September 3rd

So we took another trip down to West Palm to visit good ol' Uncle Milton. It was a lousy trip and started off pretty bad. We were getting everything ready and I noticed some wet clothes around the water heater. We cleaned a "path" through the garage a few weeks ago and there was a ton of moldy and wet stuff around the water heater then. I thought "it must need more room to breathe". So I gave it more space to breathe. Didn't seem to work. As it turns out, it is rusted and leaking from the power panel. This can't be good! We had a friend coming over to dog/house sit so we had to call her to let her know she would be staying without hot water and of course we paid her more for the inconvenience. We turned the water off to the machine and decided to still take the trip as Jeff had the days off and we couldn't imagine calling Uncle Milton to be late or not show up. So first thing Monday morning we took off.

Uncle Milton is sometimes glad to see us and sometimes not. This trip was a not so much one. It was still hotter than anything and he was grouchy. We spent a lot of time swimming and Nick learned how to swim with his life jacket thing on and no help! We were very proud of him and he is completely fearless. It took only a couple of hours for him to go from grabbing me with a death grip to jumping in and swimming alone!

Alex had a pretty good time. During this trip he learned to crawl. The cutest and saddest thing you have ever seen. Like a dead man crawling for water. What made him crawl you ask? That is right, this hideous monkey table that he thought was eating peanuts without him. We weren't kidding when we said he will do anything for food, including crawl!

September 2nd

Yay, we got Fluffy mail. For those of you not familiar with the term, it is when you get diapers in the mail. I am completely obsessed with the fruit and vegetable prints (as many diapering freaks are). I just started them and I truly cannot stop. It is a complete adiction and I need to go to a meeting. Unfortunately I can't even find other cloth diapering moms in my area to help talk me out of it! Oh well, I will just have to get a few more new diapers and sell some old ones.

PEAS!!

Nick fits in the diaper easier than Alex does, he is just longer. If Nick were still wearing diapers, we would only need one size!

Also - NICK IS OFFICIALLY COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY POTTY TRAINED!!!!! He has been in undies for about 3 weeks now and is doing great, all night, during naps and while out. He tells us when he has to pee (most of the time) and now tells us when he has to poo. We love it!


I know it is just wrong, but I couldn't resist this adorable shot of their little naked bums. Nick was holding Alex up and actually talking to him. How cute is that! (I may need to fear for my life when they are in high school!)

Nick doesn't watch a lot of TV so when I let him lay down to watch a program on the computer, he is pretty stoked. He gets his dolls and puts them to bed and climbs in himself. It is great while it lasts but you should be there when it is over. Nuclear melt-down! Not a pretty sight. As such, I have now eliminated this 15 minutes of fun and replaced it with reading or playing with cars. He is just as happy to have a book read to him, less time for me but it makes the entire day easier. My sister thinks I am nuts and that he is freaking out due to him NEEDING more TV, sugar or what have you. I disagree and since I am in control, it is no TV for Mr. Nick. He doesn't even notice it being gone and the melt-down for not being allowed to watch IF he asks is much better than after turning it off, and the remainder of the day after seeing just 5 minutes of TV.

Perhaps his love of books will be that much stronger later on. Let us hope. If not, I am so sorry he will not make it to the Superbowl of Pop Culture like his dad aspires to do himself.

Hello stranger . . .

So it has been a while. I have been so incredibly busy, busy and tired. I didn't realize it had been so long until just now, August 28th! Holy cow. But, hopefully I will be able to do a few posts over the next few days with all of the stuff that has been happening.

So, let us start at the beginning.

August 30th

We met Anissa and Peyton Mayhew for breakfast at Chick-fil-a. They are the greatest family and just crazy. Peyton has leukemia and is in the maintenance stage of her treatment. She is actually only a few weeks older than Nick but WOW. She is so much more advanced and smart. I don't know if this is a good thing for Anissa as she is such a teenager already. Peyton has two older siblings that are adorable as well but in school now. Jeff actually met the Mayhews at Cracker Barrel as the family eats there ALL the time. Petyon is an honorary employee and has the cutest little "rising star" apron they made for her. It is toooo cute!

Peyton didn't have any interest in playing with a boy and Nick was oblivious that she was even there. This was the best shot we got of the two of them. Isn't Peyton gorgeous. She has tons of hair coming in now and she is going to look so different with beautiful black hair!

August 31st

I went to my old boss at Fowler White, Shannon Campbell's bridal shower. It was INCREDIBLE! So Florida is surrounded by water but being on the water is still pretty expensive. As you are driving over the bridge from Tampa to St. Pete you look directly to your left and see a bunch of Ginormous (it is now officially a word) houses directly on the water. Well, that is where the bridal shower was, at Shannon's soon to be in-law's house. They had a gorgeous pool and directly behind that is the bay and their own private dock. Wow!

Here is a nice picture of Shannon, you can see the sunset reflected in the window behind her.

This is their house. Not as impressive from the outside as it was inside.

This table with the flowers is directly behind the house and you can see how close the ocean is to their door! The only drawback is the airport is extremely close and you can frequently hear the planes overhead.

This is also from their back door, what a view!

The food was incredible. Shannon loves shoes and this was an adorable cheesecake with a Manolo Blahnik shoe on top. It was delicious too!

I took a wrong turn and had to go through the neighborhood, darn! This is one of the houses being built on the same street. I couldn't even guess what a house like this might cost! I pitty them spending so much on these homes and then having to worry about the next hurricane or just a big storm.

The neighborhood was quite amusing. I saw a woman walking a Weimeriner (sp) who was in immaculate shape. Then I saw an older man walking with weights in his hands and pumping them up and down as he walked. I actually laughed out loud. It was seriously like Beverly Hills 90210.

Then I saw a woman drive by with two little white dogs on her lap. Then when I got their the hostess had two little white dogs. Then later someone arrived with her own little white dog. I think it was a white dog cult!

More to come later. . .