All Caught Up

June was an absolutely CRAZY month for us! First was a wonderful vacation to the Outer Banks. We stayed in a beautiful beach house, located in a Corolla Light resort, which had its own pools, game room and restaurant (we did eat there, and boy was it YUMMY!) The best part of the trip, however, was the beach.

While I had not expected the water, or weather, to be warm enough to enjoy, I was, thankfully, wrong! We had some very sunny, warm days, and while the water was a tad chilly at first, it was easy to get used to (even for a water wimp like me!) and we were "catching waves" in no time! Even Jeremiah was able to get in on some water action, though he did find the waves a little scary at first. Jesslyn, at the beginning of the week, wanted nothing to do with the water, but was perfectly happy sitting on the beach as the tide came in to occasionally cool her off. And as it is with Jesslyn, nothing stops her from sucking her thumb--not rain, nor sleet or snow, and DEFINITELY NOT sand, much to Mommy's dismay...

We did try to go crabbing on the sound side. That was my favorite part. I'm not much of a crab person, but I do like fishing, and it was exciting when one of us were successful and caught a little stinker. And the day we chose was BEAUTIFUL for it. The water on that side was really warm, too, so I was walking around in there, thinking I could get closer to the crabs. That adventure ended quickly at the sighting of a "water snake." Not sure what kind it was, but as I'm not a fan of snakes in any way, shape, or form (no, I don't even want to see them dead...) I was not going to linger to find out. We stayed outta the water from that point on...

Jeremy proved to be quit the fisherman, despite having never crabbed before. I think it was a little frustrating for my Mom, as she was supposed to be our resident "expert." But she certainly wasn't complaining later that night when we were partaking of our catch (all 9 of 'em!) It was so much fun, though, I wanted to go again later that day (according to Wikipedia, the best time to go is dusk...) Unfortunately, all we caught that time was about 100 mosquito bites between my Mom and myself (not an exaggeration. ..) So Jeremy took us to get ice cream as a "reward" for trying. :)

All in all, it was a fabulous trip, and I really felt like our kiddies grew a lot while we were there. Jeremiah slept in a bunk bed for the first time, and was climbing out by the end of the week. It was really cute to have a two year old come into your room at 6:45 a.m. saying, "Mommy?" (which, by the way, he started saying while we were there! Along with a plethora of other words. I guess it took getting away from home to convince him to start using the English language. :) And Jesslyn perfected her crawling/climbing skills while there, as well. My little babes are growing so quickly! Shame how that works, huh?

As for the rest of the month, we had Jeremy's cousin, Catherine and Kris' wedding the following week. The wedding was WONDERFUL! It had a casual elegance about it, and I'm so glad we were able to attend. It started off a bit scary--I was hauling both kids and diaper bags/purse to go take our seats on the lawn (it was an outdoor ceremony,) while Jeremy went back to the van to get camera. Jeremiah decided that it was a bit too much for him, and started running back toward the entrance. Can you guess where this is going? Well, there was no stopping him, verbally, and with a 9 month old, bags and high heels in tow, chasing after him was near impossible. Next thing I knew, he took a sharp turn around the corner, right towards the street. I screamed, and THANK GOD, one of Jeremy's Uncle's was right there to catch him. I lost it. I finally caught up to him, yanked him towards me, and started bawling, while saying as sternly as I could, "You need to listen to your Mommy! When Mommy says STOP, you STOP!" He clearly felt bad to have made Mommy cry, which made me feel even worse. All while Jeremy's extended family looked on and tried to say, "Hi, Jess, nice to see you again." Oi... Hopefully we never have to repeat that adventure...

The rest of the wedding was beautiful, though. It did start to rain a bit, but luckily, cocktail hour was indoors--after you waited in line in the rain to congratulate the happy couple. My MIL took off with Jesslyn and cut in line to get in, which left me with Jeremiah, trying to follow without being as rude. Thankfully, a nice couple let me go in front of them (I was pretty much there already, but what could I do? Jeremy was all the way back in line, and I wasn't about to keep Jeremiah outside in the rain....) The rain did provide some entertainment for him later on, after dinner. All the chairs we had been sitting in during the ceremony now each had a little puddle of water on them, just waiting for Jeremiah to tip over! And he did. Every. Single. One.... It was really cute.

Our adventures at Jeremy's family farm (a cabin on the side of a mountain...) were equally enjoyable--more so for Jeremiah, I'm sure! He really loved everything about it, so I know we'll be heading back at some point. Old tractors, lots of room to roam, an old school pump for water, s'mores, fireworks, bonfires, all sorts of fun stuff for kids/boys/crazy people. ;) Maybe he and Daddy can camp out there while Jesslyn and Mommy hunker down in a b&b (though not the one we stayed at this last time! When we arrived Friday night, we had to carry our tired babies through a "deck party", thick with smoke, drunks, and loud music... No apologies from the innkeeper, just, "oh, you won't hear it from your room." But we did. So that's the end of that.)

