Escape

I've discovered one of the best ways to cope with national tragedies and this sometimes scary world we're in... point your car towards the nearest ocean. Turn off the news, hold your family close, and stick your toes in the sand.
And that's exactly what we did.

The few days leading up to our beach trip, Brad was actually in Vegas. He turns 30 this summer, and his brother offered to take him for a bro trip to celebrate. Last week just so happened to be the only time it'd work for both of them, so they took advantage.
I know I'm going to sound insanely naïve, so if you roll your eyes at what I'm about to say, I totally get it. But while most wives would be worried or stressed about their husbands being in Sin City, I didn't have any reservations about Brad going. I trust him, completely and totally. Frankly, he's too much of a stick-in-the-mud to even think about getting into trouble. haha. His type of fun is goofy fun... throwing soap in a fountain or some other high schooler prank type thing... not the Hangover type trouble. All he wanted to do was try his hand at Texas Hold 'Em. Turns out he was really good and actually brought home a little money. Go figure.
They checked out the famous hotels, saw the Blue Man Group, and met some cool people. So yeah. That's about all there is to tell on that end.

He was supposed to come back home Wednesday night, and we were going to leave for Kiawah Island on Thursday. Unfortunately, the Midwest blizzard put a damper on those plans. His flight was cancelled, so we were scrambling around trying to figure out the best option.

So Thursday morning, I packed everything up and headed towards Charleston with Noah on my own. Brad caught the next flight into the Charleston airport, and Noah and I picked him up on the way down to the beach. It worked out perfectly.

After 15 years, my dad (and his two other buddies) have decided to put the place on the market. Brad started going to Kiawah with my family back in high school, so it will forever have a special place in our hearts. He's proposed to me a million times on that beach. We stood at the edge of the ocean at 19, worried we'd never be back there together again right before he left for his mission. And we've watched our baby play in the sand there.

So anyway, we're trying to squeeze as much time out of that place as we can before they sell.
I only took a few shots with my fancy camera, mostly because I wanted to be present. Also because I forgot to bring my battery charger. This is when I'm thankful for camera phones.

My parents joined us Friday night, and my stepsister joined us Saturday (she had to work in Mt Pleasant over the weekend).

(seriously, I look like a 7th grader in this picture. You'd never know I had a cute Anthro top on underneath that sweatshirt, but it got cold. Oh well...)

 

If any of y'all remember our last attempt at this, you know it was terrible. We didn't sleep at all, because Noah was so thrown off by the whole thing. This time, I decided to bring his entire crib with us. We put it in our room with us, because we realized he didn't want to be left alone. And it was magical. He slept and would wake up every morning giggly and happy.

So yeah. We had a great time.

recent happenings

Last week, we took a day trip up to Asheville to visit the Biltmore. Brad had gotten free tickets through a work friend, so we picked a weekday (when it wouldn't be busy) and headed on up there. I hadn't gone since high school, and Brad had never been.

 

Noah did SO well. He even walked some of the tour and didn't try to jump on any beds or anything. :) He liked the tunnels in the basement, and his favorite part of the whole trip was the bus ride to the house.
When we were getting dropped back off at the parking lot, he starting waving and saying, "bye bye"... not because we were leaving, but because he wanted to go "bye bye" longer in the shuttle bus. lol.

I won't bore you with a ton of details of the house, but if you're in the area, definitely go for a visit. Especially if you watch Downton Abbey. It's very very similar to that. Except I recommend going in the spring. I mean, it was great for a free trip, but it would've been nice not to be so flippin cold!

(dude. bright sun. yikes.)

 We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but we did grab a quick shot with Brad's phone of Noah and me at the indoor bowling alley. The quality sucks, especially since it was pretty dark down there. It is what it is. Photos of me with Noah are rare, so I'll take it.

 

Because Noah did so amazingly well, we decided to give him a treat. They had a little vintage toy shop, full of old timey type things like spinning tops, marbles, etc. They also had plenty of Melissa & Doug toys and these cool clocks (which Noah was mesmerized with). He found some trains, so we grabbed him one of those. And I was kind of surprised that the price wasn't too bad... $6 for a high quality, metal train that makes sound is better than those Thomas ones.

We also stopped by the candy shop, and his little eyes couldn't believe all of that chocolate behind the glass. He got a chocolate covered graham cracker, which he only ended up eating a few bites of (momma helped him with the rest...).
I'm kind of regretting I didn't get any cute candy shop shots with my fancy camera, but it was a little hard juggling everything (purse, backpack with Noah's stuff, stroller, etc).

