Where to begin? Another wonderful week at Kanuga has come and gone. I can't believe we are already on the backside of Kanuga, already reminiscing about our 2007 week.
We spent a lot of time explaining to Reeves that this would be his last year at Kanuga without his little brother or sister. I don't think he really cared. As long as we didn't tell him that Davis wasn't going to be there, he was happy. He would clap and cheer everytime we mentioned we were going to see D, and as the actual departure day drew near, his excitement grew.
I finally learned this year to take full advantage of my list making abilities. There is nothing I like better than crossing things off a list, and packing for Kanuga this year gave me lots of things to check off. It was, as a result, the most organized we have ever been in preparation for this trip. It was also the earliest we were ever packed. Unfortunately, it was one of the latest times we left because Bryant had to finish up some stuff at the office. But no matter, we still made it in time for dinner (6:30), so all was well. If I recall correctly, that was the last pleasant meal we had until Thursday. Reeves showed his two year old colors at almost every meal. As soon as we put him in his chair, the madness would begin. It was unbelievable. He is normally a really good eater. I would even go so far as to say he is a polite diner, wiping his mouth and his hands with a napkin, generally using a fork or spoon for each bite. But not at Kanuga. I don't know whether by Thursday he realized that everyone in the dining room was not trying to torture him, or he just finally got hungry enough to actually want to sit through a meal and eat, but at that point, we were on the verge of not going to the dining hall anymore. He was just so bad when we were there. Thank heavens for Honey Nut Cheerios.
We were lucky enough this year to share a cottage with the Townsends and Willises. It was the best cottage ever - five bedrooms, a big living room, and a huge front porch. It also happened to be very centrally located, which was a necessity for me this year. Deuce has not made excessive mobility a comfortable option for me. The cottage was perfect.
The children loved playing bubbles in the yard, and we all loved watching them, particularly in the sweet light of the morning.
(It helped us forget what we had just been through at breakfast!) We loved the extra room we all had and the convenience to anywhere we could possibly want to walk - particularly the "school".
This was Reeves' first foray into the adventure that is "school". The first day didn't go so well, he cried all day, yadda, yadda, yadda, but by Friday, one of the teachers ran out and met me in the playground to tell me how happy he had been all day! I hope his first days at O'Quinn's aren't this hard!
Tuesday night we all headed to Miss Piggy's for ice cream.
It's a fun place and the kids love all the old timey rides and memorabelia. This was the first year we have had to think about Reeves and the actual consumption of the ice cream. To accommodate his milk allergy, we brought with us his vanilla soy ice cream. We bought him a cone and filled it up.
Reeves loved it, and Bryant and I loved that he was finally able to "go out for ice cream". This is a practice we will surely be repeating a lot.
Of course, what week in Kanuga is complete without a trip to see the Sandburg goats? This jaunt is where I truly realize just how big our little boy is getting. This was his third time, and he was perfectly content following Davis and the goats around, feeding the goats, petting the goats, and exploring. The first trip, he was in the Bjorn; the second he was bald and not so sure on his feet. I think this may be the last time there will be a major difference between Reeves last year and Reeves this year.
Next year, he will be taller. He probably will be in shorts and a shirt instead of a jonjon. But he's a little boy now, and he'll be a little boy next year, and I just can't believe we're already past all those many, many baby milestones. Well, hopefully next year, he will be using real words instead of pointing and noises.
Guerin finally got to interact with the goats this year. Unless you count his being attacked while nursing last year. I suppose that was technically interaction, but not very voluntary on his part. I can't wait to see what next year brings for him. I guess Deuce will be the little one then, and Guerin will be running around with the big boys.
He also got to participate in the annual "photo in front of the scarecrow" this year. Poor Davis. We'll be sure to put Guerin beside you next year!
By the way, while everyone else did the hike up the trail,
this was how Deuce and I acended to the barn. It made the whole afternoon so much more pleasant for me, and as a result, for everyone else as well.
