Snapshots of life: June and July

June:

We have a mulberry tree in the back yard and William was in his glory going out there to pick and eat berries! 

Puppy in the "jumpy jumpy"

FINALLY comfortable in the water!

Nothing like a good boat ride :)

Bumpa's truck is the best

4th of July Weekend:

Saturday-

Kids' table

Eagerly waiting for fireworks

Sunday we went back to Kaite and Dan's house and decided to do some camping...in their backyard!

William adopted this car and was quite possessive of it.  Just wait, Kid, until Marcellus gets a little older and he'll give you a run for your money!

Our "campsite"

Monday-

We all went back to Mom and Dad's on Monday to celebrate the 4th with another cookout since everyone had the day off

Cousins and best buds

And the war continues...

Snapshots from a family shopping trip:

Random videos from July:

When he was just starting to crawl:

Outside fun!

Mr. Marcel

 

Marcellus standing himself up!

A couple weeks ago Zenith and I dropped the boys off at my parents and headed to Boston for a date night.  We went on a cruise along the harbor, strolled through Boston, and then found a bar/lounge with outdoor seating a had a drink, enjoying a lovely summer night together.  It was very refreshing to get out and because we had put the boys to bed at my parents and were staying over, we had no curfew!  Can't remember the last time that happened. :)

The boys have been having a ton of fun outside in our backyard this summer.  My landlord comes out and turns the sprinkler on and they have a blast!

As you saw in the videos, Marcellus is crawling (still using his elbows, but he's fast all the same!) and just a couple days ago started pulling himself up on things and standing!  Now that he's more mobile, the boys are more interactive with each other.  William loves to help me wherever he can, even trying to change Marcellus' diaper!  He has his own set of chores (putting his dishes in the sink, unloading the dryer, throwing things in the trash, cleaning up his books and toys when he's done, bringing dirty bottles to the kitchen to be washed) and loves helping.  Marcellus is a happy chap with a spark of mischief and so much personality.  He's much more adventurous than William ever was and is finally eating solids with less trouble.  He especially loves mangoes we discovered...this boy is his Daddy through and through. :)

If you could spare a few prayers, we'd appreciate it.  I'm heading toward a new treatment for the Lyme disease which looks promising.  We're waiting on results from tests that I sent in before I can start.  It's very new and still in the research phase which means it isn't covered by anything and is pretty expensive, so if you could keep us in your prayers for God's provision and guidance, we'd appreciate it very much!  We have been doing a 54 day Rosary Novena for some time and know that God will answer our prayers, even if it's not in the way we hope.  I've been praying for resignation throughout this and peace, regardless of my state of health.  It has affected my life so much, in ways I never expected, yet I know God would never ask more than He would give me the strength to handle and that thought is a comfort.  If Christ bore such a heavy cross, why shouldn't we follow in his footsteps, for "a servant is not greater than his master."  We have but to look to the Saints to see a shining example of peace and joy among many trials and sufferings because it was done all for the love of God.

I hope everyone's week is off to a good start!

~Lindsay

Snapshots of Life - May and June

Sorry I've been so negligent of my blog.  It's been quite a busy, sometimes rough, couple of months.  I haven't had much mental energy to sit down and write so I'll try to keep it simple with just some snapshots of what's been happening.

May:

Tess visited for a couple of weeks which was SO nice!  We all miss her a lot and love having her come.  I had pictures of the visit but I can't find them right now.

Beach time!

Mother's Day picnic

I couldn't resist!

And then some odds and ends:

My grandparents were in the area and were able to stop by for a visit which was nice!  William loved his Great Nana and Great Bumpa!

June:

Family vacation for the weekend to the mountains!

Makeshift bed for William

Marcellus' bed

View was fantastic!

And of course I had to hit the outlet shops and picked up this outfit for Marcellus. :)  Who could resist??

I have some more photos and videos for June and July which I'll upload later.

