Home Sweet Home

We drove the whole way back on Friday. I'm not gonna lie . . . it was rough, but not as rough as it could have been. We stopped twice on the way -- for lunch we stopped in the oldest Arby's I've ever been in (read: no baby changing stations, which REALLY sucked!) and then for dinner we stopped at the scariest, dirtiest McDonald's we've ever been in. B&K sat in high chairs that I am pretty sure were older than me (or at least Tim). B&K watched over 11 hours of Baby Crack, Elmo & Finding Nemo, and I will forever say the DVD player was the best thing we've purchased thus far. I think B&K slept a total of an hour each (the really sucky part) and they still haven't caught up on their sleep (which has sucked more for us!). I've put together a picture montage below from our trip (warning: it is a bit long). Mainly pictures of B & K and our digs.

Tabasco came home yesterday morning and I think he is wondering why he left his plush, fun, undivided attention digs at Mark's house (as I mentioned earlier, B&K haven't been in the best moods this weekend). We had a fun time at J&J's b-day party yesterday and enjoyed seeing some of our friends (happy first birthday guys!!). We've spent the rest of the weekend working outside killing the ever overgrowing greenery that was left behind by the previous owners of our house. Tim & I are not looking forward to going to back to work at all tomorrow, but I know B&K are excited to see Lauren again (I'm pretty sure they are sick of us by now).

This week is going to fly by. Tim is in Nashvegas part of the week, a few of my girlfriends are coming over for dinner one night to hang out with me, B&K and I'll be spending the rest of my evenings getting ready for our yard sale the weekend after next. Never a dull moment around here!!

Enjoy the picture show!

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Last Day of Vacay

We're heading out home early tomorrow morning. Today was a very good last day of vacation. We relaxed a bit in the am (and I managed to sneak away for a bit to revisit that LOFT outlet store. . . awesome!). B & K seemed to be over their weirdness from yesterday and were back on track with sleeping & such. We spent some time in the pool (again Bennett LOVED it, Kendyll not so much) and then while B&K napped in the afternoon Tim & I tried to get a little more sun (which you can see from the pic above I'm still pale white). We then headed out to yet another shopping area and B&K had the opportunity to redeem themselves after last night's dinner. We went to a really nice steak & seafood joint and scored a table right by the water outside (you'd be amazed how easy it is to score a good table and fast service when you eat dinner at 5pm!). I had a yummy steak and Tim ate tuna and B&K munched on a cheese flatbread dish. Bennett & Kendyll were perfect well behaved angels. Tim & I also enjoyed a little beverage with dinner. I've discovered a super awesome thing called sweet tea infused vodka. Yeah, take two of my favorite things -- sweet tea and vodka -- and put them together. Deadly. Apparently it is only made in the Carolinas (and thus sold here) so on our way home we picked up a big bottle for me to enjoy the rest of the summer. Oh yeah!

Our super nice waiter snapped the picture above (taken with our "good" camera). I don't have time to upload/edit the other pictures, but I promise to get them online sometime this weekend. While vacation has been a blast, we're looking forward to seeing Tabasco and spending our weekend attending a 1st birthday party and working in the yard (and maybe finally getting some sun!).

Vacation Update

Warning up front: no new pictures. Most of the pics I've taken have been on my smaller camera and I thought I brought the attachment to upload pics, but I can't find it where I thought I packed it (I'm hoping that means it is sitting on the counter at home). So no pictures tonight . . . you might have to wait for the weekend for those. . .

I wanted to update on our vacation thus far, mainly so that I can remember this down the road:

Monday:
We spent the day getting acclimated with our hotel/condo complex (we're staying in a 2 bedroom condo at a Hilton compound). There is an AWESOME outlet mall less than 5 minutes from our hotel. So we decided to venture over there after lunch for a bit to check it out (plus I needed to get a new pair of sunglasses since I had dropped my sunglasses in the parking lot and scraped the crap out of them). Oh my GAWD . . . the Kate Spade store there is the largest I have ever been to!! And everything was 50% off!! But I was good and resisted the urge to buy anything (but the week is still young). And they had a Ann Taylor LOFT outlet!!! I've never seen one of those before and I really wish I didn't have 2 cranky babies with me because I could have done some REAL damage in that store (I did score my sunglasses there, though). We found some good deals for B&K, including a super cute, coordinating outfit ensemble for our big 4th of July party.

After shopping & nap time we went down to the pool for a bit and let B&K hang in their floatie boat things, but the water was FREEZING!! They handled it like champs though and really enjoyed the water. We went on a little drive for dinner and ended up eating at this awesome place called Drunken Jack's. Tim & his family have gone there many times since he was a little dude and it was really neat to take B&K there. And we got the royal treatment. Long story, but they called us for our table (after a 5 - 10 minute wait) and then something happened with our table so we had to wait another 5 - 10 minutes with 2 squirmy kids (we had found a cool spot at the bar area while we waited the first time, but came upstairs when our beeper went off). So the hostess lady saw us waiting around and offered to give us a basket of their KICK ASS super yummy hush puppies and honey butter. Yeah, lets just say B&K both ate their body weights in the hush puppies for dinner. They were so good! We also scored a really nice table right by the water so B&K could look out and watch the boats & goats and such. Very very cool.

Tuesday:
We lounged around a bit in the morning. I should note that Tim has been very dedicated this week and gone running on the beach every day. After B&K's morning nap we went to a shopping & restaurant area called The Beach. Very fun. We ate lunch at Senor Frogs and they had $2 Long Island Iced Teas. Oh my gosh . . . that is one time we REALLY wish B&K could drive (ha!). But we controlled ourselves and did the responsible thing by having 2 (and then walking them off). :-) We walked around and shopped a bit and then it was back to the hotel for another much needed nap for the little ones. Tim & I went to hang by the pool when B&K slept . . . you see, we scored a first floor room and it is right next to the pool so our monitor will reach just fine and we are a minute away from B&K if they need anything. So we caught a little sun and then brought B&K down to join us when they woke up. We went to the bigger hotel pool which has a sandy bottom kids pool -- and it gets direct sunlight all day so it was much warmer than the smaller pool by our side of the hotel we brought B&K to the day before. Then we went down to the beach for a bit. Kendyll LOVED it, Bennett was a bit timid, but came around after a while. After pool/beach fun we got cleaned up and then made dinner and ate in our room.

Today:
Today has been a bit of weird one. Started out good . . . ate breakfast on the balcony. B&K went down for their nap early. When they woke up we got dressed to head down to the pool & such. We started at the beach this time and in typical toddler fashion Bennett loved it more today than Kendyll did (they are all about switching up their preferences on a daily basis). We then hit the pool and hung out for a bit. At one point Bennett was sitting in the kiddie/shallow pool and went reaching for something -- he ended up face first (then turned) underwater. Tim was sitting right next to him and caught him in a split second. We were waiting for his scream, but he was totally fine. However, the day ended up going downhill from there.

Both kids ate really well at lunch and then it was nap time. But no one wanted to nap. Actually we're used to Kendyll fighting naps at home, but this time it was Bennett screaming. My paranoid motherly side was worried he was dry drowning from his stint underwater. So I kept going in to check on him only to find him sitting up again. Like 3 times. Now while I'm SUPER excited for his progress and doing something new, it has really been a bit of a pain today! Eventually he slept (and Tim & I went down to the pool for some sun . . . I am determined to at least look like I've been on vacation). But the naptime was short and B-man was sitting up in his PNP screaming again when I came in to get him. We headed out to do a bit of shopping (gotta find those awesome t-shirts like last year's vacation!) and then we headed to a seafood buffet for dinner. Now let me tell you -- we pride ourselves on having well behaved children, especially when we eat out at restaurants. And there have been a few times where we've thought B&K weren't on their best behavior while eating dinner, only to be told by strangers leaving around us that they didn't even realize there were children sitting at our table. Well tonight was THE WORST dining out experience ever. I think it was a combination of being super tired, not pooping all day (and still haven't) and just overall not feeling well. But they were not into anything tonight. And they took a LONG time to go to sleep tonight (after being put to bed early). Again twice I found B-man sitting up in his PNP. After a little mommy - B-man pep talk he finally went down (as did Kendy). Fingers crossed that it isn't a LONG night. I was just telling Tim that Lauren & I have been waiting for this to happen . . . when Kendyll started to crawl & sit up & pull up it would interfere with her sleep, especially at naptime -- big time. Guess Bennett has decided to let it interfere with his sleep on vacation. Fun times!

Ok this has turned into a longer post than I expected and Tim just went off to make me my 2nd cocktail since I started this. Tomorrow we're hoping to catch a few more rays and do a bit more shopping. We'll be on the road all day Friday (we're going to try to do the whole trip in one day so we have the weekend to recuperate), so I'll try to give a short update (and maybe a few pictures) tomorrow night.

Ahhhh, we made it

Tim & I are sitting on the wrap around balcony of our condo in Myrtle Beach. Super nice. We're sipping some beers, listening to the drunk ass people below us as well as the silence on our monitor. B&K just wrapped up a MUCH needed bath and are sleeping as if they are in their cribs at home (oh wait, they are in the same cribs they sleep in at home these days -- ha!).

The trip down was wonderful. Seriously. We still can't believe how uneventful it was. Well besides Bennett napping for a total of 20 minutes yesterday (and Kendyll closer to 60 min), we had no meltdowns in the car or elsewhere for that matter. I'm not sure when they decided it wasn't cool to sleep in their carseats. God bless the person who invented portable DVD players is all I have to say. We drove 6+ hours yesterday and another 3+ today and made it safely to our destination. Only to find out it is Black Bikers Week in Myrtle (no, seriously) so there are a TON of cool cycles to check out (esp. if you are in to that sort of thing. We aren't so much, but it is cool none the less). It seems a bit crowded around here (expected too, I guess, because of the holiday weekend) . . . we're told it will clear out mid-week.

I snapped some pictures at dinner tonight, but haven't uploaded them yet. So instead a couple of exciting / cute tid-bits:

- This morning, for the first time in his life, we found Bennett sitting up in his PNP!!! Tim actually found him that way and we have no idea how he got there, but it is so exciting. We all clapped & cheered for him. :-) He also tried to get up on his knees while on his belly today. Maybe he'll be crawling by the time we head home on Friday.

- Kendyll LOVES, I mean L-O-V-E-S to play like she's talking on the phone. So so cute. And I have NO idea where she got it from because I hate talking on the phone. But she has a couple of play phones (as well as one of my old phones) and if you go "bring, bring" . . . put the phone up to your ear and go "hello, what? You'd like to speak to Kendyll?" . . .she gets a HUGE smile on her face and then when you hand the phone to her she puts it up by her ear (or sometimes just her mouth) and starts "talking" to whomever is on the other line. I'll try to get it on video someday, but it really is so funny!

Ok, that's enough for now. My beer is getting warm. More to come this week . . . including some pictures of my latest stroller purchase (yep, that's right. Addiction has hit again . . . but totally for legitimate reasons, I swear!).

Randomness (and going away)

We're leaving for vacation tomorrow morning. 12 hours in a car with B&K. We're breaking up the drive on the way to our destination . . . and we recently invested in a dual screen portable DVD player. I'm sure I'll have LOTS of fun stories to tell once we get there. Tabasco is already on his vacation (and thanks to our friend Mark for letting TB come hang with him & his dog over this week). I'm bringing our laptop, but I'm not sure how often I'll be logging on. So to tide you over, here are a couple of tidbits about B&K:

- Kendyll has become quite a pro at climbing the stairs. This has become VERY handy when Tim is traveling because I can carry B-man up the stairs while following closely behind Kendyll (instead of being dangerous and carrying them both at the same time or making two trips up & down the stairs). Now if we could just get her to follow directions once we let her "free" from the baby jail room . . . she has a tendency to wander off instead of following me to the stairs. But we're working on it.

- Bennett has made his way into a weekly spot for PT. We've also recently ordered a few aids to help him with his development. He has been doing really well on his belly and had sort of started to do his own version of an army crawl. As his PT lady said today we do have a long road ahead of us, but as long as he is making some progress we will all be happy (she said this as he screamed his way through another PT session. I feel so sorry for the lady).

