Vacation Withdrawals

Since Jamie and I got married, we have taken our annual beach vacation to Destin around this time of year, in either June or July. However, this year, my sister is getting married in Savannah, GA and we are trading our Destin trip for a week's stay with my family at Tybee Island. I couldn't be more excited... except that we still have a month to go until vacation time! I'm having MAJOR vacation withdrawals. In fact, if Jamie's heard it once, he's heard it a zillion times in the past month: "I sure wish we could take a long weekend trip to the beach!" I've tried (unsucessfully) to talk him into a spontaneous weekend trip to Destin to appease my need for relaxation, sun, and fresh seafood. In honor of our annual trips, I've decided to reminisce with pictures of each trip since Noah was born. Enjoy!

In 2007, the year Noah was born, we waited until September to take our vacation. We had to put it off until September due to Noah's health problems following his delivery. Fortunately, at 4 months old, he was doing much better so we headed south with my mom, dad, sister, and aunt. Our vacation couldn't have come at a more perfect time, as Noah was about to have surgery on his skull on October 1, so it was nice having a week to relax and get our minds off what lie ahead.








These baby pictures REALLY make me miss having a little baby...

The following year, we went with Jamie's parents and stayed at The Hilton Sandestin. Jamie's parents go every year during the 3rd week of July to the Hilton in Sandestin for the Annual Alabama Homebuilders Convention and each year we rotate which son and his family gets to go with them (Jamie has two other brothers, both of whom are married which 1 child each). The convention occupied alot of their time, especially Tony's, but we still worked in some family time. The convention involves alot of meetings for the builders, however, they also have fun activities for the whole family: such as private pool parties with catered food and drinks, a formal dinner with a band, etc. Jamie and I love going to the Hilton, especially since we prefer hotels over condos... we enjoy being pampered on vacation: having someone make the bed each day, refresh our towels, being able to order food and drinks out by the pool, etc. Plus we love nothing more than to be able to order room service and eat a dessert in bed once our little guy goes to sleep! Noah was a little over a year old and did great! He enjoyed the pool(but was scared of the ocean... good thing we're pool people!) and was really good the entire time we were there.











And last year, we returned to the Hilton for our first beach trip with just our family of three. Noah was a little over two years old and did great! He loved the pool and would even nap on a lounge chair so that Jamie and I could remain in the sun! We ate at all of our favorite places, including my #1 favorite restaurant of all time... Louisiana Lagniappe (if you ever go, you have to order the Grouper Pontchatrain... delicious!). We also had a photo session on the beaches of Seaside, which to this day are my favorite family pictures that we've had to date (which are the pictures I used in my header.)

















So our countdown is on for Vacation 2010... 4 weeks left!

YUM!

One of my good friends, Kellie, has started a recipe blog. Tonight I tried one of her recipes, the Chicken Enchilada Ring, and it was DELICIOUS. Even Jamie couldn't quit raving about how much he enjoyed it and Noah gobbled it up (which is rare). So I'd say this recipe gets 3 thumbs up from our family. Here's a link to it... Chicken Enchilada Ring. I'm not a big fan of flipping through a recipe book HOPING I choose something that will taste good. I would much rather try a recipe from someone who recommends it. So thanks Kellie! I look forward to trying out more of your recipes!

Sneak Peek

The photographer that did Noah's pictures on Saturday already has a sneak peek of the session on Facebook, so I thought I'd share! I can't wait to see the rest of the pictures.

Weekend Happenings

On Wednesday evening of this past week, Jamie, Noah and I were playing in the floor together and talking about our sweet baby on the way, along with all that has to be done between now and October. Thinking my idea would get shot down, I asked Jamie if he would be up for a trip to the mall to buy Collier some clothes. I had been there earlier that day and noticed Belk had a pretty good sale, so I thought, "why not?" To my surprise, he thought that was a great idea and off we went with Noah in tow to buy Collier his first outfits. We found several things that we thought we really cute and topped the evening off with dinner at Crocodile Ed's, where Jamie's mother joined us. It was fun spending the evening with my two boys and having both of their input about what they would like to see Collier wear once he gets here. It made me realize that even though I'm outnumbered in the boy to girl ratio, my family of boys will still want to spend time with their momma, even if it is doing the girliest of things, such as shopping!

Friday evening, we were invited to attend a gift card shower for my sister and her fiance, Derrick, hosted by several of their friends. Mom and Dad kept Noah so we could attend. Several of Lindsay's high school friends, in addition to her college friends, were there so it was great getting to see all of them and catch up. Lindsay and Derrick got a plethora of gift cards from all different types of places in Florence... the usual places such as Lowe's, Target, Walmart, but also some from the Surprise Store and David Christopher's. Several friends got them gift cards for date nights out to eat and to the movies, while two friends thought outside the box and got them a gift card to ticketmaster to be used toward a concert! They had a great shower!

