July 6

We had a busy morning, which left me feeling exhausted all day. Now, I'm ready to crawl into bed. But first, pictures!

Our friends Caleb, Hannah, and Andrew (and their lovely mom, Jen) invited us to go swimming in their neighborhood pool this morning. Of course, I'm not foolish enough to bring my big camera when I'm single-handedly supervising all four of my children around water, but when I put Eli in the pool for the first time and he loved it, I had to pull out my phone.

Eli has been to the pool many times, but has never actually been in the water until today. Honestly, I wasn't planning to put him in today; I don't have swim clothes or a swim diaper or anything for him! But for some reason I got caught up in the spur of the moment and decided to see what he thought, so I put him - completely naked! - in the little floatie. 

He immediately began kicking his legs furiously. After a minute or so of trying to figure out what was going on, Eli began grinning. He loved it! 

We left the pool a little after 11 and headed to our next appointment: Caleb's 6-year Well Child Check with his doctor. Caleb is perfect, and clocked in at 48 pounds (60th-70th percentile!) and 46.5 inches tall (50th percentile). It was a very pleasant visit.

I also took the opportunity to weigh Eli while we were there, and he was 14 pounds, 11.5 ounces, which puts him right on the curve he's been on the past few weigh-ins. Good job, buddy!

We headed home for second lunch and naps, which happened much later than I prefer. Once I finally got all of the kids down, I was just getting situated in the kitchen when it began pouring rain. It was a beautiful day, so Caleb and I were both pretty surprised, and we headed out to the porch to watch the cloudburst.

I cannot believe this cutie pie will be six in a few days!

After the novelty of the storm wore off, we got to work in the kitchen. Caleb requested an ice cream cake for his birthday. Sadly, I couldn't afford to buy all dairy-free ice cream for it, so I won't be able to eat it. But Caleb is excited about it, and he helped me make the whole thing! Then we made dairy-free pesto and prepped dinner. I showed him how to work the food processor, and let him handle my big sharp knife for the first time to chop some new potatoes. He is such a sweet, curious, helpful boy. Goodness, I love him!

After dinner, I headed up to the YMCA to spend some time on the elliptical because my stupid knee hurts when I just walk now. Chris, meanwhile, took the kids to a nearby parking lot to ride their bikes. He took videos, which I know everyone wants to see.

In this video, you can see Daisy starting out on the balance bike, Caleb riding his bike (still with training wheels....), Lily on her three-wheeler with a baby in her toy Ergo on her back, Eli happily kicking his legs as he watches his siblings ride, and Daisy switching to her big girl bike.

And then here's a darling video of a very happy Eli in the BOB, just because: