June 30th!? What the? Where the heck did this month go!

Let's just say life has been a bit busy since I last wrote, as you may have guessed from the blog title :) It really has been a whirlwind of a month for all of us. There has been traveling, camp, friends, family, visitors, new adventures, growing, eating, soccer, madness, and plenty of fun. I'll try to take it all step by step and not get too long winded in the process....

The first weekend into to summer we ventured up to Cleveland for the first time with all 6 of us. It also happened to be my birthday weekend so Pete and Ginger were kind enough to keep the kids and Chris and I stayed at a hotel. Part of this was because Chris had gotten us Dave Matthews Band tickets for my birthday and we knew we'd be out late. The concert was great! It was the first show we had seen together in at least a couple of years and as usual Dave did not disappoint :) We spent the rest of the time in Cleveland just relaxing and catching up with the family. The kids had a lot of fun playing with their cousins, Dylan and Gavin. It was also nice for me to have a little test run of leaving all four kids since we would be leaving them all with my mom the following week and up to this point I hadn't left Miles for more than a couple of hours. And of course the kids did great, but I know Pete and Ginger were a little tired from the visit :) - big thanks to both of them for their help! As nice as the trip was it did end on a bad note, I ended up at urgent care with a nasty case of Strep throat. Fortunately I was able to get in and out relatively quick and the antibiotics worked quickly. Lovely that I'm 35 and I still get strep throat, a predominantly kids sickness. Oh well, it sucked, but it didn't ruin what was otherwise a very nice trip.


So after Cleveland it was back to Cincinnati for 2 days and then Chris and I were off to Jamaica for Bridget and Matt's wedding and our first true vacation without kids in nearly FOUR years - YAY!! We had asked my mom long ago if she would watch the kids for us as part of my 35th birthday present and she was more than happy to help. She arrived a full day before we left to make sure she was all settled before the madness would begin. Chris and I left on Thursday and would return Tuesday night so it would be 5 full days with all four kids. She would get a little help since my brother came down for Saturday and Sunday. They all did great and had lots of fun.There was one instance of getting locked out, but otherwise the visit was without incident. There was a trip to the zoo, shopping, playing in the hot tub, and lots of silliness :) Chris and I called home via facetime a couple of times and it was always smiles and excitement from the kids. I know the kids and my mom had lots of fun. A HUGE thanks to my mom and brother for all their help!

Chris and I had a blast in Jamaica! 5 days of fun, family, rest, and sun, what more could we possibly have asked for? As I mentioned before, we were going for Bridget and Matt's wedding. Bridget is Chris's cousin and we both adore her so weren't going to miss this one. And the fact that it was in Jamaica meant we could actually get a vacation sans the kids too, truly a win-win :) We stayed at an all inclusive resort so the trip was truly carefree. We spent our days floating on rafts in the Caribbean and our nights eating, drinking, and laughing. There were about 30 of us there for the wedding and we all got along fabulously. Just about everyone left Monday, but Chris and I had decided to make the most of our time away and stayed until Tuesday. When it was finally time to go home we were both ready. It was the first time that I had been away from the kids for that long with nothing to do and it really hit me just how much I missed my babies. Usually when I'm gone its at a dive meet where I work 12-15 hour days and don't have time to miss my kids so this was a new experience for me. Anyway, we both missed the kids and were happy when we when finally (it was a looooong day of travel) made it home.

After Jamaica it was back to reality quickly. We got back Tuesday night (late) and I was off to West Lafayette Thursday at lunch time for Regionals until Sunday evening. Lucky for Chris and I my mom was staying until Saturday morning. This allowed me to get a bunch of stuff done before leaving and Chris the chance to get caught up with work. Another HUGE thanks for this help, mom!

