Wordless Wednesday

Foto Friday, because I missed Wordless Wednesday

Wow!

I saw this on another blog that I read and had to include it because it speaks volumes and we could all learn something from this incredible man.

Day 1, Night 1

Well, Day 1 was ok, night 1 was even better. Yesterday was Andrew’s first day in his big boy bed and he decided that he didn’t need to take a nap; I hope that’s not a trend he continues. I will give him credit though because he did stay in his room (that was one of my fears) but he didn’t even think about closing his eyes and going to sleep. When we went to get him up from his “nap” we noticed that all of his books were in bed with him. He was reading. Sneaky boy, we didn’t hear him walking at all. We did hear a bunch of loud bangs though, that should have clued us in. Night time was better, it could have been that he was dead dog tired because of the no nap thing, but he went right to sleep and didn’t give us any trouble at all. I am totally jinxing myself I know.
Abby loves her big bed too. Her expression was priceless when she saw her bed. She picked out her quilt but she had no idea that she was getting new furniture. Marty and I wanted to surprise her and it was so worth it. The silly girl was most excited about the fact that her animals now have a pillow of their own to sleep on.
I will post pictures when Andrew’s quilt comes in, their rooms are adorable!

Big changes ahead

Tonight marks a very sad milestone for our little family. Tonight will be Andrew’s last night in his crib. We have had that crib up for 5 and half years. He is so ready so I know he won’t have a problem, it’s me that I’m worried about. Andrew has been asking for a while for a big bed like Abby’s so I am confident that he is more than ready. Our friends and neighbors are expecting their second child so they are going to use Andrew’s crib and changing table so at least I can go visit it anytime I want to. I’m sure there will be tears (mine) tonight when I put him to bed. My babies are growing up way too fast.
On a side note though, Abby and Andrew are both getting new furniture tomorrow. Abby is getting a full bed and Andrew is getting a twin bed. Long story as to why we aren’t using Abby’s bed but this will work out better in the long run. I am taking tomorrow off of work so we can get their rooms put together before both of them get home from school. It should be fun.

Wordless Wednesday . . . School Picture Edition

Notice anything different?

No, they haven’t started making trendy diapers (although that is an idea) Yes, Andrew is wearing big boy undies. Marty and I have to watch ourselves because we have been talking about panties with Abby for so long now that it’s hard to transition to boy talk. And I don’t want Andrew calling his underwear panties.
Anyway, we are attempting to get Andrew into undies during the day and so far he’s done really good. He went 2 days in them with no accidents but he refuses to go to the potty while we are out. He will not go in a public restroom. Now, I know some are not the prettiest but come on boy; you will have to go at some point. We have tried everywhere, the grocery store, his school, Mc Donald’s, Home Depot, Sam’s; you name it and he won’t go. I’m not sure what this means but I know it can’t be good for the potty training attempt.
So, now I’m not sure if I am going to cry tears of joy (diapers are expensive, ya know) or tears of sadness. My baby can not be ready to wear big boy undies.
****UPDATE***
I jumped the gun a little too early. He had his first accident and has decided that he wants back in his pull-ups. Again, I don't know if I should cry tears of joy or tears of sadness.

Wordless Wednesday . . . School Picture Edition

Where is Fall?

I guess Mother Nature must be running a little late this year because it sure doesn’t seem like fall. Today it is going to be a high of 92. Yes, you read that right 92.
How can it be possible that on October 8th, it is 92 degrees? Don’t get me wrong, I love spring and summer; in fact it’s my favorite time of the year. But, I’m ready to move on to long sleeves, cool nights, fires and all things winter. Honestly, I’m just getting tired of my warm weather wardrobe. Pull out the cozy fleece.

Wordless Wednesday

Abby's 5 year well baby check

Can I still call it a well baby check when she’s 5 years old? I should have taken her to her well baby check in August (ya know when she actually turned 5) but I just kept forgetting about it. Anyway, it went great. She did have to get her finger pricked and 2 shots. I knew about the finger prick, since she’s borderline anemic she always has to get her iron checked but I had told her that she wasn’t going to have to get any shots. The nurse told me that they make liars out of parents all the time. My poor baby, she was so upset and she has 2 pretty nasty bruises on her little thighs today. Nothing that a little bit of ice cream from the Opryland Hotel couldn’t make better though. She weighs 35 pounds (14th percentile) and is 41 inches tall (17th percentile). She’s healthy, happy and striving. I couldn’t ask for more.

I've been tagged

I thought the only type of tag I played was with the kids but I guess I was wrong. I’ve been tagged by Keri to use the letters in my name to describe myself. Do you know how hard it is to come up with a y word? Anyway, here goes:

R- reader. I love to read. I have to limit myself sometimes because I will get so caught up in a good book that I will completely slack off on things I should be doing. I also finish books quickly. A good book will last maybe 3 days in my house. It’s a good thing my kids go to bed at 8:00.

O- opinionated. Can you be opinionated and indecisive at the same time? Well, that’s me. I always have an opinion, although most times you won’t even know it. I try to keep my opinion to my self most of the time.

B- beach lover. I love the beach which is kinda funny because on vacations I prefer the pool over the ocean but my dream vacation will always be somewhere to the beach. I do like going to the ocean in the morning or late afternoon, you can forget the hottest part of the day, give me the pool.

Y- yard work. I can pull a funny like Keri and tell you how much I love yard work but it would be a total lie. I despise yard work. I think it comes from all the pine cones I had to pick up and raking I had to do as a little kid. Y is very hard

N- naturally a brunette. I guess I have finally embraced my natural hair color although at times I do (and I know Marty does) think about going back blonde. I just can’t justify spending the $$ because it takes a lot to turn this stuff blonde.

You can all feel safe now, because the tagging has been stopped on my end.

Wordless Wednesday

My new nephew

I'm an aunt. . .again.
My sister had her baby yesterday morning, wow was it only yesterday. She wasn't due until October 6th, but the little guy had other plans.
Shelly called me on Saturday night, while we were at a birthday party, to tell me that she was headed to the hospital. After a frantic call to Marty (who was on his way to do a show) we set up a plan that was going to work. It might be crazy but it was going to work. The kids and I were headed to Atlanta to meet Marty's mom and Grandmother and they were going to take the kids for the night and then meet up with Marty on Sunday in Chattanooga. That plan changed slightly since I decided to come home yesterday instead of tomorrow.
I get to the hospital at about midnight and Shelly was still at 3cm and no epidural yet. At about 4:00 am or so the nurse ordered an ultrasound to check the baby's postion and it revealed that the baby had turned breech. Poor Shelly, she had labored for close to 12 hours and the baby was breech all along. They think he turned around 35 weeks. Her c-section was scheduled for 6:30 am.
I am proud to present my newest nephew, Myles born at 6:57 am. He's a tiny little thing weighting only 5 pounds 7 ounce and 18 1/4 inches long. He's adorable and everyone is in love with him already.

My Marty brag

Ok, so I have to brag on Marty (move on if you don’t like the sappy posts) and he is going to hate it when he reads it. Oh well, sorry babe!
We got a call on Tuesday night from one of our friends and they needed someone to watch their oldest son, age 4, from 7:30 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon. This child can sometimes (mostly) be out of control and downright mean, but Marty agreed to it anyway knowing that said friends needed the help. Marty is awesome. He took Andrew and 4 year old boy to the zoo, all by himself. Yes, all by himself. He packed lunches and headed to the zoo for a fun morning. How great is that. He is not only a great daddy but also an awesome friend. I am so lucky to be married to him.

