Goin' Tubing

There are no pictures to capture today. Not a memory I wanted to record, even though the day went better than I could've hoped. Today was the day I've been dreading and waiting impatiently for at the same time. As I type this, my baby is asleep upstairs with two matching holes in his ear drums. The surgery for his ear tubes took all of 15 minutes, but I was still a nervous wreck. Thankfully, my dad went with me and since Jack thinks Papa hung the moon, we were in great shape. Jack did pretty well without any food (even though he sucked down two sippy cups of Gatorade in the recovery room) and was much more patient and calm than I was as we waited for the surgery to begin. This is hopefully the beginning of an ear infection-free existance!

The other news in our house is that we have a new family member. Clarence, the big brindle greyhound with a heart of gold, joined our family over the weekend. Uncle Patrick, Aunt Vero and Cousin Ian were there to welcome him too. We had such a wonderful weekend with them! Pictures to come! As for me, I'm heading to bed. It's been a draining day!

The Beach!

"Jack, come quick. I think we finally made it to the beach! I guess that's why Mommy and Daddy made us sleep in the car last night!"

We had a wonderful trip to Hilton Head. No one got a sunburn, we didn't make any trips to the ER and we have official confirmation that we are raising two beach bums. We headed to the beach with 40 of our family and friends and definitely enjoyed ourselves. We drove all night on Saturday so the kids could sleep and they were such troopers! Meredith figured out that the thing on the ceiling of the car is a DVD player. We may never get her out of the car again. On our first day at the beach, my cousin Abby got married. It was a gorgeous wedding and we're so happy for her and her new husband, Sean. Mere was one of the flower girls and looked adorable in her dress. She went down the aisle without hesitation (carrying Bop, of course) and sat quietly through the entire ceremony. When we left for home, she cried the whole way--"I'm not ready to go. I need to dance more!!!"
Before the ceremony

The beautiful bride

Carrying her basket of petals

We were so lucky that our cousins from New Jersey got to spend a few days with us. Jack absolutely adored their teenage son and Meredith had a blast with their youngest daughter. We had amazing pasta one night and Jack totally made a pig of himself.

"What do you mean there are no more meatballs?"



The best part of the week, though, was just getting to spend time together, play and relax. We did some shopping, some swimming, and I only wore makeup twice. Sounds like a perfect week, right?


My new wallpaper on my computer
"Mere, I think we'd better head inside for lunch and a nap."

Jack sat in his inflatible pool filled with ocean water and toys for over an hour one day (amazing, because Jack doesn't stay anywhere for that long anymore!). He and Meredith were hard at work emptying it out, filling it back up, and blowing raspberries at each other.

Singing the pirate song. Of course, she wanted everyone to sing along and clap for her when she was done. Pretty funny to see a big group of adults clapping along to an off-key toddler.


"Hey there. Want to come play in my pool? I haven't even peed in it yet!"

At the end of the day, napping on Daddy's chest is the best place to be

There was one casualty from our trip: Jack no longer thinks he needs to nap alone. I blame my dad. Almost every nap Jack took for the week was on Papa. He also got upset at night because he didn't know where he was, so he slept with us quite a few times. He wasn't a great sleeper to begin with, so I guess we should be desensitized by now. Boot camp is in session at our house now that life is back to normal.

Jack heads to the pediatrician tomorrow for his one-year checkup and to the ENT next Tuesday for tubes. Looks like it's going to be another big week!