I'm TWO (and had my first ER visit)!

It's been a few weeks since I updated, but it's been very busy! I turned TWO last Tuesday and had a really great birthday. I spent the day at school with my friends and then had a nice dinner with mom and dad on the deck. It was low key, but I got to eat three cupcakes at school and was in a super good mood. I even sang Happy Birthday to myself!

We had a bit of an adventure on Friday and I had my first visit to the ER :( I was running around my classroom right after lunch and I tripped and went head first into one of the tables. I split open my forehead right above my right eye and mom and dad had to take me to the hospital to get stitches. The director of my school got in touch with mom while she was at work and said that I had an accident and would need stitches. They kept me awake instead of letting me nap since I had hit my head pretty hard. Mom was in DC, so she called dad and had him go to school to get me since he was closer. Mom's co-worker was kind enough to give her a ride up to my school since mom's car was at the Metro station across the street from school. Mom ended up getting to school not long after dad did. When they got there, I was running around the hallway, happy as can be, completely oblivious to the huge gash on my forehead. The bleeding had stopped and I had a big bandage on my head to protect the cut, but the director showed mom and dad a picture of the cut so they would be prepared when we got to the hospital. There was no doubt I needed stitches.

We got to the hospital about an hour after I fell and were taken back to the pediatric ER pretty quickly. A nurse came in and put a numbing agent on the cut and we sat and waited. Mom and dad learned a lesson that if we have to go to the ER again, they should take the time to grab some snacks, a drink and some books - it was a long wait for a tired, hurt 2 year old! A doctor came in about 15 minutes after they put the numbing agent on and asked mom to apply pressure so it would work better, but I wouldn't sit still for that, so we just had to sit and wait. An hour and a half after they first came in, another doctor came in to look at the cut and see what "tools" he would need to stitch me up. At that point, we had been at the hospital for several hours and I hadn't had a nap, snack or anything to drink since lunch time, so I was a little "wiggly" to say the least.

I got pretty upset when the doctor and nurse came back in because they had to wrap me up in a sheet to keep my hands down by my side so I wouldn't bump the doctors hands. It was a pretty awful experience, but the doctor worked as quickly as he could so I could get back in mom's lap. It was a pretty deep cut and all told, I have 4 internal stitches and 10 external. The cut goes from the inside corner of my right eyebrow straight up to near the hairline. It looks like it's closed pretty well, so hopefully it won't scar too badly. Mom's not at all happy about the prospect of a facial scar like that, though :(

On a brighter note, I had a WONDERFUL birthday party on Saturday! Dad stayed up ALL night on Friday to cook the pork and put together my present. Mom and dad got me a train table and I was *so* excited to see it when I woke up on Saturday! So many friends and family came to celebrate with me and I had a blast. Grandma and Grandpa Coble helped out a lot and ran some errands for mom so she could get things ready at the house. Grammy and Grampy Clements also came early and played and read with me and helped get all of the food ready which helped mom a lot too :) Needless to say, mom and dad didn't get as much done on Friday as they hoped since we spent all afternoon in the ER. My friends starting coming around 3 and we played with my water table and made a huge mess of the yard. Since we all got wet, we ended up taking our clothes off and running around in our diapers.

Mom had a balloon lady come at 4 and she made us so many different balloon animals. She brought one with her that was a kitty tree for me and made me a kitty on a bracelet! Then she made me a dog on a leash and kept making balloons for me and my friends. She made a bee, giraffe, mermaid, alien, a dragon hat, a horse, a Denver Bronco, a few swords, a sea otter (that looked like a Nittany Lion), and a few Elmo's. I'm sure I'm missing a few - she did such a great job and we all had so much fun. I'm not sure who had more fun with the balloons - me and my friends or daddy and his friends! If anyone is interested, her website is:

http://www.beckysballoonanimals.com/

We had cupcakes after she left and then had dinner (aka pork time) afterwards. A little backwards, but it worked! Of course I didn't eat much dinner, but who would when they had cupcakes before??? I opened a few of my presents after dinner, but I was so easily distracted and ended up saving a few things for the next few days. I got so many nice things. Toys, clothes, dolls, books. I really can't tell everyone how much I appreciate the generosity!

