All the REST!

All the rest! Finally! I know, 2 posts in one day, but I'm glad to be done! These are in no particular order because I'm too lazy to reorganize.

So some people have expressed concern for the sanity of my brother-in-law about the hole....and while I won't say that he's perfectly sane (heh) it wasn't as strange as it may have sounded. Benny was obsessed with digging a gargantuan hole- which actually created quite a bit of entertainment for us all.
I love this kid so much. He is such a joy- when he's not screaming and grabbing at my legs. His smile lights up my day. It's so sweet.

I love this picture because of her little curls. So cute.
I mean LOOK at it! Isn't it the cutest!
See! Holes are fun.
Fun to jump over too! I don't even know if Mike has seen this one or not.

He simply loved the ocean. He wanted to walk straight into it.
M did enjoy playing for short periods in the sand as long as no one threatened her with going near the water.
Well, the one good thing about dragging out the posts is that I have gotten to reflect on the trip more. It was really a great trip. We had a good time and it was so nice to get to spend some REAL time with my sister and Benny. We are always so rushed when we see them. I hope the kids weren't too annoying for anyone- it's hard to keep everyone happy 24 hours a day especially when you add fevers and strangers into the mix with strong-willed children. I am looking forward to another great trip next year!

Things we saw.

Just a little family shot to keep you interested.
This rainbow showed itself after an afternoon shower. You could see the entire arc end to end, but obviously it was too big to get a picture of. Beautiful. I've never seen a rainbow so perfect before.

I don't know if you can see this dude too well in the sand- look closely. These were the crabs that were literally ALL over the beach. I loved watching them run around and dig their holes. So interesting! There were crabs of all sizes- so tiny they looked like a little piece of trash blowing on the beach and then some pretty big. Marc dug this one up when helping Benny with the hole.

Oh yes, there are STILL more. The trip seems forever away now and I still probably have 2-3 more posts worth of pictures!

Not even close to the end...

Silly faces.Eating a shell covered in sand. His OT was proud of him when I told her how much sand he ate!


She was always headed to the house.
A few more- not even close to being done....GAH!








Side note- G had OT today- I have been frustrated with him because I feel like he isn't making big changes, but he's grown an INCH in a month. He's on the chart for height!!! 10% (29 inches). Still not on for weight (19lbs 6oz) but they don't usually gain weight and height at the same time. I am thrilled that he's getting taller. He actually took a bite of a waffle yesterday- he promptly spit it out but I was proud of him for trying. He also gnaws on apple slices, strawberries, grapes, bananas (not often), popsicles, and lots of other crunchy things. He won't touch soft stuff so no pastas, canned fruits, etc. She said she felt like even though his changes aren't easy for us to SEE that she felt like his progress was continuing to be very fast and big. He's taking bigger bites of crackers and actually eating enough for them to be volume rather than just experimentation. He LOVES yogurt and would eat it for every meal if I'd let him.
Other changes are coming here but I'll save it for my next post. It'll also be complete with MORE vacation pictures. Someday I'll get them all up!

Temperament.

I have recently read a couple of books about Temperament and the strong willed child (which both of my children are turning out to be). I needed to share this:

"The most recent personality research demonstrates that there exists a genetic influence in HOW your child reacts to the world around him. This first and natural reaction is called his temperament. Researchers have discovered that temperament has biological, neurological, and physiological underpinnings that affect your child's mood, ability to calm himself, and activity level."

"Temperament is real. It is inside. It is not the terrible twos, sixes, or thirteens. It doesn't go away. Your child doesn't get to choose his temperament and niether do you, but an understanding of temperament allows you to predit your child's first and most natural reactions and to plan for success."

- from Raising your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka

Isn't that Empowering?!

Yes, I do plan on finishing the pictures from the trip :)

Fort Macon

I will eventually update you on the whole trip, but I'm slow. Can't help it. The next day we went to Fort Macon. I am usually not into things such as this but was sure B would enjoy it. It was a beautiful day- maybe our best day of weather of the entire trip! The fort turned out to be pretty neat. Several of the rooms were made to look as they were- bunks, captains quarters, mess house, etc. It didn't take too long at the fort. G was super tired so I wore him in the carrier and he eventually took a nap. A good calorie burner for me too!
Friends.M refused to be in this picture with us.
On some cannon balls.
Checking out one of the rooms.
This was at the top of the fort- it went around the top and then you went down inside the middle to the rooms and such.
We then went out to a picnic area between the beach and the parking lot to eat our picnic.
Then back home to play some more on the beach!

Day 1 on the beach

Day one on the beach was COLD! After we went to the aquarium we came back and played a bit anyhow. It was still fun!
M was sleeping.
A quick word about myself- I actually don't recognize myself in some of these pictures. I feel like this person looks WAY better than I feel. I am so proud of my accomplishments this spring- I hope I can be reminded of this feeling often so I don't screw it up. This vacation was the first time in my adult life that I haven't gained more than 5 lbs on a vacation. Don't get me wrong, I certainly enjoyed myself- lots of wine, cookies, ice cream and chips, but I was reasonable and ate lots of salads and grilled fish, sandwiches with mustard instead of mayonnaise for lunch, and didn't indulge in the biscuits and gravy and bacon for breakfast. When I got back on the scale Sunday morning I only had gained ONE pound in a week. That's CRAZY for vacation. I didn't work out nearly as hard as usual, but I did manage to get in some good exercise each day except the day we left.
Sand eater. Every day his poop was littered with sand. Oh well- no harm done, eh? I figure it was good for his texture issues to have the grit in his mouth.

Yum!
Daddy and G
Benny digging his first hole- there were others after this one- this one was filled in with sand by the next morning.
That's it for today- more pictures of WARM beach days to come.

Aquarium

So we are home- I have an embarassing amount of pictures so it's going to take a few posts to get them all up. I got to stay home from work today (WOOT!) so I'll start now! We had an overall fantastic trip. The house was better than we even expected and very comfortable! Plenty of room for everyone! The ocean was literally at the back door. It was SO LOUD! It was great to have laundry, a stocked fridge (we went to the store of course), and plenty of tv's. We didn't do too much running around. The weather wasn't overly cooperative- we had three good days on the beach but also had a lot of rain! Bummer. I figure that if we'd had only sun we'd probably be fried lobsters though, so oh well. The first day we arrived at lunch time so we hit Ruby Tuesday's and grabbed a bite. After that we headed to the house to get things around. We went to the grocery to grab stuff for dinner and lunches and Mike cooked his first of many meals for us on the grill! Tuna! YUM! I slept like a BABY that first night listening to the waves.

The first full day, Monday, was rainy and cool as were several days of our trip. We decided to hit the aquarium which was really nice! M's hair had such a cute curl on this trip with the humidity! It looked better than EVER!
Isn't G's expression cute?
M on the frog.
Watch out!
Funny. I love this picture of us!
Great big tank! We stayed awhile and watched the divers a little later.
Watching the sharks!
I hesitated to put this up- PICU friends will understand. I was feeding him at the aquarium- he looks a little like some of our patients here, eh?
This was the general expression of Griffin the entire trip. He cried and fussed nearly the entire time. I was really surprised because as a whole he's always been so easy going, but this trip really threw him off. By the third day or so he took long naps and started sleeping at night and things improved, and then he picked up M's fever from the day before and it went back downhill. It was really frustrating- we're not used to dealing with such a fussy guy!
Stay tuned for LOTS of beach pics!