Like an idiot, I did it.

Man we had a FABULOUS 4th of July! Some dear friends invited us to spend the day with them at their lake house – which is SO cool! It’s a real log cabin…that they built! As in, as a family, they built their lake house. Too cool!

So we spent the day floating on a giant raft and on their boat tubing and skiing. It’s been a year since I last skied. T3 was only about 10 weeks old and for some reason I thought I was invincible and that water skiing would be a good move…anyway…I took a pretty hard fall (ok, it was the worst fall I’d ever taken and I’ve skied a decent bit) and it left me a little hesitant about going again. Thank goodness for a little teasing from our friends. That was all it took to get me out there again – and it was a GREAT time! I’m still hurting from it! I can totally tell my body isn’t as young as it used to be! MW tubed with T. Evidently they fell off once, as MW was thrilled about the fact that her life preserver just “bounced” her up! I missed their tubing experience, as I was back at the cabin with T3, who was supposed to go to sleep! But he never did!

It was such a fun day! I grew up going to my grandparents’ lake house every fourth of July. My grandfather would tear up as he read an article/quote from President Reagan. We’d make homemade peach ice cream, which was always more like peach soup! But it was SoOOooo good! We’d set off fireworks from the dock and we’d always compete with the neighbors. Good memories. All that to say, being at the lake with friends for the fourth was really special!

Regarding the title for this post…I took the dive. I’m an artist…sort of. So…surely I could “get my creativity on” and do a little sculpting…a little hair sculpting…with scissors. Yep, I cut T3’s hair! Um yeah. Like, he has a bowl cut. Do you know how crazy I was to attempt that? It turned out ok. T is happy with it. Thank goodness. Yesterday afternoon I mentioned to T that I might try to cut it. He said, “No. Just call Shauna and set up an appointment.” Yikes! The earliest appointment I could make would be in a few weeks…so I did lit. Like an idiot, I did it. He was in his high chair. I gave him a comb to play with. That lasted about thirty seconds…which was long enough to comb his hair with my spare comb. Finally I gave him frozen strawberries. I started in the front and got the hair out of his eyes and all over the kitchen, including his frozen strawberry. Poor little guy. I kept having to rinse the hair off the strawberry to keep him from gagging. I got his hair cut all the way around the front. Hair was EVERYWHERE! So I carried T3 outside to strip him down and then ran with him to the tub, where I rinsed him and gave him more toys to occupy his busy little self. I would get the back of his hair combed and be about to make the cut and he’d turn his head or dump water on it, etc. It was a tedious process. By the end, I’d exiled MW to the potty with a threat of what would happen if she got off before I finished. However, I do think it was less stressful than taking him to have it cut. It looks pretty good as long as it’s combed perfectly in place. The way Shauna does it, it doesn’t have to be combed and it still looks good! Oh well….his hair grows fast and I’ll let Shauna do it next time!

This afternoon I caved while in Target. I had the kids in the cart and we passed by the rain boots. T3 nearly jumped out of his seat for a pair of camo rain boots. They are the smallest size Target carries and they’re still too large, but he sure loved them. He put them on and tried to walk in them, which was hilarious in and of itself! I love to watch kids the first time they walk in boots. It’s like they can’t figure out how to bend their ankles and they walk all “stompy.” So I let him hold them while he rode in the buggy. He LOVED them! And, well, I caved. I bought them for him. How is it, that I went to check out bathing suits and came out with camo boots for my 15 month old? Oh well.

Right after he was born I bought him a felt cowboy hat. I LOVE it! There’s something about boys in camo and cowboy gear! I could eat ‘em up! So anyway, the hat was HUGE, but it fits perfect now! He wore it all night! Ooooh, that sight is one I’ll always remember…T3 running through the house in nothing but his diaper and cowboy hat…shrieking in glee!

I called my MIL tonight and while we were ending our conversation I was moving MW toward bed. She wanted to say hi to JJ, so I put the phone on speaker. MW went into this long thing about how she was going to work and how she had to pack, etc., etc., etc. While she’s talking, she’s packing play food into T3’s little tykes plastic tool box, and she’s wearing Grandma’s robe tucked into a headband, which she’s wearing as a belt. So…she’s also stuffing items inside the robe…saving them for later. In the middle of her conversation, which was mostly one sided (MW sided, that is), she tells JJ “well my Mom is annoying me.” Ok, I almost fell over laughing! I’m so thankful for my MIL setting her straight. I just stifled my laughter and turned my face. I think she used the word “annoy” because I made her sit in a chair for five minutes tonight because she was “annoying” T3. He would try to leave a room and she’d block him. He’d try to push the broom, and she’d run over and stand on it. I finally had had enough when he was playing happily with his tractor and she swiped it from him. Hmm…maybe she’s jealous I bought him shoes and not her…maybe she’s crying out for attention…maybe she’s four and a selfish sinner like me! God give me wisdom!

Ok, it’s after midnight and I still have a few things to tend to. I stayed up way too late last night reading a friend’s blog…morning came early. MW crawled into bed with us shortly after 7am (and when you’ve been up until 2am, 7am is early). She was quiet for a little while and then she started playing the “lift Mom’s eye lids and see what she does” game. What comes around goes around, huh? (I did that to my mom!) A few minutes before 8am, T3 started fussing. I sent MW in with a snack and told her to babysit T3. That means MW goes in, takes out every toy and book T3 owns and puts them all in the crib with him and gives him some snacks…all in all, I got a disaster of a messy room for 13 more minutes of sleep. Was it worth it? Oh, yes it was! And sweet T had made coffee, which was waiting for me when I walked in the kitchen! Thanks, babe!