Beach, Etc.

We went to the beach yesterday. It was a bit chilly, but we had a good time all the same. Kind of I like this picture of Nora headed down to the beach following Carolyn, Emily and Daddy. She's such a little thing and wants so badly to keep up with all the bigger people around her!! :)

Nora and Jake got such a kick out of Brad jumping over them. :)

I've always loved the ocean- the waves, the sand, the seashells, and the birds. Well, maybe not crowds of seagulls... but a few of them at a time are all right- and I LOVE the little sandpipers that move their feet so fast along the sand! 

I thought Jake looked so cute wearing his big sister's fleece. He's such a sweet little guy! I so wish he knew me better!!

Carolyn and Emily played in the sand most of the time. They didn't want to look at the camera, but I told them there was a spider on my shoulder and the fib (well, I guess it was a fib...) caught their attention enough to get them to look up and confirm for posterity that yes, they do both have eyes. :)

I really like this picture of the both of them that somehow (magically?) ended up in focus even though all I did was point the camera in the direction they were coming! Kids have such tremendous, wonderful energy. It's fun to see them run and play! Especially outside...

Self-portrait... still my best friend. :) It's been really nice this weekend for him to step away from all the stresses of work and just "life stuff" and escape with me. :) I like seeing him have fun with the family. There's something really special about seeing him with the people who have loved him longest and with whom he can be free in a way you only are around those who had no choice but to have you in their lives... but chose to love you anyway. :)

Nora's been a bit fragile since we've been here. Overall, she seems to have had a good time, but it really doesn't take much to push her over the edge into a meltdown. We haven't been sleeping a whole lot the past couple nights because we think she has an ear infection. Boo. :( The circumstances and symptoms fit, so being that we have 2 doctors in the house... we cheated and called in the antibiotics and bypassed urgent care... hopefully she really does just have a (hopefully resolving) ear infection and nothing worse! She has seemed to feel better today, other than being incredibly overtired from the short nights and restless sleep... so we'll see how tonight goes. :)

Next door to Nana and Papa's house is a house-in-progress! There's a big digger truck out there, and Jake is FASCINATED by trucks. It has been a highlight of his trip to get to visit the truck. Nora and Nana joined along yesterday.

A fun time was had by all

The Guys (minus Jake) have had a wonderful time reconnecting. They played golf today and a good time was had by all.

Nora was in pretty rough shape last night, running a fever, and feeling just generally lousy. Laying down seems to make her ears feel worse, so she was up every couple hours last night, just crying, though there wasn't really much we could do about it. Poor kid. I hope tonight is better!

This is what we call the "Irving TV Stare." It persists into adulthood. :)

This photo has nothing to do with the rest except to say that isn't my nephew cute?!'

This morning we took the only child who was willing (aka who didn't have the choice) out to the dock to look at the water at high tide. She liked walking on the boardwalk and making sounds with her feet, and she liked leaning over the edge to see what was down there. :)

And I like this picture of her. :)

And that is the end of my post, though not the end of my pictures. :) More tomorrow, but signing off for tonight. ;)

Family

A friend of Nana and Papa's came today and took some pictures of our family. :) It's tough to get 4 small children to look at the camera- much less actually smile! But we captured the moment, I think. I am so blessed by all of these people. It's really fun being together, and always makes me wish that it could be more often.

Carolyn and Emily have gotten along amazingly well. They both seem to just click with each other and love playing together. I'm so happy that they have each other. Just 10 weeks apart, and they are into all the same stuff and have had a ball playing princess and dressup and hide and scream games. :)

Nora and Jake have gotten along well too, for toddlers. They're not really interested in the same things (Jake is all about TRUCKS, CARS, AND TRAINS) and Nora pretty much just wants whatever her sister has- and of course, to be within sight of the Lovey at all times (her security object).

I'm grateful to have captured this moment in our family's history. No matter when or even "if" God blesses us with another face in pictures like these- a family is an ever changing, ever growing thing, and the days are like jeweled beads on a string, each one slipping off, never to return again. Even though we had to bribe the girls with Smarties and even though no one's exactly smiling and looking at the camera... this is "us." Our family of four- such abundant blessing and joy.

