KerryAndGabe.com

I know that in the grand scheme of things, having two different sized feet really isn’t a big deal. That does not make it less frustrating to find shoes for my daughter. We went to the outlet mall this weekend, hoping to find two or three pairs of shoes for Maddie’s fall wardrobe. With two shoe stores carrying toddler shoes at the outlet, I thought that this wasn’t an impossible dream. Six months can make you forget a lot. Almost as soon as I entered the shoe store, full of hope, I remembered how awful it is to shoe shop for Maddie.

We got her feet sized, and determined that we would be shopping for a size 6 for her left foot and a size 7.5 for her right. We found a pair of shoes that we liked and were then able to locate both sizes. Unfortunately, after trying them on, we determined (and were told by the sales person) that the style runs a bit small. So, we needed a 6.5 and 8 in that style. The 6.5 we found right away. The 8 was nowhere to be found. They weren’t able to locate one in the back either. So then we searched for another “pair.”

After failing to find a match, I pulled EVERY SINGLE 6 AND 7.5 from the shelves, hoping to find a match. I had no such luck. I brought the 8 boxes up to the front and said, “I’d love to find a 7.5 in ANY of these 7 or a 6 in this one.” The only 7.5 that I found started at size 7, so that one was out right away. The sales lady went to the back in search of any 7.5s and came back with two pairs of shoes. One was a navy pair and the other was black. They were cute enough. The brown pair was passable. It’s not quite what we were looking for, but it will do. The navy ones were too wide. Maddie has very narrow little feet.

Next, we tried the other shoe store and found one hideous shoe. I couldn’t bring myself to even have her try it on. It was awful and would not have gone with any of her outfits.

It was a long exhausting trip to the outlets, and I no longer think it is worth it. I think from now on, we’ll just stick close to home and either pay full price at Stride Rite or just find whatever we can at Target or Kohl’s or wherever.

Shoe shopping is a pain for us, but my heart aches for my poor little girl who will one day grow up and buy her own shoes. Perhaps she will find that getting special inserts will work for her. I have heard from other adults with two different sized feet mixed reviews on that approach. Maybe she will become friends with a shoe buddy with opposite sized feet?

In other news, I found a pair of shoes that I liked. My feet are still a full size larger than my pre-pregnancy days. Joy. Nobody warned me of the permanent shoe size change that comes with pregnancy for some people!

Something that makes me happy: Buying clothes for the kiddos. It’s so much more fun than buying clothes for myself!

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking that another trip to the Smithfield outlets is not in my future…perhaps ever, unless maybe I’m passing right by it on the way back from somewhere.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping we didn’t go overboard too badly when buying the kids’ fall wardrobe. Something tells me that we have a bit more than we will really need.

Something happening around the house: My parents came to visit this weekend. We were originally going to visit them at their house, but we had a long week and they agreed to visit us. We had a great time!

Something I’m reading: Um, let’s see. The Poky Little Puppy, Elmo Says, books about Winnie the Pooh, Richard Scarry books, snippets in Parents magazines, The Three Little Pigs, and other kids’ books. I didn’t do any reading for book club. I’m really starting to doubt that I’ll finish this month’s book.

Something I’m watching: We watched another disc of Supernatural and the finale of Hell’s Kitchen. Supernatural had a few scary episodes early in the season, but it isn’t scaring me nearly as much now. Some episodes still make me jump a bit, though! We’re still on Season 1.

Something I’m playing: Ooh, it was a great week for games! We installed the Carcassonne app on the iPhone. I’m loving it! It’s nice to play a “real” board game. I’m still playing Words with Friends. Cullen also slept long enough for us (with a few interruptions) to play Tichu with my parents! It gives us a little hope that we might be able to do “normal” things like that here and there.

Something tasty: We went out to eat with my parents and sister last night, and then we came back to the house. My mom, sister, and I went to the grocery store to get dessert. We found a dairy free brownie mix. The brownies were quite tasty!!!! It was a treat to get something chocolatey like that, since most easily accessible chocolate has milk.

Something Maddie is doing (29 months old): We went shoe shopping for her this weekend since she is outgrowing her current set of shoes. This was a very frustrating experience, and I think I’ll write up a separate post for it. She is definitely into her books these days. She wants us to read to her constantly and can sit through some lengthy stories. She talks nonstop and makes me laugh all the time. Yesterday morning, she saw Gabe putting powdered sugar on his pancakes and said, “Daddy, I want snow on my pancake!” Cute. Since we’ve been feeding Cullen, she’s very into feeding her baby doll. We got her a baby doll high chair, so she’s excited about that. And baby continues to poop all over everything (no, she is not a potty doll. My child has an active imagination). This morning, she spent a good hour with a wipe cleaning up baby’s “mess.”

Something Cullen is doing (30 weeks old): It’s been a crazy week with Cullen. He had the follow up to his bladder infection testing on Tuesday. We were hoping that they wouldn’t find anything, but they diagnosed him with kidney reflux on both sides. We won’t know much more until the appointment with the urologist later this month. We may need to get Maddie tested as it is very commonly found in siblings. I’m guessing that they will put him on a maintenance dose of antibiotics, he will have to be tested periodically, and he may require surgery if he does not outgrow the condition. In better news, we have declared that little dude is crawling! He is definitely on the move. He showed off for Nana and Papa this weekend, and I have some video to post soon. He easily can sit for lengthy periods of time. He also enjoyed some more new foods this week with the introduction of oatmeal (as a thickening agent), peaches, and butternut squash! Little Man is loving his foods! Oh, and we dismantled the co-sleeper. He hasn’t been sleeping in it for a few weeks, but it made a nice bed rail and place to put things like books. We put the Snug Tuck pillow back into place. Cullen has also slept in the pack-n-play in our room two nights in a row for a little bit at a time. There is hope.

Something I am struggling with: I’m struggling with patience as we have to wait a couple more weeks to find out more about Cullen’s kidney reflux (and find out if Maddie needs to be tested).

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I’m going to the Jack Johnson concert next Saturday!

Something I learned: Almonds are not nuts. They are a fruit.

Something I’m looking forward to: The concert with friends next Saturday.

Something random: I miss playing poker and board games sometimes, but I love the life we chose with our kids!

Something captured: We got some new camping style chairs for the kiddos.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

I put this together shortly after our July 4th trip to the mountains. The girls love dancing to Viva la Vida by Coldplay, so I pieced together some of their dances. I initially uploaded the HD version to YouTube, but wow, that takes forever to download. Lesson learned. I uploaded a much smaller version, so it shouldn’t be a pain to view. You may see some ad information at the bottom (blocking my titles and captions), but you should be able to close it. I was instantly flagged with copyright material and banned in Germany.

My favorite part of the video starts around the 2 minute mark. Love it. Click on the original post to see the embedded video.

Something that makes me happy: Getting better after being sick!

Something I’m thinking: Not much. I’m exhausted.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping for a calm week.

Something happening around the house: The cleaners came on Friday, but whatever they did to the floors is awful. It left some kind of filmy, slippery residue in the kitchen, utility room, and master bathroom (including the shower). It’s gross on bare feet and dangerously slippy. Not cool.

Something I’m reading: I didn’t have much time this week for reading, but I did attempt to read a little of Special Topics in Calamity Physics. I did not get far. I’m feeling doubtful about finishing by the end of the month, but maybe I’ll set aside some time or something.

Something I’m watching: We watched another disc of Supernatural. It doesn’t seem quite as scary as it did at first. Of course, that does vary depending on the episode!!!

Something I’m playing: I’m getting my butt kicked in Words with Friends on my iPhone.

Something tasty: Maddie and I made a dairy free blueberry streusel this morning. YUMMY. Cake for breakfast? Sounds good to me.

