The comings and goings of the fab four

Last night Robert and I went to the Lotus Bar & Eatery in Gastonia as an early birthday meal for me. I had gone one other time with my friend Stephanie, and it was fantastic then. Because it is about 2 miles from the Senior Ferghouse, it was nice and convenient, so off we went. It. Was. Delicious. YEUMMMMM! I had a carrot and butternut squash soup as an appetizer, which was divine, and Robert had some sashimi, which he said was great. I had crab cakes with a mustard cream sauce, with a side of the most incredible and perfectly matched Asian slaw I have ever put in my mouth. Amazing. Robert had shrimp and grits, which were different from the traditional southern type that we usually make – I think I got the better meal. Regardless, it was awesome, and I wish I could eat there every week. A shout out goes to Mimi for watching the kids.
Last night was another fun night where Miles played his little screaming game. I was up every hour from about 10:30 – 3, and then just gave up and went to bed with Lydia so I couldn’t hear the screaming.

Today we got up and went to Dunkin Donuts to get a large cup of heavenly coffee for me. We drove to Matthews to visit with Allison and Alden. Alden LOVED Miles and wanted to kiss and hug him. Too cute. I wish we lived next door to Allison and Matt. Life would be fine. Allison & Kathy got Lydia a veterinarian set for her birthday, as well as a “Dora the Explora” colorforms set. She loves both of them and has played with both extensively today.

I managed to keep Lydia up the entire ride back from Matthews, and she took a very nice long nap this afternoon, as did Miles. I did too, so I feel better now. I will hit the sack early tonight and hopefully take a long run tomorrow. I did some carb loading tonight with yummy spaghetti. Marie also surprised me with a day early cake – Lydia and I realllly enjoyed it. That is the best kind of carb loading.

That Jesus is my savior, but sometimes Dunkin Donuts coffee can come in as a very close second.

On that note, sometimes I really wish that my car had one of those plexiglass dividers between the front and back seat – so I could just put it up when screaming and crying begins.

I have been bad about posting. We had spotty wireless at the beach, and I had better things to do than to blog. We got to the beach on Wednesday afternoon, Prancer stayed at a kennel in Ocean Isle, so he got to ride up with us – we dropped him off on our way, and picked him up on his way out. If you ever go to the beach and want your pup to stay close by, we highly recommend Diamond-A Kennels in Ocean Isle.

Pretty much everyone was at the beach this year with the exception of Peter and Wendy. We missed them very much, but were SO excited to hear that Peter has been completely engrafted with the new marrow, and over the last few days has been discharged from the hospital! Something interesting that I didn’t know, with Peter’s transplant came a completely new blood type! So continue to keep him in your prayers, and check out cord blood donation if your are pregnant. Donate blood if you aren’t pregnant – Peter received countless bags of blood and platelets. Knowing someone who has been saved by blood transfusions really makes it more real.

We missed Wendy’s sweet potato souffle, and the big bags of M&Ms, snarky comments (Wendy) and good back rubs (Peter), but hopefully it all will return with them next year. The turkey was the best ever according to everyone. We were pretty lazy – the guys played golf, girls went out shopping for yarn and other domestic goods, Duprees stayed in and wrangled children… the usual. We didn’t do our 6am black Friday shopping run this year, and I don’t think anyone complained. We had both sides of a duplex, so the “kids” stayed on one side, and the “adults” on the other. There was plenty of room, two televisions and plenty of seating (and enough beds!) for everyone. I was so thrilled to be back with the gang. We even got to see Shane, who has had a habit of being deployed to various secret places for the last few times I have been on trips with the gang. It was great to visit with him and Melissa, as well as Scott and Marcia, who announced their pregnancy during the trip as well (if that is still secret, let me know and I’ll take it off). I am so thankful for all of the Thanksgiving group – they really are family to us.

