A new addition to the family!

I should be exhausted, but I can't sleep, so I thought I would take this opportunity to update here. I drove to Ohio yesterday, getting up at 3:00 AM to make the trip. I stayed up until 12:00 baking cakes (for my nieces baptism) and now I'm awake again at 5:00 AM. Ugh...you would think, considering the fact that I am here without the three small kiddos, that I would take advantage of my opportunity to sleep in and get caught up on my rest a little, right? Nope. Sigh...I'm a maniac.

We got a new car about 3 weeks ago -- an Acura TL. A beautiful, steel grey, fast, sleek and perfect TL. I LOVE it! I fell in love with the TL's the first time I got in one and have been itching for one ever since. I guess my husband got tired of hearing "I want a TL" every time one would drive by us. I have not a single complaint about the car, which is a good thing because we'll probably have it for 10 years (we tend to drive our cars for a long time). I feel a little guilty about not getting the hybrid we originally set out to buy, but I also couldn't feel good about spending a ton of money on a car I didn't love. I drive a van the rest of the time -- I don't want to drive something practical when I get the chance to go somewhere without car seats and diaper bags -- I want something EXHILARATING!

I have a geeky admission, too. We named the car. Not necessarily on purpose, it just kinda happened. It is my fault. Do you know who Tommy Lee is? He is a rocker who played in Motley Crue. I just unthinkingly called the car Tommy Lee the night we bought it. Jeremy couldn't figure out why, so I told him, "because the cars initials are 'TL' and the car rocks". Get it? It rocks, like a rocker does? Hah hah -- I crack myself up! And, yes, I'm a dork. So, if any of you hear us talking about Tommy, that would be the new car, not a new child or pet!

I've been looking forward to driving up here because it would give me a chance to test out Tommy on I-77 in West Virginia. He didn't disappoint. It was a fun ride! I'm not going to want to go back to my van after this trip, though I do miss my little people (and, so far, we're trying to mostly keep the little ones out of the new car).

My crazy kids at the beach!

So, we spent last weekend at Topsail Island again -- one of my favorite places to be in the whole wide world! As usual, we had an absolute blast! For the first time in 5 years, too, we noticed that things are getting easier with the kids -- we were actually able to relax a little. Woohoo!

The boys LOVED playing in the surf (and weren't a bit scared of it, which is why Ross had to wear his life jacket). Lucy liked the water, but favored playing in the sand. By the end of the weekend, though, all three of them were complaining because their bums were raw from the sand in their suits -- I tried to tell them to stop sitting on the sand at the waters edge, but they were sure I was selling them bad advice. Oh well...it is their bum, not mine.

So, anyway, I took a ton of pictures and decided to play a little with black and white. I'm really quite happy with these...

Ross being Ross:
The boys getting along quite nicely (whew):

My favorite person in the whole wide world:

Lucy with her brooding look on:

Lucy being industrious:

Lucy being cute:

Lucy striking a pose:

This is my favorite -- the boys doing what they do best -- running and laughing and having fun:

Ross doing exactly what his big brother is doing:

Daddy showing the kids something neat:

Reid looking entirely too grown-up:

Lucy turns 2!

Okay, really, how did that happen? It seems hard to believe that my baby (my LAST baby) turned two this week. Time sure does fly when you're sleep deprived and too busy, doesn't it?

As usual, we didn't do anything too extravagant for her birthday. We were at the ocean on the big day, so we very happily ignored the event until we got home. Last night we had a small gathering of family and close friends -- no balloons, no games, but plenty of food and good times.

She sure is a sweet little girly-girl who loves all things pink! We got her a bitty baby from American Girls, that she loves (so does Reid, for that matter) and she already has her first beach outfit for the baby thanks to the D. family, which has been on and off her at least a dozen times now. Is it sad that I'm just as excited about the doll as she is?

Here are a few pics I snapped of her in her birthday girl outfit (which has been in the closet since last year and I've been just itching to get it on her)!

Grandma gave her a little pedi in preparation for the party!

I skipped the fondant on the cake this time and opted for swiss meringue buttercream. It was neopolitan themed -- chocolate and white cakes with strawberry and vanilla frosting. It was very good, though my frosting was too soft, which made for a slightly crooked cake. I made the butterflies with chocolate candy discs -- they weren't hard to make, but there was a learning curve to getting them to look the way I wanted.

Sigh...goodbye summer!

Summer seemed to come and go in a hurry this year. Hannah is off to the 8th grade (which is unbelievable to me), Reid started kindergarten (no way!) and Ross is off to preschool (okay, that I can deal with). All three of them seem to be enjoying their new school routines, but Lucy is feeling a bit left out and would be quite happy to stay at preschool with Ross!

Anyway, here are a few shots of the boys on their first days of school:

So, now we're settling into a new -- and busier -- routine. I was completely overwhelmed the first couple of days, but now it isn't so bad. The house is quieter and calmer during the day when Reid (and sometimes Ross) is gone, but I have more running back and forth to keep track of. I'm completely terrified that I'm going to forget someone somewhere.

The only big problem so far is that Reid comes home in one heck of a (sour) mood -- he seems to love school, though. I have several theories on this, but think it mostly the fact that he is exhausted and expends all his good behavior at school (because the reports are that he is an model student at school). So, I'm frantically trying to find ways to sooth this little speed bump!

Is she possessed?

