June 2013 – Our Family Adventure

Father’s Day 2013

This weekend we were all recovering from a week of no sleep. On top of that the weather has been going up and down so fast that everyone has sinus headaches and runny noses. Michigan. As I mentioned previously Noomi was up last Friday, then Ajax was up every night for a week. That meant no sleep for Dave, Ajax, and I. It hit us all pretty hard as none of us are used to getting up anymore and I had forgotten how rough that is on the body.

On Saturday morning I got up super early and went into the office for a few hours and Dave wrangled the kiddos who also decided to get up super early as well. When I got home everyone was pretty beat so we did nothing. I mean nothing. It was wonderful. We played with the kiddos, Ajax showed us his favorite tractor video – which is really a tractor video game/simulator – it’s a guy playing this video game driving around a tractor harvesting wheat and talking about farm equipment. Ajax loves it and would watch it for HOURS if we let him. The only time he gets the Kindle or watches TV is on the weekends, so hey, if he wants to watch tractor videos games, by all means go ahead. Noomi crawled around nonstop exploring and pushing all the books back on the shelf. She is also pulling herself up on everything, but isn’t too interested in holding onto your hands and walking around (which Ajax loved).

We did an easy dinner of hot dogs and then pulled out the camping grill and made up some samores (?). Ajax was so excited and got a kick out of setting his marshmallow on fire. Noomi was excited to eat a graham cracker and Dave gave her a tiny bite of a marshmallow. Afterwards, Dave and Ajax camped out in the yard! Ajax was so excited he could hardly calm down, plus he was also a little afraid. Around 3 am, it started pouring rain, and the tent leaked pretty bad so Dave had to wake Ajax up and come in the house.

On Sunday we bummed around and then around noon headed to my parent’s house for an early dinner. My aunt Liz and uncle Tom and cousin Ryan were also out, which was nice. Ajax played down at the barn for a bit and Noomi was happy being spoiled. After dinner we got on the road to beat the MIS race fans and got home around 6:30 pm.

This morning the exhaustion finally hit Ajax and Dave ended up staying home with him as the poor little guy was tuckered out. I was worried that if he didn’t stay home to rest today he would be out of commission for a week and neither of us could afford that. He is now doing much better and looking forward to school tomorrow.

Noomi loves trying on shoes lately!

Getting older and a later bedtime

Dave and I decided to try an 8 pm bedtime for Ajax and Noomi. We’ve tried doing this in the past, but its never seemed to work out and the kids never grew accustomed it. This came about in part because we want to spend more time with our children in the evenings after dinner (as we don’t get home till 6 pm) and because it’s summer and Ajax has been reminding us that he’s older now.

It seems that for the last few weeks right as we finish up dinner little kids congregate in our cul-de-sac. There are four little kids all around Ajax’s age. So of course after dinner one of us takes Ajax out to play with his friends. Ajax and the other kids play so well together. They ride bikes, race around, and follow each other. The other parents are quite pleasant as well. Last night when I was inside with Noomi, I watched Dave standing outside with two other dads talking, and no one seemed to be watching the kids zipping all over the place.

This later bedtime, however, is having a toll on Ajax. He’s just not used to being up that late (one night he wasn’t down till 9 pm), and is of course up at 6 am sharp. He’s been a bit of a handful because of the over-tiredness. At school his teachers have commented how wonderful he’s been. He’s been listening well, sleeping/eating, and always tells us about the books they read. His favorite right now is – Teacher from the Black Lagoon. He also tells me how he and his friends play “chaser” at school. After he explained it to me, I told him, Ajax that’s called “tag” I used to play that when I was a little girl. He honestly looked at me like I was crazy. No mom, chaser. He also told me that he still wants to be a dragon trainer when he grows up, so that should be fun.

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On Friday, Noomi scraped her thumb at school. Her thumb-sucking thumb. She is almost 11 months old and that is her way to settle herself and put herself to sleep. Therefore, last night was pretty rough. She went down ok, but a little after 3 am was up and crying and distraught over not being able to suck her thumb. She was up till 5 am, when Dave finally took her downstairs and let her sleep on his chest. He said that she was up at 5;55 am for the day. When she got up she immediately said – UP! And this morning she has used several new words – Up, bear, and ball. She can also say – lamp, grandpa, Ajax, hi. But her favorite words are still – dada and there. And she’ll then proceed to point. Anyways, after telling Dave that she was ready to get up, she ate a ton and then proceeded to pull herself up on one of Ajax’s large tractors. She then pushed the tractor forward and walked behind it. Dave said she did that several more times.

Ajax asked if we could have a “fancy” lunch today. So we went outside and picked some flowers and then lite a candle. It was pretty fancy.

My kiddos

Tonight after reading Ajax a bedtime story I asked what his favorite part of the weekend was. He said it was eating a big cookie with frosting. I said, really? It wasn’t swimming or meeting a new friend and riding bikes or playing with your cousins at the party? He held fast the cookie was awesome, but that swimming was his favorite thing.

Like all summer weekends this was a busy and fun one.

This past week Noomi was under the weather. On Tuesday night and Wednesday she carried a fever of 103. The fever broke on Thursday, which left a grumpy and uncomfortable baby, with little appetite. I stayed home with her a Thursday and she helped me work on a brief for an August trial and on Friday my dad was nice enough to come down and stay with her (thank you grandpa!).

Saturday we headed into Dearborn for my cousin’s graduation party. The weather cooperated and it was a wonderful party. There was a pool and while I wasn’t going in some of my cousins went swimming and Ajax insisted on swimming as well. He did great and even swam solo with the us of an intertube. He was so proud of himself. Noomi still wasn’t feeling great and insisted on being held for almost the whole party. She was not in a mood to play and when Jonah (a baby cousin her age) touched her she let out the loudest cry. After swimming Ajax ran and played nonstop and ate the biggest cookie with pink frosting.

On Sunday Ajax and I did some running around. We picked up a baby gate and then went to the lumber yard to get some boards to install the gate at the bottom of the stairs. I tried to teach Ajax how to check a board to be sure it was straight and why that was important. He mostly listened, but he was too excited to help carry the board around the store to pay much attention. When we got home we met a little girl, Ajax’s age, riding her bike in the cul-de-sac, so we got Ajax’s bike and he made a new neighborhood friend. It was too cute.

Noomi has been eating all sorts of new things- pears, hamburger (she loves burgers), chips, potatoes, beans, green beans. She is generally a very good eater and amazes us with how much she eats. Ajax was and is, a good eater as well, though lately he’s been griping a lot about what’s for dinner (an age old complain of parents of course, lol). If it’s not pancakes, pizza, or mac and cheese, I’m bound to hear some complaining.