Mom and I went back to see the doctor on Tuesday morning and they all agreed the cut looks pretty good, though we can't tell how well it is actually healing until the stitches are gone. We'll keep a pretty close eye on it, keep putting neosporin and Vitamin E (once the stitches dissolve) on the scar and will go to a plastic surgeon if we're not happy with how it's healing. One of the nurses in the practice used to be in plastics and she said it looked good, so keep your fingers crossed! I can now get the cut wet and mom is supposed to clean it out with soap and water twice a day. Unfortunately, that means that the bandaid has to come off twice a day :( That is by far the worst part. Mom and dad tried to leave the bandaid off last night to let it air out a little, but I cried and said my forehead felt yucky, so daddy put it back on. I was a champ and really let mom clean it out tonight, but I wouldn't get in the bathtub, so we just used a washcloth. I let mommy hold the washcloth on my forehead and closed my eyes and told her it felt good.

Will keep everyone posted on the forehead thing and will post pictures as soon as people send them to mom. She was running around like crazy and didn't get a chance to take too many photos of her own :(

Thanks again to everyone - I had a really fantastic party and had so much fun!

Congrats Joe and Ruthie!

I'm about a week late, but Congrats to Joe and Ruthie! We went to Charlotte last weekend for their wedding and had such a great time. We decided to fly because mom had a bunch of frequent flier miles (thank you Bank of America check card...) and didn't want to take another 7 hour drive for a weekend just 2 weeks after we got back from NC on vacation. Mom and dad decided to get a seat for me even though I could have flown for free on their laps. They figured I'd do better in my carseat, so they took that on and installed it on the plane for me to sit in. Mom was a little anxious about taking me on the plane and dad was trying to figure out how to carry everything! We ended up checking 3 bags, carried on my carseat, diaper bag, camera bag, and dad's laptop. Surprisingly it was a pretty easy trip. Thanks to Kim who suggested leaving the stroller at home and carrying me in the Ergo through security. Mom didn't even have to take me out of the carrier! She just had to take my shoes off and put my Grover doll through the x-ray, then we walked through and picked up our bags on the other end. Easy peasy!

When we got to Charlotte, mom's Aunt Jenny was waiting for us!!! Mom and I haven't seen her since I was 9 months old and dad hasn't seen her since they got married 6 years ago!!! She even bought a stroller for me to use, so I got to ride to the car in style instead of riding on mommy's back :) Mom had a bit of trouble installing my new carseat rear-facing in Jenny's car, so I got to ride forward for a few days. We had a really early flight, so we got there around 8:15 and had the whole day to hang out at Jen's house. We had a really nice visit and I had so much fun with all of the toys and books she had for me to play with. She has two small dogs, Barney and Betty and I had fun gathering their bones and putting them in their beds. Mom's cousin Kaitlin was away at Clemson, so she was kind enough to share her room with me. We put her mattress on the floor and it was the perfect bed for me!

Saturday, we got up and drove to the hotel so daddy could get ready for the rehearsal. Mom and I checked in and took a little nap :) We woke up just in time for mom and dad to go to the rehearsal dinner which was right next to the hotel. I was lucky enough to stay with Baby Cora and her grandma in the next hotel over. I had a great time reading books and "helping" with Baby Cora. Thank you, Angela's mom!!!!! I had a fun night and really appreciate being able to spend some time with you. Mom came back to get me after the dinner and I went to bed pretty easily. Since mom and dad didn't take my air mattress, I got to sleep in the big bed with mommy. She says I was a bed hog, but it worked out well.

The wedding was on Sunday, so when I got up (would you believe I slept till 9am???), mom took me back to Jenny's house, which was about an hour south of the hotel. We had some lunch, then mom had to go back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. I got to spend the night with Aunt Jenny and Uncle Ken and we had a BLAST!!! They took me to the fair and I even got to ride on a train! I got to Skype with Kaitlin and I had fun with that too :) Uncle Ken is great at reading books and I heard so many new good books. Jenny tells mommy that I was great and didn't even cry at bedtime. This was my first night away from mom and dad and I think we all survived really well.

Mom and dad came back to get me on Monday and we had a few hours to relax before we had to head back to the airport. We had a pretty smooth flight home as well - our flight was oversold, but thankfully we were confirmed with 3 first class seats, so we were good to go. It worked out well in first class because I had plenty of room and couldn't even kick the seat in front of me from my carseat. I talked pretty much non stop on the way home, but I don't think the people around us minded. The man in front of us snored the whole way home and the lady behind us complimented mom on how good I was when we landed. We made it home around 7pm and settled right back into our usual routine. I went back to school and mom and dad went back to work on Tuesday. All week I've been asking where Aunt Jenny and Uncle Ken went - I hope I get to see them again soon.

