beach day!

Last week at had my annual girly doctor visit (stick with me), and they put me in a room but then made me wait forever. They had a sound machine in the room and it was playing ocean sounds. It was actually really relaxing and I may or may not have fallen asleep in my gown on the table. I couldn't rightly say.

Anyhoo, because of the sound machine, while still in the doctor's office, I texted Matt and said that we should come down to SC to his parents and see if his folks could keep the boys so he and I could go to Myrtle Beach for the day. We realized it had been over three years since we had been to the beach! Of course, Matt's parents said yes, and so today we spent the day, just the two of us, at the beach!

It takes an hour and 45 minutes or so to get to the beach from their place, so we got there around 9:30 or so this morning, ate breakfast, spent most of the day at the beach, stopped by the outlets, and then headed to Chesapeake House for dinner. Best. Hushpuppies. Ever.

It was relaxing and rejuvenating. We laughed a lot and talked a lot and had a really great day. And then came home to the two sweetest boys on the planet, who we missed very much. We are so blessed.

family photos

Our Family Photos from the beach. Thank you so much, Katherine. I am completely in love with these pictures. To be treasured forever and ever. Amen. Did I mention I love them?

jonah discovers sand

Thanks to Katherine for all the great beach photos. More to come this week!

our weekend

We've had a nice weekend. My mom babysat Jonah on Friday night and we got to go on a date. And I have to say, this is the best date we've been on since Jonah was born. I mean, Matt might not think so since it didn't involve going to a movie (which is his favorite), but I had such a great time. We went to dinner and then to Adventure Landing. We played a game of putt-putt (I refuse to call it miniature golf), then went inside to play arcade games, and then another round of putt-putt. He whooped me severely in the first game, and only beat me by a few strokes the second game. We laughed and joked the entire time. I don't know what it was about the date or the time together, but I felt like that fun, happy-go-lucky, 18 year old girl he fell in love with. I've really missed her.

It was a VERY rainy Saturday, but we ran a few errands in the afternoon and then went over to my mom's for dinner. We made it to church this morning and went to Edward McKay this afternoon. Jonah cried the whole time, so after about ten minutes, I ended up back in the car letting him watch his videos. Speaking of videos, we got over $50 selling our used DVD's. True, they only gave us like $2 per DVD, but still. I'd rather have fifty extra bucks than a bunch of movies we're never going to watch again stashed under the bed.

I have a prayer request tonight. We have our appointment tomorrow at the hospital to get Jonah's g-tube changed out. I know it's a standard procedure (no anesthesia or anything), but I am really nervous about it. It's something we will do with the surgeon this first time and we'll actually do the rest here at home. BUT I think he is going to freak out and fight and will cause a struggle. Given the fragility of his skin, you can imagine why I'm anxious. I'm afraid we're all going to wish we were sedated by the time it's over. Prayers would be much appreciated.

On a different note, Matt and I are in the very early "just talking about it" stages of possibly maybe getting a mini-van. Both of our cars are fortunately paid off, so we will not be getting rid of the Escape. But Matt drives my 2000 Neon, and it has many a mile, so we know it probably won't last much longer. AND you should have seen us trying to get to the beach in the Escape. It was ridiculous. I had six bags at my feet, and Jonah had stuff piled up to the ceiling on either side of him. It was the softest stuff, but still, not my idea of a safe way to travel. Between bandaging supplies, normal baby stuff, and blended diet stuff (cooler, food, blenders, syringes etc), we really need a van when we have to travel. ALL of that to say that we are looking to buy a used van. Let me know if you have gone the used vehicle route and have any recommendations. We bought the Escape used from a dealership, but are open to other things this time around. Has anyone ever bought from CarMax? I'm hoping we can find a used (less than five years old for financing reasons) Toyota Sienna, but we'll see. Like I said, we're just in the talking about it stage. (Do you ever type "abou tit"? I do it all the time. I think it is the funniest of the typing mistakes.)

And because this post was long and boring, I will leave you with a sneak peek of Jonah on the beach. Could he be any more adorable?

An outtake. Also very cute.

A positive: the new blogger now has spell-check! Hooray. A negative: if you have a three column blog, you can't post horizontal photos extra-large (well, you can but it cuts them off). Bummer.

twitter chronicles

I'm trying to watch Valentine's Day, so I don't have many words. But in case you missed these photos on Twitter, I just wanted to show you our beach trip through the eyes of our cell phones.

Jonah was so great on the way down to the beach. This was when we stopped to tube feed him. We gave him a short break from the car seat (very short because it was SO hot), but he was a happy, happy boy. I don't know why his head looks abnormally large in this picture. So cute though.



This was after day one in the pool. At home we do breakfast, dressing change, nap. At the beach we did breakfast, pool, dressing change, and then nap. Apparently we wore him out. He fell asleep sitting up.

He was so great the whole trip, despite being a little clingy at the beginning. This is what we saw most of the time.

Matt, Jonah, and I went to three grocery stores in search of these: Cheerwine filled Krispy Kreme doughnuts. They're only being sold in NC and SC for a limited time. Nothing says North Carolina like Cheerwine and KK doughnuts, but I have to say, they weren't great. Love them separately. Together, not so much.

And here is the alligator that could have attacked Matt on Friday night, but kindly chose not to.

And this was at Granny and Grandaddy's house on Sunday before we headed home. We were trying to keep him up and feed him lunch first, so he'd sleep in the car. As you can see, it did not quite work out that way.

