2009 Disney Book

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Christmas Card 2009

Seasonal Chic Noir Holiday 5x7 folded card

Get custom holiday cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Shutterfly Rocks!!

As a longtime customer of Shutterfly, I am so impressed with this years’ selection of Christmas cards! They are so reasonably priced at around $1 each for beautifully designed cards that are personalized with my own photos. I’ve just put together our card for this year and selected a 5x7 folded card. I was pretty impressed that I could also put photos and additional text on the INSIDE of the card and it was no additional price!

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

I especially love the designs by Stacy Claire Boyd and Fresh Lemonade. I chose one of the designs by Blonde Designs. I'm including pictures of our sweet new baby boy, Jackson!

I’ve also used Shutterfly in the past to create Jacob’s birthday invitations. I used photos of Jacob from the past year and put together an invitation based on whatever theme we were using. Shutterfly even addressed and mailed them as well for a fee that was just a little more than a stamp!

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/birthday-cards-stationery

This is a great time of year to also put together a photo calendar for the grandparents! We do this or a photo book each year! Makes a great Christmas present!

http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

Catching Up....

So, I'm not a great blogger. I can't find the time to do it on a regular basis, but for the last few vacations we've taken, I've tried to blog about our trips, which also serves as sort of a way for me to go back and relive some of our experiences.

We were in FL & Disney last week, and I'll get to the trip in a moment, but first, to catch up from where we left off in Dec 09.

Jan 10: Jacob and I took a trip with my mom to FL - two nights in Naples with Grandma Elsa and two nights in New Port Richey with Sugar & Papa. We hadn't been to FL in about 11 months, so it was a good time to go. We had a great visit with them, albeit short!

Also in January, I found out I was pregnant with our 2nd child!

February: We had a pretty decent snowstorm and had a good time playing in the snow!

March: We took a trip to Myrtle Beach for a weekend and we told our families about our new addition and learned around the 12 week mark that they were 95% sure we were having a boy. Jeff and I also celebrated our 7 year anniversary with a stay at the Hilton in Durham and a meal at the Melting Pot.

April: We had a Level II Ultrasound that confirmed we were having a boy and that all looked normal. We also went to Wilmington for the Azalea Festival where my friend from childhood & beyond, Kim Munley, was the Grand Marshall of the Azalea Parade. Thanks to Dad & Nancy, Jeff and I attended the black-tie Patron's Gala and got to spend time with Kim, her daughter Hope and her brother, Wesley.

May: We took a trip to the NC Zoo for Mother's Day, and I got a cool new camera (Yay!) Later in the month, we had a Fetal Echocardiogram at Duke which showed that this baby boy has a normal heart! We also went to Wilmington for Memorial Day Weekend and enjoyed visiting family and swimming in Dad's pool.

So that brings us to June! And our trip to FL!!

Friday, June 4: I had a morning meeting at the NC Bar Center and after the meeting, headed home. We left home around 12:30 p.m. for our trip. We drove to Savannah and arrived around 5:15 p.m. We stayed at the Embassy Suites near the airport - it's pretty new - only open a couple of months and is a new, more modern design for Embassy Suites. It was a very nice hotel! We went to dinner at a nearby Ruby Tuesday's and headed back to the hotel to settle in for the night!

Saturday, June 5: Jacob awoke right at 6 a.m. - I swear that kid has an internal clock! We had to kill time until 7 a.m. to go to breakfast at the hotel. We packed up and had the car packed before we ate. Breakfast was great - Jacob had made to order pancakes. Jeff did too. I had a yummy veggie omelet. We discovered that Jacob loves Fruit Loops - which is interesting because he has not eaten any cereal (other than occasional Frosted Strawberry Mini-Wheats) in well over one year. The E.S. breakfast also had rice krispie treats! :D We got on the rode just before 8 a.m. headed to New Port Richey to visit my grandparents. (Unfortunately, a few days before we left, my grandma, we call her "Sugar", fell and broke her hip, so she was in the hospital.) On the way, we stopped near Ocala and had lunch at a McAlister's Deli. We arrived in New Port Richey at Sugar & Papa's house and visited with Papa. Later that night, we went to the Chinese buffet in NPR that we've now gone to for our last few trips. After dinner, we headed over to my Aunt Alice's house where she had ice cream cake for Papa's 88th birthday which was that day. After cake, my Aunt & I went to visit Sugar at the hospital. We stayed until about 9:30 p.m. and I was exhausted, so we went back to her house where we were staying and Jeff and I went on to bed!

