Back to School

School starts August 23rd and I think it's safe to say we are all ready. This summer has been great, don't get me wrong it's been bumpy as far as getting along goes.  But I like to think that is common amongst most households with more than 1 child. I look at the summer bucket list I had made at the end of the school year and while we haven't done 50 things we have done quite a bit. With having a pool and a dune/lake house to visit and attempting to make the most of both. 

We find out Friday the 18th who his teacher is and who all is in his class. I'm most anxious for the classlist. I'm hopeful he will have at least 1 out his 2 good friends as last year the 3 boys got separated and had to rely on recess time to maintain their friendship. That was hard for all of them as new friends were made for some from within their classroom and not for others. 

 Back to school shopping is complete. We are blessed to attend a school district in which school supplies are bundled in with our annual school fee we pay each year. So we just have to supply on our own a backpack, lunch box (if needed), and we'll of course clothes. Our needs like last year were very simply. A new water bootle and socks. 

His back pack from kindergarten is still in great condition as well as his lunch box. His clothes also still fit and are in great condition (benefit to owning enough shirts to not repeat one in the course of 5wks). I also already have his entire wardrobe for the next size he will be going into. His shoes still fit and when he grows out of them we will get him new at that time. I like to think we don't fall into what society says about back to school shopping or shopping in general. Our motto when it comes to buying items (non-consumable but don't get me wrong if you have a token for a free mini blizzard or whatever restaurant promo go on and use that token!) is "never pay full retail" 

My 3 tips for shopping to avoid a huge shopping trip or filling up that online cart:

-buy clearance; I'm not talking 30% off clearance, I'm talking 70-90% off now that's a sale. This means we are buying in September/October for the next summer or 2 and Feb/March for the next winter or 2. Here's my reasoning for the kids they grow out of it within a year or less and they can be hard on their clothes. For myself and Marcus: we don't like to spend much on ourselves and let's be honest sizes change too 🙄. I'm also not a fashion forward person. I'm good with a pair of jeans/shorts and good tee or a cardi over. But let's really be honest and it's leggings or running shorts and a tank. Marcus is in dress pants, shirt and tie 5 days a week and jeans/shorts and t-shirt/pullover whatever on the weekends. 

I look at the summer bucket list I had made at the end of the school year and while we haven't done 50 things we have done quite a bit. With having a pool and a dune/lake house to visit and attempting to make the most. -buy second hand: we have some great resale groups and because Ian is at that age where athletic pants are his preferred and other kids have the same preference jeans brand new (therefore not second hand) or gently worn can be purchased for $4 or less...

-buy at garage sales, yep I said it garage sales!  Majority have nice items and are priced very reasonably and 90% don't want to take the items back inside or load them up to donate. I have found some great items even items brand new with tags. Although this was new I did find the frame will out at garage sales and we made our own table with composite decking meaning the top will probably outlast the frame. 

So with that said go out and search those clearance racks, scroll through your Facebook resale groups, and stop at the next garage sale you see. 

Glued back together

If you follow me on Instagram or FB then you know that 2 weeks I was med-point bound with Ian. 

Remember that brotherly love stuff I wrote about? Well...the story from the 3yr old is simply bad timing. He was tossing/chucking/throwing (pick your word here) the metal watering can into the pool and it hit Ian's head before it hit the water.  He is very sorry and that night he ate his dinner very quickly (super rare to eat in less 30min but he did) and put himself straight to bed.  And for a good week when it mentioned (can't really not see white strips going across a forehead) he would hide out of guilt.  Now, he openly says "I did that, it was an accident and he's ok!" 

I knew immediately when Ian came out of the pool hysterical in tears and I took one look we were urgent care bound. I quickly called my in-laws stating I needed them pronto. In the meantime I got Ian changed into dry clothes, the oven turned off, the cornbread put back into a oven, stove top turned on (so Lane could eat his dinner) and got Ian's bleeding managed. But in the meantime I also second guessed myself and thought maybe I'm being an over reactive crazy mom. So I texted for a 2nd opinion and got confirmation that my initial thoughts were confirmed.  Inlaws arrived rather quickly (bonus to living 13 houses away). Ian and I grab water and he grabs a snack as it was suppose to be dinner time and out the door we went.

The photo I didn't post on social media: 

The butterfly bandage I found in our first aide basket and one very scared little boy. 

Our Dr at Med-Point was great and wanted to try gluing it before stitches or staples. 

Some glue and 3 steri-strips and 50 min later we are home bound

One of those cute little metal watering cans did was the weapon...

2wks later and looking very good and a new temporary hairline too 🤣🤣

Was I scared? Yes and no...I've been in this situation before with a spinning Lane who fell into the corner of a doorway and got 2 staples in his head (his barley bled at all)

I feel like both instances I was calm and collected and took care of what needed to be taken care of and the injuries were easily fixable. Ian said the gluing didn't hurt or sting at all. I think the initial blood is what scared him the most as well as the hit to the head hurting. (We have a new standard for whining about pain now it has to hurt as bad or worse than his head or arm braking 😊). When Lane got his staples I wore him in the ergo facing me and his heart rate did not change at all.  Thankful for my brave boys 😍😍 

Brotherly love

The visions of my boys loving each other and always getting along are gone. I feel like all I do is referee. Trying to get one to stand up himself and the other to be kind and not so rough and picking on his brother. It's....exhausting. 

