Avelyn's birthday week and visit from grammy and papa John

We had a great weekend the other week with Avi's party on the 8th. She had so much fun at the park where the party was held and so did her friends who were able to make it. They kept themselves busy with the water and the climbing stuff and the parents were able to sit in the shade and relax. She loved her Ariel cake and really enjoyed everyone singing Happy Birthday to her. After the party she took a well-deserved nap and when she woke up we opened presents. She is very into My Little Pony right now so she got some of those as well as Play-doh (another favorite)! Overall it was a great weekend.

We went mini-golfing on Sunday. She had had so much fun doing it in SC so we tried a local course here minus the sunken ship, etc. She had fun but wasn't really into the "game".

She is signed up for pee-wee soccer which starts on 9/9. We've got her cleats, shin guards, and ball so she's geared up. Should be so much fun watching her run around chasing the ball. She has a great kick when we play with her so I'm interested to see how she does with a team sport.

My mom and John flew in Wednesday as a surprise for Avi's birthday. I picked her and Zach up from school and we went to the airport but she didn't know why. She was so excited to see them come up the escalator. We had a great visit with many projects around the house - restaining the deck and erecting our new gazebo. We now have a beautiful outdoor living space protected from the sun.

Zach is crawling everywhere and standing up to everything. Last nigth he was waving back when we waved at him - too cute. He's still working on solid solids but can maneuver rice krispies and pieces of bread pretty well. He's got 5 teeth (3 up top and 2 on the bottom). Unfortunately we loves to use them to nip you if you get too close so he's learning the words "no bite"! I've started some sign language with him - right now just doing more, eat, milk and all done. He's not copying anything yet but they say usually around 9 months so we've got a copy weeks before we should see anything repeated back. He's just so happy all the time and his smile will make your worst day better. He's still sleeping really well and taking good naps during the day. I wish I could crash anywhere/anytime and people would make sure I was safe! The joys of infanthood - or maybe he's a toddler now?!

Brandon's up fishing today so it's me and the kids. Zach is currently taking a nap after waking up at 5:30 and Avi is making me some Valentine's cards (yes, it's August) as she just got up at 7. We'll be running errands later to complete our outdoor space and just get out of the house.

Our block party is next weekend and that should be a blast. The next weekend I have to work and then the weekend after Labor Day we're heading back to Estes Park for the weekend but this time staying in a cabin with some friends.

Back from Myrtle Beach....

We had a great time in Myrtle Beach...both kids traveled well considering we got up at 3:30am Monday morning to catch our flights. Luckily both flights were on time. We got to Wilmington, NC and drove to Myrtle Beach and arrived at Lakewood Campground around 3:30pm. It was a long day but we all survived!



The campground was huge. Luckily the villa we were in had a golf cart that came with it so we were able to drive around in it each day/night. The first night we drove to the beach and just kind of wandered around the waves for a few minutes since it was such a long day.


Tuesday we got up and ate breakfast and then headed to the beach. We loaded up the golf cart and took the 2 minute drive to the beach. We did some body surfing - my first time in a long time! The surf was pretty strong and I wasn't really ready for it so I did about 3 rides and was done. Avi had fun playing in the sand making sand castles. She didn't like the salt water or the big waves much.

During the week we pretty much had the same schedule: eat breakfast, Avi and Brandon went to the cafe so he could work and she could socialize and watch a movie, headed to the beach, came back to eat lunch and nap, and then each night we either cooked out/went out to eat/went mini golfing.

It was a great trip for sure! Avi loved being on vacation at "miracle beach" as she called it. Zach really started crawling while we were there and the A/C vent was his best friend whenever it came on.

Saturday we packed up and went to a breakfast buffet and then we drove back to Wilmington while Carol and Don headed back to Raleigh. We made it to our hotel around 12:30 and luckily they found a room for us so we went up and settled in for a while. After lunch we went to the pool for a bit then came back to nap and then out for dinner. By now, Zach was not feeling so great - pretty wheezy and coughing - we think the humidity did not agree with him! Our flight Sunday morning was at 5:30 so we were again up at 3:30am. Again, both flights were on time and we got back to our house around 11am Sunday morning.

Monday we took Zach to the doctors and they gave us a nebulizer to try. By Friday he was still wheezing so we took him back. This time his throat was red and he had pus on his uvula. The rapid strep test was negative and she thought it was a sinus-y type infection since infants don't have sinuses the infection was dripping down the back of his throat. So now we have an oral steroid for 5 days and an antibiotic for 10 days as well as the nebulizer. Fun stuff for sure. Zach feels better as he is now eating again. He didn't drink or eat really well all week and had lost 3oz from Monday to Friday (Monday he weighed in at 18# 14.5oz and Friday he was down to 18# 11oz). His "voice" is now hoarse though so I'll be calling again tomorrow so see if this is just a side effect of either the steroid/antibiotic or there's something new to consider. UGH!

We've got Avelyn's 4th birthday party next weekend. I cannot believe it's been 4 years already. She is such a big girl! I just enrolled her in pee wee soccer that starts next month so that should be great - she loves to kick the ball and it will be interesting to see how she puts it all together to play the sport.

Zach is really crawling everywhere now. At first he was getting up on hands/feet and propelling himself forward but now he has the hand/knees working together. We've got to close the doors and use Avi's tunnel to block off the front room to contain him. It's amazing what he gets in to too - I had to rearrange Avi's toy shelves to put her books on the bottom and her "dress up" stuff up top. Today he was having a good time using the step stool to stand at while reaching down to the floor with one hand and picking up a mirror and then squatting down to get back to sitting on the floor. He definitely gets less frustrated now that he can move around where he wants to which is usually to chase Cabo! :)

That's all for now...