another week in review...

I was sick this week so behind on my updates; I'm going to try to do a quick overview here now.

Saturday 5/21: Brian and I go car shopping. We left Naylor and Lalon with Carson and Blaine (Lizzie was working) and took Whitley Ann with us. I figured we'd be gone 3 hours, holy moly it took all day. Blaine was a trooper though and all the kids were injury free and smiling when we finally did get back. We didn't buy a car, but we've narrowed down to what we like and will accommodate our needs. We did sell my little Lexus though - they gave us a fair offer and would buy it even if we didn't buy a car from them, so she's gone. I loved that car and it was a very good car for me for a long time. I would suggest it to anyone that doesn't have 3 kids or need a ton of space - Lexus is250 is awesome and fun to drive!

After picking up some pizza dinner and delivering just in time to the Swaringen house, we all ate dinner, played a little more and then put some very tired kids to bed. I think Carson, Naylor and Lalon all had a big fun day. THANK YOU Blaine for watching them!!!

Sunday 5/22: The kids both slept in late; Lalon until 8 and Naylor until 9!! We may let them play with Blaine and Carson every day - ha! No big plans for the day other than Michael Jr's dedication in the afternoon, so we worked in the yard and cleaned out the trucks and I got Kevin's F-150 all set with the car seats and will be driving that until we find what we like. We headed over to the dedication later in the afternoon and it was really nice. Michael had prepared a great spread and some of the ladies and I had brought desserts (I'll post those recipes later); it was all just perfect. After the dedication and folks were just hanging around, Carson, Naylor and Lalon got in the kiddie pool with Brian and Blaine for a bit and had a good time. It's so funny to see Carson and Naylor together and then Brian and Blaine behind them - it's the doublemint twins meets mini-me!

Monday 5/23: Brian heads out to Charlotte to work for the week and we were having play group at our house. A pretty routine day and all is going well. Around 9pm I start feeling not so great, but just take some Motrin and go to bed. I woke up a few hours later with fever and chills and was up and down all night.

Tuesday 5/24: Full blown sick. The kids are fine (thank goodness!), but I'm down for the count and have to call Brian to come home. In 2.5 years of being home with the kids, I've had to call Brian home only one other time, so this was serious. He was in Charlotte and couldn't get away immediately so he called around and made some magic happen (I'm afraid to ask what he promised all of these folks!) to come help. My first rescuer was our good friend JP. He came over around 11am, watched all 3 of the kids, fed them, put them down for naps and stayed and did his work from our kitchen - amazing and I am so grateful! At some point in the day (I was upstairs completely out of it), Aunt Amanda and her boyfriend Sam showed up to relieve JP of his duties and took over doing the afternoon play, dinner and bedtime. Amanda stayed until Brian was able to get home later that night. Someone later asked about my playgroup friends, wouldn't they help and I responded that yes, they would be here in a heartbeat no doubt, but I was VERY hesitant to call either of them since they both have young children and not knowing what I had, I didn't want to spread it on to them and / or their kids...

Wednesday 5/25: Okay, this is serious, so I call Gwen. After describing symptoms she says she's pretty sure I have pneumonia. All of the things I said fall into that catagory, but one specific symptom was a dead ringer... it hurt to cough, like if you've ever had a cracked or bruised rib, you know how bad it hurts to cough or sneeze, but only in one specific spot. So she called in some meds Wed night and I started those. Brian worked from home that day; I use the term work loosely as I'm sure he'd say he didn't get much work done while watching 3 kids.

Thursday 5/26: Already so much better! The meds took quick effect, the pain from coughing is so much better, but I'm extremely exhausted from the smallest task. It also feels like my chest is compressed or something heavy is on it and I'm having to take shallow breaths. However, this is 100 times better than what was going on earlier in the week! Very weak, but able to do a few things and rallied up the strength to take the girls to the doctor, but that wiped me out the remainder of the day pretty much.

