Blythe's bug

So Blythe is feeling better now, thank goodness. I think yesterday her fever got up to at least 104 degrees. Seems high, but that girl seems to always get really high fevers every time she is sick. In fact I can't remember a time she has been sick with less than a 103 degree fever. Because it was so high though, we were pretty worried about her last night. Plus she didn't seem to be breathing all that well while she was sleeping. We debated waking her up and bringing her into our room but I figured we'd eventually fall asleep and wouldn't be able to hear her if she was laying right next to us anyway. Probably a good thing we didn't bring her in our room because we might have ended up with vomit in our bed. Instead Blythe came into our room at 2am because she had just vomited all through the hallway. So exciting since my favorite 2am activity is cleaning carpets.

So after that she got to sleep with us. And so I got a little bit of sleep. She slept in and woke up with a mild fever. She felt well enough to go with Daddy to work so I could get some work done, then we switched at lunchtime. You would think after all that she'd be tired enough to nap, but no. So for the 2nd day in a row she watched "Over the Hedge" during my 4 o'clock meeting.

So anyway, she's feeling fine now and hopefully wakes up fine so she can go to school tomorrow and we can all move on with our lives!

7 year anniversary

Monday was Braden and my 7 year anniversary. How time has flown! Especially since having kids...getting so caught up in the day to day care of them. Usually we don't do much on our anniversary. Get each other cards and go out to eat usually. But Braden being the sneaky (and perfect) husband that he is, went a step up this year. I was all proud of myself because I actually remembered to buy a card at least a day before our anniversary and in the meantime Braden had made a hotel reservation for us at a local hotel and arranged for our babysitter to come over and stay the night with the kiddos. So at this point I'm no longer so proud of myself. But I was very surprised and happy about how on the ball Braden was.

He made a reservation at the Main Street Inn in Blacksburg, which is a new boutique hotel in downtown. That way we could go out and drink and not have to drive. So we had a nice dinner at Poor Billy's and then out for drinks at Boudreaux's. We were back at the hotel by 10:00 and were exhausted so enjoyed sleeping in the big king bed with luxurious bedding. We were a little bummed we missed the finale of The Bachelorette, but it wasn't exactly the night to be watching TV.

So anyway, I have the perfect husband and he gets more and more perfect everyday. Still going strong after 7 years!

Back to the grind yesterday and today and got the dreaded day care call today that Blythe was sick with a 103 degree fever. Needless to say, not feeling so well. Which means she'll be home tomorrow too. Bummer.

Weekend in Durham

We headed down to Durham last Thursday to spend the weekend with Doug and Lynette. Braden was coaching and recruiting at a meet near their house, so we decided to make it a family trip. Although it was quite a long trip there due to multiple potty breaks, the kids did great in the car. Once we got there, we pretty much got into a routine of hanging out in the morning and then spending a few hours at the pool until Ethan was just too tired to stay any longer. The first day we were all able to go to the pool (I took the picture so not in the photo):

The second day both Lynette and Braden had to work so it was just me, Doug, and the kids. We got a look of weird looks and people saying, "wow, you have your hands full" before I realized it certainly appeared we were husband and wife with our 3 kids (2 of which would be 11 months apart). Yikes! Anyway, we had a good time again at the pool. Both of mine LOVED going down the slide over and over again. Blythe could actually do it all on her own start to finish, including getting to the side at the bottom despite the strong current.

On Friday night we headed into downtown Durham for a few drinks and dinner for the kids. They had a live band playing too and Ethan and Blythe had a great time dancing and, since it was outdoors and people brought pets, they had a great time petting all the different dogs!

Blythe has recently started telling little white lies, which she took to an even higher level on this trip. I think I have a compulsive liar on my hands. On Saturday she said she wanted to jump off the diving board so I took her over there, she waited in line, walked out to the end then said she didn't want to and got off. I tried convincing her to do it, but she wouldn't. Later when she saw Braden, the first thing she said to him was, "Daddy! I jumped off the diving board! Feet first!" So she even added details. Then last night she was reading a new book of Ada's that had a cover on it. She can't stand those covers, so she took it off and started to crumple it up before I stopped her saying Lynette might not want it crumpled. Then she took the book and the cover and brought it into Ada's room to give to Doug and told him, "Ethan took the cover off." Liar. Last example was this morning. The kids and I got up first and went downstairs to play and be less loud than being upstairs with everyone sleeping. A little while later Doug, Lynette, and Ada came down and Lynette started fixing waffles. She asked who all wanted them and I said we all did. Doug was surprised because he thought we already ate. Apparently Blythe told him, "I already ate breakfast. I had cereal."

Don't let this sweet, innocent face fool you.

Blythe is 3 and half

So I give an update each month on Ethan (okay, well I forgot last month), but don't give updates on Blythe's status. Today she is 3 and a half. That's pretty significant, I mean that half a year is 1/7 of her life. That's like me aging 3 years. Okay 4. Okay more than 4. Geez.

Anyway, here's some tidbits about Blythe:

• She can talk (I know...pretty amazing, huh?). Actually, I mean there aren't too many words she can't say. She says "sunscream" instead of "sunscreen" and still says "gwail" instead of "girl", but overall she can pronounce most words
• She can swim about half the length of the pool. Possibly more if she was forced to. She has another round of swim lessons this week which didn't go too well yesterday and probably won't today either because it's FREAKING COLD in July! WTF? I'm so ticked off at the rainy and cold June and July we have had (and May too). I digress...
• She has most of her fine motor skills down. Sometimes she still needs help getting her clothes on or off. Like last night when she tried to put on her nightgown. She tried and tried, but kept getting stuck. So she asked for help and I told her she did it the night before so asked why she was having trouble. She said, "My strong muscles ran out of batteries"
• My house would be covered in Disney princess stickers if I didn't put my foot down and make her confine it to her room. So instead it's just her books, play kitchen, dresser, and who knows what else.
• She can write her name and various other letters (not used in her first name) from the alphabet. They just might not be legible to the general public.
• Most of the time she remembers to say "please" and "thank you"
• She's quite social and almost flirty with boys. Makes me scared.
• She is a great big sister. She and Ethan play more and more these days.
• She can be a great helper when she wants to be. Other times she is plagued by selective hearing disorder.
• She loves her sleep. She will sleep about 11 hours at night and takes naps every day at daycare. On weekends she tends to take a nap one of the days and the other day "play quietly" in her room for 2 hours.
• She's still a very picky eater, but has gotten much better. She will now eat meat (and not just chicken nuggets) and will usually at least try everything on her plate. I think it may have more to do with understanding ultimatums.
• She still loves to be held, hugged, kissed and says "Mommy (or Daddy) - I love you" all the time. Oh how I will miss that when she gets older.

Le artiste

Here is the picture Blythe drew of Daddy:

Pretty good, huh? I probably didn't even have to tell you who it was. Actually, it's significant because as far as I know, it's the first real picture she's ever drawn. I mean there are countless pages of squiggles and shapes and the infinite number of art projects at school, but on this particular one she actually took a blank page and used her creativity to make it something recognizable. And poor Daddy is sick this weekend, so he probably is pale and green.

And here's a cute picture of Ethan from yesterday:

This was taken before we went to the playground and he decided to do a somersault down the slide giving himself a fat and bloody lip. And of course, I looked like the careless mom who let her child do that.

Blythe's tribute to Anna's tribute

I showed Blythe my cousin Amy's blog the other day, "My Tribute to the King of Pop" in which her daughter, Anna, shakes her booty like no other 3 year old I've ever seen. Supposedly she said Anna learned those moves from watching Dancing With the Stars, but I think Amy really taught them to her. I mean, Amy was a cheerleader for several years back in the day.



Anyway, as soon as Blythe saw it, she wanted me to film her dancing as well. And we had to pull out the blue yoga mat to make it as identical to Anna as possible. But try as she may, she cannot shake her booty like Anna can. Here is her meager attempt. And I chose a Michael Jackson song too because, well, he's the king.

