Chelsea Salomone

Our sweet Becks turned two last week! Beck is such a delight and brings us all such joy. At age two he is full of personality and opinions. He just recently started talking in sentences (it seemed like overnight!). Here are some things that come to mind that he says:

"No Bubba! I do it!"
"My turn!"
"Mommy get me ____"
"My hold it"
"Who's that?" (He says this for everything, including objects he doesn't know.)
"It's dark!"
"Where Everett is?"
"Bubba 'mon! 'mon!" (while pulling on his clothes)
"Where daddy is....golf?"
"Call Mimi! Call Grammy" (FaceTime is his life.)
"Hi everybody!" (When walking into public places)

Beck is super friendly, silly and outgoing, but can turn to shy and solemn with his thumb in his mouth in no time flat. In many ways he is his own person, and yet a precise blend of Logan and Everett's opposite personalities as well.

Beck's very most favorite things right now are Nick, his big brothers, and sucking his thumb. His favorite books (Fire Engine Man, Digger Man & Train Man), singing songs (Twinkle, Twinkle, Jesus Loves Me and ABC's). He loves playing chase and wrestling with his brothers more than just about anything. He will play with cars, trucks and random toys occasionally but doesn't seem to have any big favorites. Mostly, he just likes to pull stuff out of cabinets, sit and read books, watch movies, or get in the thick of what Logan and Everett are doing.

He likes to shout "Na na boo boo get you!" meaning he wants L and E to chase him.

Beck has big opinions in his small little body. He's not about to get run over by anyone. He demands certain songs on the radio and shows on TV. His favorites are Sing, Pets (Secret Life of Pets), The Grinch and Trolls. He doesn't really have any favorite foods (except carbs)... he just wants what he wants. One day he will love yogurt, pretzels, nuggets, cereal, you name it... the next day it's "NO CEREAL!!!" He went through a pretty picky stage, but lately he is eating better.

Sadly, third kid... I'm not quite sure of his height or weight. I haven't taken him in for a well check... he goes in often enough for various ailments, so a well visit kind of seems like a waste of time.

We celebrated Beck's birthday on Saturday the 16th with a Clifford themed pool party. He is doing so well kicking around the pool in his floatie these days!

I thought it was going to be a relatively small party, but it ended up being huge- probably close to 50 people... all of our family, neighbors, the Gregorys, the Bears and the Heldoorns descended upon our backyard to celebrate Beck turning two. We had quite a celebration! We missed the Vestals and the Manns who were both out of town though.




Beck had the best time swimming with Mimi and his party and playing with Grammy and Colin in the yard. He was SO excited about his "chok-it Wufford" cake and sang happy birthday to himself all week with gusto. He got super shy when it was time to blow out his candles though.

On his actual birthday we did the usual donuts and singing HBD for breakfast. Just like his big brothers, Beck got his very own Power Wheels for his second birthday. And just like with Everett, his big brother(s) stayed up late the night before helping Nick assemble it. I'm pretty sure they were just as excited as Beck. Beck got a Denali to match Daddy's.


Logan and Everett elected to take Beck to Peter Piper Pizza in Arlington for lunch, in a completely selfless motivation, of course. Beck loves the small rides and games there, and putting tokens in the machines. Mimi, Grammy and Scat went with us and a fun time was had by all! (Even if his left over cake was a little pitiful looking!)

Financially signing up to do Market was a big risk for us. It cost about $5000 (Jaymi and Chelsea math) all in. If we had lost all of that we probably would have recovered but it would have been a huge, huge hit for us for sure. We went to Market with 13 current wholesale accounts and set a goal of getting about 10 more to recoup our costs, pay Alli and Regina and make a little money (Nick and Cody math). We ended up getting 45 new accounts all over the country when it was said and done!!!

I think I've finally figured out the magic formula to summer success and that is... keep everyone busy! In past summers we've had a few things planned here and there but also had consecutive weeks of no plans. I thought it would be restful, and I don't remember doing much in the summer growing up, except eating snow cones and swimming and maybe taking a small family vacation. Alas, it is not 1994 any more and my memory might not be completely up to par. I've reevaluated what works for our family with three active little boys. This summer I've planned lots of activities (and a couple of weeks here and there of staying home- flipped my matrix), and so far we're all much happier for it!

