"...It's Always The Crazy Times..."

*Channels Jars of Clay days*

Haven't a clue what I'm talking about? Don't worry. You're not missing anything. In short, it's been nutso lately. Chaotic. Insane. Non-stop. Go-go-go. The usual.

I thought I'd update and atleast let ya'll know we're still kicking. Even though I don't really feel like blogging right now, but I finally have a quiet moment to myself to do so. Better take advantage of it, right? Naturally.

We just came off a busy weekend at Church Camp. It was a completely different dynamic than last year; it rained the whole time, there wasn't as many families there, we had two kids instead of just one, and I had to leave for part of the time. It was just...weird. Fun, but weird. As expected, I spent a good amount of time indoors; although, so did everyone else because of the weather, it seems. But my excuse was tending to Drew, who did much better than I expected - as long as he was being held. He was one of three babies there, so we all kind of just played "pass the baby". It was Robby that was driving us nuts. As soon as he got his first taste of freedom and fun, he was a beastie from then on out. He kept grabbing whoever's hand he could (I coined it "hitchhiking") and tried to drag them outside. Atleast he was smart enough to remember he needed a big person to go with him. But still. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir on this, but I would look away for a second, look back, and he was gone. Out the door. Each time, I had to drag him back in full tantrum mode. It was pretty. Not really. And the first night was a bit of a mess, mainly because Robby was scared of the bunk bed he had to sleep in. When placed up top, he was scared of falling. When placed on the bottom, he was freaked out by the bunk above him. So, we used the tactic we always use with him when he's scared of something - we told him it was a robot. If Robby is afraid of anything, he'll automatically accept it if you tell him it's a robot. No matter how scared he is. No matter what it is. No joke. So, after that, he slept fine in his "robot bed". Other than that, Robby played and played and got lots of love and attention from everyone until he would literally pass out at naptime or bedtime. It was a little stressful having to tend to both boys at once - mainly because it required going up and down a very steep set of stairs to get to our room - but with the help of our church peeps, we survived and had fun along the way. Saturday was the weirdest, in my opinion. I had to leave early to go back to Twin (an hour drive from Albion) for a photo shoot, (you can read about how that went by going here) leaving Matt to take care of the boys and to the photography duties. Thankfully, he had plenty of help while I was gone, as I thought he might, and I was only gone for a few hours. We have the best church family in the world. Saturday night was the best, though. There was a big BBQ dinner for everyone, with the best pulled pork I have ever had in my entire life, provided by the church and smoked by a member of our church. We all stuffed ourselves silly with way too much food and then stayed up way too late and laughed way too hard while playing a couple of rounds of Mafia. We all came home absolutely exhausted Sunday afternoon. Always the case, but still definitely worth the time and money. You can view some of the photos I took on my photowalk I managed to get in here.

Things with Drew are getting better every day. He's finally becoming the happy baby we have been praying and waiting for. His screaming is few and far between and is non-existent most days. His colic seems to be lessening, only causing him to fuss a little before going to sleep in the evenings. I'll happily take fussing for a half an hour over screaming for three hours. He's still on Prevacid, only because I'm too afraid what will happen if I take him off of it. We did have the doctor switch to a cheaper alternative, Zantac. We have yet to see it's results, as we're just now to the tail-end of the Prevacid. I like the idea of the Zantac better not only because it's $40 cheaper, but also because it's in liquid form and he'll get two doses a day. I do notice that his stomach starts to bother him a bit in the evenings, as the medicine starts to wear off. He's doing extremely well otherwise. At his last doctor's appointment, when he turned two months, he measured at the 80th percentile for height, 90th percentile for weight. BIG BOY. Robby always stayed about average throughout his first year, only going over just a bit in height. (Could we have football players in our future?) The poor kid also got his shots at his appointment, but didn't react whatsoever. No fever, no fussing. He screamed at the initial pain, of course, but after he was over it, that was that. Perhaps it's the feistiness.

Robby is doing really well, too. When he's not driving us nuts, he is one fun little guy. Incredibly affectionate towards us and his brother, eager to learn and explore, and has the most infectious smile. And I can't get over how incredibly smart he is. Yeah, I know - all moms think their kid is bright, but really, I'm not being biased here. He is one smart cookie. He already knows a lot of the alphabet and regularly points out letters (or atleast gives it a good effort) on books, labels, and on TV. His attempts at counting are really amusing ("...two...two...three...one..."), but he tries. He came up to me one day, out of the blue, showed me one little index finger, and said proudly, "One!" Where he learned that, I have no idea. Thank you PBS, I suppose. He also will show off his myriad of sounds he knows (i.e. animals, vehicles, his brother crying, etc.) and his mad somersault skills. He received his very first Mr. Potatohead as an early birthday gift from Matt's parents when they were here. Yes, we had to tell him that was a robot too, but now they're best buds. It's really cute to watch him try and place the arms and eyes in the right spot, though they very rarely do and he ends up looking like a Picasso. I can't believe he's turning two next month. How did that happen? I have a two year old? Really? Two years I have definitely cherished, though. He's still such a blessing.

As I said before, Matt's folks were finally able to visit, only couple weeks after my dad and step mom were here. Have a baby and they will come. Both were very blessed, yet different experiences. Unfortunately, the time spent with my folks wasn't the best - not because of them, but because Drew was still really miserable. It was just before he was diagnosed with GERD, so we spent much of the weekend listening to him scream in agony. I wish things would have been different, but atleast we got to see them. They were an immense help with Drew and if that's all we got out of it, it was still worth it. I'm always so sad to see my step mom go - she's such a huge help! We spent most of the time at home, only going out a few times, but the most important thing is that my dad finally got to meet Drew and got to bond with Robby a bit more. Both were quite solemn when they had to part, from what I hear. The visit with Matt's folks was really nice; albeit short. We take what we can get. We still managed to have too much fun and eat too much food as usual. We ate out at our favorite restaurants, let the kids (and my mother-in-law, evidently) play at Hop 2 It, and just enjoyed one another. We were also sad to see them go, since we don't know when we'll be able to see them again. Traveling is difficult for both of us at the moment. We'll cherish the times we do get with both sides of our families, no matter for how long or the circumstances.

I've been very busy with my photography lately, definitely putting that expensive "toy" to work. After we bought it, we had Church Camp, a wedding, and vacation bible school scheduled to shoot, and then added on the shoot I had on Saturday and now a t-ball team in a couple of weeks and a bridal shower on Saturday. I can't say that I've made tons of money off of these opportunities, however - all the church events (the wedding included) were freebies. But that's not the point, right? Sure. Really, it doesn't bother me too terribly much. I'm enjoying just gaining experience and blessing others. I guess I'm just too nice to be a decent entrepreneur.

Wow. I wrote a lot for not wanting to blog. I'm such a hypocrite. Or perhaps I'm just lazy, but long-winded. Take your pick. Until next post.