Sandestin!

Growing up we always went to Myrtle Beach. My Grandmother had a gift shop there and my Grandfather ran a surf board and bike rental shop a block off the beach. I have many fond memories of the beach. I love it!! The sand, the sun, the waves, the tan.....

Jason's family has always gone to Destin. It is completely different from Myrtle Beach, but I've learned to love it! :) Myrtle Beach has a wide beach, dark sand and lots of big waves. Destin has a smaller beach, white sand and little waves (perfect size for my kiddos). We've enjoyed going there a handful of times over the last 14 years.

The week was absolutely wonderful! This is the first time (except our first summer as newlyweds) that we went on a vacation without me being pregnant or nursing. It is amazing what a difference that made. With Mac being 2 1/2, his naps were flexible and that made the week very relaxing. The only complaint we had was that the heat was almost unbearable, but we know we can't really complain about that - it was better than rain! It was about 98 degrees each day with a heat index of about 107-110. We went to the beach the first evening we got there (last Sunday) and then only three other mornings because it was so hot, but we went to the pool for a few hours after dinner each night and the Saturday before we left (yesterday) we went to the pool for about 3 1/2 hours.

We were spoiled by an absolutely gorgeous home that we were sad to leave. Here is a small look at what we had to put up with for the past week:

The master bedroom-

"Mollee's bedroom" (I just loved all the decorative pillows)-

Mac modeling the dining room/living room/kitchen area -

The view from the back screened-in porch -

We have now been home about 3 hours and we are completely unpacked (I had everything washed before heading home so there would be no laundry stress when we got back). Back to reality!! There was no telephone line at the house which resulted in no internet access, so I'm trying to catch up on my e-mail and, like I did for our Pennsylvania trip I'll just post a bunch of different entries for our different activities. I might post them all in the next 24 hours, but it will be easier to sort through the pics if I do them one-by-one, topic-by-topic.

Packing for 7!

Packing for 7 is quite a task. The biggest struggle is having all the clothes clean before you can start packing. I let the boys 'help' pick out their outfits (just so they feel included), but Mollee is the obvious girl who wants to take too many different options just in case she may want a skirt one day or shorts or a dress! "You just don't know, Mom!" Of goodness, and she is only 8! But it is 8:50, the night before we are leaving and I'm just about there. The house is clean (thanks to Jason for tackling the bathrooms and kitchen for me) and the suitcases are packed. We like to save up for vacation and eat out a lot - so it is a vacation for me too! - but this year there was no 'extra' money so we are taking many, many boxes of groceries with us and some frozen casseroles I made over the last few weeks. Thankfully, we have a huge van for all our stuff! I'm going to take a shower and take a sleeping pill (so I don't wake up and think of all the things I need to do in the morning). Hopefully, we'll get out the door at a reasonable time - which always means something different to me than it does to Jason. He says "I'm already in vacation mode, don't rush me!" :)

Beach Blogging coming soon....

Music Camp - Parablooza!

I feel like I should mention this since it has been such a blast all week. The kids have loved going. Even though we are holding Capps back, he is old enough to go to kindergarten this year, so we let him go to Music Camp (you have to be kindergarten age to attend). He is our least social child and I was curious how he would do, but he loved it, which I was very relieved. I went yesterday to watch the dress rehearsal since we won't be here for the program on Sunday. We are leaving tomorrow morning for Destin, FL!!! Yeah!!! After practice yesterday, they had a carnival (inflatables, cotton candy, icees, etc.). It was extremely hot, but they enjoyed it.

Today I am getting all the laundry done, packing, and trying to get the house clean. I hate coming home to a dirty house, it is a pet-peeve of mine that Jason doesn't quite understand, but I know he is always grateful to come home to a tidiness.

I will return next Sunday to report on our beach trip, unfortunately, there is no internet access where we will be staying. I'll try to survive without it.

Mother of a 2-year old!

This week it has been just me and Mac! And I've loved it! The big kids have been at Music Camp at church during the day. Believe it or not, I've never had just a 2-year old. When Tavis (#2) was born, Mollee was 1 year and 9 days old. I know that many hate the "terrible-twos", but the 18-month to age 3 or 4 (depending on the kid) is my favorite age. I'm trying to savor my little Mac and enjoy the heck out of him, which isn't hard to do with him.


Here he is relaxin' in his PJ's in the garage, practicing using the beach chair.

It has been a wonderful week of Mommy and Mac mornings!

Three more days until we go to the beach!!

A Busy Weekend

It is already Monday night and I had planned to blog a few times over the weekend, but it just didn't happen. So here we go...

We spend a lot of Friday nights at Jason's parents, but with Daegan's weird parotitis we decided not to go to avoid sharing any germs (even though they said he wasn't contagious) with his 97 year-old Mima who is recovering from a broken hip/surgery. So we got pizza and watched "Meet the Robinson's" with the kids. Saturday, I decided to let Jason sleep in late. I got up, got the kids breakfast, got cartoons going and went on my Wal-Mart run (as quickly as I could!) all before 9:50. I then put on a pot of coffee for Jason to enjoy when he awoke at 10:30 - What a good wife am I? The kids had tons of outdoor time, which always makes me feel better about myself. Mac took a great nap and then everyone enjoyed the sprinkler. We had PB&J for dinner and everyone was happy. Sunday, we went to church and since my parents are on vacation in Florida, we went straight home afterwards. While Mac was napping, I took the big kids to a neighbor's pool, and Jason stayed home and read on the deck without interruption. After the pool the kids got their baths and PJs on by 5:30 and we had cereal for dinner, which we have for dinner every Sunday night.