Something Maddie is doing (29 months old): It’s hilarious how she has to do everything herself (though not always hilarious at the time). It cracks me up when she will undo something that we have done for her just so that she can do it again. Like yesterday, she wanted to wear a green hair bow. I told her that the green one didn’t match, but how about this pink one? She said no, and then she took the pink hair bow from me, stuck it into the bag, and pulled it out. She then said, “how about this pink one?” Hilarious. Maddie is very into books and having us tell her stories (I told her the story of Goldilocks with Maddie in the story instead of Goldilocks - she loves it!). Her favorites at the moment are The Three Little Pigs (she was obsessed with wolves long before the discovery of this book), The Poky Little Puppy, and Pinkalicious (still). Maddie loved her first ribbon dancing class this week (and did quite well!). I’m looking forward to more sports, dance, and music lessons.

Something Cullen is doing (28 weeks old): Little dude had a follow up appointment due to his bladder infection and we will be getting some further tests done this week at the hospital. I’m hoping that we do not find anything serious (or anything at all, really). Cullen tried some more new foods this week: prunes (out of necessity, and he had them all over his face!), acorn squash (loved it!), and green beans (hated them!). He’s also a big fan of avocado mixed with banana as well as avocado mixed with prunes. He’s not a big fan of avocado by itself just yet. I’m not sure what I might be able to mix with green beans to make them tastier for him. This week, I will probably try making butternut squash, peaches, and maybe peas. Little dude is trying hard to crawl. He gets all around the living room by rolling and pushing himself along. I don’t think he can always go where he wants to go, but he definitely gets around. He has done a little bit of getting on his knees and rocking, so we feel like crawling is going to be really soon. He can balance in a sitting position for a pretty long period of time, though he isn’t so stable that I don’t sit nearby and spot him!

Something I am struggling with: Ugh, a nasty summer cold. I am pretty sure we all had it, though it is hard to tell with the kids since neither of them ran a fever and the congestion with this one wasn’t as bad as some. My throat hurt quite a bit, and I think that Maddie and Cullen may have had sore throats as well. It’s so hard to tell when they can’t accurately express how they are feeling. Maddie did complain while eating a few times that her mouth hurt, so I think she must have been feeling the same thing.

Something I learned: The same instructor who does the ribbon dancing class teaches basketball and soccer skills (two separate classes) to two year olds. We might have to give one of her other classes a try. She seemed to be very good with the wee ones!

Something I’m looking forward to: More ribbon dancing and a visit with my parents (hopefully everyone will be well this time).

Something random: We did a tiny bit of tax free clothes shopping for the kids and sorted through bags and boxes of outgrown clothes to decide what to keep, give to friends, and donate. Whew!

Something captured: My babies sure do love each other (for now).

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Hey, I’ve made it into May now… We had a nice, quiet Mother’s Day (if there is such a thing with an infant and a toddler!). We went out to breakfast at the new Brig’s that opened near our house. Yummy! Afterward, we went to the park where Gabe fulfilled my only Mother’s Day request: to get some photos of my babies and me. Click on the photo to see the best from Mother’s Day.

Team B-Patrol raised over $10,500 this year for the National MS Society. We recruited a few new members and hope to continue to grow our team. We are very proud of our accomplishments this year. We ended up in 11th place, just a few hundred dollars shy of being in the top 10. At the walk, we were awarded the Above and Beyond award for our efforts with the yard sale and ongoing efforts throughout the fundraising season. Click on the photo to see this year’s walk photos

I’m slowly digging out of this virtual mountain of photos. Whew. Ten years ago, I took a ton of photos. That was before I transitioned to digital. Once I moved to digital, my photo taking increased even more. That was back before I had an SLR plus a small camera. Two cameras didn’t mean twice as many photos, but my picture taking increased again. Since I had the SLR for the really important photos, I could afford to get a teeny tiny camera where the priority was on size. A teeny tiny camera meant that I could have it with me any time, any where. And then, I started having kids. Wow. Now we have an insane amount of photos. It’s quite a job to sort through thousands of photos. We typically have hundreds from a single weekend. The photos you see here are just the very tip of the iceberg.

