Summer Travel: Savannah (Days 1 & 2)

At the beginning of July, we decided to take a trip when my best friend and her husband came in from California.  I was so excited to spend some time away from home just hanging out, but good grief someone turned the thermostat to "HOT as Hades" in the South.  The weather in Wilmington was perfect, so I was really hopeful that Savannah would be comparable. 

We headed down on the 4th.  The apartment we rented was right on Bay Street, so we were in the middle of everything.  Almost every restaurant you could imagine was within a block or two and the river was right across the street.  Every morning the cargo carriers woke me up with their horns (imagine a MAC truck at the head of your bed blowing its horn).  Phillip found this hilarious.  

When we got there we decided to try to have dinner on the river and watch the fireworks since it was July 4th.  Dinner didn't go quite as smoothly as we had hoped, but we finally ate around 9.  Unfortunately, fireworks started at 9:30 so we missed most of them, but Emory and I caught a few towards the end of our meal.  

Can you tell it was a bit warm?

He was a good sport about everything as long as he was on the go.

Our second day down we decided to walk around the visit a few of the places we enjoyed on our last trip.  Our first stop was The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist:

 

 

 

Emory was more than amused with keys in the cathedral, which suited us just fine since the place echos a bit. 

One of my favorite historic houses (currently a B&B) in Savannah, the Hamilton Turner House.

In case you were wondering how hot it was check out Little Man.  Quite roasty toasty.

Leopold's Ice Cream phone booth. 

Sandra's turn.

This place has the best ice cream in Savannah.  Poor Sandra and Steven, Phillip made them visit this place at least 4 times. 

Kristin

Battle of Wills

Oh toddlerdom!  How I love and how I hate thee.  

On one hand, I love watching Emory learn and play.  His serious infant personality has given way to a little silly, rambunctious, LOUD toddler.  Being a toddler is the best example of living life to its fullest that I have ever seen.  Laughing is from the belly.  Running requires the entire body.  Learning is part of everything and it's everywhere.  Amazement abounds!

Do you see that face?  That's THE ONE.  Want to know what he's doing when I see this?  Something he shouldn't...and he knows it.  This is the face I get when Emory is waiting to see if I'll stop and reprimand what just happened.  

To be honest, I see it entirely too much lately.  Emory has hit a phase where he throws things when he's frustrated.  Granted, I am thankful that he hasn't hit the biting phase that many of my friends' tots are trying to overcome.  BUT I have to say that this is beyond annoying most days.  

Usually the projectile objects occur immediately following Emory not getting his way.  If it's me telling him that there's no more milk, there goes the sippy cup.  If it's telling him "careful" when banging a toy on a coffee table, there goes the toy.  Sometimes we even get to stroll through Target for diapers.  Heavens help us if he sees yogurt bites and I don't have any on hand because the all-important paci is going airborne!  

The resulting/impending tantrum face post-throw.

If at all possible, we have been really intentional about stopping whatever is going on at the moment and correcting this behavior.  We always make Emory pick the doomed object up and place it where it belongs, BUT he knows he shouldn't do it in the first place.  If he refuses, we pick it up and then place him in time out.  This is going strong for almost a month now.  Something has to give.  Right? 

I will say that our son is teaching me a lot about how God feels towards me when I sin.  I know I shouldn't do certain things but for some reason I still do.  Thankfully, I have a forgiving Father that loves me despite my transgressions (being a parent made this lesson overly clear to me in a way that has been beyond profound).  

Here's to correcting our child in a loving way...and praying for the grace to do it without losing my mind. ;-)

Kristin

Mimicking Tot

Emory, in all of his toddler glory, has picked up the cute little habit of mimicking behaviors.  He tries to put dishes in the dishwasher, pets the dogs, and even puts Daddy's shoes on.  However, lately he's picked up one that we're REALLY hoping he doesn't keep repeating.

As pregnancies in our world go, this one has seen its fair share of hyperemesis.  I have to be clear here and say that I am REALLY thankful that I haven't landed myself in the hospital so far.  I know how to handle the scenario a little better.  Despite the anti-nausea medicine, I still get sick at least a couple of times a day on average.  Sometimes I'm fortunate enough to have Phillip here to wrangle in Little Man, but Phillip works at night and I'm a 24/7 sickness kinda person.  So, Emory has witnessed his fair share of "sessions" with Mama.

