Girl's Night Out

I may or may not have had to take several Ibuprofen this morning. Not that I am complaining or anything. Anytime you have a raging headache from a night out with your girlfriends it probably means you had a good time!

You see, my friends and I had to have one last girl's night out with this beautiful lady before she moves next week.

Yes, Jan is leaving our 'hood to head to Atlanta. When we first heard the news we considered kidnapping her husband Joe and forcing him to refuse his wonderful job opportunity, but reasonable thinking won out and we abandoned that plan. Now we are just sad, 'cause what will Carolina Bay be without Jan?! So, instead of dwelling on it we did what we do best. Spent time together drinking, eating, and laughing.

We may not be able to make a decision to save our lives but we can laugh with the best of them!

Oh, and never underestimate the level of entertainment that exist after 11pm on a Wednesday night. Seriously, there are always people at bars who are drunker than you who will provide you with plenty to laugh about. (You just hope that they don't "make anyone upset in their panties", right ladies? Don't roll your eyes, I am allowed one inside joke per blog post!)

Jan.... We will miss you so much but we know you are headed for awesome things. Watch out for a carload of women who may head your way every now and then - we'll bring our tents! :)

Liam: An Update

Well, it's time for an update on you know who.

Liam. And yes, we snack while we shop. It is really the only way to make it through the grocery store without him standing up and jumping out of the cart or screaming at the top of his lungs.

Liam is 15 months and we went for his check-up today. He is doing all the things on the checklist. Walking well (attempting to run actually), saying words (Mama, Dada, Bubba, fish, more, ruff-ruff, - a random assortment I know!), he waves, he climbs stairs... basically right where he should be developmentally. He weighs 21.5 pounds - down a couple because of his high activity level - and is 30.5 inches long. 15th and 40th percentile respectively. He eats a ton, and will try almost anything you put in front of him. His favorites are yogurt, cheese, blackberries, strawberries, sweet potato, banana/avocado, and of course, Larabars of any variety. Obviously we are out of the woods as far as nut allergies! He is drinking some milk, not a ton, and lots of water in his new sippy cups. The best part is that he naturally weaned himself off of his nighttime bottle. One day he just didn't want it anymore and now he just gets a bath, reads a book, and goes to bed. For 12 hours. Praise the Lord! Seriously, it makes up for the first 11 months that we spent waking up several times a night.

And boy is he cute! Which is good because otherwise I might kill him. Not really, but you know what I mean. He. is. crazy!!!! And already very mischievous. He does all the things he knows he shouldn't and when I try to implement an age appropriate punishment he looks at me and laughs. He loves to walk up to Noah and just wail on him. Sometimes he uses his hands and sometimes he changes it up and slugs him with a toy. We are working on "no hits!" I'll let you know how it goes.

All in all, Liam is a pretty happy and healthy little guy. We are enjoying all the wonderful aspects of his personality and all the little ways that he makes our family more interesting!

Kayaking Adventures

Charleston is an awesome place to live. Seriously, there is so much to do and recently Wes and I have realized that are taking advantage of about 3.5 percent of it. We have been to the beach once this summer. Once! And, though I think I go more than some people, we don't get downtown as much as I would like. And now that Noah is older there all sorts of other things opening up to us. Like, for instance, sea kayaking.

Wes and I have wanted to try it out for awhile and we took advantage of my Mom being in town this weekend to give it a whirl. We signed up for a 3 hour guided kayak session departing at Folly Beach. (A funny story: When Wes called to book the appointment the lady asked if we each wanted our own boat or did we want to share a boat. When Wes hesitated, she informed him that they call the double boats their "divorce boats". 'Nuff said! We each got our own thank you very much!)

We got there Saturday morning and despite really strong winds and choppy waters we set out, with a guide and one other couple, to explore the water. I will confess, it took me a good 5 minutes to figure out how to coordinate working my paddle and my rudder to steer the boat. I was terrified that I would be the weak link in our group but before I knew it the other guy in our group tipped his boat and fell in the water during those first 5 minutes and I breathed a sigh of relief. While he struggled to get back in I figured out how it all worked, and by the time we were off I had things under control! (This is where I will add that Wes glided into the water and acted like he was a freaking kayaking professional and I so badly wanted to ram into him on purpose in an effort to knock him over and deflate his ego a bit. If I could have done that without turning my own boat over in the process I probably would have!)

We followed our guide through extremely difficult to maneuver choppy water over to a little island (called Long Island) that eventually blocked us from some of the wind. Because the tide was so high we ended up going further into the island than our guide had ever gone before. It was pretty cool to be able to explore places that you couldn't otherwise see in any other way.

