Wednesday, May 27, 2009

We didn’t take as many pictures as we should have of our trip to the Outer Banks, but here are a few samples.

Jesse sleeping on the drive south.

Marmie with Molly Ann.

GGMa with Molly Ann - GG is 95 years young.

Pop with Molly Ann.

The CootieKids with Jesse at the aquarium at Roanoke Island.

At the pool. Beau found that suit - it’s awesome and we love how skinny his legs look with his superhero chest plates/floaties.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Count me in!

[via Llama Robbo]

A couple of guys at my church parodied this to go with the message a couple of weeks ago. Hilarious.

Our pastor started a new series a few weeks ago. He’s a brave, brave man (and also hilarious).

Click HERE to see the reason. Week one was May 10. Week two was May 17. The final week was May 24 - soon to be posted.

We drove home from the OBX yesterday. The drive was rather uneventful for a Sunday, although we think that’s because it was Sunday of a holiday weekend. Most others will face traffic today instead. We did hit a bit of a back up while still on I-64 south of Richmond. It was just as we came to the exit for Jamestown/Yorktown/Williamsburg and in an oddly spontaneous move, I suggested we take a side trip to see Jamestown. Neither of us has been there and we both have mentioned an interest in seeing the settlement. So we did just that.

It was a fun diversion even with a two year old who was bored with most of it. We realized that we could have toured Yorktown with our tickets, too, but we didn’t want to take that time since we were really just traveling home from the beach. So we talked about maybe taking a long weekend or even a full week to really see the sights in that area. There’s plenty to do - Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown, Busch Gardens, and it’s close enough to even hit the beach at Virginia Beach one day, too.

We’ll wait a couple or three years so that Molly Ann is old enough to sort of enjoy it, too but it’s definitely a plan.

Happy Memorial Day.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

We’re in the Outer Banks for the week. My cousin gets married on Saturday in Duck, NC. Molly Ann is such a great baby and did well for the long drive down. Jesse, too. The house we’ve rented is very nice and spacious and very close to the water.

We didn’t do much on Monday because it was rainy and cold most of the day. Beau and I did take the kids to a little shopping area to buy a kite for Jesse and Beau to fly while we’re here. And then my parents watched the kids so that Beau and I could have a short date - we went to see Wolverine, which was entertaining (I give it 3 stars out of 5). There were only 6 other people in the theater with us.

Yesterday we went to Kitty Hawk to check out the Wright Brothers Monument and Museum. I think we might have enjoyed that a bit more if Jesse hadn’t been as whiny as he was - he was off kilter most of the day. Although he provided the day’s comedy later in the afternoon.

Today seems to be a lazy day so far. We may go play mini golf and bumper cars with the kids after lunch.

Tomorrow the ladies go for a spa morning and then I think we’re all headed to Roanoke Island to shop and whatever else is down there.

Friday may be a trip to the aquarium and Saturday will be quiet since that’s the day of the wedding.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Coach is ridiculous. The End. Period. Paragraph. Note: the recap at that link is heavily spoilerish and contains profanity. But it is hilarious.

I was wondering when they’d get to some churrascaria. Mmmmm ... meat!

The finale is on Sunday, which is the day we drive down to the beach. I’m thinking my parents won’t sit through 3 hours of Survivor, so I’ll either have to wait until we get home to watch it or I’ll have to sequester myself in another room (the house we’ve rented has 6(!) TVs).

Thursday, May 14, 2009

LOST: In a word? Awesome.

I’m so curious about what’s going to happen next season to wrap up the show.

For more commentary from the masses, check out this thread at The Thinklings. Be aware that it is very spoilerish.

24: This one comes next week and while I think I’ll be able to watch it while at the beach, I may have to wait to see it when we get home. I’m OK either way. I’ll watch it to get closure, but this season has not been very good, if you ask me. And I’m doubtful about watching the next season, although I do realize that with time and distance I can get sucked back into the hoopla for another “day.”

West Virginia: We went to visit Beau’s friends the other day. It was a lovely day and perfect for spending on a secluded mountain farm. Jesse enjoyed his time playing with L&M’s grandkids and seeing cows and the “big fat dog.” I enjoyed girl chat. Beau enjoyed shooting up clay pigeons with his buddy. Molly got held by a lot of people who appreciated her snuggly cuteness.

The Stairs of Doom: It was while at the farm that Jesse had a slight mishap with what I call The Stairs of Doom. L&M’s farm house is a work in progress. The ground floor, which is more like a basement although it is above ground, is what you’d expect in a basement with a concrete floor. They have hardwood steps leading up to the main floor, but there is no side rail (yet) or banister. Until they had grandchildren, there was an open area at the top from their kitchen where a wall has since been added. Unfortunately the width from wall to wall at the top is just slightly off for the gate they have - it’s too wide for the gate to be tight enough to keep a child from knocking it down if they lean on it. To my mother’s eyes, those stairs are scary business and I keep a vigilant eye on Jesse when he’s near them.

He did well all day. He’s good on our stairs, to the point that we rarely put the gates up anymore - we really only use the gates to keep him corralled in the living room when we are occupied in the kitchen and/or upstairs and don’t want him underfoot. Knowing that L&M’s gate wasn’t as secure as Jesse would expect, I preferred that the gate stay down since he has a healthy respect for the stairs. And as I said, he did well all day.

Until ... It was about 30 minutes before we were planning to leave when it happened. My worst nightmare.