Previously, he would laugh and clap during my performance.  It made the deal a little easier to cope with.  Over the past few days, he's tried holding his head over the toilet with me, slightly sticking out his tongue (it's sad but he had perfect form), and making a little coughing noise.  Then he'll burst into laughter.  

Exhibit A

NOT GOOD! 

What's a mama suppose to do?  When I get sick I'm doing good to jump the hurdles standing in my way on the way to the restroom, much less finding the time to set up an occupy Emory zone for entertainment.  Plus if I'm out of the room, he soon follows suit.   

I really hope he doesn't do this somewhere else.  Granted, he's with us all the time, but I can't imagine trying to explain to a preschool teacher why my son is making vomiting gestures over a toilet.  I still have 4 more months.  He'll likely see much more of this in action. 

P.S. - I had to go to the doctor yesterday and get a shot to help with some of these issues.  I was quite skeptical because it's just a B6-B12 vitamin shot in the hip.  It definitely didn't kick in until noonish today, but I'm totally feeling amazing now!  Hopefully, with my meds and the shot I can finish this week out with a bang!

Kristin

Baby Blessings

For those of you wondering why I have been the world's worst blogger as of late, fear not!  I have good reason.  Last week we went public with the news of another precious baby boy joining our nest!  We could not be more excited (subsequently, I have been down and out most of the latter Spring/Summer months due to hyperemesis).  

I have to say, I was slightly shocked when we found out it was a boy.  This pregnancy just "felt" different.  Don't get me wrong my BFF is still the porcelain god in our restroom, but I have been EXHAUSTED with this one.  Good news is that I am 18 weeks on Thursday and I have yet to have any organ issues (gallbladder started at 16 weeks)!  

Phillip was the only person that thought we were having a boy.  Granted, he has no reason for believing this other than he deems himself incapable of spawning females (again, no reason).  We went in for our monthly check up last Monday.  We weren't scheduled for an anatomy ultrasound until the 13th of this month, but my doctor likes us and wanted to have fun trying to figure out what we were having.  

I remembered never feeling Emory kick or move because the placenta was on top during my last pregnancy.  This one is totally different.  Little ninja here has been jabbing it out for almost 2 weeks now!  It's amazing and it makes it all so real!  Emory also never moved during these ultrasounds.  I could down a Mountain Dew and he'd just yawn.  I had a Diet Dr. Pepper two hours before and this one NEVER sat still.  Our doctor was telling him to calm down, I was laughing, Emory was clapping and giggling, and Phillip was beaming when every few seconds she'd catch a glimpse of male anatomy.  She said there's a very small chance that we'll come back for an anatomy scan with a calm child that it could be something different, but she'd be highly surprised.  

With that being said, we are embarking on Journey #2.  It's not been a cake walk, but it's been better than Journey #1 so far.  I am still holding out hope that I can get off the nausea meds and that my energy level will pick up, but I'm down to just one pill a day (most days) and I'm only getting sick 2 or 3 times.  Plus, I have this super cute cheerleader when I do happen to get sick.  Emory laughs and claps for me the whole time.  I have to say, if it's gotta go down this is the way to do it!

We can't wait to meet this little bundle of love in late December/early January (they are estimating based on the baby's size to be January 10th but no one thinks I'll go that long).  Please keep us in your prayers.  I was able to go off all fertility meds but as I stated the nausea meds are still ever-present.  Please pray for our sweet son to grow and prosper into a healthy little fella.  Emory, I'm seeing, can use all the support he can get since it's not always easy to explain to a 15 month old that Mama just can't be a trampoline right now.  Lastly (and probably most importantly), lift up my sweet husband, Phillip.  God bless him!  He works like crazy, takes care of me when necessary, wrangles in the energy of Emory, and does it while being incredibly supportive and loving.  I'm sure he could use strength for this road!

Here's a few recent pictures of Emory to hold you over until the ultrasound next week!

Someone has a very strong hat obsession.

Two of my three boys after church.

Bedtime stories with Mama are just that fun!

 Kristin