Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Trip Drama...

This past weekend went by so fast that I am still trying to process everything that happened!  We really tried to cram so much into such short period of time...I believe that is the story of my life.  My in-laws came through in a pinch and drove from Beaufort, SC to VA Beach, VA to hang with Aiden so the hubby and I could see an endless amount of homes with out worrying about entertaining our boy! (Thank you Nana and Pops)  Aiden just loves Nana and Pops, he talks about them non-stop so we were so excited for him to get to see them.  On our travel day, Aiden told everyone he was going to see Nana and Pops...the poor boy waited all day to see them and then fell asleep 5 minutes before we got to the Sheraton to meet up with them!  I felt so bad for him but he was equally excited when he woke up to Nana and Pops sleeping in the bed right next to him Friday morning!
***We have a cute video but were sure that Nana would kill us if we put up a video of her first thing in the morning***

If you think 2 full days of house hunting seems like enough excitement for you, just wait until you hear about the real "drama" that occurred right outside of our hotel room!  Around midnight on Friday, I had just dozed off next to Aiden while the boys were watching some NCAA basketball.  The next thing I know I hear the boys go running out into the hallway and a man is screaming "help me help me".  I run out of the room only to see a man laying in the elevator with blood everywhere.  Needless to say there was a lot of commotion.  The man is screaming "my wife stabbed me...keep her away from me...she still has the knife".  We look over and this lady is screaming back at him holding a bloody towel which was concealing the knife.  You are probably thinking the same thing I was, "is this really happening?"  The man starts screaming about his baby...baby???? Leif asks him what he is talking about and finds out there is a 6 month old baby in their room alone.  I run to call 911 and Leif goes to check on the baby...this precious little baby is sound asleep in the bed surrounded by blood :-(!   Here's the real kicker...911 was busy!!!  I swear I waited for an eternity for someone to finally pick up the phone...once I talked to the dispatcher the cops showed up in no time!  Talk about scary!  In hindsight I thought I was pretty calm but let's be realistic, I was so nervous!  Through out that night and into the next day we spent a lot of time talking about what happened, what could have happened, and what was yet to come for this family.  One thing became very clear...had the boys not inquired about the "noise" who knows what could have happened???  And that poor little baby....the next morning as Leif and I were headed out to another fun filled day of house hunting we saw the man who had been stabbed standing in the lobby holding his sweet little baby!!!  This is an experience that you wouldn't expect to see in a million years...and I hope a million years pass before I see it again!!!

Monday, March 26, 2012

House Hunting...


As shocking as it may sound, we are quickly approaching our next move.  When I posted that we were going house hunting on Facebook, so many people responded with "ALREADY?"...Yes, our time here in RI is winding down.  This was a short training command so our time here will total a whopping 7 months...just when we filed our claim for the damages from the last move, it is time to start scheduling the next one!  Being the crazy, OCD, planner that I am, I wanted to start our search as soon as possible and start narrowing down our choices. We will be headed to the Hampton Roads area next so there is a lot of ground to cover.  After 2 full days of house hunting, 2 flights, 500+ miles logged on the rental car and over 25 houses/builders later, we have a better idea of where we want to be and even more of an idea of what we do and do not want.  Having already moved about 7 times, I knew that I would be sure of what I was looking for but I am just not sure the Realtor was ready for me.  We drove up to several houses and in some cases only pulled onto the first street of the neighborhood before I told her it wasn't even worth going any farther!  Poor lady!!  Despite the stress of searching and searching and searching for what was right for us we are actually pretty excited about the progress we have made.  We have not made any offers but here are a few of our favorites...
This was a model home that we loved...if we built this home we would change the floor plan a little!  Good-Bye $17k sun room, hello extra bedroom and bathroom!

This was one of the only homes that we liked exactly as is!!!


Cute southern style home with a front porch living style neighborhood!  The interior of this home is amazing and the back yard was huge!


This home was so cute but for some reason all of the interior doors were a natural wood color! 

This home was being renovated with brand new appliances, granite and hardwood ...but the guest bathroom had pink vinyl floors YUCK!

Monday, March 19, 2012

St. Patrick's Day

This weekend seemed to go by so incredibly fast.  I am pretty sure that being outside so much with the warmer temperatures will make time fly!  We were really excited to go to the St. Patrick's Day parade in downtown Newport mainly because we had heard so much about it.  It didn't disappoint!  There was a great crowd early in the day...don't get me wrong there were your typical drunks at 11 am on St. Patrick's Day...but aside from that it was a nice family oriented crowd.  I was initially worried about Aiden's attention span considering the estimated parade time was 2 hours but he had a blast.  We found a nice spot on the curb and had a perfect front row view!!

The Start of the parade...