Anyway…here are some photos from April. Click on the photo to see the entire album.

Some days I feel like I’ll never catch up on photos and trip reports and such, and other days I feel like I might be able to do it. So, I’m a little behind.

For those of you who do not want to read my long winded trip report, here’s some links to photos from our trip (if you don’t want to read my long winded posts and don’t care for the photos, then what are you doing here at all?):
Georgia
Disney
The rest of Florida

Before they knew that we were pregnant with Cullen, Gabe’s parents had booked a condo in Orlando and invited us to join them. We hadn’t told them about the new grandchild and tentatively said we would go. Since we knew the baby would still be very young by the time of the trip, we were really not sure whether we would want to go! We knew it would be somewhat of a last minute decision. I was pretty optimistic, but Gabe was not.

We knew that it was going to be a long drive, but we thought it would be easier to drive than fly this time. I’m glad we drove just based on the large amount of stuff that we had to bring with us! While I’m sure we could have been fine with much less, it sure is nice to be able to pack little conveniences like boppies, extra pillows, and pack-n-plays.

The first leg was easy. Maddie was happy, and Cullen slept the majority of the time. It takes around 3 hours to get to my parents’ house, which was our first destination. We decided to have lunch and spend a little time with my parents on our way down to Atlanta. We spent a little more time at their house than we had intended, but it was really nice to visit with them. The rest of the day did not go so smoothly! In fact, that was the only time in the car that was pleasant. We had lots of crying from both kids and very little quiet time on our rides.

Our next stop was Atlanta for a few days, including Easter Sunday. We visited with my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins. This was the first time we had stayed in a hotel since Cullen was born, and we opted for Embassy Suites so that we could have a little extra living space. We weren’t sure how the two kids would sleep in the same room, so Maddie slept in the living room and the rest of us were in the bedroom. We blockaded the door with a chair since we were a little nervous about having Maddie in the front room. We left our door cracked open, too, and we were happy to have the video monitor. The room worked out really well for us, though the free breakfast was a bit lacking at this particular Embassy Suites.

We had a very nice visit with my grandparents, and everyone was so happy to see our kids. This was the first time that Cullen met any Atlanta family. Maddie was excited about the Easter Bunny. She and I had shared some Peeps recently, so she was thrilled to hear that the Easter Bunny would bring her a basket of goodies, including Peeps. When my grandma asked Maddie who the Easter Bunny was, she replied, “The Easter Bunny is a bunny who brings Peeps!” The Easter Bunny did indeed bring her Peeps as well as some other goodies. He brought a feeding kit for her doll, some coloring books, crayons, stickers, eggs with Play-Doh and bunny snacks. She loved all of it. We then had an Easter Egg hunt in my grandparents’ back yard. This was the first year that she really understood what was going on with the Easter Bunny, egg dying and egg hunts. I loved it!

We left Atlanta to drive about halfway to Orlando. Once again, we had a rough ride both to the hotel and then to the condo the next day. Whew! Of course, we knew that this was a possibility since Cullen had not proven himself to be a good car rider in his life so far! It didn’t help that we were off schedule, we discovered Maddie doesn’t nap comfortable in the car anymore, Maddie was constipated, and the kids alternated in some kind of secret pact who would be the loudest at any given moment. Good times.

We did have a nice time while in Florida. We went to the pool, played ping pong and horseshoes, lost a little money at Bingo, and took it easy around the condo. We decided as we were driving into Orlando that we couldn’t be this close to Disney and NOT go.

