"J is here!"

Noah loves it whenever anybody comes to visit, but he gets especially excited when Aunt J comes to our house. This is because if Jessie is here you can promise that hilarity will ensue. And, true to form, there have been wild antics since J showed up on Wednesday.

Last night Noah decided that he really liked Jessie's scarf (he is really into accessories right now but that is a whole other story!). He proceeded to unwrap it from her neck, request his new favorite song (Disturbia, by Rihanna), and dance around the room. He was doing a scarf dance.

Noah had us all cracking up at his high energy scarf dance and eventually we all joined in!

Jessie is staying with Noah tonight while Wes and I go out to dinner with friends and I am sure that they will come up with more crazy games...like putting a plastic fish between your legs and walking around...

Good Times in Charlotte

This past weekend Wes had another conference in Charlotte and this time I went with him again. Except this time we left Noah here with Nana and Pops and set out for our first kid-free weekend in a long time. Let me tell you...it was everything I thought it could be!

Wes spent all day Friday at his conference while I met up with my sister and we headed to see our good friends Andrea and Baby Maggie. We all went to lunch - with Maggie, who in completely un-Noah like fashion sat quietly the whole time - and then Jess and I played with Maggie while Andrea went for some pampering at the salon. Maggie was so chill and cute and loved dancing to the ring tones on Jessie's phone.

That night Wes, Adam, and our friends Julie and Devin all joined us for pizza and beer and some Olympic viewing. Maggie had to go to bed but not before charming everyone with her cute smile!

After hanging out Wes and I headed back to Julie and Devin's, where we were staying for the weekend.

Saturday was my ultimate day of relaxation. Wes went to his conference (probably not his ultimate day of relaxation...) and I slept in. Then Julie and I had a leisurely breakfast and took her dog Maggie for a 5 mile walk. (That's right she has a Maggie too, but you can put this Maggie in a crate without worrying about it being considered abuse!)

Julie's neighborhood was great - full of beautiful parks and old houses and boutiques and restaurants. Someday I will leave good ol' suburbia and live someplace like this neighborhood! And don't worry, those boutiques I referenced, we didn't ignore them. The best part of the day was going shopping with my favorite shopping buddy (Julie) and relishing the quiet that was the result of the absence of my least favorite shopping buddy (Noah). That night, after Wes' conference, we all saw a movie and went to a great Mexican restaurant. Sunday was equally lazy and wonderful. I had intended to run 6 miles but totally blew it off without a bit of guilt. Wes and I had such a fun time hanging out with friends - and each other!

We got home Sunday night and Noah was very excited to see us! He was also very excited to see the new shoes that I brought him from my shopping excursion. He asked to wear them immediately and declared, "Oh, I like shoes!" That's right, the shoe obsession continues, but he is moving on to my shoes and Wes is not so sure it is cute anymore!

Shealys vs. the DMV

So today was the day we decided to tackle something we had been putting off for a long time - a trip to the DMV. Now, any DMV is bad, but we were dreading the jokers we knew we would encounter at the great state of South Carolina's Department of Motor Vehicles. I was dreading it so much that I thought about following my friend Julie's example and just not getting my new license but Wes advised me against that and we were off.....

So, picture this - tiny, dirty, poorly labeled government building. We were greeted by the geriatric security guard who was hard at work on his crossword puzzle. (Tax payer money being spent ever so wisely..) Okay, here is a tangent....

*This security guard had a dictionary on the table next to his crossword. Maybe it's just me, but how does a dictionary help with a crossword puzzle?*

So anyway, this "friendly" security guard informs us where to go and that when we get there the lady will tell us what we don't have so we can go home, get it, and come back to start over. The conversation goes a little something like this:

SG: "Yeah, you won't have everything you need. Nobody ever gets it on the first try."

Wes: "That seems completely inefficient."

SG: "Well, not really, it is one-stop shopping - everything in the same building."

Wes: "It's not one stop shopping if you have to come back 16 times!"

