An Uneventful Week

Gosh, it's been nearly a week since my last post. I'm not even sure what has kept me so busy, but I haven't had much time to sit down and write. This week has been pretty uneventful... a good thing around here.

This past Saturday we went swimming at Spencer's friend Tyler's neighborhood pool. Spence was showing off his swimming skills and then he told Larry that he wanted to jump off of the diving board. It was completely his idea and he had little if no apprehension/fear. I didn't think he would do it, but the little guy walked to the end of the board and took a leap of faith and jumped down to his daddy. He loved it and was so proud of himself. He did it over and over, which was fun for him but very tiring for Larry who had to tread water the entire time.

I have been spending some time researching a destination for next year's vacation. So far, I am leaning toward an island off the Florida panhandle called St. George. We are hoping to find something beachfront or at least oceanview with a pool. While I loved Fripp Island, the constant travel to the beach and/or pool took so much time to pack up, drive there, set up, etc. It would be nice to have those amenities within walking distance, preferably the backyard. The cost is greater, but I think it is worth it. There isn't much available along those lines in Fripp, and I'm sorta over Fripp. I would like to see someplace new.

Larry is upstairs with Spence. He has been reading Harry Potter to him, but I'm not sure how much of it Spence understands/enjoys. Someone recommended trying the Magic Treehouse series, so Spence and I ran up to Books-a-Million today and bought the first book. It's written for preschoolers, so I am hoping he will enjoy it. This one is about Dragons I think. Olive is off to sleep too, she fought it some tonight, but we finally got her down. I made her some homemade squash from Mom's garden, and she loves it. Next food: Green Beans!! Hopefully she will like these better than peas.

The long and whining road

This week has been rough. One of the dispatchers where Larry works had a death in the family and has been out all week, which means Larry has had to work both of his off days. In short, he hasn't had much sleep at all. I had actually planned to increase my hrs. at work this week. I managed to do it yesterday b/c Spence was at the Raible's, but today will be impossible since Larry is resembling the walking dead.

Without camp, I am finding myself at a loss for ideas to keep Spencer busy, and when he is bored, he WHINES...A LOT! This is a huge issue right now and is seriously wearing on my patience. Not only is he whining, but he wants me to attend to him at all times, he won't play by himself or even in my vicinity. I am going to try the library today, but last time he had a major meltdown. We have 2 boys his age that live behind us, but they are still in camp each day until noon. They play together all afternoon/evening though, which is good. Olive is restless herself...she won't be held and is frustrated that she can't crawl yet. She gets mad and yells out when she can't do it. I have to keep a very close eye on her, the other day she pulled a bow out of her hair and stuck it in her mouth while I was holding her. Her hair has gotten so long that it hangs down in her eyes, so I usually keep a bow in it to hold it back, but now I don't know what to do. I hate to cut her hair, but I don't' want her choking to death on a bow either.

Last night I went to the Mom's group meeting at Church. I am trying to become more involved, eventhough now as an adult, it is not in my nature to sit through things like this. We had to play the game where everyone goes around the room and tells things about themselves. They passed a roll of toilet paper and everyone pulled off some and based on how many squares you pulled, that is how many facts you had to share about yourself. I can't stand this sort of contrived method of forced friendship. Knowing the game from countless sorority "getting to know you" events, I pulled off the fewest squares possible. Luckily, my friend Sarah was there and I didn't have to face it alone. She knew the game as well, pulled off 3 squares. The meeting wasn't all bad though and I plan on volunteering on a comittee that welcomes new babies and supports new moms and moms having trouble with pregnancy loss/special needs kids, etc. I figure that I am qualified for all of this based on my personal experience and work experience.

Must go get the little ones dressed, run to Target and then Library.

TGIF

TGIF....Sounds like I've had a hard week, but it's actually been pretty easy. Larry's new 4-day work week has been a huge help! The downside to that is that he works wed, thurs, fri & Sun. So, the hard part of my week started yesterday. Spencer finished his last week of camp yesterday, so now he is off until school starts after labor day. This means many trips to the library, park and pool for the rest of the summer to keep him occupied.

I am in the planning stages for Spencer's upcoming birthday party, and the little guy is quite demanding regarding the things he wants for his birthday and the kind of party he wants to have. I am also compiling pictures, video footage for his upcoming video. I am trying to think of music to use. That is always the hardest part for me. I'm sure I will come up with something. I will be sure to post a link to the video once it's complete.

Here is a link to a slideshow I made of our vacation pictures:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v78/wishbone72/Fripp%20Island%202007/?action=view&current=d2b081ad.pbr

Finally Home

Well, we are finally home. We had a wonderful time, but I have to say that I'm glad to be back...a sign that I had a full vacation. The weather was wonderful the entire time, we ate good and played hard. And, most importantly (drum roll) Spencer learned to swim this vacation!! Thanks to Barb's swim school. It's not the easiest way to do it, but it is the most effective....Not recommended for the squeamish. Spence was ready to swim though, he wasn't scared and loved the challenge. Now, I'm proud to say that he can swim under water without assistance for short distances. He's still not totally independent, but I'd say he has the basics down. Mom taught him in one day what 6 months of swimming lessons at "All About Kids" couldn't do. We will just have to make sure we keep taking him to the pool this summer in order to make sure he doesn't forget.

