Well, I swore I'd never take both boys in at the same time again for their annual physicals but convenience trumped my better judgement and we attempted it once again. You should have seen Blake competing for Dr. Franklin's attention while Devlyn was being examined. He was rolling up next to them on the doctor's stool with his head laying on it peeking up at Dr. Franklin - then the full blown performance began - dancing, hooting, laps around the exam room. Ya, next year I SWEAR I won't do that again : ) Dr. Franklin could have cared less - he's a pro. As usual the boys are complete opposite body types with Devlyn at the bottom of the body mass index and Blake at the top : ) Dr. Franklin's assessment - both healthy as horses - Devlyn on track to be one tall drink of water and Blake on track to be solid as a rock.
We've had an incredible intern at CJ&P for the last 6 months. She's a double major in Business and Advertising at UNC. She's a native of Columbia and is fluent in 6 languages. She's passionate about advertising and is always sharing her new favorite ads with us. Here is one she showed us recently. It's so sweet and, in my opinion, really nails the magic of Christmas.
I didn't feel the need to ask banana, pepper, pizza, pee pee who!
Shortly afterwards, as everyone followed me into the bathroom, (awesome) Devlyn decided it was time to weigh himself and then Blake. He accidentally said, "Let's see how old you are!" as he stepped Blake up on the scale. 35.4 popped up. Devlyn announced the number and Blake screamed, "I'm not that old!" with a horrified tone in his voice.
I'm a worker bee, always have been. I've had a job of some sort on a steady basis since I was 15. I live in a modest home and live an average American middle-income lifestyle. I have not reached any degree of wealthy financial success but I am proud of what I've accomplished b/c I've worked my ever lovin' ass off to get here. And like so many others out there, for the past few years it's been a fight to stay there. I worry about day to day finances but, more so, I worry about long term scenarios. College and retirement both seem like ridiculously unattainable jokes to me right now. And that statement is grounded waist high in reality. Lately, that reality coupled with all the bullshit I hear spewed by politicians from BOTH sides sparks SUCH anger in me. I secretly covet retirees lifestyles - do they know how lucky they are? Pensions and health benefits, social security and Medicare. And yes, plenty of folks of retirement age these days have gotten screwed BUT as far as I can tell noone is going to get screwed more than my generation. Nobody my age or younger should count on any of those things to be around to buoy us in our time of need. You know, when our fabulous 401k's designed as tax outs for corporations and then passed off to us as "retirement" run out - if you even have anything left after the market implodes for the 10th time in as many years. The pangs of fear thoughts like these send through me are overwhelming sometimes. All of these, previously internal, worries were justified in an article I happened upon today:
It's been a fun 4 days : ) Took a vacation day on Thursday and spent the whole day with Blake and Devlyn on Blake's actual birthday. Blake started his day off with presents and breakfast at Dunkin Donuts (by request). The big party was today. Had to switch our plans from outdoor to indoor due to cold rainy weather but all went well even though Crusty Old Gus didn't get to tend bar at the saloon : ( The pony was a big hit with everyone but the birthday boy. He was taking it all in but only wanted to pet it - no riding! No problem at all b/c most of the other kids took 2 spins around the yard on Pie the Pony. Blake had fun with his friends and got a bunch of cool presents. Slideshow below - no video to share this time. The singing of Happy Birthday was not a big hit with the birthday boy either!
I can't claim to be an avid fan of his music but I've been impressed and intrigued by Jay-Z as a producer and marketer for a long time. He does things big and he does them right. The agency that handled the marketing campaign to promote his book "Decode Jay-Z" recently won a Gold CLIO for the campaign. A CLIO is the highest honor you can win in advertising and this campaign certainly deserved it. A global, integrated campaign in partnership with Bing that delivered 1.1 billion media impressions, resulted in 1 million new Facebook fans and earned Jay-Z a NY Times best seller list debut. Cross promoted using, traditional, social and guerrilla media, it had a worldwide gaming side to it as well using Bing's Google Earth like product. I think it may be impossible to explain the unbelievable scope and coolness of this promotion in words, so here, see for yourself. Visit the link below and then click on the first black box on the left to launch a video all about it.
UNBELIEVABLE. I can't imagine being behind the execution and production of this campaign. This is the sort of project that you could work on non stop for an entire year to pull of. SO COOL!
