Photo Friday- Cool

In this never ending Arizona summer heat, we were able to stay COOL for just a little while today, thanks to a friend with a pool.

Zoo on a hot day.

Riding the train (because we had free tickets!)

Checking out the komodo dragon.

And the aftermath of not enough sunscreen/shade/shirt. Ugh.

Silent Sunday

Unfortunately this heat has kept most of my plants from growing. I am now looking at ways to shade the garden in hopes that it will allow some of them to sprout. I guess the ten degrees above normal temps are just too much.

Sigh, its too much for me, too. 90 I can handle, 100? meh.

33 Month Newsletter

Gwennie Goober,

Another month has come and gone. And once more mama has slacked off on writing this until the 29^th of the month came and went. I think maybe I am so preoccupied with life that I totally forget that I write these. It isn’t that I have been slacking on my blog in general; no it is filled with the usual gibberish and nonsensical hooey.

You are not doing better at potty training. Every week or so we try to put panties on you. You might stay dry for the morning, but usually wet them in the afternoon. If you remain bottomless you will use the potty, and you love to try to pee in strange bathrooms. You tell me when you need to poop while we are out, but that doesn’t always mean you do have to. Sometimes it means you are bored. I don’t want to put you back in diapers, but I am so tired of thinking you are ready to wear panties only to find wet panties on the floor.

We had swim lessons for the last four weeks. You like the water, but at the same time are terrified of it. You want to be in there, as long as you have full control and your head doesn’t get wet. One of the first things we were learning how to do was to blow bubbles. You flat out refused to even try. It is hilarious. I would make you go under once or twice a lesson, but you scream and fuss about it. Daddy comes to one lesson and he has you doing things that normally cause fear in your eyes. Why? I think it is because you feel safer in his arms, and also he is infinitely more patient with you and Rhayn when he is teaching you. I was not meant to be a teacher, every day reminds me of that. You adore your teacher, his name is Phil, but you just call him “My Teacher!” with such admiration in your voice. He is some eighteen year old guy, who basically floats around during class. But he plays ball with you, and that has won you over fully. You are now willing to put your face in the water, once per lesson, and not until the very end of class.

You might be weaned. It has been nearly 5 days now since you nursed last. I am sad about it. At night when I sit by you talking to you while you fall asleep, I feel empty and lonely. If my body is my own again, that is great, and I know we were ready, but still there is a part of me that misses you curled up in my lap, looking at me lovingly while “having gup.” Last night I stared at you longingly, thinking of that last nursing and how I had no idea that it might be the end. I wish I could convey beautifully with words the way I feel about nursing you for these last nearly three years. I just am not in the right place yet. It is still so raw, so new, so freshly ended and not healed yet. I know that certain people think this is a great development, but they don’t understand how it feels to me. There is no sympathy for the end of my baby, the end of something that meant so much to me, to you, to our bonding. I guess one of these days I will feel alright about it. I know that it is silly to mourn it, but I just need to, maybe a little longer.

Your Loving,

Mama

Photo Challenge: Summer

In Arizona summer means two things, well maybe three.
Hot- hot- hot weather
Monsoon storms
and Fires.

This picture combines all three. It was a monsoon storm (or the lightning from it) that started the brush fire near out house. It was the smoke that looked so appealing that prompted me to take this picture. And it was hot out that afternoon.

Splish Splash

Since Will has been home, I have been sick, the whole time. Mostly a not too bad cold, but as the days of it wear on, my head stuffiness worsens, my nasal passages are dry and sore, my snot is bright green, and I want to lay in bed and sleep. Instead, I will be taking the girls to their first swim lesson later on this morning. I promised Rhayn we would swim more this summer. I thought I would be over this cold by today when I signed them up for a four days a week for two weeks class.

And I have to get in the pool, too. Because Gwennie needs to be in the Parent and Child class. I think she might have been able to do Level 1, but I didn't know and Rhayn is in Level 1.

Also? I haven't told them about the swim lessons, because quite frankly, I could not handle their enthusiasm this morning. Is that rotten? Maybe I will tell them in a little while, I mean I have to tell them before we leave because we have to put on swimsuits. (Have I ever mentioned my dislike of the swim suit? That small scrap of fabric that stretches over the body and shows off every little flaw? Yuck, yuck, yuck. I think my body is fairly nice, considering I have two children and am thirty, but a swimsuit just makes me feel gross.)