Lately, Lucy seems to be making an exceptional effort at ramping up for the terrible twos. She's always been a pretty laid back kid, and she does still listen exceptionally well for a not-quite-two year old. However, she can get into trouble faster than I can blink (and it is saying something that she can surprise me with anything after her brothers).

Since we changed her crib to a toddler bed, we've had issues with her getting out and playing at nap time. It hasn't been a problem, until this week. Normally, she'll just play for a bit (never trying to leave her room, which is fabulous) and then either crawl back in bed or fall asleep on the floor. So, when she was making noise on Tuesday during nap time, I didn't think much of it. She went to sleep eventually and nothing seemed amiss. She woke up grumpy, which is very unusual for her. I went in to find her covered from head to toe in slime and a wearing a very dirty diaper. It turns out that she found the drawer in the changing table where we keep the diaper ointments, orajel, baby lotion, etc. She had just about every tube/bottle from the drawer out with the cap off. Her toy kitchen dishes were strewn about the floor, covered in muck -- the spoons were full of the stuff, so she must have been "cooking". Plus, she had rolled around and her diaper had leaked. Lovely, just lovely! Oh, and I should mention that she was totally peeved that she was dirty and insisted on an immediate bath (not that I would have let her go anywhere but straight to the tub anyway).

Ugghh...this called for an emergency shampooing of the carpet. I'm really glad we have our own shampooer, though I found ours isn't working right (drat), but it worked well enough to get her room done. So, I better get the part replaced on the shampooer before Lucy can find something else to get into. Hmmmm...she loves the pump of liquid soap in the bathroom, too. Perhaps I should switch to bar soap to avoid anymore unplanned carpet shampooing!

Fourteen!

Somehow -- and I don't really understand it -- but somehow my little girl turned 14 today. I shouldn't be surprised by this, considering the fact that she towers over me at this point, but yet here I sit amazed that she is really growing up so quickly.

I took a few shots today, though I'm not totally pleased with them and think I'll try again tomorrow.

Her cake was a major undertaking for me this year. She wanted fondant and came up with the idea for a giraffe print cake (inspired by one of my favorite bakery blogs). I decided to take a stab at a tiered cake for this, which was really not that hard. Overall, I'm very pleased with the cake!

It wasn't perfect, but that is okay -- I only do these a couple of times a year, so I really shouldn't expect perfection. I tried a few new recipes -- chocolate fondant (for the black) and meringue buttercream (which goes under the fondant). I LOVE the meringue buttercream and doubt I'll ever make a powdered sugar based buttercream again. The stuff was just HEAVENLY!!!! The bottom cake was chocolate and the top was lemon (mmmm....my favorite).

I also tried something new with the fondant. In the past I've kneaded the color into the fondant after making it (as is usually recommended). This time, I added the color to the melted marshmallows before mixing in the sugar. It was much easier this way, though admittedly limits you to a single color per batch.

We had a small get together this evening and had a pretty low-key celebration, which was really nice. Hopefully the next birthday party for Hannah won't creep up again so fast...

Seriously!

I don't know why I'm having such a hard time keeping this thing updated lately. I really miss taking the time each day to look back and review what was going on and what I was thinking. I just need to put blogging back on my to-do list. Of course, my biggest challenge is that Lucy has taken to messing with the laptop if I try to use it. We keep the laptop under one of our arm chairs (and the other one is upstairs where the kids generally aren't allowed because that is where we keep our office and gym equipment), and if I sit down and try to use it Lucy will unplug it, pull the screen down, bang on the keys, etc. I know she'll outgrow it eventually, but for now it is really hard to get anything done on the computer.


So, anyway, I've been busy lately -- not with any one thing in particular, but just a lot of little stuff, one of which is twice weekly physical therapy, which I don't think I've mentioned here before. For a while now I've been having numbness issues in my right hand. It got so bad that I was having numbness anytime I lifted my arms -- shampooing hair, doing the dishes and many other activities left me with numb fingers. The last straw was last spring when I attempted to paint one of our closets -- my hand went numb as soon as I lifted my arm and stayed that way for several hours after. I could hardly get the trimming done, because I don't have good dexterity when my fingers are numb and feel like they've been resting in a snow drift for a few hours (note to self -- the linen closet really should be repainted). I was pretty freaked out -- my active imagination started running amok with all the horrible things that could be wrong with em. So, I ended up at my doctor (along with a slew of other bizarre symptoms --running problems mostly, also on my right side, which now appear to simply have been a result of poor/over training). I was put through a massive amount of tests -- blood draws and an extensive set of x-rays -- and was also referred out to a specialist for some kind of special nerve mapping in my hands.

The specialist discovered that I had a messed up shoulder, which was causing the numbness. I was doubtful when he told me this, but consented to his recommended cortisone injections in my back (which hurt like a *&^#, by the way -- I felt like I had been beat to pulp in my upper body after the shot). Surprisingly (to me), they worked -- or mostly worked. I seem to have some lingering issues that they are trying to work out through therapy, but the numbness is only occurring now when I spend several hours knitting. I can deal with that! Hopefully the therapy will fix the problem completely, but I'm growing quite tired of the frequent appointments, which is just one of the things keeping me hopping. On the other hand, I'd take therapy over the shots any day. He swears they usually don't hurt much, but if you're tense they can be very painful. Apparently, I'm a very tense person -- he told me I need to work on controlling my stress better (hah!). Yeah...I'll get right now that!