Bye-Bye Summer

I haven't posted in forever!  I'm too tired to give you a lengthy update, but we've had a good summer and traveled a lot!  Currently, Simon is giving me a run for my money with ridiculous behavior in the middle of the night.   Last night, I couldn't fall asleep myself, until Simon woke up some time after midnight.  I didn't manage to get him back into bed until 2 (after Tylenol and a bottle), and he woke up at 4!  I thought I was going to crack.  Chris helped out for an hour, but Simon was pretty uncontrollable.  I was starting to worry if he was hurting in some way, but then he would start babbling.  After another bottle (is he growing and teething?), I laid him in bed at 6, shut his door, and turned the fan on by my ear.  I wouldn't have heard him if he screamed my full name!   Dear Chris let me sleep until almost ten, when Luke came in and asked me to do something for him.  I have given up on sleeping well.  I haven't slept well at night (on a regular basis) since we moved here in July of 2007, thanks to being pregnant, Luke and his craziness, and now Simon.  I'm getting over it.  I used to think if a mom didn't get good sleep, she wasn't "training" her kids properly (other than the newborn months).  (Then Luke turned 3, and I had Simon.)  What a load of you-know-what.  How could I have been so arrogant?

So, here's what we did this summer:

• Late May: We went to MI for a week over Chris' birthday; Chris took actual vacation and did not study during the days!  (He worked every other time we were away from home.)
  
• June:  We were home for the entire month!  It was a nice month, including VBS at our church and lots of different happenings with friends and summer-time fun
• First 2 weeks of July: Luke turned 4 on July 2!  We spent time with almost my entire family up at my parents' house.  I got to meet Malachi for the first time, and see my sweet Katie, Paul, Preston & Anna for the first time in well over a year.   We desperately missed Daniel, Molly, Grace, Buddy, Elijah and Barnabas (who I still haven't met:()
• We were home for one week in the middle of July.  
• Last two weeks of July: The boys and I went to Michigan; Chris joined us the second week.  The weather was hot and sunny the entire time, and Luke and I went swimming once or twice every day.  We didn't want to come home because we were having such a good time, but once home, we were all happy to be here.  Other than Simon's middle-of-the-night shenanigans, we're doing really well.