OC's...poor guys!!!


wearing his beads...

creepy looking leprechaun

Enjoying the parade from the front row!

Daddy snuggles!

Leif's favorite moment...this guy followed the horses and cleaned up their poop!!!
After the parade Aiden kept saying "I want to see the parade again"...unfortunately I do not have that power haha!  
I find that as I get older, you know because I am so old, I have less tolerance for drunk people acting ignorant.  As we were walking downtown we saw many, many drunk people.  With out fail I would say to myself...
"Lord I hope I was never that ignorant"
WHOOPS...
 

Friday, March 16, 2012

Sesame Street Live...



Last weekend we took Aiden to Providence to see Sesame Street Live!  Those who know my boy know that he loves Elmo so we were hoping that he would really enjoy this performance.  Aiden is a typical 2 year old in the sense that he doesn't like to sit still for long.  We attempted the movies once and he lasted about 25 minutes.  We were nervous that he may not sit through the whole show and we were right.  He didn't sit...he stood up, danced, clapped, waved his arms, sang along and blew kisses to the characters.  He LOVED it!  This was our first experience at a children's show and boy were there a ton of distractions.  Most of the distractions were screaming children...not screaming as in "woohoo, we love Elmo" but screaming as in "please stop torturing me with these huge puppets and get me out of here".  But for the most part the Providence Performing Arts center was filled with excited children and it just so happened that we sat right in front of the MOST excited adult EVER!!!  WOW...this lady was getting into it.  She gets an A+ for extreme audience participation!  Not only did the show last almost 90 minutes but there was also an intermission...we thought for sure that would be the demise of our excited boy but again, we were wrong.
Aiden talked about sesame street for 2 weeks leading up to the show and now the first thing he tells people is "I saw sesaseee (Sesame) Street". I guess it was money well spent...
Before the show...

Mesmerized by the show...

Enjoying some popcorn...


Intermission...
Nice swimsuit Abby...

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Answers...

So we finally have some answers...on Thursday I had an appointment with the surgeon to discuss all of my options.  I have to say that I am so relieved after meeting and talking to this doctor!  He was personable, honest, thorough and extremely straightforward!  He spent a lot of time feeling the tumor, trying to move it, squeezing it, and asking questions about my pain.  He followed the physical exam by drawing a great visual of my head explaining where the tumor is, what it is doing and how he thinks he can help me.  He then gave a very in depth description of the surgery and what I should expect after the fact.  Were it not for the pain, I could just leave the tumor right where it is.  It appears to be benign and fatty which is usually harmless unless...don't you love words like "appears" and "usually"...  So here are my options...option #1 is to remove the tumor!  Option #2 is to do nothing and hope the pain goes away.  Obviously the doctor can't make the decision for me...I tried!  But he made a great point...the surgery is relatively simple, the recovery is about a week, my hair will cover the scar, and this could eliminate my pain...although nothing is ever 100%!  He said he wouldn't tell me what to do but that he would gently steer me in one direction.  With that he walked me to pre-op hahaha!!!
I have not scheduled the surgery...I wanted to think about it!  Several people have asked me what there was to think about?  Let me list a few 1. I don't want to be put to sleep.  2. I do not want my head to be cut in to.  3.  I don't want to have to rely on other people for a full week.  4. I don't want to inconvenience anyone or feel like a drama queen.  5. Finally, I do not want them to shave part of my hair.  THIS is the biggest...vain but true...I do not want to have a bald spot.  The tumor is on the top of my head which will make covering it a challenge...I guess I need to expand my hat collection!  Once the surgery is scheduled, I will be sure to let everyone know!
Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive!  The little gestures have meant so much to me...without my closest friends and family here; the texts, emails, and messages have been the hand holds and hugs that I didn't physically have...THANK YOU!!!

***Sorry, no fun pictures this time***

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Health Update...

This will be short and sweet...
I have received several emails asking for updates on my tumor!  I am sorry that I haven't been updating regularly but I just figured I would post when there was something to say!  We have seen several doctors and have decided to put all of our final answers in the hands of my surgeon.  I have an appointment with him on Thursday!  So far, 2 out of the 3 doctors we have seen agree on how to proceed...1 doctor is against surgery and 2 feel that it is the best choice.  My hope is that the surgeon will thoroughly weigh out my risks, because we know that all surgeries come with risks.  On Thursday, my hope is to have answers!  For now, I believe that my #1 concern is the tumor and not the cyst in my brain...the tumor is large and in a place where there isn't much room for growth., 2 of the 3 Dr's believe that it is pressing on my nerves thus causing pain, and has the likelihood of becoming more.  We have debated seeking more professional opinions but feel that, at this point, we will just see the surgeon and formulate an opinion from there!  If removing the tumor is a safe and relatively risk free option...then that is our answer!!!!
I (and we) want to THANK those of you who have prayed for me, sent messages and constantly called for updates or sent words of encouragement..  Over the past 2 week I have been feeling so much better and am hopeful everything will be solved within the next few weeks!  Thursday is an important day and we appreciate your prayers...
Again, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all of you that have showed so much care and concern!!!  It means SO, SO, SO much to me!!!

