August was such a fun filled month, minus all of the times my kids fought with each other, argued with me, and gave me sass 🙄. Before we left for the beach, I was so overwhelmed. The boys were just constantly bickering and tattling, and I couldn’t wait for school to start so that we could get some time away from each other. They had a Back to School bash at the school, where Quinn got to find out who his teachers are, and there were inflatables and different activities set up around the school. Last year, this event was held outside and it was about 900 degrees, so I’m guessing that’s why they decided to move it inside this year. I would rather melt in the heat than ever subject myself to that torture again 😂. It was so loud, I was overstimulated the moment we walked in. The lines to Pre-K and K were crazy long and confined to a hallway. I could barely hear anything his teacher said when we finally got to the front. I don’t say this to criticize the staff, I know they’re always doing the best they can. We just won’t be one of the first people to arrive, ever again. It’s been held 5:00-7:00, so I’m thinking like 6:30 will be the time to go next year 😂. I just couldn’t function with that much stimulation. There were too many options, and making decisions isn’t my kids’ strong suits. They wanted to go do this thing, but no, now they want to do this other thing that’s in a completely different part of the school, oh, and now they wanna go outside. It was just too much. My ability to function in chaos is directly related to how much I’ve already tolerated that day with my kids’ behavior, and let me tell you, the hours leading up to this event weren’t filled with calm and silence. Had meeting Quinn’s teacher not been the draw, we wouldn’t have gone at all.
Whenever we left, with a promise to get Wendy’s, just so that we could avoid waiting in the line for Stalder’s that was 25 deep, I asked Quinn if he had fun. He said, “Not really. You ruined it because you wouldn’t let us do anything!” That wasn’t the least bit true. From my perspective, I sacrificed my sanity to allow them to do whatever whim they had at the moment, for as long as I could bear it. I gave him my point of view, but he was determined to be stubborn, in true Quinn fashion. Honestly, it hurt my feelings whenever he said that. Granted, I agree I was on edge, but I wasn’t a yelly asshole, like I sometimes am whenever I get overstimulated at home. I think he was just unsatisfied with what they had (hence wanting to move on to whatever he thought was going to be better), due to his own (incorrect) expectations. There were inflatables, but one wasn’t working for a minute, leaving two for a million kids to play on. That wasn’t the ideal situation. I get it, but that doesn’t make it my fault.
Anyway, lessons were learned, and isn’t that all we can ever hope for? 🤪 I was more than ready to take vacation after that, which we did the following week. I wrote all about that in another post (Myrtle Beach 2025), if you missed it. It took about 12 hours to get home on a Friday, so I wasn’t sure if we’d be up for much that weekend, but we ended up at Town and County Days on Saturday, and the last pool day of the season on Sunday.
I was nervous about the fair because I had heard there were height restrictions, and that’s an issue we’ve encountered before. Quinn was at the perfect height, he could ride most of the smaller rides with Ash, and could ride the bigger rides with an adult. If they have the same next year, I’m guessing he’s going to be too tall for the smaller ones. Honestly, they probably would’ve been fine just going down that huge slide the entire time. I don’t mind the slide, I just wish 1. They had more sacks and/or 2. Someone working the bottom to keep people straight. As soon as you get off, you have to give your sack to the next people in line, but no one starts the line at the finish, they want to stand by the bottom of the stairs, and it’s just kind of a cluster.
Ash couldn’t hang and was done, but Quinn wanted to keep going, so he stayed with my brother and Lori, and he rode more rides with Lincoln, until they were ready to come home. As we were leaving, Ash said, “I hope Quinn has a good time.” 🥺🥺 He definitely did, and I know he had to have felt like such a big kid that night. He was pumped whenever he got home (always a good thing 🫠, especially since it was past his bedtime).
At the beginning of the month, when the weather went from feeling like it was trying to suffocate humanity, back to just normal hot, we took a break from the pool. I was worried it was going to be too cold. After a week, they were begging to go back, so we did. The water was freezing, as expected. This happened to be just before we left for the beach, so I was happy knowing we would still get to play in water, somewhere warm. When we got back, the temperature had kicked back up for optimal pool conditions, so we definitely wanted to make it to the last pool day.
This pool season was revolutionary for my body confidence. If you would have told me that I’d be wearing a bikini again after having kids, I would’ve laughed in your face (To be fair, mine was barely a bikini, with the majority of my pudge tucked into my high waisted bottom, but those three inches of exposed skin between my two pieces count for something, right?). I appreciate all of the other women who had the courage to wear whatever they wanted, despite falling short of society’s “beach body” standards. I decided early on that I was going to have a fun summer with my kids, and I wasn’t going to spend it hating my body. Still, I started off with my “mom’ suit, full tankini and short bottoms (I’m still a fan of short bottoms, though. I just don’t love how bikinis feel, never have), but found different pieces over the course of the summer, and by the end, I almost had normal tan lines 😂. I’m not saying I still wouldn’t prefer to be in better shape, but I’ve accepted that being okay with the body I’m currently in, is okay too.
