WHAT UP FRIENDS! Been so busy, no time to yammer. Also I’ve been beyond lazy lately when I’ve gotten a moment to spare – we finished both Stranger Things and Big Little Lies within a matter of minutes. Also got sucked into Leaving Neverland… and then Mommy Dead and Dearest… and then had to lighten the mood so quickly cranked out Adam DeVine and Aziz’s stand up specials. But enough about me.

Summer is just flying! But I don’t have to tell you guys that. Especially those of you who live in the Midwest where summer lasts approximately for 4 glorious days in June, 31 days of hell fire sweat in July, and the 7 days in August before preseason Packer games start. We are crazy busy and have been having an absolute blast, I don’t want it to end. This summer the babies are still able to be jammed into their infant car seats making for easy travel so we’ve been taking advantage of their immobility. Next summer will be garbage sauce with 2 unsteady walkers and 1 zippity OG, so I am not wasting a single second of this fleeting time with my current little slug bugs.

We’ve been up north, we’ve been down south (aka Racine), we’ve been tourists in our new city and made our triumphant return to our old one in Bayview. We’ve tried new farmer’s markets and went back to old favorites. New parks, old parks, city spots, country spots, from petting zoos to NBA stadiums we’ve gotten out there and made the most of every weekend so far. We’ve fished, splashed, swam, bounced, gardened, saw far too many snakes in the backyard, had campfires, grilled out, smoked a plethora of meats, smelled flowers, gotten sunburned, showed pride, sand castled, then scraped sand out of unmentionable areas (or as Olivia refers to it – her “business”), rode ponies, seen rainbows, boated, swung, seesawed, ice creamed, baseballed, seen sunrises and sunsets, and pretty much anything you can think of in between. We made a summer foodie bucket list and have been slowly been crossing places off the list. Prior to kids we mostly judged a place not just on the actual food but on their selection of IPAs with bonus points awarded for pulltabs and patios but now our criteria has shifted into this alternate universe we now live in forever that includes the width of the walking spaces between tables for stroller maneuvering and if there is chocolate milk available and changing stations in the bathrooms. We just keep getting cooler and cooler. We’ve eaten and drunk some delish noms this summer, doing wonders for our summer bods. I was super happy when Gates tumbled hard off the keto wagon and I got my partner in carbs back. Can’t spell summer break without ALL THE BEER am I right. It’s funny how summer always feels like a vacation from something even when you aren’t in school or have kids in school… when all the back to school stuff magically appeared the day after the 4th I felt a glorious rush of freedom knowing I’ve got nowhere to be come September… except ankle deep in diapers and in charge of 3 tiny people 24 hours a day 7 days a week… yea except for that.

Speaking of my small humans, truly the only bane of our existence right now is the still BS sleep situation. At this point our judgement is so completely backasswards that in the morning after yet another night of insanity our conversation will go something like this:

Me: Hey not so bad last night! I think Spencer only was up maybe 5 times, only took 3 bottles.
Gates: Yea! Sasha was only up about 9 times and only drank 2 bottles! So much better than last night!

*high fives* *fist bumps* *loud ruckusing*

Out of control.

Other than that, we’ve been lucky to have gotten what seems so far to be 2 more sassy and silly and sweet children. Both babies are somewhat delayed with their gross motor skills, with Spencer needing to start PT because he is basically just a chubby floppy poppy who cannot manage any sort of movement except starting to do this aggressive sort of squirming around on his back situation that will propel him backwards at a rate of 2 millimeters per hour. His head has decided to keep growing literally off the charts which certainly isn’t helping his cause. He continues to follow up with noggin measurements every few weeks and neurology but at this point we are still in a wait and see type scenario which is FINE BY ME as we still owe about the cost of a backyard fence installation in medical bills for tiny sir. One day though. One day I will have a fence to contain my big headed children. Until then, super mega baby jail continues to do the trick. Speaking of baby jail, my friend’s parents passed on some amazing vintage toys to Olivia when they cleaned out their attic including a fabulous retro kitchen and fridge set with tons of pretend food and accessories. So we moved the junky Goodwill kitchen set we had from the playroom out to baby jail and now Olivia can make mud pies and shaving cream ice cream to her heart’s content under the blazing sun.

I also pulled the trigger and bought a trampoline, which I have wanted for about the past 31.5 years and we have been living that bounce life. I don’t know how many of you have bounced with small children on one of those things but I cannot tell you how hard it is to resist bouncing hard enough to launch their stout little bodies off into the air like tiny rockets. So far I’ve behaved. When she is bigger though and able to hold her own… game on. Also the trampoline has shown me very quickly how horrifically out of shape I am as I am winded approximately 3 seconds into the first bounce. Yikes.

Garden and plants are basically all jungle status thanks to lots of sun and lots of rain, and Olivia’s garden has been completely overtaken by the pumpkin plants… did not think that plan through when choosing what to plant in a tiny raised bed. We better get at least one little pumpkin out of that carnage! RIP strawberry plants, carrots, etc. Tomato plants are holding their own though!

Coming up – annual Minocqua trip, state fair, football season starting, a million other plans and parties and commitments and also we get to haul all the children across the country to Cape Cod! So excited to return to one of my favorite places in the world to see some of my favorite people in the world and introduce my mini me’s to the land of Nantucket Reds and lobstah rolls and CHOWDAH that I will be guzzling by the gallon. My parents and my grandmother will be joining us to help wrangle children which takes away about 95% of the anxiety I would be feeling about bringing 3 littles on a plane. Between all of us adults we should be able to manage all the baby gear we are going to need to haul with us too. 3 carseats, 2 travel cribs, one travel cot, 2 strollers, endless amounts of formula and bottles and snacks and diapers and wipes and Pull Ups and bribery treats… yes yes yes thank god some real grown ups will be attending this cross country circus.

Part 2 of Summer 2019 surely will fly by as quickly as Part 1. Hope your summers have been as busy and beautiful as ours!

And finally:

Happy summering babes!