Well... we did it! Another school year is in the books (pun intended)! I wrapped up my eighth year of teaching by packing up EVERYTHING and moving to the classroom next door. It was a quite the project, but thanks to my fabulous teaching partners, we made easy work of it. I just cannot emphasize enough how wonderful it is to work with those ladies. I moved classrooms to get out of the first grade "wing" and officially join the second grade team. It was a very chill year, with no major issues or challenges. I loved teaching and learning our new curriculum, and am even helping teach a class this summer about how to incorporate "old" ideas and best practices while teaching the new curriculum with fidelity. Very exciting stuff for a nerd like me!

Summer with a toddler is somehow extremely active/exhausting and monotonous/boring at the same time. It's really bizarre. It's active and exhausting in that Hamilton is a child who must be GOING. The moment he wakes up, he's ready to rock. He has shoes in hand, begging to go outside before I've even put on pants or made coffee. He runs and climbs and jumps and loves to go on walks, and he needs constant supervision so he doesn't kill himself doing some of those things. However, it's those same things that make me want to bang my head into a wall from boredom! How can that be? I think he's just a kid who needs a schedule (or maybe it's not him.. maybe I need the schedule?) and he can't just wander aimlessly. He needs activities. So we will go to the park, go on walks, go to the zoo, play in the pool, go to the library,  etc. It's been raining every afternoon too, so hopefully the weather will hold for a while so we can do those things.

 He does slow down... if I wear him out enough. This was after a trip to Riverfront Park where he chased ducks, ran like a lunatic and played in the sun until he dropped!

 Hamilton loves the "wa" and will grab his shorts out of his basket if he's ready to play. He's getting pretty good at watering the flowers and he hasn't burned that pasty skin (yet).

 Hamilton and dad match accidentally. Seth is such a good dad and helps me out to no end. He took us to Riverfront to fish the other day and Hamilton literally shoved a small piece of bread into the fish's mouth to feed him after Seth caught it. Hamilton LOVED the fish, and held it with no fear. 

 Fruit for days. He is a bottomless pit for fruit of all kinds. Also, check out those curls! Sweat brings out the worst in me, but it somehow manages to make my boy even more beautiful.

 He stays clean for maybe the first hour of the day. Then I give in to the dirty nails, muddy shoes, and sticky hands. He's all boy and that's how I love him. These trucks from the dollar bin at Target have been in dirt piles, rock piles, sailed down our driveway, driven over the retaining wall, driven off the retaining wall, stacked on the mower... and we've only had them a few weeks.

 Smushy face discovered door knobs and handles. This means he can escape and mommy had to figure out the locks. But it's worth the squishy nose on the other side sometimes!

 Another huge plus of summer time is spending time with friends. Here is Hamilton with Bridger and Emery, and below, with Cedar. I am so blessed to be surrounded by moms who have been through what I'm going through, who love my boy, who ask us over, who keep us busy, who care deeply about how I'm doing and how I'm adjusting to each new phase of motherhood. Because there's a new phase every month. They did not tell me that.

 Hamilton LOVES his Cedar May (Seer). When Bridger takes a toy from him, he rages. When Cedar takes one, he looks at me confused and worried about how to get it back without hurting her. He pats her and kisses her and asks for her several times a day. Cedar does have an innate sweetness about her, and Hamilton is more nurturing to her than to any other person. It totally warms my heart to watch them play. The other day at the library, he even took her hand unprompted and helped her around the toys. Adorable.

And that's where we are in life! I have a ton of to-do's to get to now that I've lounged for a couple weeks. Organizing the "spare room" downstairs (how DO you organize and store all those baby clothes, people? I had big ziploc bags by size in boxes, but that seems inefficient. Help?), painting the dining room and living room, and refinishing some pieces of furniture, for example. We'll see! Thanks for checking in!