Best Friends

This morning, in a sweet yet serious tone, Evan says, "Mama, I love Mattie.  Mattie Jane is my best friend."  All I could do was look at him and smile and say, "Mattie loves you too, buddy.  More than you know."

I'm addicted

As if I need anything else to distract me from my daily responsibilities - and then I meet Pinterest.  Oh my.  Can we say addicted?  An endless gallery of inspiration that either keeps me daydreaming or puts my motivational drive in high gear.  The latter may not be such a bad thing, but ungluing myself from the computer is the first step in making these brilliant ideas a reality.

I have had an account for two days now and I am embarrassed to admit how much time I have spent browsing other users' boards and surfing the web for something of interest to "pin" to one of my boards.  I think it might be a sickness.  If you haven't yet checked it out, please proceed with caution.  By far, the most genius website EVER!  You can follow me too.

Father's Day

Yes, Robert wore a crown of Evan's handprints that honored him as King of the Day.  It may have looked ridiculous and goofy, but it was handmade and he is more than deserving of the title.

Here are a couple of other gifts that Evan made and was so excited to give to Dada...

I just melt when I see these crafty little art projects Evan makes at school.  He is always so proud of his work and is so eager to give his presents.  I told him we would have to wait until Sunday to give Dada his gifts since that was actually Father's Day.  He agreed, but as soon as Robert strolled in Friday night he pointed to where I hid the gifts and said, "Dada, I made you a present!"  I guess the ability to keep a secret will come in time.

We spent the day at the pool and in the backyard.  Much like we did on Mother's Day.  That's what we typically like to do as a family so it made sense.  I got Robert a gift certificate to a spa so he could enjoy a nice massage.  He has chronic lower back pain and I think a massage will at least offer some comfort.  I also purchased him a fan to put on his side of the bed so he quits complaining about how hot it is in our bedroom at night.  We actually both slept very well last night so I'm giving myself a big pat on the back for my efforts - ha.

Happy Father's Day to a dada that is fun and loving and will do any thing to make his family happy.  You are truly appreciated and we love you HUGE.

Cell Phone Dump

Remember those anniversary pics we couldn't find on Robert's iphone?  I guess we were so wrapped up in our lovely experience (or those strong margaritas) that we forgot we took pictures on my phone too.  Duh.  These were from the Skywheel.

If I have both kids in tow and need to make a run to the grocery store, I will go to Lowe's from now on.  They must have an educator on their cooperate staff because who ever insisted they have child-size grocery carts for the kids to push around is da BOMB.  Evan is my little helper and loves to push around anything with wheels.  What a treat.

Hi, pretty girl.

Hey, dude.

8 Months

Wow - here we are again, another month gone by.  My little baby is maturing into a little girl faster than I can say STOP!  But we are also entering the months of fun - crawling, self-feeding, pulling up and eventually walking.  The 8 - 12 month mark is so exciting for all of these reasons and more.

Mattie Jane's favorite activity is eating.  She sucks down her bottles like it's her job and demands solid foods at least three times a day.  She has an obsession with Puffs and loves to sample food from our plates as well.  Mashed potatoes, pudding and mac n cheese get an A+ so far.  She is extremely independent as far as feeding goes.  She likes to guide the spoon to her mouth and simply refuses to be fed a bottle.  She must be the one to hold it - or else!

She is not crawling, but appears as though she'll be taking off any day now.  Instead she is "soldier crawling" - just dragging her legs behind her.  She is trying to pull up on things low to the ground such as some of Evan's larger toys and our window sills.  She had her first little accident - the window sill won.

Her personality is funny and sweet.  She has a smile that is contagious and a hearty laugh that cracks us up.  Mattie Jane is truly a sweetheart - just as a baby girl should be.

For the Love of Rolls

Butter these suckers up because I'm ready to eat up every last one of them.  Baby rolls are the most scrumptious thing on this planet.  Watching them disappear as my babies get older is the single most heart breaking thing for me.  Even Evan still has a few baby layers around his knees and thighs that I am holding on to for dear life.  Sometimes I wish I could just freeze time.

