summer ballet review

Last week Isabelle had a summer ballet review with her dance class. They have been working on a show piece for a few months and she was SO excited to perform it for us. For the "review" the girls take us through their class- warm up and barre and floor and then they did their finale number. Is there anything cuter than a bunch of girls in pink tights and black leos?

Grandma does this class every Thursday, and it's honestly the highlight of her entire week. She LOVES the class but I think more than that she loves having her special time with grandma. After the class, they go to Grandma's for special playtime, sometimes she takes them to the dollar store or to dairy queen. The DQ, they call it.

up like a banana, down like a pancake

best friend cousins

Be still my heart! 

I think their favorite part was eating the refreshments after. Lincoln obviously just wanted to run around and chase his friends.

People ask us why we moved back to Redding, and this is why. Thursday ballet class with Grandma. Sunday family dinners. Cousin sleepovers. Birthday celebrations. Running into my mom at Target. Once I left Redding I never EVER thought we would move here, to the heat, to the no airport, to the lack of shopping, no chic fil a. Important things. Turns out those important things aren't as important as we thought. We moved into our house a little over six years ago, Isabelle wasn't quite crawling yet. Now she's prancing around in a blue fluffy tutu, swimming like a fish, telling me which diapers to buy for the baby.  Even when its 108 outside, we are so glad we live here. We need our people.

I'm so proud of this little person. She has always been so so sweet (despite the first year of constant crying) and I love seeing her stretch and grow. She's 6. And pretty soon she's gonna be 16. And 26. My heart will break when she moves away from me. But just mayyyyyybe I'll be lucky enough to see her raise daughters, and take them to dairy queen and the dollar stores on Thursdays.

one week in-

Well we had a stellar first week of summer! Until we caught a cold. Colds in the summer should totally not be a thing,- colds in the summer while pregnant should REALLY not be a thing. It's just me and Izzie feeling down and out, Linc is still going strong. And at least it's Friday. No swim lessons today or play dates. Instead we are reading library books and playing legos while planet earth plays in the background. Probably a "family movie night" later on. (Something parents do when they are too tired to deal but they want the kids to think it's a fun and special privilege. IT IS.) We had a special date night planned to celebrate our anniversary, but that will have to wait. I don't want to pay for a delicious meal if I can't taste it, knowwhatimean.

We started something new this summer, honestly so I didn't pull my hair out answering the question "Can I watch a show, can I play on the iPad." During the year it's easy enough because we have school and a schedule but in the summer I don't think their little minds understand WHY we say no to early morning screen time.  I'm all about the BREAK in summer break- I really want my kids to have fun, to be able to stay up a little later, eat Popsicles, have friends over, etc. But I needed a better reason why TV shouldn't be on at 6 am other than "not right now" or "because I am the boss of your universe." Anyway, saw this on pinterest and modified it for my kids. It's laminated and so gracefully taped to our fridge by Izzie. We call it The Checklist.

I was skeptical. Linc is four. He doesn't care too much for chores or doing anything he doesn't want to do. At this point I could present a montage of pictures of him throwing fits of ridiculous things, but I'll refrain. These are simple things the kids can do together, with me, or on their own get started on their day. It's only been a week but it has been a GAME CHANGER.

They typically wake up between 6 and 6:30. Instead of sprinting to my bedside to ask for some sort of screen, they know what needs to be done. Isabelle is more type-a, she is dressed and her bed made before Lincoln wakes up. Linc "makes" his bed by pulling the covers up, that's it. Nothin' fancy.

seriously how it feels

The mornings have been so much better, nay I say glorious. One morning I woke up to a hot wheels track through the kitchen. Another day they were quietly reading books on the couch together. I mean, doesn't that sound really cute! It is cute! Actually re-reading that it sounds like I'm being a pretty lazy and neglectful mother, but that hour from 6 am to 7 am I am really not needed. It's good for their little brains to be creative and have some free time, right? I bought this silly little pineapple egg timer and Isabelle is having a great time setting it to 30 minutes. A lot of times the timer goes off and they don't even realize it, and they keep playing.

By the time we have swim lessons at 9, and an errand after that or a playdate, we come home for lunch. The kid's finish their checklists and during that blistery hot 110 degree part of the day, they have earned their screen time. And I feel good about that. The best part I don't feel like a dictator, and they don't feel like they are being tortured. It's totally up to them. Some days we just end up swimming all day long and those are the best days. Isabelle is learning all the different types of strokes. Lincoln is swimming like a fish now and goes down Grandpa's slide about a trillion times.

freckles

so excited about her sparkly gold swim cap

Also it had been awhile since we have been to the library and they have upped their game! This new little lego corner was really fun. Our area tends to be way behind the times on "cool things" and it was nice to have something new and worthwhile.

25 Weeks

I think every pregnancy I get less thorough at documenting, but better late than never I guess. I went back and compared this picture to my other pregnancies. Bad idea. Don't compare. I'ts not helpful.

25 weeks! Baby boy is viable! 12 inches long, weighs a pound and a half, kicks and wiggles a lot- mostly in the evenings when I am paying attention. Nothing better than that reassuring feeling of "hey, I'm in here." This is my favorite part- where you look pregnant but you aren't miserable, the baby moves around a lot, clothes still fit, food tastes good again, heartburn isn't insane, sleeping is still a thing. This is my first pregnancy in the Redding summer- my other babies have been January and April babies, so I didn't have to endure the heat. Izzie was due in September but we lived in Utah at the time and it's just not the same level of HOT. 

Now that school is out and temperatures are 100+ degrees everyday, we are inside the AC or at the pool. Yesterday we spent almost five hours swimming with the family and it was really fun. Lincoln decided he can legit swim now- he was at Grandma's for a few hours without me and when I came to get them, he was swimming the width of the pool without any assistance. Isabelle also got over her weird fear of the pool slide and combined I think they went down that thing a hundred times. Slide, exit, do it again. Break for sandwiches and watermelon, back in the pool. Break for popsicle, back in the pool. This is how we are going to spend the summer. Lather, rinse, repeat. 

Also LOL to maternity swimwear. Does not exist. The hardest part of being pregnant for me is gaining weight. I think I discuss this every time, because *surprise* it bothers me every time. Look, I KNOW weight gain is a part of pregnancy. I KNOW. But my body and genes just really pack it on, despite trying to eat healthy and exercise. Last week I walked 45 miles! It's not like I am sitting on the couch with one hand in a costco bag of doritos and the other hand spooning ben and jerrys into my mouth. I have to remind myself-- this is my fourth full pregnancy, this is the first time I've been unable to exercise through the first trimester. And to be fair, my body has been pregnant at some point of every year for the last NINE YEARS. There are worse things, and I'm trying to keep perspective here, but it's still HARD for me. I gain weight everywhere. I know I will lose it, time and a season, etc. I'm thrilled to be pregnant, to be able to gain weight at all. Just trying not to let those sneaky hate spirals happen. Be cool, Micci... be cool.

It's becoming more real to me now- we have made it this far, baby has a healthy heart, like in 14 weeks we will have a REAL BABY to bring home! Hopefully by then we will have a name, and a few things washed and ready. I think the only thing we really need is a new carseat, it expired since Max was born and we had to recycle it. (Car seats expire. This is real.) I'm so happy we get to buy a new car seat for a new baby.

captain no-pants

Also Linc was really excited about the camera with the remote so he set up his most favorite toys and took about a hundred pictures. He's just the best.