May 2020 iPhone dump

May is always a busy month for us, between Mother's Day, Fox's birthday, my birthday and the end of the school year, there is barely a dull moment. It seems like just yesterday to me, when in reality, two months have passed already.

I bought this little kiddie pool when Fox was about Finn's age. I remember we used it twice and it has since been in a box in our shed. I thought it would be a great idea to pull it out for Finn and suddenly remembered why we didn't use it much. He had fun for a day or two in it though.

This must have been one of the first times this summer that he went in the pool and the water was freezing. He always wants me to come in, but I told him his birthday is the first possible day I would brave the cold water. Now it's July and the water feels like a bathtub...just right for me!

We got two of these floats for like $18 each at Costco and it was the best purchase ever. He loves to jump from the edge of the pool onto the floats over and over again.

I do a big sigh of relief when he finally goes to sleep and then I miss him...mom problems.

I miss the days where we could still take walks in the neighborhood, although I remember that this day was already super hot.

Cooling off with a popsicle and a birthday hat in preparation for Fox's birthday.

He has to have all of his "lovies" in his bed with him and knows when one of them is missing. I take them out before I go to bed...and yes, we wear Christmas jammies year around!

See...even Fox is wearing them...ha!

We visited the boys' great-grandparents one afternoon for swimming and a BBQ.  Fox had so much fun with them in the pool and it made me really happy to see all of them spend time together and bond.

Finn was more interested in eating ice chips on the sidelines. He is very timid around the water and you basically have to force him in to cool off.

How we all feel about homeschooling and zoom calls.

Finn earned his first time out and Fox was so sweet to sit with him the entire time.

His math assignment was to build cones, cylinders, spheres and cubes with marshmallows and tooth picks. I think I did a great job building these...ha! This is why I dislike homeschooling so much, most of the projects they give him, he needs my help doing them...I'd love to see any Kindergartner build these by themselves.

He stole my heart!

I picked up Fox from Katie's house one night (when it was her night with the kids), so we could have some one on one time. Covid has made it hard to take him out for special activities, so we had a movie night in the pool at home.

We celebrated Mother's Day at my mother in law's house with the entire family. It was the first time I was at a family event that Katie and her girlfriend also attended, but I felt ready and it felt really, really great to be able to spend it together. I had met the girlfriend for the first time a few days prior to this day, I had invited them over for dinner at my house and it couldn't have gone better. I knew I needed that time and I'm glad I let my emotions lead me to the right timing. And now that it's done, I feel so relieved and happy because "losing" family in the divorce was heartbreaking for me and being able to all be in the same room makes me feel hopeful for the future and knowing that I don't have to exclude myself for Christmas ever again. 

Splashing in the pool with GG

It's been two years since Fox had his last allergy test. A few months ago, his grandma gave him an eggo waffle by accident, which contained dairy and eggs, two things he is highly allergic to. To our surprise, nothing happened, so I was really hopeful going into this appointment to see if he had outgrown any of his allergies. He was diagnosed right after his second birthday and it's been a tough four years, especially when you have to explain why he can't have cake or pizza like all the other kids at the party, or why he can't have the class snacks and has to bring his own food to school every single day. Don't get me wrong, he was such an amazing kid during this entire time and fully understood why he couldn't have those items, but as a mom, it kind of breaks your heart to see him left out like that all the time. 

He was really nervous about the test and we didn't want to push him to do it after the eggo waffle incident, so we waited until he told us that he was ready to get the test. While this picture only shows the scratch test, we also had a blood draw and a challenge test a few weeks later and he passed every single one of them, with the exception for eggs. So he is still very allergic to eggs (unless they are baked in), but he is not allergic to dairy or strawberries anymore! You can't even imagine how happy these results made me, how excited I was for him to try all of the foods he couldn't have before and to not be left out during parties in the future. Thank you god!

When your mom forces you to still participate in your class' zoom call, even though it's your birthday. I feel ya, buddy!

This sweet boy wanted to surprise me for my birthday and do something special for me, so he asked one of my friends to help him set up this surprise in my office. He was so proud and it really touched my heart that he would think about this all by himself. 

We had dinner with some family that night and even Katie's brothers came, which really meant a lot to me. 

Another family dinner for my birthday. I hadn't seen this side of the family in a long time, so it was really nice to get together again.

Watching our fish, lightning bolt. A few days after this picture, he passed away. We've had him for a year and Fox was sad, but took it way better than expected. 

Fox was really upset about something and told me he was moving out. This was a first for us and I remember doing the exact same thing when I was little, so it was kind of funny, but also kind of sad to me. He went into his room, packed his suitcase and was ready to go, but I was able to talk him down a little and convince him to stay. When I opened up his suitcase later on, I found that he had only packed pajamas, nighttime diapers and books. Sweet boy.

Finn's first tattoo

I called him snaggle tooth for a while, his front tooth was loose for a very long time, but not ready to come out yet.

Kindergarten graduation looked a little different than we thought it would, but his teacher still made it really special for the kids. She set up a drive by at her house to say goodbye, where she gave all of the kids little graduation hats and some gifts.

Finn loves to be outside, which has been really hard during these hot summer months. Fox refuses to play outside and I don't blame him, we already had a high of 119 degrees Fahrenheit this summer. 

More pool time at their great-grandparents' house

Fox had so much fun with his great-grandpa in the pool and it made me happy to see them spend time together.

Funny little boy! He loves basketball.

And he loves to read books.

Enjoying some sweet baby cuddles as long as he will let me.

I went to an outdoor ropes course in Flagstaff (about 2.5hrs from Phoenix) and it was such a great day. The weather was perfect and I loved being out in nature and being active.