We got all sorts of interesting info from our guide too. I eagerly listened to anything that was historically interesting and then tuned out most of what he said when he started naming all sorts of plants and animals and anything too scientific. Especially when he started yammering on about bird wildlife. (You all know how I feel about birds I think). I half listened and half whipped my head around frantically to make sure that the birds he was telling us about weren't flying to close to my boat. (Another story... Wes really perked up when he told us all about a bird who had natural bifocal vision. Oh yeah, that really got him all worked up about the wonders of the eye!)

By the time we headed back I was definitely getting tired. Kayaking is for sure a total body workout. Arms, back, core, and even my legs were getting sore. The nature stuff is great, but that was my favorite part about the whole thing. Finding new and exciting ways to fit in a workout really gets me going! Kind of like Wes and his amazing bird vision.......

We have decided that next time we are going to bring Noah back with us, as he would totally LOVE it! And don't be surprised if we start scouring Craigslist for a used kayak. It was a really wonderful way to enjoy this beautiful place that we live in!

Liam Discovers Blackberries

                                               His verdict.... Yum! Guys, are there more?

Wasting Time

Shhhh!!!

Okay, listen. It is 9:16am and both my children are still asleep. What?!?! 

I swear I didn't drug them or anything. You would think that with this unexpected block of free time I would be doing something productive but, no.... Instead I am sitting on the couch with my second cup of coffee wasting time on the computer. It is fabulous. Here is what I have discovered online this morning:

1.  I am always right. I told Wes 4 days ago that the navy blue skinny jeans worn by Princess Kate would sell out in record time and therefore I must purchase them ASAP. He remained skeptical, I waited, and BAM! - 4 days later they are nowhere to be found. I hate being right - especially when it costs me a pair of super adorable pants!

2.  When I went to People.com I found out many important things. The Beckhams named their new baby Harper (my friend Katy must be a trend setter as her 2 year old is named Harper!), Lea Michelle will leave the cast of Glee after next season, Gwyneth Paltrow still has a rockin' body (I only hate her a little), and last but not least, the celeb I still most want to befriend is Jennifer Garner. She is totally fine with being photographed in a t-shirt, jeans, and (gasp) baseball cap while out and about with her kids. She doesn't look like she spends three hours with a stylist before running to the store. I love it - she seems real. Well, as real as someone I stalk on a celebrity website can seem.

3.  I have an unhealthy obsession with "Healthy Living" blogs. Seriously, I could probably spend all day experiencing the domino effect of finding one blog that leads to another, then another... well, you get the picture. But should I decide to take up becoming a gluten-free, vegan, yoga/runner who photographs all her meals for this blog I will have some good role models to follow. Maybe I will just become a professional blogger like some of these girls I am reading about....

Except, wait... Yep, there it is. I hear the thump from upstairs that means things are being thrown out of the crib, and THAT means I have about 34.6 seconds until Liam starts screaming for me to come get him. Drat, guess being a professional blogger will have to wait.

We Have the Yuckies

"Cause everything is so wondrous....."

Those are some of the lyrics to the Curious George theme song and every time I hear it on the TV I laugh cause they make me think of Liam. He is at that age when everyday really is marvelous and everything (remote controls, chip clips, dirty laundry - you name it) really is wondrous! That is why he goes a hundred miles an hour and is into everything All. Day. Long.

So yesterday when I realized that he had been sitting on the couch lounging against a pillow watching morning cartoons for 15 minutes straight I was instantly alerted that something was wrong! (That and the fever he had started running.) Anyway, little Liam has a yucky virus that the doctor told us has been going around and will hopefully run its course in 3-5 days. I must say, being sick in the summertime is even stinkier than being sick in the winter. There is something very off about having to stay inside and rest during our usual hours of summer play. Not mention how bad I feel for the little guy having a fever while it is this hot outside! So we will keep doing a lot of this until we are well....

Oh, and in other random info... The only thing I accomplished yesterday was a trip to the grocery store after Wes got home from work. After I unloaded my loot and looked around I noticed the following and laughed.

Surely I am not the only one arranges her Larabars with the fruit in the fruit bowl? I mean, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough is healthy right? Right???

Riverdogs

On Sunday we went with our friends Joy and Brian, and their kids to a Riverdogs game. I have decided they should rename themselves the Swampdogs as the heat was practically unbearable in this swamp of a city that we live in. I don't think I stopped sweating the entire time!

Despite the looks on their faces Abby Grace, Noah, and Caleb all had a good time. (No really, I swear!) Noah had never been to a baseball game before. In fact his only experience with baseball is playing Mario Brothers Super Sluggers on the Wii and he kept yelling, "That guys swings like Funky Kong!" I was only slightly embarrassed by this. It was pretty funny though because in classic girl/guy dynamic I witnessed the following conversation between Noah and Abby Grace:

AG: "Noah! Look over there, it's the Riverdog! Look!"

N: (exasperated) "Abby Grace I can't look, I might miss the batter hit the ball."

