A Box and Breakfast.

Apartment life is coming to an end. It doesn't seem quite real that we will actually move-in to the house we have been visiting for the past three months while renovations occurred. While the thought of unpacking box after box after box is a little overwhelming, the thought of having a master bathroom AND a dishwasher and garbage disposal is so completely exciting. I find it more and more difficult to leave the house each time we are there for a visit or appointment.

I linger in Bennett's mini-sized playroom, the family room, the nursery, the kitchen...thinking about the memories we have ahead of us...where our Christmas tree will twinkle or where the littles will sit and review homework...so very excited and so very thankful.

But before the unpacking begins (and we go a whole month without a blog post), I wanted to document a couple of apartment memories to take with us...first, this Box. It joined us at the apartment as part of our move-in and quickly became a top "toy" of the summer for Bennett.

How many littles can you put in the box? Four. (Completely random side-note...Bennett LOVES his cousins. He asks for them each day. Sometimes completely out of the blue and other times because I tell him we are going somewhere. Doesn't matter where...he just responds with his best version of, "Cooper. (pause) Camden. (pause) Carson. (pause)" Then I have to explain that we are not going to see them at this time, but we will see them again soon.)

Now, back to the box...we colored the box. Stickered the box. Peeled the top layer off the interior of the box. Sat on the box. Put a window in the box. Put our dog in the box. Watched as our dog climbed on-top of the box in thunderstorms. Ate our snacks in the box. Put doggie's treats through the window of the box to watch her scramble inside after them.
One leg fits through the window of the box. We kept the box on our balcony. We brought it in our dining room. We stood the box upright for new viewing angles.

We put daddy, doggie and bennett in the box on numerous occasions. We loved that box, but in preparation for the move, we said good-bye to the beat-up box and placed it in the recycling bin.

One other love of the apartment...this countertop spot where Bennett has sat while most every breakfast is prepared and many lunches and dinners. "Up, please" he will say. Then sit and watch our every preparation, playing with the utensils around him. He loves the kitchen and its many gadgets.

Collective Randoms

Because this blog continues to be an avenue for us to chronologically document this wildly precious life of parenthood, here are some July highlights...

An Indians game with Zach's work. H-O-T...hot. I think we barely survived the heat and did so with enormous vanilla ice cream cones. Bennett was covered in ice cream stickiness and half-cleaned and on daddy's shoulders was one of the best ways to contain him. He was determined to throw any ball over the fence and into the outfield...making for a great game of chase (did I mention is was nearly 300 degrees outside and no shade?) Thankfully, we stopped him, but one wiffle ball did make it over the fence and sat on the warning track through 3 innings...

On a cooler note, we love our visits to the pool. Bennett continues to enjoy water and we love our sun-soaked, water-soaked tired baby after a couple hours of pool time.

It wouldn't be summer (at least not in my family) without a trip to the fair. We made an evening trip up to the Greentown Fair (howard county) to see farm animals, ride a few kiddie rides and enjoy the yummy fair food. Bennett screamed when a ride concluded, but was easily calmed with the next one in sight. I think it was just as much fun for me to watch Zach check-out the county fair sights (city boy that he is) as it was watching Bennett.



We call this white-trash-apartment-baby-model. The string of events that led us to this point: I was supposed to be changing B's diaper and putting on PJ's when he talked me into riding his Fropper (stall tactic) around the apartment. Only for Bennett to ride on his Fropper, it requires a hat (not sure why...kind of like "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie..."). So he runs over to his drawer and pulls out this one. After riding past the balcony door, he spots a boat on the water - we must go check it out (he is boat-obsessed)...so outside he runs. I try my best distraction tactic to lure him back in for jammies and diaper changing with milk and his paci...he can't take his eyes off the boat and Zach takes this picture.

With our balcony location at the front of River Ridge, we just wonder what the other residents must be thinking.

Fearless

Bennett loves the water...in the tub, at a splash park, in the pool (big or small), memaw and papaw's backyard hose, our bathroom sink...or on this occasion, Carson's 4th birthday slip-n-slide. Summer birthdays offer so much outdoor fun for the littles. This one didn't disappoint.

Pure joy.

Our only struggle was waiting his turn with the other littles. The trials of sharing and taking turns seem to be entering our world with increasing prevalence these days.


HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY, Carson!


It was a bug themed party and we loved celebrating with him. Carson's excitement for his big day was so innocent and sweet. He kept eyeing the growing pile of birthday surprises with this sweet smile the clearly said, "this is all for me?!?!?"


The photos are all copyright of Amy Prather and Jose Perez. Thank you for sharing.

Summer Is In Full Swing

With it being summer and us having limited internet access we have been lagging on our blog posts of late. Here are a few pics from one of our favorite summer past-times; going to Victory Field for a baseball game.

Houston, we have a problem...

...Actually, we have a couple problems. First, as demonstrated below, our dog is C-R-A-Z-Y. The recent string of thunderstorms has her in a downward spiral and her normally loving parents considering various wording on a potential death certificate. Lucky for her, our vet is closed in the middle of the night and by morning we have come to our senses and decide to keep her around for another day. Despite increasingly heavy medication, she attempts to find safety in storms by digging (tearing our fibers of carpet) or climbing atop furniture (breaking a glass table). We hate that she is so terrified, but my sanity is tested at 3:30 in the morning when she is either trying to climb on top of our floor lamp or trying to sit on my head. Suggestions welcome.

Second...you might remember we don't have cable in our temporary apartment digs. We don't have internet either. Upon moving in, we were able to "borrow" a wireless signal from a neighbor. She moved about one month ago. This has strongly hindered our ability to upload photos into our picasa album - the method we have chosen to chronologically file photographs. For now, they are trapped in our camera. My organized self says take your camera, cords and laptop to my parents' house and use their wireless signal, etc....problem solved. Just hasn't made the top priority list. Consequence is our blog is quite boring these days; however, our life is not!

We are loving these long, hot summer days. Swimming, parks, sidewalk chalk, splash parks, early morning walks (before the heat is too much), wiffle ball, freeze pops, leaving the house without dressing a child in a coat, picking black raspberries from our backyard (of the house we don't live in yet) and eating them warm...the list goes on and on. The fact the July 4th is approaching gives me that feeling that summer is half over, when it really just started today. Soon enough I will have the same excitement about fall, but for now, I just want summer to linger.

In honor of Father's Day, I wish I could post some recent photos of Zach and Bennett (darn wireless). And I wish I could explain the excitement beaming from Bennett when he hears or sees his daddy arriving home each day. One day last week, Z surprised us by arriving home a little earlier than usual and Bennett was playing in the bathtub. The second Zach walked in the door...Bennett stood up and said, "all done." Tried climbing out of the tub that instant, just so he could be near and follow his daddy around the apartment. At times, this "fatherhood" thing can be stressful for Zach (mostly worrying about Bennett - health, well-being, you name it and Zach worries about it). But really...he is so, so good in the "daddy" role.

So, thank you Zach. And thank you to my dad, my father-in-law and my grandpa. All great dads who have shared and given much to us. We love you.

And because I think a post without pictures is not nearly as fun, here is a photographer pic of Bennett from Whitney and Eric's wedding...