And as soon as I got back from Regionals Chris was off traveling for work for 3 days. We finally got to spend the weekend of the 22nd-23rd all home and together. This would also end up being the ONLY weekend in the whole month that we were all home. Crazy. The next week Chris was busy with work again, the boys had soccer camp in the morning, and I was busy with swim lessons and diving practice with Rylan and Miles in tow. And Friday I sent the boys off with Chris's dad for 12 days in Cleveland - there will be more on that in another blog post.

And so here we are, June 30th. We made it, we may be a bit more crazed now, but we made it! :) July looks to be a little better, but August will for sure be madness. But really, as the blog title suggests, its always a little crazy in the Eby family :)

1st REAL Haircut

Ok, I caved. I took Miles with the other kids to get haircuts and was able to get them to give him one too. I seriously wanted to cry when they were done. He looks so cute and so much more like a baby! I feel like i can see HIM now and not just his crazy old man hair. And he was SOOO good for it. No crying and very little squirming as I tried to hold him as still as possible. What amazed me the most was that he had more cut off in terms if length than Rylan. His hair was seriously long all over. I know it's silly, but I feel so much better not having to worry about what I should do with his crazy mop head anymore :)

My cutie pie :)

And Summer Begins!

        

Memorial day weekend was the perfect start to summer for the Eby family this year! The forecast looked as though it would be a Michiganesque weekend with temps in the low to mid sixties, but the weather warmed quicker than expected and we got ourselves a very nice weekend with nothing to do except enjoy some much needed family time. It was so nice to have virtually nothing to do and just enjoy the break, especially since we have 3 weeks of insanity starting, but I'll get to that in a bit.

Monday ended up being about eighty degrees so after I mowed the lawn we pulled out the sprinkler and kicked summer off!

 We then gave a new hamburger recipe a try:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/juiciest-hamburgers-ever/

I had wanted a new hamburger recipe because all the hamburgers we had made at home were just ok. And so I searched "Juicy Hamburger recipe" and this is what I got. We were very happy with the recipe, they turned out very yummy and even the kids agreed. As a note, I took a few suggestions from the reviews and used bread soaked in milk rather than store bought bread crumbs and evaporated milk. Anyway, we have found a recipe we like and that makes me very happy.

And then we ended the day with Snickers Ice Cream bars! YUMMY!

So summer was kicked off with the weekend and by Tuesday it is in full swing! Jake had Select Soccer tryouts for Cincinnati United on Tuesday and Wednesday night. He has done very well in the SCSA league, but it has been pretty clear that he is a talented player and if he wants to continue to grow those skills he's going to need to do Select soccer. Anyone can tryout and you guaranteed to at least be able to participate in their developmental program if you don't make a team. We also told Jake that this first time at the tryouts is really to see what its all about because its a big financial jump from Rec soccer to Select and we want to make sure its something he really wants. The tryouts went well and Jake isn't sure what he wants so I'm sure I'll have more about this in the next week or so.

Here's a shot of Rylan at the tryouts - She's wearing Miles's 6 month pants because she had an accident and that's all I had for her!

The boys last day of school was today. The school tried something new this year and let the kids and parents know Tuesday who they would have for teachers next year and then on their last day (today) they would get to spend about an hour in their classroom for next year to meet the teacher and see who else was in the class. I personally thought this was a great idea and the kids seemed to really like it too. Brenden found out he would get one more year with Mrs. Yeatts as she will be moving up to 1st grade next year - we were ECSTATIC to hear this news! Mrs. Yeatts has been great for Brenden and he truly seems to like her. Jake will have 2 teachers - Mrs. Fabe and Mrs. Cannon. When we moved here last year Mrs. Cannon was his teacher for the final month of school and Jake seemed to like her a lot. I don't know much about Mrs. Fabe, but I do think 2 teachers will be good for him.

So schools out so its time for some vacations. First, we'll be taking the entire family of 6 to Cleveland this weekend. On Tuesday my mom will come to town to watch the kids - all 4 of them - while Chris and I go to Jamaica for 5 days. Two days after Chris and I get back, I'll leave for Purdue University for a dive meet. And after I get home from that Chris will leave for 3 days for work. 

