Backyard Water Park

How cool are we? We have our very own backyard water park! Milo got a couple of cool "water features" for his birthday that will come in very handy during these next few months of scorching heat. Mark and I already decided that the big pool is just our size and the froggie pool is perfect for Milo. Griffin and Brooks helped us test the pools out when they were in town last weekend. Milo was napping so he missed out on all the fun. These were the only pictures I got because I was afraid the camera would get wet but we had a big time! The froggie pool actually sprays up in the air. Mark and I are going to have so much fun with all of Milo's toys in the coming years!

This is the evidence of the first Battle of Wills with our child... as you can see he kind of won. Does it count as a defeat if we changed our minds half-way through though? He learned how to climb up on the fireplace this week and we repeatedly said "No Sir" with our mean Mommy and Daddy voices while removing him from his perch. He kept doing it so we thought, "Well, once he tries to get down he won't be able to do it and he won't want to get back up." Great minds, right? Of course, it took some effort but he got down just fine. Since our whole reason for saying no was our fear that he would fall, reprimanding him after that seemed kind of silly.

When he climbs up now he still looks back at us with that smirk like he is thinking "Ha, ha, ha, this is just the first of many." There is just no explaining to a one-year-old that they did not really win the battle because you changed your mind. This parenting thing is going to be harder than we thought! The phrase "pick your battles" begins to have much more significance now...

Finally, I have gotten a few questions from these last week's pictures about my new "do." I have been thinking about it for awhile and felt like it was time. I LOVE having it short and I like the style. It is the perfect length so that it is not too difficult to fix it and I don't have the ponytail option (which is a good thing). So, here I am. New "do" and all.

Oh, one cute thing - when I got home from getting it cut Milo kept looking at me and giggling. I went into the bathroom to play around with it and, for once, he just sat perfectly still and watched me with his head cocked to one side. I am not sure if he liked it or not. Honestly, I think his biggest adjustment is not having something to hold on to while I am carrying him (which was another great incentive for me to cut it off!).

Lastly, I thought I would leave you with a couple of videos from our visit to the neighborhood park the other day. I will apologize beforehand for the shaky filming on the top video. I am not a great videographer on my best day and it seems to be worse while I am walking. Imagine that!