Miles learned a new game while we were at the beach. It is called the scream like a horror movie game, and it can only be played in the middle of the night when you’re in a house full of people. We can’t figure out exactly what was going on, but he woke up the second and third nights in the middle of the night, and wanted to play. If no playing ensued, screaming did. So Robert and I were up for HOURS both nights. In all seriousness, I could not figure out what was going on. The first night we were there, Robert slept in another bedroom because he was sure (I was too) that he would snore very loudly. Miles woke up like normal, no screaming. The second and third night were horrible, then the last night, Robert slept in another room so he could sleep, since he would have to drive us to Charlotte the next day. And of course that night there was no screaming. So I hypothesized that it was due to Robert’s snoring, and that it was just enough to rouse him fully, instead of him just going back to sleep. However, the next night, when we got to Charlotte, he did the same thing. We tried to let him scream it out in his crib, but Bob was leaving for China the next morning, and we were concerned that the Fergusons would kick us to the curb if we didn’t let them rest. Of course, neither Bob nor Marie heard him that night. I did catch an episode of American Idol reruns (whatever the compilation shows are) from the Clay year at 1am, so all was not in vain, but I was up for probably 3 hours total that night with Miles. Thank goodness the child is cute. He had been vomiting and doing a lot of back arching while he was doing all of this screaming, so I thought that maybe his Augmentin for his ear infection was causing him to have an upset stomach. I called the doctor and she told me to stop the medicine. I also started giving him his Axid (acid reflux drug) again. Last night was better (not great, but an improvement), so hopefully we have got it taken care of. If it isn’t his stomach, I will say that maybe he’s going to pop a tooth soon OR he has the beginnings of separation anxiety. Anyone else have any ideas?

Robert has training in Charlotte this week, so we made our way to Gastonia on Sunday. We had a lovely and delicious dinner with the fam + Emily on Sunday night, and she introduced me to Pomegranate Martinis. And I might never look back. Wow. Yesterday we did lots of sticking around the house. I went for a run and fell in a hole on the side of the road and took a nice fall. I am sure that someone driving by got a good laugh. I am a little sore on my hip and my ankle, but I think that it I am just bruised. It was rainy and foggy, so we played a lot, and both kids took long afternoon naps (as did I!). Today Marie had morning commitments, so I took the kids to see my friend Mauri (of the Mauri & Rob blog). We got to meet her beautiful son, Gabriel, and I got to see Mauri for the first time in a LONG time. Years. It was so wonderful to see her. Even though we don’t see her very often, she is one of my closest friends. She lives in a fantastic neighborhood – if I have anything to do with it, we’ll become her neighbor in 5-7 months. But we’ll see.

We were hoping to see the lights in McAdenville tonight, but they aren’t on yet, DARN IT! I always loved seeing them when I was a child, and we know that Lydia would absolutely go crazy. Maybe when we come back in a few weeks we’ll be able to see them. Robert and I are going to go out to dinner for an early birthday celebration for me. I am so excited.

I have been bad about posting. We had spotty wireless at the beach, and I had better things to do than to blog. We got to the beach on Wednesday afternoon, Prancer stayed at a kennel in Ocean Isle, so he got to ride up with us – we dropped him off on our way, and picked him up on his way out. If you ever go to the beach and want your pup to stay close by, we highly recommend Diamond-A Kennels in Ocean Isle.

Pretty much everyone was at the beach this year with the exception of Peter and Wendy. We missed them very much, but were SO excited to hear that Peter has been completely engrafted with the new marrow, and over the last few days has been discharged from the hospital! Something interesting that I didn’t know, with Peter’s transplant came a completely new blood type! So continue to keep him in your prayers, and check out cord blood donation if your are pregnant. Donate blood if you aren’t pregnant – Peter received countless bags of blood and platelets. Knowing someone who has been saved by blood transfusions really makes it more real.

We missed Wendy’s sweet potato souffle, and the big bags of M&Ms, snarky comments (Wendy) and good back rubs (Peter), but hopefully it all will return with them next year. The turkey was the best ever according to everyone. We were pretty lazy – the guys played golf, girls went out shopping for yarn and other domestic goods, Duprees stayed in and wrangled children… the usual. We didn’t do our 6am black Friday shopping run this year, and I don’t think anyone complained. We had both sides of a duplex, so the “kids” stayed on one side, and the “adults” on the other. There was plenty of room, two televisions and plenty of seating (and enough beds!) for everyone. I was so thrilled to be back with the gang. We even got to see Shane, who has had a habit of being deployed to various secret places for the last few times I have been on trips with the gang. It was great to visit with him and Melissa, as well as Scott and Marcia, who announced their pregnancy during the trip as well (if that is still secret, let me know and I’ll take it off). I am so thankful for all of the Thanksgiving group – they really are family to us.

Miles learned a new game while we were at the beach. It is called the scream like a horror movie game, and it can only be played in the middle of the night when you’re in a house full of people. We can’t figure out exactly what was going on, but he woke up the second and third nights in the middle of the night, and wanted to play. If no playing ensued, screaming did. So Robert and I were up for HOURS both nights. In all seriousness, I could not figure out what was going on. The first night we were there, Robert slept in another bedroom because he was sure (I was too) that he would snore very loudly. Miles woke up like normal, no screaming. The second and third night were horrible, then the last night, Robert slept in another room so he could sleep, since he would have to drive us to Charlotte the next day. And of course that night there was no screaming. So I hypothesized that it was due to Robert’s snoring, and that it was just enough to rouse him fully, instead of him just going back to sleep. However, the next night, when we got to Charlotte, he did the same thing. We tried to let him scream it out in his crib, but Bob was leaving for China the next morning, and we were concerned that the Fergusons would kick us to the curb if we didn’t let them rest. Of course, neither Bob nor Marie heard him that night. I did catch an episode of American Idol reruns (whatever the compilation shows are) from the Clay year at 1am, so all was not in vain, but I was up for probably 3 hours total that night with Miles. Thank goodness the child is cute. He had been vomiting and doing a lot of back arching while he was doing all of this screaming, so I thought that maybe his Augmentin for his ear infection was causing him to have an upset stomach. I called the doctor and she told me to stop the medicine. I also started giving him his Axid (acid reflux drug) again. Last night was better (not great, but an improvement), so hopefully we have got it taken care of. If it isn’t his stomach, I will say that maybe he’s going to pop a tooth soon OR he has the beginnings of separation anxiety. Anyone else have any ideas?

Robert has training in Charlotte this week, so we made our way to Gastonia on Sunday. We had a lovely and delicious dinner with the fam + Emily on Sunday night, and she introduced me to Pomegranate Martinis. And I might never look back. Wow. Yesterday we did lots of sticking around the house. I went for a run and fell in a hole on the side of the road and took a nice fall. I am sure that someone driving by got a good laugh. I am a little sore on my hip and my ankle, but I think that it I am just bruised. It was rainy and foggy, so we played a lot, and both kids took long afternoon naps (as did I!). Today Marie had morning commitments, so I took the kids to see my friend Mauri (of the Mauri & Rob blog). We got to meet her beautiful son, Gabriel, and I got to see Mauri for the first time in a LONG time. Years. It was so wonderful to see her. Even though we don’t see her very often, she is one of my closest friends. She lives in a fantastic neighborhood – if I have anything to do with it, we’ll become her neighbor in 5-7 months. But we’ll see.

We were hoping to see the lights in McAdenville tonight, but they aren’t on yet, DARN IT! I always loved seeing them when I was a child, and we know that Lydia would absolutely go crazy. Maybe when we come back in a few weeks we’ll be able to see them. Robert and I are going to go out to dinner for an early birthday celebration for me. I am so excited.

I have been bad about posting. We had spotty wireless at the beach, and I had better things to do than to blog. We got to the beach on Wednesday afternoon, Prancer stayed at a kennel in Ocean Isle, so he got to ride up with us – we dropped him off on our way, and picked him up on his way out. If you ever go to the beach and want your pup to stay close by, we highly recommend Diamond-A Kennels in Ocean Isle.

Pretty much everyone was at the beach this year with the exception of Peter and Wendy. We missed them very much, but were SO excited to hear that Peter has been completely engrafted with the new marrow, and over the last few days has been discharged from the hospital! Something interesting that I didn’t know, with Peter’s transplant came a completely new blood type! So continue to keep him in your prayers, and check out cord blood donation if your are pregnant. Donate blood if you aren’t pregnant – Peter received countless bags of blood and platelets. Knowing someone who has been saved by blood transfusions really makes it more real.

We missed Wendy’s sweet potato souffle, and the big bags of M&Ms, snarky comments (Wendy) and good back rubs (Peter), but hopefully it all will return with them next year. The turkey was the best ever according to everyone. We were pretty lazy – the guys played golf, girls went out shopping for yarn and other domestic goods, Duprees stayed in and wrangled children… the usual. We didn’t do our 6am black Friday shopping run this year, and I don’t think anyone complained. We had both sides of a duplex, so the “kids” stayed on one side, and the “adults” on the other. There was plenty of room, two televisions and plenty of seating (and enough beds!) for everyone. I was so thrilled to be back with the gang. We even got to see Shane, who has had a habit of being deployed to various secret places for the last few times I have been on trips with the gang. It was great to visit with him and Melissa, as well as Scott and Marcia, who announced their pregnancy during the trip as well (if that is still secret, let me know and I’ll take it off). I am so thankful for all of the Thanksgiving group – they really are family to us.

Miles learned a new game while we were at the beach. It is called the scream like a horror movie game, and it can only be played in the middle of the night when you’re in a house full of people. We can’t figure out exactly what was going on, but he woke up the second and third nights in the middle of the night, and wanted to play. If no playing ensued, screaming did. So Robert and I were up for HOURS both nights. In all seriousness, I could not figure out what was going on. The first night we were there, Robert slept in another bedroom because he was sure (I was too) that he would snore very loudly. Miles woke up like normal, no screaming. The second and third night were horrible, then the last night, Robert slept in another room so he could sleep, since he would have to drive us to Charlotte the next day. And of course that night there was no screaming. So I hypothesized that it was due to Robert’s snoring, and that it was just enough to rouse him fully, instead of him just going back to sleep. However, the next night, when we got to Charlotte, he did the same thing. We tried to let him scream it out in his crib, but Bob was leaving for China the next morning, and we were concerned that the Fergusons would kick us to the curb if we didn’t let them rest. Of course, neither Bob nor Marie heard him that night. I did catch an episode of American Idol reruns (whatever the compilation shows are) from the Clay year at 1am, so all was not in vain, but I was up for probably 3 hours total that night with Miles. Thank goodness the child is cute. He had been vomiting and doing a lot of back arching while he was doing all of this screaming, so I thought that maybe his Augmentin for his ear infection was causing him to have an upset stomach. I called the doctor and she told me to stop the medicine. I also started giving him his Axid (acid reflux drug) again. Last night was better (not great, but an improvement), so hopefully we have got it taken care of. If it isn’t his stomach, I will say that maybe he’s going to pop a tooth soon OR he has the beginnings of separation anxiety. Anyone else have any ideas?

Robert has training in Charlotte this week, so we made our way to Gastonia on Sunday. We had a lovely and delicious dinner with the fam + Emily on Sunday night, and she introduced me to Pomegranate Martinis. And I might never look back. Wow. Yesterday we did lots of sticking around the house. I went for a run and fell in a hole on the side of the road and took a nice fall. I am sure that someone driving by got a good laugh. I am a little sore on my hip and my ankle, but I think that it I am just bruised. It was rainy and foggy, so we played a lot, and both kids took long afternoon naps (as did I!). Today Marie had morning commitments, so I took the kids to see my friend Mauri (of the Mauri & Rob blog). We got to meet her beautiful son, Gabriel, and I got to see Mauri for the first time in a LONG time. Years. It was so wonderful to see her. Even though we don’t see her very often, she is one of my closest friends. She lives in a fantastic neighborhood – if I have anything to do with it, we’ll become her neighbor in 5-7 months. But we’ll see.

We were hoping to see the lights in McAdenville tonight, but they aren’t on yet, DARN IT! I always loved seeing them when I was a child, and we know that Lydia would absolutely go crazy. Maybe when we come back in a few weeks we’ll be able to see them. Robert and I are going to go out to dinner for an early birthday celebration for me. I am so excited.

Lydia just climbed up on her desk/table, and proceeded to pee in her pants, while standing on the table. Sometimes I just want to scream.

Miles has an ear infection, and did very little sleeping this weekend and into the beginning of this week, which has resulted in some significant baggage under mommy’s eyes.

Lydia has started screaming when she doesn’t get her way. Mommy is exploring food allergies, and we will phase out dairy and wheat when we return from our travels. Stay tuned for what I’m sure will be a smooth transition (right…).

I asked Lydia if she wanted applesauce with her lunch. Her response was, “yes! good thinking mommy!”.

We leave tomorrow for the beach, I am so excited! I am trying to organize and pack for our family for approx. 11 days away from home. And it is really a challenge. However, I DVR’d the Jon & Kate plus 8 marathon on TLC yesterday afternoon and watched it as I was folding clothes and packing. And it was reassuring and helped me get motivated to be organized and prepared. I love Kate.

L’s are pronounced like Y’s.
Example:
Lydia = Yidia
Little = Yittle
Ladder = Yadder

M’s are interchangeable with several sounds:
Potato = Matato
Spaghetti = Smaghetti

I am sure there are others, I will add as I think of them.

I love this time of year. Birthdays, anniversaries, and of course Thanksgiving. I am SO EXCITED to be going to the beach. I don’t know if it is the beach trip that I am so excited about (because my partner in crime, Heather, may not be down there), or if I am excited just to be rejoining our families for our traditional activities for the holidays after being so far away for the last year. Whatever it is, I am SO looking forward to the next few days.

The last few days have been full of activity! This past week Robert crammed 5 days of work into 4, so he left early and was home late (read: left before or soon after the kids woke up and got home after they went to bed), so EVERYONE was exhausted by the end of the week.

We spent a great day together on Monday – we went for a long walk, it was perfect outside, and just caught up and talked (Robert had the day off). We went to the park with our meetup friends on Tuesday. Wednesday was Lydia’s birthday and she got a super special hat from her teacher, Ms. Dana, and they ate cupcakes at school. She didn’t take a nap that day, so the second half of the day was a little rough, especially with daddy not getting home until late. She got to choose her dinner (pizza), and got another puppy cake this year. It felt a little stranger to cut that thing’s head off. I felt like it might give her nightmares. Especially when I started cutting “fur” off of it’s face because there was waaaay too much icing for a 3 year old at 6pm. She didn’t say anything though. On Thursday we hosted a playdate here – the kids loved playing out on the back porch again. I have a feeling that that porch is going to be a huge asset during the winter months! On Friday, Lydia’s school had a Thanksgiving feast – they sang and wore costumes, and we had a huge potluck Thanksgiving lunch. It was FANTASTIC! It was a prelude to the fun to come this Thursday. Someone made homemade applesauce, and I have GOT to figure out how to make it. It seems like it would be easy. And wow, was it delicious. I had two helpings! I bought some homestyle Mott’s that afternoon, but it’s just not the same. I made stuffing, which is my own obsession, and it was fantastic. I don’t think people liked the smashed down appearance of my stuffing – it definitely would not have made Sandra Lee proud, so it didn’t really get eaten (I was the only one who ate any!), that, actually was my secret intent. More for me. Is that wrong? Miles liked it too, though, he enjoyed little bites of stuffing and applesauce while Lydia ate her usual carb feast of bread, mac & cheese, etc… Lydia didn’t want to leave school – I had to bribe her with candy corn to get her out to the car. Friday night I got to see my pal Pam for a walk. I love having a walking/running friend.