We've had a good day today. Nothing much to report. Hopefully something more exciting this weekend. So glad it's almost Friday.

this and that

We've had a decent couple days. Glad to be back home and getting back into our routine. It was so great to vacation and get to see everybody, but Jonah's feedings are a pain in the butt in a kitchen that's not mine. And I get to do dressing change on my tall counter instead of a low table. My back thanks me.

I worked out for the first time in two and a half weeks today. It felt good, but I really had to talk myself into going. And also, note to self, do NOT listen to Brian Regan when trying to do the ab machine. Laughing and crunching do not mix.

I would have posted last night, but when I went up to hook up Jonah's water, maybe thirty minutes after we had put him to bed, he was asleep but COVERED in and lying in vomit. It was all over his bandages and caked in his hair. We had to replace all of his outer Tubifast, cut off some of his Transfer on his wrists and neck, and lean him back over the sink to wash his hair. We had to change all his bedding, and use a hair dryer (on his hair and chest piece) for the first time ever. All of this after having woken him up and gotten him out of bed. You can imagine how happy he was about all of that. I felt so sorry for him. He was so sad. On a bright note, I got to rock him to (almost) sleep, which is something I haven't done in a very long time. I loved those snuggled up against me (but still kind of stinky) snuggles. There's nothing like being able to comfort your baby like nobody else in the world can. It was kind of worth all that vomit clean-up. :)

On Friday night, at the beach, Kim (Matt's sister), let me take some photos of her kids. It was a lot of fun, and I used my Totally Rad Actions I won in Jonah's EB Auction to get some neat effects. I'm a cheat, and I'm okay with it. I was really happy with how they turned out. I'm still waiting on some of the family photos Matt's Aunt Katherine took of us. She got some really great ones. We had to get our church directory photo taken last night. We get a complimentary 8x10, and the lady from the photography company was trying to get me to purchase additional prints. No thanks, Lady. I'll take outdoor beach photos over awkward on-a-stool-twisted-funny-tilted-chin-in-front-of-a-sheet photos any day. No offense.

Here are a few of my favorites of Kim's kids.

the last couple days

We are finally home. We decided to go to Matt's parents in Florence on Saturday instead of fighting beach traffic and having to tube feed Jonah on the road. I liked being away and our moments of vacationing, but it was great to walk in the door and just be home. Jonah could feel it too. He was so excited to get home, and when he saw Deac, he said, "Deac. Deac. Deac." as clear as can be. He's also started saying "ball" this week, imitates saying "tickle," and I'm pretty sure he knows he's talking about/to Matt when he says "da-da" now.

He had another huge raw spot on his left leg, but down lower on the calf, so we were confident in our decision not to go in the pool. It ended up not mattering though, as it rained Friday morning.

Our last pool pics from Thursday.

On Thursday evening, we got to go on a short walk. It started thundering while we were out though, so we didn't go far. Too much to risk with the possibility of wet bandages. I think Jonah enjoyed it, but he was tired, so he was pretty solemn looking the whole time. I don't think he smiled once... but he didn't fuss either.

Like his mommy, he finds it hard to just sit back and relax.

The back of our beach house. It has eight bedrooms and lots of kitchen, dining, and living space, which is great for our group. We had 17 adults and 13 kids.

Okay, I'm fully aware that this sounds crazy, but I'll tell you anyway. Matt's parents and sister watched Jonah on Friday afternoon so that Matt and I could do a little shopping at the outlets. While we were out, Matt's mom called me. She said that Jonah had been watching an episode of Olivia and she was counting. She counted to seven, and before she could finish, Jonah said, "eight, nine, ten." !!!!!!! Yes, I know. He's been watching a Curious Buddies DVD (Let's Move) all week during dressing change, and there is a part where they rest and count to ten twice. I also counted the stairs every time we went up them at the beach this week (we were on the top floor). So he's definitely heard counting and likes the rhythm of it. Kim (Matt's sister) caught it on video twice, and they said he did it over 20 times. I don't necessarily think it sounds like "eight, nine, ten" but you can definitely tell he's trying.

Where did my BABY go???

Later that night, we went to eat at Chesapeake House with Matt's parents and Kim's family. There is an alligator that hangs out in a body of water just outside the restaurant. We went out afterwards to get a closer look. Matt reached his phone out over the fence to get a photo, and Abby, his niece, accidentally knocked it out of his hand. So there's the alligator right at the edge of water (people were feeding him), and Matt's phone halfway between the WRONG side of the fence and the water and, you know, the alligator. I was down at the other end of the fence trying to keep Jonah out of the middle of the crowd. All of a sudden the alligator JUMPS, hisses, and spins around out into the water. The crowd screams, and lo and behold, MY husband has jumped the fence, you know, IN with the alligator, to retrieve his phone. Thankfully, the alligator decided to go away from him instead of toward him. Matt was fast and back over that fence so quick, but what an idiot. And I mean that with love, of course. At first, Matt said, "Who's faster, me or the alligator? (as in I'm faster)," and I quickly said, "the alligator." The more he's thought about it, the more he realizes what could have happened. Now he keeps saying, "In hindsight, that was probably a poor decision." Um, yeah. Anyway, funny story to tell now, but holy cow, that could have been bad. So that was our drama for Friday. Counting and Alligators.

Jonah was AMAZING on the trip. I can't say enough about how wonderful he was. He only got fussy if he got overly tired. He was a little whiny and clingy the first couple days, but he soon snapped out of it, and was so much fun. He did not sleep a wink on the three hour trip home today, and he did not cry once. Just laughed and played and watched Gabba. He is so amazing. I'm honored to be his mommy and so thankful for all the memories I get to make with him... even the ones where his daddy almost gets eaten by an alligator. Yep, even those.