Our summer has started off with a bang with back to back to back activities right out of the gate!
We kicked off summer on Saturday Mother's Day redo, which I was more than happy to accept. Ha! The main thing I wanted to do was spend the day with Nick and the boys in the pool. I love that more than just about anything these days. I woke up and went to workout, had a smoothie and played with the boys while Nick went to workout. Then, we spent the rest of the morning/early afternoon swimming. After lunch Nick had booked an appointment for me at Corinthian to get a massage and facial, and then that night we went to eat Hibachi for dinner. I couldn't have asked for a better Mother's Day. It was definitely worth the wait!

The following Sunday was Transition Sunday, where all the kids move up to the next grade level. Beck officially left the nursery and Logan started going to "big kid church," in The Rock, and it was a lot more emotional for me than I realized. Mrs. Carolyn and Mrs. Barbara have taken the very best care of all my boys for the past six and a half years on Sundays, most Wednesdays, and the occasional Wednesday night. It breaks my heart to think I'll never have another baby to pick up in the church nursery.

Good thing Mrs. Carolyn is one of our best CBL customers so I'll keep seeing her. She flags me down just about every Sunday with a laundry list of things she'd like to order, real specific like, "Would you bring me three pair of those pink kind of ones you wore a couple weeks ago?" I'm always glad to do it.
The first week of summer was one I had slated for r&r for the boys, but Logan begged me to do P.E. camp in the mornings. He loves Coach Childress and P.E. camp, and he has already asked me multiple times if I've signed him up for the July session.
This was also the week of Dallas Market for CBL, which I'll do a separate post about. This was a 12+ hour a day commitment, and of course E and B came down with strep during that time. Thanks to an awesome husband, two wonderful grandmas, and Bailee and her mom, we got through it! It takes a village for sure!!
I worked Market Tuesday through Thursday and Friday morning left on a girls' trip to Fredericksburg with a group of neighbors. The timing wasn't great for sure backing up to Market like that (we planned Fredericksbug long before Market), but the trip and girl time was well worth it.
I enjoyed every minute of my weekend away with such great friends. We stayed in the same house I stayed in a few years back with my neighbors growing up. We enjoyed dinner out and a wine tour on Saturday. We buddied up with two ladies Amy and Helen who kept us laughing, mouths agape, and somehow Amy, Helen and our limo driver all ended up on our porch drinking wine Saturday night!! Lots of memories were made for sure.



I came back from Fredericksburg and we jumped right into camps. Logan started Camp Invention at Carroll Middle School, and Everett, Beck and I went to VBS. I was sad Logan wasn't with us, but really-- there isn't a camp more suited for Logan than Camp Invention. I knew he would love it so much! It was long, from 8-4 each day with kids from 1st grade up to 6th. But he came home happy and completely exhausted each day. He made all kinds of curious inventions, including a robotic dog, a sling shot, an Optibot robot, and a house made of boxes that he wired with lights, a "booby trap," and a hot tub on the roof that has straw pipes coming down to water the plants. It was all the things he loves and has such a natural affinity for, that I have no idea how to help him do.


I had fun teaching Everett's class, although fourteen 4 year olds (ten of which were boys!), wasn't the most relaxing way to come down off of Market and being out of town. Luckily, it was only from 9-12 each day. It was a lot like baby-sitting, but I really did enjoy being with Everett and would go get Beck early a couple of days to do music class, playground and science with us since he was hanging out in the nursery. They had fun playing. My friend Lauren from MOPS was in charge of the preschool program, and she had our schedule down perfectly, rotating from class to class or activities every 30 minutes. I especially enjoyed seeing what a little clown Everett is. He's such a sweet, kind hearted boy. But unlike his big brother he has little regard for being a rule follower, and prefers instead to push the envelope and make everyone laugh instead. I'm sure it was extra exaggerated having his mom as the teacher.





VBS and Camp Invention wrapped up on Thursday, and Friday we had a low key day at home. We had the MOPS end of year couples party that night, and Beck's party on Saturday so we needed a day to be home and just breathe.






I haven't been feeling great in the past week, I actually went and had some blood work done because I've just felt so exhausted- like first trimester of pregnancy so tired I can barely keep my eyes open exhausted- plus a string of other random symptoms, and not at all like my normal self. Writing this all out makes me think, no wonder I've felt so tired! The past three weeks (and the month before that with Nick traveling so much and then sick) have been insane/stressy/exciting/emotional... Maybe I'm just coming down off all that's happened since the end of April. Thankfully this week we don't have much of anything planned. I'm waiting to hear back from my blood work, but hopefully I'll be feeling back to my normal self soon.