Wednesday night is dress-up night and the kid's carnival. We usually take our group picture that night, but somehow we forgot this year. I'm using the pregnancy as my excuse. I think it is perfectly justified for everyone else to claim pre-traumatic stress syndrome, merely in anticipation on the feats of Terrible Two's we all knew we were getting ready to experience at dinner. Whatever the excuse, I'm sorry we didn't do it, and I'll be sure to remember next year. The children loved the carnival. Davis could take part in almost every booth and won prizes at each.
The fishing booth was really the perfect fit for Reeves, and as long as a sucker came out, he was happy. Not so sure how happy Daddy was to have red spit dripping onto him, but he was a trooper.
The ballon was also a big hit with this two year old. He also loved it when Guerin let his go. Such fun to watch it fly away!
The lake was absolutely perfect this year - not too cold, not too cold. Reeves' lips never even turned blue! I was so glad to have Davis with Reeves because he is such a little fish, and sometimes, no matter how much we parents plead for our child to do something, they won't do it until they see their friends doing it - like jumping off the dock. OK, I must disclose, I was hesitant to let him jump at first, but thank heavens for Jodie (resident swim instructor) who assured me Reeves was perfectly capable of jumping. I'm so glad she did. He loved it.
I'm not sure if he loved the jumping more or just the fact that he could do the same thing that Davis was doing, but whatever it was, it was fun to watch.
On Friday, we got to watch as Davis participated in the Children's Parade and Fun Run.
Reeves wanted to be a part of it so badly. Next year, next year. I don't think he thinks of himself as only two years old. Davis took the Fun Run very seriously and finished somewhere near the front of the pack.
I said it at the beginning, and I'll say it again. I can't believe Kanuga 2007 has already come and gone. It's only Thursday, and already, we've settled back into the daily grind. I'm not eating nearly as hearty a breakfast as I did up there, which is probably a good thing because I'm also not walking as much either. (Conversely, Reeves has, thankfully, resumed his normal mealtime composure and consumption.) I miss the mornings of whittling in the woodshop with Bryant, the afternoons spent on the porch reading and chatting, the swimming and the playing, and the nightly board and card games on the porch. It is such a special week because we get to spend it with such good friends whom we see entirely too rarely. Jodie and I get to laugh as we watch our husbands roll their eyes at us,
and we get to spend each day watching our children become as good of friends with each other as we have been for three decades. We look forward to and treasure our little summer getaway in the mountains. I'm already making my packing list for next year.
We took Reeves yesterday for his two year old doctor's checkup. Oh, how cute he was holding my hand as we walked across the parking lot. How perfectly adorable he was playing with the toys and reading the books in the waiting room. Even undressing him and taking his measurements was a dream. By the way, he is 27 pounds and 37 inches tall. According to Dr. Goedecke, he should be a little over six feet tall when he grows up. I'm taking that with a grain of salt, but apparently, along with those Messervy eyes, he may have inherited some of the Messervy and Robertson height of a generation or so ago. But I digress…it wasn't long into the appointment that this angel child of mine suddenly turned into a devil. We were talking with the doctor. He wanted to leave the room. Let the screaming commence. Pediatricians are special people. It didn't even phase her. She just kept talking to me, maybe a little bit louder now, and hardly seemed to notice the howler monkey now trying to launch himself from his father's grasp. Reeves finally did calm down and put his head on my shoulder and nearly fell asleep. This was when Bryant mentioned to her my concerns about his speech. It’s so funny. I'll be OK one day, knowing that he is developing just fine, but then I'll read something about a child with a vocabularly similarly lacking in volume to Reeves', and I start to panic. Bryant does his best to convince me that he is fine, but I read more and get more worried. Then I talk to people whose children hardly uttered a sound until they were three, and I start to feel better again. And that was what Dr. Goedecke confirmed yesterday. Her main concern was that he understands and hears what we were saying to him. For example, when he's playing on the other side of the room and we say, "Are you ready for a bath?", does he jump up and go running to the bathroom? Well, he hears the question, but recently, his reaction has been more of falling to the ground, rending his clothes to shreds, and screaming like his eyes are being gouged out. So yes, he both hears and understands the question, although his response is a bit hyperbolic. This is good. She said at 2, the main concern is that he doesn't have hearing problems and that the comprehension is there. He does communicate verbally; it's just that the words aren't actually English; but that's a good thing. Once the words start coming, he'll just start filling them in where right now he only has sounds. Momma's relaxed … for now. If I'm still concerned in 6 months or so, maybe we'll reevaluate.
