Summer Heat

Well, summer is certainly upon us!  We have had so many over 90 degree days and are constantly searching for ways to stay cool.
We haven't yet found that secret beach or river to cool off in that isn't too crowded-I am hoping this place still exists, but I'm not so sure with how many people there are around here.  We have made a dear friend, Susannah, who has offered us her pool whenever we want to use it, which is really nice. She lives right down the street and has so many acres that you are just tucked away among the horse paddocks swimming away.  We are also so lucky to have a great group of friends with children that are constantly prodding me along to get out!  Just this week we went to a little pond that was hidden away and not too crowded.  The babies were held in our arms in the tepid water, while Stella and her friends jumped off floating docks and took out paddle boats.  It felt so nice to be out with others and to enjoy time with other families and their children.  I can be a bit of a homebody if I am by myself.  I have strange fears of going places alone, like what if I can't tell how to park in the driveway, or what if I can't tell which door to use?  What if I don't spot my friends in the crowd right away?  Silly, silly. Now, my biggest obstacle actually is two squirrely 6 month olds!
Time is really flying by.  The babies are already over 6 months and are doing so many things.  They both had their first terrible illness, which was a stomach bug that lasted for two weeks.  The poor things just wanted to nurse all the time and every time they did it came right back out.  We use cloth diapers, but with this we decided to go disposable and they went through 2 cases in one week!!  I got sick as well and so it was a rough time!
Both the babies have teeth now.  River has his two bottom ones and is working away on his top front ones.  Wren has one bottom one, and oddly enough a top side tooth with the front top almost through and the other bottom almost through as well.
They are both crawling around now, rolling every which way and even will pull themselves up to standing on one of us if we are laying down with them.  River is doing the quintessential early crawling where he rocks back and forth on his hands and knees and then falls on his belly.  He, just yesterday, started using his hands to move him forward!  Wren has been crawling commando style for about a month, but she is now on her hands and knees crawling, but it if takes too long she will just roll to where she wants to go.  She also likes to make her legs jump like a grasshopper in crawling position and has gotten quite good at downward dog as well!  She is my spit fire!
River is chatting away.  He says hi, dada and mama.  He says hi dada a lot and cries mama when he is sad.  He loves it when I get fired up in conversations and will grin from ear to ear.  Now he mimics me by putting on a very serious face, talking in a deep voice and nodding his head.  He's pretty funny.
Wren said mama once when she was sick, but she likes to sing and make funny noises and laugh.  She is really funny and has this glimmer in her eye like she is in on the joke.  She has started to give kisses-great, big open mouth kisses.
They are eating solids now too which is fun. We started them because when they were sick we gave them rice water and they loved it so much we figured they were ready for real food.  They were right at 6 months anyway.  We make our own brown rice cereal and they have bananas, avocado, squash, carrots and now pears.  I tried peaches, but Wren broke out in hives!
We still have them sleeping in our room, but in two different cribs now.  They just got too big and River needs a lot of room.  He is our little Monk through the day and when it comes time to sleep, he gets really animated and starts talking loudly, rolling all over and now rocking back and forth on his hands and knees testing out his crawling skills.  Wren is the opposite and just lays right down and drift off quietly. They are still not sleeping well at night and that has been really hard, but I just can't bring myself to let them cry.  I have now tried to only feed them twice in the night and am slowly trying to eliminate those feedings, but it's hard.  Wren is doing well and gets up only twice, but River is awake a lot!!!  The opposite of when they were tiny newborns!  I know it will change again and they will sleep, but it is exhausting I must say.
They are doing well with the heat, but really love being in the water if it isn't too cold.  We got them some floats and they went swimming with me at the lake in NH.  It was so great.  I love to swim so I am glad they do too.  They took a nap on the boat and I got to go off with Stella, swimming way out and playing just the two of us.  She needs that time too with me.  It is a juggling act for sure!
So many changes!!
The farm is beautiful in the summer, although quite hot with the large open fields that surround us.  The apple trees create a lot of shade and the front porch is our respite.  We sit out there each evening with the babies before bed.  It's a nice part of our rhythm.  We have created some beautiful gardens here, which we are reaping the benefits of.  The vegetable garden is gorgeous with a split rail fence all around it using the arbor from our wedding celebration as the entry way.  Scott did a beautiful job.  This year our garden is much smaller than the 1/4 acre we had in NH, but it will be just enough for us with having two small babies to contend with.  We have cukes, squash, tomatoes, eggplant, pepper, onions, brussel sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower, carrot, beets, beans and peas as well as melons.  I will plant garlic in the fall.  We also have beautiful herb gardens right outside the kitchen and had porch boxes with greens in them in the cooler months.  I will replant those when the heat of the summer subsides.  We expanded the flower beds to meander along the stone wall in front and along the front porch.  There are many a passerby who let us know how lovely the place is looking, which feels so nice.  Scott also made me my Wishing garden.  There were overgrown burning bushes beside the driveway which were covering beautiful lilacs and honeysuckle.  So, Scott dug those out for me which left a great garden space.  I have always wanted to make a more designed garden bed instead of just the practical and useful ones I have made in the past and so I made The Wishing Garden.  A fairy awaits the traveler at the beginning of a brick spiral path with gems in hand.  You pick up a gem, walk the spiral through the fragrant herbs and flowers until you get to the center where a well of water awaits for you to add your wish.  There's a bench hidden under an arbor of Honeysuckle where you can sit and read or drink a cup of tea or whatever.  Stella calls that part the Secret Garden b/c you are hidden away.  It came out really nice and the birds and butterflies visit it and Stella has added candles to light in the night.
I feel like we are crawling out of the harder stages of infancy with the babies and are really starting to settle into an easier rhythm.  I am still exhausted with being up with the babies and the house is not in perfect order like I would like because I have to lay down to nap with them sometimes, but I am figuring it out and still trying to cherish it all.  I am getting to spend time with Stella again, which she craves and she is such a beautiful helper to her siblings and they adore her which is fun.  Stella is entering her early pre-teen years, which is really hard for me.  She doesn't always want me around, she likes to be in her room or outside alone making up dances, dressing up and being big.  She plays with her girlfriends and will be going to summer camp next week.  She goes next door to the neighbor girls house a lot. One has just graduated high school and one has just finished her freshman year of college abroad.  They are spectacular and wonderful to Stella.  She really looks up to them and it gets her out of the house for a while and doted on!  I am loving summer vacation with the family, but in the back of my mind is a count down for when I return to teaching.  I am nervous about it and in some ways looking forward to it (the paychecks really help and I am really loved there!) but also am sad because my time soaking in my family will be not as all consuming.  I just hope I don't miss too much!!