WOW, that's a lot in the next 3 weeks! But I'm excited for all of it, especially my first kid free vacation in about 4 years! 

Weekly Weigh In: Weeks 14 & 15

Weeks 14 & 15

 

Weight: 139.8

Two Week Total: 0.2

Overall Total: 11.6

I'm into the 130's! Barely, but I AM there :) And only one more week until I leave for Jamaica so I'm feeling pretty good. Miles has also has hit a massive growth spurt and my milk production can't keep up so we're weening him to formula. So with no more nursing I'm thinking a big loss will be coming soon as all of this extra liquid leaves my body. I'm still working out 4-5 days a week and enjoying the group classes as well as my own workouts. Basically, things are good and I'm very happy with the way they have gone and are continuing to go - YAY ME! :)

1st Haircut for Miles

So Miles was born with a FULL head of hair:

As you can see he had a lot of hair - btw, I LOVE his little fro picture :) Anyway, a lot of people told me it would probably fall out the way it did with Jake and Brenden, who were born with hair, but nothing like what Miles had. However, as I suspected, it did not fall out. It has thinned a bit, but he definitely has a full head of hair still and it just keeps getting longer and longer. 

For most moms this probably isn't very bothersome, but for me? I miss having a bald baby. So I have been contemplating for a while whether or not to buzz it all off. It is growing crazy, uneven, and really long in some spots so I thought buzzing would give me my bald baby and allow it to start coming in more evenly. Well.........I didn't do it, as much as I wanted to, I didn't. BUT, I did trim things up a bit. Unfortunately, I don't have any good pictures to really demonstrate the ridiculousness of his hair recently, but if you look below at the picture I can try to explain what was going on and what I did.

If you look at his right ear above - so the left side of the picture - you can kind of see how his hair hangs over his ear. Well, if you were to pull all of that hair that tucks behind his ear out over his ear it would cover his ear and go all the way down past his earlobe - Hot, right? And this is how it was on both sides of his head. Just trust me when I tell you he looked ridiculous.

So I trimmed that hair and the hair along his neck line that was getting mullit-ish. As you can kind of see above, the hair now just sort flips out if it comes over his ears and is much shorter. It wasn't much of a haircut, but I can see a big difference. Definitely much less ridiculous looking now.

Now I am still a little bummed that I don't have a bald baby, but when I was about to buzz his hair I realized and accepted the fact that that is just not who Miles is. He's my old man looking baby with a whole bunch of hair :) And as much as I want to buzz his hair, I'll wait a little bit longer until he's ready for a "real" haircut at the barber :)

No More Braces!

After 8 1/2 months, Jake got his braces off yesterday! He had been counting down the days since his last appointment about 3 weeks ago. He had a bit of a rough time with the actual process of having them removed, but once we got home and he had some lunch he was all smiles for the rest of the day. And so am I, his teeth look so much better! Today he got his temporary retainer and he will get a permanent one in about 3 weeks. Now this won't guarantee he won't need braces again in the future once all of his adult teeth are in, but hopefully it will help reduce the need to only his bottom teeth or none at all. Regardless, his teeth are fixed and he's lookin' good :)

Before braces - the tooth was "stuck" behind his bottom tooth and couldn't move forward

Braces On

The finished product! So Handsome!

Weekly Weigh: Week 13

Week 13

Weight: 140.0

Week Total: 2.8

Overall Total: 11.4

Woooooooo Hooooooooooooooo! I have reached the 140 lb mark and surpassed the 10 lb total! Two very big milestones in my mind. Hitting and passing 10 lbs of total loss feels like such a huge step and to be just about 1/2 way to my goal just puts a huge smile on my face. And what makes me even more happy is the progress I'm seeing in my workouts. Today I ran 4 miles in 37:25 on the treadmill. This is the longest run I've done I can't even remember AND I averaged about 9:20 miles which is definitely my personal best. I'm just so happy with the way everything is going and excited to keep at it! :)