Sunday, June 6: My sweet Aunt Alice set her alarm because she knew Jacob would be up bright & early. She made us a HUGE breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage, fruit salad, muffins. Everything was delicious! Then, we headed back over to visit with Papa for a little while. We stayed until 10 a.m. and then headed to Orlando where we were meeting the Darroch family at Downtown Disney to get started on our trip! At DTD, we did a little shopping and then went to Earl of Sandwich for lunch. I was surprised to find it wasn't too busy compared to previous visits. Looking back I think that is because Sunday is probably a travel day for many people. Especially, lunch time on a Sunday. Jeff had the original sandwich, and I had the chicken cobb wrap - it was very good. Jacob went with peanut butter & jelly because that was what Sterner wanted!

After lunch, we let the boys (Jacob, Sterner & Grayson) ride the small carousel and the train ride. By then, we decided we should probably head to Super Target for groceries. When we got to Super Target, Jeff took Jacob & Sterner to look at Wii stuff on the other side of the store, while Kim tried to keep Grayson happy and the three of us (Kim, Steven & I) shopped. Our goal was to get the weeks' worth of groceries in one trip! Kim & Steven had smartly planned a menu for the week and made a list of groceries. By the time we checked out - our total bill was $273! We packed the groceries into the car which was no easy feat considering both cars were PACKED still from the trip down. We headed to our rental house - www.orlando5.com at Emerald Island Resort in Kissimmee. Jeff & I stayed at Emerald Island Resort in February 2009 with my brother & Katherine and my mom and really enjoyed it. The house we rented this year was even better! It was nicer and bigger too - its a 5 BR with 4.5 baths and it's own pool & hot tub. All the houses in the subdivision have their own pools. By the time we got to the house, it was a little before 4:00 p.m. We decided the first thing to do was to go swimming!! Well, of course, after we unloaded the cars, put away the groceries & explored the house!

After our swim, we got cleaned up and made dinner for the boys - they enjoyed fish sticks w/ veggies & fruit and we tucked them into bed by a decent hour, 7:30ish, and enjoyed an adult dinner later of steaks on the grill, baked potatoes, salad, and grilled bread. Which is the same meal we had the first night of our trip to the Outer Banks last September, so I guess now it's a tradition!! After getting dinner cleaned up, we made plans to be ready to leave for Epcot the next morning at 8 a.m.! More to come!!

Jacob's First Car

From Grandmother... (Mrs. Bullock)

OBX Vacation Part IV

On Thursday, September 10, the weather was still looking pretty windy/rainy. Not a wash-out, but not a beach day either. We decided to head over to Roanoke Island Festival Park.

The highlight of the park is the Elizabeth II, a recreation of the sixteenth century type ship which would have brought folks over twenty or so years prior to the "Lost Colony."



As you board the ship, there are costumed guides who answer questions and let you know more information about the ship. The boys really enjoyed climbing around the ship and ringing the bell. After the ship, we headed to the settlement site area. They had an area set up with tents and a blacksmith, as well as a game called Skittles. Skittles, apparently, is a variety of bowling dating back many years. Jacob enjoyed trying to throw the wooden ball and knock down the pins. After talking to the costumed guys at the settlement site, we headed into the museum. It was quite kid friendly and had lots of hands-on exhibits. In fact, Jacob enjoyed it so much he didn't want to leave! He was nearly in tears as we left and it was starting to rain a bit.

We had already decided to swing down to Bodie Island to see the lighthouse there. We had seen it four years ago and there's not much there other than the lighthouse and a giftshop, but it's nice to go look at. As a nice surprise, the lighthouse itself was open. You can't climb, but you could go inside and look up the stairs. We later heard that they are trying to make improvements so that people can climb to the top. After the lighthouse, it was time to head on back for lunch and naps. We had a laid back afternoon, and in the evening, Kim & Steven headed out for their date night and Jeff and I were in charge of getting the 3 kids fed dinner and put to bed!

It went surprisingly well. We fed the boys homemade mac & cheese that Steven made earlier in the day, and sweet potato fries. After some playtime and I'm sure some Blue's Clues, Jeff took Jacob & Sterner to read to them, and I took Grayson to feed him a bottle and put him to bed. Grayson cried a little, but settled down after a little while. There wasn't much I could do to help Grayson, so I went in and helped Jeff. After books, Sterner and Jacob went right to bed without any issues at all! Jeff and I sat down to eat some of our leftovers from the night before and waited for Kim & Steven to get back. All was well!