The next week was packed with appointments. Ash got his front tooth fixed, the one that has been chipped since he was about 12 months old. He was having cold sensitivity, so Dr. Justice thought it best to cap it. He did amazing at the office! He was so chill, and not just because of the nitrous 😂. Now he seems to be good as new!
Quinn came home from the beach with a double ear infection, which he got treated the day after Ash’s trip to the dentist, and then he had a meet and greet with his teacher the day after that. The kids and I went to the school to see his classroom and talk to Mrs. Standiford. I warned her that Quinn’s ears weren’t working at peak performance, but was hoping they would be back to normal by the time he started school the following week. Ash also had a meet and greet with his teachers at Little Red Schoolhouse that evening. Quinn had done a fabulous job of talking it down, saying he didn’t like the toys there, so Ash wasn’t super excited about going 🙄🙄. Quinn changed his tune after I talked to him, he started hyping it up, telling Ash how he was going to have so much fun.
Quinn was looking forward to starting Kindergarten for three reasons: 1. He gets to use an iPad, 2: he gets to have gym class, and most importantly, 3: he doesn’t have nap time anymore 😂. He hated nap time in Pre-K. Kindergarten starts a week later than the older kids, with half of the class going on Monday, the second half Tuesday, and then everyone goes from Wednesday on. He was a little nervous Monday morning, but he went on the bus, no problem. I teared up a bit walking home from the bus stop, but the peace at home was very welcome 😂. Ash missed Quinn and kept asking when we could get him off of the bus. The same happened the rest of the week, which made it even more frustrating that Ash was who Quinn seemed to take all of his pent up emotions out on. He didn’t waste anytime fighting with Ash, once he got in the door. I almost wished he would sass me instead of being a jerk to Ash. We’ve had plenty of talks about being kind to him, especially because he misses him all day. Quinn retorts that Ash is soooooo annoying, and I resist the urge to tell him he is, too 🤪.
Ash and I went to his first playgroup without Quinn, and that poor boy just doesn’t quite know what to do with himself without his counterpart. I’m glad he’s going to Little Red Schoolhouse so that he can start to make his own friends, and discover what he likes without his brother’s influence.
My biggest school related complaint so far, (which isn’t limited to school but adds to the feeling of defeat) is packing Quinn’s lunch. He will only eat hot lunch on certain days, and sometimes not even on ones they’re serving something he likes, none of which have happened yet (think pizza, chicken nuggets, maybe pepperoni rolls). The struggle is trying to get him to eat anything that isn’t complete garbage. He used to be such an adventurous eater. Like, he ate guacamole with me when he was two. I can only blame myself for his decline because once I had Ash, I also ate complete garbage, setting a terrible example that has had lasting consequences. I would really love it if he would eat a source of protein, a vegetable, or even just a fruit. No, he’d happily survive solely on graham crackers, Cheez-Its, Doritos, any form of sugar, or other processed crap. I don’t want to pack his lunchbox full of junk, but I also don’t want him to be hungry, and the feelings involved in this chore are present every.single.day.
It’s not much different at home, but at least here he will eat yogurt, string cheese, pepperoni, chicken nuggets, etc. I never thought I’d see the day that I considered chicken nuggets a “real” food, but opposed to everything else he eats, it’s at least not sugar 😭😂. We even limit the sugar in our house, it’s not available to them 24/7, they have to eat “real” food first, and I truly hate the fight that comes with policing their food. At some point, do you just give up and hope for the best? 🥺
I started working with Ash hard core, trying to get him potty trained. In order to motivate him, he gets a piece of candy for using the potty, as long as he doesn’t pee in his pull-up first. I hate using sugar as an incentive (I mean, isn’t that how we reinforce bad food behaviors?), but he isn’t otherwise motivated 😑. I set a timer for every 45 minutes and make him go, and he’s been doing pretty well, as long as we’re at home. Going out in public throws everything off, but we’re trying. I’m unconvinced that he knows before he goes, which is the entire standard of being ready to potty train. He had gone to the restroom a few times with Philip and Quinn while on vacation, and Philip let him use a urinal, so he’s been wanting to stand up. While I firmly believe everyone should sit down to pee (because men’s bathrooms are disgusting and this could be changed if they’re just sit 🙄), I got Ash a urinal to put on the wall in our half bathroom. He tried standing and peeing in the toilet, but it was just making a mess, but the urinal has been great! His biggest resistance to potty training has been having to wash his hands. Which is another reason I got the urinal. He didn’t want to touch his penis to control it because he didn’t want to have to wash his hands afterwards 😑🙄😑🙄😑. Now he doesn’t really have to do anything but stand there. This won’t be a good life lesson in the long run, but baby steps 🤷🏻♀️.
What else we did this month:
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