Beating the Heat

In case you haven't heard, it's been hot here. And not just we live in Pacific Northwest and whine whenever the mercury rises above 80 degrees hot...but honest to goodness record breaking you can fry eggs on the pavement or roast marshmallows over my smoldering skin hot.

See? That was Thursday. It was even hotter earlier in the week.

Aaaaaaaand, as the mother of an indelibly adorable and heat sensitive small creature...



Yes, yes that's my creature....I made it my mission this week to STAY COOL (much like Seth is doing in the picture above...what with his cool dude glasses and all).

How did we do it? Well here's a partial list of our cool seeking adventures....basically the ones I took pictures of. Please forgive the quality of these pictures: they are from my phone.

Our regular camera had a rather unfortunate encounter with a toddler....and such toddler will remain nameless, as will the mother who handed him the camera allowed said toddler to play with the camera. But that's another story.

Costco

Ah, Costco........Jesus knew what he was doing when He created Costco. What better place to spend a HOT Summer morning? Seth and I spent a couple of hours at Costco the other day....just sampling. Sampling the juice, the burritos, the pizza and teriyaki veggies...not to mention we took several books and a recliner for a lengthy test drive. It was lovely....and cool.

Birdbath

Seth loves nothing more than to push a chair up to the kitchen sink and play with the running water, cups, (clean) sponges and anything else he can sneak into the sink when Mama turns her head. This week we took it a step further. We filled up the sink with cool water and stuck him in it. He loved it. In fact he loved it so much that since then, he's been seen in the kitchen, pointing at the sink, saying "Beebah Beebah."

Commandeering a Friend's Pool

My parents have a pair of fabulous friends....J & M....we've known them for over 20 years and I love them like family. And I'm not just saying that because they let us come over and swim in their pool a few times this week. I swear.

Staying Up Past Bedtime and Rolling Around in Freshly Watered Grass



Ummmm, yeah....have a I mentioned that it's hot here? It may be going to our heads.

Hanging out in the Basement and Playing Dress Up

Our basement is approximately half a million degrees cooler than the main level of our house. Which honestly, is not saying much considering it has been close to two million degrees Farenheit upstairs all week. Nevertheless we hang out downstairs when we have to be home. And wear Daddy's clothes, because it's better than prancing around in Mama's high heels. Not that my child would ever do such a thing...Sigh.

Jungle Playland

Jungle Playland has been added to my list of "favorite places on the planet." Seriously. It's clean, air conditioned and crazy fun! Hours of climbing, sliding and ball pit fun. All in stocking feet and for a great price. A very cool adventure indeed.

I am somewhat sad that we don't have photographic evidence of our other cool seeking adventures. But do I savor the memories --- of the library, the kiddie pool, taking cool showers then chillin' under the ceiling fan reading our favorite stories, lingering at favorite restaurants, taking naps in other people's houses, spending time with Gram Gram and Papa and driving nowhere in particular. We spent many hours enjoying the sweet sweet relief of water, shade and air conditioning. Despite Because of the heat, it has been a wonderful week.

**Gulp** Did I just say that?

Then and Now

I stumbled across this blog the other day and I have to share, this woman has put my heart into words. You can read her post here. What follows are my thoughts after pondering her words...

I know my baby (little man!) has to grow up and I honestly delight in every milestone, or even pebble of development that he achieves. I absolutely adore the person he is becoming. He has a fantastic sense of humor, a helpful and playful nature, he is sweet and tender and adventurous and rough and tumble and loves to explore. But when I hold him lately, I want to keep him there. I want to keep him just barely 20 months old...sitting in my lap, giving me slobbery kisses, his sweet tiny fingers grabbing my own, asking me to name each object in his picture books, begging for one more story, one more game of piggies. I want to keep his body pressed up against my chest to feel our hearts beating together, to keep our breath close together......for he is my soul, my most precious treasure and there is nothing that brings more peace to my whacked out little heart and mind than spending 30 seconds with his little body pressed against mine.

Alas, I cannot keep him small, nor would I ever truly want to; children are made to grow. The bittersweet truth of parenthood is our children will always be changing. With all my heart I want to take advantage of that truth...I want not to waste a second of my life with Seth, for who he is today is not who he will be tomorrow.

I pray that I will embrace Seth's changing nature, that I will recognize each unique moment in each unique stage of development and treasure Seth's journey for each step he is on and each step he will take.

I pray that my heart will be as this mother's and not focused on the chaos of my messy house and distracted life...but on the man my little baby will too soon be.

Song for a Fifth Child

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

Sweet Seth, Mama loves you...yesterday, today and forever. For who you were, who you are and who you will become. I pray you will know this deep in your heart, for your Father in Heaven has taught me to love and He too, will teach you.

Then

Now

*Sigh*