You know the baby days where you try to squeeze in a shower and end up having baby in the bathroom in the bouncy seat? Well...replace baby with either a 7yr old or a 3yr old having to sit in the bathroom while you shower because they blew their chance of co-existing in the same room without and adult present.  My view this AM outside the bathroom door...a shirtless boy and cereal all over the floor.

I'm ready for this phase to be over but in reality I know it's just the beginning and hopefully one day (I'm hoping for sooner rather than later) they learn to coexist. 

Because this is TRUTH: 

And this 

I have zero advice, every morning I aim to be ready for the day before either wakes. And when I have to wake them I debate who to wake up first and be present for every step of their morning routine. Obviously I fail a lot at this in the summer. Here's to hoping today and the following days have fewer bumps. 

Hello...anyone there?!?!

Gah...anyone there?!?! I know it's been an incredibly long time since I last posted (like 2yrs 😬) so I will do my best to update but will probably forget some things we will fast forward to more recent and go backwards from time to time. 

The good 

Ian is now 7.5 and will be entering the 2nd grade in August.

 1st grade was good to him, he and his 2 other buddies from kindergarten were all separated and were left with togetherness on the playground. Last summer he conquered riding his bike sans training wheels. Started with a swimming club 2 nights a week. Originally we were going to do one season and then do basketball but he wanted more swimming so another season we did. Winter season was over and again thought we were done but decided to go for just 1 more and take the summer off and just swim in our pool. That actually did happen 🙌🏼🙌🏼.  I will tell you as a mom of 2 who are basically 4yrs apart in age puts you in 2 different stages. You have your 6.5yr old who understands "we need to eat quickly so we aren't late" and then the 2.5yr old who time means nothing to them purely numbers that mean nothing to them. It makes for very trying nights, thankfully swimming was just 2 nights a week. We are no where near ready for the commitment of 4 nights a week practice and the weekends for meets (honestly I may never be ready for that until maybe highschool 😳😬). 

Lane is now 3.5 and has conquered potty training. 

He spent this past year doing maintenance swimming lessons with Little Fins Swim School 2x a week (we did take the month of the July off as we have been busy). He has conquered the diving board and immediately goes into rest/float mode flips and swims making his way to the ladder.

The struggles: rationalizing with irrational small people. The constant question of "why?" This past year I also got tired of seeing toys going un-played with. I downsized their toys by a storage ottoman full. They haven't questioned where a single toy went. We are learning less is more. We are no where near a minimalist standard of living but we have downsized our belongings in a couple areas and I have changed my cleaning routine to allow for more time to be spent in other areas. Some days are still juggling acts. I like to think that it is completely normal to have such days, it is right? 

Lane 18mos errr...20mos

Good golly can you say we've been busy??? Poor Laner's buddy I will attempt to recreate the past couple months for you. Let's see you have grown and learned new words. You're eating has taken a nose dive but you're still growing so apparently you're getting what you need. You like to be outside, you like to jump in the pool, play in the sand at the beach or swings set, swing on the swing set and pretend to drive the gator which has turned into actually driving without the steering part. Your first 2 word sentence was "stop it" your first 3 word sentence was "I want that" both fitting for being a second child.  

This summer you have experienced a lot. In May we went to Duck, NC in the Outerbanks with Ma, Grandpa, Jennifer, Grant, daddy, mommy and Ian. You got discover the beach which at first you were not a fan but quickly learned to like it. 

 Got another round of swim lessons under your belt with Sis. Got to go to the dunes not once but twice. Got to spend 4 days with your cousin Levi while at the dunes and got super sad when it was his turn for a buggy ride and as they drove off you said "I want that" and your little bottom lip stuck out due to the amount of sadness you were feeling. 

Mommy took you and Ian back up to the lake a few weeks later 

In a couple days a big change is coming to our house. Ian starts kindergarten which means for a good 7hrs it's just you and me Laners.  Although you will nap about 3 of those hours 😉. 

Love you Laners!! 

Mommy

Lane words

We have words and lots of them in no particular order. 

Momma

Dadda 

E- Ian

Stinky

Hammer

Doggy

Anpa- grandpa

Ma

Juice

Tookie- cookie

Abbie

Pizza

Hat

Lane 15mos

So somewhere since the past post Lane you turned 15mos old. You learned how to walk. "Your" vocabulary is growing daily and you can sign "more and eat" two very important signs in your life. When you wake in the morning while I'm changing your diaper you are constantly signing "eat".  You sign it the whole walk to the kitchen, while I'm putting you in your high chair, basically you sign it until food is in front of you.  

You can smile for the camera 

You are ornery and keep us on our toes!! And we say "Lane Michael" at least 5x in about 20min. 

You meet your cousin Levi and became fascinated with his drool and took it to be your job to get it. 

Which Levi being here also means you took swim lessons with Sis and became a natural at floating. 

You go bed to nightly at 7p, usually wake around 11 in need of some snuggles and again around 2:30 and wake up for the day anytime between 7-8a. 

We go end of this month for your well check! 

Love you Lane Michael!!