After that he kind of grunted in the direction we should head. He was clearly done with us. We waited in line and listened as almost every person in front of us was (rudely) turned away. Our turn came and we put on our game faces.

Us: "We need to get our driver's licenses and tag for our car"

(Fat, Grumpy)Lady: "You have proof of residency?"

Us: "Yes."

FGL: "Passports or birth certificates?"

Us: "Yes"

FGL: "Social Security cards?"

Us: "Yes"

FGL: "Marriage License?"

Us: "Yes"

FGL: "umm...(getting perturbed because so far we are winning) proof of insurance?"

Us: "Yes"

FGL: "And you have your out of state licenses?"

Us: "Of course"

pause

FGL: "Well, I guess you can go sit and wait" (Hands us a number ever so reluctantly.)

Yes! We have passed check point #1 and are cleared to wait in hard plastic chairs. And yes, all of those things were necessary to obtain a drivers license. By now my competitive juices are kicking in. It is us versus the DMV and damn if I'm going to walk away a loser. Our number is finally called and the new lady helping us watches in awe as we provide her with every necessary document. Thirty minutes of laborious typing later we are cleared to have our pictures taken. By now we all know who has won - the picture taking is just a formality. But wait! We give one final kick down the home stretch for a decisive victory....We both end up with great pictures!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the DMV tried its hardest, but bureaucratic inefficiency will lose out to Shealy hyper organization every time! They should put our picture in a frame on that security guard's desk with a caption that reads: "The only people to get it on the first try!"

Noah's Downtown Tour

On Saturday Wes and I were looking for something to do with Noah that was fun and, more importantly, free so we decided we would head downtown and explore. Noah hasn't spent much time anywhere except the farmer's market so we thought it would be a good opportunity to introduce him to the real Charleston! We drove down and parked on Broad Street (without feeding the meter of course - remember we wanted 'free'!) and let Noah pick which way he wanted to walk. He took off, carrying Little Duck, and we were on a mission. He would come to a corner and scream "this way!" and we would have to run to keep up with him!



We went in circles around Church and State streets for awhile before Wes and I politely "suggested" that we head in a new direction. Not to worry though, we have mastered the art of making Noah think that our ideas are actually his ideas which helps us avoid tantrums. We pointed him in the directions of St. Phillips Church, which he called "the big church" and he really enjoyed that. He was actually mad when we couldn't go inside. Oh, and he liked to look through the fence at the graveyard which he decided was a zoo! If I believed in ghosts I would have been seriously afraid that we had offended some spirits!

After that we headed to the market in hot pursuit of the horses pulling a carriage of tourists. Despite how it seems from behind the wheel of my car, the carriage was too fast for us and Noah got a little upset that we couldn't catch the horse to pet him. We distracted him by heading over to Waterfront Park and checking out the view of the harbor.



Here we are checking out the water....



.....and here is my moment of terror when I thought Duck might be going for a swim!



Looking at the dolphins in the harbor. And yes, in case you're wondering, Noah's head did get stuck in the bars. We had to wedge it out and he was NOT happy!

When Noah finally got tired of walking he hitched a ride on Wes' shoulders and enjoyed the view!







"Hmm, why didn't I ride in luxury the whole way? This is a sweet deal!"
Of course, Noah being Noah, he got bored and tried to pull the sunglasses off of Wes' face. We headed back to the car soon after that. We have decided that if we ever need some cash we will have Noah give guided walking tours of Charleston. Surely there are some gullible tourists out there who would eat that up!

I Want To Be Like Daddy!

Noah's newest favorite thing to do is to sneak into our closet and steal Wes' shoes. He likes to put them on and wear them around the house, proudly proclaiming, "it's daddy's shoes!"

Here he is in one black and one brown - he has his own sense of style! He had walked all the way down that hall which was quite a job in those shoes!

But he doesn't mind that they are so big. He just wants to be like Daddy!