Friday 5/27: Again, waking up feeling so much better. Still exhausted and the shallow breathing feeling, but I can tell the meds are working their magic. I think more rest and time will solve all of this - holy cow, what an ordeal!

We were supposed to leave for the beach last night, but obviously we didn't do that... now I'm trying to decide if we should go down tonight or maybe tomorrow... we'll just see how today goes I guess. A BIG THANK YOU to JP and Aunt Amanda for helping out in a moment of need. I'm going to have to bake a lot of cookies and pies to thank all of our friends for helping out with the kids over the past couple of weeks! ;-)

Current Naylor-isms

As I type this, Naylor and Lalon are sitting in the playroom and Naylor has the play phone. He's "talking" to Pa and he just said, "Lalon, say 'Hi Pa'." It is unreal to me how he's just grown up what seems like over night. He does so many things that make me laugh and make me wonder, "how does he come up with this stuff?". Here's a list of a few things while I'm thinking of them...

• Everything Naylor does these days is BIG.
• He likes to refer to himself in the 3rd person. His current favorite saying is, "Big Naylor's a BIG BOY!" - you kind of have to yell it out too.
• He has finally learned how to jump and he will jump off of any surface that he can get on. He has been hitting all the milestones pretty much on time, maybe a month behind or so on some (language, but he's caught up there now), but the jumping he was way behind on. He'd try to jump, but could never get both feet off the ground at the same time... we've got it now! And so, his favorite thing to say about jumping is.... "Big Naylor dood a big jump" (we need to work on his conjugations!).
• He is all boy and I guess that just comes natural because I'm not teaching him some of this stuff. He loves trucks and tractors and motorcycles. Anytime we are in the car he yells out each time he sees a big truck, school bus, fire truck, etc... He also yells to each motorcyclist to "BE CAREFUL!" - at least he's thinking safety first!
• We are progressing with the potty training and he did his first poop in the potty this week, which was pretty exciting. We haven't given up on diapers just yet, but we're on the right track.
• He loves being a big brother and takes such good care of both of his sisters. He may be watching out for Whitley Ann a little more and pushing Lalon a little more these days, but I'm figuring it will all even out in the long run!
• He's working on his counting and can count to 10 about 80% of the time. He's also working on his colors and knows most of them really well, especially blue and orange.
• He likes to tell me that Daddy, Blaine and Kevin are 'working hard' and 'Daddy's making the money'.
• He also likes to announce that Big Kevin is a big boy, most likely because we have Kevin's Ford F-150 truck right now (Naylor's most favorite) and he loves talking about 'Kevin's big truck with big tires'.
• Everything is "silly" these days and he'll say "Silly Whitley Ann" when she smiles or "Silly Lalon" when she is in fact being silly; it's pretty cute.
• He also likes to pretend to be grown up with favorite phrases like, "No running in my house!" (to his dumptruck) and occasionally he'll try to put Lalon in time-out and I have to intervene at that point.
• He really is a great helper around the house though, grabbing diapers or throwing dirty ones away, giving Whitley Ann her pacifier and helping Lalon reach something and it just melts my heart.
• When he wakes up in the mornings, he'll call out from his room "Good morning Mommy!" and that means, come get me, I'm up. Then he is sure to say good morning to everyone in the house; sometimes I have to stop him though because some of them are still sleeping!

He's at a really fun stage almost all of the time (all of us have our off days, right?). I'm glad I have this blog to jot down the little things that make me laugh and smile each day so that they don't get lost in the shuffle years from now.

Girl's doctor well-check

I took Whitley Ann and Lalon this morning for their respective 2 month and 18 month routine check-ups; we're a little off on the timing... it's hard getting an appointment for two! Both girls looked great and were doing all they were supposed to be doing. Dr. Artman said Lalon's collarbone is healing very nicely and that we didn't need to worry about her much longer; it was almost all set.

So here are their respective stats:

Lalon at 18 months:

• 23 lbs, 6.4 oz (30%)
• 32" (50%)
• 46.9 cm for head (50%)
• Lalon doesn't return until 2 yrs old!

Whitley Ann at 2 months (although almost 3 months now!):

• 12 lbs, 1 oz (50%)
• 23" (50%)
• 39.5 cm for head (50%)
• Whitley Ann returns at 4 months for her next check.

Week in pictures

Just some cute ones of the kids this week! By the way, we've had a much less exciting (in a good way) week with no major injuries or escapades!

Whitley Ann and Naylor just hanging out.

William Lawson and Whitley Ann's 3rd play date

Lalon all ready to go with her backpack, bracelet and hair 'did'

It's exhausting being this cute!

A new car!

I typed that blog title with the sound of Bob Barker from the Price is Right saying it in my head...

We don't actually have a new car... yet. We are in the market for a new car seeing as how the two we have don't really, completely suit the needs of our growing family. All of our friends and some family are highly suggesting I bite the bullet and get a swagger wagon, aka minivan. I'm resisting that with everything I am.

Our friend Brian sent this one to me this morning. We're going to look at cars this weekend, maybe we'll take this one on a test drive!

More silliness

These kids are the funniest and keep me on my toes for sure!

Naylor & Lalon "taking a nap". Naylor wanted to sleep in Lalon's bed, so I figured what the heck and gave it a try during nap time for fun... after 30 minutes they were still talking (quietly though), so I made him go to his bed so they'd actually get some sleep.

Just about asleep - don't you think?

Naylor saw this in Whitley Ann's room the other day and insisted on carrying it around for a day, saying it was his ice cream and licking it... what an imagination!

I think she's saying, "Hurry up, I'm missing the good part!"

Whitley Ann and Brian just kicking back watching The King's Speech

Naylor is the funniest.

We've just started a new counting method for discipline and after a few days I can tell that it is beginning to work (1-2-3 Magic if you are interested).

The first day I started it, we were at the beach and I say, "Naylor, that's 1.". Naylor's response, "No Mommy, Naylor's two; Lalon's one.". Oh brother!

I had to walk out of the room so he wouldn't see me laughing - he was right! He is starting to catch on to the concept of the counting meaning a time-out is coming if he doesn't straighten up.

Robin's weekend

Laura, Elizabeth, Rebecca and Robin

Robin, Jennifer and Rye

Kim Joyner and Robin

Rebecca, Laura, Robin, Rye and Natalie

I feel like I haven't "done" anything in years and then this weekend was packed full of fun! It was a nice treat to do any of these things, but all in one weekend was super special! Thanks to Brian for keeping the kids alive and injury free while I was out. :)

Friday night was our monthly girls night out dinner. We try to get together at least once a month to catch up with each other and have a fun time out; seems like we all got super busy and missed a couple of months, but I think we're now back on track! We've also been trying out new spots (or new to us) for each one, which is also a fun treat. On Friday we headed to Brio at Crabtree - a Tuscan Grille - which was phenomenal; if you haven't been, definitely worth a visit. I think I was impressed that it was so good to be a chain restaurant; the glass of wine may have helped with that thinking... It was a fun time catching up, talking about baby Harrison Swaringen that will be here in just a month; the exciting news of Shelley and Dale expecting # 2 early November! It was a really fun time as usual, but especially nice we went out on a Friday night when folks were a little more relaxed and less rushed to get back home.

Saturday night was my Meredith College 10 year reunion. Wait, that can't be right... I've been out of school 10 years?! Why yes, yes I have... There were reunion events going on all weekend on campus, but this was just the Class of 2001's social. We met at Solas in downtown Raleigh and it was so much fun to catch up with so many folks. I lived on 4th Stringfield my freshman year and that's where I made most of my lasting friendships - there are certainly others, but those folks transferred out and graduated from other places. It was just so nice to talk with everyone, see pictures of sweet babies and hear what folks are up to and where they are living. Our class had the largest turnout of all the classes with 69 in attendance! While I was enjoying a few beverages, my friend Michael was across the street at Sullivan's having dinner with his brother... that was good news for me! Michael and Blaine came over to Solas, saw a few of the girls (them being at State, they knew a lot of the folks there) and then Michael was gracious enough to give me a ride home in the Transit Connect (his work van).

