June!

[August Blooms]

I just had a crazy week at work and now I’m off and working at my second job... cleaning up my house. We are going to go on the market on Wednesday and still have a bunch to do. Got a great deal on staging from my sisters friend. 🤞 it sells quickly because DNW to try and keep the place clean for super long.

And where is summer? The weather hasn’t been great here, soccer was canceled last night because the weather was bad. On the plus side if it keeps up I won’t need to buy more summer clothing.

[duskymonkey]

cythe I've been thinking of you and E and logged in to inquire. Glad you've managed to get EI and every little thing you can do absolutely counts! It's tough waiting to understand what/if any issues exist so you can have a plan but until then do everything you can. Big hugs.
danvers what about you? how is DD2? are you done with school yet? School has been out for about 2 weeks now.
CoachTsWife your DS. I die!
August Blooms It's been cold here up till this week. I am totally not liking that we've already had 2 hail storms and DNW to be walking and driving home during one.
Taitai I don't envy you flying that distance with the kidlets - you are certainly brave! Lil fella can't sit still either, watching a show doesn't even keep his attention, not even for 10 mins, he just prefers running around and exploring. DS on the other hand, can absolutely sit and watch for like ever! and also can sit still reading books. Anyways, definitely Water wows! Can you get like a travel sized magnadoodle type thing? Lil fella loves scribbling and between him scribbling/erasing and asking me to draw stuff, it keeps him occupied. Duplos yes! He loves DS' trains too! One thing I remember doing with DS when we traveled at that age was getting cups and sugar packs, stir sticks, snack packs from the flight attendants and DS would play stacking the cups, putting the stirrers in and out of them and shaking the sugar packs. I would get those things first until he's tired of them then I would break out the stuff I packed. I would also pack groups of items in little drawstring bags and he loved pulling the things out of the mystery bags. I have an insane amount of cloth bags I made from fabric scraps...they also keep groups of items organized and DS knows to put them away back into the bags after playing. Also can you get a small kid abacus board? DS loved pushing the colored beads from side to side. My dad got him one and it's slim and small. I also have a magnetic travel tin item which keeps DS occupied for quite a while. link I have a small drawstring bag which I use to keep the pieces in and hand it to him in groups otherwise we;'d have missing pieces.

Finally catching us! We survived all the sickness. Turned out lil fella had Roseola which I am so relieved that it wasn't measles or sumshit like that with all the damn anti-vaxers! Lil fella was sooo clingy and just wanted me. Luckily the worst of it happened over Memorial weekend. I was one of those annoying neurotic moms that called the pedi immediately Tuesday morning after the holiday and scheduled an appt. which I cancelled cos he didn't appear to get worse then fever spiked and I called the next day again and set up another appt. then postponed to the next day and then the next ....oy! It's seems really hard to get appts. at my clinic and I really didn't;t want to have to go to UC. Anyways he's almost back to himself and getting his appetite back. I am tired getting slammed at work in addition to dealing with sick kidlets.

[Taitai]

duskymonkey Thanks so much for all those tips! I’m going to search for an abacus at the Japanese resale shops around here- I bet one will show up! Good idea about revealing in bags too - maybe I’ll see if I can find some. We do have lots of fabric pouches that I use while traveling to keep things organized. Hope that will help....I am praying for him to nap and sleep well...please please!

Glad to hear your DS2 is feeling better. Roseola sucks - been there. Hope you are now on the upswing!

[danvers]

duskymonkey DD2 just got over roseola too and the rash is just now fading a week and half later. The nurse practitioner was very “well she really shouldn’t have gotten this again since she’s already had it once” . No shit Sherlock, that’s why we’re getting all this immune testing done 😑😑😑😑😑 anyway, glad the lil guy is feeling better and FX the rest of your summer is sickness free!

[danvers]

I took the girls up to my parents for a long weekend. H wants to redo the deck this weekend and he didn’t think we would all be much help 🤷‍♀️😂

Tonight my parents, the girls, and I are going to a graduation party for a kid I have babysat for since he was born. My thoughts - 18 years have flown by and I feel super old. And also, I love his parents dearly but no way in hell would I trust a newborn with some 13 yr old. I mean, I guess we all survived but I barely know what I’m doing at 31 so it’s mostly amazing their 3 children made it under my care for all those years 😬😂

[cythe]

Lets talk sunscreen.

When do you slather and apply sunscreen to the littles? Clearly days at the beach ect but what about when theyre just outside playing with regular clothes on?

Since E isnt very mobile (and wont scooch on grass) i just set her up on a big blanket mostly in the shade. She gets some sun on her face and arms (still mostly in pants because carpet burns on ankles) but overall, I dont think its a lot of sun. We are usually outside for less than an hour at a time.

When do you sunscreen?

[curmudgeon]

We sunscreen all the time. Any time we are outside for more than 5 min we slather it on and we apply before daycare and give a can to his teachers to apply at recess. It’s also been in the 90s for weeks here so the sun is intense.

I’ll add that H is super fair and has never and will never tan. The kids got his complexion and a good burn can happen in 15-20 min.

[CoachTsWife]

cythe we use zinc based (physical barrier instead of chemical barrier) sunscreen. I tell my DCP to apply if they're going to be outside 30+ minutes. I like them to get a bit of vitamin D from the sun. They were outside playing in the blow up pool this afternoon so we applied before they went out. But I think it is really child/parent specific, based on many factors.

ETA we're in the midwest. When we're in FL next month we'll use a lot more than we do at home.

