Blogging from the Beach!

Today I am updating my blog from sunny Hilton Head Island! We arrived yesterday about 3:30 p.m. and got everything unloaded an #11 Sea Oak, our rented beach house. It's really nice, with 5 bedrooms and 5 1/2 baths on about 4 different levels! Arabella and Ashlyn had a ball exploring it. It's the kind of house that's layed out funny, with two differrent staircases and lots of space to run around in.

Once we got unloaded, we took the girls down to the beach to play. Bella is a lot braver this year, she ran right out into the waves and kept wanting to go out deeper! She and Ashlyn had a ball! My parents and grandparents went out to dinner, and the rest of us stayed at the house and had pizza delivered, since it was late and the girls were tired. And tired toddlers don't do well in restuarants!

We spent this morning at the beach. The girls ran and ran and ran. They found starfish in the tide pools, they splashed in the waves, they played in the sand. It is very warm down here, I think the high was 90 today, of course with high humidity, but there's always a breeze down by the ocean so that helps. At lunch time we fed them and put them to bed, then I went back to the beach with Kenneth and we took a walk as the tide was coming in, which was nice. I did get pretty tired then! Chasing the girls all morning took most of my energy! Needless to say, it wasn't a very fast walk.

Now the girls are napping and everyone else is showered and resting. When they get up, we'll all head out for some yummy seafood!

I can't post pics from here, so I will do it when I get home!

And we're off, like a herd of turtles!

So this morning we are leaving for Hilton Head Island with my family. Why am I updating my blog, instead of loading up the car? Because once again my daughter has proven that the later she stays up, the earlier she gets up! Her usual bedtime is between 8:45 and 9:00 p.m. Last night it was about 9:20 before we put her to bed, and she layed in there and talked and jabbered until after 10:00! Theoretically, you could expect her to sleep until after 7:00 (she usually gets up at 6:30, like clockwork!). Instead, at 5:15 a.m., she is wide awake!

Which is why I had plenty of time to blog before we load the car and leave at 7:40! We are heading to HHI with my parents, my mothers parents (pappaw and memmie), and my sis and her family. This is our second annual beach trip all together. We've all pitched in and rented a beach house on the ocean, this one is about two houses down from the one we rented last year, and from the pictures I've looked at online, is layed out pretty much the same. It has five bedrooms, and is really big, so even though there are six adults and two little ones going, you don't feel cramped.

Last year we all went in together and rented a U-Haul, one of the small ones. At first I thought that was pretty ridiculous, but once we got finished loading things in, it was full to the top! It's like the Griswald's Beach Vacation! My dad takes two or three bicycles, Dave and Kenneth take their golf clubs, then there's beach chairs, beach toys, beach umbrella's, more toys for the kids...Not to mention the ginormous cooler my memmie takes, packed full of every conceivable lunch meat, cheese, breakfast food, condiment...and of course her fabulous "Hundred Dollar Cake" ~if there's anything better than a cake with chocolate and coffee in it, I haven't found it yet! Then my mom takes a huge box of snacks, drinks, etc. And this is just for breakfast and lunch, since we eat out for dinner each night! Oh, and of course Sherry Renfro's Emergency Cleaning Kit~ just in case the house doesn't meet her standards of cleanliness, she throws in Clorox, toilet bowl cleaner, etc...Anyway I guess we prove the old saying, "Its better to have it and not need it!" This year Dave borrowed a trailer from someone.

I'm really looking forward to our trip, it's nice to spend time with the family, although I wouldn't say its exactly "relaxing", what with a two and three year old to chase around! But there are so many of us, you always have help keeping an eye on the little ones. My memmie and pappaw seem to have the most fun, they love playing with the great-grandbabies.

Of course, this year I'll be 27 weeks pregnant for our beach vacation, so I don't know how much running around I'll be doing in that heat and humidity! This baby has made me uncomfortable a lot earlier than Bella did- hips and back hurting, tired, etc. Oh, lets not forget the all important weight gain! There's always the possiblilty the whale watchers will spot me and attempt a heroic rescue of the beached whale!

