Taking Our Bedroom Back

New baby monitor.  Check.  Extra pacifiers.  Check.  Dark drapery.  Check.

We're finally getting our bedroom back.  Mattie Jane is finally heading upstairs to the nursery.  This would've happened much sooner, but a month's worth of coughing and congestion combined with pacifier-falling-out-of-mouth induced wakefulness got me out of bed several times for many nights.  Having to climb steps AND take the risk of waking Evan was not going to make this situation any better so I decided to wait a little longer.

Mattie finally seems to be over her upper respiratory issues and her eye/hand coordination has dramatically improved enabling her to find her pacifier and pop it back into her mouth on her own.  I've actually had four to five consecutive nights of undisturbed sleep.  Amazing.

Robert and I can finally get back to watching our recorded shows without white noise interfering with our hearing.  We've had to resort to only watching sports or bad reality tv - anything that doesn't require much volume to know what's going on - like Lizard Lick Towing or All Worked Up - basically anything on truTV.  It'll be nice to watch an actual movie.  The last one we saw was almost 6 months ago.  Devastating and sad.

But we'll both miss one thing for sure - turning over and seeing that little baby head propped up with a huge grin spread across her face.  Who can't happily greet that in the morning?  Even if it is 5:30 am...

Feel the Music

Evan:  "Turn on music, Mama!"
(I turn the radio to Evan's favorite station)
Evan:  "Turn it up louder, please."
(I crank the volume up a few notches)
Evan:  "It's Enrique and Ludacris, Mama!" (He then proceeds to sing along to the song Tonight)

Music is such a personal preference that even a two year old knows what he likes.  I often scan the radio looking for  a good song and, without fail, Evan will scream out when he hears a song he likes.  He also makes sure to tell me when he doesn't like a song, meaning I better find another one that he approves of.

The artists shown above are Evan's current favorites.  If I had to rank them in order the Black Eyed Peas would take the number one spot, followed by Enrique, then Cee Lo and finally, Britney.  Each of their songs have Evan bobbing his head back and forth and side to side in the backseat.  It's almost like something comes over him - he's somewhat possessed when he listens to their songs.  He does this really strange thing with his eyes and mouth like he's in some sort of trance.  As soon as he realizes I'm looking at him he breaks out of it and starts laughing.  Talk about feeling the music...

His preference for hip hop/pop music is really strong by day, but by night his preference is country.  I imagine it's a little easier to fall asleep to "Need You Now" than "Boom Boom Pow."

What happened to "a quack quack here and a moo moo there?"  Maybe we should do a hip hop remix of Old MacDonald.

Let Beach Season Begin

Saturday.  Eighty degrees outside.  Looking for something to do...

LET BEACH SEASON BEGIN!

Evan has been begging to go to the beach for several weeks now and Saturday couldn't have been more perfect of a day to go.  Mattie hasn't been feeling very well for the past few days, but I thought the salty air and cool breeze might be somewhat therapeutic for her as well.  So while Robert worked, Mimi helped me tote both kids and all of our beach gear over to Garden City Beach.

There's no trip we take that doesn't involve some sort of issue and this trip was no exception.  It was bad enough that Evan had an accident in his swimming trunks (#2), but being that the weather is just starting to get warm I have not had a chance to purchase new summer clothes that fit - so his shorts were not easy to get down turning this accident into a disgusting, sandy mess.  Luckily Evan didn't seem to mind being completely nude on the beach with his mama wiping his rear end - it was one of those moments where I realized just how much my life has changed.  But I smile about it.  I really do.

Mattie Jane's First Beach Trip

Memory Boxes

The main purpose of this blog is to serve as a family journal so that our kids have a written account of our lives together and, most importantly, a record of their childhood.  Childhood memories are some of the greatest memories from my life and, other than what I have locked in my mind, I don't have anything tangible except pictures.