Enough about me...Friday date nights are my favorite!!!!  How handsome is my date???

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Half Birthday Boy!!!

Two and a Half Years Awesome!!

Happy Half Birthday to my little boy.  It is so hard to believe that you are only 2.5 years old yet I wonder where the time has gone!  I really can't, nor do I want, to remember my life before you.  I am constantly amazed by your personality, intelligence, compassion and spunk.  There isn't a day that goes by that I am not constantly blown away by something that you say or do...a couple of weeks ago, I was getting dressed to go see some friends one evening, I heard the rumble of your feet across the upstairs floor and I see you behind me in the mirror.  You stop dead in your tracks, give me the once over and say "Wow Mommy, you are beautiful"...instant heartbreak!!!  How did I get so lucky?  Not only are you sweet but you are so funny too!  Yesterday morning I was in the bathroom and you came running in...you looked at me with a huge smile on your face, clapping your hands and said "YAAAAYYY Mommy, You did it!  You pee pee'd in the potty! Good Job!"  :-)

A little bit about 2 1/2 year old you...

Weight:
After holding strong at 25 lbs for a while you are now a whopping 26.4 lbs
Health:
You are the least pitiful sick child I have ever met...about a month ago you had your first ear infection.  The only reason I knew that you had an ear infection is because you had bloody drainage coming out of your ear.  You never once complained!  Other than that, and of course a runny nose, you are so incredibly healthy.
Food:
You have great eating habits.  I feel so lucky that you aren't a picky eater.  Your latest obsessions are soup and onions.  Yes I know that sounds crazy but you love onions sauteed in olive oil...even if we aren't having onions with our meal, you will say "more onions, please"  The usual favorites still stand strong...blueberries, strawberries, cucumbers, fruit snacks, and hotdogs.  Some new front runners are "gits" (grits), jelly sandwich, plums, and cheeze its

Vocabulary:
Oh, my sweet boy...do you have a way with words!  The things you say are with out a doubt wise beyond your long 2 1/2 years of life!  You know exactly how to melt my heart "Mommy, pick me up and love on me.  I love you, you're my baby"
Right now everything is your "favorite"..."yummy, this corn is my favorite", "this song is my favorite", "that fish is my favorite", "I like this car, it's my favorite" "buddy is a good boy, he is my favorite".  You have recently become very keen on the word "sure"...and you are very proud of yourself when you use it.  Although I prefer for you to say "yes, Ma'am" the way you say "Sure" with extreme enthusiasm is incredibly cute!  Another front runner in the vocabulary department is "probably"  Me:  Aiden are you hungry?  Aiden: Hmmm Let me think about it...Probably not!  You told your teacher the other day (while sitting on the potty) that "when mommy comes to pick me up we are probably going to go see Daddy"

Playtime:
Your absolute favorite game to play is "hide and seek"...you always want one of us to hide and then you insist that the other carries you around to seek.  "Mommy Hide"  "Daddy Hide"  You also love to "take our order" with either a pen and paper or by pretending to type on a calculator.  You love to build "castles"...we always have to build something with pillows, blankets, boxes, or blocks...and every building is a "castle"

Other Notables:
You are so incredibly affectionate!  You give the best hugs and kisses...you love to get "little kisses" and giggle when I give them back to you.  You also love to use that affection to your advantage...you always ask to snuggle on the couch when I tell you it's nap time!  You are becoming so independent!  One of your favorite things to say is "I want to do it my byself"  Daddy and I just love the way you say that...should we even correct you?  You also remember everything...Nana and Pops parking there car in our driveway, Grandpa plays golf, our old house in Charleston, going to Disney World, our airplane rides...and if we tell you something that we are going to do soon, you become a broken record "I am going to the Children's Museum, I am going to the Children's Museum, I am going to the Children's museum."

My sweet Aiden,
You are becoming a "little man" right before my eyes!  I am not quite sure what I did to deserve such a sweet, compassionate, smart and inquisitive little boy.  You bring so much joy to, not only mine and Daddy's life, but to everyone who knows you the way that we do.  There is just something about you that makes everyone fall in love with you.  Happiness is a complete understatement when describing what you bring to my life.  I love you more than I could ever put into words and am so incredibly proud to be your Mommy.  With all you have accomplished in 2 1/2 years, the world is yours baby boy!!!