15 Years of Us

The kids and I have been out of town for the past three days and Tim just left for the next 3 days. We got to spend a whole 22 1/2 hours together for our anniversary. So romantic. The big surprise was that Tim sent me flowers on Wednesday before we left. It was a HUGE shock. I made the mistake probably 10 years ago to say something like "flowers are pretty but they are such a waste of money". I've gotten flowers twice since then. He sent a bouquet of 15 flowers, 12 red, 1 pink (Abigail), 1 white and 1 yellow (the boys).

I was in such a funk last week I really needed that little pick-me-up. It was totally unexpected and so appreciated. This year has been hard. I know we would have done so much more to celebrate this milestone if not for his school. He feels bad that he has been less than attentive. But I try my best not to complain and I think I've done a really good job of resigning myself to being "pushed to the side" for 17 months. I knew what we were heading in to, I'm just ecstatic that we are so close to the end. He's done with August classes. Just 4 more months. We already received the Save-the-Date for the class graduation dinner in January.

Last weekend's trip for me and the kids helped a lot too. We took Grammy to Harkers Island to scout out some houses for sale. (On the drive down, we passed through New Bern and right past Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. That's where Tim and I began our life together so it was fitting that we were in the area on our 15th anniversary weekend. It was just sad that he wasn't with us.) Grammy and Pappy are trying to decide if they might want to get a weekend place at the beach. I think if they do, it will end up being a full-time deal, forget about weekends only!! Thursday night we drove the 20 miles over to the historic Beaufort waterfront and ate the best seafood at the Net House. OMG only the best meal I've eaten in ages!!! We walked up to the waterfront and listened to a Jimmy Buffet type duo playing some live music. Kids all over climbing in the Live Oaks and dancing. I took some pictures but they are on my phone and I don't know how to get them off since I don't have email on my phone. Friday we looked at houses and then packed up a couple of beach bags and hopped on a flat-bottom skiff ferry at Calico Jack's to go over to Cape Lookout. The kids played with the marina dogs while we waited to board. No...that's not me in the bikini. The brown dogs are Chesapeake Bay retrievers. This little guy with Cameron is Jeff, he's 5 weeks old.

Cameron was not crazy about the 10 minute boat ride to Cape Lookout. It was fun but I can't blame a 2 year old. It was like the Log Ride, only at 40 miles an hour. He cried most of the ride over but he was so tuckered out on the ride back, he actually fell asleep.

Cape Lookout was amazing. We were on the inlet side (vs. the ocean-side) so there were virtually no waves. It was kind of like being at a lake. The water was so clear. The kids played without being knocked over by waves and their suits weren't packed with sand.

In the distance you can just barely see Shackelford Banks famous for the wild horses that live on the island. We're headed back next weekend for the Labor Day holiday with daddy and Pappy. Grammy found a house that she wants Pappy to see. It's a rental, so we are actually going to stay there and see how they like it. It's going to be like an HGTV episode of Sleep On It!!

Tim and I are planning to try to get out one night for dinner by ourselves so that will be our anniversary dinner. Can't wait!!

Happy Birthday Big Boy!!

Cooper turns 5 years old today! I remember my first contraction at 4:00 am that morning. I was sleeping on our old couch. That couch sunk down in the middle and it fit my round middle just right. He was born about 15 hours later. I used a CNM from my OB's office. Cooper was my most satisfying birth experience. I was calm and felt the most in control of what was going on. At about 5-6 cm I asked for an epidural. 20 minutes later when anesthesia got there, I felt like I had to push. I had gone to a 10 in that short amount of time and a couple of pushes later he was here.

Cooper is very laid back and "chill". Some people think the birth experience can have an impact on the child. Who knows. Let's see now...Abbie took forever to push out and she is a major slowpoke, we just discussed Cooper, and Cameron's delivery was out of control and crazy fast. Hmmm, pretty much spot on.

I've never read about the "Middle Child" syndrome. I know it must be hard to be you sometimes. Cameron takes so much of mommy's attention and Abbie is old enough to get to do all the fun things. I worry about whether you get your share of our attention. I took you to Lowe's last weekend and we used your kiddie wheelbarrow to carry our stuff. You were such a great helper that everyone noticed!! This fall you are going to play basketball at the Y. You are so excited about it.

Stupid Blogger...

I had a couple more paragraphs and I lost them because Blogger wouldn't save them. Let's see if I remember.

• Your favortie word is DAMAGE, as in tree damage after the storm the other night or car damage on any car that appears to have been in an accident.


• Your favorite color is red. Your favorite team is whichever team is red.


• You wanted a basketball goal and a skateboard for your birthday, which you got.


• You are so excited to go back to school and see your friends.


• Grandy and Aunt Cathy took you out for your birthday today. You had lunch at Chuck E. Cheese and then went to Toys R Us


• Sunday we went bowling with Pappy and Grammy and got your basketball goal.


• You want your room painted Camouflage. I'm going to get started when school starts.

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy. I can't believe you are already 5...

Wonderful Day

Today was a great day. I dragged us all to the pool. I'm sort of OVER the pool for the summer. My 2 best girlfriends were supposed to be there so I decided we should get the most out of our membership fee as possible over the last 2 weeks. You might have guessed that my friends didn't end up coming but it was such a glorious zero-cloud-low-humidity-cool-breeze day, that I didn't even mind getting stood up.

We stayed for 3 hours and Tim was home when we got back. Cameron took a nap after a little convincing. I'm just not ready to completely retire the naps. I'll let him play trains quietly in his room for at least one hour. Today he fell asleep on the floor...after he pulled all the wipes out of the container. When I got him up, the first thing he said was "wipees". Yes, son, I noticed.

We hopped in the car to get some dinner. I don't often enjoy taking all the kids in to a restaurant. Tim goes in to get the food and we eat in the van, a "van-nic" if you will. We rolled down the windows and listened to Radio Disney. It was a good time.

Then we actually splurged on marble slab ice cream even without a coupon! Tim and I went last week and they have the best Double Dark Chocolate ice cream. Cooper got Birthday Cake ice cream. It tasted freakishly like a grocery store bakery birthday cake. We ate out on the patio and the kids ran around in the grass. We went home and let them run it out some more.

Just a fun day that actually felt like we had our normal pre-MBA school life back. We had daddy back. Even if just for a few hours.

4 months and counting...ooh, I think I need a new ticker!

P.S.- I want to clarify the ticker I set up for Tim's countdown. I'm not delusional and expecting some big 6-figure Fortune 500 salary when he graduates. No, rather the dollar sign represents the enormous student loan we will have to figure out how to begin paying back WITHOUT benefit of that aforementioned 6-figure Fortune 500 salary!!

tired

I'm so tired these days. As much as I was looking forward to summer break, August is here and I'm ready for school to start. 2 weeks until Abbie's open house. I am so ready! It's impossible to keep anything cleaned up with all 3 kids here all the time. Plus, Cameron will not stay in his seat to eat. I find crumb trails all through the house. And mouthprints on the couch where he runs and does his faceplants to wipe his mouth. It's a good thing we have the cheap-o denim couch from Rooms to Go. It's been fantastically easy to wipe clean.

That's all I can muster for now.