Holy Hornets Nest, Batman!

So you would have thought Braden or I would have noticed the giant hornets nest just above our garage considering how many times we drive in and out each day (and how much the kids play right under it)!

It's about the size of a human head!

Let's get a close up of that sucker:

Yikes!

I finally noticed it today as I was driving in after picking the kids up from day care. So we didn't play outside. When Braden got home, I showed him and then he called a pest control service. The guy was here in 10 minutes to take a look. He did say that judging by how many hornets were working on it, they probably built it in less than a week (so at least we weren't completely oblivious for a really long time). And he said in about 3 days it would be probably 4 times that size. Holy crap!

So he's coming back just after dusk tonight (should be very soon now) because he says they all come back "home" after the sun goes down. He'll spray it with some high powered chemical solution. And then run! Actually, he didn't say he'd run, but I think I would! And that'll set us back $95.00. Stupid hornets.

Claytor Lake

Our family and the Freel family headed out to Claytor Lake yesterday. It's 30 minutes away and though we've lived here 5 years, last year was the first year we'd ever been. It's a beautiful lake and a really nice state park, where they have a marina, a few playgrounds, a beach and swim area (with dock and diving board). Last year we rented a motor boat and did some tubing and skiing and wakeboarding. We waited too long to this year to call for boat reservations, but we were still able to go out and enjoy the nice day on the beach.

Our kids didn't really get much of a beach vacation at Hilton Head, so they had a great time making sand castles and getting really sandy. And I personally would rather swim in a lake than the ocean any day of the week. We also brought a picnic lunch that we were able to eat at the beach. You had to be quick and grab what you wanted to eat before those sandy handed kids got a hold of it. Otherwise, everything had a crunchy, grainy texture. Mmmm. The kids got a hold of the cheese puffs bag right away and the sandy Cheetos didn't seem to bother Ethan as he crammed at least 5 or 6 in his mouth.

After a nap for Ethan (and no nap for Blythe - she just fooled us into thinking she was taking a nap until she decided to walk into Ethan's room then walk out and slam the door behind her thus waking him up earlier than expected), then we ate dinner and went to pick blackberries. There are TONS of wild blackberry bushes in our neighborhood and the neighborhood across the street. I think the combination of lots of rain and probably less deer around has made them grow like crazy. And they are delicious! Especially on ice cream...mmmm...

Blythe loves them and ate lots. Ethan won't even attempt to swallow one. So that's a little weird (that Blythe will eat something that Ethan won't). Unfortunately we found out the hard way that eating too many blackberries causes upset stomachs in little girls. I'll spare you the details.

I'm big time now

Look at my cool new 22" widescreen computer monitor.

It's ginormous.

What's even cooler is the box it came in....

I got it because Braden brought back an older computer my dad had (that actually used to be ours) so I could again try to set up a computer for the kids. All he brought back was the PC itself and a keyboard though (not even a power cord...apparently it was lost). So I got a power cord on ebay for $4.90, I bought a new mouse (for myself since my other one was crap and belongs on a kids computer anyway), the new monitor seen above, and a computer game for Blythe. Everything got here only 2 days after I ordered it. Amazing.

So I was very excited because I'm a computer dork. And Blythe immediately pulled the game out of the box and wanted to play it. I told her I just needed to set up the computer and then she could play. As easy as plugging in the mouse, keyboard, and monitor and starting it up. Yeah right.

Here we go again with the crappy old computers that apparently are more likely to break sitting on a shelf than they are being used on a daily basis. Won't recognize the operating system and just keeps restarting. I tried everything I could find online to fix it, but without a recovery CD, there's not much else I can do. Oh, I guess there are things I could do with it. Like make another computer smashing video....

Anyhoo, we went to Home Depot today to get the supplies for our next project that will likely take 6 times as long as it's supposed to...a new kitchen faucet. Seems easy enough. Mwahahaha.

And while we were out and about, we hit up Old Navy so Blythe could pal around with her mannequin family.

Big sales at Walmart

I know the economy is bad and everyone's trying to save pennies where they can, but seriously?

As Ethan was trying to get a hold of the hamburger buns so he could squish them and Blythe was gathering things she felt we "needed", I was able to maneuver a camera phone shot of this stupid sign. Wow! What a sale!

Actually Blythe and Ethan were pretty good in Walmart. I only had to switch out the hamburger buns once after he squished them and I only had to tell Blythe twice not to open the cookies in the cart.

Blythe was very cute tonight as I was putting Ethan down to bed. They almost always kiss each other good night and Ethan says "Bye Bye" to Blythe, so they did their normal routine. Then as I was reading Ethan a book, Blythe came in and said she had forgotten to give Ethan a hug, so she hugged him and left. Then a bit later she came in and said she forgot to tell Ethan "I love you", so she told him she loved him and then left again. Then a bit later she said she forgot to give Ethan an Eskimo kiss. So she touched her nose to his and then left again. After that she didn't come back. I guess she ran out of ideas and ran out of time.

July 4th week/end

I know it's been a while since I was on here blogging. I had to take a last minute trip to New Jersey last week on Monday to a client up there. New Jersey is most definitely not my favorite place to go, but this time I had a colleague that went with me and we stayed just on the other side of the river from Manhattan, so 2 of the nights we went into New York City. And I had never been before.

The first night we walked down to Times Square and zigzagged around trying to find a restaurant. Our problem was that there are too many restaurants, so when we saw one we might like, there was always the wonder about what else there was available. Finally we were just too hungry to keep walking so we settled. It was good, but damn, it's expensive to go out to eat in NYC. Anyway, we walked off our dinner calories by browsing the M&M store. 3 stories of walls covered with M&M's.

I bought nothing though (it was a good thing I was really full at that time!).

Then we walked back to the train and marveled at the fact that there were lawn chairs in the middle of Times Square (the streets were closed). Apparently it's something new for the summer.

Anyway, the second night we headed to Little Italy for dinner, which again there were too many choices. But with Italian food, you really can't go wrong. Then we hit up the H&M store (oh how I missed it since moving from Chicago). I had never shopped for kids clothes there since I didn't have kids in Chicago. They were so cute! I bought 4 things for $15 and then we headed back.

So on Thursday I flew into Charlotte since we were planning on going to my parents for the 4th anyway. Braden drove the kids, the dogs, and 2 of our friends from Blacksburg and their nephew down on Thursday and met me there. The guys got their chance to play golf and we hit up the pool with the kiddos. Ethan tried out the arm floaties (which are "illegal" aka not Coast Guard approved anymore) and loved them. He loved being able to swim on his own. We'll try them out at our pool next time and see if the lifeguards say anything. At first Blythe wouldn't go down the big slide and then once she finally did, she never stopped. People were amazed that she would go down by herself with no flotation devices on and we would tell them that 2 weeks ago she wouldn't even put her face in the water. And then we would tell them that her dad is a swim coach and they'd be like, "oh, wow. no wonder." when in reality that makes no difference at all since she listens to about 0% of the instruction we give her in the water.

On the 4th, my friend Emily came up from Charlotte and Doug and Ada drove down from Durham and we all went out on a pontoon boat on Badin Lake. We did some tubing, some swimming, some sightseeing and then at night we watched the fireworks. My kids actually made it through all of the fireworks, and didn't go to bed until 10:30, which is incredibly late for them! Which made me optimistic that they might sleep in, but alas, they were up at 7:15 like normal. I can't win. Ever.

Braden stayed at my parents (he's doing some recruiting down there tomorrow) and I drove the rest of the crew back. We had short naps in the car and then no more napping once we were home. Ugh! It was raining, so the last thing I wanted to do was drag 2 overtired children in the rain to the grocery store, so instead we hit up McDonalds. And Blythe was stylin there.

Too bad she forgot her giant oversized sunglasses that she was wearing later. She would have looked like a total movie star.