Solitude

Sometimes you just need to get away by yourself to do some thinking. Walk on the beach, watch the birds, marvel at the tide as it retreats. It's good for the soul.

Botany Beach

Sunday, we decided to throw caution to the wind, forego the morning nap, and put the boat in. Of course, this also entailed skipping church, but that is a sin we will have to atone for in the fall. Anyway, as David had been fishing near Deveaux Bank that morning, we drove down to Cherry Point to put in so that we could head to Botany. For those of you who know my husband, you will understand why I was so impressed with him Sunday morning. We said we would be out of the house at 9:00, and, despite his going out with the guys the night before, we were on the road at 9:05. Way to be on time, B! The drive to Cherry Point is a long one, and Reeves managed to stay awake until we got about 5 minutes away. That was when I turned around and found him like this.

Of course! Don't take advantage of the 45 minute drive to take a nap; save it till right before we get there. Luckily, we had to wait for the rest of the crew, so we let Reeves sleep for as long as he could. Good thing gas is under $3 a gallon! We had that AC running for a while.
So, we finally all make it in the boat, on the water, and on our way. The good news is that the alarm on the boat only went off once, the bad news is that we could only go about half throttle. But no matter, we made it to Botany. Funniest thing - the beach was very sloped towards the water, and the children loved it. They would either run straight down it and crash into the water or try to walk along it, looking drunker and drunker with each step. There was lots of weaving and plopping on the tushes. Moultrie was kind enough to make the sand castles for the kids to knock down. David resurrected his role as Super Tosser. He is still The King. Reeves was able to get his daddy to toss him a couple of times too. It was such a glorious day. We are so lucky to be able to do things like this. By the end, the kids were getting a bit goofy. Naptime was gnawing at our heels, and I think all three fell asleep in their mamma's arms before we made it back to the landing. Can't wait to do it again!

Where's Daddy? There he is!

Whaddup, Cuz?

It has been so much fun watching Reeves and Henry grow and change during this past year. They don't realize it now, but they are so lucky to have each other and be only 19 days apart. If Henry's father and I are any indication, they each have a stand-in sibling, a partner in crime, and a best friend for life. And, thank heavens we have Leeze to look after both of them! Now, if Morn's second child is a boy, we may be in trouble...

Word to the Wise

Although normally, getting splashed with water on a hot, humid morning would be refreshing, it's not so refreshing when you're driving on the crosstown with your window down and some hussy in an Accord speeds past, splashing up yuck, stagnant, smelly water through said window, all over you and your interior. The good news is, I had on a white shirt. Oh, wait, that's the bad news.... The good news is, I went straight home and changed. Oops, not true, I was already late for work and had to go straight there.
The thing that really gets me is that I saw the splashing and was about to put my window up. That'll teach me to try to save gas!

Our Fourth of July

Belated, but, when you figure that the birthday party post was 22 days late, this is pretty good!
The Fourth was supposed to be the day the Willis clan headed home, unfortunately, Guerin's bilirubin was still too high, so they weren't able to leave. After talking to Van and learning that Jodie was at the hospital, I headed down there, leaving my boys to fend for themselves. (Truth be told, I think they both really enjoyed not having me there saying do this and do that.) Poor Jodie, to be on such a high the night before, only to find out your child must stay in the NICU yet another day. Since we were going to the beach for the fourth, we decided Davis should come with us - much more fun for him and that way Van could be with Jodie all day. So off we went, Davis and I. I called B to let him know we were on the way home and was immediately barred from entering my house. Reeves had just gone down for a nap, and unless we wanted to ruin the rest of the day, we better find something to do for the next couple of hours. So we detoured through the old Navy Base. How appropos that the son of the town administrator of Port Royal and I should happen upon this engine!

Serendipity - Port Royal and trains all in one! After our photo session on the tracks, we headed home just before Reeves woke up from his nap.
We loaded up the boys and their gear in my car. Bryant had to go track down his wallet - a quick jaunt that turned out to be an all day affair. Anyway, lunch for R and D was in order as soon as we got to The Ark. I think both boys were a little overwhelmed at first by the mass of people who greeted them, but it wasn't long before they warmed up to everyone. This day marked Reeves' first hot dog, albeit a chicken one from Whole Foods, but a dog nonetheless, and he loved it. I couldn't cut it up fast enough. He and Davis inhaled their lunches.
Then it was time to get changed, lathered up, and head down to the beach. Thank heavens Grandmother and Poppa had rented a golfcart for the week. Even with the children climbing all over him, Miller was an excellent chauffeur.

What fun it was watching Leeze, Reeves, and Davis play. I wonder how old we are when sand in our suits starts to bother us? I can still make myself put mind over matter and deal with it, but deep down, it drives me crazy. But not these three - the more sand, the better. I love that they could care less how dirty they get; that you can just strip them all down and put them under the shower when you get back, wrap them up in a towel, diaper, and t-shirt and that's all they need. Well, that and watermelon.

For some reason, the boys didn't care a bit how dirty they got eating it.

Leeze, on the other hand, stayed nice and clean.
Finally, in an effort to completely push the limits of activities any child can handle, we took them to watch the fireworks at the Yorktown.