I had a pretty good week and even got to see Miss Sharon yesterday so mom and dad could go to Erin's birthday dinner. We all had a lot of fun. Today mom tells me is sushi and football with Jay, Molly and Baby Jake - I can't wait (though I *really* don't want mom to hold Jake...).

Mom tells me that my birthday is in a little over a week - can you believe it??? How is it possible that I'm almost TWO???

I'm talking up a storm now and talk pretty much in complete sentences and repeat everything. Here are some of my favorite phrases:

Where did mommy (daddy/kitty) go?
Mommy, there are a lot of cars (as we drive home from school)
I want to go downstairs (when I wake up in the mornings or from naps)
Mommy cover me up
Sydney goes first (up the stairs as I point at mommy and tell her to stay away)
Fill up my water please (I'm a very polite kid so far!)

Hope everyone is well - I'm going to go play now!

Home Sweet Home

We made it home today. It's bittersweet...vacation was AWESOME and I hate to leave it, but I had SO much fun playing with my toys when I got home :) I walked right in to the family room and made a house out of my blocks for mom.

My tummy is still bothering me and I had somewhat of a rough night last night. At some point, I must have fallen out of bed (or climbed out) and knocked my monitor off and it hit the bed rail. It woke mom up instantly because it was so loud and she came running in to see if I was ok. She looked in my bed and I wasn't there. She was a little freaked out since she was woken up from a dead sleep and didn't have her glasses on. I had walked over to the door and was standing behind her and said "Hi Mommy." I think she jumped almost to the ceiling! Turns out I had woken up because my belly hurt and mom had to change me (which is *quite* the painful process, unfortunately). Once I got back in bed, I chatted for a while and it didn't seem that I was too ready to go back to sleep. Mom checked the time and it was a little before 5am, so she decided to just let me get up, figuring that by the time we hit the road, I'd be exhausted and zonk out. Mom and I cuddled for a while on the couch, played with my stuffed animals, drew some pictures, and hung out on the deck and drank some coffee (ok, coffee for mom, milk for me). When daddy got up, he loaded the car and we headed out around 10. We had a third floor condo which was great for the view, but it took FOREVER to load and unload all of our stuff. Mom's car was packed to say the least. By the time we dropped off the keys at the real estate office and stopped to grab a bite to eat, I was sound asleep. I only slept for about an hour and a half (even shorter than a normal nap for me) and ate a turkey sandwich when I woke up. I spent the rest of the trip hanging out in my carseat, drawing on my magnadoodle, singing songs, talking to Cookie Monster, my baby, Grover, and my "Heepo" (i.e. Hippo). We hit some traffic (OK, a lot of traffic) in VA right around Richmond. All told, it took us a little over 7 hours to get home. I didn't cry, didn't whine, nothing. Seriously, I was happy and content THE ENTIRE WAY! I think mom and dad were afraid to jinx the situation by talking about it before they got home, but I did such a great job and they are very proud of me :) Even though I was so good, I think daddy was hoping that I'd take a second nap so he could nap while mom drove for a while. I hope he got a quick cat nap in at least!

After I played with my toys, mom and I ate dinner, then I took my bath and we read some books in my room and I climbed in to my bed. I didn't protest at all and ended up talking to myself for a little while before falling asleep. Fingers crossed I sleep well tonight! I really think vacation has helped my sleep pattern - I've slept better in the past week than I have in a LONG time.

Back to work and school tomorrow. My laundry is all done, bag is packed, lunch is packed, and I'm ready to go!

Last Day on the Beach

I am sad that we are going home tomorrow, but I do think it will be nice to sleep in my own bed and take a bath in my own tub with all of my toys.

Today we spent the morning on the beach - it was a great morning and I got to practice my jumping a little bit. This is a recently learned skill and I want to jump all of the time, but mom and dad tell me it's not such a good idea in a third floor condo :) So mom said I could jump on the beach all I want.

Here's me in mid-air!


I don't usually get juice, but soy milk is hard to come by and it's been so hot that mom and dad want to make sure I stay hydrated, so they've let me have a few juice boxes this week. Needless to say, I *love* them :)


I'm ready to go in the water with mom and dad! The waves tickled my feet :)


Daddy bought me a kite!!!!! Here I am waiting for him to put it together so we could go fly it.


See how excited I was about my kite???