Yesterday's plane ride was a little rough to say the least. The flights were so turbulent that Spence threw up on the second flight. Poor guy was done. I don't know if he will ever eat Cheetos again...I don't know if Larry or I will either for that matter. But, he's already back into the swing of things today, off to camp this morning. I've already hit the grocery and restocked for the week ahead. I'm looking forward to getting back into our routine too.

I will try to upload some pics from the trip to my photobucket acct. Until then, here is one from the front steps of the beach house.

Bathing Beauty

We hit the beach and the pool today full force. Spence had a great time building sand castles, didn't care too much for the ocean. A wave knocked him over and turns out, he hates salt water. Olive, our little bathing beauty even made an appearance in her new bikini. We set up a little pop-up tent for her to block the wind and sand. She did OK for a little while. She stayed long enough to put her feet in the water.

This evening, it was Mom & Dad's time to cook and they made a great dinner. After, we all went for a ride in the surrey, which was hilarious. It's a bike/cart that has 2 rows of seats and requires 4 people to pedal. We laughed so hard that we could barely pedal. We had to stop/reverse fred flinstone style. It was so much fun.

Later, we had a big storm come through. We all sat on the front porch and enjoyed the rain. Even Olive who fell asleep to Meme' rocking her while it stormed. Then bath and bed for both little ones who are now fast asleep. I bought a book to read on vacation. It's Anita Shreve's new one: Body Surfing. I hope it's good, her last few have been kind of disappointing.

Vacation is finally here!!

Well, we finally made it to Fripp Island !! Not without some minor snags unfortunately. Luckily the flying went great. Olive slept through both flights while Spence watched movies on the laptop. I was even able to read the skymall magazine on the plane. When we arrived in Savannah (the city stinks like sulphur by the way), we ended up driving 14 miles out of our way to the hotel thanks to poor directions from expedia.com. Once we finally made it there, we were informed that there were no porta-cribs available. So, we left and went through 5 different hotels before we found one with available rooms and a porta-crib. We settled in fine though.

Today was good. We spent the early part of the day driving around downtown Savannah. We at lunch at a place called "The Pirate House". Spence loved it. The kids menus turn into pirate hats...very cute. They also had a guy walking around impersonating Captain Jack Sparrow. He was really good and Spence thought he was the real thing. I took their picture together.

Once we arrived at the beach house, the kids were playing non-stop. The house is beautiful and our room is perfect. The walk-in closet is big enough for Olive's pack-n-play and so it's her own "mini nursery". Spence is on the sleeper sofa and Larry and I have the Queen Bed ,and we have a private bath.

We are looking forward to beach and pool time tomorrow. Spence can't wait to hit the water. We will have to take the little one out early or she will be a cooked Olive. It's supposed to be mid 90's all week.

The last few days

It's been a few days since I've posted b/c things have been so busy around here. Planning and packing for vacation for a family of 4 seems impossible, especially when one of them is a baby. Luckily, Mom & Dad are driving and are taking some things for us. We had a wonderful 4th of July. We spent the first part of the day at Mom & Dad's. They had a cookout and the kids played baseball, it was a lot of fun. I tried my hand, with Bev's help, at making the blueberry-peach cobbler and it didn't turn out nearly as good as Judy's. I will have to call her to see exactly what she did. It may be that I accidentally picked up white flesh peaches, who knows. We spent the second half of our day at Erin & Greg's house for another cookout and while Spence had a great time, he was slowly winding/melting down. The highlight of his day was doing sparklers. I thought he would be scared to do them, but once he figured out they wouldn't burn him, he loved them. When we got home, there were tons of fireworks going on in the neighborhood and we watched some, but then the loud booms started to scare Spence, so we called it a night. Olive enjoyed her first 4th of July by mostly playing with toys at her Meme` and Pepe`'s and visiting with G-Jo and Grampy at Erin and Greg's. I attached a picture montage I made of us yesterday. I am proud to say that I made the dress she is wearing!!

Today will be hectic b/c I have to do the majority of the packing, work and I have a pedicure scheduled for this evening. We are going to try to make a showing at Larry's aunt Pam's surprise birthday party tonight if we can. I'm fortunate that both kids are sleeping in and I can have a few moments of peace before this crazy day begins. Luckily, Larry only has to work a few hrs. this morning and will be able to help out. I'm excited for vacation, but a little worried about how Olive will do on the plane. She's already fussy b/c of her teeth.

Erin's Birthday

Today we celebrated Larry's sister Erin's birthday at the Raible's. It was a nice brunch and the weather cooperated and we were able to enjoy outside dining. Afterward we went to Blairwood and I dropped Larry and Spencer off to swim while Olive and I hit Kroger to get some groceries for the week and some items we will be taking on vacation.

Poor Spencer has been running around like crazy the last few days and I think it has finally caught up with him. He looked very tired today at Erin's party and is taking a late evening nap. Olivia is napping as well and I am taking this time to post. Before Olive took a nap, I captured some video of her jumping in her jumpster. Oh and big news for Olive...she cut her first tooth today!!! She isn't nearly as excited about it and is gnawing on anything she can get her little hands on. I've been giving her cold bagels and carrot sticks to chew on along with Tylenol to help with the discomfort. Anyway, here is the link to the jumping girl:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v78/wishbone72/?action=view&current=P7020207.flv