Russ 4 months

Four months. How has it already been four months? 

Russ is adorable. 26 inches long, 14 pounds (I swear he was heavier, slimmed down, and got skinnier again...haha), and perfect. He's losing his hair a bit in front, but a new patch of hair is growing in, so it still looks dark all over. He likes to gnaw on his thumb and fists and I'm pretty positive he is teething. He is an angel except for between the hours of 4-6pm when I am trying to make dinner and feed the family. Then he wants to be held and fed. He falls asleep at 630pm usually, so I know he's just getting tired and cranky before that, it's just bad timing. He sleep from 7-7 and gets up once usually around 2am. He is the best sleeper I have ever had and the best at going to sleep. I usually just set him down somewhere (not upstairs because Ruth usually sings to herself for awhile before falling asleep and so I don't put him in her room yet) and he just falls asleep on his own. On the rug beside me while I do a workout, or on the couch while I do dishes. Then I just carry him up to his crib and lay him down once Ruth has fallen asleep. He will fall asleep for naps even if I put him down in his crib when he is wide awake. However, this RARELY happens because the poor kid is usually dragged around all morning and afternoon dropping off and picking up kids and running errands without the dropped off kids. I do notice that he is happier in the evenings when we have had a slower day and he has fit in more successive sleep, so I've been trying to be better about that. He still smiles at me all day long and he's getting to be a champ at tummy time (which means he only cries after 6 minutes, instead of 2 minutes). He is starting to coo a lot more and I LOVE that. He also is starting to grab everything-my necklace, my shirt, Ruth's hair, and he pulled out a huge chunk of Molly's hair today. He will take a soother, kind of. He will take it at church when I sit there and pop it back into his mouth every minute or so, but that's not too helpful in the car. He is the perfect weight and baby softness to hold and snuggle and burrow your face into. He is starting to laugh when I tickle him under his chin. We have gotten a few very short out loud laughs, and I can't wait for there to be more!

We love you Russ.

How he gnaws on his thumb. I love it. None of my kids have found their fingers/fists/soothers to self-soothe and I will take it. I've even seen him doing this in his sleep in the middle of the night--maybe that's why he sleeps!

That or he stuff both fists in his mouth. Cutie pie.

Getting better at tummy time.

Those eyes and lips, haha!

Sullivan Park + Deerfield Beach

There is nothing like family coming to visit that puts you into discovery mode! We have only lived here four months, but we've had a newborn so discovering our area has been a little slower. We checked out a splash pad on the intracostal. I have discovered one thing--the Intracostal, which everyone refers to here frequently, is a stretch of water that goes the length of the county (further I think) and you have to cross bridges to connect to a thin layer (island? I don't know if it connects anywhere, clearly I have more research to do) of land and then the Atlantic Ocean. So if you started at the ocean, you have the ocean, a tiny stretch of land, bridges over the intracostal, and then Florida. We drive over the intracostal to go into Downtown Delray. So it is literally minutes from our house. You can paddle board, kayak, etc. on the Intracostal and most of the bridges are from the early 1900s and they go up when big yachts and things go through so it backs up traffic but looks really cool. ANYWAY 

This park, Sullivan Park, is right on the Intracostal in the little town of Deerfield Beach, which is about thirty minutes south of us. I went here to check out the beach. But I'm finding that Palm Beach County is WAAAY more worried about keeping their turtles alive than looking as crystal clean as South Beach in Miami, so it's just a different experience. The water is also more choppy--people come here to surf, whereas people said you can't really surf in Miami. So the waves make it harder to see the beautiful turquoise of the water, but the water is still crystal clear and gorgeous (on Saturday I went neck deep and could still see my feet). Also, I think because of the waves, there are a lot more sea shells--which my kids love. Here in Delray Beach we live ten minutes from the ocean, parking is way cheaper, the town is absolute southern beach charm to the max, the beaches are less poster-worthy but much more fun. I LOVE Delray Beach. 

ANWAY again

This little park was super fun. I mean, it's just your basic park and splash pad. But it was cute and clean and the scenery was beautiful.

Running to watch the boat go through the bridge.

The Intracostal.

So after hitting up the park and splash pad, we went to the beach. The initial plan had been to just really quick check out the splash pad. But, it was incredibly windy. I checked it later, 30 mph and waves up to 15 recorded. I have never been to the ocean in that kind of craziness. There was so much foam on the ocean it was staying on the beach in bathtub-full amounts and then the wind was blowing it so it looked like a cotton tree was hiding somewhere. That's what my kids did in the 25 minutes of parking that I paid for---ran around jumping in the bubbles blowing off the ocean. It was incredible and majestic and gorgeous and wild.

“We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods

I literally took over 300 pictures. But you just can't experience that in a photo. The force of the wind and the sand biting your skin, and the smile that somehow inevitably brings to your face. The whirling hair around your head. It elevates your heart and soul and makes your heart race and brings you above the monotonous day and into the euphoria of a discovery in nature. I love it. It's like reaching the highest peak of hiking. I just love the ocean. 

They don't mind all the seaweed we leave there for the hatching turtles :)

All the waves were just SO INCREDIBLY HUGE

The foam that was bunching up by huge amounts and blowing around like bubbles.

The end.