Of course tonight may not be so joyful... we think Nora has an ear infection... it's sort of her MO whenever we fly anywhere. She's already sort of prone to them, and the pressure changes in the airplane tend to bring them on. She's been super fussy and a bit feverish this afternoon, so now she's taking some amoxicillin and we're hoping it clears up. But undoubtedly it will be a disrupted night of sleep tonight, so I'd better go take advantage of the rare quiet moment! Good night!

Here We Are

It's been a crazy week or so trying to get ready for this trip (hence, poor blog regularity lately)- getting the laundry done and suitcases packed, finishing and fixing and mailing (some internationally!) at least 6 orders that needed to go out before we left. And it was a LOOONG day today waking up to Nora's crying at 3:30am and just staying up because we were planning to be up at four. Our flight left at 6:15, flew through Baltimore where we spent a couple hours with a pair of overtired kids... then connected in Jacksonville, where Nana and Papa were waiting for us! There just happens to be a great Chik Fil A not far from the airport, so we got to eat lunch before tackling the 2 hour drive to their house. But... WE ARE HERE! It was a bit rainy outside this afternoon, and for awhile we just enjoyed sitting on the porch watching this egret find its supper.

Nora liked sitting in the rocking chairs.

Papa helped Nora hold the binoculars to try to see the bird. I'm not sure it ever quite worked, but she had a fun time all the same. :)

We are excited about being here! Now Doug and Katy and Emily and Jake are here and Uncle Kerry comes tomorrow. It's so great to be together. :)

Day of Dental Reckoning

Well, I didn't even bother to blog yesterday because it was not the funnest day... I had to start out by going to the dentist in the morning for 3 which turned out to be 4 fillings. I have lived in dread of the dentist since the one other filling I had when I was 15. Despite the "laughing gas" I recall the experience as being quite harrowing. I was hoping they would give me something like I got when I had my wisdom teeth out or when I had my D&Cs where you just get to "skip" the whole experience... and despite my attempts to secure more a more reliable form of anesthesia, I ended up mistakenly telling Brad to see patients during my appointment time, so I had no driver, and had to keep the sleepy pills at home and go all by myself. :( I was so scared I burst into tears in that horrible chair waiting for the scary dentist to come in. He's not an especially warm and fuzzy person- his best recommendation is that he is a preferred provider on our very restrictive dental insurance. But when he saw me sobbing in the chair, he did thaw out a bit, and talked me through the experience and although there was just nothing fun about any of it- not in the chair, not the drilling, not the scraping or filing or whatever that was, not the smell of destroyed tooth, not walking out of the building with my face twice as big as it should be, not talking to the other moms picking up preschoolers at school, not having to cancel lunch with friends because it was so uncomfortable to try to speak, not being so thirsty I wanted to guzzle water but couldn't find the right place on my face to put it so I could drink it. But... I did survive. My face is back to normal now, my mouth hurts only a little bit, and I can eat just about normally. But I never want to go through that again. Yuck.

But... on the upside...

I put this together for Nora, and it pleased me so much. :) I am reaching some new territory with my fledgling business... starting to realize that I cannot do it all alone- that as brilliant (ha!) or creative or crazy or whatever I am, I am still only and ever just one person. And the many other wonderful things in my life that fill nearly all of me with my consuming role as their mother, wife, cookie baker, clutter creator and container, etc-  all have their rightful share... And so what's left at the end that I can give to the creations that I'm so passionate and excited about... is just not enough to go around. I am so thankful for some new friends, including a friend named Trish, who crochets these butterflies (and some other things I'm going to unveil soon) with the love and attention to detail that I would if I had a clone. It's actually even better than having a clone of myself because I not only get to have her hard work doing something that looks amazing and fits in with all my other stuff so well- I get the indefinable element of her own passion and art and creativity.  She adds such a dimension to My Little Pixies, and I'm so glad I found her, and these butterflies, that make me happy.

