SUMMER!!!!

Chesapeake's last day of school was Thursday, the 17th. It was a half day for them! I was so ready for this day! I love how our school sends them off. At the sound of the bell our school plays summer music over the intercom. They play "Summertime, Summertime, Sum, Sum, Summertime" and "Celebrate Good Times." The kids blow their noise makers, the teachers wear silly hats, etc. The teachers line up on our bus ramp. Our security guard waves his hand and blows his whistle for the buses to go. The bus drivers blow their horns and the teachers go crazy as each bus heads out - and we have about twenty buses. I always get chill bumps as this happens. It is a great feeling to send another class on! I have finished my sixth year teaching - hard to believe! We just have a workday on Friday and that is all! Happy summer!

We Have a Tooth!

On Wednesday, June 16th I was staying the evening with my mom and dad since Bo was out of town. Hannah had been a little more fussy than normal the past couple of days. She had also slept more than usual. I thought that something must have been going on with her. Sure enough my mom felt in her mouth and she said, "she has a tooth!" So, I felt in there too and sure enough a tooth had already poked through her gumline. It is the bottom left tooth. I was surprised since Emma did not get a tooth until after she was already one! Anway, that is why she had been a little unlike herself! We tried taking a picture but it is too small to see! We will try again when it grows a little more!

Emma's Ear Tubes

On Tuesday, June 15th Emma got her ear tubes put in. Poor thing has had ear trouble since she was six months old. She has been through ten ear infections and we finally got her an ENT appointment (took three months to get an appointment!) and they scheduled her the next week to get the tubes put in. I hated putting her through it because she is scared to death of doctors. She has had to go so many times that she associates them with her ears hurting.

We woke up at 5:00 AM and left the house by 5:50. The hospital is not too far away. Hannah stayed the night with my mom and my cousin was going to watch her later in the morning. We checked in and they took us back by 6:30. She opened up a present while waiting - a new Elmo. That made her feel a little bit better. Then, the triage nurse had to take her blood pressure, get her pulse, measure her, etc. that was probably the worse of it all. We had to wait until the doctor and anesthesiologist met with us again. After they explained everything again we had to change her into a little hospital gown and wait some more. My mom came by and waited with us.

Then, they came to get her. Talk about heart breaking - she screamed so hard that no sound was coming from her mouth. She grabbed onto Bo's suit jacket so tight that he had to turn around for her to let go of him. Everything happened so fast that I did not get to explain that "we will be back" or "mommy and daddy will see you in a minute." As I heard her crying down the hallway as they took her I started to cry. I knew it was a simple procedure that everything would be fine - but she did not understand and she was scared. I hated knowing that.

About twenty minutes later that doctor came out and said she was fine and in recovery. One ear had already started to look infected again. She explained to me how to care for her the next couple of days and signs to look for if something went wrong. I had to give her ear drops for a few days so they gave me those.

After recovery they brought her back to us. She was groggy and cried a lot. She had to drink some juice and make sure her pulse was okay. We were out of there by 8:45. Once I got her home she was fine. She picked out what shows she wanted to watch and played just like normal. Mom brought her Chick Fil A for lunch and some surprises. She also got some surprises from Nana and Dadoo, which they had mailed to her. We gave her plenty of extra attention.

She has adapted to her ear drops as well as her new ear plugs to use during bath and pool time. The tubes should last at least a year and cut down her ear infections majorly. We go back next Tuesday for her post op appointment. I hope that I see a big improvement in her little ears. Hopefully they will help cut down on her visits to the doctor and medications due to infections.

One down, one to go -Hannah goes for hers June 28th.

Pool Time

Here are some more pool pictures! Emma will pass the pool and say "daaaa poooool" and point to it. When getting read to go to the pool she says, "Abby at", which means she wants to wear her Abby hat. She has not problem keeping her hat on as long as it has Abby on it. She also loves to jump off the stairs to us. I cannot believe how brave she is compared to last year. She already has a tanline too! I bought the float that Hannah sits in and then the other side of the float wraps around me so I can float along with her. It's pretty cool! Emma sits in her float from last year a little, but would love it if she could just go on her own. She thinks she is so big. But, she will move her arms and say "sim, sim" like she is swimming. I will definatley not have any problem with them enjoying the water this summer.

Girls Weekend!

WaaaHoooo!!! I had a weekend away! I love my children more than anything, but I had been looking foward to this weekend for a long time! It is still nice to have some time to yourself and being around good friends! It did mean another weekend in a row on the road though - and basically back to the same places!

