CASA DEL SOL: GREETINGS FROM THE THICK OF IT

If only I could get away with sleeping at the kitchen counter.

For the record, I probably should be getting something else done, but I swear if I don't unload these pictures, I'll forget what they were. This past month has been insane. Eli has been at peak attachment to me, screaming if I get even arms length away from him, and usually screaming even if I am holding him. Sully has hit some inexplicable hormonal rage period that sees him melting down at the slightest frustration (I'm there too I'm sad to report) Mike's work has been busy as always and I've been swamped with school, bookkeeping, tax season (which I scaled WAAAAY back on this year) volunteer stuff and school. I'm only enrolled in one class this term, but its pre- calculus, kind of hard-normally I'd be fine but with everything else its hard to finf the time to practice which is the only way I learn.

But in positive news, Eli is getting much more mobile, Sully is gearing up for kindergarten,the weather has been amazing and I have somehow managed to pay for my entire next school year with scholarships. I should be finished with my Associates Degree this time next year and then I have to decide if I should keep going for my bachelor's or take a break (meaning get a job). I'm sort of leaning towards the latter because I really miss working and earning--- I just miss doing.

So there's the quick month long round up for you. Sorry for the long delay in posts. I can't say that is going to end any time soon but I have decided to not take any classes this summer and just enjoy the boys so in theory at least life will be a little more leisurely when this semester is done in a few weeks. Hopefully I can calm down and catch upon the simpler things in life I enjoy.

WHERE THERE IS A WILL THERE IS A WAY

Eli has been seriously pissed off at his lack of mobility since about 3 months into life. He gets so angry if he's not upright and bouncing around. For a while, the walker thing did the trick, but now he gets too frustrated that he can't get where he wants to go in the house without getting stuck or blocked (we even rearranged the furniture to help him out, but its just not enough) so now we only use that thing outside where he can roam free.


The Walker lives outdoors now so he can chase his brother on his bike

The good news is that Eli's body is finally starting to catch up to his ambition. Now, at 7 months, he can sit for much longer periods of time, even occasionally (and I mean occasionally) permitting me to run to the kitchen to clean-seriously its a wonder we don't have mice and bugs colonizing the place yet, its been a mess. He can also lunge forward from sitting to his belly, where he can shimmie and pivot around to reach a toy he wants. He's got all of the movements for crawling down, he just has yet to be able to coordinate all of the movements together-but he's close. He's also pretty obsessed with standing up. Lately he spends a lot of time playing with toys on top of a big plastic bin (see the picture at the top of this section). He still tips a lot so I can't get away when he's doing this, but he'll stay upright for 5 minutes or so at a time.


This is an old picture now, but I post it here to illustrate how his new skills are making my life easier. Prior to his sitting upright stage, I had to carry him in the bjorn all around the store- murder on my back and also forced me to have to fend of little old ladies who just had to touch him and by extension, me.

GETTING OUTSIDE


Here comes the sun

I thank a merciful universe (and try to not get too worried about global warming) for this early spring we are enjoying. Getting the boys outside is literally the only thing guaranteed to make everyone simultaneously happy. We've been making regular trips to the playground, hiking the trails behind our house (we'll hike to the top of Snow King again as soon as the upper half of the hill melts off) and just riding bikes and scooters in the road in front of our place. Its really getting me excited for summertime knowing how much both of these boys love being outdoors.

This is his "Explorer Hat" And all of those squishy friends have a very complicated back story which is why they must travel wherever he goes.

Kind of a questionable angle on this shot, but the boy is learning to climb trees this year. Dreams do come true.

We took a walk on the bike path. which goes near a grocery store. Sully asked for a cookie, which he then devoured. That's a glob of blue frosting in his right hand there, he held on to that glob for a long time....

...and then passed out in the car on the short drive home.

Eli enjoys the park.

He also enjoys eating pine

SPRING BREAK HOUSE GUEST

Sully got to take care of his pre-school hamster, Ms. Dorthy Squeakers, over Spring Break. It was actually sort of fun having her around- especially in her little plastic ball running all over our giant downstairs. The boys enjoyed having her (that's sully reading her a story).

SULLY NEEDS TO GET OUT OF TOWN

Speaking of Spring Break- We had planned on getting out of town for just a long weekend but it just didn't happen thanks in part to a busy work schedule for Mike and a stressful mid-term for me. Sully was obviously pretty disappointed about it and kept telling us he wanted to go to "New York City". Finally, last weekend he'd had enough, so he packed his own suitcase (with a box of granola bars and about 10 squishy friends) and loaded it into the car. Then he came back upstairs and asked us for the keys to the Land Rover. Hopefully some out of town adventures come our way soon.

A PAUSE FOR SOME RANDOM ADORABLE ELI SHOTS

No stories to these, just cuteness

IF YOU BUILD IT, HE WILL COME... TO ALSO BUILD IT

The age of Lego's is upon us. Sully has taken to building like a fish to water. I don't think he's played with trains for 3 weeks or more? Now its all about Legos, Tinker Toys and Kinex. We've purchased him a few Lego sets which he puts together with very little assistance. He's also been free styling with all of his sets, and has come up with some pretty remarkable stuff.

Meanwhile, I have become obsessed with keeping all of these little tiny pieces organized. We are lucky that Sully has inherited a shit ton (an official unit of measurement) of legos from his big cousin Harry. I spent about 2 weeks sorting out the giant bin into nice neat little bins. So far Sully digs the ease of use having them so organized. He kind of thinks like me when it comes to organizing thing (Yay two OCD people in one house!!) so, so far, the bins are still organized and used as my intricate mind has intended.


Sorting Legos was the only aspect of our lives I could fully control for a while there. It may have saved me from a full blown nervous breakdown.

if you haven't seen this video Mike & Sul made, check it out, its pretty frigging awesome.


He built this one completely on his own

TWINSIES!!

Mike & Sul get to spend a ton of quality time together these days because I'm usually busy with Eli. Its pretty cute, because you can see that they have the same sorts of interests and taste in entertainment. The other day I caught them watching "Master's of the Universe" together like TV Zombies. This was a favorite of a young Mike, he even named his childhood dog, Tela, after one of the characters on this show.

They also look identical, as Sully gets older he looks less and less like my twin and more and more like Mike's. They dress alike too. Sully loves to wear "fancy" shirts so that he can look "Handsome" I foresee having to buy a lot more hair products in the future.