- Speaking of B-dude screaming, he has developed quite a case of stranger danger & separation anxiety (Kendyll has too, to a degree, but not nearly as bad as Bennett). He freaked out while seeing Lauren's husband this week (someone he sees all.the.time) and also freaked out with Grandma & Grandpa last week. He also (appropriately) freaked out at the annoying lady at Macy's last night who insisted on blocking my stroller and making google baby talk at B&K. He started to scream and I was on my way (nice work B!!).

- B&K are starting to get the hang of using forks. It isn't consistent and sometimes we have to show them to remind them and 99% of the time they still use their hands, but every once & a while we'll see them use the fork in the right way.

- B&K are both in a giving sort of mood. They will hold something up to give it to us, take it back and then repeat. They are also very into brushing their hair (which is sometimes more like banging their head with the brush) and they have been very proficient with brushing their teeth for quite some time.

- They are still living large in their pack-n-plays. There seems to be no end in sight for Cribgate 2009.

I want to wish a huge CONGRATULATIONS to my cousin Patrick!! He is graduating from high school on Saturday and a huge portion of my family is in Georgia to cheer for him. Sorry we can't be there Patrick, but we're thinking of you!!

OK, I'll hopefully post again over the weekend. Have a safe & fun holiday weekend and please keep in mind the true meaning of Memorial Day.

Oh yeah, and some pictures . . . these were actually from a couple of weekends ago. I took B&K&TB to the park near our house for some fun while Tim was golfing.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!!!

If you remember my post from last year, today concludes one of Tim's favorite weeks of the year. :-)

We all want to wish Tim a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! He is in Chicago for work this week (probably having a drink at Jimmy's right now . . . so jealous!). We miss him terribly and are looking forward to him coming home tomorrow (mainly so we can enjoy the ice cream cake again).

They are in their Cavs gear because Daddy is SUPER excited about the playoffs.

Race for the Cure

We walked in the Race for the Cure this morning. It was an amazing time. Over 46,000 people came out in the questionable weather to run or walk in celebration and/or memory of their loved ones. We walked for my mother-in-law, Debbie, and her sister Sandy (we're thinking of you Sandy!!!).

We woke B&K up extra early this morning to get downtown in time for a decent parking spot (man do I wish I still worked in the city . . . ). It didn't take too long for the crowds to build up. While B & K & I were waiting outside of Starbucks for Nana to come back with my crack cocaine - er skinny lite Carmel iced coffee - Bennett decided to bite Kendyll's arm. Hard. And not for the last time of the day. SIGH! Once the drama was over and mama had her coffee we were on our way. We walked around a bit and then made our way to watch the start of the race. People who were actually running had finished before it was our time to start. Yeah, there were THAT many people there. But it was amazing. I've put together a montage of all of the pictures below, but I've also included a few of my favorites (in case you don't want to bore yourself will all of them).

Nana & babies before we headed out:

The trolley cars which took survivors currently in treatment through the race:

Me & the kiddos:

B&K pics:

My cousins Leslie & Rachel actually ran and by a sheer miracle / luck they found us after the run/walk:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

15 Months Old!!

{one day late}

I give up! I worked from home today because B&K had their 15 mo appointment. I put them in super cute, coordinating outfits. I put a new, super cute bow in Kendyll's hair. The sunlight was perfect. I sat them in their chairs to snap their 15 mo picture {one day late} and EPIC FAIL!! It was actually humorous. Below is a montage of the "photo shoot".

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

In other news, the dr appointment went well. Turns out one of the shots that is normally given is currently in the midst of a shortage (dr said it has been "back-ordered" for over a year, so who knows if/when B&K will ever get it). I guess it must not be that important. So they got lucky and only had to have one shot. Their weights weren't as great as we had hoped, but the pedi isn't concerned at all. They are drinking the right amount of whole milk (and major kudos for being totally off bottles) and they also get points for being on all table food (and eating a great variety). Guess it must be all of the moving around that is causing them to burn so many calories. Updated weights are to the right.