El Stupido!

I am not the brightest crayon in the box at the moment.

Will is gone, he went to Arkansas for another Army thing this week. So I thought, huh while he is gone, I should replace the dead tree in our front yard with a new Chilean Mesquite, which we KNOW we can keep alive (by proof of the lovely one growing in our backyard. It is the tree directly behind Rhayn in the picture. This picture was taken a month ago and it has gained a few inches as well as canopy since then. It is also bigger than the four elms we planted almost two years previous.) I wanted it to be a little bit of a surprise, too. You know, for fun.

The dead tree was a Flowering Purple Plum, which we had planted sometime in March. They are so beautiful and I see them all of the time in yards. I think though my problem is the drought. I know that we should conserve water, and thus have a hard time watering a plant every other day! It never did anything besides lose its leaves and die. Home Depot has a one year plant guarantee, so I took the dead thing back (but being past ninety days we only get store credit. I can totally use that so it works.) The old tree cost $150 while my new mesquite only cost $45. Sweet deal? I think so! Mesquite grow really fast and since it is only a fifteen gallon that was supposedly why the big price difference. Although I think it is about the same size as the plum.

We are at day 29 of the most consecutive days above 110 in history. What was I thinking? Seriously? Out in the heat, digging a HOLE? What is wrong with me!? I did it, and I even staked the darn thing really well. It all seemed such a good idea while sitting in my house in the air conditioning, but then I got out there, and nearly passed out. Ugh. I had a lot of other plans for this week and they have all pretty much zoomed out the freakin' window.

So, although I wasn't that smart in my planning, I did it, it is done. The tree is in the ground, watered, and still looks alive. Hopefully it will cool off soon and we can get on top of our two big projects for this year- our back yard and organizing our garage.


***Have you ever been listening to the radio and the weather announcer says something like "its partly cloudy" and you look out to see these clouds only to notice that the sky is 100% cloud free? Oh, wait. There is one, lone cloud near the western horizon. Does that count as partly cloudy? Huh. Just wondering. You really worry that these poor radio personalities never see the outside. Rather like office workers in their maze of cubicles. I am so glad I have never had one of those jobs.

First Day of Summer

Dripping, sweating, hot hot hot.
Icicles, snowing? not not not.

Watermelon drooling, drip drip drip.
Waterpark, waterslide, slip slip slip.

Swimming diving, splash splash splash.
Meaner driving, crash crash crash.

Early mornings, sun sun sun.
Baseball games, fun fun fun.

Camping, hiking, far far far.
Family vacation, car car car.

First day of summer? Well well well.
Arizona Summer starts in April.

Summer, Day 1

Its not really the first day of summer vacation, because its a holiday, right? It feels like it, though. Will has to work today, he traded Friday off to work today. They needed people he said, because of soldiers coming in or something.

I am already disillusioned with summer. I hate summer, I don’t like being home, and I miss my school friends. What will I do all summer alone? I mean I have that girl I hang out with A, who went to school with Will and Rock. Let me tell you, she is so awesome and we have so much in common and so much to talk about, I absolutely adore her.

I think we are going to load up when the girls get up, and head to Grandma’s house. Its been a while since we visited the area. I haven’t see PurpleLurple’s house or Dacheese’s new paint. Plus, there is always Great-Grandma to visit!

For now, while I wait for kids to wake up, I am playing Bookworm on Yahoo. Yeah, it kills a few while I wait, and I enjoy it. (I just spelled Merged… good word!)

I bought Rhayn a necklace/bracelet set to wear for her last day of kindergarten. She hasn’t taken it off since then. So Gwennie thought she needed a necklace and found my favorite 1928 necklace, its red with a heart that dangles (in the previous post you can see it and the one Rhayn’s wearing.) Last night I tried to take it off, and put it on the counter while we brushed teeth and did our evening routine. Gwen grabbed it and tried to put it back on. She pointed at her neck, and held it out. So back on it went. Its so cute, my little girl, with her girlieness. I am so lucky to have such adorable kids!