William update:

His language is really progressing!  I notice a big change while Tess was here and he had more exposure on a daily basis to language.  He speaks more in sentences and can express himself much more clearly.  His little imagination is blossoming as well and I love watching him play.  He entertains himself very well, but is getting better playing and getting along with other children.  He especially loves to interact with his brother!  He anxiously waits for Marcel to get up in the morning or wake from a nap and goes rushing in there when I give him the ok.  He has been completely potty trained for about a month and does really well with it.  The two boys sleep in the same room now and did pretty well with the transition.

Marcellus update:

This kid is growing so fast!  He is 19 lbs at 8 months old and quite long.  He has been sitting on his own for about a month and is a very happy, though active baby.  He has two bottom teeth which popped through last month.  He is much bigger than William was at this age and is wearing things William was at 12 months.  He started signing "milk" last month, though he doesn't do it regularly like William did.  And what a difference between the boys when it comes to eating!  William was eating anything and everything at 5 months, and this kid does NOT like food.  He has eaten some apples and bananas but it's been a struggle.  I've just been letting him try things and letting him decide when he's ready.  I keep offering things from time to time but I don't imagine it'll be anytime soon.

That's all for now.  I'll update with the rest soon!

Happy Monday,

~Lindsay

Just a quick update

Sorry these posts have been rather few and far between.  The Lyme treatment has been knocking me about a bit and makes even small things more difficult to do.  The foggy brain it creates makes it very difficult for me to put a coherent thought together, never mind a whole blog post.  I have moments when my mind is clear and I'd love to sit down and write (it can be therapeutic for me) but it always seems those moments coincide with a million other more pressing things to be done.  But such is life!  There hasn't been a lot going on anyway, so I'll try to keep you posted with pictures and videos, which speak for themselves better than I could right now.

Just a few things first on the boys; William is now in full fledged "boy" stage now and I am loving every minute!  It's so much fun interacting with him and watching him soak up everything.  He loves to learn new things and it amazes me how fast he picks things up.  This age is incredible with the rapid development that accompanies it.  He is potty trained except for at night.  He has finally learned to "hold it" while out but still wets himself while asleep so he wears a diaper to bed.

Marcellus is a happy little chap.  He loves watching the goings on and smiles whenever his brother is around.  William is very concerned when "Cellus" (how he says Marcellus' name) is upset and goes running up to him asking, "wha matter???  happen??"  It's so endearing to see how much they both already love each other.

Marcellus rolls all around and has a couple of times gotten up on his knees to scoot himself forward.  Other than that, I believe he will be following in his brother's footsteps and be a late crawler.  Our hardwood floors make it difficult since he doesn't like the feel of the hard floor underneath him and he's always rolling right off the mat or blanket we put him on and then getting upset he's rolled off.

He sucks two of his fingers when tired and is the easiest baby to make smile.  He smiles even when he's crying!

The weather is warming up and spring is in the air! (and allergies)  We've had a good amount of rain so hopefully we'll be getting out to do more with the nicer weather.

Hope you're having a good week!

~Lindsay

Celebrating 3 years together with a lovely evening out

Three years ago Wednesday, I said I do to the man of my dreams. I promised to be faithful in good times and bad and I couldn't think beyond the joy of that moment and those blissful years ahead of us. Fast forward 3 years and I can honestly say that they have been the best of my life, but that's not to say we haven't had our hard moments.  Has it been the "blissful" years I thought they would be?  We've certainly had our "blissful" moments but life isn't meant to be easy and without hard times.  It's through the cross that we find Salvation and as we have learned, marriage holds its fair share of crosses.  But it's the working through those hard times that is a true test to your marriage and every time something is overcome, you grow that much stronger, knit together that much closer.  The more you learn to communicate and work together through those hard times, the more "the two become one."

I can't imagine my life without Zenith.  We truly have become one and I am incomplete without him.  It's been a wonderful and crazy 3 years filled with some sad, frustrating, and hard moments, but so much joy and so many beautiful memories have been made.  I am incredibly blessed to have a man in my life who inspires me everyday to be a better person and who has helped me grow closer to God.

In celebration of 3 years of marriage, we went out last night ALONE (you know, without kids, ie just the two of us) for a date night for the first time in 6 months, thanks to the generosity of my wonderful sister Kaite who offered to come over and watch the boys once her hubby was home to be with their kids.  I can't even begin to say how good it felt!  I think I can really appreciate quality time ALONE with my husband now that we have 2 children and it's been more difficult to do anything.

