little fish

summer favorite: the neighborhood pool. 

now that we've lived in a community with a pool, i'm not sure we'll ever be able to go back (much like converting to a king bed).  the pool is on our daily agenda and never gets old.  i pack the boys a bowl of grapes & strawberries and we embark on our 1/2 mile walk to the watering hole.  we love meeting up with friends and meeting new neighbors.

parker is a FISH.  he loves, loves, loves the pool.  he is not afraid of the water one bit and can jump in the deep end and swim to the ladder at 3 years old!  (no worries, i stay close to him).  he taught himself how to do a flip off the side of the pool and can do both back and front flips in the water.  he is so happy being out in the sun.  with all of this talk of generation XL, i am thankful for morning exercise (which = longer nap!).

paxton took a few weeks to warm up to the water, but now loves it almost as much as his brother.  like parks, pax has been known to jump off the side into deep water so we have to keep a close eye on our little walking machine.

i am so thankful to have this "free" summer activity at our fingertips and am living it up while the temps are over 100 every day!

my little snuggle bug.  and because it's fun to compare, here is a little video of parker at paxton's age.  i hope to have a similar video of pax to post soon!  love yall.

taking it to the man

i can't believe i am finally a stay at home mom!  since parker was born, i've known i wanted to stay home.  i wrote several posts about the stress of being a working mom, and i knew it was not best for me or my family.  however, i didn't want to make a rash, emotional decision and wanted to make sure financially we could afford it (another post to come on how we prepared financially for the change).

so why did i decide to stay home? 
*to make memories with my kids
*to be their primary teacher and influence
*to be a better mom
*to give my children my first and best energy of the day (instead of working for the first 9 hours and being tired/stressed out when i come home)
*to take my kids to the pool and park instead of having someone else text me photos of them enjoying the pool
*to teach them how to read
*to not be locked to a computer all day
*to cook more and eat more meals at home
*to hang out with other stay at home moms
*to workout
*to take care of myself
*to volunteer more
*to participate in a women's Bible study
*to spend time in the sun
*to give my husband a break from taking care of the kids so much by himself
*to enjoy life (it is so short!)

disclaimer: i fully understand that you can do most if not all of these things as a working mom.  some people are better parents when they are working and i completely respect and admire that.  others work to provide for their families and i respect that so much, too.  for me, i was trying to work and do everything and was not doing anything well.

i know that staying at home is not easy, but after 2 months, i could not be any happier with my choice. i've been called by recruiters asking when i want to go back to work, and my answer is that i am loving life right now and have no desire to go back to work any time soon.  here's to reading books, building forts and spending lots of quality time together as a family!!