And here is a picture of Liam for the 3 and 1/2 seconds that he sat still and looked at the game. Ready....

Yep, that was as still as he stood the whole time! Oh well, what else would you expect from a 15 month old?!

A Good Chuckle

It's no secret to anybody who knows me that I love clothes. Don't get me wrong, I am not on the cutting edge of fashion or anything. Quite the contrary probably. I really love well made clothes with classic lines in muted colors. I like to think of myself as "classy conservative". Anyway, because of that, I love looking at pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge (aka Princess Kate). I have not seen her step wrong as far as her wardrobe choices - I love every single one of them!

 Well made. Classic. Muted Colors. Usually..... Cause today I saw this picture and I had a good chuckle.

I guess everyone - even princesses - make a fashion faux pas every now and then!

Love/Hate

I have been having a lack of inspiration when it comes to blog posts lately. My creative juices are stifled...bummer. I have been wanting to tell you about some new things I am loving but there don't seem to be enough to make up a whole post. And also, there I many things I am NOT loving but who wants to read a whole blog about negative things? So I am combining them for you. Anyway, the following is kind of random but it is what is going through my brain on this lazy Friday morning.

I LOVE my son.

But I HATE cleaning up after him. Seriously, this phase of I have just discovered how to be mobile and destroy everything I see is getting old fast!

I HATE that our washing machine finally died - after 9 years and 3 or 4 moves - but I LOVE that we were finally able to get a front loading washing machine to replace it.

All the better to wash something else that I am LOVING at the moment. My new running shorts from Lululemon.

I will never, I repeat NEVER, go back to wearing any other shorts! You see the waist band on those puppies? It is the most comfortable and flattering I ever experienced (hello, no muffin top!) and the material is so lightweight that it almost feels like you are wearing nothing!

Okay, next.... I HATE under eye circles. Seriously if I could change one thing on my face I would wish for no dark circles. But I can almost have this wish thanks to a new product that I LOVE!

Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat Concealer. This is like a little tube of magic. It goes on liquid smooth with no caking and it makes your dark circles disappear while simultaneously making your skin luminous!

Okay, this part is more serious than the rest but it still applies. I LOVE the following books.

These books by Michael Pollan, and a few others I have read, have been so interesting and helpful in educating me about the American food system. They have led me to HATE processed food, factory farming and the unbelievable amount of chemicals we ingest on a daily basis. As a result our family has started eating organic and locally grown. Plus, I am slowly headed in the direction of vegetarianism. And as a result of my new found info I had to bid adieu to my old friend....

When I read in the book Skinny Bitch that aspartame turns to formaldehyde (?!!) in your body I,  a) Threw up in my mouth and then,  b) Promptly gave up Diet Coke cold turkey. I am 2 weeks clean!

Well, that's about all for today I guess. What are you guys loving and hating right now? Leave a comment and let me know!

Fourth of July at the Lake

Liam relaxes in a rocking chair that is the perfect size for little people!

Noah and Pops enjoy a little pre-bedtime snack on the couch.

Cousin Gemma enjoys some yummy Cheerios while we are out to dinner Saturday night.

Wes is not at all ashamed to have ordered a drink called a "Dirty Banana" - which he enjoyed with some fried onions. (Actually everything there was fried so I can't remember what that exact basket contained!)

Noah helps Uncle Cy blow out the candles on his birthday cake.

Riding in the boat to see the fireworks display. Liam didn't make it very long because in classic Shealy fashion we were forced to arrive 30 minutes early. Yeah, a 14 month old won't enjoy sitting for 30 minutes in a small boat while restricted to wearing his life jacket. Needless to say, Liam and I were dropped off back at the dock and Noah, Wes, and Pops returned to see the fireworks. Noah was very excited and kept telling Wes, "This is my very first fireworks!"

Liam likes to kick back and relax in the mornings with a nice greasy slice of bacon.

Noah discovered the Angry Birds game on our phones and spent much of his downtime in this position.

And, possibly my favorite picture of the whole weekend....

If there were a thought bubble over Liam's head it would read like this:  "Yeah, I'm not gonna lie - I'm pretty bad ass!"

Wrestling

I am frantically packing up our family to head to the lake for the holiday weekend, but I had to stop and document what my boys were doing this morning.

They were watching TV together so nicely when, as usual, Liam decided it would be WAY more fun to start walloping Noah on the head. I love that at first Noah smiled and took it. But of course, a five year old will only tolerate that for so long before he has had enough. When he tackled Liam to the ground I chuckled and thought, Well, that's the end of that! Wrong. Oh boy, can that kid defend himself! Pretty soon I was hearing a phrase that is becoming all too common in our house....

"Ouch, Liam! That hurts...Stop it Liam, you're hurting me!!!"

Poor big brother!