June GBOMB

Good

AJ's first sleepover. AJ stayed the night with his grammy. They were both excited the whole week leading up to it. He had a really great time. They went to Thanksgiving Point for their summer fair. My mom sent lots of photos. 

My first book club. It wasn't a great book, and we talked about lots of things besides the book, but it was still pretty fun. Just four of us total, which I actually think was good! I didn't know any of them but felt totally comfortable. I'm excited for more book club interactions.

Garden. Bell peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, broccoli all thriving. Cucumber has yet to fully grow fruit. It probably needs more water. We've had sauteed broccoli and grilled zucchini from the garden, and both were SO good. Blackberries are coming in hot as well, which we didn't plant. So that's fun. 

Neighbors. Our neighbors really helped us out when our fridge went out (see below). Lois still has some of our food in her freezer. Greg let us use his dolly, trailer, and truck. And Lois will be taking care of Max and watering the garden while we are in CA for the upcoming holiday. I hope to get to know more neighbors. 

Bad

The week from hell. More details below. But on Thursday, June 11 we found out my MIL's husband passed away. Friday, June 12 I found out AJ needed almost $1000 of dental work (see below). We had his ear tube surgery on Tuesday, June 16. We had my sinus surgery June 17. That morning, Matthew took AJ to daycare and found out at the door that there was a family emergency, and she was closed. So we paid double for daycare. June 17 was also Dan's funeral. And in the midst of all this, our refrigerator/freezer went out (see below). Holy cow. This on top of our lawn dying/not figuring out the sprinklers, bugs in our house (mostly carpet beetle larva and some spiders), possible mice, needing to address our crawl space, no gutters, and just all kinds of other house issues... We're feeling a little overwhelmed. 

AJ's teeth. I have taken AJ to the dentist routinely since he got teeth. For whatever reason, I never thought to floss his baby teeth (although I floss daily), and nobody ever told me to. His appointment 6 months ago was a disaster; he wouldn't even let the dentist see as he melted down during naptime. At the pediatric dentist, they found cavities between all eight back molars, and between his front two teeth. The work will cost almost $1000. I'm SO sad about it. We brush his teeth every night, and have used fluoride since he could spit. I've now been flossing his teeth. 

Broken fridge/freezer. We noticed the freezer stopped making ice, and the freezer didn't seem to be staying very cold. Matthew worked on it over the weekend of 6/13-6/14, but on 6/15 I got home and all the meat was defrosted. Matthew got some dry ice. We took two bags of food to our neighbor's freezer, bless her. We borrowed coolers. And our warranty means we have to bring the fridge all the way to Orem for repairs or for exchange. We have no truck. SO stressful. Plus, this was the same week we had AJ's tube surgery, my sinus surgery, and my MIL's husband's funeral. Really, life? Really? By June 26 our "new" fridge was only at 48°. We got a full-size backup fridge from Marketplace to put in the basement. The amount of work to clean it and get it downstairs was another ordeal. We had a "repair guy" come on June 26, and whatever he did, did nothing. Fridge is still at 48 as of July 1. 

Squash plant. When we bought our garden starters, I got a little planter with TWO squash seedlings started. So we had two squash plants basically on top of each other. Both were doing well, but one specifically was bigger and thriving. When I was in a mode of "cut off the dead stuff," I accidentally cut the ENTIRE ROOT of the bigger squash plant that had 5+ squashes on the way. I killed it. I'm SO sad about it. We do still have the second plant that now has a chance to grow and catch up. But I really feel like I killed a living thing that was doing so much for us. 

On My Brain

Parental energy. The amount of energy it takes to be a good parent never ceases to amaze me. Putting limits and boundaries in place and holding them is so much harder than I think I've heard anyone else admit. Lazy parenting is so much easier. And I'm absolutely guilty of it. I feel like I do well for a time holding a boundary or expectation, then I get tired. 

Fires. Why is it that we have to put strict rules in place because just a small number of people ruin things for everyone else? What on earth would cause somebody to set fire to our state, or to be careless about putting out a fire, given the situation Utah is in? I'm so stressed about the heat, the wind, the drought. I'm doing a lot to minimize our water use. And then everything gets set on fire by a couple of idiots. I'm not a huge fan of fireworks anyway; I express this every year. And all that's been happening makes me even more averse. 

His whole world. When making a wish at bed time, AJ wished for mom and dad to play with him. I really hope I play with him enough. Knowing that we are his whole world until he's a pre-teen and starts leaning into friendships more, makes me emotional. Time is going so fast. I am honored to be my son's whole world--the person he wants to share everything with and the person he feels safe with. I don't know that I always do the greatest job in my role, but I try.