Sunday, after getting to sleep in (thanks Brian!), we got up and headed downtown to pick up my car... how many years has it been since I've had to leave my car downtown and pick it up the next day?! We stopped for lunch at Amedeo's by campus, it was as delicious as I remembered and then kept on going to get the car.

I rounded out my weekend of Robin with a book club meeting here in the neighborhood. We had read Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult - a good read with a twist I wasn't expecting! This book club is actually a book and cook club, so we had breakfast for dinner with mimosas - always a treat.

It was really a great weekend, but I'm pooped!

Tiny feet

As the final piece to our back yard renovation project, we squared off the end of the driveway so that two cars could fit there. While the concrete was still wet, Whitley Ann made her mark! Unfortunately, Naylor was at school and Lalon asleep, so she was the only one to get in on the fun.

What a week!

Cheese! This is Lalon after confirming her fractured collar bone - you wouldn't know she was hurt unless you touched it by accident!

This is what happens when you walk straight into the corner of a wall at full speed.

Boy, am I glad last week is over and hopefully we are starting fresh this week! I'll quickly review all the excitement from last week in this entry, well, as quickly as I can... it was a big week, so a big entry too.

Monday at 5pm Brian calls and says he has to go to Charlotte for work; I immediately hang up, pack up the kids and we head to Wrightsville Beach for a few days. I've been meaning to go down there during the week for a trial run prior to our big family Memorial Day weekend to see what I need to bring / do since the kids have grown so much over the past year... boy, oh boy, what a time! We didn't venture to the actual beach since I was solo with all 3, we just stayed in the house and "lived", which is exactly what I needed to do to see the kids in action and what I need to baby proof.

Naylor is officially jumping out of the pack and play now. Monday night they wouldn't settle down, but figured it was the ride plus a new place... Tuesday at nap time, sounded like the world was coming down, go in there, Naylor is out of his bed and sitting in Lalon's and they've ripped the curtain down. So I put him in my bed and tell him he's a big boy, big bed, go night night. About 5 minutes, CRASH! he's on the floor, hit his head on the table, I don't know what else... I have a toddler aerobed, so I brought it and put it together and tell him again, big boy, big bed, night night - tell Lalon to lay down. 5 minutes, crash - go in, Naylor's in bed with Lalon as well as 3 wine bottles - who knows where they came from?!!? So end up putting Lalon in another room and Naylor back on aerobed with nothing else in the room and put one of those door knob locks so he can't come out... eventually he went to sleep around 3ish (we started this process at 12.30). For bed he did fine, probably because he was exhausted! That was the main excitement, but Naylor can also open the front door now which is not good.

We stopped through Clinton on the way home to drop some things off at Christie's and the kids played for a bit. It was getting late, dinner and bed time and folks were melting down so we loaded up to head home. When we got home Lalon freaked out when I took her out of her car seat (I figured her foot got caught and I pulled on it or something) and then she had another meltdown when I took her out of the bathtub, but at this point, we're well past her normal bedtime so I figured she was just over the day. The next morning (Thursday) she wakes up crying, we go get her milk and when I pick her up to go upstairs, she flips out again... hmmm... Brian says she may have the same kind of strep that he had that feels like arthritis in your joints, so I call the doctor and we head over (Naylor is at school so I didn't have to manage all 3 at the dr office thankfully). After checking her out and doing a strep culture just in case, Dr. Artman sends us over to the radiologist... after an hour of waiting (right smack dab in the middle of her lunch and nap time), we get her images taken, wait a few more minutes and then get confirmation that she has fractured her clavical (collar bone). WHAT?!?! Dr. Artman contacted the orthopedist for us to confirm treatment, but due to it's placement and her age, basically it will heal on its own - we just need to be careful picking her up so as not to hurt her and give her Motrin, hugs and snuggles for pain management. He said within 3 weeks it would be all better. OMG - how did this happen?? We don't know, but she did fall when playing at her cousins (not a bad fall, just a fall) and I'm guessing that's when it happened, hence the screaming when I got her out of the carseat, bathtub, etc... Kudos to Lalon for being such a trooper and good girl during the almost 3 hours we were at the doctor and radiologist offices!