 

We had a really good time. Brad was a little creeped out by some of the darker hallways, saying how he'd hate to visit at night. It did have a little bit of a haunted house type vibe goin' on. I'd like to take one of those tours where they show you the secret tunnels and doors and stuff.

You can get a better idea of just how big the house is by comparing how small Brad and Noah look standing next to it (bottom right, with the stroller). Now that I'm a mom? I kept telling Brad how I couldn't imagine raising kids in that house. I would be scared to death one of them would fall down the stairs or hang off a balcony or something. Or I'd lose them in a secret passageway.

Other Random Happenings:

The tickets we got expired March 1st, and part of the reason we waited so long to go was because Noah kept getting sick. I swear it's the school. He gets therapy there on Mondays, and it seems like by Thursday, he's sick again. Thankfully, it was just a fever this time, but it was still sad to watch him feel so lousy.

 

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I've already decorated for Easter. I got my snow, so I'm good to move on now. 

 (bunny bums make me happy)

Actually, even though I'd like spring to show up early, it'd make for an awful summer. The mosquitos around here are ridiculous, and an earlier spring means more mosquitos (and other bugs). I'd rather wait a couple more weeks than get eaten alive.

I've also been planning Noah's Easter outfit. I'm so excited about it that I'm not even telling Brad what I have planned yet. Mostly because he'll probably veto it. He tends to do that when he can't see the whole picture yet. Seriously, half the fun of having a kid is dressing them up, and dangit, that's what I'm going to do.

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We got a knock on our door recently. It was a surveyor telling us that our fence was on our neighbor's property by a few feet. Brad was super annoyed, since we'd had our HOA send out someone to check out the property lines before we built it. Turns out, that guy wasn't official.
So Brad went ahead and moved it now before it got too hot. Our neighbors behind us have a little girl who is about a year older than Noah. She was adorable chatting Noah's ear off, and most of it just went right over his head. He loves playing with other kids, and it cracks me up that little girls are drawn to him. They must think he's a great listener. ;)

 

Toss in a few hours of play doh and some therapy appointments, and that's pretty much the last couple of weeks for us.

Happy Tuesday!

our crappy vacation (pun intended)

Okay, it wasn't ALL bad.
But I definitely learned that autism and vacations don't always mesh well. Particularly when it comes to sleep. The first night, it made me sad to see Noah grab his blankets and go to the door (I'm assuming asking us to go home so he can go to bed). There were plenty of highs and lows.

Crappy parts of the vacation:
1. Sleep deprivation. The first night, Noah was up until 2am. The next night, it was 5am. It wasn't until the 4th night that Noah was able to fall asleep before midnight and sleep all night long. After several attempts to help him settle down, we finally figured out he likes to sleep on the couch the best. He also didn't want to be left alone anywhere. So I would stay up with him until he fell asleep, then move the loveseat next to the couch. That way he wouldn't fall off in the middle of the night.
2. Inner ear infection.  Not Noah. Brad. Brad actually had complained a couple weeks before about his ear bothering him. But like a lot of men, he ignored it. So when we got down to Kiawah, it was hurting him to the point of him being miserable. Thankfully, they have a doctor there, and he got it taken care of.
3. Poop on the beach. Noah's sleep wasn't the only thing that got completely thrown off by our vacation. The poor boy didn't poop for 3 days. And of course, when he finally did go, guess where it happened... in the ocean. Brad picked him up, not knowing the state of Noah's pants, and was consequently covered in poo. I think this was the lowest point of our vacation.
4. Miscommunication in packing. First, Brad and I messed up by forgetting to pack our swimsuits. I remembered Noah's, just not mine.
Then the night before we left Kiawah, Brad went to bed early, so I decided to get a little packing done. But all I really achieved was putting away some of Noah's toys away. The next morning, Brad let me sleep in while he finished packing. For some reason, he thought I'd already packed away Noah's clothes we'd put in the drawers. I assumed he got them. Yeah. Noah has several articles of clothing just hanging out in the Kiawah place. Thankfully, my dad is the next one scheduled to go down, so he's going to grab them when he's there.
5. My dad getting called back in to work. My dad and stepmom were supposed to join us over the weekend. Unfortunately, after my dad left work early, he got a phone call that one of their apartment buildings caught on fire. Seriously?! So he didn't get home Friday night until dinner time, which basically was going to make the trip to Kiawah totally pointless. They would've been there for a day and a half at most. So my 30th birthday trip with my family was shot.

But. It wasn't all bad.
There were good moments too. Noah absolutely loved the beach. And he loved the ocean even more, even though the water was ridiculously cold.