Wordless Wednesday

Thanks Keri for the non blurry picture

The highly anticipated cheerleading video

Well, you still won't get it. I brought the DVD with me to work today, but for some reason I can't get it to read in my computer (probably user error). So, that means you will just have to wait, but take my word for it, it's pretty darn cute. We do have other Abby news that probably should take precedents over a cheerleading video anyway.
You have all heard about our past Abby dental drama. Well, hopefully the drama is over for a while. We took Abby for a third opinion (Marty's aunt was our second opinion) and thankfully the third opinion was the same as Marty's aunt which was not the same as the first dentist that we went to. Did you catch all of that? Our suspicions were correct with the first dentist, he did not have Abby best interest in mind; he had his wallets best interest in mind (at the tune of $450.00 worth of extra procedures that weren't needed). Abby did not need 4 crowns, she did need two though. That was until yesterday. We had Abby's appointment scheduled for Wednesday September 26 to get all of her dental work done, but she had other plans.
Monday morning around 4:30 Abby came into our room and said that her tooth was hurting and that she had a bump in her mouth. I felt around (probably not as good as I should have) and didn't feel anything so I picked her up and put her in our bed hoping to get some more sleep in before my alarm went off. I was in the living room about to eat my breakfast and in walks Abby; I knew exactly why her tooth hurt. She was swollen on her left side from her cheek up to her eye. Poor baby! I had a feeling that her tooth had abscessed and I knew what was coming next. We call the emergency number for the dentist and they tell us to get her there at 9:00. They take a look at her and said that the tooth was going to have to come out, and the tears start flowing (not Abby's; mine) They give her a baby cocktail of Demerol at 9:15 and we sat waiting for it to kick in. By 9:45 Abby was sound asleep on my shoulder. They take us back (yes I was allowed to go in with her) at 10:15 to do the work and she pretty slept through the whole thing with the help of laughing gas. She did whimper when they wiggled (the non scary way to say pulled) her tooth but that was it. Thankfully, they were able to get all the work done in one setting. We get home at about 11:30 and she slept until 3:30. When she woke up, she was starving since she hadn't had anything to eat or drink all day so she got jello and pudding. I was planning chicken noodle soup for dinner but she didn't want chicken noodle soup. She wanted pizza. So pizza she got (with dr's approval of course) and a milkshake for good measure. She has no bad memories of experience and she got up and went to school this morning and is doing great. I'm sure she has told everyone who will listen that the tooth fairy came to see her last night, that was the highlight of the whole experience. In case she ever asks you, the tooth fairy takes the teeth up to heaven for all the new babies. Hey, stop laughing, it was all I could come up with at the time, we shouldn't have to be dealing with the tooth fairy for a few more years anyway. Glad that day is over with.

Not yet

I can’t believe how quickly Abby is growing up.
I walk her into school every morning, so far she still wants me to, and it will really break my heart when she wants me to “just drop her off.” She will hold my hand while we are in the parking lot but as soon as we step foot onto the sidewalk she lets go. Anyway, we have a morning ritual once we get at her classroom (I never go into her classroom, only to the door) a kiss, a hug and a big squeezie. Earlier in the week, I stopped on the right side of the door without thinking about it and started our ritual. She quickly pulled me to the left side and continued the kiss, hug, big squeezie routine. I knew what she was doing, we were where her classmates could see us and she didn’t want her peers to see her getting kisses from her mommy. I could see it on her face, the battle of being a big girl but yet still wanting to be mommy’s baby and get the kisses. I made a mental note that if I want the kisses in the morning; I need to be on the left side of the door. Needless to say, I have and will continue to be on the left side of the door from now on. But what happens when the left side is no longer good enough? UGH, I’m not ready.

Wordless Wednesday

Hold 'em back, push 'em back, way back

Today is Abby’s first day of cheerleading camp, pause for the proud mommy moment, and I don’t know who is more excited; me or her. One of the things I liked about DCA was that it is a K-12 school. We get to go to Friday night football games, basketball games, and school drama productions. The Varsity cheerleaders are putting on a 3 day camp for the K-5th graders and on Friday night the girls get to cheer before the home football game. Big stuff! I’m sure I will have pictures and video to share on Monday.
Marty’s just wondering how Abby’s going to pull off cheering for the football games and performing in the marching band during halftime. I’m sure we will get all the details worked out by then, that’s many moons away.
I always said that I will let my kids choose what they want to participate in and I will never push my opinion on them, but I am so excited that she’s at least giving it a try. I had a ball cheering and hopefully she will too. If she hates it, then there’s always Andrew, haha.

