Catching Up

I think it might just work best if I post photos of the kiddos and a list of the goings on in our lives, without extended commentary. Otherwise I will never put anything up on this blog! It's too hard to find time unless I ignore the kids -- and anyone who has a toddler knows, toddlers don't let you ignore them. Infants don't either. I'm not complaining, they really are the cutest kids in the world and I cherish this time at home with them, but I would like an hour to myself in a day to do things like email or post things on mullenpalooza. Or hey, maybe to shower. :)

Anyway, let me see how far I get on this week's activities before I get interrupted or need to shower. I'm starting to think that evening showers are going to be the way to go. Or at least the way to go if I'd like to do more than a 2 minute, shampoo, quick lather and rinse. I would love a long steamy shower and to shave my legs. That is definitely on tonight's agenda!

So Kevin took this week off from work to work on his dissertation. Kudos to him in that he is actually making headway and getting up early to go to the library and/or coffee shop to do it! He is even setting the alarm (although he doesn't hear it and I have to shove him each morning to turn it off). We swapped Tuesday for Saturday though due to some incredible weather, and went to the beach on Tuesday. What a nice day! It was actually sweltering although it was much cooler at the beach. We drove up to Rockport which is a gorgeous town on Cape Ann, north of Boston. We had last gone 2 summers ago and thought what a beautiful town it was, very walkable, lots of restaurants and shops, and of course beaches. We didn't have a particular beach in mind, just kind of drove around for a bit first and had lunch. We found a great one in between Gloucester and Rockport and spent a few hours there. It was Lucas's first trip to the beach and I think he liked it! I had my beach chair and the sand tent and he spent time in both places, but mainly in my arms either in the chair, or down on the shore near the crashing waves which helped him go to sleep. Meanwhile my little beach bunny Zachary dug, dug, dug in the sand with Kevin and had a tremendously fun time. He LOVES the beach! What was interesting was when our little potty-trained guy had to go pee. Kevin just walked him down to the shoreline, pulled down his swim trunks, and told him to pee into the water. Which he did. Too cute. Sometimes having a boy makes things just so much easier! Zach and Kevin both got a little sunburned, but Lucas and I came back very pale, which is good for Lucas (I was seriously stressed about it) but not so great for me because I had hoped for at least a little color. Oh well.

Also this week we finally signed Zach up for preschool! He starts in September at a great preschool in Sudbury, just a couple of miles from our house. We had toured it a few months ago and both Kevin and I loved it the best out of the ones we visited. We still need to get our daycare situation figured out for Lucas as well as for Zach for July-September, but we're narrowing things down there. I found a great home daycare that's close to our house that I love, but Kev wants to continue to look around and compare costs. So the search continues, but hopefully we'll get it nailed down as soon as possible.

Emily has been home for a couple of weeks now and got a job in the mall, at Macy's. She has orientation and training this past week and had her first official hours tonight. She's working a bunch over the next few days which is great because she wants to save up to buy a car. Of course she still needs to get her license first plus figure out how to pay for insurance, but she's on her way to saving up. Now to just make sure she doesn't spend what she earns which will be very tempting, I'm sure.

I nearly forgot to mention that Lucas had his first tub bath last week! We were supposed to wait until his umbilical cord came off before giving him anything beyond a sponge bath, but it was taking so long to fall off that I decided to do it anyway. And he loved it! I just tried to keep the belly button area dry (to help keep the cord dry so it will fall off faster). I love his new tub -- it's a different one than I had with Zachary and it is so much better! I'm bathing him upstairs in the kids' bathroom because the counter is big enough to handle the tub, and all the supplies are right there. Lucas definitely likes the water and was calm and relaxed. Maybe it's also the warmer weather, but he didn't shiver or complain about being in his tub like he would when he was getting the sponge bath.