Mae's Turn

I haven't been able to post as much as I would want to/like to recently. For the last month, Pearson has been traveling and/or working a ton. As you are aware (from my griping in previous posts), Pearson's work travel isn't a new occurence in our lives, however, with the addition of Whitaker to our lives, solo parenting two kids is doubly exhausted. Since Whitaker wakes at 5:30 am, nods off around 8:30/9 pm, and is up for multiple feedings throughout the night, I haven't felt much like getting on the computer. As you can tell, the only posts that I can get up these days are the weekly photos of Whitaker.


Due to my lack of posts, including Mae's 22 month letter (I started it I just haven't finished it), I feel that I have neglected my first child and the many things she has been doing. I have yet to write about the honeymoon being over with Whitaker, Mae's continuing verbal development, Mae getting into preschool AND her being able to count to 10 (insanely cute and awesome)!


In an attempt to teach Mae to share, I decided that Mae might be able to understand the concept of "taking turns" over "sharing." So the way it works instead of "sharing" a toy I try to tell Mae she will get a turn with a toy and then needs to give it to her friend/other kid in x number of minutes. You might wonder how it is going?

Mae now says, "Mae's tern" when she wants something that someone is playing with. (She doesn't do it all the time but it has reduced the number of times Mae has ripped a toy from a kid's hand. Too bad, it is seems to always be her turn and never anyone else's. Looks like I need to rethink this concept.

Every Thursday for a Year - Week 7

Whitaker Ian Cummings - 7 Weeks

Sibling Rivalry

I know over the next 18+ years many fights will ensue between my two kids. I am fully aware and semi-prepared to listen to "no, it is mine," "I had it first," "Mom, Mae is being mean," "Mom, Whitaker, hit me." They will fight over attention, physical space, objects of desire (toys, the car, etc), and silly and annoying quirks of each other (someone laughs to loud, some sneezes wrong, etc...). I am under no dellusion that this will be easy as a parent or for my kids. I can recall how my sisters, less Julie, and I fought for our entire childhood, into our teens year, and 20s. Geez, we still fight today as adults, moms, and wives. I don't know if sibling rivalry ever ends.


However, I didn't prepare myself for it to begin already. What happened? Mae scratched Whitaker on the face this weekend. I am not completely certain why or what provoked it. Poor Whitaker, he cried like a baby (rightfully so) but got over it pretty quick. Mae apologized (after being forced to by her parents) and looked sorry, although, I don't dare say this will stop her from doing it again. And so it begins folks.

Here are photos of them getting along and Mae also almost about to sit on Whitaker.

Every Thursday for a Year

I am a little bummed because I wasn't able to capture Whitaker while performing his new skill. Yep, like clock work he is showing us the social smile (happens at around 6 weeks), meaning he is smiling at me and Pearson and Mae when we smile/talk/coo/entertain him.It is so darn sweet but hard to capture behind a camera. Anyways, here is Whitaker at 6 weeks.

Whitaker Ian Cummings - 6 Weeks

Summer is FINALLY Here!

The temperature FINALLY hit 80 degrees. When I say FINALLY, I mean finally. We have had a record setting stretch of cold weather. I believe it has been a little over 300 days of temperatures not reaching 80 degrees. It has been torture. Thankfully today, we actually got to work up a sweat.

What do you do when you start to sweat? You don a bikini and play in water. We put on Mae's bikini (thanks Aunt Julie), which Pearson calls her Toddlers and Tiaras suit and we headed to our friend Lucy's house for some outdoor water play. The girls had fun and Whitaker (my mellow man) slept or enjoyed Lucy's attention.

4th of July Weekend

First and most importantly, we added a new member to the family on the 4th of July. Heather, my sister, gave birth to her third boy, John Matthew Sanne. We are so happy for them and know that he will be loved beyond imagination and be highly entertained by his older brothers, Lucke and Will. We can't wait to meet him and wish their family the best. (I will try to add pics of him when my sister sends some around).

And in other news..

The holiday weekend brought summer weather to Seattle, still only in the 70s though. We took advantage of the long weekend and beautiful weather and headed to our favorite Seattle destination, Madison Park beach. Shockingly, Mae got in the water. She is clearly not my daughter. There is nothing I hate more than cold water. Despite the water temperature being in the low 60s, she loved it and asked Pearson for "more kicking." They stayed in for about a half hour and only because Pearson was freezing. Along with a couple trips to the beach, we celebrated Grandma Cummings and had 4th of July dinner with Karen, Zac, and Makana.

Happy Belated Birthday Grandma Cummings

Yesterday [July 2nd] was Grandma Cummings Birthday. We were fortunate that she was in Seattle and we got to celebrate her special day with her. We tried to teach Mae to say, "Happy Birthday Grandma" as a present to her but despite repeated practicing all we could get was "Happy Grandma." To celebrate Grandma C./Johanna/Mom we headed to brunch and were joined by some other family members. Below are photos from the celebration.

The Birthday Girl and Mae Walking to brunch.

Mae in her seat. This lasted for all of 15 minutes.

Whitaker enjoying brunch. He did eventually wakeup despite me hoping he would sleep the whole time.
Mae trying to feed me blueberries.

Grandma Cummings and Mae very interested in breakfast conversation.

Opening gifts.

All of us celebrating Johanna.