Anniversary Celebration

On Friday night Robert handed me a typical Hallmark card that gushed all the usual lovey dovey words, but inside he added a not-so-typical message of his own:

Pack a bag and include:

• beachwear
• change of clothes
• shopping attire
• nice outfit

NO CHILDREN ALLOWED

To say I was excited would be an understatement.  I was freakin' PUMPED.  I'm pretty sure it was the no children allowed that really had my attention - a whole day and night, just the two of us?  I was giddy.

We left Saturday morning dressed to hit the beach.  Our babysitter, Kaitlin, came over to stay with the kids until 3 pm and then Mimi took over for the remainder of the day and night (thank you, mom, SOOOOO much).  It's amazing how easy it is to pack for the beach when there's no floats, diaper bags, strollers, additional towels + chairs, etc.  It was just me, Robert, two chairs, a bag and a cooler.  A number of items that just the two of us could handle.  It was starting to feel like the good ol' days.

Normally we would've gone to Surfside Beach or Garden City Beach, but most of our activities were planned in Myrtle Beach so we set up camp right next to the Myrtle Beach Pier.  The people watching on this beach never disappoints and the ocean was perfect in both temperature and wave intensity.  We literally sat for a couple of hours looking back and forth at each other smiling - it was perfection.  This is what we used to do every weekend when we lived on Fort Myers Beach - some of our greatest memories pre-kiddos.

These are the only two pictures we managed to take the entire day/night.  We thought we took several more, but we are both new to the iphone that Robert just got and it seems that the pictures we thought we were taking weren't saving to the phone.  Bummer.

Behind Robert in the picture above is the new Skywheel built along the Boardwalk.  We took a trip high above the Myrtle Beach coast - three rotations to be exact.  We thought it would've been much cooler if we were served lunch and a cocktail in our car. 

We left the beach around 5 pm and headed to our hotel at Broadway to get ready for an evening out.  We got all gussied up and showered each other in compliments on our spiffy attire.  It's not very often we get to dress up in something other than shorts and a t-shirt - not much of a point when you carry around a baby with reflux and a pack of wipes for your two year old. 

We looked at ourselves in the mirror and a did a daaaaamn, we look good dance and off we went, hand in hand, to have some dinner at Margaritaville.  We chowed on conch fritters and chicken quesadillas and sipped on one of their staple margaritas.  Around 7 pm we headed over to Legends in Concert.  We were entertained by the likes of Alan Jackson, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Tom Jones, Aretha Franklin and, of course, Elvis.  I think we had a better time watching all the old ladies sit on the edge of their seats and scream and squeal over Tom Jones and Elvis.  In their minds they were seeing the real performers live.  Complete insanity.

We ended our evening with a little dueling piano fun at Crocodile Rocks and a midnight snack at Good Time Charley's.  We were absolutely B.E.A.T. at that point.  We were happily in bed by 12:30 am and slept peacefully and undisturbed until 9 am.  We both agreed one more day/night would've been great, but we were excited to get home and see the babies.  Besides, we had promised Evan a day at the waterpark on Sunday.

We will definitely be planning more of these outings in the future.  It was too enjoyable not to.  Thank you, babe, for such a memorable day.  I love you like crazy, boy.

Four Years of Awesome

I married this pure form of AWESOMENESS four years ago...yesterday.  Oops - kinda forgot to give my honey his well deserved shout out on the proper day.  Oh well.  He knows I love him and think he's wonderful.  Besides, I threw out a few words in the name of love on Facebook.  That counts, right?

Actually the main reason I let yesterday go by without recognizing it via my blog is because we always wait until the weekend to celebrate.  We have plans for tomorrow night - BIG plans from what I understand.  Hmmm.  Guess I'll just have to wait and see.  No matter what we do though, it will be fantastic to have a little one-on-one time.  I just want to hold hands.

Is this Hell?

I have been bed ridden for the last five days due to a viral infection that I picked up from Evan.  And as if that wasn't bad enough, my body is also trying to fight off a severe case of strep throat.  Talk about pure misery.

