The Every Day Stuff...

Time is flying by and when I realize it's been a month since my last entry, I'm a little sad because there are so many little beautiful things that we've done, that the boys have said that I've already forgotten. I have to accept that I can never capture it all, but I can certainly do better at capturing the everyday.

Right now it's 9pm, and Jack and Javier are on the couch - Jack is just wearing his jeans, head on pillow, blanket on, hands behind his head, watching TV. Add 35 years and it's Javier. Declan is asleep - in his own crib! - which is a wonderful milestone. He was in bed with us for a looooong time, refusing to go in his crib, and I wasn't pushing the issue because his ears were being problematic with fluid behind the eardrums.

So we're wrapping up a wonderful, normal, long weekend. Javier took off last Friday and we took Declan in the morning to get tubes in his ears. It was a long process getting to this point, three visits to the ENT , an audiology test, and Dr. Cambria telling me "These are not normal ears." And then even when I was convinced, we had to get Javier - who's uber-cautious - on board. So he watched the procedure done online and came onboard. Anyways... Friday morning we went in, we arrived at 6:30 for a 7:15am appointment. Javier went in with Dec while they gave him the anesthesia, and then we went to the waiting room. Javier went down for coffee, and in that time, Dr. LeBenger came out to say they were done (and pulled a lot of thick, goopy fluid out of his ears), and Declan woke up for the anesthesia. When I got back to him in the post-op area (I couldn't wait to hold him) a nurse was holding him with several nurses around her, and they all told me how cute he was. I held him and popped the paci back in his mouth, and he was back to sleep, sweet as can be. We were back at our house by 8:15, mom and Jack were still upstairs cuddling in bed and waking up. The rest of Friday was great - we had a pancake breakfast and then took the boys to the zoo. I even got in a rest in the afternoon, and was able to hang out with mom before she headed back home.

Saturday morning we hung out in the backyard, and I love our yard. It's shady so it's always comfortable. While the boys played in the sandbox, Javier and I started our major spring cleaning, getting the patio and back porch in order. (Fast forward to tonight, Monday night, and we're all done! It's a beautiful outdoor living space! Hooray!) I can't really remember much about Saturday (sad, right?) but we did all sit down for breakfast and lunch together (bacon and eggs in the a.m., sandwiches for lunch) and we did go to Wholefoods - a typical Vargas family outing- at some point in the afternoon. Saturday night was a major deal in that I put Declan in his crib at bedtime - he'd been on a crib strike - and although he cried, he eventually went to sleep within 20 minutes. (He did fall asleep sitting up, which I feel awful about, but fall asleep he did.) In the middle of the night he woke up and I brought him back into bed with us, without even thinking about it. We're all weaning ourselves into the new sleep situation.

Sunday - yesterday - and I'm still struggling to remember! - we had a nice slow morning. I went for a pedicure (hallelujah! I can wear flip flops with pride again!) and came home to Javier bbq-ing cheeseburgers, super yum. Then Javier took Jack to the Y to go swimming - Jack can now blow bubbles in the water - and Dec and I hung out at the house (ear plugs need to be made before he can go in the water) and he watched shows while I read. Then both boys took a nap, I read more, and Jav went to the Home Depot in search of some sort of doo-hickey to fix some of the sprinkler heads that we have. Sunday eve we went to the MacMillans for a Memorial Day BBQ, and caught up with all of the neighbors, including the Reilly's (lovely, lovely couple going through the recent loss of the 25 year old son) and the Tregers (odd, odd couple, won't even touch the situation here...). There were a lot of people there, in Jack and Declan's usual stomping ground, and I think Jack was thrown for a loop to see so many people in "his" play area. The boys personalities really shone through. Jack hung back for a few minutes before he would go into the MacMillan yard, and Declan just walked right into the crowd and started mixing it up with the 10 year old boys playing basketball. My sweet, sweet boys. The boys exhausted themselves, came home to watch a show and wind down (Dora and the Penguin) - then into the bath and bed. I patted Declan down - he went into his crib with less resistance - and - he slept through the night in his crib!!!! This is big. I have to be careful not to have too-high expectations for tonight, but let's face it, I'm hoping it's a trend.

Today we had another family pancake breakfast, and then took the boys to the park. Jack is fearless and I can't get over the difference from last fall at the park to now. He can climb anything, and slides that I thought looked scary last summer seem normal now. What a worry wart I was! Jack and Jav shot a few hoops while Declan fell asleep. But a memory of each boy: Jack climbing up the "rope pyramid" all by himself, and Declan wearing a baseball cap backwards while he toddled into the mulch. Declicious. Then a nice long drive around town while Declan slept, and Jack was just a prince looking out the window, commenting on the trees and cars and colored flowers. Home for a brief rest and lunch together, and then off to do errands - Best Buy and Toys R Us. Declan slept in my arms at Best Buy (his days are numbered, he's getting heavy!) while Jack ran around, up and down the aisles, thrilled with the number of buttons to push - particularly the alarm clock area. He's really good at staying near us (mostly) and will follow us when we yell "Jack Jack! This way!" and he'll pretty much skid to a stop, turn 180 degrees, and follow us. Toys R Us, I ran in to buy the supplies for a new ball pit. So exciting! While Jack napped, we finished up our spring clean up outside and I feel like we have a gorgeous outdoor living space now. We had a delicious lamb bbq for dinner, and we ate on our newly scrubbed screened in porch, while the boys played at our feet in their new ball pit. Awesome.

Now Dec is asleep in his crib (I can't say hooray enough about this...), Javier has Jack up in the shower, and I'm getting ready to wind down for the night. Tempted to look at vacation houses online, but think I'll save that for tomorrow.