OBX Vacation Part III

On Wednesday, 9/09/09, the weather was looking a little better, but still cloudy and cool in the morning with a good possibility of rain. We decided to trek to the north towards Corolla. When Jeff and I went to Manteo in 2005, we did not go much past Kitty Hawk, so it was interesting to pass through Southern Shores, Duck, and other small developed areas on our way to Corolla. The houses up that direction are just enormous and at some points, the island is so narrow that the water on the sound side is very close to road (NC 12) and the ocean is easy to see to your east. There is also much less commercial development that direction, though a Harris Teeter has opened in the last year or so, and there are beach shops and such, it's just not the degree of commercial development seen in Kill Devil Hills / Nags Head. Some people believe those areas are too commercial and compare them to Myrtle Beach, but having just visited Myrtle Beach in May, there is no comparison really. To me, Kill Devil Hills/Nags Head is just commercial enough to have good variety for shopping, eating & entertainment, but not the complete overdone of Myrtle Beach.

Anyway, it took us about 40-45 minutes to get to Corolla. We were headed to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, and had also planned to visit the Wild Horse Museum and whatever else we came across. Both of those are very close to the Whalehead Club, which is a large formerly private home that has been renovated and can be toured, sort of like the Biltmore on a much smaller scale. First, we headed to the lighthouse. We were looking forward to checking it out and climbing it. It's actually one of the "easier" ones to climb. Many you cannot climb (Bodie, etc.) and Hatteras has a 42 inch minimum height, so the kids couldn't have gone. Yes, we took three kids ages 9 months, 2 years and 3 years up 210 steps to the top of the lighthouse. The climb wasn't too bad and Jacob did really well and went all the way up by himself. At the top, the views of the water, the sound, and the Whalehead Club were stunning. We took photos and then began our descent. Jacob again made it most of the way down but wanted carried about the last 1/3 of the way. I thought going down was worse than going up because you had to look down. It's also harder on the knees! After the lighthouse, we decided to venture down this dirt road which had a sign pointing towards the Wild Horse Museum. It was a bit further than we thought it would be, but we made it. The Wild Horse Museum is housed in the old Corolla Schoolhouse, built in the late 19th to early 20th century and used until the mid-1950s.



The Wild Horse Museum was of course, small, but had a very friendly attendant who answered our questions. Fortunately, we were visiting on a Wednesday, the only day of the week that they have a former wild horse visit for the kids and adults like to meet. And even better, we were just in time since the horse would be showing up around 11:00 a.m. Shortly, Uno arrived. He was a beautiful chestnut color with a blond mane. We had already heard Uno's story earlier, he had been removed from the beach because he had been abandoned by his herd. It was later discovered that he had health problems, which is likely the reason he had been abandoned. Once a horse are removed, they are immediately vaccinated, but they cannot be returned to the herd because they could infect the herd with diseases they have not been exposed to. Because of this, it is quite serious when a horse is removed from the beach and not a decision made lightly. We all enjoyed meeting Uno and we took pictures.

After that, we went looking for some food because we had been smelling something ever since we had ventured over to the Wild Horse Museum. As an aside, there are additional buildings, former homes renovated into businesses and shops, as well as a chapel that make up the Historic Corolla Village area. It's pretty neat.

As we ventured, we found Corolla Village BBQ, the only place to eat anywhere in the immediate vicinity. It's a former outbuilding/garage of one of the homes and sells NC-style BBQ. Having had Pigman's BBQ two days earlier, the Corolla Village BBQ was a huge improvement. It was quite good in fact. After we ate, we checked out a playground near the Twiddy Realty building. Apparently, the Twiddy family has done all the renovations in the Historic Corolla Village area.

After the BBQ lunch, we headed on back to the beach house. I really wanted to keep Jacob awake until we got back and he wanted to sleep. I knew if he did, he would not nap when we got back. So, as we drove along, Jeff and I sang silly songs to him, and while he was acting like he was mad at us, he kept laughing. We got him home without him falling asleep and he took his nap without incident.

Wednesday night, it was decided, would be a date night for Jeff and I. Originally, I thought we'd put Jacob to bed and head out, but Kim & Steven felt like they could handle it, and Jeff and I would return the favor on Thursday. So, Jeff and I decided to head over to Manteo and walk around a bit. We decided on nostalgia and ate at the Full Moon Cafe, where we had eaten four years earlier. I had Shrimp and Grits, which oddly enough was served over Polenta, which any good southern girl knows are NOT grits! Jeff had a huge shrimp & crab enchilada. Oh, and we had a baked brie appetizer that was really good too. The food was good and we enjoyed our dinner. We wanted to do something else after dinner, and a walk on the beach seemed like a good idea, but it was far, far too windy. So, we opted for a visit to the Outer Banks Brewing Station, which brews their own beer and we wanted to check out anyway. We had a beer apiece and split the beer sampler before heading back to the house, where all the kids were fast asleep.