This is a happy girl right here :)


We decided to go to Cape Lookout this afternoon, then spend some time walking around the town of Beaufort which is a nice historical town on the waterfront. Since it was a pretty long drive to get there, I napped in the car on the way to the lighthouse. We had to take a ferry to get from the mainland to the island where the lighthouse was. This was my first boatride and I loved it! I love to go "boom boom" over speed bumps in parking lots and we had lots of opportunities to go boom boom in the water too. On the way out to the lighthouse, I even got to see the wild horses that live on the island! The whole way out on the boat, I was holding on to Cookie Monster and my blankie - mom was also holding on to them for dear life, knowing full well that if they flew off the boat that it would not be a pretty sight. The skies were somewhat ominous as we neared the island, but the boat captain thought the storm would pass and not really hit where the lighthouse was. He was WRONG! It rained the entire time we were there :( We ended up not even going out to the beach to see the lighthouse, but rather sat in a covered area and got to see a demonstration put on by one of the park rangers. She showed us some whale bones, horseshoe crab shells, logger head sea turtle skulls and skeletons, and whelk shells. She even said that they had recently found a sea turtle that had mortar shells stuck in it's shell - that means the turtle was around during the Civil War! How crazy is that???

The rain never eased up, so we decided to make a break for it and run back to the ferry. We were confirmed on the 4:00 ferry, but it was about 3:45 and we thought we'd try anyway. We were lucky enough to get on, but were completely soaked. It really hurt riding back because the rain was pelting us all around. Luckily, mom had packed an extra shirt for she and I in my diaper bag, so she put her shirt around me to shield me from the rain. I hugged mom and put my head on her shoulder to keep myself warm. When we got back to the car, daddy changed my clothes and I was *much* happier (and warmer).

We drove to Beaufort and the rain had slowed down a little. We walked around to some of the shops and mom bought dry sweatshirts for she and I. We ended up eating at a great seafood restaurant and it was FREEZING with the air conditioning, so it's a good thing we had new sweatshirts :) I ended up eating a hot dog because I couldn't really eat anything else they had on the menu, but I gobbled it up along with some watermelon (and mommy's and daddy's watermelon), fries, and applesauce.

Mom and dad think I must have eaten some dairy at one of the restaurants we went to :( My poor tummy is really upset and I scream in pain when I have to go to the bathroom and it is pure torture to have my diaper changed :( I have a rash all over my belly which is what first diagnosed my dairy issue, so mom and dad think that has to be it. I got some Benadryl and hydrocortisone tonight, so hopefully that will make me feel a little better. I guess I haven't outgrown my dairy issues yet :(

Hope everyone is doing well and we'll post some more pictures once we get home and settled back in to the daily grind.

My Shell-Phone

Mom said she'd post more pictures when we get home - we've been using daddy's camera and don't have the right software on this computer to get the pictures off of the camera :(

Anyway, I had another fun day yesterday! The forecast was for rain, so we decided to go to the aquarium early in the morning, then hang out at either the beach or pool in the afternoon once the rain stopped. It worked out really well and we got to the aquarium a little after 9 when it opened. We got a good parking space and went right in. We walked around and saw some fishies and a few big plastic frogs which I really liked. Not too long after we got there, there was a dive show in the big tank. They had built a replica of the U-352 which was the sub that daddy got to see on Tuesday! He said it was a pretty good replica, but was a little smaller than the real thing. They had three divers who suited up and gave a demonstration in the water. The one diver had a full face mask and was able to talk to us from under the water! Daddy taught me that divers make bubbles when they breathe, so now I keep talking about how I saw the divers make bubbles. When the first diver entered the water, I said "there's daddy!" I got a little restless there, so we got up and walked around some more. I got to touch a horseshoe crab, hermit crab, and even a few stingrays! I didn't want to leave the ray tank.

We went to lunch after the aquarium, then came back to the condo to take a nap. I took a really long nap and we went to the pool afterwards. Mom and dad got me a new swim vest that made me a little more comfortable in the water. I chased mom around the pool and drove my little boat a little too. We couldn't stay there too long because it started raining, so we came back in. I kept putting my seashell up to my ear and saying "I call grandpa on my shell" so mom called grandpa and I talked to him with my shell up to my ear. We had a low key rest of the evening.

Today we were going to go to the beach in the morning and to see Fort Macon in the afternoon. We packed everything up and headed down to the beach, but were only there for a few minutes when it started raining again :( There was no end in sight, so we packed up and came back in. I was having a "sensitive" day today and just wanted mom to hold me, so we sat on the couch for a while and snuggled. I also got to talk to grammy and grampy on my shell-phone! I ended up taking an early nap which worked out ok. When I got up, we drove to Fort Macon which was only a few miles from our condo. I got to ride on mommy's back since there were steps that were not stroller friendly. I was SO good and just hung out and talked to mom and dad for the few hours they were there. I saw some cannons and knew that they said "boom boom." There were a few rooms that had museum type exhibits and I got to push the buttons to make the programs start.