There were no shots at this appointment, but he did have to get his finger pricked to test his iron. Iron levels are fine, and there was a lion on his bandaid, and as we all know, that helps heal a booboo faster than anything. I can't believe we walked out of that office without setting up another appointment. There's not another visit due until his 3 year old check up. Are we already there? We went to this office nearly every other week for forever, and now we just have to pop in once a year? I can't believe it. We did talk to Dr. Goedecke about Deuce. She said, depending on when the delivery takes place, she'll either be there that day or the next. That was a reality check for me. We're already talking about a pediatrician's visit with this next baby!! Where has the time gone?? Why do I feel so behind in the preparation for this baby? Oh my goodness, I've got to go. I have about half a house I need to go through and purge!
Yesterday, Caroline and I, for at least the second time, had our relaxing time at the pool interrupted by other people's children. I don't understand this - on so many levels. First of all, it is just common courtesy to notice that, if your children are clearly bothering people, you should remove them from the situation. I know, I know, big words coming from the mother of the Dining Room Screamer, but we're getting there. Regardless, I'm talking about other people in this post, not me! Anyway, here we are, in the pool, trying to play with our boys when this, admittedly precious, 3 or 4 year old, comes over to play. OK. No problem. We'd love for you to play with us for a little bit. Then his older sister comes over. Then they start kicking and splashing right in the middle of us. Then they start interrupting us to talk to us as we are trying to get some good girl talk in. Then they start fighting with each other! I whisper to Caroline, "Where is the mother?" She points her out, lounging in a chair, sunglasses on and reading her book. Well great! I'm glad we could come to the pool today to babysit your children while you enjoy some down time! And don't tell me you didn't notice it because we both saw you look at us, and you couldn't have not seen the exasperated looks on our faces. Yes, we were exasperated with YOUR children!
And what is the 4th without a little light show? After everyone left, we finished cleaning up - at least, finished what Julie and Troy hadn't done -THANKS SO MUCH!!- pulled the boat out and headed home. I am certainly moving much slower than when I wasn't almost 8 months pregnant. It was just after 9:00 that we got home. I took Reeves inside only to change his diaper and put some clean, dry clothes on him, then we were off again, up to the Navy Base to watch the show. Thank heavens for a nice lady with a golf cart who must have felt sorry for me as I waddled as quickly as I could up the road, following B and Reeves in the stroller. She gave us a ride all the way to the river. That was such a treat. I think the boys would have made it in time for the show, but I probably wouldn't have!
Reeves loved watching the fireworks. He loved watching it from his daddy's shoulders and playing with his daddy's hat. 
I enjoyed watching my two favorite boys cap off a wonderful day with a wonderful show.
On the walk back, which I could handle because we weren't in a rush, Reeves got to be pushed through the fountain and, his favorite of all, got to pretend to be a train. 
There are lots of unused tracks on the old Navy Base, and it just so happened that these were the straightest shot to our car. He loved it! And I loved how much shorter it made our trip back!
I can't thank Julie and Troy enough for letting us invade their house and front yard. What a perfect spot. It was so much fun watching the boys (yes, all boys only) play and swim and yell. I can't think of any better way to tire out some young ones. Bryant cooked great burgers and dogs and some of the best beer brats I have ever tasted. Stephen and Caroline brought a delicious red, white and blue potato salad, and Amanda and Jason rounded out the meal with a super salad. Oh yes, and I made tomato pies, which actually ended up like pies this time!
Of course, there was watermelon - and plenty of it! The children dove right in. It was like we hadn't fed them all day. 
They had juice running down their bellies as they ate right down to the rind. Then all the pink faced boys went and threw their rinds in the marsh. 
How nice it would be to abandon all sense of cleanliness and eat like a child eats! I try, sometimes I do, but unless you're going to be jumping into a pool right after eating this watermelon, it just doesn't seem worth the hassle!