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes. I had a fabulous birthday on Tuesday. B&K were SUPER great helpers with opening my cards.

We have a busy weekend coming up. Papa Sam is in town helping out with some "projects" around our house for a few days. B & K & Nana & I are going to walk in the Race for the Cure on Saturday morning. Lots more to come on that . . . please say a little prayer for nice weather and LOTS of patience (there are over 44,000 people signed up . . . and you know how I hate people . . .)

And so it begins . . .

Operation Crib Recall is underway. I received all of the paperwork last week and we dismantled the cribs yesterday. It actually only took about 30 mins -- I popped in a Baby Crack DVD for B&K to watch and Tim & I were finished demolishing the cribs just as the DVD was wrapping up (I am told putting the darn things together took a bit more time . . . I wouldn't know because I was in bedrest hell at the time).

I used to be a really sentimental person back in my school days. And I will admit I felt a little twinge of sadness as we took the cribs apart (like when B&K woke up from their afternoon nap yesterday I realized that would be the last time they slept in those cribs). B&K were playing on the floor in their room while I was removing the bumpers, sheets, mattresses and skirts and they both had this look of "what the eff are you doing, Mom?!?", but thankfully they got over that quickly. After all of the necessary bolts & brackets were in our recall packet and the other wood pieces moved to the garage (um yeah, how the hell are we supposed to dispose of this crappy stuff now??), I set off to assemble the pack-n-plays that will be their cribs for the next few weeks. I went out and purchased new, cushy mattress pads for the PNPs and (THANKFULLY) B&K slept just fine in them last night. Knock on a big fat piece of wood for me right now, will ya? The room looks so empty and bare now. :(

B&K's room before (like WAY before they came home):





B&K's room now:




So the sentimentality is gone now. We're actually excited about shopping for furniture and think this may be a blessing in disguise. You see, while the former cribs were convertible, we were a little lax on purchasing the extra pieces needed to actually make the cribs into anything other than a crib (read: we never bought the rails). And apparently a LOT of people own these crappy cribs because when we went to order the rails late last year we discovered that they are so back-ordered at BRU that we might have never had the chance to actually purchase them. So now we'll not only get the opportunity to select new cribs (that hopefully won't harm our children OR get recalled) AND we can purchase anything additional needed at the same time so that these things can actually grow with B&K. And as I mentioned before, I am going to learn a lesson from my friend Sarah and not purchase another Jardine crib this time (her son's crib was recalled last year and they purchased another Jardine crib . . . which has been recalled with this latest round. Yuck!).

This is the crib we are leaning towards (DaVinci Emily in Ebony):



Hopefully, if all goes as planned, once I send out the packages today (2nd day air) we will receive our vouchers in 7 - 10 business days. Which means we will either be able to order them right before we leave for vacation or as soon as we come back (or even while we are on vacation and have them waiting for us). I know I'm probably smoking crack at this thought, but a girl can dream, right?? I will keep you all posted as this fun time progresses!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day to everyone out there, especially our Moms and Aunts and Grandma Mary!

I had a really nice day. Tim & Bennett & Kendyll gave me a spa day -- I am so excited! A mani & pedi & facial & massage -- woo hoo! I just wish I could find some time to use it before vacation. I guess I'll have something to look forward to when we get back. Tim also made a reservation for us to have a brunch buffet at Jason's (J Liu's now, I guess) and it was FABULOUS! We spent the rest of the day hanging out, enjoying the weather and taking apart cribs (more on that later this week).

We all got jazzed up for brunch, but taking a picture of B&K is nearly impossible these days (no matter how stupid we try to act to get them to smile).




And in other news, we are in molar HELL!! B is cutting his top 2 (so far). K has been showing symptoms of major teething, too (esp. drooling like her mouth is a faucet), but so far she hasn't been as affected.

Happy Happy Birthday!!

May is a crazy, nutso, busy month for us. We have a million birthdays (including mine & Tim's), Mother's Day, my cousin's graduation and our family vacation. Whew!!