Again - left Friday night and stayed the night in Raleigh. Saturday morning me and Cindy (Bo's mom) left to meet friends in Charlotte. These were friends that I have come to know through knowing Bo - girls that he knew growing up that are also friends of Mary's. They all grew up together and have accepted and welcomed me since I meant them eight years ago! We see each other often, but not just us - usually with other family, husbands and kids. This time - it was just us! Carrie offered to host everyone in Charlotte to shop, eat and hang out. So, Cindy and I left and picked up Mary in Greensboro. We passed Kim and Jill on 85 and arrived in Charlotte at the same time. Elisa, Carrie and their mom Amy were already there.

We enjoyed lunch at California Pizza kitchen and shopped from 1:30 to 6 at my favorite mall in Charlotte. We did some damage at Anthropologie, Nordstrom, Belk, Gap, Limited, Loft and I don't even know where else. Then we went to dinner at Aria (I think) and had excellent wine and Italian dinners. Even better, Flower met me for a drink. It was great to catch up with her too!

We all learned a little more about each other that weekend! We also celebrated Amy's 60th birthday and stayed up until 2:00 just talking enjoying the company. It was great to be away and it was great to be back. Bo and his dad did great with the babies and it was wonderful to see their smiles when I got back to them.

8 Months Old

Hannah was 8 months old on June 3rd! She is getting to be such a big girl. She recognizes music and claps her hands when she hears her favorite songs. She loves "The Wheels on the Bus" and Elmo Songs. Her favorite show in Word World! She will drop whatever she has to clap during that introduction song for that show. She is scooting, but mainly backwards! She loves grabbing Emma's hair and wants everything Emma has. Her favorite thing right now is her stuffed lamb that she holds when she sleeps. She also enjoys books and is into the "touching" books that you feel the different textures. She is still the happiest baby I know. We were so sad to see her get hurt over Memorial Day weekend. She is just so sweet and go with the flow that she does not deserve at all to be hurt or scared like that. We are just so thankful that she is okay. The incident has not left her afraid because she absolutely loves the water and will just sit and float while watching Emma. We love you so much Hannah!

Memorial Day Weekend/Pool Scare

I know - this was like a month ago. We have been so busy that the least of my worries has been to blog, but now I am so very behind!

I wanted to recap our Memorial Day because it was such craziness - as is our life right now. We were to spend the weekend in Raleigh with Bo's family. We arrived Friday night. The girls did great getting there, went to bed fine and slept all night.

We woke up the next morning and we all went to the children's museum in Raleigh - Marbles. That place was precious! Me, Bo, Emma, Hannah, Bo's parents, Mary, Britt, Gibson and Owen all went and we had so much fun letting the kids run around. We left there and then had a party with some friends visiting from Florida with thier new baby.

We found out that there was a death in Bo's family in Kannapolis. Since we were already in Raleigh and I had Monday off, then it seemed like the right thing to do was to drive to Kannapolis the next day and spend the day with Bo's grandmother and her family since we could not make it to the funeral.

Sunday us and Mary's crew headed to Kannapolis - about two hours away. We all got there and the kids had a good time playing. Mamaw was so excited to see us and it was good to see everyone that we do not see often at all. We left around 4:00 and headed back to Greensboro. We were going to stay the night in Greensboro to break up the trip for us. The kids played outside, ate dinner, took a bath and just had a good time.

We then left Greensboro Monday morning and came home. We were home by lunchtime. The girls did great in the car and actually slept at the same time so all was just fine.

We decided to go to the pool since it was so beautiful out. Emma and Hannah both loved the pool! They were adorable in thier little floats and Emma is so much more brave about it this year. She wants to be let go and on her own so bad.

We were getting ready to leave and Bo took Hannah to dry off. I had Emma on the steps playing with her. I am sitting there and I hear - CRASH! I turn around and Bo is on the ground and Hannah was falling toward the concrete. The chair that Bo was sitting in gave out. I dont think I ever got out of the water so fast in my life trying to get to Hannah. She was screaming, Emma was confused and standing there, Bo was still on the ground, all of our neighbors were rushing from all directions of the pool. Hannah was okay but crying so hard that she could barely catch her breath. I was scared to death. She had a little mark on her upper forehead that looked almost like a rug burn, but nothing other than that. I had been so educated on "bumping heads" that I knew what to look for and she did not show any signs of head trauma. We took it easy the rest of the day and watched her very closely.

I am so thankful that she was okay. The homeowners association in our neighborhood is now getting new chairs for our pool.

It was definately a hectic weekend. Aside from that part, it was wonderful and we enjoyed having the kids together so much. My camera was dead but Mary has some pictures of them that I need to add.