Noah made some friends, a teacher and her husband. They were so sweet.

We brought the big guns with us this time. Noah's all about using the big boy tools.

Usually around this time of year, gnats are prevalent out there. Like biting gnats. Except this time? Not one gnat. Instead, there were butterflies. Everywhere. In the midst of my tiredness and all the other stuff, it was a nice little pick-me-up to watch a butterfly fly by me on the beach.
Also, instead of jellyfish, there were hundreds of starfish that were washed up onto the shore. So Noah and I went on a little walk, picking up the ones that still looked alive and tossed them back into the ocean.

 

So despite all of the crappiness, it wasn't totally terrible.
And really, if you're going to have a couple of rough days? Might as well happen in paradise. ;)

Still Havin' Fun

My parents just arrived last night to join us for the last little bit of our beach vacay. They brought their laptop with them, so I figured I'd share some of our beach pics (from the phone). We have had an absolute blast. More to come.
In the meantime, here's a peak into what we've been up to.

 

 

Be back soon!!

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Also, if yall don't mind doing my friend a big favor and vote for her story at this website. She's trying to win a (much needed) cruise for her and her husband. Thanks!!

Happy Stuff

Yesterday, my mom Martha Stewart'ed my home.
See, I've had this problem. I grew up in the same house for most of my life. I lived there for 20 years, basically, until I got married. In my old home, I knew where things went. They'd gone in the same places for years. My mom will be the first to admit she's total Type A, OCD, clean freak. It's her way of having some sense of control over life. I swear you could walk into our home at any point in time, as long as there weren't any major renovations going on, and it would be spotless.  It's still that way. Growing up, we knew there were expectations of how things needed to be. Don't get me wrong; we still got to be kids. We'd grab our sleeping bags and slide down the stairs on them, all Slip-'n-Slide-like during sleepovers. We'd have pizza and movie nights in the living room. We made messes, but we knew those messes needed to be cleaned eventually. Everything had its place, and it stayed that way. We all had chores, and we did them. Because my mom said so. That's just how it was.

Fast forward to now. I could give you the entire story of how we got to where we are. Actually, I did, but just erased it, because it was going to take over this whole post. But after almost 5 years of marriage, I was at a loss. I didn't know where things needed to go. Where they should go. Where all of this crap that we couldn't throw away, but that didn't have a home, needed to go. If certain random objects should be thrown out/donated/kept. And where in the world to put all of Noah's toys. I needed an objective opinion. I needed my mom.

So yesterday, we spent five hours organizing. Along the way, she'd give me tips, which I promptly wrote down. I made a list of supplies that will make our lives a million times simpler and more organized. She gave Brad a little come-to-Jesus talk about how we can make our little home a "palace", and it's not that hard; we just need to agree on prioritizing what we want to do (like finally paint our kitchen!) to it.

In the meantime, this girl is extremely happy. I feel like I can breathe again.

***

While we were cleaning, Noah found his old high chair. And has been obsessed with it ever since. Yesterday, he fell asleep in it. This morning, he's eating his breakfast in it. It's actually really cute. And helpful.

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We've been doing lots of crafty, simple type fun lately. Like cardboard box playing. And sidewalk painting. I prefer that over video games and tv any day.

(1 cup corn starch + 1 cup water, pour into muffin tins, then add food coloring)

I would also like to say how happy I am that android finally got instagram. I've been jealous of my iphone friends for a while now. I saw where some of my friends have uploaded like 5000 pictures already. I have a lot of catching up to do...


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This time next week?
I'll be sitting right here:

via

I can't begin to tell you how excited I am.

I don't normally announce vacations before we actually leave, because that's supposed to be a big internet no-no. But I can't help it. Plus, our neighbors will be watching our house like hawks... with a loaded shotgun... ready for anyone that might try something. Okay, not really. But we do have a cop as a neighbor, so I'm not too concerned.

***

Speaking of our neighbors...

Ever since my bro-in-law came to get their trampoline from our yard, we've been looking to get one for Noah. He loves to bounce and jump, and he had so much fun on theirs. I felt bad that he didn't really have much to play with back there, except for his sand box.

Last week, our neighbor came over and said they were about to put their trampoline on craigslist, but they wanted to offer it to us first. For free.

I thought I might cry. Instead I gave him a hug. And eventually some cupcakes. We just couldn't justify spending the money at the moment, even on one from craigslist. So this was totally unexpected, but such a major blessing.

We have the best neighbors ever. And they've made one little boy very very happy.