Kim & Steven had taken them out for
pizza at Dare Devil Pizza which was 1/2 block from the house and then took them to the beach to play in the sand a bit. They'd had a good time and all was well!

*Sigh, our vacation was more than half over!*

OBX Vacation Part II

Tuesday morning, we knew it would be raining when we got up. In fact, there was a low pressure system that was causing quite a bit of wind as well. It was nearly like a tropical depression!

So, we decided to head over to the NC Aquarium at Roanoke Island. When we got there about 10:00 a.m. or so, it wasn't too busy. The kids enjoyed looking at the fish and other exhibits. We caught the diver talk in the big shark tank. We had just seen the diver talk at the Fort Fisher Aquarium on July 4th. Jacob loved it then. It was cool because the diver would give the kids "high five" through the glass. This time, it wasn't quite as interactive, and while Jacob still enjoyed it, he was disappointed he did not get to high five the diver! They take a photo of you at the beginning of the tour and at the end you can see different views of yourself on different backgrounds. I ended up buying two of them. We also got some magnets and Jacob got a book - Curious George goes to the Beach. More on that later. ;)

Lunch the previous day had been sort of harried, so we opted to head back to the house for yummy leftovers from our Labor Day feast the day before. Then the kids went down for a nap. Each day, it seemed like Jacob would go to sleep earlier than Sterner and get up earlier, and Sterner would sleep later. So, when Jacob woke up pretty early afternoon - we decided to take him to play mini-golf. I'm glad we did too because we would not have had time later in the week. We headed back towards Nags Head - there are actually three mini-golf courses near the Outlet mall. While it was sunny at the beach house when we left, by the time we got over to the mini-golf, it was raining! Jacob was so disappointed. It looked like an isolated shower, so Jeff suggested we walk around the Outlet mall a bit and see if it would stop. So we popped into the Coach outlet and Gymboree. Nothing we couldn't leave without.... It stopped raining and we went for the Jurassic Park mini-golf. Jacob is so funny. He will hit the ball, then pick it up, moving it closer to the hole, then sort of just push it along with the club until it goes into the hole... But, he just loves it. Even more than bowling we later discovered! We finished 18 holes and then actually did the 2nd course, for a total of 36 holes of golf. I was pretty "done" after the first round, but we pushed through because Jacob loved it.

We headed back to the beach house and it was time for dinner. Since we were having grilled fish, coconut rice, and a black bean/mango chutney, we decided to feed the kids first and put them on to bed and then have an adult dinner. It worked well! We also decided to watch a movie together. Still not hot tub weather Tuesday night. We watched a movie. The movie was great, but we ended up stopping it half-way through to take a potty break, etc., and ended up talking for an hour! We finally restarted it up and finished it.

Wednesday - we went to Corolla! More to come!

OBX Vacation!

We are just back from the Outer Banks of NC! We had a wonderful trip. I didn't have great internet access out there, so I had to wait to get back to blog the details of our trip.... without further adieu...

Background....
So, several months ago, Jeff told me he really wanted to spend a week at the beach. Pretty much all our vacations have centered around Disney, family and a couple of cruises. His family vacations growing up were spent at the beach.

We decided on the Outer Banks. We've only been out to the Outer Banks one other time, about 4 years ago. We stayed in Manteo that time. But we wanted a true week at the beach vacation... I started looking for houses to rent directly from an owner.

After MUCH searching, I found a wonderful house in Kill Devil Hills. It was actually hard to find a direct rental, even using VRBO.com. Here is the house we found: Caribbean Dream

It's four bedrooms, 4.5 baths, 1.5 blocks from the ocean, a pool and a hottub, multiple decks, and fairly new. I was enamored with this house! And we got an amazing deal through the owner. Roughly $400=$500 off the rate through the rental agency! We started thinking of who we could take with us. Pretty early on, I decided this trip would be a lot more fun for all of us if we took another family with kids so Jacob would have a playmate.

We ended up asking our friends Kim & Steven, who have two sons - Sterner, almost 2.5, and Grayson, 9 months. Steven and I go way back. We were coworkers about 10 years ago. He met Kim the summer we worked together at a law firm in Wilmington, and she and I became great friends too. About four years ago, they moved to the Raleigh area. With the best of intentions, we've still only seen them a handful of times a year. We had just recently had a park/dinner "playdate" with them, and a few days later, I emailed them the house I'd found and asked them to join us. To my surprise, they responded enthusiastically within about two hours! We had been excited about the house, and now we were really excited to have such great friends going with us!