Blake accidentally "knocked" one of Devlyn's teeth loose recently BUT that tooth must have been about to do so itself b/c yesterday I discovered Big Boy Teeth lurking behind Devlyn's two middle bottom teeth. They've just started to sprout up! Almost time to add Tooth Fairy to my resume : )
I've taken to using this phrase a lot lately. I have no idea why but for some reason it's recently crept into my lexicon AND it perfectly describes a funny household happening from this evening. One of my favorite initial blogs included me mentioning that we'd received direct mail from Similac and AARP in one week. It was true and it was funny. In the spirit of the neverending source of humor that is being 15 years younger than your spouse, I invite you to view the following pictures of direct mail Charles received today:
I knew it was bad when I pulled it out of the mailbox and I saw "Dignity" in the return address. After we cracked a few jokes about it while making dinner, I nagged him about something and he deadpanned me with this reply, "Who cares. I'll be dead soon anyway." I swear - you can't make this shit up.
Turtles Picnics Pirates Kindergarten Preschool Wrightsville (Labor Day) Dinner over the fire (oysters & spaghettios - ha!) Football in Chapel Hill Playdate with one of Devlyn's besties, Luke Mommy in the rain at Fleet Foxes Superheros dining
Banks and old college buddy posted this on Facebook today. Make sure you watch until 1/2 way through when his buddy has to jump out of the way! Good God!
So yesterday, as we're outside playing after supper, Devlyn offers up that two girls in his class say they're his girlfriend and he doesn't like it. And he launches right into it just like that. No intro, no warning, no additional information...just a twitterpated stupid grin on his face and a 1/2 embarassed, ridiculous stance to match. Oh, and some silly noises to go along with it.
I managed to drag a few more details out of him - that they blow him kisses on the playground and which two girls it was. It was hilarious and shocking all at once. A) I was NOT expecting this in kindergarten and B) it was hysterical to watch him work through all the different things he was feeling about it. He was a little mad about it. He was trying to temper his excitement about telling me while also exhibiting a healthy dose of embarassment mixed with a side of dopey lovestruck. All in all, after I got over the loss of innocence quality to it - it became my new favorite parental moment.
Tonight, Devlyn was in the bathroom while I was working in the kitchen. He peered out at me with a similar look and "can you believe this" hand gestures and simply said, "Again with the girlfriend stuff." That he boils something down like that into five words, like an older, sarcastic, witty kid might, just cracks me up. He is so funny and he's growing up so fast.....unbelievable.
Doesn't that title just say it all? Blake did well for his first day at Soapstone today. He was a Stage 5 clinger all morning but didn't even cry when Miss Debbie pryed him off of me at drop off. When I arrived to pick him up, Miss Ann was holding him and both teachers said he had a good day but that he got very upset when the first Mommy came and picked up one of his classmates. Seeing his face full of grief stricken angst when he spotted me coming to get him just about killed me : ( Miss Ann handed him over, he gripped tight, buried his face in my shoulder and sobbed - no doubt letting it all out! Poor little weebsie - this is a HUGE transition for him. Knowing him, though, we'll have to drag him out of there by next week! I have no idea what kind of response we'll get when it's time to go back on Friday!
As you can imagine, I'm hyper-aware of any prescription medications that come near anyone in my family these days, especially my children. We put off using steroid creams for as long as we could with Devlyn for his eczema but this past Spring - it became necessary. So glad to see the results of this study! We haven't had to use the steroid creams in a few months but at least I'll feel better about it if we need to use them again in the future.
When I see numbers like this my brain just comes to a screeching halt. I did a freelance project this Spring that opened me up to the intricacies of the App development world and monetizing them, etc. The many fingers of Google are fascinating and their business model(s) blow my mind. It sure is fun trying to follow along though! : )
Nearly every time I share my story, I meet someone who has been affected by FQ toxicity or who knows someone who has OR knows someone who has mysterious health issues that then lead to a discovery of past FQ exposure. PBS Newshour aired this story (link below) last night. It's an emotional journey for me to hear/learn all of this. I'm trying to also make it an empowering one by sharing as much information as I can in the hopes that others out there won't have to wait as long as I did to find an answer and begin doing whatever they can to heal as much as possible.
I just decided I'm going to dye my hair blonde this weekend and felt like posting : ) Like, myself, Nice & Easy style. I've never done this before. Hmmm....off to pick a shade!