Noah had an outdoor photo session scheduled for Saturday afternoon. I called and scheduled it shortly after his 3rd birthday so I had no clue that we would be going through such a heat spell this early in the summer. It went GREAT and I think the photographer got some really cute shots, however, it was HOT. Luckily, Noah was a trooper and didn't fuss at all, but by the end of it, Jamie, mom and I were soaked in sweat. Sunday, June 27th was my sister's birthday and Derrick's birthday is July 1 so we had planned a joint birthday dinner for the two of them on Saturday evening. My mom and dad prepared a shrimp boil with potatoes and corn, homemade crabcakes, and for dessert... Victorian Tea Room birthday cake. YUM! We ate until our bellies were full!

Sunday morning was our usual... sunday school and church. After church, we had enough time to eat lunch and for Noah to get in a much-needed nap, then we had Hannah Clayton's 1st birthday party at Gattman Park. Thankfully, the weather wasn't quite as hot and humid as it had been the day before, and we were in the shade under a pavilion. Hannah got lots of cute toys and all the kids had a great time. After food, cake, and presents, we all took the kids to the Splash Pad at Gattman Park. My parent's neighborhood is within walking distance to Gattman and as kids, we spent MANY summer days (and evenings) at the ball fields there, since my sister and I both played rec league and high school softball. So Gattman is a familiar spot for much of my childhood. I had not gone to the park in a year so I was surprised to see their latest addition... an AWESOME Splash Pad for kids to run through and play on! Noah LOVED it!! The splash pad was pretty crowded and I didn't want Noah crawling around on concrete (and possibly getting run over by the bigger kids) so I walked through it with him, easing him close to the water spouts so he could play but I wouldn't get wet. Lucky for me (no sarcasm intended!), this little boy runs up right beside Noah and stands in front of one of the sprayers, shooting water all over me! By that point, I'm pretty much soaked so it didn't matter if I got more wet... after all, I was doing it for Noah so might as well have fun! The only thing I regret is that I wasn't able to take pictures. Jamie was there and watching us, but my mom had taken my camera back with her to the house. Oh well, next time I will definitely get some shots! We had a busy but fun weekend and after spending 2 afternoons in a row, out in the sun, we were all beat!

Nesting Already?

I've pretty much decided how I would like to do Collier's nursery, so in my eyes that means, "let's get started!" That room is currently Noah's play room, as it is across the hall from his bedroom. We are moving the boys' playroom downstairs (that's kind of weird to say... "the boys"), however the room that will be their playroom, is currently Jamie's workout room. So we have to do alot of rearranging (and some cleaning and organizing.) I mentioned all of this to Jamie and asked when he would like us to get started and he suggests we wait until after my sister's wedding, which is August 1. Part of the rearranging that we have to do is to lay the flooring in our attic and move some boxes and storage stuff up there, which I know Jamie isn't thrilled about in this crazy heat, so I understand his desire to prolong this project. I agreed with him but later on that evening, I begin thinking about all that I have to do before Collier gets here! If we wait until after Lindsay's wedding, I'll be around 27 weeks. I want to feel good and be able to help in this process but the longer we wait, the less I'll feel like doing. For some crazy reason, the thought of putting off this project kind of had me a bit anxious! I also began thinking about the additional items we'll need for Collier: a double stroller, clothes (his and Noah's birthdays are in completely different seasons), a video monitor, etc. Yikes!! Am I ALREADY experiencing nesting???

Jammin' Out at the Dinner Table

Noah's new OT, Miranda has started him on a new program called "Therapeutic Listening." It's 30 minutes 2 times a day listening to certain CD's for up to 8 - 12 weeks. The music is all of the typical children's songs but they have been digitally altered (sometimes it sounds like they are in a tunnel). The way it was explained to me is that the music engages all the different parts of the ear. Somehow by doing this program, therapy goals are reached much quicker than without the program. It also makes a difference in communication, gross & fine motor skills, and several other areas. You can find out more about it here Therapeutic Listening.

We started Noah on it yesterday and we let him listen to the CD's while he's eating. They are supposed to not be engaged in watching TV or anything distracting. Yesterday, he kept taking the headphones off but this morning he did much better. Hopefully we'll see some benefits from this program.

A-Okay!

We had an ultrasound today with a Genetic OB, Dr. Biggio(?) at UAB and Collier's looking great. They looked closely at his skull to see what his sutures were doing at this point and everything checked out fine. They would like for me to come back at 30 weeks so they can check him out again. One thing we've heard twice this week from both ultrasound techs is just how ACTIVE this little guy is! Even Dr. Biggio commented on it today... I've been feeling him move since 18 weeks quite a bit throughout the day and I THOUGHT I felt him during my 17th week but I wasn't sure if it was my imagination. We got some great pictures of our little guy and he's weighing in at 11 ounces.