Massive headaches, 103+ fevers, body aches, vomiting, coughing, and congestion - that about sums up the viral infection.

Swollen glands/lymph nodes, inflamed tonsils with puss pockets, neck pain and the I wanna die right right now feeling every time I swollow - that would be strep throat.

I made a visit to the doctor on Friday because I knew I had either tonsilitis or strep throat on top of all these other symptoms.  Unfortunately, me and tonsil related ailments go way back.  So far back I should've had them removed to save myself some grief over the years.  Oh well.  Here we are again.

I knew the viral infection would just have to run its course, but strep throat would have to be treated unless I wanted it to continue to worsen.  No, thank you.  I got a prescription (Amoxicillin) from the doctor on Friday and began taking it immediately.

Saturday morning - no improvement
Sunday morning - no improvement, in fact, condition may have worsened

I cried a lot Sunday morning.  I had been in bed for five days and all I wanted to do was feel better.  The medicine wasn't working - nothing was helping.  Robert was home all day on Sunday so I stayed doped up on Nyquil so I could at least sleep.

Here it is Monday.  I made a call to the doctor's office and left a message with the nurse's station to let them know I needed a stronger antibiotic.  That was at 8:05 am.  It is now 10:40 am and I have not heard anything from them yet.  Do efficient doctor's offices exist?  I didn't even mention the two hours I waited at my initial visit just to confirm what I already knew and to get a prescription.

I need serious help. 

Memorial Day Weekend

We planned a trip back to Tennessee over the holiday weekend to visit with Robert's family.  We had four full days to cram in a lot of people and a lot of activity and, as usual, we felt like we needed more time.  One of our four days was lost due to a sick little boy that needed to stay home and rest.

Evan was fighting a fever all day Wednesday and we had planned to leave Thursday morning.  When he woke up on Thursday morning he seemed to be doing a little bit better until the throwing up began.  We almost made the decision not to leave, but the vomiting subsided after an hour or two.  So we piled in the car and headed west, but it was very clear that Evan was miserable.

To allow for more rest, we spent Friday hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa Bopps.  Evan was intrigued by the mama dove who made a nest in a ceramic bowl on Grandma's patio.  The mama and daddy doves would take turns sitting on the baby birds and feeding them.  I was blown away by how close they allowed us to get to the nest.

We also played the backyard and enjoyed the summer evening.  I marveled at all the vegetables Dixie and Phil had growing in their garden and Evan was thrilled to be hanging out on the "farm" (he thought the shed was a barn therefore he was on a farm).

Evan still wasn't 100% on Saturday, but we met Robert's dad at Fort Loudon Lake where he keeps his boat.  We spent a few hours boating around the lake and stopped off to swim for a little bit too.  The water was freezing so that "little bit" was shortlived, not to mention the lake was starting to get crowded as more boaters made their way out to enjoy the holiday weekend.

Every visit to Knoxville means a visit to the Knoxville Zoo.  Sunday was dedicated to the animals.  Evan and his cousin, Kaylin, enjoyed seeing all the animals.  They both joined me on a camel ride which, by the way, is the most uncomfortable animal to ride.  We were all pooped after our three hour excursion - and I'm sure the 90 degree weather had a lot to do with that too.

To celebrate Memorial Day, we met my dad for lunch at Calhoun's on the River.  We then made our way over to Sharon and Rob's for a cook out.  Don and Kathy, Dennis and Melissa + kids and Matthew and Heather were also there.  The kids spent the entire afternoon/evening in the pool as well as some of the adults.  Everybody cut loose and had a good time.

We gathered our things on Tuesday morning and packed up the car to head back to SC.  We said our sad goodbyes to Granny, Grandma and Grandpa Bopp.  I always think I have my emotions in check until I look at Dixie.  It never fails, she always makes me cry.  As she watched us pack up the car this was what she was holding on to...

 
It would be hard not to cry knowing you had to let this sweet baby go.

We look forward to another visit soon!