T-ball Carolina/Maryland – NCAA Tourney - Men’s LAX – First Round More T-ball Fishing at Umstead Park Our fledgling garden Family “pool” weekends Beebsie in his jammies channeling Urkel Family picnic at the capitol MORE T-ball Drummer Devlyn Boys Self Portrait (just like Daddy does)
Just playing around with the photo settings on Blogger. There is a HUGE delay between uploading slideshows to Picasa and them being available to link to within the slideshow function on Blogger. Really annoying. So to combat that I'm "sharing" the slideshows as I upload them to Picasa.
Sooooooooo....you should be able to click on this picture above and be taken to the full slideshow for viewing. Let me know if it works!
We spent Memorial Day down in Kure Beach at a condo right on the beach. I have to say - that's the way to go when you have little guys out on the beach all day. Up to the condo for lunch and a nap - then back out to the beach! Blake and Devlyn had a tv in their bedroom and you would have thought we won Megabucks when they found it in there upon our arrival. They were freaking out excited about it. So funny. We met another young family with 2 boys the same ages as Blake & Devlyn and they had a blast playing in the surf together. The weather was spectacular and we had the special bonus of hanging out with Connor while we were there. Nice to spend some time with him and the boys were in heaven having him around. He's a very attentive cousin to them and obviously more like an uncle! Had to keep a close eye as Devlyn has begun to lose a little fear with the big water. He got tossed around a few times. Luckily, Blake is still petrified of going in beyond mid-shin so that's good!
Alrighty - well after catching bits and pieces of basketball talk as the NBA finals have dragged on for what seems like a year - I'm actually a little interested in the games at this point. Time to sign off and watch a little. Bye : )
He landed safely back in Norfolk the week before last. Brought the boys USNavy hats and played basketball with them for hours : ) We haven't seen him in A YEAR. Learned about Navy life and heard about pieces of his journey with stops in Oman, Sicily and elsewhere. They participated and/or assisted in several missions throughout the Middle East while they were there. I told Connor there was probably more action in the Middle East during his 9 months at sea than in the last 50 years! Hopeully his next voyage will be a little less active - militarily speaking.
Also - been meaning to post these for awhile. Tee ball games are fun for the whole family and The Bats parents and other siblings are a lot of fun to hang out with. We've really enjoyed the season so far. Only 4 games left with team pictures next week : )
This is a big post for me. I've been writing it in my head for a week. Plotting how to get it just perfect. But the truth is, I just want to get it out and over with. Most of you are aware, to some degree, that I've been battling mysterious health issues for the past 8 years. I've been to opthalmologists, neurologists, gynecologists, general practictioners and very nearly, a psychologist, trying to figure out what is wrong with me. I've written novels about my symptoms, drawn color coded diagrams for neurologists, begged and pleaded for more tests, balled my brains out in countless doctors' offices and personally watched every episode of Mystery Diagnosis that exists. At the end of the day, according to modern medicine, there is absolutely nothing wrong with me.
I lost peripheral sensation in my left side in 2003. Loss of peripheral sensation in my right side followed a few years later in 2006. I've lost vision in one or both eyes for short periods, though thank God it has always come back. I have permanent "floaters" in my vision and assume I always will. I have battled dehabilitating bouts of fatigue - at my worst, for 6 weeks straight. I have "tremors" that strike out of the blue and cause the room to feel as though it's bouncing back and forth (they don't even phase me anymore!) I have lost the use of my hands for hours at a time on several occasions. At times, I have trouble speaking, swallowing and forming thoughts. If I listed all the weird shit that's happened to me in the last 8 years this post would never end. If I've never told you any of this - don't feel bad - I stopped talking about it and forbade Charles from discussing it with anyone about 4 years ago after a particularly frustrating bout with my last batch of neurologists. Their take away was that I needed extensive psychological testing and that I should try going on an antidepressant to see if it helped. I got so pissed off I haven't been to a doctor regarding my "mystery illness" since : ) And as not to be misunderstood, I was not pissed off that they thought I was crazy. I was pissed off that they weren't listening to me. I knew with every fiber of my being that I wasn't depressed and that stress was not the root of my issues. The only thing depressing was that after 4 years (at the time) this was the best my doctors could come up with! Pathetic.