We're glad to be home, though. I'm done traveling for a while! Two 6+hour trips in the car with two babies, back to back, is just too much. Of course, I wouldn't have minded avoiding the whole gall bladder thing, but I guess I'm glad it's over. I do feel better now. The pain is minimal, certainly not prescription pain killer worthy, but it's nice to have just in case. It has given me a short burst of energy before making me drowsy, so that's been handy for getting things done around the house. I'm not supposed to be lifting the kids, though, so that's been tough. My brother, Stephin, has been here to help with the kids, but it was obvious he wasn't happy hanging out, so he left and I'll just try to keep the lifting to a minimum. Really, I just need to make it through tommorrow. I think Jeremy can take off on Thursday, and Friday is "the 4th" (observed) so we'll be good from there on out.

And that is that. :)

On the mend...

For the few of you not on Facebook, I had the awesome luck of having surgery yesterday to remove my gall bladder. Since Jesslyn's been born, I'd been having these weird pains, which I've learned are actually "gallstone attacks". Apparently, gallstone formation is very common after pregnancy, and the attacks can be triggered by fatty foods and dairy. So if you've had a baby recently, and get a really bad stomach ach after eating, you may have gallstones!

Had I actually gone to the doctor the first time it happened, I may have been able to control it with dietary changes (avoiding fatty foods and dairy products,) as I tried to do once the diagnosis came in. However, while waiting to meet with the surgeon in his office on Thursday, I had another attack, despite not eating any junk. This attack was not as severe as the prior attacks had been, but since I had it while meeting with the surgeon, I went ahead and scheduled the surgery for the next day (they were kind enough to "squeeze" me in...)

So yes, I feel better now, I guess. There's some lingering pain, but that's to be expected after any surgical procedure. I've got some pain meds, and have been able to do some stuff around the house, so I'm on the mend. The only downside to recovery is that I can't pick up my kids, which SUCKS! Poor Jesslyn... she kept crawling up to me this afternoon (her and Jeremiah had been at Mee-maw & Poppy's house yesterday and today, so she missed me....) and I couldn't pick her up. :( I probably won't be able to do so until I see my dr. again in a week. But the Lord is good, and He has blessed us with amazing family and friends, so hopefully it won't be an issue.

OBX Slideshow

Here are the photos from our trip!


And, uh, that's it! I'll write more about it-----later! :)

Coming soon....

Herndon Big Trucks Day!

Is this right up Jeremiah's alley, or what???? The kid is obsessed with cars/trucks/anything man-made that moves! Needless to say, he was so much more excited to be hanging around big trucks than a candy store. :) Too bad the weather was kinda iffy, and a few of the other parents there (okay, it was just ONE) didn't know how to teach their kids to share and take turns (and failed to encourage such) but all in all, 'twas a fun day for him!

This was the only truck left with a working horn. Since we hit it at the tail end of the week--okay, the very last day--all the other horns were "dead." And it was LOUD! So loud that Jeremiah was on edge the whole time we were there, as most kids would just lay it on and not let up until whatever adult they were with finally talked 'em down.

"More than meets the eye..." ????

Jesslyn just kinda chilled with Mommy, taking it all in. She, unlike Jeremiah, was not fazed by the horns. Just kept smiling!

How to stop some horn-induced tears? Cookies help! :)

"HI!"

Ah... that's "the dad" that would not encourage his kids to share/take turns. Jeremy and I later saw him while in line to see Star Trek at the IMAX. Jeremy didn't believe me at first, but the more he looked at him, he realized I WAS RIGHT! How freaky is that.... glad I didn't do anything more than send some stern looks his way....

This was pretty cool--you could change the lights as you wanted. Jeremiah enjoyed doing that while waiting for his turn in one of the trucks.

Okay, seriously, am I really the only one expecting these trucks to "transform"?!?!? Don't they look like they should???? Am I really just that stuck in the 80's (and now, 00's, considering Transformers 2 comes out IN ONE MORE WEEK!!!)

Time to go! Wave bye bye, Jeremiah!

Okay, he wasn't happy to leave. He kept wanting to go back... but yeah, that wasn't going to happen. Mommy had had enough of the honking horns. :)

Mother's Day Pics

Whoops, this is a bit late, isn't it? Well, I just discovered these pics whilst cleaning out the camera. Since I finally broke down and paid for a Pro Flickr account, hopefully I'll be able to post more, sooner.

I thought I had already blogged about Mother's Day, but looking back, it doesn't appear to have been mentioned. Ooops! I tell ya, you have a couple of people make a comment about the content of your blog, and you go from blogging nearly every other day to one or twice a month. Yeesh.

Okay, then, Mother's Day! Umm.... I don't really remember much about it. :) I know Jeremy woke up, for the first time ever!, and went out to get me flowers, cards, a balloon and a little cake. I think he was going to make me breakfast, but we didn't have time, since I wanted to go to church. And since we volunteer in the nursery on the 2nd Sunday of every month, we couldn't NOT go. Yeah.

It was fine, though. Watched the kiddies, sat in the service while someone ELSE watched OUR kiddies, then headed home. My family came over in the afternoon and we did a simple cook-out to celebrate.

That's 'bout it. :) And the only pics I have are of Jeremiah playing on his swing set.

He does look sweet, doesn't he?

But yeah, that's it. No photos of Jesslyn, or me (even though I looked GOOD that day--that I remember!) Just Jeremiah. Unless I have them on my OTHER camera (that I have yet to download.) I guess that'll be another late post for yet another time... :)