Saturday, Robert let me sleep in, thankfully. Miles had been up much of the night with a fever of around 102. He doesn’t have many outward symptoms, just a fever and general malaise. He has been cranky and whiny all weekend. I went for my long run after I woke up, and did okay considering I didn’t have any gels with caffeine. When I got back, Robert went for a long run too – he ran 8 miles! We spent the afternoon hanging out and trying to wrangle our children who were in an absolutely vile mood. There was lots of screaming and fit pitching. They didn’t go to bed easily, and we were exhausted after we put them to bed. They kept getting up and crying, Lydia finally settled down around 8. Miles was up and down all night. We spent our lovely anniversary eating pizza and watching house flipping shows. Hooray for being old and boring. We would have gone out but I forgot to call a babysitter. Good thing, too, since Miles was sick. Today we got to go to Earl and Cassie’s son (Brycen)’s birthday party. Lydia and Brycen get along so well. Lydia had a good time and A LOT OF CAKE. I am fearful of how the rest of the afternoon will proceed. Miles is taking a late nap, and we’re going to go for a walk now. I have pictures to add in a little while.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving, wherever you are!

I love this time of year. Birthdays, anniversaries, and of course Thanksgiving. I am SO EXCITED to be going to the beach. I don’t know if it is the beach trip that I am so excited about (because my partner in crime, Heather, may not be down there), or if I am excited just to be rejoining our families for our traditional activities for the holidays after being so far away for the last year. Whatever it is, I am SO looking forward to the next few days.

The last few days have been full of activity! This past week Robert crammed 5 days of work into 4, so he left early and was home late (read: left before or soon after the kids woke up and got home after they went to bed), so EVERYONE was exhausted by the end of the week.

We spent a great day together on Monday – we went for a long walk, it was perfect outside, and just caught up and talked (Robert had the day off). We went to the park with our meetup friends on Tuesday. Wednesday was Lydia’s birthday and she got a super special hat from her teacher, Ms. Dana, and they ate cupcakes at school. She didn’t take a nap that day, so the second half of the day was a little rough, especially with daddy not getting home until late. She got to choose her dinner (pizza), and got another puppy cake this year. It felt a little stranger to cut that thing’s head off. I felt like it might give her nightmares. Especially when I started cutting “fur” off of it’s face because there was waaaay too much icing for a 3 year old at 6pm. She didn’t say anything though. On Thursday we hosted a playdate here – the kids loved playing out on the back porch again. I have a feeling that that porch is going to be a huge asset during the winter months! On Friday, Lydia’s school had a Thanksgiving feast – they sang and wore costumes, and we had a huge potluck Thanksgiving lunch. It was FANTASTIC! It was a prelude to the fun to come this Thursday. Someone made homemade applesauce, and I have GOT to figure out how to make it. It seems like it would be easy. And wow, was it delicious. I had two helpings! I bought some homestyle Mott’s that afternoon, but it’s just not the same. I made stuffing, which is my own obsession, and it was fantastic. I don’t think people liked the smashed down appearance of my stuffing – it definitely would not have made Sandra Lee proud, so it didn’t really get eaten (I was the only one who ate any!), that, actually was my secret intent. More for me. Is that wrong? Miles liked it too, though, he enjoyed little bites of stuffing and applesauce while Lydia ate her usual carb feast of bread, mac & cheese, etc… Lydia didn’t want to leave school – I had to bribe her with candy corn to get her out to the car. Friday night I got to see my pal Pam for a walk. I love having a walking/running friend.

Saturday, Robert let me sleep in, thankfully. Miles had been up much of the night with a fever of around 102. He doesn’t have many outward symptoms, just a fever and general malaise. He has been cranky and whiny all weekend. I went for my long run after I woke up, and did okay considering I didn’t have any gels with caffeine. When I got back, Robert went for a long run too – he ran 8 miles! We spent the afternoon hanging out and trying to wrangle our children who were in an absolutely vile mood. There was lots of screaming and fit pitching. They didn’t go to bed easily, and we were exhausted after we put them to bed. They kept getting up and crying, Lydia finally settled down around 8. Miles was up and down all night. We spent our lovely anniversary eating pizza and watching house flipping shows. Hooray for being old and boring. We would have gone out but I forgot to call a babysitter. Good thing, too, since Miles was sick. Today we got to go to Earl and Cassie’s son (Brycen)’s birthday party. Lydia and Brycen get along so well. Lydia had a good time and A LOT OF CAKE. I am fearful of how the rest of the afternoon will proceed. Miles is taking a late nap, and we’re going to go for a walk now. I have pictures to add in a little while.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving, wherever you are!