Jesse was playing with this rolling dog; pulling it behind him and watching it follow. He started to the hall area near those stairs and I could see that he was leaning in the direction. Just as I was calling out to him to watch the stairs he disappeared from view and I heard the thunks as he tumbled down. Four adults immediately leaped up, but I was holding Molly Ann and couldn’t get up fast enough.

I was sitting across from L, who saw the whole thing. He said that Jesse went down on his butt backwards, sitting upright until he went out of his view. M got there just as he started to turn and then roll sideways down the last third of the steps. She said he never hit his head once that she could see. Beau got to him just as he started to cry, which was almost immediately upon landing at the bottom. The other two adults were L&M’s daughter and son-in-law - I’m not sure where they ended up, although I think one of them was holding their 2 year old. I handed Molly Ann to L and went to see for myself, Beau got back to the top with Jesse as I got there and we took him to the bedroom to check him over. Amazingly, there wasn’t a mark on him that we could see and he had already started to stop crying. Later, we noticed a red mark on his upper back and the day after he had a small bruise on one elbow and on the outer sides of his feet (he had no shoes on and we figure they banged on the steps as he went down on his butt). Beau said he fell on his backside at the park today and seemed in a bit of pain, which isn’t surprising since he went down hardwood steps on his rear for a while.

Once we realized he was OK, I started to cry in relief. And then I had this thought that it was probably good for me that it happened - my fear was realized and he came out of it OK. I’m curious how paranoid I’ll be about those stairs the next time we visit, though.

The New Stroller: We bought a new stroller today, courtesy of Beau’s parents. We opted for a sit and stand type of double stroller. The truth is that since Beau is the primary parent, he won’t use the stroller as much as I might. He doesn’t prowl the mall, but he will find it handy when he does run errands with both kids. We got a good bargain on it with a 20% coupon. Beau took it on a test walk with the kids this afternoon and he seemed happy with it. Jesse likes his jump seat and Molly Ann’s carseat fits well. The nice thing about it, too, is that it isn’t too much bigger than the single stroller we have - it’s slightly longer, but it is narrower.

I read several reviews of it before we decided on this particular one. One reviewer said her front wheels wouldn’t turn at all. So when we looked at the floor model in the store, I mentioned that to Beau. He took a look at the wheels and noticed that they have individual locks on each one. If that mother never noticed those locks then she would never be able to turn the stroller! Another reviewer complained that it was impossible to stow anything in the basket, but another reviewer suggested unsnapping the basket on one of the sides to stow stuff. I checked that idea out and she’s right - you can easily get large items into that basket by unsnapping it. Another reviewer noted that the kid on the jump seat wouldn’t be able to nap if on a long outing. We debated the need for that option and thought that if we do take a day trip to a park or something that we would most likely be together and I could wear Molly Ann so that Jesse could sit in the front seat to nap. Once she’s too big to wear, then we probably won’t be using the stroller much anyway.

The Beach: We leave for our week at the Outer Banks with the R-clan (my parents and the Cooties) on Sunday. The girls have a spa day planned. I think the boys will take the kids to the aquarium on that day. Each couple will get a date night during the week. And we cap off the week with my cousin’s fabulous wedding. I’m excited about the week away.

Monday, May 11, 2009

We’re managing to crank through the Netflix queue lately. Two movies this weekend:

Marley & Me: Very cute, we both liked it pretty well. There were several things that stood out to me throughout the movie and that caused some teary eyes. I was reminded why I like Jennifer Aniston. 3.5 stars out of 5.

Changeling: There were times when I wondered if the real LA police captain who dealt with Christine Collins was such a jerk, but since this movie is based on actual events and she was actually committed by the police, then I guess he was. Clint Eastwood did a good job of telling the story without getting into too many gruesome details that are horrifying for any parent to think about. 3.5 stars out of 5.

I sent back disc 3 of Rome - too needlessly explicit and I was getting bored with the story. I won’t finish the series.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Thursday, May 07, 2009

There are times when I have a random thought that might be blogworthy. And then that moment passes and I’m nowhere near my computer and it gets forgotten without getting posted.

And then there are the times when I am sitting at the computer with the time to say something and I have nothing to say. Like now.

Not that there’s nothing to share but I don’t want to bore you with the same stuff about Molly Ann every day - like how awesome she is to already be sleeping through the night for roughly 7+ hours consistently; or how she hates the car seat, which makes outings a challenge; or how much I love her. We’re already doing a terrible job of photographing. I think the last time I took a picture of her was last weekend. Poor second child.

I could ramble on about our pending vacation to the beach. We are not beach people. So why are we going to the beach for our vacation this year? Because my cousin is getting married in Duck, North Carolina, and we thought it was too good an opportunity for another family vacay with the whole R-clan. So we have rented a house for the week before the wedding. Now we’re wondering what we’ll do that would be different from being at home since neither the pool nor the ocean will be warm enough for Beau and Jesse to swim in and I’ll be busy with a 7-week old baby.

We’re going to go visit our friends in West Virginia on Tuesday. This time it’ll just be a day trip to show off Molly Ann and to check out our beef cow. We paid our deposit on our side of beef last month so we’re going to take a picture of our half of the cow as a record. I’ll post pictures.

We’ve had rain for more than a week and it’s getting tiresome, mostly because our high energy toddler needs outside time to burn that energy and he isn’t getting it. That kid needs to run around on a daily basis or things get tense inside the house.

I guess I found something to share after all.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

It occurred to me yesterday that today is the anniversary of my college graduation.

It was 20 years ago that I graduated from college.

Saying that makes me feel old and yet my tiny Molly Ann and adorable Jesse make me feel young. What’s weird to think about is that at my current age my mother had a college graduate daughter and yet I’m a new parent.