Our Little Russian Peanut

This summer we went to Myrtle Beach for vacation.  I grew up going to east coast beaches but I now realize that I really prefer the gulf coast.  It’s SO hard to keep yourself and a 4 year old upright with the big waves!

I could lie and say we had a wonderful vacation and that it was so relaxing, but my parents taught me to never lie.  It was, to sum it up in one word, hard.  You see, Andrew has difficulty with change.  PI?  Maybe.  Typical child?  Maybe.  Moving to a new house and 6 days later heading off on vacation just threw him for a loop.  He was down right miserable which in turn made us miserable.  It was a struggle from sun up to sun down.

Don’t get me wrong, we did have some good times, but it won’t be one of my fondest memories! :-)  We actually left a day early because we just needed to get home and get Andrew moved into a schedule and help make him comfortable.  The past few weeks back home have been quite rough but I feel like we’re starting to level out a bit.  Sleep is better, tempers are better and timeouts are less.

The other day, you almost got a post in which you would likely be able to hear me sobbing.  I questioned my ability as a mom and whether or not we’d ever bounce back to our “normal”.  I saw a bitter side of myself that I really didn’t like.  Long, woe-is-me story short, things are getting better.  Andrew’s world has become smaller and tantrums have become less.  Shouldn’t have taken a rocket scientist to figure that out, but I’m not firing on all cylinders right now.  I think the structure that Kindergarten provides is going to be a blessing because the other issue (which is a whole other post in itself) is summer camp and the chaos.  Don’t get me started.

I DID get some pictures of our vacation.  Andrew is actually smiling in one picture! :-)  So why don’t I share those with you?  Without further ado….

Tools in hand!  Ready to go!

 

Boogying, baby!

 

Ice Cream… all over! 

Evil Andrew… “Mommy says not to throw sand… hmmm.. WATCH THIS!”

AND A SMILE!!!!!!!!!  (and quite a cute one, I must say!) 

Have a great weekend!
Becky

P.S.  Alex was on vacation with us as well, but we didn’t see much of him.  Don’t get me started on that! :-) For those of you with teens – I PROMISE you the most challenging time is the summer before college.  Brace yourselves!!!  You’ve been warned!!

In the new house.

Alive (barely).

Functioning (maybe).

Sore (most definitely).

Exhausted (without a doubt).

In lieu of actually having to use my brain, I was going to post some pictures.  Then I realized I haven’t uploaded pictures since early June.  Add another thing to my “to-do” list!  So, how about one picture of my little guy after eating tons and tons of blackberries at Ron and Dinia’s house?

Miss you all and the blog world OH SO MUCH!  Be back soon (especially now that we have internet!  WooHoo!)

Love,
Becky

Tomorrow we close on the new house. Oh, thank goodness because this packing stuff is for the birds. We're keeping our current house and will be renting it out. That being said, I still want everything moved this weekend because we are all procrastinators and might never get it done. Besides, we leave for vacation on the 10th and have contractors coming to the old house to paint and stuff so it NEEDS to be done.

As with any big event, it's always difficult to get anything else done besides the task at hand. The past few weeks, we've really gone above and beyond to ensure our stress level remains at a minimum. The list below is a small sample of the past 6 days.

Packing - CHECK!
Orientation at Auburn - CHECK!
Blown transmission in my car - CHECK!
Ensure the check engine light comes on in another car - CHECK!
Malfunctioned air conditioning in 98 degree weather - CHECK!
Dryer heating element starting to go out (and takes 3 hours to dry one load) - CHECK!

See?? We're doing SO well and our household is completely happy go lucky right now! :-) All smiles, no tension and just lots and lots of love. (I sure hope you read that with sarcasm!)

Thankfully, tomorrow and Saturday should be in the mid-80's so at least we're getting some kind of break!

Hope all is well with everyone!
Becky