Sully man...you are a riot!!

You say some of the funniest things. And even use big words like unacceptable and instincts. Today you said your instincts were telling you to be mad at your brother. You love to reason everything you do. You talk a ton and are pretty bossy. We have lots of interesting conversations about these topics. Like why I am the boss and you are not. Why I am just being a mom and my job is to help you to do the right thing and take care of you, but you think I am just bossing you around all the time. We talked yesterday, I think, when you were in time out for hitting your brother, about how hard it is to control your emotions. You even said at some point over the last few weeks that you don't know how to control these big feelings.
Here are some things that Sully likes these days:

• Loves to dance and sing songs
• favorite songs are Downtown by Mackelmore, and Oak tree - forget by who - rap group
• You do love Raffi songs too and any song about dinosaurs and the Grinch song
• You love books, dinosaurs, hot wheels, power rangers and puzzles.
• you love to hear and tell stories that usually involve all the things I just listed above.
• You love to say things to us like: Well sorry, I am going to do this anyways. Or If you don't do this then I will....(this can be filled in by any number of violent options- attack you, punch you in the stomach, hit you in the face) Such violence! We have been talking a lot about how to be nicer when you don't get what you want. 
• You love to fight!!! or wrestle with any of us. 
• You have a major sweet tooth
• You like to be involved in everything I am doing

And for Rogan....well this amazing 7 year just lost his first tooth on 1/8/16. It fell out while he was brushing his teeth at his grandma's house and fell down the drain! Such a bummer but tooth fairy still gave you some money. I was sad though that I missed it all since you had stayed and Grandma's house that night. 

Here are things that Rogan is into these days:

• Green apples - you eat like 2 a day
• Pokemon cards
• riding your awesome new bike that you got from Grandpa Alan
• playing u tube videos - mainly videos about pranking people.
• minecraft some
• you love your school teacher Ms. Martin and have gotten a gold start for behavior every single day this school year so far (except for one day when you got a green star for just being good and that was the last day right before your christmas break)
• Hanging out with the boys in the neighborhood doing all kinds of things - shooting nerf guns, riding bikes, going from one house to the next and spending hours upon hours outside!!!

Such awesome boys!

Sully!!! We are having our own little weekend together. Zack and Rogan went to Delaware for the weekend. We had a nice relaxing morning. We played with your airplanes and men. As you say - "man, where is my man?" You love playing make believe now and it is fun to watch your eyes light up when I have your toys do something that mirrors our life in some way - like going to the park or going to school. After lunch we went to stoney point - the outside mall. I took you to the water play area. It was funny - it took you a long time to warm up to the idea of it. I'm guessing if your brother was there you would have followed his lead and ended up in the water right off the bat. You wouldn't go in, so we walked around for awhile and then got some dinner at chipolte. That place is so good - I hardly ever go there, but will go back more often now! Although you didn't really dig it - except for the chips and guacamole. After that you said you wanted to go home so I started back to the car. You then changed your mind and said "I don't want it" (you say that quite often when you don't want to do something). We headed back and you ended up playing in the water for over an hour. We topped it off with some ice cream and we had a blast. You are so so fun to watch and so charming. I could listen to your raspy laugh all day!

Here we are at the beach apartment. It has been a rainy few days. Rogan actually came down here with Pop Pop and Grandma on Monday all by himself. We had to force him to go but then once he went he was totally fine - even slept in the lockout bedroom all by himself.

Yesterday we did pool time, napped, ate some good food and made lots of bubbles on the porch. Today we did even more pool time and then went out to eat. Now we are back and our plan is to color some Easter eggs for tomorrow!!!

We leave tomorrow but hopefully the weather will be half way decent and we can stop by the beach for a little walk before we head home.

Poor Second Child

 I Really... really really feel bad that I am hardly recording any of these precious moments I am having with Sully. I am vowing to be better and to do better. Even if it is just one sentence once a month.

I am constantly reminding myself that he is my last baby. That thought fills me with longing for another one, but then I also feel that I can't handle that amount of stress. Sully though is an amazing child. He is literally filled with sunshine - most of the time. Sometimes he has some stormy clouds flow on by, but for the most part he is an absolute joy. I could watch him All DAY LONG!

This boy has the best giggle and I love that his world usually revolves around Ro Ro. He just wants to do everything that Ro is doing. And Ro is amazing with him. He is loving, patient and really enjoys his company. Don't get me wrong - they annoy each other too. Easily goes both ways, but for the most part they harmonize quite well.

Orginally written just after September 16, 2013
Onto Fall. I feel like we rolled in pretty quickly to Fall. Rogan has been in Kindergarten for over a month now. He was not a fan of it at first - at all! It took awhile. Transitions are always hard for him. They are really hard for me too! I didn't realize how hard Kindergarten would be for me. Not only has it been emotional just from the standpoint that he is already old enough to go to school but the running around to drop off and pick up the kids has made life pretty hectic. And when you add soccer into that mix...man...it gets real crazy and I feel like I am at the gas pump every two days.

Let me first comment on how this has been a particularly sad week for me. We lost Sally on Monday. We had to put her down. She started to have seizures on Sunday and they just didn't stop coming. She spent the day at VEC. I had it in my head that she would be okay though. I remember hearing the vet say that she was having some serious seizures and that she may have a brain tumor, but at some point she said that she could live a fairly normal life with medication. I am all mixed up as to when she said that part exactly, but I just kind of glued on to that.

It is Summer Solstice today and oddly the weather has been really mild so far. We have been getting a ton of rain but the temperatures have been really reasonable for this time of year.

 The lastest news is that Z and I decided it was time to call Sully's first word. He has been saying a lot of things that sound like words but we were never quite sure. Grandma said he said "Sully" but she is the only one that heard it. Rogan said he said "brother". Sometimes it sounds like he is saying "what's that?" or "All done" and course he has been saying "dada.. da" forever. But his favorite word to say over and over again  is BALL and even though the L sounds are not rolling off his tongue very well we all know exactly what he is saying. He loves balls and he is really good at catching and throwing. Seriously, he is like a baby pro ball player already. It is absolutely adorable how he says it over and over again and slowly getting a grasp on pronouncing L sounds.
I was also told that he took 5 steps at daycare this week. And I missed it! I have seen him take a step and then fall but 5 consecutive steps in a row is pretty awesome!  He has moved up to the Walker room with Gina and I guess he is trying to keep up with the bigger kids. So the world will become very different for me and him soon - very soon!
Oh my Sully...how I love thee! He is such a happy happy kid and always has a big smile on his face. He has the best laugh and he loves to be held and loved. I can't get enough of him!!!

my lord...I can't keep up. Loving being a mama but there are not enough hours in the day. Short post...
Ro is up in Delaware with his grandparents. This was a big deal for him to decide to go and I am so proud of him. Since just before Sul was born he has refused to stay even one night at their house. We have been trying to get him to so he can start to go on longer trips with his g-parents - like to the beach. After some conversation about how we would like him to go and that he needs to try it so he doesn't always have fear around it he just said ok..I'll do it! And he stood strong. Even this morning he felt some twinges of anxiety but he moved on from it quickly!

And as for Sul...he is a happy fat little baby. He loves to eat and it is so much fun feeding him!