Cute quotes heard around the house. . .Part 3

Marty was in the house and saw a fly. He grabbed a towel to kill it. I guess Andrew didn’t see that he was about to swat at it and when Marty did he scared Andrew. Andrew said:
A: You scared me
M: I’m sorry I scared you
A: I jumped
M: You jumped?
A: I jumped higher than God.

Wordless Wednesday times 4

We're back

Well, we are back from our wonderful vacation to the beach. We had such a great time and there is way to much to write about and I know y'all really like the pictures anyway. So here goes. You will notice that mine and Keri's pictures are very similar. Keri again, I'm trying to be just like you. Seriously, she takes such great pictures so I'll take all the help I can get.

View from our condoWalking to the beach hand in handWhispering somethingMarty and Andrew playing frisbeeThe girls laughing, this how they were most of the weekKeri and I took the girls for ice cream one day while the boys were naping Everyone tickeling Abbymini Vegas fountain, we could walk to the fountain from our condo

Thank you Keri and Rusty for such a fun week. We are so blessed to have y'all as friends.

Foto Friday, because I missed Wordless Wednesday

So long, farewell, it's time for me to go. . .

To the BEACH. Finally. See you all in September.

What doesn't belong?

So, here you have Abby all pretty in her school uniform. Nice, crisp white shirt, wonderfully pleated plaid jumper, matching hairbow and then her purple crocs. Not just purple crocs but purple crocs that have Disney Princess jibitz on them. It's crazy because they have this nice uniform policy at DCA, everything except shoes. Well correction, they have to wear closed toe shoes and on days that they have PE (not just recess) they have to wear tennis shoes. I'm not complaining because we spent a small fortune on clothes so it's great that she can wear shoes that A. we already have and B. shoes that she likes.

Day 2

Don't worry, I am not going to give you a daily report of how Abby did going into school but I did have to brag on her a little bit. Day 2 was much better than day 1. She was still a little shy but she gladly went in and put her things away. Yesterday her teacher told them about the kissing hand. You kiss her palm and whenever she gets nervous she puts her palm to her cheek and remembers the kiss. Pretty sweet I thought, but even better it worked. Marty and I both kissed her palm so she should be set for the day.
She ended up having a great day yesterday. She really enjoyed it and was excited about going back again. It did slightly break my heart when she realized that she will go to school everyday. I told her that she will go to school everyday that I go to work (we'll discuss holidays later) She then said "Does that mean I don't get to play with Andrew?" AWWW. She was so excited because they went to the chapel and to the library yesterday. We also took rice krispie treats cut out in a star shape on sticks (ya know a magic wand for the princess themed party) so she was liked from the beginning. Hey, I have no problem with a little bribing. All in all it went good. I feel much better about the day.
We'll see what happens when we take her out of school for a week to go to the beach. We'll have to start all over but it will have been so worth it.

Not so Wordless Wednesday

Abby all excited about going to school

There were tears, more mine than hers though. In the car on the way to school Abby was so excited about going, once we got there it was a different story. She was all shy and teary eyed. Marty and I love her teacher and know Abby will too once she gets adjusted. We are thankful that Abby's school does phase in days, only 5 kids come at a time. This way Abby will get to know a few kids in her class and the teacher well before the whole class comes together tomorrow. I hope the adjustment is quick because I don't know how many days of tears I can take.

Do you know how hard it was leaving her like this? No wonder I had tears.

5 years ago

5 years ago today I was no longer just Robyn but I also became "Mommy"

Today Abby turns a whole hand, I can't believe that she is 5 years old. For some reason this birthday is harder for me than any of the others, I guess 5 just seems so old and my baby can't possibly be that old.

Happy birthday sweetpea. You are such a delight and have changed our lives for the better in so many ways. You're independent yet so loving, fun, silly, caring, sensitive, smart, helpful, creative; the list could go on and on. Abby, to sum it up you are amazing. Thank you for making the transition into mommyhood such an enjoyable one. I love you!

Please say a small prayer for me because not only does Abby turn 5 today but she starts kindergarten tomorrow. How am I going to make it. Lord, give me the strength.

We survived and it was a success

We had Abby's birthday party this past Saturday and I think everyone had a great time. I have been stressing all week because they were predicting 97 degree temps here and of all things, we had rented a jumpy for the kids to play in. Surprisingly, it wasn't bad at all. The humidity was down, there was a nice breeze and our backyard is shaded by mid afternoon. There were supposed to be 17 kids but 5 ended up not being able to make at the last minute, which I think was a blessing. Abby got a great surprise for her birthday; Eddie, Gidget, Bailey and Matthew came up for her party (thanks y'all, Abby loved it) All the kids had fun jumping (even the adults had fun jumping too) and playing in the sprinkler. They also loved the 120 water balloons that Marty and Eddie blew up. It took about an hour for 5 minutes worth of fun but the kids had a blast.

When we asked Abby at the end of the day what her favorite part of the day was she said Bailey coming and the fireworks. Fireworks you ask? Marty and I tend to spoil the kids but no we hadn't set up a fireworks display (shh don't tell Abby that) For some reason fireworks were being set off Saturday night. Not little ones, but the really big 4th of July ones. Needless to say, Abby thought it was great.

Ahh, no more birthday parties for 8 more months.

Wordless Wednesday

The last week

This is the last week of summer for Abby before she starts school, real school. I am so very sad. I am way more sad than Abby is, she's excited and can't wait to go to school (we'll see if she feels the same next week) I just hate that she is going to miss all the fun things that they get to do during the day with Marty. It makes me sad to think that Andrew is going to get to go swimming and do other fun stuff and Abby will be at school. I think it will be very beneficial for Andrew though. He will get the one on one time that he's never had and I know it will help him verbally.
Next week is going to really hard for me. Not only does Abby start kindergarten but she will also turn 5. Oh my, how am I going to handle it all. Five just seems so big to me. I'm going to have a pity party for myself and I have already begun.

First trip to the dentist

Abby went to the dentist for the first time yesterday and let me just say that I feel like the worst mom ever. I will preface this post by saying that we brush Abby's teeth everyday and limit her sugar intake (at almost 5 years old her juice is still diluted with water) I guess that's my way of trying to make myself feel better.

We took her to a pediatric dentist and that might have been a mistake we later found out. When we first went back Abby was doing ok, she had to show them how she brushes her teeth. They then asked us to leave, they prefer to have the parents stay in the waiting room. I thought Abby would be better without us there but I was wrong. About 5 minutes into the cleaning I was called back because they couldn't get Abby to cooperate (yes that's a tear stained face in the picture). She would let them brush her teeth with a regular toothbrush but she wouldn't let them near her with the spinny round one (nice name huh) And there was no way she was going to let them take an x-ray, no way no how. Once I got back there she did let them clean her teeth with the spinny brush, 1 down 1 to go. We still needed the x-rays. After what seemed like forever, and many bribes later, she finally let them do the x-ray. We knew she had one cavity because we could see it but we never imagined it to be this bad.

The verdict: 4 crowns, 2 root canals and 2 fillings, I cried (literally) when the dentist told me all this. Yes, for an almost 5 year old. Go ahead and give me the bad mom of the year award.

Marty called his aunt that's a dental hygienist and she thinks we need to get a second opinion. So we have an appointment with her on August 26 at the beach. They are going to be right down the road from us when we go to the beach later this month so she's going to bring down her tools and look at Abby for us. They even serve margaritas at this appointment. We will spend the $600-700 on Abby's teeth if it is necessary but I just don't understand putting crowns on teeth that are going to fall out. And the root canal, don't even get me started. She hasn't even complained about her teeth hurting.

Ugh, what a day yesterday.

Wordless Wednesday

Cute quotes heard around the house. . .Part 2

The other day Andrew had a boo-boo on his foot so he asked for a boo-boo aid instead of a bandaid. I had never thought of it, but I guess it should be a boo-boo aid, that's what it's helping afterall.

We have been talking alot about babies in our house since Shelly is pregnant. So yesterday morning Abby woke up and came downstairs and told me that Biggie spit up in her bed because her baby in her tummy kicked too hard. Biggie (nice name huh) is a penguin from a McDonald's happy meal that Abby insists is pregnant. So yesterady afternoon, I asked Abby if Biggie had had her baby yet and Abby looked at me like I had 2 heads. She said "No mommy, Biggie can't have her baby yet, she's not married. She has to get her wedding dress, pick out her flowers and get a husband first" I guess Biggie is just pregnant but can't have her baby until she gets married. Since Biggie looks about 8 months pregnant already, she better get on the hunt.

Fun on the farm

This weekend I took the kids to my sister's husbands family reunion (did you get all that) in Kentucky. The reunion was on a farm that had cows, horses, geese, mules and lots of kitties. The kids had a blast and Abby has asked constantly since then if we can take Daddy to the farm, Marty had a show in Alabama so he had to miss all the fun. Abby's favorite part was riding Clay and Andrew's was most defintly not riding Clay. His was probably the 3 cookies that I let him have. Needless to say the kids were pretty tuckered out (and straight up nasty dirty) after the fun day on the farm. Enjoy the pictures.

Abby petting Poco
Her favorite horsey, Clay

Nice horsey
Maybe not

This is more Andrew's style

The little things make me happy

So, last night I printed out pictures of 5 different backpack that I thought Abby might like. I even printed out ones that I didn't really like but I though she might. I already knew which one I liked best but I was going to let Abby choose for herself (I'm really trying). I put the pictures in front of her and she instantly chose the one that I liked, she made my day. I'm sure you can tell why I liked it, I love pink and brown.

I think this is it

Ok, thanks for bearing with me. I think this might finally be it, but who knows, there's always tomorrow. I can't take all the credit though (I'm just not that creative) After searching on the internet and seeing what I liked, this is what I came up with. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

One year ago

One year ago today we moved into our house. I can’t believe it. Some days it feels shorter and some days it feels longer, but hey we have survived. Not just survived, we have done pretty well.
Marty and I had to laugh because we closed on our house in GA on July 21st and where were we one year later, yep we were in GA. We moved up here to TN on July 22nd, although we had no place to move into, and closed on our house on July 24th. We drove home from the wedding on the 22nd, yes one year exactly from the day we moved. In fact, we even stopped at the same McDonald’s on top of Monteagle that Marty and his group stopped at. It has been a great year full of many ups and a few downs along the way but I wouldn’t change it for anything. Although Nashville isn’t “home” I can’t complain. I promise to take pictures this week of the inside of the house so you can see everything we have accomplished in the past year.
Thank you to everyone who has helped us transition into this stage of our life. We would not have survived if it hadn’t been for you.

Good times

One of our old clogging team members got married over the weekend and we had such a good time. You would have never known that 2 and a half years have passed and none of us dance anymore. We slipped right back into friendships and fun times. We even pulled off a clogging dance complete with bride front and center hiking up her dress to dance (I vaguely remember doing that 7 years ago). I love that the kids were able to see a glimpse into what mommy and daddy used to do. Abby was sitting on the side cheering “Go mommy, Go Daddy” It made me a little sad because clogging was such a huge part of our lives and I wish the kids could have been part of it too. Abby has been to many competitions but doesn’t remember them and we quit before Andrew was born. Hopefully one day we can get the kids into it because some of my most treasured memories came from the group that we hung out with this weekend.

I'm not there yet, but I'm gettting closer.

Wordless Wednesday

Work with me

I'm trying to make my blog more me, but I am not well versed in html or graphic design. So bear with me, there might be many changes in the near future.

