Sometimes I wake up at 5:00 and go back to sleep. Other times, I wake up at 5:00 and think, "Whelp. That's all the sleep you're getting tonight." Today was definitely the latter. But what better time to blog, right? What better time for self-reflection and nostalgia? I already know by the end of this post the sun will be rising, birds will be singing outside of my window, and as I put the finishing punctuation and images on this, I'm going to hear Harper stirring in the next room. What a great way to start the day.
Time for some public journaling then.
I wrote my last post four weeks ago and Aidan has been Kerouacing on the road since then. He spent a week in Chicago with us. A week in LA with various family members. A week at Camp Tuttle, aka Presbyterian sleepaway camp. And then we literally picked him up from camp and kept driving to go camping at Bear Lake. By the time we got to Bear Lake, Aidan said, "Mom, I'm happy to be here, but I'll be really happy when I can sleep in my own bed." Word.
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| Aidan at "The Bean" in Chicago |
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| Chicago skydeck |
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| Man with stroller and child. A subtle rebuke of the building's namesake. |
I want to do more than just caption this photo. Harper and I took Aidan to the airport for his annual summer trip to LA to visit Bonner, my parents, the cousins, and Bonner's parents. Harper was super happy until the second Aidan said goodbye and started to head down the jet bridge to the plane. The second Aidan disappeared it's like she realized he was leaving and wailed "Ai-dan!" at the top of her lungs and started bawling. All these years sending Aidan off on planes and my heartsong finally found a voice.
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| Aidan in pool, courtesy of Bonner in California. |
One thing I love when Aidan is in California, is getting the updates from my mom and dad. I pump them for information because sometimes I think I'm too close and can't see Aidan clearly. I rely on their objective assessment. Is he doing okay? Is he being respectful? Does he play well with his cousins? My favorite story mom told me this trip was when Aidan went to go throw the football around with my dad while (presumably) she watched. My dad complimented Aidan on his spiral and Aidan said, "Thanks, my mom taught me how to throw a football. She said that you taught her, papa." Then he turned to my mom, "And you taught her how to be a great mom." I am going to wrap that story in a bow for the next time I feel like I am failing in a million different ways.
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| Annual drop-off at Camp Tuttle. Aidan has been there 30 seconds and he already looks disheveled. |
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| Campsite at Bear Lake in front of the cabin |
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| Morning at Bear Lake |
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| We're on a boat! |
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| Banana Boat Team 2017 |
My phone got wet at Bear Lake so my pictures are limited, but I will attempt to tell in words what I failed to capture in photos. We had a great time on the annual Fuentes, Cummings, Smith Bear Lake trip. Bear Lake is this magical little town in Northern Utah with a crystalline lake, a lakeside town that runs a tight trade in raspberries, and little cabins and campsites dotting the lake for miles. This year we rented a two bedroom cabin on the lake with a private beach (for $200/night, holla!) and pitched a bunch of tents in the front yard for the kids and teens. Despite one trip to the emergency room (get well, Mike!), it was another perfect trip.
One highlight for me that seems appropriate for the "Aidan" section of this blog post was that it was his first year attempting to get up on a wakeboard, and he succeeded on his second try. I was seriously so proud of him and SO MAD that I didn't catch the moment on film. It actually got Robert talking about buying a boat so we can go more often. Boat ownership seems like a major responsibility/headache but momentarily I caught the bug and fantasized about being up at Bear Lake every weekend in the summer as well.
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| Group picture! |
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| Fuentes/Reinicke crew with the wounded warrior in the center |
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| Cummings Family Photo 2017 |
But back to reality...
Right after we got back, Aidan started EAE Game Design Camp. It's like he was sent home to the mothership. There was one kid in his class that flew out from California for the weeklong camp because he said comparable camps in his hometown cost $2000 while in Utah they are like $350. As always, Utah FTW.
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| Awful, squinty picture. |
Aidan also turned twelve. Stop it, Aidan! On his actual birthday, Mimi, Jude, and Silas camped out in the backyard, woke up and had special birthday breakfast, and then the family went to Lagoon amusement park for the day. Good times were had by all.
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| At breakfast, when we went around the table and said something nice about Aidan, Mimi said that Aidan has "charisma". Posting now to remind her later when they start fighting like cats and dogs per usual. |
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| Family photo at Lagoon. |
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| Aidan, 12. Weird, funny, handsome, exasperating, addicted to video games, picky about food, lovely to his little sister, great reader, surprisingly innocent, and still my whole heart. |
Harper! Harper is 22 months. She's perfectly cute as children so often are at this age. Even her naughtiness is adorable at 22 months, and I constantly have to remind myself, "If it's not cute at 6, it's not cute at 1" so I don't laugh when she does things like climb on the dining room table or feed Stan from her high chair. It's our last three months with her as the baby so I try to soak up as many cuddles and special moments as I can, knowing that my arms and attention will have some competition in the coming months and years.
Harper is still a climber, still a sleeper, and still an eater. She was introduced to her first TV (Sesame Street, Thomas the Train, and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood) at 18 months, and it's shocking how quickly kids become obsessed with devices. I hate it. I try to not even have my phone out when she's around because within seconds she says, "Phone, phone, phone..." and I want to scream. I'm trying so hard to build boundaries around electronics and yet their ubiquity makes it a constant battle. I so admire my sister whose home has no television and kids have no devices whatsoever (or at least until recently now that the oldest are 10 and almost 12). Aidan still doesn't have a phone (he literally says he is the last in his class not to have one) but he is constantly either on or thinking about video games and YouTube. It makes me want to scream. I love that Harper still has a wide variety of interests such as bubbles, climbing, reading, playing in water, making funny faces, helping mom with chores, finger painting, blocks, Stan, Duplos, and make believe. I plan on waging the battle to protect her attention span and imagination until my dying breath but sometimes it feels like I'm raging against the dying of the light.
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| Chubby peek-a-boo |
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| Harper's two favorite snuggle buddies, Desi and Stan |
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| Cooking dinner with mama. |
Trying to give dolly a ride on the rollercoaster.
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| At the farm in Park City |
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| Food is Harper's love language |
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| Turning the corner at church |
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| Drawing with her buddy Eric in the nursery. |
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| Unfortunate photobomb |
Running with her buddy Bode
Harper loves our neighbor Bode who loves across the street. When we see Bode's car pull in the driveway, Harper stands at the window and says, "Bode, Bode, Bode." I have fantasies about them growing up and getting married, but I probably shouldn't get ahead of myself.
Baby Y! What do we know about Baby Y? Well not much, so maybe I'll talk a bit more about the pregnancy at this stage. I'm 27 weeks along with 13 weeks to go. I'm as big as a house and worry I'll never lose the weight despite two previous experiences to the contrary. I have one co-worker I've started avoiding because she always says "You're huge!" whenever I see her. She's right, but I don't need my insecurity validated.
This baby kicks all the time and has given me absolutely no worries so far. I sleep a ridiculous amount but wake up in the middle of the night every night, sometimes for long stretches. I still need to buy a minivan and move the bassinet and glider into my room. Thanks to my mom and dad, I have the double stroller and new forward facing carseat for Harper. I have tons of boy clothes waiting to be washed. Harper constantly pats my stomach and says either "baby" or "belly" depending on her mood.
That's it for today. The sun is up, birds are singing, and Harper is babbling to herself in her crib. Bye!
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