We met the Moyles and Judy at Troy's office. It was the perfect place from which to watch.

It was a great show, but started way too late and, I never thought I'd say this about a fireworks show, lasted too long. After the show, Bryant and I decided to divide and conquer. He took Reeves home, and I took Davis back to the Rhett's. We had all renewed our patriotism and were exhausted from it!
Reagan and Sarah, we continue to miss you at the family gatherings!! Come home soon!!

Penicillin

I have been a wife for 6 years, a mother for 1, and what I would consider "a grown up" for about 10. At what point do I either 1) cook the vetables I buy before they go bad or 2) at least clean them out of the fridge before the drawer turns into a petri dish? Last night was trash night, and it occurred to me that perhaps I should take a gander in the fridge to see if any old stuff needed to be thrown out. Oh My Bob! The veggie drawer was disgusting! No need to go to the doctor anymore; Mama's growing her own medicines right here at home! What happens in the time between buying the eggplant and then throwing it away? Am I that ADD that I forget that it's in there? It's not that I don't like it. I'm not a kid anymore, being forced by my mother to eat tomato aspic. I only buy things we like and will eat! I felt like such a college student last night.

The Big 0-1!

This is for Reeves' posterity…. Really, it's for Caroline because she has been so good about reminding me to write this! OK, no, it's for Reeves.
Reeves' first birthday was on a Wednesday, so the following Saturday, we had his party. It was after much thought and debate that Bryant and I ultimately resolved to limit the invitation list to just family and Maddelle and her kids. With working and yard/house work and a small house, it was just too overwhelming to think about having so many guests. And besides, even with only family, there were still about 20 people there! As much as we missed our friends and their chilluns, at the end of the exhausting day (and night before), we were both thankful we had limited the list.
First and foremost, let me give MAJOR props to Bryant for working his tail off in the yard. In just two days, it went from the before picture on Landscaper's Challenge to a yard I am proud to call ours. We now have thick, green grass and pretty flowers everywhere.
The day started uneventfully, like any other day. Reeves woke up around 8:00, had a bottle, breakfast, and played. He went down for his nap around 10:00. This surprised me a bit, not because that is not a normal time for him to go down, but because today was Party Day, and, given his past performances on busy days like this, I was not expecting him to cooperate at all. Perhaps he knew it was for him, and he knew how much we still had to do (umm, like make his cake!), but he napped like an angel and slept for two hours - just enough time for me to get stuff done, but not so long that he couldn't come with me to run the last few errands that needed to be done. While we were gone, from 12:00 to 2:00, Bryant was working feverishly in the yard. My dad called me, at the Pig Wig, and asked if there was anything he could do. I didn't even check with B, just sent Dad over there to help. And thank heavens for him! With his help, B was able to get all the yard done with exactly 30 seconds to spare!

Oh, I forgot to mention another "angel" moment for Reeves. He and I returned home just before 2:00 to find B and Dad still in the yard, of course. Well, there were STILL other things that I needed to do as well, but what to do with Reeves? I noticed that he looked a bit sleepy, so I took a chance and went inside directly to his crib and put him down. Perfect child! He was out for another hour and fifteen!
Guests arrived at 3:00, with Grandmother and Poppa leading the way. Shortly thereafter, Reeves woke up. It took him a while to warm up to the idea of all these people in his house and yard, but it wasn't long before he was outside pushing his new toys and trying to eat the sidewalk chalk.

The day could not have been any better.

I was quite worried that we were all going to be sweltering outside at 3:00, but there was actually a cool breeze. We had fried chicken, best ever mac-n-cheese (thank you, Anna), and coleslaw. Of course, there was cake and ice cream. Reeves, however, had his cake that I had made with soy milk and an egg substitute - not too bad, believe it or not.

It wasn't very light, though, had more of the consistency of banana bread. He had his Tofutti ice cream. We are very lucky that it is in our day and age that he has thise allergies because there are so many things for him to still have. The only thing I have found that doesn't really equal the dairy original is cheese. Reeves didn't like it either, and I'm glad because the smell almost made me sick! Whatever, I still think we should buy soybean futures.
We had a wonderful time at the party.

I had put up the kiddie pool - wonderful for the older ones, but I should have thought about also putting up the smaller one for Reeves and Henry. There was much too much big kid action in the pool for the little ones to be around! Julie let us borrow her jump castle - a HUGE hit!

Oh, how Reeves wanted to be big enough to play in it! Mostly, we all just sat around and watched the kids and talked about the kids and took pictures of the kids. It was truly a perfect first birthday party. Reeves hit the hay around 8:00 that night, drunk on soy milk, cake, ice cream, and cheerios.
I still can't believe he's already one!

The Three RBBairs

Cooking Your Dream Dinner

OK, Girls, here are just a couple of things I've discovered through trial and error:

I cooked the Chicken Provencal with Rice Pilaf the other night. Delicious, but a bit rich. It may be worth adding a little more water than the 1 cup the recipe calls for. Also, an easy way to get the thawed sauce out of the bag - cut off one of the bottom corners and squeeze it out like a piping bag. It's a lot cleaner than trying to pour it out of the top.