This trip was so much different than other vacations... which were mainly to FL... and mainly focused on family & Disney. After several months of waiting, but not nearly the planning that goes into a Disney trip... we left for the Outer Banks last Saturday!

Prior to our departure, I went to the Holly Springs Farmer's Market and bought some produce to take with us. We ended up leaving a little before 11 a.m. We stopped in Rocky Mount and had some lunch at the Cracker Barrel. We headed on. We could not check into the house until 4 pm so we stopped at the Outer Banks Visitor's Center near Manteo around 3 pm and hung out a while looking at brochures, etc. We got to the house about 3:30 p.m. Kim & Steven & the boys were already there waiting by the pool. They'd gotten into the gate, which wasn't locked. We all went into the house and got the cars unpacked. Wow at the stuff that four adults & three kids need for a week at the beach!!!

Next up was a trip to the liquor store and the Harris Teeter, which were fortunately only about a mile a way and right next door to each other. Both were very busy. The parking lot of the ABC store was so busy! Steven and I ran in while Jeff & Kim waited in the respective cars with the kids. The line was wrapped up and down two aisles! I grabbed what I needed and Steven offered just to wait in line for both of us and walk over to meet us at the HT.

We had loosely planned the first four days of meals... I had a list and a cart. Kim had a list and a cart. Then Steven came in and had his own cart. With Jeff manning the two older boys in the spaceship cart, we all zoomed around the HT gathering supplies! We finally met at the front and ended up totaling about $400 in groceries between 3 carts & two bills! We got back to the house and it had to be carried up to the third floor kitchen. Houses at the beach are often "upside down." The living areas, the kitchen and living room are on the third floor to take advantage of the ocean views.

As the time in the day was waning by the the time we got back from the grocery and unpacked the food, we decided to feed the boys and then have a later adult dinner. It worked well. We got all the boys into bed in the 7:30 to 8 p.m. time frame. (As an aside, that is J's typical bedtime and it was a coincidence and a blessing that Kim & Steven's boys go to bed at the same time!!)

Anyway, once they were all to bed, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner of grilled NY strip steaks, baked potatoes, and salad on the screened in porch. After dinner, we talked for a bit and then decided to reconvene in the hot tub. Oh yes. The hot tub was NICE!! It was actually a bit too hot. We jumped in and out and managed. We finally turned into bed about 11 p.m. A great start to the vacation....

On Sunday, we decided to hit the beach. The weather was looking precarious for the remainder of the week and we needed to take advantage of any decent beach days! After breakfast, Jeff, Jacob and I ran to the local Wings for a beach umbrella. Everything was 50% off, and even though it was cloudy, I was determined we needed one. :) We actually got a great deal on one for $12, and headed back to the house.
Finally, we headed out to the beach. Oh my, how much stuff we took! It was a bit cloudy and quite windy as well. The ocean was far too rough for swimming, but we'd known that in advance and had planned to let the boys play in the sand and to stick our toes in the surf occasionally, not venturing much past ankle depth. We stayed out maybe an hour and a half, but with the wind and lack of sun, it was a bit cold... so we headed back to the house. They had a good time playing in the sand. We got the boys showered & bathed, fed them lunch and put them down for naps. Jeff and I headed out to Austin's Seafood Company to buy some shrimp for dinner. We also made another trek to the Harris Teeter for MORE groceries! We got home and later, we had a wonderful "shrimp boil" with shrimp, corn on the cob, potatoes, sausage, etc. After we put the kids to bed, we hopped in the hot tub again!

On Monday, the weather was really looking not so hot. Rainy. Windy. Yuck. It was Kim's birthday and she made us a wonderful breakfast of pancakes, both chocolate chip & regular, as well as bacon. We weren't sure what we were going to do... but by about 10:30 a.m. we knew we needed to get the boys out of the house. So, we decided to take them bowling over in Nags Head. Why bowling you ask? Well, Jacob LOVES bowling... (and so does his dad! ) Jacob was really excited about bowling! With four adults & two kids playing, it took a LONG time to play even one game. But it was good. I actually did decent... I bowled two strikes and a few spares. I ended up losing to Jeff 116-114. Jacob bowled a respectable 82 I believe. Sterner bowled similar.... as a disclaimer, by the end, both boys were using one of those bowling ball slope roller things. Even Grayson got a few turns! Kim had herself a strike or two. Bless his heart, Steven was just not a bowler. He tried, but he did not excel at bowling. :) Or maybe he let Kim win because it was her birthday! :D

After bowling, we decided to go out to lunch. We decided on BBQ and checked out Pigman's BBQ. It was decent. Nothing to "write home about." I had Turkey-Q and Jeff had Pork BBQ, which was better than the too saucy Turkey-Q. The hushpuppies were good. And Jacob enjoyed the french fries. :) After lunch, the kids were sort of rowdy, so we headed home for naps! I think we ALL took naps that day! The post-nap plan for dinner was a Labor Day cook-out with grilled hot dogs, hamburgers, homemade pasta salad, homemade slaw and some MEAN baked beans with ground beef, bacon, etc. in them that could be a meal in and of themselves! We had a great dinner with the entire gang. After dinner, Steven brought out a Carvel ice cream cake with candles in the shape of a "32" for Kim's birthday. We all enjoyed some ice cream cake and sent the boys off to bed.