So, we went to the Magic Kingdom for a day. It was a wonderful day, and I’m so happy that we decided to go!!! I thought that Maddie would be too young. I wasn’t sure how she would react to the rides or the costumed characters. She loved everything! Every time we rode a ride, she wanted to go on it again (with the exception of the carousel…she did not like it!). She loved Dumbo’s Flying Elephants, Aladdin’s Flying Carpets, and the Winnie the Pooh ride. She enjoyed going through Minnie’s House (which I thought was crowded and not terribly interesting, so I was surprised she wanted to do it again!). The highlight of the day was when she met her hero, Winnie the Pooh. She posed nicely for the photos, shook Pooh and Tigger’s hands, and hugged Pooh for a really long time. It was awesome. It was a little hot and at the height of Spring Break, but we still had such a great time. Next time, we will likely plan ahead a bit more (and pick a time of the year that is not so popular). Maddie did great with the lines and learned a thing or two about “taking turns.” She has been talking about how she met Winnie the Pooh and Tigger since then and how she gave Pooh a big hug. It’s about the sweetest thing ever!

The ride back was not smooth by any stretch of the imagination. The plan was to leave as early as we could and drive about halfway home. What actually happened was a flat tire on the van. We discovered it just as we were about to pull out of the parking lot of the condo. Fortunately, Gabe’s parents were staying one extra day. This was a very good thing since we had a place to be with the kiddos while we sorted out the tire issues. We called AAA and were excited to use the auto services for the first time (we mostly get AAA for the discounts on hotels). Unfortunately, AAA was worthless to us. They would only come out and change the flat tire, but they couldn’t even call us back for over an hour. The only thing that they could do is change the tire to our spare and could not do any diagnostics on the tire nor were they able to direct us to a service station that could help. Gabe and his parents decided to change the tire themselves while waiting for a call back from AAA. Gabe was already on his way to a service station by the time that AAA got back to us. Worthless!

By the time we had the tire inspected and back on the van, we had lost 3-4 hours. We now had a very wound up toddler who desperately needed a nap and was acting out in ways that I had never before witnessed. It was a very stressful morning and afternoon.

We finally got on the road over 5 hours after our scheduled departure, and ran into a massive traffic jam before we were even out of the Orlando area. That traffic jam took us two hours during which time both kids were extremely cranky. We canceled our hotel reservations midway as we weren’t sure how far we would be able to make it. Turns out that we should have kept our reservations in Savannah. We ran into another traffic jam after dinner. I’m not even sure we were out of Florida at this point. That traffic jam took us another 2 hours to clear. Now we have two cranky children and two cranky adults. By the time we cleared the traffic jam, it was around 10 or 11pm, and we could not find a hotel for over 100 miles. We called many hotels before finding a Hampton Inn in Santee, SC (about 2 hours from where we were at the time). We got the last room. Fortunately, they were true to their word and held the room for us. They had to turn away several weary travelers.

We brought in one pack-n-play, but we could have just left it in the car. We ended up each taking a bed and a child and got some sleep. The complimentary breakfast was the best that we had out of all the hotels on this trip. All of the staff that we ran into were extremely friendly. I can highly recommend the Santee, SC Hampton Inn! I had stayed in a few sub par Hampton Inns a while back, and this particular hotel has changed my opinion of the chain for the better.

The rest of the ride home was long, and we were extremely happy to be home again.

We can’t wait to take the kids to Disney within the next couple of years, though we will NOT be driving!! This trip was quite an adventure, though it will be a while before we try to tackle driving of that magnitude again. Whew! It was great to see family and positively magical to visit Magic Kingdom. We were glad that we went on the trip!

I encouraged Maddie to tell Cullen a joke the other day. This is how our conversation went.

me: Maddie, can you make Cullen laugh? Tell him a joke!
Maddie: A joke.
me: Tell him a joke, Maddie!
Maddie: I did! A joke.
me: That’s not a joke, tell him like a knock knock joke.
Maddie: Knock knock
me: Who’s there?
Maddie: [ba]nana
me: Banana who?
Maddie: Orange.
me: Um. Orange who?
Maddie: Just orange.