Can't wait till next month!

Self-inflicted Time Out

Diddle, diddle, dumpling, Reeves, my son,
Crawled in the kennel with his jammies on.
One sock off and one sock on.
Diddle, diddle, dumpling, Reeves, my son.

If he chooses to go in the kennel on his own, and he seems to love it, is it really cruel and unusual punishment? There's water in there, and we could throw some food in.

Weighing In At...

We finally had his one year appointment today. Reeves weighs in at 20 pounds, 13 ounces and 31 1/2 inches long, 20th and 90th percentiles respectively. I was guessing he weighed at least 22 pounds (35 after holding him for 20 minutes), but it looks like we have just barely made it to the "turning the seat around" weight. Good thing, since I had that thing flipped the morning of his birthday! Everything is going great with him. She was impressed with the moisture in his skin - something we are very cogniscent of given his atopic dermatitis. He is pretty much solely on finger food.

He takes two bottles a day - soy milk, not formula. She said to try to ween this down to one. Shouldn't be too hard as he wanted nothing to do with his bottle tonight. She wants us to work on making the paci a bedtime, naptime thing only. This is going to be hard! He loves that thing. Any suggestions would be welcome. Normally, this appointment requires three vaccinations, however, due to Reeves' egg allergy, the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) will be given to him at his allergist's appointment which I will make tomorrow for sometime in the end of August. So he got away today with only having his Chicken Pox and Hepatitis A shots. He also had to have blood drawn from his finger. They needed a good bit of blood, and amazingly, he didn't cry through any of it, the pricking or the squeezing. The shots, a different story. he screamed. I don't know, maybe I'm callous or maybe we've hardened ourselves to it after all the testing and IV'ing we had to do when he was little, little, but my heart doesn't break when he gets his shots. I hate to see him cry like that, but it never brings tears to my eyes. And he recovers so quickly. Just a quick scoop up and hug from Mama, and he's OK. He's such a trooper. So, that's where we stand healthwise with the BooBoo. All's well. Now, if we can just get him to control that temper....

Snip 'n Sip

I know this picture is quite blurry (it was the best I could do at 60 mph) , but it says, "Snip. Snip. Sip. Sip." It's a Seagram's gin billboard. My point in posting this is that everytime I drive by it, because of the picture combined with the words, I can't help but first think that this guy is having the Big V, and after his very personal snip, snip, he should have some gin to get over the pain! In reality, the guy is in a barber shop, but if you just glance at it, it looks like he is on a gurney. In my defense, how many of you actually refer to a haircut as a, "snip,snip"? Of course, why he has an audience in there with him doesn't make sense, but these are things you think about later, not as you're passing it in traffic. Anyway, I just thought it was funny, disturbing at first, but then funny.

Port Royal, Here They Come!

The Willis family, all four of them, are finally heading home. Guerin is doing great and only needs a couple more days with the biliblanket at home and one antibiotic shot tomorrow. We will miss having them here but are so happy they, after a very emotional week, are able to go home. After all, there's no place like it!

Hey, I'm Walkin' Here!

Reeves got his first pairs of shoes this weekend. Morgan and Leeze met us at Stride Rite Saturday morning for the big buy. I was so glad they were there because Morn was able to keep an eye on R&L while I paid. Why there is not a fence at the front of that store, I'll never know. Anyway, his feet were measured, and (here's one thing he got from me) his left foot is bigger than his right foot. 4 1/2 and 4. So we bought size 5's. Since we have some hand-me-down red Keds, we bought brown sandals and saddle oxfords. OMG! He looks too big in shoes! I begged Shantal, our lovely helper, to take them off of him. "Please, don't sell them to me!" Alas, it was not to be. Much to my chagrin, Reeves must grow up. He is already off and running, and, while he has always had an independent spirit, I think he realizes that his shoes give him an even greater sense of freedom than he had before. No more Mama picking him up when the concrete is too hot; no more carrying him over things I think might hurt his little feet. When we pull in the driveway, I get him out, put him down, then get my bags out. No more holding him and contorting my body to get the bags. This is crazy! And he loves it! He loves negotiating steps, and he has even learned to turn around and go backwards down them. (Thank you, Gams!) He loves walking from the concrete to the grass and the grass to the concrete, the concrete to the bricks to the grass and back; pushing his wagon, which is three times his size; pushing the exercise ball, which is twice his size; balancing on and stepping over the hose which is, more often than not, stretched across the driveway. All of these outdoor activities which were, prior to Saturday, hindered by the interaction of the elements and his bare feet, can now go on for hours thanks to his new shoes. Baby needed new shoes, but Big Boy got them.

Can You Say, "Mixed Metaphor"?

Heard today on ESPN's Cold Pizza. (We're here because the market is open, but it is D-E-D, dead! Hence the ESPN in the background.) There was some old man teaching them how to make Southern Style Texas Sugar BBQ Ribs. Just in case you were wondering, anyone can make these because, "You know, barbequeing ain't rocket surgery."

Brilliant!