After the appointment, we made a stop at Pottery Barn Kids. I returned some bedding that I had previously purchased and bought a different set that I like much better. For Noah's nursery, I used soft, soothing colors (very light blue, ivory, and khaki) and I had thought I wanted to go in the opposite direction for Collier's nursery. I purchased bedding that was really colorful: bright bold red's, blue's, green's, etc. (more 'big' boyish). But I began having second thoughts when I realized that I will only have a small time frame of a year or two where I can use "baby" colors. He'll have red, blues, etc for majority of his life so I might as well take advantage of this time where I can get away with the baby colors! Here's a picture of his sweet bedding! :) I can't WAIT to begin on the nursery. I'm toying with the idea of putting up wainscoting on the bottom half of the walls so once I figure that out, we'll get started on the painting.

Summer Fun and Pregnancy Update

We are getting settled in and adjusted to Noah's new therapy/daycare schedule for the summer and I actually like it so much better. On Mondays, he spends half a day at daycare. Tuesday mornings are spent getting 30 minutes of Physical Therapy and Thursdays are spent getting 2 total hours of Occupational Therapy and Speech. Last week was his first visits with his new therapists and he did great! I love having therapy broken up into two seperate days because I think he gets more out of each session, rather than cramming it all into 1 session (like we did when we went to H'ville).

This week, Noah got to experience his first Vacation Bible School at our church, Woodward Avenue Baptist in Muscle Shoals. We have an awesome Children's Director and the entire Children's Dept is great. I was unsure whether or not Noah would get to attend VBS this year since he's not walking, however, Margie (our Director) told us to definitely bring him and that she would arrange for someone to be with Noah and help him get around the entire time. I helped out on Monday in the snack room so I was able to check in on him periodically. He did great. I'm so amazed and grateful for how our church goes out of their way to accomodate Noah's needs so that he's able to participate in all the activities that his classmates get to do. It's something that Jamie and I will forever be grateful for. We are so lucky and blessed to be apart of such a loving church family.

Since we've had such sunny and hot weather, Noah and I have gone to the pool at Cypress Lakes Country Club (where Jamie plays golf) a few times already. Last Thursday, we went up there with my mom . This was Noah's first time in the pool since last summer and he was so afraid of the water... he didn't even want his feet in the water! I was shocked because he has never responded this way to the pool. It took some coaxing but he finally got comfortable with it and enjoyed himself. A couple of days later we went back with Chenequa and Hannah and he was fine and really enjoyed himself. Jamie came up there for a little while and played in the water with us, which Noah LOVED. I'm glad his fear was short-lived because not only do I plan on spending lots of summer days at the pool, but Noah begins swimming lessons this Saturday.

Yesterday was my 19 week check-up where they did the ultrasound to tell us the sex of the baby. Of course, he was still a boy. :) Dr. Keith told me everything looked great. Based on Collier's size, it was showing my due date to be Oct. 30 so I'm glad his growth is right on target. I've been feeling good, except for my lower back and hips are KILLING me. I know that this is probably due to a) having scoliosis and b) carrying around a 35lb child throughout the day, in addition to the normal aches and pains of pregnancy. He did tell me that the back pain is worse with the second pregnancy and worse if you've had a previous c-section (not sure why that is.) I was really hoping Dr. Keith would write me a prescription to get weekly massages but he didn't... I can't imagine why he wouldn't! :)

Tomorrow, I have an appointment at UAB in Maternal/Fetal Medicine with one of the Obstetricians that specializes in Genetics. Dr. Keith thought it was a good idea to have them check out the baby throughout my pregnancy and just make sure everything is developing normally, especially considering the things Noah has been dealing with. I'm praying everything checks out okay and we won't have anything to worry about!

I went to the Baby's Room to order the baby furniture, however, a couple of days later we got a call that the crib was on backorder until late November... so that definitely wouldn't work. I finally found something else that I liked and got it ordered a couple of weeks ago. Baby furniture... check! As far as bedding is concerned, I already had something picked out prior to finding out the sex. I purchased it soon after finding out that we were having a boy, however, I'm having a some doubts that I might want to take it back and get something else. For Noah's nursery, I went with soft, soothing colors (very very light blue, khaki, ivory) and I thought I wanted to go in the opposite direction for Collier's nursery, however, I'm not sure what I want to do now. Stay tuned!

Collier's Furniture in Espresso

I hope you all are having a great summer and enjoying spending some time outside in the sun!

Apology

I would like to apologize for the negativity during my last post. Instead of complaining, I should be grateful that we are able to afford insurance because MANY families are not able to. I should be grateful that we have family that have offered to step in and help out with Noah's therapy if we were to need the help. I should be grateful that we were able to put Noah in the Spider Program already once this year. I don't want my blog to be one of those where every single post is a complaint, negative, or drama-filled about whatever is going on in my life. That wasn't my intentions. Nobody has said anything to me about it however, I just feel kind of guilty for griping on the internet. So "I'm soorrryyyy, sooo soorrrryyyyy...."