"This Time"

Always together. 

Just to clarify, being a mom is the absolute greatest part of my life. I would not trade these 2 boys for anything and,even in their crazy moments, they have not only stolen my heart, but have created entire new feelings that did not exist before I held them for the first time. 

With that being said...I am just not entirely sure I am going to miss "This Time". 

If you are the parent of a child under the age of 5 then you hear this phrase daily,

 "Enjoy this time." OR "You can't get this time back."

Am I the only one who doesn't want it back? 

There is just something* exhausting about having little people dependent on you for their every move. The demands, the neediness, the tantrums, the lack of logic, the stickiness, the cursed pumping for the little one, the lack of sleep, the confusion over "what the heck just happened and why is everyone crying?"

*9 million somethings 

I am only saying this to remind future Melissa that the stage you are in now is ok. Yes, they were snuggly and let you hug them in public and played the "Guess how much I love you" game with you., 

But, if you slept an uninterrupted 6 hours, got to go down the stairs in whatever order you want, drank hot (or even lukewarm) coffee, went to the bathroom by yourself, etc. then you are living the dream. Go give your older kids a hug because I am assuming you probably still love them just as much. And, maybe take them to baseball camp or Dollywood or something because all of those hours you worked allowed to you be in whatever job are in now so you can pay for those expensive little things. You're welcome. 

Future Melissa, don't worry that you didn't appreciate the time when they were little or that you worked too much or checked your phone when you were playing with them or made them cry it out. I promise you loved them with every fiber of your being. You DID enjoy "this time" by snuggling, reading in bed with them, getting just as excited about picking them up as they were about seeing you, buying them random surprises, pumping in your car(Sorry, TMI), never sleeping, literally forgetting how to turn on the TV except for them and hugging them at every opportunity. 

And, just in case you are feeling wistful and wishing for "This time",  here are a few accurate snapshots of what you have left behind...

He was mad because McDonald's doesn't sell biscuits at lunch. 

He was angry because his tomato got in his ketchup. (I realize the irony there)

He was pissed because he wanted a napkin, but refused to say please. 

He was on the edge because he didn't like the way the bite looked in his banana. 

Cousins

We love, love some family around here. For your reading pleasure, I have crammed 3 separate family visits in this post. First up-Visit to Uncle Zack's house. I have always loved my brother and sister in law, but once I had kids I realized how lucky I am.They are the people you want to be related to your kids. They spoil them rotten and actually enjoy hanging out with them...I think they might like my children more than I do at times. Amanda had all of the baby gear ready (swing, etc.) and lots of stuff for Anderson to play with including some of Kyler & Noah's old toys and some brand new stuff for him, too!

Fireworks & lacrosse in the backyard.

An entire package of oreos as a snack and a little couch jumping. Shout out to Izzy!

My oldest nephew, Kyler, is so funny. He wore those boots to dinner. It was a nice fashion statement with the car seat that I made him carry. I cannot believe Kyler is going to be a senior next year! What on earth. It is truly crazy. 

Getting some loving from Aunt Manda.

I am going to hire Kyler & Noah as his personal lacrosse coaches if he ever starts playing.

Fuzzy pic, but they bought him this Batman scooter as a gift, which I thought was awesome. Then, Amanda said, "Since it it supposed to rain, we thought he could ride it around the house." I TOLD YOU!

First experience at Hibachi. His obsession with fire made this a fun outing for him, I think. I love how intently he is staring.

He literally stalked Noah the entire weekend. It was amazing for me because Noah is awesome and played with him. Always a lacrosse stick in the pic...

Shooting some hoops with Dad.

They are baby whisperers, too.

A trip to see Monsters University! This was Anderson's second attempt and he did much better this time around as the first try resulted in Brandon leaving with him in the middle of the movie because he did not want to sit still. (shocker...)

Visit #2 was time with Lily! How smart is this girl? I love her little handwriting.

My parents are ridiculous and amazing and plan all kinds of things for our kids to do. They seem to enjoy these little people, too...

Max loved Lily! I keep forgetting that they are cousins, too. I associate Lily with Anderson, not Max. I can't wait to see how their relationships evolve as they grow up.

These 2 fights a.l.o.t., but they sure love each other, too.

You have to watch Lily in the dance contest! Part of the reason Lily came to visit was to attend cheer camp at Farragut. This is the same camp that I was in charge of for 6 years as the cheer sponsor and it was so surreal to see Lily participating! She did awesome; I was so proud of her!

As a part of the Lilly & Aunt Sissa time that I try to force on her, I took her to have her hair and makeup done before the "performance." (It was free, so I am not a Dance Aunt or anything)

Last year in anticipation of her going to cheer camp this year, I ordered her a cheer uniform. The real cheerleaders wore the same one on uniform night, so she was totally official!! I love, love the girls who were her "teachers" and am so happy that she got to be a part of something that was such a part of me. 

While I was spending time with Lily, Nicole hung out with Anderson and played really awesome games like, space monster. She totally got the worse end of the kid swap. 

 Visit #3 was to Nicole's to see Aunt Paula, Shannon, Jon, Jacob & Morgan!
*We grew up with our cousins (Shannon & her brothers) literally next door to us, (as in, the house next to us, not down the street), so we spent a lot of our childhood with them. It is always so great to spend time with Aunt Paula & everyone and I just wish we could do it more than once a year!