Pee Pee on the potty

We are by no means full on potty training Andrew but yesterday he went pee pee on the potty 3 times and a few times the days before also. YIPPEE!! Personally I’m not ready for him to be out of diapers but I’m not going to tell him no when he asks to sit on the potty either. Although, it’s not like he really wants to use the potty he just wants the M&M’s he gets for going. He’s so funny I’ll tell him that he will get a M&M if he goes and he will say “Mommy, MNM (that’s how he says it) first then potty” Sorry buddy that’s not how it works. Abby is all about training him though; she will ask him every few minutes if he needs to sit on the potty. He usually says no but on the rare occasion he says yes, she will take off his diaper and put him on the potty. I don’t know what her obsession with Andrew’s bathroom habits are.
At least it’s a start, we’ll see if he keeps it up. My baby can’t be big enough to be out of diapers. WAAA!

Great surprise

Ok, I just have to share. Marty and I have a wedding to go to next weekend and I had nothing to wear (ok, I probably could have found something) so we went shopping over the weekend. We looked at Macy’s, Dillards and finally ended up at Parisian. I tried on hundreds, it seemed like hundreds, of dresses and I just didn’t feel great in any of them. I try on one at Parisians that I just literally pulled off the rack becsaue I was finding nothing. Well, it ended up being the one that we liked the best. The only problem is that they didn’t have it in my size. The tag said that it was $128.00 but they were having a sale so the price came to $94.00, but the sale ended the next day. They said that they could order one for me from another store. I told them don’t worry I will just get it from their website. Well, their website stinks and you can’t buy anything. We decided to just bite the bullet and buy it, I liked it that much. I call the store and get it ordered. The dress came today and Marty called me to ask if I knew how much they charged me. No, I didn’t ask. I just assumed it was the same price. Well, with the $8.00 shipping from Alabama the total was $42.87. WooHoo! What a great surprise.

Wordless Wednesday

I didn't know grown-ups cry

Poor Abby, we had a bad night last night and after going around and around we finally just sent her to bed. I yelled a little too much and a little too loud and felt terrible for it. I was sitting at the top of the stairs crying from frustration at the situation and guilt. Abby came out of her room and saw me and Marty sitting there; she quietly closed her door and climbed back in bed. A few minutes later she called me in her room to tell me she was sorry and that she didn’t know grown ups cry. Yes honey grown ups cry, often. I had to once again tell her that I was also sorry, wow I feel like I have had to do that a lot lately. I’m glad today is a new day.

My babies the fish

I am so proud of my babies, they have turned into quite the little swimmers. We go swimming often at Applebee’s. What you ask? There is a local hotel here that has a Applebee’s attached to it that we frequent often, hey Tuesday night kids eat free (and it come with an ice cream sundae) One night after eating we went wandering through the hotel and found an awesome indoor pool. It’s huge with a hot tub as an added bonus. Marty went to the front desk to ask if they had any sort of membership (believe it or not but many of the hotels do that around here) and they said no, but just come and swim anyway. Twist my arm, the kids get to swim and I don’t have to put sunscreen on them. What could be better?!?
At the beginning of the summer Abby was very hesitant about going under water. She has never liked getting water in her eyes. So we decided to use the best teaching tactic, praise the younger brother. You can throw Andrew in the water and he comes up laughing. He wears arm floaties and does such a great job “swimming” He will get out and jump in all by himself. Well, Abby was not going to be out done by her little brother. We bought her goggles so water won’t get in her eyes and she hasn’t turned back since. Once she realized that Andrew was getting such a hip hip hooray for going under, well she wanted to do it too. She will now jump in with or without her goggles, touch the bottom of the pool (well as far as her float will allow her) and bounce back up. I am so proud. She still has to hold her nose though, baby steps.
Andrew just cracks me up; he couldn’t care less if water gets in his eyes. He will put his little head in the water and kick and kick. Poor thing goes backwards half the time. Last night we noticed that he swims underwater with his eyes open, not a care in the world.
It is so nice going to the pool knowing that the kids are going to have fun. The plus to that is that they also wear themselves out in all the fun. Double bonus.
I promise I will get video one day.