Here are some pictures from today. Daddy got a lot more on his camera, but we'll have to post those later.

The entrance to the fort. It was pretty crazy with steep drop offs and no railings.


View from one corner of the fort looking up.


I was tired, so put my blanket on mom's shoulder and put my head down for a little.


The flag. I told mommy: "Look at the big towel..."


Me and daddy with one of the cannons.


I put my face up to the cannon and yelled "Hello!" It said "Hello" back to me!


One more day, then we have a LONG drive home. Thank goodness for my magnadoodle!

Where'd the kite go?

No pictures right now, but maybe mom will put some up later. We forgot to take the camera to the beach this morning. I'm actually taking a nap now (it takes talent to write the blog *and* nap at the same time...) and mom is reading her book on the deck and daddy is diving again. He had such a good day diving yesterday and was able to cross something off of his bucket list! I'll let him fill in some of the details, but he got to see the U-352 which was truly a dream come true. The conditions were perfect and that was the first dive of the day. He said that his vacation is complete and he'd be happy if we went home now :) I think I've convinced him to stay a few more days, though.

After daddy got home yesterday, we went to the dive shop to look around and went to a fantastic restaurant. I was pretty good and had chicken and fries and some of mommy's fish. Dad had shrimp and grits and it looked delicious, but I wasn't allowed to have shrimp or the cheese that was on the grits. When we got back to our condo, we hung out on the deck for a little bit and watched the moon and looked for kites. On Monday night, mommy and I sat outside and watched a kite flying for about 45 minutes before I went to bed, so now I am obsessed and constantly ask "where did the kite go?" I think I have daddy wrapped around my little finger because he said he'd try to find me a kite by the end of the week - I can't wait!

I've actually been sleeping pretty well on this trip so far. Mom and dad brought my aero bed and I slept on that at Jeff and Kathryn's house and only woke up once. Since we've been here, I've been sleeping in a big girl bed because there's not too much room for my air mattress. It's actually worked out well and I've been napping and sleeping well at night. Of course the sun and water probably take a lot out of me, but that's ok - I'm having a blast!

This morning mom and I went to the beach for a few hours and looked for seashells and walked way out into the ocean. I kept saying "here's a big wave mommy!" The waves would crash and mom would dip me in the water, but there was NO way I was putting my feet down. I held on to mom for dear life and she wasn't about to let me go. We stopped at the pool on the way back in for lunch and we swam for a bit and played with my bucket on the steps. I kept splashing mommy and she said it was ok (unlike in the bathtub where she's always telling me not to splash her!)

Maybe we'll have more to write later, but for now we're just enjoying an uneventful (other than daddy's diving) and relaxing week. This was definitely long overdue.

Vacation Time!!!

I'm on my first real vacation with mom and dad this week :) It was somewhat of a spur of the moment decision and mom and dad decided to take a week off and head to the beach.

As it turns out, Jeff, Kathryn, Carson and Sienna moved to NC a few weeks before we were coming, so it worked out for us to stop and stay with them overnight before we came down here. I had SO much fun and am so glad I could meet them. Carson and Sienna have an awesome play room and they were so nice to share all of their toys with me! They made really good food and I ate really well while I was there too :) I've been waking up since we've been here and asking where they are - I really do miss them and hope we can get together again soon. Mom and dad had a really good time too - it's been far too long since they saw Jeff and Kathryn, so hopefully now that they're on the east coast we'll get to see them more often. I think mom and dad have to go toy shopping when they get home because I found a lot of new things that I really enjoyed :)

This is our second day at the beach and mom and I are about to head out for the day. Daddy is diving today and is hoping to see some cool things underwater, so we'll catch up with him this afternoon. I think we'll spend the morning on the beach, come back, eat lunch and take a nap, then head to the pool for the afternoon. I'm a little overconfident in the pool and don't want mommy to hold me, so that is a constant struggle. I loved the ocean yesterday, but was a little scared when I was sitting on the sand and the water washed up on me. Mom tried to run yesterday (her 10 mile training plan was supposed to start yesterday), but her foot wasn't ready to run, so she'll have to sit out another couple of days at least :(

Here are some pictures from the first day.

Putting my feet up on the railing like daddy :)


Daddy says he could get used to this.


This is the view from our porch. Not too shabby!


Looking sassy in my beach gear!


All ready to head out!


Chillin' on the beach.


With that I will sign off and head out for another fun day in the sun!