**Disclaimer** This would be a good time to grab a drink and get comfortable : )
In February of 2003, I was prescribed Levaquin, a very powerful antibiotic from a class of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones. I think it was for a UTI. I now know that it is ridiculous to have been prescribed an antibiotic like this for such a minor infection but hey - these are the facts. I took it for a few days and quickly noticed that I was having crazy, graphic nightmares and a lot of trouble sleeping which was totally out of character for me. I also noticed that I felt sad and just generally strange. I think I called my doctor at the time - but I know I stopped taking it immediately. I felt depressed for weeks afterward and had terrible insomnia for over a month. I remember b/c it was the weirdest sensation I've ever had. You'd be just about to drift off to sleep and your body would literally jolt you out of sleep - an actual physical spasm but with this electrical jolt to it. It was frightening. I also distinctly remember doing a little research on Levaquin at the time and sending out a mass email to friends and family to never take it.
I'm not rock solid on the timing between this and the onset of all the serious stuff but at some point after this - weeks or months - possibly a year - I stepped into the shower one morning and realized in horror that I could feel the water running down the right side of my body but not the left. Thus began the horrible set of sequences that was to be my next 5-7 years. Enter MRI's, nerve conduction tests, eye exams, etc. ad nauseum. Blah , blah, blah...nothing is wrong - just deal with it, etc. The worst of it seemed to hit in 2006/2007. I have a letter I wrote to Devlyn around that time apologizing b/c I didn't think I was going to be able to be the type of Mom I wanted to be for him. I has seen my health decline so much at that point that I was scared and afraid for the future. At the time, I genuinely thought I may be permanently disabled within a year. I still read that letter every couple of years to remind myself of how far I've come.
Fast forward to 2 weeks ago. I have a UTI for the first time in years. I go to the dctr - they prescribe an antibiotic. I take it, I start to feel better and then as I'm going to bed that night - having trouble getting to sleep - finally drifting off to sleep and...JOLT!!!! that weird sensation I haven't felt in 8 years strikes me. The unique horrifying familiarity of that sensation launched me into one of those moments you've heard others describe - a watershed moment - a lightbulb goes off over your head - everything connects in a single second. I knew right then and there that whatever I'd just taken was the same as what I'd taken before and that something very, very bad has to do with it. I jumped out of bed, ran downstairs, grabbed the medicine bottle and flew online. Sure enough the antibiotic I had taken (under a generic name) was another fluoroquinolone. I stayed up all night and read everything I could find about these drugs. What I ended up reading were other's accounts of what I have been going through for the past 8 years. Every single weird ass thing that has happened to me (and other things MUCH MUCH worse) were described, before my eyes, in detail by others - on organized community pages, on personal blogs, in a documentary film for Christ's sake produced in concurrence with a class action lawsuit against the FDA for allowing these drugs to be distributed without formalized, serious warnings about their potential side effects. The "research" "says" that less than 1% of the population suffers an adverse reaction to these drugs. Unfortunately, if you are among that 1% (which I believe is MUCH higher but underreported like me!) the side effects are, for the most part, serious, permanent and irreversible. Joint problems, peripheral neuropathy, chronic exhaustion, brain damage and optic toxicity are all among them. I am 300% positive this is what has been ailing me all these years. I find it unacceptable and frightening that the government and the medical community haven't been able to come up with a more thorough warning system to prevent against the obvious dangers these drugs pose. I am stunned that after all that I've gone through in my search to find answers, living where I do, down the street from Big Pharma (RTP) and "The City of Medicine" (Durham) that not once did any doctor, nurse, lab technician, ANYONE ever ask me had I ever taken a fluoroquinolone. Not even remotely on their radar - not a chance in hell that would have come up. NOBODY KNOWS. I read it over and over in other's accounts - doctors don't believe this happens. It's been proven, there is study after study - class action lawsuits - thousands of documented "survivors" and still no organized, effective recognition or warning. Again, pathetic.
So, yes, my nerves are shot. The GABA receptors in my brain are toast. Charles and I found a doctor in California who has been studying this for years and as soon as I am done gathering my medical records and prescription history we're going to have a phone consultation with him. Word on the street is that if you have had repeated exposure to these drugs and you have an adverse reaction to them - you're in for quite a ride. Great. I have lost significantly more feeling on my left side and have had a rough two weeks but it seems to be leveling off and I know the drill. I've been here before. I have also been in contact with an esteemed acupuncturist in Chapel Hill. A lot of oncologists from UNC send their patients to him for nerve damage. I spoke with him at length last week. I wanted to know if he had ever heard of this and/or if he has treated people like me before. Luckily he has. He said that the most severe problems are caused by the fluoroquinolone I took first - Levaquin. He likened it's affect on my system to an atom bomb and that it was as powerful as having had chemo. Can you believe that? It's hard for me to process. Anyway, I'm on the fence about acupuncture. I really want to do it but he explained to me that the treatment I would need would require 20-30 needles on each side. I know I can get over it but it's going to take me a few weeks to get there!
So I am ok. I do want you to know that. I am in the middle of processing 8 years of crappy shit that has happened to me, that, in my opinion, was totally preventable and should never have happened. I have an amazing life and family and am SO grateful for everything around me - 2 things in particular : ) It was important to me to write this post so that the people in my life know what I've been through and what I am going through. Just having written this makes me feel like you all truly know me now. And I haven't felt that way in a long, long time. This revelation, while pretty shitty, has also been truly enlightening. Hard to describe what a HUGE relief it is to know what has been happening to me all these years.
Also one last thing - I've learned that if you have this adverse reaction - others in your family are more likely to have this reaction as well so ,please, unless you're dying of sepsis or have been exposed to anthrax - DO NOT take fluoroquinolone antibiotics. And spread the word - everyone deserves to be well informed about these powerful drugs. Here are some links to the documentary I mentioned and other websites with good info. Parts 5 and 6 of the documentary (which I embedded below) - the United pilot's story really resonated with me. So much like my own experience (minus the 9/11 part of course):
Charles celebrated 52 last Sunday : ) I didn't realize until the day of that the "5" candle from Devlyn's 5th in November and the "2" candle from Blake's 2nd in October would come in so handy! Two candles....three birthdays and a lot of years between them! Perfectly fitting in it's own special way. Just like the decadent, raisin "toast" cake we slapped together for Daddy Sunday morning, ablaze with special meaning ; ) Looking forward to Derby Day this Saturday! I trust everyone has their mint julep ingredients ready to go? My money will be on Twice the Appeal - hard to go wrong with Calvin at the reins. Be sure to check out the new slideshow. And Happy Mother's Day!
I'm a little punchy tonight - woke up in a panic last night at 4am to howling winds for the third time in as many weeks. Checked my Blackberry and saw that Wake county had once again fallen under "tornado watch" status. Needless to say I did not get back to sleep! Branches the size of medium trees littered the yard today. This weather is crazy!
Want to post a few funny things I've overheard D & B say lately. There have been some real humdingers recently!
Quote #1 - Devlyn
Context: Family dinner on the porch, working on table manners after "poopie" has inevitably entered the conversation several times. C & I reiterate that mealtime chat should revolve around civilized, polite topics. A few questions about what that means are answered. Devlyn thinks for a minute and excitedly blurts out:
"One time Luke's best friend had a pet worm and it exploded!"
Luke is Devlyn's best preschool buddy and in D's mind this was entirely appropriate dinner conversation! Ha!
Quote #2 - Blake
Context: Out to dinner at the Mellow Mushroom, playing video games in the bar area waiting for an outside table. Devlyn is playing a hunting video game. I am holding Blake as we watch Devlyn play. In between rounds, scantily clad cuties pop up on the screen and shimmy around. After the third time said cuties make an appearance onscreen, Blake looks up at me and says, "Mommy, I yike yose yadies." Charles chimes in, "Me too Blake. Me too."
Quote #3 - Blake
Context: Devlyn's first t-ball game has ended and Blake is reveling in the fact that he got his very own after game snack and juice just like the big boys on the team! The Mom and son who brought the team snacks are leaving, walking to their car. Blake says good bye to them at least 5x as they walk to their car and finally as they are almost out of earshot he screams at the top of his lungs, "BYE, I yove it!" referring to the snack they gave him. He was SO seriously sincere that if I hadn't been laughing so hard my heart would have broken.
One of WRAL's cameramen captured this from the top floor of the RBC building as the tornado approached downtown. Not sure that was such a good idea but it sure is a cool shot!
I've been running at 300 miles an hour lately so sorry for the complete lack of updates/pictures/videos, etc. Here are a few random points of note regarding my/our life lately:
1) I just posted a new slide show to the blog. You should check it out : )
2) I just folded laundryand put it away in D&B's room while they were sleeping and neither of them noticed, woke up or moved a millimeter.
3) Devlyn is on his first tee ball team. His team's name is the Bats. Devlyn is totally freaking awesome at baseball. I knew he would be. He's always struck me as a baseball kind of guy : ) He took a grounder up the arm and to the face at practice tonight while fielding. Aw. Another rite of passage - check! This whole kids/sports journey is just starting and I am already WAY too excited about it!!!!!!!!!!!
4) I just had deja vu that I may have already told everyone about tee ball already. Oh well.
5) After MUCH thought, research and deliberation we decided to enroll Devlyn at a highly recommended, public, year round school located near his current pre-school. Yesterday, the brand spanking new superintendant of Wake County schools called an accelerated vote and approved funding of over $1 million and the addition of magnet-like programs to be applied to the traditional calendar school we can walk to that we just opted to pull Devlyn out of! We still have the option to re-enroll him there - all we have to do is spend more time thinking about the whole thing AGAIN!!!!!!!!!! If I'm bald when you see me this summer it's b/c the Wake County school system caused me to pull my hair out!
6) I wrote a promotional marketing plan for an open sourced marketplace mobile app development company last week. It was EXTREMELY challenging and I *think* I kicked ass on it. I learned a ton while doing it and I'm proud of myself. I'll be more proud and less stressed when I know that it works!
7) When I put my hair up Blake immediately tells me to take it down - ha ha ha. Devlyn did exactly the same thing at about the same age. It cracks me up. I've never been fond of myself with my hair up either but something about hearing it straight from the mouths of your innocent, male offspring just takes the cake.
I have no business being up this late but I stayed up to check in on Devlyn's elementary school assignment - results were released at midnight - 3/24/11. He was not accepted into the magnet school and he'll be going to year round school at Sycamore Creek Elementary - very close to our house. It's a phenomenal school and we're happy to have the wait over. Year round schools have 4 Tracks (calendar options) and we should know soon which Track he'll be on. Time to join the PTA! Here's the school website if you care to take a peek : )
Now for some fun stuff - you HAVE to watch Blake bust out his best MC Hammer moves in this first video and then stick around for Devlyn's mad basketball skills in the second : ) Also posted a new slideshow with a few pics from early Spring.
I was at a dinner gathering last night with my yoga class and someone asked me what I do. If you've ever worked in an ad agency, it's pretty cut and dry but for some reason I have never gotten anything but a blank stare back when trying to explain it to others! Nevermind trying to explain it to your 5 year old. A few weekends ago, I had to work on a Sunday. We were shooting high def video for our latest television commercial for one of our clients - a local hospital. They are known for their trauma and rehab services. We had permission from a recent patient to use his story and built this commerical around it. His name is Kevin and he's around my age. A few years ago he fell off a roof and is now paralyzed from the waist down. He plays in a paraplegic basketball league here in Raleigh and we were able to get some of his teammates to take part in the shoot as well. We were hoping to get 2 or 3 of them to show up - about 15 showed up. It's pretty amazing to watch them play. I brought Charles, Devlyn and the boys with me to the shoot so I wouldn't have to miss out on any weekend time with them. On the way over Devlyn hemmed and hawed a little bit - going to "Mommy's work" wasn't what he had envisioned for his Sunday afternoon! A lot of comments about how "boring" the tv shoot sounded as I tried my best to make it sound cool and exciting ; ) Fast forward an hour or two and Devlyn was all but diving between wheelchairs to grab the ball so he could throw it back to the guys. He was the designated ball boy and LOVING it. They loved him too and even threw it to him a few times b/c they saw how much fun he was having helping out. Beebs, of course, was right behind him trying to do the same. On the way home he told me, "That wasn't boring Mommy. That was fun!" We just got out of post production and this spot and it's accompanying radio spot hit the airwaves tomorrow. I'll have to show it to Devlyn tonight when I get home.
Bieber Fever has taken hold at the Upchurch household and it's 100% my fault. I saw a preview for the movie Never Say Never about a month ago. It featured video clips of JB as a youngster doing so many things I've seen Devlyn do - it instantly sparked my interest. My formerly dismissive attitude towards the Biebster instantly flipped and I sat down with Devlyn that day and watched a few of his videos on YouTube. Fast forward to today...we've seen the movie, we own the CD and Devlyn can sing all the words to Baby, Baby a cappella (complete with the Ludacris rap in the middle) all by himself. I find myself fielding questions about Justin Bieber all day long. "What does Justin Bieber eat for breakfast?", "Does Justin Bieber play baseball?" So cute! I followed Devlyn around the house tonight with my phone as he was singing Baby, Baby all the way through for the second time in a row. Visually it's no prize winner but I'm impressed with his rhythm and lyrics considering there was no background besides Charles and I : ) It's not an easy listen with Blake in the background yelling (surprise!) but worth your while if you're a long distance grandperson or auntie : )
If you embed the file it cuts of the aspect ratio and you REALLY lose the effect. Follow this link instead and watch it on YouTube in full size - totally worth it!
It wasn't quite as exciting during the Superbowl in the thirty second format but this has to be one of my favorite "commercials" of all time. Perfect timing for our household. Devlyn completed Jedi Knight training at a Star Wars themed birthday party last weekend and we've watched this on YouTube so many times that Blake just couldn't believe it was on tv tonight - he looked at me with big huge eyes and said, "Momma, it on tv!?!" I said yes it is! He smiled as big as he could and said, "Wow!" A little window into the world of a toddler in 2011 : )
Well, it's happened. Devlyn has gone and grown up. We register him for kindergarten tomorrow and I am a sentimental wreck. He is SO ready and I am SO not : ( I grossly underestimated the effect this rite of passage would have on me. To be honest, until the sappiness washed over me unexpectedly, I don't think I even realized this was a rite of passage! His first day of school will be sometime at the end of August and I may as well just request that day off right now - I'll be a mess! I'm not ready to share him with the whole world! I suddenly find myself longing for all of us to remain in Soapstone Preschool's insulated, cozy little universe - FOREVER. Instead I am on the brink of buses, K-5th graders, backpacks, school lunches and God knows what else. I need a valium. Devlyn, on the other hand is excited and proud - just how he should be. Charles and I were watching video online of 6 and 7 year old boys playing sports at a summer camp the other night and I started bawling - I can't handle all this growing up! Some lucky teacher out there gets to watch his mind work and grow all next year. Ok - crying again - end of blog!
Here's a funny back and forth Charles and I had in the kitchen this evening making dinner for the boys.
Me - (in the cupboard reaching for something) to C, "Did you take your old people vitamins today?" (Centrum Silver baby)
C (laughing), "No, I forgot."
Me (dipping back into the Mexican leftovers we're both picking at out of a styrofoam container on the counter - so fancy!) "Did you eat my last shrimp?!?" (he's allergic to shrimp)
C, "No.....I'm allergic to shrimp." (I have, on occasion, been known to forget this important fact)
Me (feigning surprise)"You are?!?" I continue on by gesticulating and making strange noises to drive home the point that I actually remembered. He chuckles at my odd mannerisms.
Me (noticing my weirdness), "Am I the type of wife you envisioned having?"
C, "You're the type of wife everyone envisions having." (Aww....)
Me, "With all my weirdness?!?"
C, "I love your weirdness. It's all the other stuff I can't stand : )"
I have strong childhood memories of singing songs with my paternal grandmother, Vivian Hayward Swain. Occasionally, she would come pick me up for a sleepover in her little Toyota Tercel and we'd sing the entire way back to her house. All kinds of good songs. She had been a camp counselor in her youth and had raised 4 boys for God's sake! I sure would like to talk to her about that! Most of the songs she taught me are stuck pretty well in my head but there has always been this one I could never quite remember. Tonight, I found it online! It's called "3 Little Fishies" Can't wait to teach it to the boys - I think Blake will love it. Now that I have all the words, I can picture her singing it perfectly - she had fabulous hand gestures that made the already fun refrain even better! I dedicate this great recording of "3 Little Fishies" to Vivian - the big band swing sound of it definitely reminds me of her. This one's for you Gramma!
We're having all kinds of fun this year. First and foremost, we appear to have found an effective, long term solution for our familial sleep issues. It's called bunk beds. Three days in - no compaints and lots of sleeping through the night! Yay! Second, we have one happy pooper. Blake is a potty enthusiast - LOVES to participate and has had several successful sittings. I feel compelled to shout from the rooftop about this one based on our previous experience with potty training - hallelujah! Went downtown for New Year's Eve - took in a bit of Raleigh's First Night events, dined outside at one of our favorite eateries (Raleigh Times) and were home, warm and cozy, by 10:30. We've been bowling, hiking and swimming the past few weekends - enjoying lots of fun family time now that holiday preparations are behind us : ) Blake has been doing his best to keep up - here he is above yesterday - after a long bike ride he fell asleep reading next to Devlyn playing his Leapster on the top bunk. They do everything together right now - it's so cute. Check out the new slideshow and Happy 32nd Birthday Auntie Karin!!!!!!!!
