Today was a hectic work day. Not much else got done so I am glad I did a bunch of tasks last night. I do still have another layout to do for the AMM kit but overall, I am ok to wait a bit until a bunch of my goodies come in the mail. I got my December Daily album today. I think I might spend some of August and September putting my album together. I like doing it early.

We took a short break to meet David’s friend and my neighbor at the local playground and then he went home with his friend to play and I didn’t take any photos for a long time today. But when David was back at home, he was happy to see Nathaniel and gave him some hugs.

And me some funny faces.

Nathaniel is focusing a lot harder lately. Working on his fine motor skills. Using forks. Putting things together.

And those teeth are almost almost out! All of them.

David and I did a bunch more reading today. We’re on lesson 29. I feel we’re going a bit fast but he’s so excited and I do make sure we do everything in the lessons. It’s so nice to see him read. So so nice. So I am off to go back to the craziness of work and have some layouts to do and maybe (just maybe) I can read for a few minutes.

I hope your monday was calmer than mine.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for my job. Despite feeling burned out. whiny, and tired sometimes. I love my job. So much.
2. I am grateful for this summer. We’re having such a quiet and wonderful summer that’s not full of tasks. not rushed. no drama. i love it.
3. I am grateful that David has a fun friend so closeby. This was the first time he was somewhere without me (or Jake) and I am so happy he had fun.

Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. playing with Ece at the playground
2. eating jellybeans at Ece’s
3. Playing legos with Ece
4. daddy.

I think the kids must have felt bad for us after the night we had because we didn’t hear a sound until 8am today. It was like a miracle. A good night’s sleep makes such a difference. I gave the kids food and then got to my exercise. Six days out of seven last week. Not too bad. Then I sat and read for a while and the kids played.

Nathaniel’s really good at understanding things and when I say “pis” which means dirty in Turkish, he knows to put the item in the trash. But sometimes he finds things he likes in the trash and digs them out in the process. Despite my pleading “no no no.” Today he found this magazine cover.

Then he found David’s lego box.

Held on to it well.

Dropped some legos into it.

And gave himself a round of applause (we all need to do this more: give ourselves some applause).

Then he tried to fit some tiny pieces of legos together. Worked really hard and once he made them fit, he moved it and made car-like sounds.

Earlier in the day, we were playing in the yard and David got into our red wagon and asked me to push him around but I told him he was too big and I was too weak. So he patiently waited until Daddy was free so he could do it. And, as you can see, it was totally worth the wait. He had a blast.

Nathaniel watched them through the backyard door.

And then got really upset that he couldn’t go out.

So Jake grabbed him and gave him a round on the wagon, too. He loved it.

For a brief moment, he tried to have both kids at once but I got too worried about kids falling off and could not look anymore.

From the squeals I heard, I think there was much joy and no falling. Then it was time for dinner and David and I spent some more time reading. It’s only been four days since we got this book and he’s already in lesson 17. He said he wants to do it all day long and loves it so much. I cannot tell you the joy of seeing one’s kid get excited about reading. It’s so awesome to watch. I have to say huge thanks to Caroline who wrote about the book on Facebook and I am so glad I saw it!! (I also have to thank Deb who I’m told actually found the book through her research. Thank you Deb!!). Reading has become fun here and David’s really figuring it out. It’s awesome to be a part of it.

I have a few more todo items to get done tonight and I am off to bed. All in all, great weekend. I got 2 layouts done, finished one book and started another, lots of family time, some alone time, tons of photos, some exercise, and a lot of reading with the boy! Yey for weekends. Already looking forward to the next one.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that David’s enjoying reading so much. As a kid (and adult) reading was my favorite thing in the world so I cannot wait to share that with my little boy.
2. I am grateful for a full and yet relaxing weekend.
3. I am grateful for all the happy mail I am hoping to receive this week.

Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. reading with mommy
2. riding the wagon with daddy
3. daddy.

Last night was one of the worst nights we’ve had in a long long while. Nathaniel woke up around ten and then again midnight and just could not go back to sleep. I tried everything from ignoring him to hugging him to patting his back to whispering but nothing worked. He was just as frustrated as me. Finally around 2:30am, I just picked him up and put him in our bed. He fell asleep nursing and then woke up again around 4am which is when I put him back in his own bed. He cried for a bit but wen’t back to sleep. And woke up at 9am. Of course, David didn’t hear any of this so at 7am he was at our door wondering why we were still sleeping. All of this made today quite a long, difficult day.

Thankfully, Nathaniel spent most of it playing with legos. Putting helmets on little lego men.

Playing with whatever David dropped from the table.

Put them all in a bowl and then flipped it all over. Fun fun. Then put them all back and clapped himself.

When he leaned over in the couch, I noticed the punched butterfly on his foot and made me smile.

The three boys sat together for a while and just played and hugged.

And then Nathaniel played some more legos.

In the meantime, I finished my book and made another layout with the August kit and then we went to get the car (which was being serviced) and I decided I wanted to go to a cafe nearby where I like to sit and eat their grilled goat cheese and pesto sandwiches. Nathaniel came with me and David stayed home to play Wii (and Jake stayed with him.) We’d already done our reading for the day so it was ok to let him play.

When I came back, David finally got his turn for “riding on daddy’s back” and he was really happy.

The kids are finally sleeping and I am 100% exhausted. Not a muscle that’s not aching. Off to find a good book to curl with.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for getting the car fixed. As it turns out we had a flat tire and I had no idea. Actually all 4 tires were bad. I’m glad we got it checked out.
2. I am grateful that my kids (for the most part) get along and like each other. I know this will change so I am enjoying it for now.
3. I am grateful for my one hour of hanging out with just Nathaniel and eating something tasty and being outdoors. It does wonders.

Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. wii day!
2. getting to break apart the bulldozer lego daddy got me
3. daddy.