This morning we had to be at church at 8:30 for Music Camp. I got to run errands with only Mac, which was strange but a nice treat. I'm sure I'll have more on Music Camp in the days to come.

As I look back at this post I'm realizing that we played outside, played in the sprinkler, watched a movie and cartoons and went to the pool. Also, our dinners consisted of pizza, sandwiches and cereal. Not sure why I felt like it was an exhausting weekend, just a full weekend!

Six more days until vacation!!!! but whose counting?

Parotitis

Parotitis is an inflammation of the parotid glands, which are large salivary glands located in front of each ear. A bacterial infection is known as Parotitis and a viral infection is known as Mumps, which is extremely rare for those who have been vaccinated.

Call me crazy, but I always enjoy learning about these different ailments and how magnificent the body is - maybe one day I'll return to school and get my RN???

Ok, so in my last entry I mentioned that there was one in every family - the one that always gets sick and gets the weird ailments. Growing up, that was me. Now, unfortunately for him, that is Daegan. Lucky for me, he is tough as nails. We were just at the doctor Tuesday because I feared he had strep throat. He didn't, only a virus that needed to run it's course. He has felt fine the last few days and now he has bacterial infection in his parotid gland. He was complaining yesterday afternoon(and he never complains) that it hurt to open his mouth. By dinner I noticed it looked a little swollen and by bedtime it seemed a little more swollen and he screamed when I tried to touch it. By this morning it was very swollen, almost like he didn't have a jawline. I took him back to the doctor and they said he has Parotitis. He gets to 'enjoy' a round of antibiotics and that should take care of it. Thankfully, he isn't contagious. Even so, I'm washing all the sheets and Lysoling some common play areas. Of course, I had to get a picture. You can only sorta see it here. It is his right side (left side looking at him). His poor little ear is pushed up a little from the swell and his neck line is quite impressive on that side. The Dr. said on a scale of 1-10, his swelling is about an 8, it may get up to a 9 before the medicine kicks in, but if it gets to a 10 or 11 (yes, out of 10) and the pain becomes unbearable, we needed to take him the ER for IV meds.

We really know how to start off the summer! Last year Mollee's tonsillectomy and this year Daegan's Parotitis.

Ahh! The joys of parenthood!

Dr. Appts.

Let me start this blog by saying it isn't for pity, it is just part of our history:

I think in every family there is one person that just has the medical problems. Growing up, that was me. I got glasses in 5th grade, had braces for 4+ years, have terrible allergies, was prone to plantar warts (gross, I know), cold sores and boils (yes, like leprosy) - I'm being so open to my blogger world. I had gall bladder issues, migraines, horrible, unpredictable PMS, etc. It was just a family joke that if there was going to be a weird ailment in our family, it would happen to me. I was fine with that assumption. I have high pain tolerance and, I guess because I was used to it, just took it in stride and didn't complain. When Jason and I got married, he knew what he was getting in to. I had my tonsils out at age 19, while we were engaged, and he had to endure how terrible that was for me. On our wedding night I had a horrible migraine that has been a joke for Jason and I ever since (even if not so funny that night!). All that to say, that is just me!

Well, now, I don't have time to be sick, plus I have to pay for doctor visits now (used to on Dad's dime). So, when something is wrong I usually try to ignore it, try to self-diagnosis, and when it doesn't get better, maybe I'll go to the doctor or just ignore it a little longer. It has been one of those few weeks where I couldn't ignore any more.

In the last few weeks this is what we have done: Mollee had to go back to the allergist to have her asthma regimen reviewed, I went to the allergist for a check-up and because I was having terrible dizzy spells for the past five months, he sent me to an ENT. I saw the ENT and have differing pressure in my ears, causing the dizziness, which he prescribed a week of steroids to reduce swelling so the pressure would return to normal. The following day I went to my regular doctor to have him look at my ankle. In January, I started running, doing yoga, aerobics and weights. Whenever I run I have horrible pains in my ankle. I've tried to ignore it, but it got to the point that Jason was worried I had a stress fracture or something. After many, many different x-rays and an examination, the doctor said I have bursitis on the top of my foot, which may or may not be causing the ankle pain. For the record, I am skeptical of this diagnosis. It was only supposed to take a day or two and it has been a week and hasn't helped and I'm waiting for the doctor to return my call as I'm writing. I also had my fun annual girly appointment today that ended in blood work for possible thyroid issues because of some complaints/concerns I have. Somewhere in there I had to go to the dentist for a chipped tooth and Daegan had to go for his allergy panel. Now that I have exhausted my babysitters, I think we are done with appts. for awhile, except that I haven't gotten relief from the ankle problem and Capps has a dentist appointment next week and I have two sick with fevers and croupy coughs.......

I guess this is all part of being me, and a mom, and broken. It is a great way to start the summer!! Better than being in the hospital with Mollee