousy no matter how well you deal with adding another kid. Just keep your head up and breathe.
Pheromones are totally real dude. I’m convinced that bacon has it when cooked properly 🙂 So what you are saying is basically anyone in the room in that first hour or so is exposed to the release of the pheromone and could help with the transition? Because I’m all about that.
xo – kb
haha…I’m sure Jer would be flattered…although I prefer the mountain biker over the swimmer any day 🙂
xo – kb
Hey – I’ll try anything!
xo – kb
Hi Sara – I made it! Here is the post on what I did 🙂
xo – kb
You can see them bigger on Facebook! You just would go to to the photo page and see the entire category of Instagram photos 🙂
xo – kb
Well – we definitely want to convert his bed – we are just waiting on the parts to come in the mail…
and yes, we put him back in…he’s a good transitioner…but if I worried about him waking and starting the whole process again, we would just leave him 🙂
xo – kb
These photos are darling. I love following you on instagram but seeing these roundups and your awards are fun too!!
I’m also interested in your plans for transitioning Will to a big boy bed. We switched our oldest son when he was about 2 and we have photos (and possibly a video) of his first nap. So cute. Thankfully it was an easy transition.
Also, where is the nursery going to be? I can’t remember reading that, but feel free to refresh my memory 🙂
The new pulls and knobs look great! Really good price, too. You definitely need to glue one on the naked drawer–it does stand out.
Katie, when I click on the facebook link on your blog page it says “This content is currently unavailable.” (It’s been saying that for a couple of weeks now, so I don’t think it’s a temporary glitch.) Is there another way to get to your facebook page? Or maybe you need to tweak some settings or something?
We have a bedtime wanderer too. Once he started climbing we put him into a junior bed (no conversion for our crib) and he usually is good enough to fall asleep in there. But the other night he conked out right in front of the door,so we bonked into him when we went in to check on him. That was about a month ago and we’re still not good with bedtime yet.
What are the plans for baby – will you transition Will to a bed and then use the crib for #2?
Well, the baby will stay with us in our room for quite some time. We sortof do a hybrid attachment parenting kinda thing. And then the nursery will be in the ‘Jack’ room (Will’s room and another bedroom share a bathroom – so it’s a Jack & Jill…err Jack&Will)…it’s right across the hall from us.
xo – kb
Will’s crib actually converts so we will keep that in there for now. We have another crib – it needs some hardware – so we may use that or just splurge for a new one 🙂
xo – kb
So weird. Maybe you could friend me by searching for me on Facebook separately?
xo – kb
Oh, I’m actually not on Facebook. I’ve never had a problem viewing other people’s pages that are set to public, though. Is your Facebook page public, or do I have to be a Facebook friend to see it?
Hi Katie,
Just thought I would throw out something we’ve been doing with our 2 year old (she’s about a week older than Will, I believe…and weirdly enough…our second is due Nov 4th!). When she started climbing out of the crib, we took the bottom off the crib and dropped the mattress on the floor. I know with a few more inches on her, she’ll be able to get out again…but for now, she’s stuck!
xo,
Lauren C
What program are you using for your Instagram dumps in your post??
I’m not sure…I’m terrible at the Facebook know-how. I’ll ask Jeremy though.
xo – kb
Hi Maria –
I save them all off facebook and then collage them in Photoshop.
xo – kb
Love all your instagram pics. I follow you there
Soooooo, is it a boy or a girl? Or a surprise??
I love that last picture of Will’s little feet. There’s always something strangely poignant about those details on our children. 🙂
Love your instagram photos 🙂 so adorable!
Ok, maybe not the prettiest picture, but my fave is your ankle with the depression mark. It’s funny how easily you forget all that horrible pregnancy stuff once you are clear of it for a little while (my daughter turned 1 year old last week) and then one picture brings it back so vividly. Oh, yeah, that’s what I have to go through again to get another one of these adorable little ones.
Here’s the gender reveal video 🙂
xo – kb
Love your pictures, and I also noticed the glucose drink in one of them… doesn’t it taste sooo sweet :).
Good luck on the pregnancy.
That sounds a lot like what we do too. Our kids were with us until they grew out of the bassinet (which happened a lot more quickly with my youngest who was a respectable 9″14 at birth), then they went in their crib. We co-sleep when we need to (teething, sickness, nightmares) but most of the time they are in their own beds.
Re: “Engineering for Greatness” – considering the baby will be in your room for a while I don’t think you need to worry too much about not starting the nursery 🙂 Although I can definitely relate to wanting to get everything done…
I know this is from yesterday but I was wondering. How did you cut the board with such a clean edge? I’ve seen them done very poorly on other blogs but yours looks amazing! They also used exacto knives/box cutters… Did you have a special technique?
Oops… Wrong post… That last question was meant for the engineer board post… I’ll post it there too.