Life Lately: July

I’m pretty sure I say this every month…but…how is July already over? I have a HUGE picture dump for you all today, so bear with me! And enjoy the recap of our extremely busy, yet extremely laid-back month!

We have resumed our daily walks after dinner time. This is something that I’ve been having a hard time with this summer because I cannot seem to get dinner on the table soon enough. I have been working really hard this month to make sure that I start working on dinner early enough to be done eating in time to go for a family walk before bedtime.

Moose has taken to sleeping in Tera’s stroller, so when we put them both in it together, we didn’t expect him to stay! Funny thing was…he was purring and seemed to enjoy it even more than Tera! We only took him to the end of the driveway, don’t worry…

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Tera has been found twice this month sleeping in extremely unusual places in her room. Silly girl. The first time was on her dresser…

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And the second time, we could not find her anywhere! I almost had a heart attack and called Theo in to help me find her. We finally found her in the corner, half under the dresser and hidden by a pile of clothes. Silly, silly girl!!!

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The 4th of July was cold and rainy here in Ohio! It was a total bummer, but we still managed to make it to two parades. Tera and I went to the Fairborn parade in the morning and had a blast (although it was raining most of the time).

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And then in the evening, we went to the Beavercreek parade. That one was not as fun and it was really raining, so we didn’t enjoy it much at all.

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Well, Tera enjoyed it because she got a lollipop!

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After standing in the pouring rain watching a less than great parade, Theo and I got into a little argument. You know…it happens. We wanted to make it to the fireworks, but after walking around in the soggy grass for too long, we gave up and decided to go home. It was at that moment that I was approached by a blog reader! Oh my goodness, I cannot stop chuckling about that incident. I felt like a total celebrity and I was so greatly encouraged that random people out there actually read my blog! I had to laugh because I was a total mess- I mean, total MESS. I was soaking wet, I had cried off all my makeup and I was just DONE with the day. So, thanks, blog reader…you made my day!

July also began our potty training adventure. Tera is doing really well, although I’m still struggling with having her potty trained out in public? She won’t go on the big potty…do I just carry a potty seat around everywhere I go? She also hasn’t quite learned how to tell me that she needs to go, so it falls on us having to make sure to take her every two hours or so. But, progress! And she LOVES her undies!

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We’ve been going to splash pads and trying to stay cool as best we can! Tera loved this one because there were puddles around the fountains, which meant that she didn’t have to actually go into the fountains. My silly, silly girl!

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Tera and I drove up to Ann Arbor for an little overnight stay with Dan and Kelly. The next day, we went to the Detroit Zoo! It was a total blast. Tera loved it! They had just opened this new penguin exhibit and it was pretty cool (although really, really crowded!)

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Tera LOVES Uncle Dan and won’t give anyone else the time of day when he is around!

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Tera’s favorite animal at the zoo…was this duck with her baby ducklings. They were SO tame, I’m fairly certain we could have reached out and just picked up the ducklings.

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We tried to get a group picture, but this was the last stop of the day and Tera was not in the cooperative mood. This was the Artic Circle, and Daniel INSISTED that we do it. So, we walked through this entire tundra that was completely abandoned. We were sure it was a total bust, until we went down into the polar bear exhibit.

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And then the polar bear put on an entire show for us! He sat right on top of us, then swam off and then circled back around and did it again! It was also really crowded in the polar bear exhibit, but it was awesome.

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Tera got a little gift from her Meemaw made by the girls at the Niger Vocational Training Centre. Isn’t it just the cutest skirt?? I want a matching one!

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Did you read my 27 week pregnancy post where I mentioned that I’m pretty sure Theo got all the pregnancy symptoms? Here is a fine example of Theo “nesting”…

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All of the houses in our neighborhood have this nasty green mold(?) growing on the North side of the house. Isn’t that strange?

Tera helped Theo by playing with the house and his bucket of soap water.

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I don’t have an official ‘after’ picture, but I do have this in progress one where you can see the dirty and the clean side by side. It looks great now!

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Theo worked on free Cow Appreciation Day, so Tera and I hit up Chick-fil-A. It was a total madhouse. If Tera didn’t love it so much, I would totally NEVER do it again. It was so crowded and they got my order all wrong, but the chaos at the front counter meant I was NOT about to drag my toddler up to the front and complain. It was close enough, just not exactly what I said. That being said, I LOVE Chick-fil-A and have never, ever, ever had anything to complain about form them. It was completely understandable considering that they had been serving free food to people all day long. Like I said, it was a madhouse.

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And like I said, Tera LOVED it. I mean, she thought the entire process from start to finish was the greatest thing she has ever experienced. She thought our spots were hilarious and loved our masks so much. When we got to the restaurant, she kept calling everyone else pigs. Hahaha!

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She downed her meal and smiled and waved at everyone…she just loved the action. She also loves apple juice, so Chick-fil-A can do no wrong in her eyes!

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We took a family morning out to Ceaser Creek State Park. I’ve only been one other time. It was the day I went into labor with Tera. So, we had some good memories and made even more!

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This was written on the bottom of the slide, and I had to take a picture because I wonder if it’s still true. Does this person love Dlyan that much still? And are they still BFFs with Madison? Hmmm…. the mysteries of life!

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Tera absolutely loved the beach and the water! I was really surprised, but she actually layed down in the really shallow part at the edge of the water. The water was so warm and it was PERFECT! Until some kid drifted off in his inner tube, jumped off his inner tube and nearly drowned. Until he realized it was only 3 feet deep. Grandpa and Dad and someone else all jumped in after him, and Theo was left standing helpless since I had gone to the bathroom and he had Tera. Thankfully the kid was fine, but I know that people have drowned at this particular lake before. It’s a little scary!

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Honestly, a lot of July has looked like this…crying. Tera is going through a rough patch, and we aren’t exactly sure what it is. Teeth? Transiting from losing Little Miss? Almost to the terrible twos? Heat? I don’t know..but it sure has made parenting challenging!

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It’s a good thing she has such a fabulous Daddy who will spend one-on-one time with her!

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LOVE.

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Did I mention here that we have officially made Moose an outdoor cat? Well, we have. Our poor firstborn baby. When we got back from Houston, he started peeing everywhere in our house. It was getting so frustrating, so we kicked him out. We still feed him and we gave him a little house on the porch, so he has stuck around for the last three months of being exiled. He really doesn’t seem to mind all that much. We will reevaluate in the winter, don’t worry!

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I also took a trip to DC to visit my best friend, Tam! We celebrated her bridal shower and had a fabulous girls weekend! You can read the recap here and you can see my review of this PinkBlush Maternity dress here.

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And just as a little recap of my blog this July:

Most popular post: Dear Missionary Mom

Reading List: July

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Don’t forget to enter to win a $75 gift card to Pink Blush!!!

And if you don’t follow me on Instagram, you’d better change that! I’m @thegloriousmundane. Don’t forget to also head over to Facebook and like my page there, too. Interaction is always, always welcome on that page, too!

5 comments

  1. Chelsea McKinney says:

    What a busy and fun filled July! All the pictures are just perfect. And Tera is such a beautiful little girl. Her joy radiates through these pictures; says a lot about the childhood you and Theo are giving her! <3

  2. Mal says:

    Your month looked absolutely amazing ☺️ And I’m seriously wishing I could have been at that lake too!! Looked like so much fun ☺️☺️

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