Unfortunately, that night, it was too rainy for the hot tub...

More to come! Including pics!!

Bennett's Thrift Store - Benefiting Triangle Mended Little Hearts

I have not had a chance to visit yet, but just found out about a new resale type shop in Cary called Bennett's Thrift Store and they say on the website that the support Triangle Mended Little Hearts, our local affiliate chapter of the AHA Mended Little Hearts program.

They are located at 3094 Kildaire Farm Road in Cary (Suite 170), at the intersection of Ten-Ten and Kildaire Farm Road (Millpond Village), between Lowes Foods and Jersey Mike's.

Store Hours of Operation:

Monday - Friday (9 am - 8 pm)
Saturday (9 am - 5 pm)
Sunday (1 pm - 5 pm)

From their website:
We accept new or gently used clothing of all sizes for women, men, children and infants. We also accept accessories like hats, belts, shoes, purses, ties, jewelry, blankets, household items, linens, towels, kitchen utensils, cookware, dinnerware, toys, and household appliances (TV's, microwaves, small computers, household accessories). Basically if it is usable, we need it.

Annual Cardiology Follow-Up!

On Tuesday, August 18, we made our trek to Durham for Jacob's annual visit to Duke to see Dr. Rhodes. Dr. Rhodes is special to us because he and Dr. Delaney were the two doctors that were there when Jacob was admitted to Duke at 3 hours old and performed his catheterization at 5 hours old. In essence, they saved his life so he could go on to have surgery by Dr. Jaggers 6 days later.

Every single visit outpatient visit to Duke Children's, we've gone to Elmo's for a meal beforehand. I suppose we are a bit superstitious and we've always gotten good news at these appointment, so we continued our tradition of a meal at Elmo's and had a wonderful lunch there.

We actually were running early and got to the appointment about an hour early. Fortunately, we were taken right back for the vitals check by the nurse. Jacob weighed 36 pounds (90%tile) and was 39 inches tall (75%tile). His BP was 117/77 and I think his pulse was 96. So far so good!

Then, we went down the hall for the EKG. We told J they'd put little stickers on him. They had Nick Jr. playing and he did great!

After that, we had to go downstairs to the first floor of the outpatient clinic for the echo. For his first 18 months, Jacob had four outpatient echos (Sept, Nov, Jan & Oct) that were in the hospital area and most were sedated. Last year, he had his first non-sedated echo in the Children's Clinic and did pretty well. They set up a whole new echo area where the radiology also is, and it was nice. So you wait on the first floor for an echo now. We waited for a little while and then went back. Jacob brought his Blue's Clues Movie and he did really well laying still & following directions. I was very proud of him for being such a big boy!

After the echo, we had to wait another 15-20 minutes to make sure they got all the proper views then we went back upstairs and checked in around 1:30 p.m. to let them know we were ready to see Dr. Rhodes. It was very busy so we hadn't really been bugging the staff. For some unknown reason, at 2:30 p.m., the nurse came out and called J's name, but then was surprised we were sitting there. She said she didn't know where we had been... which is odd because we'd been sitting there for an hour!

Oh well! We were finally taken on back to a room, and Dr. James Johnson, a peds cardio fellow came in and talked to us a little bit. Everything was fine with the EKG and echos. Dr. Rhodes came in and talked about what we'd need to look out for if J ever had complications (not being able to keep up with his peers physically; extreme chest pain, etc.) He again mentioned they will want to do a cath before he is 10 years old. He still has no restrictions, which is wonderful.

All in all it was a great visit and we don't go back until Aug 2010! And at that point, he'll only have an EKG and not an echo because Dr. Rhodes said he felt he'd be able to hear any significant changes if there were any.

Happy Third Birthday to my Little Guy!

Last Saturday, we celebrated Jacob's Third Birthday. It's hard to believe three years have already gone by. I'm so proud of what a great kid he is (most of the time!!) He is a sweet, loving child and definitely a future "class clown." He loves to be silly.

Today, August 7 is also the three year anniversary of Jacob's surgery.
Here are some pictures to remind you how far we've come....