Something that makes me happy: Going out to a concert with my hubby (and friends) made me happy! It is always a little strange getting out of the house without the kiddos. It makes me feel like we need to do it more often!

Something I’m thinking: Um, August already???

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping that the tests that we have to do for Cullen come back without any serious problems. I’m trying not to worry too much.

Something happening around the house: Right at this moment, Gabe has the kids upstairs in the bonus room. I’m hearing kids’ songs and Maddie’s constant babble. Everyone sounds happy, and I think I’ll join them soon and finish this later!

Something I’m reading: I finished Little Earthquakes in time for book club this week. I’m trying to get started on Special Topics in Calamity Physics, which is our August pick for book club. I have tried starting this one in the past but haven’t gotten too far. Maybe I’ll have more success this time.

Something I’m watching: We watched King of Kong, a documentary about competitive (classic) video gaming. It was entertaining enough. I told Gabe that if he got laid off from his job, it is not acceptable for him to pursue world records in arcade games.

Something I’m playing: It would be nice if I could use this category for board games or card games, but I haven’t had much opportunity for those lately. I do get to play Words with Friends on a daily basis. I’m still playing a little Scramble 2.

Something tasty: We had fajitas tonight with friends, and they were tasty (though a bit spicy!).

Something Maddie is doing (29 months old): She is doing ok without the paci, but bedtime has been a more lengthy process. She babbles quite a bit before falling asleep. Her naps have been more challenging as well. She had a very rough night last night with lots of waking, so we are really hoping she’s not getting sick. Maddie has been asking us to read lots of books, and she has started reciting some fairly complicated books almost word for word. Repetition, repetition, repetition. She’s very into doing everything all by herself. If you do something for her, she makes a point of putting whatever it was back to the original state and then redoing it by herself. Parenting a toddler requires quite a bit of patience.

Something Cullen is doing (27 weeks old): Poor little guy has had a rough week. He started on Monday night with a fever and vomiting. He had a little congestion, so we thought he must have a sort of cold or virus when we took him to the doctor on Tuesday. Wednesday was his 6-month check up. Since he had gotten worse, they decided to take blood and urine samples and run some cultures. The blood test showed an elevated white blood count, pointing to a bacterial infection. Unfortunately, the urine looked abnormal and the cultures grew bacteria. So, he is being treated for a bladder infection. We will find out more this week with a follow up visit to the pediatrician. He is going to have to have some further testing at the hospital. I’m trying not to worry about the guy too much until we know more, but obviously that’s hard to do as a Mommy. The pediatrician focused on his illness, but we did talk about his 6 month well visit a little bit. His weight was 16 pounds, 10 ounces (30th percentile), length of 27 inches (68th percentile), and head circumference of 17.5 inches (98th percentile). Dude has a big noggin. The pediatrician commented on Cullen’s “advanced” babbling skills. He has been cooing at us and squealing more often. He has been rolling more to get places, and you can just tell he wants to crawl. He’s not quite getting on his hands and knees, but he’s getting closer. He is able to sit for brief periods by himself, not just in the tripod pose. We’ve been introducing him to foods, and this week he had banana, avocado, and sweet potato. He’s hitting a bunch of milestones all at once!

Something I am struggling with: Cullen’s health issues. Sleep. Keeping up with photos.

Something I learned: I am learning a little bit about kidney reflux, one of the things that they are testing Cullen for soon.

Something I’m looking forward to: Maddie’s ribbon dancing class and a possible visit with my parents.

Something random: I love how Cullen touches my face. I think it’s his special way of telling me that he loves me. It’s not an exclusive affection for me as I’ve seen him to do it to certain others as well. Of course, he does prefer me over all others right now. He’s all about Mommy!

Something captured: I will now always think of this as “The Shimmer Wall,” immortalized in song by Barenaked Ladies at last night’s show. It was a big deal for Gabe and I to get out of the house and see a concert together!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey