Summer is Gone

Wow. Summer is done. August flew by. And, I haven't posted anything on here since the end of July. So, I had to take a look at my pictures to figure out what all you've missed. :-)

At the end of July, we went to Chesapeake Beach. I had taken one of the Thursday morning's off when the girls were home with Butch. I'd hoped for a few hours of fun before coming home for a conference call. But....the weather wasn't great....drizzling off and on, so we only stayed about an hour.


There was this little stream that the girls were playing in a lot.



And, Lacey loved looking for sea shells.
I found a couple pieces of sea glass, too.

The beach is called Brownie's Beach. It's not usually too crowded & was free....until August of this year. They have added a per person fee now for non-county residents and for the 4 of us, it would be over $30. Not bad, except the kids sometimes only want to stay for an hour or so.

Like this visit. Lacey was happy to keep playing & looking for shells, but after about an hour, Leah was pointing to the exit, saying "Mimi, done pool". And, since it wasn't a great day, she won.

I'm sure we'll go back next year....$30-35 isn't too bad to give the girls some fun. :-)

One of the things I'll miss most about summer is the fresh corn! I think Leah will miss it, too! She can finish an entire ear on her own .... and still ask for more.

At least we will still have a few nice days this week. I love the Fall & all the festivals there are in the area, too!

Church

One weekend in August, Butch went out of town. I decided to be bold & try the kids in the gym childcare. It worked!!! Neither kid even looked back at me. I got in an hour workout.

The next morning, I tried them at church. It's been ages since we have been. The main reason we hadn't been going is that the girls were not fans of the child care there. Since I send them to Lisa's 5x a week, I wasn't willing to have 1 of our 2 days spent with tears from going to child care.

However.... they did great at church, too! I had them in the church with me for a few minutes. When it was time for the children's sermon, Lacey didn't want to go up for that. Leah was another story. She walked right up...never looking back. Sat down and listened and watched the kids. So cute. Then, she followed the other kids back to me. I walked them to the child care & they went in pretty easily.

We went back a couple of weeks later. Leah again walked right up for the children's sermon. Lacey wanted to, but was afraid, so I went up to the front pew to sit with Lacey. They fussed a little about the child care on that day, but eventually stayed without tears. We've missed 2 weeks now because of dad's party and family camp with Chuck & Nancy. I'm planning to go back this weekend, but with Lacey's cold, I'm not sure I'll put her in the nursery.

Lacey Started Pre-K!

In April, I had registered Lacey for school. But, Pre-K in public schools here is really designed to help kids that need it (financial, ESL, etc.). So, Lacey was considered category 3 and we weren't sure she would get in.

Her friend, MK had gotten in (she had been a premmie). Leading up to MK starting, I was telling Lacey that MK would be going to school and we didn't know if she had a space, yet. She wasn't happy about that! So, I was glad when we found out there was a space for Lacey! She started on Tuesday.

I wasn't sure how she'd do. She has always been so shy. But, the last month or so, I've noticed her coming out of her shell more. She did better at dance class and gymnastics class. I was debating on whether I should go watch her get on the bus.....or if that might make her more nervous. I went.

I also wasn't sure how Leah would do. Everytime we talked about school or the bus, Leah would say "me, too!". Um, you aren't old enough. Sorry kiddo. But, she did okay. Of course, she now insists on taking a book bag/back pack to Lisa's every day.
Listening for the bus....
Lacey & her "best buddy" MK:

She did great! Climbed right on with no fear!
Sniffle, sniffle. I was close to crying, but stayed in check because Miss Lisa was there. Honestly, I'm sure I would have lost it if she wasn't.

Her class is afternoon, so she is no longer getting a nap! It's been 5 days with no nap. You'd think she'd be passing out by 8:00. Nope. Still fighting sleep. One night she fell asleep around 9:05, but that has been the earliest. I was talking to another mom at the open house last week & she said her son had fallen asleep before 6:30 that night.

On Wednesday, I went to my first Open House. The only bummer about it is that they prefer you don't bring kids, which makes sense (noise level). But....after the "meeting", there wasn't anyone in the classroom to show us around. So, the parents that brought their kids had a tour guide, but I didn't. I just wandered for a couple of minutes. I got to see the dress up area that Lacey talked about. And, I saw her cubbie. She is the only kid in Pre-K with a name beginning with L. I thought that was odd.