Today we'd like to wish a VERY happy birthday to Tim's mom, Nana Debbie!!! We're looking forward to spending some time with her and other family members in a week or so!!

{Here is where I would insert super cute pictures of Nana & B & K. See below}

A very happy birthday also to my "twin", my cousin Leslie. She is almost exactly a year younger than me and we used to pretend that we were twins when we were little (our moms are actually the twins). We would celebrate our family birthday party together and our grandma would buy us matching/coordinating outfits. We were so cheesy!

{Again, here is where I would enter in a pic of Leslie, too. You see, a few months ago we had a monster infect our laptop -- we weren't able to get it to connect to the internet. So before we had Mr. Nerd Computer Guy rebuild it, we bought an external hard drive to load all of our pics, files & videos. I even checked that the files were still there on my work lap-top. Um yeah, clearly my natural hair color played some kind of sick role in YEARS of photos being lost -- including everything of B&K from birth through 11 mo. Good news is that I had it all backed up on a popular photo sharing website, but to put it all on a CD just to reload it onto said hard drive is going to cost a small fortune -- and the stupid website also charges a ridiculous fee to "download" pictures. So I don't have any cute pictures handy at this time . . . guess that just means I need to start shooting some more recent pictures!!}

Just our luck

In the past year the company that makes B & K's cribs has recalled hundreds of thousands (total guess on #) of cribs. They've had two major recalls in the past year. And each time we've looked at the list and breathed a HUGE sigh of relief that our cribs weren't on there. We really love the furniture. Although I'm not a fan of Babies Hell, er, R Us, we chose to do all of our baby related crap registering there and were so grateful for the very generous gifts given to us in preparation for B&K's arrival (both sets of our parents purchased a crib and my aunts gave us the dresser/changing table). The cribs are "convertible" cribs, meaning technically they can grow with the kiddos until they move off to college (in about 17 years, but who's counting).

Well our luck has finally run out. Last Friday Jardine and Babies R Us issued yet another major recall. And this time our Olympia Lifetime cribs in Black are on the list. UGH! I sent in a request to start the process which includes them sending us a package, us filling out some release forms, sending them back certain pieces of the cribs, waiting God knows how long for them to send us back a voucher (for how much we're not sure) which can only be used to purchase another crib at Babies R Us. Oh and where will B&K sleep during this time (which I'm totally prepared to take WEEKS)?!? Yeah, in 2 pack-n-plays. Can't wait -- it should be a blast. But I guess that is better than Kendyll getting her head stuck in the slats that supposedly easily break off. And you can bet your sweet butt we will NOT be purchasing another Jardine crib, thankyouverymuch.

So stay tuned. I'm sure I'll have LOTS of fun stories once we take apart the cribs and B&K start living like we're staying in a hotel all the time (yeah, Tim can't wait to take apart the cribs -- and put together new ones!). Never a dull moment around here.

Belly Laughs

This was shot Friday night. Tim was hanging with B&K while I went off to get their PJs for the night. I came back downstairs and heard the biggest belly laughs coming from the play room (and B&K are great belly laughers). Turns out K was doing her favorite pastime -- opening up the doors to the TV stand -- and B would in turn kick it shut. They both thought this was the most hilarious thing they had ever done in their little lives. This went on for several minutes before I finally got the camera out (by this time B wasn't laughing quite as hard, but you can still get the gist from K).

note: please excuse the mess. If we try to start to pick up before they go to bed, Kendyll immediately comes behind whomever is picking up to in turn take out what was just put away. Please also excuse the half naked babes. I've also learned that PJ time is MUCH easier if we break the un-dressing & re-dressing into two separate steps. Makes it MUCH more enjoyable for all involved. :-)

Saturday Night Fun

Guess who is standing against the couch . . .

That's right -- it is BENNETT!!! Woo-hoo!!

This is the first time I've felt comfortable letting go of him, running to get the camera and snapping a picture. And he didn't fall down. He stood like this for quite a bit. And he's been doing really well with his rolling and pushing up on his belly. What a big dude.

And not to be forgotten is Kendyll. Here she is eating fake money. What a smart girl, too. :-)