A Busy July

It's hard to believe that we're already close to the middle of July! This summer is flying by. What's worse is that all the stores are starting to put out their back-to-school stuff already. It's like they just can't let us teachers enjoy a few more weeks of not thinking about anything school-related! Although I'm looking forward to being back at school with my great co-workers and hopefully an awesome bunch of kids, I'm really not looking forward to summer ending so quickly!

The month of July started off with Tyler and I celebrating our 3 year anniversary. It's amazing how much God has blessed us during these past few years and we just can't wait to see what else is in store for us as we grow in our marriage. The picture below was taken on our anniversary before we left for a lovely picnic, followed by ice cream, and then watching our wedding video (a yearly tradition). Caleb's Auntie Tracy was nice enough to babysit for the evening so that we could enjoy being just the two of us for a few hours!

On the 4th we were lucky enough to have beautiful weather and wonderful friends and family to spend the day with. My mom, dad, sister, and uncle all came to hang out. We were also joined by the Fuhrman gang (Keith, Kerri, Jacob, Cassie, and Bryce) as well as the McCarthy family (Dan, Brandy, and the soon-to-be-here Dash). We had fun hanging out and enjoying the awesome day. Caleb also seemed to have a good time on his first 4th of July. The fireworks didn't seem to bother him at all, and he amazingly slept through all the loud bangs that were going off until well into the late hours of the night. Chesney, on the other hand, did not enjoy the 4th of July. She found comfort by snuggling with Tyler and hiding under the covers. Maybe one day she'll get over her fear of fireworks, thunder, and anything else that makes loud noises! The day after the 4th, Caleb began a new trend of being very difficult about napping. For about a month, he was doing a great job of napping at pretty regular times. He would usually take a nearly 2 hour morning nap followed by a 2 to 3 hour afternoon nap and then a final short nap in the evening. For some reason, he has now decided to completely change his schedule and we can't quite figure out what he's changing it to. He is really struggling to take a decent morning nap and that seems to throw off the rest of the day. The picture below is from July 5, when he absolutely refused to nap after about a half hour of trying to get him to go to sleep in his crib. When we finally decided to try and let him stay up, we put him in his bouncy seat and sure enough he fell asleep in a couple minutes...what a little stinker!
To make matters even worse as far as his schedule goes, we completely threw him off by taking a short vacation to Missouri to visit my Aunt Nancy. My mom, sister, Caleb, and I all drove down for a four day trip to Lake of the Ozarks. Caleb did great in the car on the way there and back...7 hours is a long time to be stuck in a carseat, but he was a champ! While there, he enjoyed spening time with his Great Aunt Nancy and Great Uncle Dave. He really enjoyed all the fun toys that my aunt had for him to play with. Caleb also loved going in the swimming pool. He seemed so relaxed and calm in the water. It'll be so fun next summer when he is able to really enjoy splashing around and playing in the water. Overall, it was a great trip. The only downside to the whole vacation was the fact that he continued to have a really hard time napping. Since I'm so routined and thrive on schedules (and yep, I'll admit that I'm a little too routined at times), it is becoming more difficult to accept Caleb's desire to change everything that a few weeks ago seemed to be going so smoothly...I guess that's just how this whole parenting adventure is going to be. As soon as I think I've got him figured out, he'll just find something to change!

Overall, the past few weeks have really been great. I'm really enjoying the time that I have to be with friends, family, and this awesome little baby. It's hard to believe that summer break is going to be over in a little over a month. Thankfully, we still have one more trip planned before reality sets in. Tyler, Caleb, and I are heading to Carmi for a long weekend and then we are going back the lake again for a week with my parents and sister. It might seem crazy to travel to the same place twice in less than a month...but you just have to go to understand. If you've never been to Lake of the Ozarks, I highly suggest you get there in your lifetime! I've been fortunate enough to travel there all throughout my childhood and now as an adult. Some of my best memories are from the times that I've been at the lake and I can't wait for Caleb to make hundreds of memories there too!