Just 5 or so hours old, after his catheterization to put a hole in his heart to save his life:


Just before his surgery, so this picture is exactly 3 years ago today:



Taken a few days after surgery:



Jacob at age one!



Jacob in November 2008, age 2:


Jacob in April 2009:


Birthday Party Picture:


Happy Birthday Jacob!!!

Prayers for my Sister In Law

My sweet sister in law Katherine was diagnosed with thyroid cancer a few weeks ago. She and my brother just married last July. She had surgery to remove the thyroid on May 20, and had to go back to the hospital for a few days. She had some lymph nodes removed during the thyroid surgery and two of them were positive for cancer.

We are praying for her and for my brother. The website is www.katmcguire.com

What a fun weekend!

The Holly Springs Farmer's Market opened this weekend. We look forward to going every week and checking out the produce and other good stuff. This week, we bought some great homemade BBQ sauce; and some almond meringues. The produce was mostly strawberries and onions. Jacob also got his cookie from Ms. Lonnie.

After the Farmer's Market (and after I spilled an entire cup of hot coffee in my car - eek!!), we went to Vaughn's Farms to pick strawberries. We had a great time! Jacob really enjoyed himself. We got 5 lbs of berries for $9.25!

Later on Saturday, we went to a neighborhood block party with lots of other families with kids Jacob's age. We enjoyed meeting new neighbors and hanging out with the ones we knew already.

On Sunday, I took Jacob to Pullen Park in Raleigh, which is a city park that has a 1900 carosel, small boats, a train, a lake, and a playground. It's a popular spot in nice weather!

Now, I don't want to jinx ourselves, but we are starting Week 2 of the Potty Chart. So far, Jacob is doing pretty well with that! 18 stickers in the first 4 days; and about 14 in the last 3 days.

And, without further delay - recent pictures!! HERE

Easter (& Post-Easter) Wrap-Up!

Where did the last 2.5 weeks go?

We went to Wilmington for Easter. We stayed with my mom and went down on Thursday. On Friday, we went down to OIB to see Jeff's mom and Jacob had fun riding the golf cart and trying to drive it. We went to lunch down there as well. Jacob thankfully slept a little bit on the ride home. On Friday night, we went to dinner with our friends Rob & Elaine at Laterna in Wilmington. We had a great time.

Saturday morning, we went to an Easter Egg Hunt with Heather and Caitlin at Wrightsboro UMC. Jacob & Caitlin enjoyed the games, playground, snacks and of course the egg hunt. We got Jacob down for an early nap, and then afterwards went to my dad's house. Fortunately the weather was low 70's, so we were able to swim. Nancy (Nana) hid easter eggs around the house and courtyard for Jacob to find. We enjoyed our visit! Jacob got easter presents/baskets from his Mee-ma, Mimi, and Papa & Nana! What a lucky kid!

Saturday evening was low key, and on Sunday, we pretty much headed home to get ready for the week. Our week was pretty standard this week. Jacob did pee-pee on the potty a few times in the morning at home, and we've learned that he likes the "pee-pee dance" even better than candy! However, he still refuses to potty at Michelle's! I wonder if he's just to "busy" there than to do so... He does "know" that he is going to be done with diapers in the future, and he talks about that. I think we'll get there. I'd like it to be before Michelle has her maternity leave and Nicole is watching him, but we'll see. It may just have to be after that too. (Sorry Nicole!!)

Birthdays & the Dentist!

I went to the Dentist on Friday. Sounds exciting right? I took Jacob with me so he could see what it was like. But, he's actually already been to two different dentists with Michelle & Jason, when they had appointments. I'd been talking to him about it and he was very excited to sit in the dentist's chair. We've also been reading Green Puppy goes to the Dentist and he has loved that book. When we went, he was such a good boy! He colored for a little while, and watched me get my teeth cleaned. Having him there made it go by a lot faster! When they did the flouride, he sat in my lap and thought the little suction wand was hysterically. The hygienist called it "Mr. Thristy." We finally got finished up and left. I told him we were going to school, and he said, No, mommy, I want to go to Jacob's dentist. I tried and tried to explain to him that this was just a visit to watch mommy. He was not too happy! We have made him an appointment for September. I want to check with our pediatric cardiologist in August whether he will need pre-med antibiotics. So far, talking to other TGA moms, it seems like it's about a 50/50 split whether PC's recommend them or not...

In the last week, we had my grandma (Sugar)'s birthday on 3/26 and my dad, Jacob's papa, on 3/28.