[Taitai]

We always apply sunscreen if the kids go outdoors between 9am and 4:30pm, but we live in the tropics and the sun is super intense here, year round. Both of my kids are fair too, which means they burn relatively easy. We use a physical sunscreen as well - my go to is Nuetrogena Baby SPF 50. It does a good job and is water resistant. We apply every 2 hours of sun exposure.

I think it’s good to get some vitamin D, so if we’re out in the early morning or early evening when the sun is not direct, I’ll skip it.

[doodlemommy]

I’m glad you guys got your eval done cythe and it sounds like you’ll be getting lots of help and pretty quickly which is great! I hope E blossoms with all the extra support! Fingers crossed you can start ASAP!

[doodlemommy]

We also use a natural zinc based sunscreen. I apply if we are going to be outside in the sun for more than 20ish minutes. Also depends on how direct the sun is and if it’s cloudy etc. 100% agree that I want them to get some vitamin D since we live in the Canadian prairies with a long winter and not a lot of sun time for at least half the year due to cloud/cold/darkness etc). If we are in the pool or something sunscreen always and reapplied regularly. They also always have floppy sun hats to protect their faces and eyes. My kids also got DH’s pasty Dutch colouring

[doodlemommy]

DH and I are away for my 30th birthday trip (which was back in October). It’s the first time we both left the kids (I went to a conference in November but DH was home with them). They are staying with my parents and pictures indicate they are having a blast. We got massages yesterday and have spent most of our time in the pools/spa area. Lunch and dinner at amazing wineries overlooking the lake. DH has tasted some delicious wines and i took a teeny sip of his favourite. I miss my kids but this place is the dream 😍

[doodlemommy]

PDQ we are here:
Poof

[bootsorhearts1]

cythe unless we are going to the beach or pool I just put a big hat on the little one, it keeps the sun off her face and neck. She doesn’t seem to mind it.

[August Blooms]

doodlemommy That looks amazing! I hope you are enjoying every second!

[Taitai]

doodlemommy What a cool retreat! Enjoy it - sounds like you guys are having an amazing time!!!

[CoachTsWife]

That looks amazing doodlemommy! Enjoy your time away!

DH and I took a trip for my milestone birthday earlier this year. Your milestone < my milestone by 10. You young thing!!

[CoachTsWife]

It's ok. I can be the grandma of the group.

[curmudgeon]

We cleaned the kitchen and put the baby down. DS1 is at vacation bible school so I turned on southern charm and H disappeared to our room to finish his movie...I asked which movie. He’s watching 17 Again. 😂

[August Blooms]

Jun 10, 2019 12:00:12 GMT -6 CoachTsWife said:

It's ok. I can be the grandma of the group.

I may be the runner up grandma. 👵🏻

[August Blooms]

Yesterday was a rough day, sick babies and staging do not go together. Then I found out my grandma passed away. She was 100 and had a long life, we weren’t close and the last 2 times she saw me she didn’t recognize me. She was placed in palliative care last month after a fall they discovered cancer and I was supposed to go visit. I never got around to it so I’m feeling guilty but my sister is in the same position so at least we are feeling guilty together. My aunts are still trying to sort out the service details.

[CoachTsWife]

August Blooms I'm sorry to hear about your grandma. Don't beat yourself up about not seeing her. I'm sort of in a similar situation. My grandpa (102) isn't doing great and I've had a hard time getting down to see him.

Hugs. I'm sorry for your loss.

Also, I hope your babies feel better asap!

[danvers]

August Blooms sorry to hear about your grandma and the sick kiddos.

[danvers]

Literally no excitement here. In some ways it might be the most “boring” of summers but it already seems like it’s going by so fast with just day-in and day-our parenting stuff.


Still going strong on the workout routine I started so that’s something! My body is adjusting and I’m not walking like an old man anymore. I’m really just trying to channel my inner Captain Marvel here 😂

[Taitai]

August Blooms I’m so sorry to hear about your grandma. 100 is an impressive milestone to meet though. I hope your aunts are able to figure out everything quickly. Bummer about the sick kids too.

danvers Way to go on your working out! Your post reminded me that I still need to see Captain Marvel!!

[Taitai]

This is the last week of school for DS1 before summer break, so there’s lots going on. 3 massive, over the top birthday parties in the past 4 days, various school bake sales/fundraisers, and an end of term class party. I’m beat! It’s been lots of fun though...I think the party we attended yesterday felt more like a mini-wedding involving trampolines and costumed Avengers characters 🤣😂

Looking forward to things slowing down next week, so I can have some time to organize for our big USA trip later this month.

[cythe]

You guys, my crunchiness knows no bounds. I just made myself reusable menstrual pads. $9 for the fabric im pleased with myself

[codex320]

Jun 12, 2019 9:42:11 GMT -6 cythe said:

You guys, my crunchiness knows no bounds. I just made myself reusable menstrual pads. $9 for the fabric im pleased with myself

 

cool!

[danvers]

I took DD2 to the park after dropping big sis off at VBS. She knows no fear and wanted every part of climbing on all the structures, big or small. Luckily the park was pretty empty so she was free to do what she wanted and we ended up staying for almost 2 hours playing! I’m hoping she’s so tired she sleeps in past 5:30 tomorrow but with her it’s unlikely.

[danvers]

Taitai all your parties sound exhausting but I do love hearing about them.

cythe I’m not quite that crunchy yet. Small changes here with our reusable grocery bags. I’m looking to get reusable produce bags next - exciting times here 😂