Parenting in the summer
The Mouse was born in June, in Texas. There are a million arguments as to weather or not a summer newborn is easier to deal with than a winter newborn, and I think I’ve decided that it really just depends on where you live. As a mother living in the state of Texas that has birth babies in both the months of June and February I can absolutely attest to the fact that a winter baby is easier.
Well, if you can count February as a ‘winter’ month … because I’m pretty sure February 23rd, 2011 had a high temperature around 60*. But I digress.
The point is, by July, being outside with a newborn (or even just getting into a scalding hot car that’s been in a parking lot for 45 minutes) sucks. It sucks really badly. Thank goodness I went through that with the first kid and not the second, because being cooped up in the AC with one baby (as miserable as it was) is WAY better than being cooped up with a newborn and a toddler/older sibling. As these rambunctious boys get older though, the less and less I worry about the heat, and the more and more I apply sunscreen, make sure to hydrate them, and then kick them out into the backyard.
This past weekend we drove a couple of hours north into Oklahoma for a family reunion. There were two ponds, one big cabin, a bunch of trees, and two sweaty little boys.
Both of which who loved every. single. second. of it.
This was the first time my kids had seen an honest-to-god lightening bug. It was the first time they had swam in a lake/pond. The first time they had ridden in a canoe or tried their hand at fishing. It was the first time they had met many of their (my) cousins, and the first time the Mouse had jumped off of a two-level dock and made my heart beat right out of my chest.
I let them run, I let them scream, I let them eat whatever-the-hell they wanted to. They stayed up late, they made new friends, and for the most part they created their own fun/activities. I made sure they weren’t bleeding, I made sure they had sunscreen, I made sure they had floatation devices … and then I tapped out. I spent my time chatting with my cousins, playing cards, and focused on letting myself enjoy the reunion more than I was babysitting.
And it was bliss … for both me, and my kids. I might complain about the heat down here in Texas (and Oklahoma), but seeing my boys during summer makes it all worthwhile.
Mostly. (fans self)
Since I was in the middle-of-nowhere Oklahoma during all of this – I wasn’t able to post a bunch of these to Instagram in real-time, but I did get some of them up. If you’re not following me yet, head on over and check me out.
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