Halloween 2010

Yesterday we pretty much laid low as a family since Nora had been sick the night before and we were all sort of waiting for the next one to fall... so far we're doing okay, but don't feel out of the woods yet! Just taking a day at a time. We/Brad carved our pumpkin yesterday, with some help from Carolyn.

She actually wanted to help clean out the inside of the pumpkin.

This is what she thought of pumpkin carving as a tactile adventure the year she was 15 months. :) But now she doesn't seem as bothered by the gooey stuff- and for some really odd reason, she is FASCINATED with seeds! Every time we cut an apple or a pear or a peach or any other fruit, she always requests (sometimes politely, other times, it's more of a demand) to see the seed! She was so excited to see so MANY seeds inside the pumpkin. :)

And this girl loves her Daddy. They have a really special relationship that is growing closer and closer as Carolyn grows. She's really a lot of fun right now and Daddy is really good about getting down and playing with her. He's a good Daddy.

Nora Bean had a choice of two costumes that were given to us- a bumblebee or a butterfly- within the insect category, this was the one we ended up with. :) She got many compliments on being so cute as we traversed the neighborhood. It was a bit chilly for her and I regretted taking her out once we got halfway around the block, but overall, she was content enough to sit in the wagon covered by blankets and eating treats- I let her go up to a few houses when she ran out of treats and needed some more. Thank goodness for the house that was giving away pretzels!

Carolyn picked out a Sleeping Beauty dress- I figured we ought to at least get a good dress-up dress out of the Halloween deal. I made a tiara for her out of a headband and though it turned out cute. :)

We went trick or treating with a bunch of kids from the neighborhood. It was quite the posse of kids and a bit out of control at first as the big ones led the little ones on a wild chase from house to house, and Carolyn, who really just wanted to sit down and eat candy (it does terrible things to her behaviorally, so we don't often let her have it!), couldn't quite keep up. Once I told her she could eat candy when we got home, things went smoother, and she had a really good time. Of course we had to deal with Meltdown  Central when we got home, but overall, it was a fun night. :)

Trick or Treat

Not as cold as last year... but still a bit chilly- especially since we're under quarantine this weekend. Nora threw up all night last night, so the rest of us (well those of us who remember doing this before)... know what's coming... and we're just waiting... But no one was vomiting tonight when our neighborhood had trick or treat... so out we went. I have more pictures, but I'm tired and not going to post them tonight. So you'll have to wait til tomorrow (unless of course I'm too busy vomiting to post anything, in which case, I'm sure you will all understand. :))

My Glamourous Life

This is the world I live in... messes piled up so high that even I, who have a great tolerance for clutter (since I generate most of it) cannot even stand it. I hit a breaking point this morning... those of you who've known me for any length of time know that it's a cyclical process- I get really excited about things, overcommit, get stressed out, freak out, bust it out in high gear and high stress mode for a few days to get "it" (whatever it is) all done, then recover, and somehow forget the way it felt to be so overtaxed and then sign up for the whole thing again! You'd think I'd learn a better sense of balance at some point... but I'm almost (gasp!) 30 years old and I still don't deal well with this part of my personality that's been there for as long as I've been around! I love my life, don't get me wrong; I really do! It's just that I run on such high energy that I have so many balls in the air at a time, all spinning furiously, and when one starts to drop, all the rest have a tendency to come crashing down... and my kitchen is the place where the balls generally start to drop!

After a very busy, very long day in which I allowed my children to watch far too much television, the kitchen does look (a little) better, I have washed 5 loads of laundry (though it might be 2 more weeks before it's all folded and put away... ugh), and gotten at least a start on the myriad of other things I have to do with trying to keep my two wonderful children safe, fed, and growing well- a new business getting started, and another side job I've been doing for years done well- you'd think I'd learn not to stretch myself so thin, but I do, and I will, and maybe by the time I'm 80 I'll have learned how to sit still and give myself the rest I really need!