We also went to Sterner's 2nd birthday party yesterday at Kim & Steven's house. They had Stacy Clearman of Littland Band fame come and play. Jacob has seen Stacy play on a number of occasions, even as recently as January at our town's Cultural Center. It's attached to our library, and every time we've been back to the library, Jacob mentions the Stacy concert! Anyway, at that concert, Jacob was all into it - dancing & singing on stage, etc. Well, yesterday, he was quite shy. I'm not sure what was going on with him, but he did not want to dance, though he did enjoy holding the microphone. We had a great time at the party!

This coming weekend, we have two more birthday parties - one on Saturday for Jake, a friend from Jacob's school, which will be at Planet Child in Cary. And then another party, on Sunday, also at Planet Child for Austin, who will be three. He is the son of our friends, Matt & Meredith. (Meredith is also our dentist.) We are looking forward to both parties.

The following weekend is, of course, Easter, and we'll be headed to Wilmington. Then, the weekend after Easter, we have Jason's birthday on April 18! Busy busy!

Six Years!

Today is our 6 year wedding anniversary! My mom came up this weekend and stayed with Jacob. Jeff and I went bowling on Saturday morning, then to lunch at the Q-Shack. We then checked into the Renaissance Hotel at North Hills Mall. We did some shopping at North Hills and then went to Coquette for champagne. Afterwards, we went to Vivace for dinner. It was VERY good. We were too full for dessert, but went back to the room and hung out for a little while. Then, we went to Fox & The Hound and had some beer and watched the NCAA tournament. This morning, we went to breakfast at Hot Point Cafe, and went back to the room until it was time to check out. Then, we went to the Kids Everywear sale. It's been a good weekend!

Our previous anniversaries:
1st - we went to Myrtle Beach, stayed at the Hilton and ate at Melting Pot.
2nd - we stayed at the Hilton in RDU and ate at Angus Barn. The following weekend, we went to the Outer Banks and stayed in Manteo!
3rd - we went on a Babymoon / Anniversary 4 nt cruise that stopped in Key West and Cozumel.
4th - Jacob was 7 months old and it was a weeknight, we got nice take out from Lucky 32.
5th - last year, we spent the weekend at Carolina Beach in an oceanfront room at Golden Sands. We went to Southport for the day, and went to dinner at Deckhouse. Some point during the day, we had Britt's Donuts too!

Baby Maelyn Update

Baby Maelyn passed peacefully last night. http://babyblack.us/

Our hearts go out to Amanda, Brad and Taylor, as well as their entire family.

Potty Progress

Jacob has been sitting on the potty at times for months now. Probably since last summer.... he's actually done #2 on the potty a handful of times, but not had much success with #1.

This past Saturday, we had him in some trainers in the morning, and he promptly peed through two pairs in a row. We were heading out to run errands and put him back in his diaper, abandoning the cause. As soon as we got into the car, backed out of the driveway, and got to the stop sign, he said, "I poop, I poop." So, we turn the car around, and head back to the house. I take him in and put him on the potty, but he didn't want to sit there. He got upset and wanted the diaper back on. I finally gave in, and we started to head out the door. "I poop, I poop," he says again. I checked him and he had filled a diaper with pee-pee. Fun times. I changed him, and a little while later, we went on our way.

On Sunday, we didn't bring up the potty at all, nor put him back in trainers, etc. Sunday night before bed, he asked Jeff to take him to the potty and promptly pee-peed! Jeff and I made a big deal out of it, etc.

On Monday, fifteen minutes after Jeff put Jacob to bed, Jacob called out, "I poop, I poop." (If you haven't figured it out yet - he uses the same word for #1 and #2.) So, Jeff got him up out of the crib, and out of his PJ's and sure enough, he pee-peed.

On Tuesday morning at 6:40 a.m., we were awaken to "I poop, I poop." We got him up and yep, again, he pee-peed. So, I decided to mention this to Michelle when I dropped him off. She said she'd work with him on it at her house too. Tuesday night, before his bath, he asked to pee - and bingo - he did it again!

This morning, as soon as he got up (5:45 this morning - eek!), he asked and Jeff took him and once more - pee-pee again!

I think something has clicked for him! Hopefully we are on the right path now!!

Baby Maelyn....

Baby Maelyn is the daughter of Jeff's former co-worker, Brad and his wife, Amanda.

Baby Maelyn was diagnosed in utero with HLHS.

Maelyn was born back in February and had her first heart surgery shortly thereafter. They've been working on feeding her and getting her off the ventilator since then.

Last night, she wasn't doing well and they took her into surgery to look at her intestines, and her intestines are quite sick. Hopefully they will know more later today and tomorrow.

Please say a prayer for Baby Maelyn and their family. They need them more than ever now.