So many times I'll start telling a story from childhood, like how much my brothers and I used to love playing with our He-Man figurines or  how I can still smell the scent of my Strawberry Shortcake doll.  I can still recall how I used to lock myself in my room as an early teen and play Madonna's "Like a Prayer" cassette tape over and over again and listen to my brothers make fun of me or the hours I spent making friendship bracelets from the colorful string I bought from the craft store.  And every time I tell these stories I always wish I had  kept something just for memory's sake.  And I'm pretty sure Evan would think Skeletor was awesome too - especially knowing his mama used to play with him when she was a little girl.

So that Evan wouldn't have the same regrets, I began collecting various things that represented something of significance to each stage of his life.  I knew I had to be extremely selective in what I chose because the collection could easily get out of control even in just his first year.  Everything I had set aside is now in a large Rubbermaid container - his memory box.  I have also started one for Mattie.  I'm hoping that by the time they are both teenagers they can begin adding their own items of importance and possibly carry this on through their adult years.  I think their children would find it absolutely fascinating to go through 90+ years of their parents' memorabilia.

Robert's Great Grandma lived to be 107 years old.  Not too long ago, during one of our visits to see Robert's mom, we had the amazing experience of going through 107 years of his Great Grandma's things.  She had an immaculate collection of lifelong memories kept in a trunk from her childhood.  Pulling out her baby shoes from the late 1800's and reading letters that her father had written her - I can't even describe how incredible that was.  But what I found most amazing is how every single item had a little note attached  describing its significance.  I believe Robert's Grandma did this at some point while his Great Grandma was still alive so that once she wasn't around to tell the story behind her collection  her things would still be documented for others.

At the top of my blog I have added two new tabs - "Evan's Memory Box" and "Mattie Jane's Memory Box."  These pages contain pictures and descriptions so that they too will understand the significance of the items I have collected from their childhood.  This serves as the starting point for their 100+ years of memories.

5 Months

Another month has passed us by - I can't believe Mattie Jane is already 5 months old.  Where does the time go?  Since month 4 she has mastered rolling over and putting objects from her hand to her mouth.  She has been introduced to solid foods and seems to really like them - especially sweet potatoes and squash.  She squeals and laughs and has a growing love for her brother that just melts my heart.

Gotcha

We all got the bug this week.

Evan kindly brought it home to us on Tuesday in the form of throw up and diarrhea.  Robert fell victim to the virus almost immediately while MJ and I managed to steer clear of it for a few days.  Luckily, we seemed to only get a touch of it on Friday, but nothing too terrible.

So while my entire week was devoted to nursing the family back to good health I still managed to glue myself to the ACC Tournament.  Carolina pulled through their first two games just barely and completely ran out of gas come the championship game.  As much as I hate to see Duke win, Carolina just didn't show up therefore giving the game away.  Ugh.  Well, can't dwell on the past - on we go to the brackets!  I love me some March Madness!!!

Switching gears.

Robert has been working his butt off the last few weeks as he gets ready to open Wonder Works in April.  He worked about 4 or 5 consecutive weeks without a day off, but has been able to take Sunday off the last three weeks.  I imagine this will be his schedule for the next few months - boo to the hoo - but we just have to make something of our Sundays and really enjoy that time we have together.

Like today - missed church (oops - spring forward + ACC Finals = too late for 1st service and can't go to 2nd service), but we went to our favorite diner up the street and had an amazing breakfast.  We spent the remainder of the morning and first part of the afternoon outside enjoying the beautiful spring weather.  Then came the Carolina game which gave me high blood pressure and a minor stroke - we had to put the kids down for a nap because Evan refused to wear earmuffs.  I needed church after that game.

And now - we're just laying around.  Ahh.  And I'm loving every quiet minute of it.

ACC Regular Season Champs

I'm a Tar Heel born.
I'm a Tar Heel bred.
And when I die I'll be a Tar Heel dead.
So it's rah rah Carolina-lina.
Rah rah Carolina-lina.
Rah rah Carolina-lina--go to hell DUKE!

I think I fell asleep last night still singing the fight song over and over in my head.  What an amazing win over the Dookies - I woke up with a little added spunk today. 

Here's a little recap so we can continue to relish in this well deserved victory: (from theveryunknown420)