Lisa was closed on Thursday & Friday (knee surgery). Lacey didn't want to go to school, so I told her the police would come get me if she didn't go. She got dressed then. She was like that again at the school, but she went in. Poor Leah didn't get much of a nap because by the time I got home, there was only about 90 min. before I had to get Leah up to pick up Lacey. So, on Friday when Butch was home with them, we decided she could ride the bus from Lisa's. It at least gives some extra time for Leah's nap. Turns out that MK was riding the bus from there, too. (We can't change the stops or the bus at this age.)

So....1st week of school is done. She did great and I'm so proud of her! Of course.....she already has a cold. It literally started last night.

Gymnastics

Both girls took gymnastics classes this summer and loved it. Lacey took a bit of encouraging each week, but each week, once she got into it she didn't want to stop. There were only 3 kids in her class. Some weeks, it was only her.
Practicing for a cart wheel.
Hand stand.....


Getting her medal!
I signed her up for classes again for the fall. She's taking dance lessons again, too, so she'll be a busy girl!

Leah absolutely LOVED her classes! She had a few in her class. There were a couple of boys that were OUT OF CONTROL!!!! It drove me crazy because the mom never bothered to do much with correcting them. Annoying.

Balance beam...

Forward rolls....


Back flips....
Getting her medal....
I signed Leah up for a Mommy & Me combo class for the fall. It's 25 min. of ballet and 25 min. of gymnastics. She missed the first class since we were at Family Camp, but she'll go this Saturday. Can't wait!

Trip to Pittsburgh

Chuck & Nancy had hoped to visit for Lacey's dance recital, but he'd had surgery (on his knee, that turned into a little bit more) a few weeks before, so they decided not to come. We were overdue for a visit to Pittsburgh anyway. :-) So, we planned to go for 4th of July.

We were supposed to leave on Thursday morning. But, Leah’s toe issues changed that. Butch was leaning toward canceling the trip, thinking it was just too much to deal with. But, I knew that Lacey was really looking forward to it. (So were Chuck & Nancy, of course!) Leah had been fine throughout her ordeal, so I knew she’d be okay with a drive and visit.

I hadn’t gotten all of the packing done before going to the hospital.....and it didn’t make sense to go home after being discharged from the hospital (heading south just to head north again). So….I tried to remember what all was still needed and we made a list for Butch. After packing everything up on Friday morning, Butch & Lacey headed up to the hospital to rescue Leah & me!

The girls were fairly good for the trip. Both of them slept a little. And, we really only had 1 stop (I think)…for food, bathroom, diaper.

After dealing with tracking down the medicine for Leah, we all got settled for bed that night. The 4 of us slept in the basement. There is a pull out couch, but I didn’t think the girls would do well totally on their own on the floor. So, we brought our air mattress, as well as the girls’ new princess air mattresses. We tried to lay them all out side-by-side. But, both girls were being momma’s girls and wanted to sleep right next to me. Butch ended up on the couch ….. Lacey slept with me and Leah was in her bed next to me. Amazingly, that first night was a pretty good night of sleep. And, since it’s dark in the basement, the girls slept late! (They needed that since it was after 11:00 when we go to bed the night before.) The next couple of nights’ sleep weren’t as good, but nothing too horrible.

On Saturday (the 4th), Chuck & Nancy hosted a little party with family. But, before that started...the girls "helped" Nancy pick some berries.
The weather was a little less than desirable….only about 70 degrees if I remember correctly. But, still a good day. We had the moon bounce set up for the kids (Lacey’s & Leah’s 2nd cousins were happy to jump around, too).

I was surprised at how much Lacey wanted to play with the boys. She seemed to really enjoy spending time with her cousins.

Sunday, was spent around the house most of the day. But, the girls were a little antsy, so we headed to the park early that afternoon to let them burn off some energy.
We ordered pizza that night and ate out on the patio. Lacey passed out on the lounge around 6:30 p.m. Later, we started a fire so we could roast marshmallows. Yum-o! Lacey just wanted them by themselves, but the rest of us were smart enough to want S’mores!
We had to be up pretty early on Monday morning since Lacey had swim lessons starting that night. The drive back went pretty well again….more stops, but not too bad. We got back home just in time for Lacey to go to swim lessons. There was literally enough time for Butch to change, get Lacey changed & them to leave.

Now that the kids are getting bigger, I can tell the trips will get easier. Hopefully next time, they’ll cooperate more with sleeping.

Leah’s Hospital Stay

I think most of you already know these details since you are either on Facebook or talk to me often. But, in case there is anyone still reading this blog that doesn’t see updates elsewhere….

On Thursday, July 2nd, Leah woke up early (before 6:00). She normally sleeps in quite a bit later, so this was weird. I came downstairs with her and laid on the couch while she played a bit. She started fussing when Brady got too close to her & I thought Brady had just stepped on her foot or something. Butch was up by then & noticed it was red. After a closer look in better light, we realized her toe was red & a bit swollen, plus there was some streaking up her foot. At the time, I just knew that I’d heard streaking meant infection & was not good. So, I called the pediatrician as soon as the office opened & we had an appt. at 8:45. I was hoping we’d get antibiotics & be on our way. While Leah & I were out, Butch and Lacey took Brady to Rick & Kristina’s house.

You can see the streaking up to her ankle in this picture. (You can also see a strap mark from her sandles.)

Dr. Jill looked very concerned. It was an infected ingrown toenail. But, with the streaking, Leah’s issue was borderline needing IV antibiotics. So, she had the other doctor on duty come look. The fact that it had all happened so quickly (she had been running around at gymnastics the night before with no problems and we didn’t notice any redness), they decided she probably needed an IV. At least I was able to go home first & get Butch.

I called him when we left the doctor’s office. Thankfully, Kristina was able to keep Lacey for us. Butch met Leah & I at home and we headed to Children’s Hospital ER. Within about 90 minutes, we were in a “room” in the ER. They decided that she did need to be admitted and have an IV.

The first attempt at the IV wasn’t good. Leah cried (screamed) the whole time. Eventually, that nurse said the vain had collapsed and they’d need to do it again on the other arm. She screamed again while I walked to the other side of her bed (because she couldn’t see me). Another nurse came in for the next IV attempt & it was much better. Leah’s face looked like she might cry when the needle stuck at first. I just said “mommy’s here” and she calmed down. I’m sure it wasn’t hurting as bad either.

They decided not to remove part of the toenail. One doctor wanted to because she was afraid it would just happen again. But, the specialist thought that sedating her would be too traumatic & this might not ever happen to her again. So, they soaked her foot for 15 minutes, then lanced it. Ouch. Leah was not happy. Lots of stuff came out. (The only complaint I have about the hospital is that they failed to have that stuff cultured. So, we don’t really know what kind of infection it was.)

Next up was hooking up the antibiotics to Leah’s IV. She napped the entire time.

Eventually, we headed upstairs. Leah walked most of the way and was happy to be free, I think.

Here she is showing her "boo-boo". That pitiful look on her face.....playing it up....nothing more. She was fine before I said "show me your boo boo".

Butch stayed for awhile – long enough for me to go get dinner in the cafeteria. Then, he headed home to get Lacey so she could sleep at home.

I wasn’t sure how Leah was going to sleep in that place. She was due for antibiotics again around 11:00, so I thought I’d let her sleep with me on the pull out chair until then, at least. That went okay. But, after the antibiotics, they gave her the eye drops. (I think I failed to mention that she coincidentally had pink-eye, too.) She totally woke up after the eye drops, so I just let her stay with me. I think that worked best since the nurses were in every 2 hours or so to check vitals. She didn’t really wake up for any of that. I think she slept until 7:00ish that morning. The first thing I did was look at her foot --- streaking was gone!

Taking a little nap....

The doctor came in mid-morning and said she could go home that day, but that he wanted her to have one more dose of antibiotics (at 1:00) first. Butch & Lacey arrived around 1:30 or so. I think Lacey looked like she might cry at first – seeing Leah with an IV, but when she realized Leah wasn’t sad, she was fine.

Butch had packed the car up & we headed to Pittsburgh straight from the hospital.

We had to get the antibiotic prescription filled when we arrived. But, the first pharmacy we went to didn’t have it. It’s a strong one and not everyone carries it. So, we went to Chuck & Nancy’s and Butch called around….too numerous places….before finding one that had it. Whew.

Swing Set

About a year ago, we started shopping for a swing set. We looked into the ones that you buy at Toys R Us, but while they were cheaper, the reviews showed that it took a long time to put together. I really wanted one from the Amish since the quality is so good & they put it together for you. But the cost was a bit insane.

Rick & Kristina offered for us to take theirs. Rick designed it himself & build it for Jessica & Justin…probably about 15 years ago. But, it was in good shape. We’ve been talking about it for months. Last weekend, Rick power washed it, then with the help of Dad & Kristina, took it apart. Apparently it was a long process. Saturday morning, Buck, Rick and Dad brought it over and started putting it up.

Lacey & I went to Lowe’s that afternoon to buy new swings for it. We still need to get a new tarp for a roof over the play house area.

The girls love it!