So Friday after our exciting week I decided we'd just stay in, lay low and 'recover' while Naylor was at school. We are doing just that, upstairs doing a little laundry when Lalon walks head first into the wall. Seriously?! Yep, she just walked into the wall. She wasn't even wearing shoes or a long dress to trip on - holy cow Lalon, you're killing me! I take a picture and tell Mama and Christie I'll include it and the x-ray images as my documentation for my Mother of the Year application - ha!

We made it through the rest of the day without any incidents and I thought we were home free and that I would begin my 'weekend of Robin' (another entry for all of that fun), but Naylor put the "icing on the cake" so to speak.

Sunday afternoon during his nap, I guess he got bored. While resting in his room (I don't think he ever actually slept), he pooped which is fine, kids poop. However, when Brian went to get him, he yells for me to come to Naylor's room. So I go up thinking he had put Band-Aids all over the walls (he took a box of Band-Aids for his nap, that's another story). Nope, no, that's not what has happened at all. I walk in to it stinking like all get out and I'm thinking Brian just wanted me to be the lucky one to change the diaper... oh to have been that lucky! Naylor has pulled an Aunt Christie (she did a similar thing as a baby in her crib) and finger painted the window and window sill with his poop. Awesome. Brian cleaned Naylor up and I cleaned the walls / window / window sill while Lalon is running circles around us saying, "ewww, yuck". At least she didn't fall down while saying it and she was right on!

So, what a week!! Each incident on it's own isn't that terribly bad, we just don't usually have so many "large adventures" within on week. I'm hoping we are a little less adventurous this week. :)

Mother's Day and birthday 2011

Happy Mother's Day and Happy Birthday to Robin!

Lalon, Robin, Naylor and Whitley Ann. It's REALLY hard to get everyone looking at the same time; we should probably start taking pictures for our Christmas card now - ha!

Lalon, Whitley Ann and Naylor

Robin and Whitley Ann on Whitley Ann's first Mother's Day

What a fun time we had this past weekend. On Friday night, the sitter came over while Brian and I went out for a sushi dinner with our friends JP and Laura. I haven't had sushi in so long - it was as good as I was hoping it would be!

Then Saturday morning we headed down to Annie & Pa's for some more fun. After the kid's naps, we had a little pool party. The water was freezing, but Brian was a trooper and jumped in to play with the kids. Naylor loved jumping from the edge to Brian, although he too was freezing... he'd climb out, teeth chattering and covered in goosebumps and say, "I wanna jump again!". We pretty quickly created the diversion of snack time and went inside before they all turned blue! We wrapped up the evening with a pizza party with the Hargroves at Annie & Pa's house - lots of fun.

Sunday, (after Whitley Ann slept through the night!) we had a great breakfast that Annie made and then made our way to church. The kids did just as good this time in church as they did at Easter and then headed up to the nursery during the service. Afterwards, we went to have lunch at Ma Ma & Pa Pa's with all of the family. It is so fun to watch the kids playing with their cousins! Uncle Jamie gave lots of rides on the John Deere Gator, so he of course, was the hit of the party! Brian and I loaded up to head home and got to play with the kids in the back yard for a little while just before bed time. Side note: the fence in the back yard may possibly be the best investment we've ever made - it's awesome. We quietly wrapped up the weekend by watching a silly, but fun movie and then off to bed for us too.

A fun weekend all around with great friends, family, food and fun - I couldn't have asked for anything more!

Random cuteness!

Whitley Ann was just too cute in this outfit not to photograph!

Naylor's new "thing"; he'll put socks on his hands when he's down for his nap or bedtime.

He even has a song, seriously... "socks on my hands; socks on my hands"

Stylin' and profilin'

Someone call the exterminator!

Death of Osama bin Laden

A lot of historical things happening this week, so more "non-family" related posts than usual with the Royal Wedding, death of bin Laden and hopefully later this week the final launch of the space shuttle (it should have happened on Friday, but was delayed). All huge events in our world, just on all different levels of emotion, so I'm including them in the blog because as I mentioned earlier, while this is a way to keep family and friends in the loop of our daily goings on, it's really a journal for the kids to have when they are older. So with that being said...

By DAVID ESPO, Associated Press; KIMBERLY DOZIER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden, the face of global terrorism and architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was killed in a firefight with elite American forces Sunday, then quickly buried at sea in a stunning finale to a furtive decade on the run.

Long believed to be hiding in caves, bin Laden was tracked down in a costly, custom-built hideout not far from a Pakistani military academy.

"Justice has been done," President Barack Obama said in a dramatic announcement at the White House while a crowd cheered outside and hundreds more gathered at ground zero in Manhattan to celebrate the news.

The military operation took mere minutes. U.S. helicopters flew elite counter-terrorism troops into the compound, identified by the CIA as bin Laden's hideout, and back out again in less than 40 minutes. Bin Laden was shot in the head, officials said, after he and his bodyguards resisted the assault.

Three adult males were also killed in the raid, including one of bin Laden's sons, whom officials did not name. One of bin Laden's sons, Hamza, is a senior member of al-Qaida. U.S. officials also said one woman was killed when she was used as a shield by a male combatant, and two other women were injured.

The U.S. official who disclosed the burial at sea said it would have been difficult to find a country willing to accept the remains. Obama said the remains had been handled in accordance with Islamic custom, which requires speedy burial.

Paris Puffins

Recently, I've been remembering all the good things Mama made when I was little and have tried my hand at a few. Last week, Naylor and I made Paris Puffins for breakfast - a nice, light homemade muffin with a sugar and cinnamon topping - yummy! These too, were just as good as I remembered them to be and Naylor had a great time helping make them; he loves to help in the kitchen these days.

Paris Puffins, Ann E. Naylor

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 c. shortening (I use butter Crisco sticks for all of my shortening needs)

1/2 c. sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 c. flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 c. milk

Topping:

1/3 c. butter, melted (I had too much left over, so a little less would be okay)

1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Muffins: Mix shortening, sugar and egg. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Add alternately with milk. Bake in muffin pans filled 2/3 full at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

For Topping: Mix together sugar and cinnamon. Roll tops of muffins in melted butter, then in sugar mixture.

Lemon-Basil Potato Salad

I made this for my book club meeting a few weeks ago and it was delightful! A great side dish that's substantial, but doesn't feel heavy. I think it will be perfect for some summer grilling events!

Lemon-Basil Potato Salad, from Southern Living

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 small Yukon gold potatoes, cut into wedges
1/4 cup lemon juice
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 (1 oz.) pkg. chopped fresh basil (about 1/3 cup)
1 Tbs. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
2/3 cup olive oil
1/2 medium-size onion, sliced
1 (10 oz.) pkg. fresh spinach
10 thick bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

DIRECTIONS
Arrange potato wedges in an even layer on a lightly greased broiler plan; coat wedges with vegetable cooking spray. Bake at 475 for 20 – 25 minutes or until tender or golden. Whisk together lemon juice and next 5 ingredients; whisk in oil in a slow, steady stream. Gently toss potatoes, onion and 1/2 cup lemon mixture. Wash spinach thoroughly; pat dry with paper towels. Arrange spinach evenly on a platter or in 6 bowls. Drizzle with remaining lemon juice mixture. Top with potato mixture, and sprinkle with bacon.