 Max loves his Aunt Paula! She is the Aunt of the infantsee fame, too. Without her telling me to take Anderson to the optometrist for a free visit when he was 8 months old, I don't think we would have found his cataract until too late. Shudder.

 Love this booty.

 In true aunt form, Aunt Paula brought lots of gifts, including a Superman outfit!

 The sisters.

 Lots of jeep riding, rocket shooting, swimming in the lake, playing on the water slide, shooting fireworks and, of course, eating!

The girls on the tube. 

*Note: a few minutes later, I was still taking pictures and did not realize the frantic waving from Shannon because Morgan wanted to get off. Poor Morgan was crying and I was taking pictures and waving, totally oblivious to the world, which surprises no one.

 These 2 make me laugh so much. They are hilarious and such great friends/cousins and everything that is right about our family's coed cousin combination that we have going strong for 6 sets so far!

 Love this fearless boy.

Biology teacher: "So, the children of identical twins share genetic material and therefore will look alike."

Real life: "Except, not at all."

Lucky, lucky us to have such a wonderful family!!

Thanks and imum!

Thank you to everyone who left a comment on my last EYE post. I was reading them and am really touched at all of the people we have on our journey. :)

To the imum who left a comment, WELCOME to the club! It is not the most glamorous club in the world, but we love and support each other, even though we have never met. I think we definitely were missing a European counterpart! If you are interested in chatting EYEs, please email me-melissaglover8@hotmail.com.

Also, I know how you feel about thinking this is your fault. It is not, I promise. I, also, blamed myself for the cataract because it happened while I was pregnant. Had a little breakdown on my bedroom floor with my sister and husband trying to convince me I was wrong. They were right. The cause is random and unknown and had nothing to with anything I did. BUT...on the same page, all of those sweet, precious, perfect things your baby does...yep, those are all you! Hang in there, it will be ok.

the last few days

I am going back to work tomorrow from maternity leave/summer. Yikes.

I remember making Anderson's dentist appt. for July back in January and intentionally making it for later in the day because I was worried about getting 2 little people out of the house. Turns out, it is way easier than I predicted. Don't get me wrong, I am rushing all of the time and definitely not super on top of things, but due to necessity, taking care of 2 is not nearly as bad as I expected. (I know that is all going to change tomorrow, but, for now, I am doing ok.)  I have actually been into work a few times over the last month, so this is going to be a pretty smooth transition, I think. I will miss spending every day with them, but I will enjoy being able to use the bathroom by myself. 

 My maternity leave/summer has been pretty awesome. I look back at how much I snuggled Max & I know, without a doubt, that I took full advantage of my first weeks with him. I look back at how much fun Anderson & I have had and I can put a pretty big check mark next to summer fun. Of course there are some things that I would change, mostly just to have more time with them, but I know that they are going off to an even better way to spend their days at Noni's!

Possibly my favorite pic of the 2 of them. I love both of their expressions and how Max is sort of falling into the crack of the cushions. It is rough being the second born. GG bought them these great matching shirts!

We have done quite a bit of swimming in our neighborhood pool and I continue to be amazed at the fact that Anderson actually jumps in and has fun/"swims" on his own! I really love some* parts that come with him as he gets older. (*some...)

Max has also enjoyed the pool. He did not actually stay asleep like that, but it was a nice place to hold him while I put Anderson's goggles on.

We found an awesome open gym for these boys and their crazy energy at Tataru's!

Portrait Innovations is going to be calling me any day to ask for the rights to these awesome shots. What's funny is this is exactly what I wanted-both of them in one picture. I had an $8 for about a zillion pictures coupon and wanted official proof that they both exist, so I considered the outing a success!

I love this kid who I found asleep in his nest of book, trucks, stuffed animals and clutching a little flashlight that GG gave him. ( I really love him a lot when he is asleep.)

We went to Dollywood with Saasha and Sunny!! It was fun because
 A. it is awesome, B.my mom is awesome, C. Sunny is stinking adorable, D. I love day long activities.

Max rocked his first trip! He did not sleep that much (at all) in the stroller, so he did a lot of bjorning and

a lot of hanging with his Noni! It was HOT and this boy is such a trooper!

Another set of cute little shirts from GG!

A visit to Bop at IHOP for breakfast! Sometimes I see the balloon art that he makes and I seriously crack up because if this is not the most random thing in the world, I don't know what is. The man is seriously talented, though.

 We celebrated GG's birthday! (in yet another shirt from her!)

All.day.long.

 Every day Anderson goes to school, all of the little kids gather around Mas & Anderson closes him up, so they can't see. I would like to thing it was protective, but I think it is more selfish.

Perhaps one major thing I will remember from this summer is the RAIN!! We are almost 20 inches over for rainfall already for the year because all it ever does is RAIN. There was so much rain last weekend that Anderson's sandbox doubled as a wading pool.

 Glow stick bath! (the $1 section at Target is my best friend)

Such.a.boy. cape shirt, sword at the ready, surrounded by cars, sort of a confused look on his face...