Girls Weekend - AST

When I went to college, I spent 2 years at our community college – then known as Charles County Community College….or Chuck County U. It’s come a long way since then and is now the College of Southern Maryland. Anyway, I spent 2 years there, then transferred to Salisbury State University (now just Salisbury University).

On that first day at SSU, I ran into some friends from high school and got invited to a party. So, my roommate (Debi) and I went. It was a Pi Lamda Phi party. I had no intention of going Greek when I was preparing to leave for SSU --- it isn’t a big Greek campus. But, I met several girls at that party that convinced me that I should Rush & try to get invited to pledge Alpha Sigma Tau.

During Rush week, I met many people that became very good friends. Jen, Shannon & I were all invited to pledge AST. Shannon lived on campus in a different building. Jen lived off campus in a townhouse community (Cynthia Place). We pledged – along with about 15 other girls. It was the biggest pledge class ever, if my memory is right. In fact, the following semester, we couldn’t participate in Rush because the size of our sorority had reached the maximum allowed.

We spent lots of time being afraid of the sisters….waiting for them to come grab us in the middle of the night (I can’t give specifics unless I kill you after)….having to remember all of their names and greet them with “Good Afternoon Sister (Name)” whenever we saw them. With twins (Cathy & Carolyn) in the sorority, this made things pretty difficult!

After 1 semester on campus, Shannon & I moved in with Jen at Cynthia Place. It was awesome! J-D, Mike (a.k.a. Lude), and Ray lived next door. (They were from Pi Lam.) At some point some other AST sisters moved into some of the other houses and most of the community was filled with college students. We had several “Around the World” parties where each townhouse had a shot or shooter & the last one hosted the party with a keg. Good times, I tell you!

At some point….Jen had bought a cat while we were on break and we weren’t supposed to have pets. The land lord found out & we either had to get rid of the cat or move. Shannon & I couldn’t bear to get rid of our beloved Toonces. (Yes, the same dear kitty that I had until he died a few years ago.) So, we moved into another house in Cynthia Place. I can’t remember who we had as a 3rd roommate at first. But, eventually, Christy moved in. She pledged a year after we did, so we knew her through sorority.

When I graduated, I stayed in touch with my good friends pretty well. It was hard because most of them were still in college for a few years after me, while I was hit hard with the real world.

Christy, Shannon & I (and Jen at times) try to get together for lunch 1-2 times a year. Shannon now has a 2 year old and Christy has a 7 month old.

Then….along came Facebook. And, I was in touch with numerous other friends from college – some Greek, some not. One of our sisters decided to organize a weekend away for all of us to reconnect. We had it in Ocean City just a couple of weekends ago. Most of us are fairly local, so it worked well. But, 2 of the girls came from much farther….one from Florida and one from California.

Most of the girls went up on Friday, but Christy, Shannon, Shelly & I waited until Saturday since we had some Mommy Guilt. (Shelly pledged the year that Christy did, I think.) For the 3 hour drive, we probably spent 2 hours and 45 minutes talking about our kids! We tried several times to get onto a different subject, but it always came back to that.

We were on the beach by 1:00 p.m. Things change….I had on a very high SPF and my mantra was “Pale is the new Tan!”. However, 15 years ago, I would have had as little SPF as possible that would keep me from burning, but tan that skin!

After dinner, we went to Seacrets…which I could have done without. It’s a club and not the best place to have conversations. Christy was the first to leave….probably around 10:00 or 10:30. With a 7 month old, she was looking forward to a really good night of sleep. Shannon, Shelly & I left not long after her and we were all happily in bed around midnight.

We all (20 or so of us) had breakfast at the hotel on Sunday before hitting the road. My little group stopped at the outlets for a little shopping before heading home. Of course, I ended up buying several things for the girls at Gymboree and a big fat NOTHING for me. The life of a mom.

It was awesome, though! There is talk of making this an annual thing.

So, Facebook may be an addiction and time-waster in some ways. But, it’s so great to reconnect with people. I love being able to see what is going on in the lives of old friends.

Dress Rehearsal for Dance

Tonight was dress rehearsal for the recital this weekend. They also did pictures tonight. I spent some time curling Lacey's hair......

Then, it rained....no, it poured.....the whole drive down. And, we all know what humidity does to pretty curls. So, it didn't last long! Still cute, though. And, she was all smiles before going out on stage.
But, then she had to go on stage. I don't think she understood - at all - what it would be like. Who would? And, I wasn't telling her in advance because I didn't want to freak her out. Maybe that was a mistake.

No, this is not a solo. :-) This is my sweet, shy little girl....not dancing.
She was sort of doing it here.

And...admiring her trophy.