No packing diaper bags, changing nappies, packing bottles, asking your toddler a million times if he needs to go potty and running around to find one, spending more time at the dinner table making sure the kids eat and then having to scarf your dinner down because the kids are getting to the end of their rope (I don't think I even taste my food anymore!), being on the clock and feeling like it's a race to get everything in before you run home for bedtime...the list goes on, but I'm sure you get the point.  I was in desperate need of a night out.  I just needed a refresher and some time away from the kids, out of the house and with my hubby to hit the reset button and this definitely did the trick.  I always feel guilty for feeling like I need time away from the boys since I love them both more than anything, but I'm realizing I am such a better mother when I've had the chance to "recharge," even if that just means a cup of tea, by myself, with no little ones to climb all over me or hands to pull at my hair.

We went to Newburyport, which is a quaint town on the ocean.  We stopped at a coffee shop where Zenith got a cappuccino and I an iced chai latte (with almond milk :P) and we sat for a bit just chatting.  It was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day so we walked down by the water to watch the sun set and had a lovely stroll, and then up through main street along all the cute little shops.

I had my "walking shoes" on here but I actually changed and wore heels for dinner!  (yes, that's a big deal for me :P)

We had 7pm reservations (yes, I'm specifying that time because anything after 5pm is adventurous for us...we felt like a carefree couple again!) for dinner at Ceia's Kitchen and Bar, a European restaurant.  The ambiance was so neat and we felt like we were back in Europe again with the old building, brick walls, and rustic decor.  We were seated by the window on the second floor (it has 3 floors, all relatively small) and had the whole floor to ourselves.  The service was great, the food was impeccable.    It even exceeded Zenith's expectations (which is hard to do) and we both thoroughly enjoyed our evening.  The menu changes according to what's in season and the presentation of the food was very elegant.  I ordered the wood fired salmon, which was delicious, and Zenith really went out on a limb and ordered the rabbit, which was surprisingly good!

This is the second floor and the table we sat at is the one all the way to the left by the window

Our prosciutto and cheese board to start (you can pick from an array of meats and cheese), with the best olives I've ever had, their homemade rustic bread, and a delicious Vinho Verde white wine (which I may or may not have been helping Zenith with ;))

As twilight set in, we watched the street light up from the window, and the lights inside dimmed to set the perfect romantic scene.  The thing I remember most about the evening was how we just talked.  The whole time we were able to really talk, uninterrupted, and as I sat across the table from the handsomest man (seriously, this guy takes dress casual to whole new level), I felt so blessed to have shared these 3 years with such an incredibly caring, loving, hard working man.  This guy has put up with so much, especially with all the health issues I've been going through, and taken it all with the best attitude, treating me like his queen.  We look forward to many more years together, God willing!

The reason we went out Thursday and not Wednesday was because William and I had an appointment with the Lyme doctor that day.  We discussed what kind of approached we would take for treating the Lyme for me along with doing a little more investigating with Thyroid levels (which still don't seem to be right) and some other blood work.  He has me on a Lyme "cocktail" which are a bunch of natural supplements that are supposed to help kill the Lyme and certain co-infections as well as keep my gut healthy while I continue with an antibiotic.  He also recommends doing different natural therapies to really boost my system to help my body fight the Lyme.  We're giving this a month and then we'll re-evaluate to see how it's going.

I brought William in because he's showed a few symptoms that I thought would be worth looking into, however the doctor doesn't seem too concerned and though we're testing him for Lyme, we wouldn't treat him unless the symptoms were to get worse since they're relatively mild right now.

I need to wrap this up so I'll leave you with a video of the boys all entertaining themselves before bed.

Now that I feel refreshed from our night out, I am ready to start this day.  I did miss my boys and was happy to see the faces of my "Willy-wum" and "Cellus" light up when they saw me this morning, and dole out a round of kisses.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Friday!

~Lindsay

Video Uploads

William saying his prayers...he just started doing this on his own!

Kid can't make up his mind whether he's happy or sad.

Conversational little fellow

Jumping baby