A whole real week back at school with no delays and no snow days…and we’re all incredibly exhausted. Vacation spoiled me. Although I did manage to find the energy for some incredibly low impact shuffling at the gym. I’m paying for it today by not being able to sit/stand/walk correctly. This pregnancy is kind of kicking my ass already.

Sunday:

Christmas boots she wears basically every day

Father-son hockey game date

Not sad she got left and home for Mommy cuddles

Monday:

Crazy ass weather

Singing to herself while I sign her up for ballet

Princess Tiana/Winter Elf

Tuesday:

I knit these out of buffalo fur. They’re insanely warm.

I’m pretending we left that pumpkin on the steps FOR the squirrels, and it’s not still there because I can’t deal with shoveling it up and throwing it in the garden.

Can’t sleep alone

Wednesday:

No one else signed up, so we get private swim lessons #WINNING

Fugitive Icee drinkers at Starbucks

Their new favorite bedtime book

Thursday:

He wanted me to take a picture of him standing on the “snow mountain” i.e. tiny lump of snow that didn’t melt in the rain

I took my very attractive children to see Frozen, again.

Sleeping with Elsa

Friday:

Let it go, let it go!

They dressed themselves, arranged this display and then requested I take a lot of pictures

Also how I feel.

Saturday:

Why did the one-legged wild turkey cross the road?

The appropriate way to watch My Little Pony

I was supposed to have these done last week but there are SO MANY good ones it’s taking me forever. Such gorgeous children.

I have two photo sessions to work on on Monday and one to shoot on Thursday. It’s definitely not as crazy as it was in the fall but I’m pretty thrilled to have clients even in the winter. I also realized I hardly ever take personal pictures anymore, so using my camera on my OWN kids is a goal for 2014.  And also to blog more, which I say every week but I’m failing. The difference between pregnant at 26 and pregnant at 31 is about 3 naps a day.

I know posting more pictures is kind of ridiculous, but I have twofold reasons. One, I like putting them here online so even if my house burned down I’d have SOME of my photos on the interwebs. Plus technically this blog is my kids’ scrapbook, and I don’t want to leave out their first summer and Mormor and Bumpa’s new lake house. Two, I have done too much stuff in the past month and it finally caught up with me. I have a list of pains longer than my arm and absolutely no energy to deal with anything. I barely have the energy to convert my photos into JPGs anymore, let alone edit them the way I should.

It’s ridiculous that I am complaining about doing TOO MUCH FUN STUFF and that photo editing it cutting into my busy Candy Crush playing schedule, but that’s me. I’m Suzanne. I’m ridiculous. But these are the last of my epic road trip vacation photos, so from now on you just get mini-vacation posts. So much better!

p.s. Also, it is 2013. I know the title said “2012” all morning, but that was probably just your imagination. Clearly I know it’s 2013 by now, considering it’s June. July. I meant July.

My dad’s childhood tackle box – he still uses it.

If you put her in a bathing suit, she wouldn’t go near the water. But in her clothes? Totally soaked.

He did not catch any fish.

My mother is going to hate this picture, but I love it SO MUCH I don’t even care. Could they look any happier?!

Old House Vineyards (not actually PART of the Lake House. Just nearby.)

Our week started and ended with the same friends, although as of today they’re off to Guam and my children are left saying “Guam Guam Guam is faaaaaar away! Guam Guam Guam!” Guam is a funny word.

Sunday:

Guest room bed bouncing

Good girl waiting for the service to start

That’s a waterproof, impact resistant camera. I’m not a crazy person.

Monday:

Ginger photobomb

She’s making snow angels. Don’t tell her it’s not working.

Evan asks me to take this picture every night.

Tuesday:

I asked her to stay in the stroller. This was her compromise.

Being a product reviewer for 5 Minutes for Mom has its perks.

Who let the cat in the bag?

Wednesday:

Weekly allowance of Daddy

She’s rocking those glasses

Jellyfish love

Thursday:

I have a stick! In the house! This will end badly!

Guilty face

Apparently I was not the only one who didn’t feel like making dinner on Thursday

Friday:

Trapped behind a metal cage of emotion

TIME MACHINE PHOTO FROM 10 YEARS IN MY FUTURE

Toddler mono-kini = dead of cute.

Saturday:

15 minute cream cheese cinnamon rolls. 15 minutes to make them, I mean. 15 seconds to eat them.

Do I have something on my face?

Two cat pictures in one week?! Crazy cat lady alert!

 We’re going into week 2 of E’s crazy work schedule and so far I’m doing pretty well. The major reason I’m not freaking out is a spot opened up at Evan’s school for Caroline, so as long as I can get the immunization record from the doctor on Monday afternoon she starts school on Tuesday morning! My plan is to burn rubber out of the parking lot cackling maniacally and head for the gym on base, where I get 2 full child-free hours to take a class or restart C25K on a treadmill or just screw around on the elliptical trainer. Preschool isn’t cheap, but neither is a mental breakdown.

Also, I’m finishing up a few giveaway posts I’ve got in my queue, so if you like free stuff this will be a good month to be a blog reader. If you don’t like free stuff, come back on Wednesdays for nothing but cute ginger pictures.

Did you take iPhone photos of your week? Link up with one or several below! Please consider joining, even if you haven’t done it before – it’s really fun!

Although our trip to the beach was full of super fun days in the beach and the pool, the seriousness of watching two kids around so much water hit me on the very first day.

The Kiawah beach is very narrow at high tide and very wide at low tide, with several low spots that create pools perfect for wading. The water was only knee-deep on the grown ups and perfectly calm. It looked like the perfect spot to let the kids splash around for a few minutes. The ratio was three adults to three kids, which meant we had six eyes open at all times but it also meant it was easy to get a few steps too far away because you assumed someone else was closer.

We were actually all watching Caroline as she stepped off the sand into the water – and fell right on her face. She didn’t move. She didn’t splash. So didn’t struggle. She just floated, face down, as my friend Erin and I sprinted the three steps across tide pool. Erin reached her half a second before I did and scooped her up, handing her off to me so I could make sure she was breathing – although at that point I wasn’t breathing either. She sputtered and coughed a little, her wide eyes even wider than usual. She clung to me hard, but besides spitting out about a tablespoon of sea water she was totally fine. She wasn’t keen on being put down for a few minutes but an hour later when we went in the pool she was once again completely fearless around the water. I’m glad she hasn’t been scarred for life – but it is a moment I will never forget.

My friend Elliot sent me an article called “Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning” a day or so after I told him about Caroline’s accident. I’ve seen it before on Facebook, but until I experienced a child I knew to be in distress holding perfectly still in the water I didn’t understand just how easy it would be to miss the 30 second window you get before someone drowns.

From the article:

To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this: It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) – of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening (source: CDC).

I knew my 18 month old wasn’t able to swim so when she fell in the water my reaction was yanking her out as fast as humanly possible. But if she’d been further away or I hadn’t been paying attention – even for just a few moments – there would have been zero signs to alert me. It’s extremely scary to think about.

I know this is kind of a downer and not the sort of fun, post-vacation stories people are looking for, but I’d rather you all roll your eyes at me and think “yeah, yeah, we’ve heard this all before” than not ever hear it and experience any kind of tragedy. Stay safe friends!