Here they all are posing for their group picture.
Lacey was less than thrilled. Once I put my camera away and focused on getting her to giggle, she did. Getting her to do her individual pictures was slow going. But, she eventually relented & did a few.

I'm very proud of her for getting on stage, though. I really wasn't sure she would do that. She's telling me tonight that she will dance tomorrow at the recital....we'll see. She has a recital tomorrow at 6:00, then again on Saturday at noon. Whew. More pictures & videos to come!

Random Update

I hadn't realized how long it had been since posting last (2 months). So what's been going on, you ask?

I joined a gym. It's the one that Dee goes to. It's a bit of a drive (25 min.), but it's a women's gym, which is kind of nice.....I didn't think I cared, but I do like it. And, they have an awesome fitness instructor who teaches Turbo Kick. It's a really tough workout, but it's fun & she is so energetic. I was doing her class 2x a week for about.....6(?) weeks. Then, the gym offered the "Get Ripped Challenge". It's a sort of boot camp that was M/W/F for 4 weeks at 5:30 a.m. for 45 minutes. I signed up & it was awesome. I liked getting a workout done at the beginning of the day and it was tough. I kept going to the Turbo Kick classes & added some cardio on at the end of each boot camp class.....thought for sure I'd see some great results by the end of 4 weeks. Nope. Nada. My body fat barely went down.

No, I didn't give up my chai lattes during that time. But, I did (for the most part) give up wine. Between that & all those calories I was burning, one would think it would have worked. I need to chat with Genelle about that. So, I'm still working out 4-5 times a week and I'm getting ready to give up my chai latte. It just isn't worth it!

What else?

We all had colds in May. I ended up going to the doctor and got a prescription for bronchitis. The same day I went, I picked the girls up from Lisa's to hear Lacey complain about her ear. I wondered, but decided to wait.....but by the end of dinner, she was crying every few minutes, so I took her to the urgent care and found she had a double ear infection. So we were both on antibiotics.

And, I've had some car issues. Remember that I had my car worked on because of damage from mice? Well, when I drove it at night a few weeks after getting it back, I found that some lights weren't working --- the backlight for the odometer and the light for the heating/air. A few days later, the SRS (airbag) light came on. So, I took it back in to the shop about 10 days ago. GEICO tried to argue that none of it was related to the initial problem. But, the repair shop convinced them it was. We just picked up my car yesterday. I stopped to get gas on the way home, then stopped at Ledo's to pick up pizza. The car wouldn't start when I came out. Butch came to pick me up & the car stayed. This morning, I was planning to have a repair shop (across from Ledo's) look at it, but it started. I was going to drive it to the gym to see if it would start after that, too. But, I had a flat.

So, I took Dad's car (which we've been borrowing) to the gym. Then, Dad & Rick came to change the tire for me. I drove it across the street & had the tire patched. ARGH! Hopefully it won't refuse to start anymore. I'm just going to use it locally for a bit.

Last Saturday, Butch left for Atlanta to do a college tour. He was gone all week. I got by okay, but I would not want to be a single mom! The kids usually insist on me for baths and bedtime, but Butch is usually doing the dishes or something while I handle the kids. Not last week! It wasn't too bad. The worst was that on Monday night, both kids slept horribly. So, I ended up getting very little (3 hours total?) of sleep. It didn't make for a productive Tuesday! I had to skip Turbo Kick because I was exhausted.

I promise to try to do some more updates in the next few weeks!

The Deck

We've been spending some time on the deck now that the nice weather is here (well....when it hasn't been raining, it's nice). The girls like to have picnics on the deck (or "guck" as Leah calls it).



A couple of weeks ago, we decided we should grill out. We had a Jenny-O turkey tenderloin and grilling it sounded perfect. When Butch went out to get the grill cleaned up & ready....he opened it to find.....





Lovely. There was also a mouse nest....an empty one. Gross. When Butch tried to get the snake out (using a broom stick), it hid under the heating element. So, we left the lid open & just waited & watched while it slithered out. It finally got down to the ground & Butch chased it into the woods. While I wouldn't mind letting the snake die, I like that he kills the mice for us, so he was spared.

Back to cleaning the grill....only to find out we were out of propane. The tenderloin was cooked in the oven that night.

Calvert Wine & Arts Fest

Last month, we went to the Calvert Wine & Arts Festival with the kids. It was interesting to try to taste wine while handling the girls! This was actually supposed to be a "meet up" with my Calvert Moms group, but we didn't see the others around.

We didn't taste much, but it was a gorgeous day out and they had a few bands playing. The girls had a blast.