Anyway, its almost time to grab some breakfast and load up the car!

Baby steps to the Nursery...

Here's a quick update on Baby Abby's nursery! We are making slow and steady progress! I got my bedding a couple weeks ago, so today I hung her window valance, just to see how it will look! I'll have to take it down to wash and iron later. We also hung a room darkening shade, since her window faces east and gets the morning sun.


The room is cleaned out and ready to paint in a few weeks. I'll probably go with some shade of pink!

Bella likes "Baby Abby's blankie".

Before we do anything else to Abby's room, Bella gets a big girl bed- we are converting her crib into a full bed, so she gets a full mattress, a new bedspread, sheets, and curtains in her room! Then we can use her old crib mattress in Abby's crib.

Another Redneck Yard Sale

It doesn't matter if you're in The Ridges or the trailer park, there's something redneck about yard sales. There's just no dignified way to spread your belongings all over your yard (or in my case, garage) and sell them for the most possible profit.

Today my family had our annual summer garage sale at my house. Luckily, my house has a full basement so once we take the cars out of the end that's used for a garage, we have plenty of room- and it's a good thing, cause we have lots of stuff!

Last night my parents, sister, niece, and grandparents all came down to help get ready. My dad provided child care by keeping Bella and Ashlyn occupied, while me, mom, Rachel, and Memmie got things organized on tables and put prices on. This took forever! It was by far the biggest garage sale we've ever had! Two whole tables were devoted to baby girl clothes. Between me and Rachel, we had a zillion to sell, that's not counting the four storage totes I kept for Baby Abby. But most of the clothes wouldn't work, since the seasons are off.

We finally got everything priced and set up ready for business, and I took a shower and put my aching feet to bed! This morning Kenneth, Bella and I were up early to open for business! To be honest, we weren't as busy this year as we usually are. I think because the Tree Streets were having their sale, too. I didn't realize it was this weekend when I planned mine, but oh, well.

We still did very good, I sold several big items I was hoping to sell, like a T.V., Bella's nursery bedding, and a computer. But since we have plenty left, we just left everything where it was and we'll do it again next Saturday to get rid of as much as we possibly can!

One thing is for sure, we eat good when we do yard sales! We always have lots of sandwich stuff, I bought candy bars, Rach brought chicken salad and cookies, and Mom made a pan of brownies! It was a pretty fun day. And I made a good profit to go into "Bella's Mattress Fund" for her big girl bed!

My Jonah Day

Today I had what I call a "Jonah" day. You know, the kind of day where you feel (at least mentally or emotionally) as if you've been pitched off a boat in a raging sea, swallowed by a whale, and are resting at the depths of the blackest ocean.

I'm not sure what brought on this horrible case of the blues. Yesterday was a good day, and I slept like a rock last night. But for some reason I just felt "blah" today. Kenneth left at nine this morning for an eye appointment, a golf lession, and 18 holes of golf with his dad, so I knew he'd be gone all day.

Things started off all right, but I quickly and inexplicably ran out of steam. Added to that, the potty training took a turn for the worse. Bella simply refused to even sit on the potty, and I found myself getting frustrated, which I know is the worst thing to do.

I was so relieved when nap time came. I put her down for a nap and settled on the couch for one of my own. Well, Bella decided that she wasn't going to nap today, thank you very much. After several minutes of her hollering "Mama! Ready get up!" I went and got her out of her bed, thinking maybe she'd lay with me in our bed (the big bed, as she calls it). Nope. She wouldn't lay down. So we got back up, my mood rapidly deteriorating at this point.

She wanted a pancake, so I fixed her one and she watched some "Dora". By three o'clock I was bored out of my mind (cleaned house yesterday, thank you!). So I loaded Bella in the car and headed to Winged Deer Park, where Kari's Heart Foundation was hosting a fair with stuff for kids. I thought it would be a good diversion for us both.

Bella fell asleep literally two minutes before we pulled in to park. So needless to say for the first 15 minutes she didn't want to do anything. She finally perked up and we found my sister, who had volunteered to work the fair and was in charge of the water station, where little kids could splash in small pools and bigger kids have water gun fights. Bella got in and splashed around a little, but didn't really like the water being squirted every direction in such close proximity. I didn't either. Some seven year old brat who I'd noticed squirting people deliberately in the face ran up for no apparent reason and soaked the side of my shirt.

Now, normally, I'm very tolerant of children. And really, on a ninety degree day, who should mind getting squirted with a little water? Today, I did! I turned to her, eyebrows raised, and in my best no-nonsense mommy voice demanded, "Do I look like I'm in a water fight?" She ran away. Mission accomplished. Oh, dear.

Next I took Bella to the inflatables. They had a big slide where you climb in the middle, then slide down either side. Bella did one at Jonesborough Days this year and loved it. Well, of course today she got to the bottom of the ladder and simply jumped up and down, refusing to go up or come back. So here I go after her. When she saw me coming she started trying to climb up, so I thought, okay. And there I go, twenty three weeks pregnant, climbing a nearly-vertical inflated ladder with dubious hand and footholds, shoving a two year old ahead of me by her rear-end. I admit the situation would have been extremely laughable (and probably was to those on the ground!) had I not been burning up and exhausted.

So we slid down, during which I got a bad friction burn on one heel, got her face painted and a balloon, and headed home!

I have to admit, my day improved after that. Kenneth came home and we grilled out, Bella went to the potty successfully two or three times, we did her bath, and she went to bed.

And so ends my Jonah day. They do end. Jonah got spit out on the beach, remember! All the same, tonight I'm glad to head to bed.

Adventures in Potty Training

Today we began our potty training in earnest. Why today? Well, I really want / need to get Bella potty trained before Baby Abby arrives. I don't relish the idea of buying and changing two sets of diapers. Also, my pediatrician Dr. Kitchens recommended getting it done a few months before the new sibling arrives to help prevent 'relapse'.

Most importantly, we began potty training this particular day because yesterday Nana (my mom), said, "The signs are right, we're potty training tomorrow!" Okay, I can hear your eyes rolling. But my dad always planted his garden by the signs, and I took Bella's pacifier and bottle by the signs and it was a breeze. I figure, it can't hurt, right? And when a woman who provides as much free child care as Nana does says its time to potty train, well then it's time to potty train!

So we got out the pull-ups and there's no turning back. My mom found a cute little gumball machine at Wal-mart for $4 and we both got one, dumped out the gum, and filled them with M&Ms. Here's our strategy:

Bella isn't to the point where she'll tell you she needs to go potty. So we periodically take her and let her sit on the potty. I'm using a little potty seat that sits on the big toilet, instead of a baby-size potty chair. I figure that will be less confusing for her when we're away from home. Sometimes she is successful, and sometimes we just sit there for a few minutes...

Overall, she's been very cooperative about sitting on the potty several times! When she does pee-pee in the potty, we clap and praise her, and then she gets a penny for her gumball machine. She puts the penny in and gets her "special treat"...

...which is two or three M&Ms!

Our first day went pretty well! She used the potty several times, and even though she did wet her pull up some too, I think for a first try we did good! The hard part is going to be being consistent and keeping up the enthusiasm as this may take several days!

Happy girl!

One of the many things I love about Bella is that she wakes up happy! These pictures were taken after a rare three hour nap- she usually just sleeps one and a half or two hours, but wakes up happy regardless! When she wakes up, she'll start yelling, " Momma!" until I open her door. When I do, she quickly lays down and covers her face with her blanket. So I come over to the bed and say ,"Where is my baby at?" and start poking around. Of course, she starts laughing and rolling around!

One of my goals before the new baby arrives is to convert her crib into a full-size bed. The back of the crib becomes a headboard, so we'll have to purchase a mattress and box springs, sheets, a new bedspread, etc, to make her room into a big-girl room. We also have a hutch that goes on top of her changing table. I'm looking forward to doing all of this, but at the same time it makes me a little sad! She is growing up way too fast. For example, there used to be letters on the wall behind her crib that spelled out her name. Once she was tall enough to reach them, you can imagine what happened. I finally quit hanging them back up because she loved taking them down!