Reeves and I went down the causeway for a little swim. The water is still a bit chilly but it felt great. It was so nice to get a little salt on the skin. Reeves loved it, but I must admit, it made me a little nervous. I hadn't taken his lifejacket with us. Luckily, he had a death grip on me with both his arms and legs, so there was no chance the tide would pull him awayfrom me! Thank heavens for the big towel Aileen gave me. It takes a lot of fabric to cover that big belly!
If this construction gig doesn't work out, I think Stephen could always get a job in the circus as a contortionist. I don't know how he got that big tall body into that itty bitty Jeep! I was mighty impressed, and the children loved it. 
Pinky, next year you'll be running around with all these big boys! You were just the happiest little one there, smiling and cooing. Hope you enjoyed your first Fourth of July. We sure enjoyed sharing it with you!
Last night, I was lying in bed, B was at the computer. Deuce was moving all over the place, as is our routine whenever I stop moving. I have recently been feeling movement quite low on my belly. I mentioned to him that I wouldn't be surprised if we went in tomorrow and found out that this child was breech. Well, call it mother's intuition or a keen interuterine sense of space and movement or whatever, sure enough, Deuce's head is right up by my left ribs. I guess this is the child that will always be trying to be closest to my heart. No one is worried about it at the moment. Becky said babies often will turn themselves around. We will check again at the next appointment and the one after that. If towards the end, Deuce is still breech, we have two options. First, we can try to turn it from the outside. That is, we would go into the hospital, get on the monitors, and she would see what she can do to turn the baby. I'm not so sure about this since, in the office today, she showed me just a little bit of what she would have to do, and it nearly made me jump off the table. Not so sure I want to go through that - intensified and for even longer. But I do feel like I would want to endure that as opposed to the second option which is a C-Section. I haven't really thought about a C too much. I mean, I knew I didn't want one with Reeves, and since he came out fine (and I use that term loosely), the possibility of having one with Deuce hasn't even ever really entered my mind. But now, now that that outcome is a very real possibility, I am surprised by the way I am feeling about it. I really don't want one, but I would never put Deuce's health in the way of my not wanting a scar or not wanting the difficult recovery time post-partum. So, for the next 8 weeks, we'll be doing a lot of praying that Deuce flips over and decides that head down is quite a comfortable position. Well, that and trying out Becky's answer to my question of "Is there anything I can do myself to try to get it to flip?" That answer was to stand on my head - seriously. She said that doing that sometimes encourages them to turn over. Who am I to question? This is only my second baby. She's delivered hundreds, probably thousands, and had four of her own. I'll take her advice, maybe it will even help relieve some of that pressure on the underside of my belly. But just in case, please pray that this baby turns itself head down on its own.
After feeling it out for a bit, Spencer asked Pops if he could be lifeguard of it. Of course, since he is one of the oldest, Pops agreed, and you could tell that from that moment on, Spencer was quite mindful to watch out for all of the little ones on the slide. 
True to form, Harris showed absolutely no fear in the face of this beast. 
He was up and down it just as many times as the big kids, and often in the middle of them. 
Jackson and Spencer were, early on, the rulers of the slide, what with their mad climbing skills and slippery suits. I can't even count the number of times they went down. 
And it wasn't long before the climbing wall in the back didn't pose enough of a challenge and they had to climb back up the slide from the front - much to the surprise of the little ones who were being tossed up their by parents from the back. Hello!
Henry was just as happy to mount the slide from the ladder as he was for David to just toss him up there and let him come down however gravity chose to work it, arms and legs flailing. 
Reeves was still a bit hesitant on the slide, still needing to hold a hand as he took off from the summit. I know it won't be long before he is out there like a daredevil himself. 
Being the little waterbug that he is, Davis took to the slide like, well, like a duck takes to water. 
It only took showing him the foot holes one time before he had mastered climbing up the back and then decending any way he wanted. I wish I had pictures of all the little ones on the slide. They all loved it. Fordham only needed help to get up the back, then he was ready to go. Bryce, Caulder, and MK loved it as well. Of course, not all the girls were so into it...