Category: Family

This weekend we went to Lewis’ strawberry farm to see if their strawberries were ripe enough to pick and for CDF to get some parsley plants. The berries were ready and so after CDF got her plant we grabbed our buckets (one big one and one little one for MDF) and went out to the field. The first row we were directed to was kind of bare and a lot of the berries were still unripe. But the workers let us go down another row that had lots of big red berries. We got a bucket full of nice berries and managed to keep MDF from eating them.

Actually MDF did a great job of self-control. She really wanted to eat a berry, but we kept telling her that we had to wash them first. She even tried to convince me that pretending to wash them (“Wash, wash”) would work, but we persisted and she did wait until we got home to eat any.

After we were done picking, we got some ice cream: chocolate for CDF and vanilla for MDF. I shared with each of them. We sat at a round umbrella picnic table and ate most of the ice cream, and then finished it on the way home.

We went up to Jacksonville last Sunday to celebrate Dadu’s birthday. We got there after the lunch, but in time for cake.

Celebrating With Dadu

I met CDF and MDF yesterday to shop at the Sam’s Club and then we went to lunch at Chic-Fil-A. The restaurant had an inside playground area, and MDF asked to go in it as soon as she saw it. So we told her she could after we ate.

Apparently she has been in one before with her friend Mackenzie, but this time she went in the playground alone and she seemed a little intimidated. She’s just a little to short to climb most of it, but I was able to help her up to the level where she could make it to the slide. Unfortunately once she got there she didn’t want to try to go any further. There was a tunnel to her right that would lead her to the slide and so I tried to get her to go through it. Only after much coaxing did she give it a try and then she apparently couldn’t make it up the slight slope and came back out the way she went in.

Eventually it was time to go and since she couldn’t get to the slide to get down, she had to climb back down the way she went up, and that posed another problem. Finally CDF crawled in the first level and helped her down.

Christmas is over but we had a wonderful time this holiday season. As MDF is getting older she’s able to enjoy it more and more.

This year we followed advent with a calendar and candles. At supper CDF would light the advent candles on the dining room table and then at bedtime we’d let MDF open the window on the calendar for that day. We also made sure we read the Christmas story to her.

We aren’t “doing Santa” in that we’re not leading her to believe that Santa brings her presents, but I am (we are) trying to keep it a neutral “story” so she doesn’t “spoil” it for other kids who’s parents like to “pretend.” She has been asked if Santa brought her any toys, and she told us that Santa could come over and play with her new toys. It’s hard to know how to respond to that.

We spent Christmas Eve over at my parents house and then came back to Wilmington for the Christmas Eve service at Emmanuel. Then Sunday we went up to CDF’s parents’ house. Unfortunately I think we over-did things for MDF and wore her out. It took her at least two days to recover.

By Christmas afternoon MDF was tired.

Yesterday afternoon we went for a bike ride. It was quite sunny, so
CDF got everyone’s sunglasses out of the van. MDF had hers
too. As we rode, she would look at me and grin, and was very cute.

We went around the neighborhood streets between Campbell and Hwy 117,
and rode for longer than we normally do. We also went down some streets
I hadn’t seen before, Linda Ln., etc. And saw a number of nice houses too.

It has been a nice relaxing weekend.

This past Sunday CDF, MDF, and I went to Wrightsville beach. It was the first time I’ve been to the beach this year. We also called Dom and Amber and invited them along and they decided to meet us there at the beach.

MDF loves the water and especially likes CDF or I to hold on to her and help her jump the waves. I didn’t do too great a job, and let a couple of waves break over MDF’s head. Fortunately she didn’t seem to mind too much.

She also liked getting handfuls of sand and running down to the water to throw in the surf. She did this one time and got knocked over by a small wave. I was just coming up behind her and yanked her up before she swallowed any water. Still this didn’t faze her either.

After playing and swimming for a while we went down to the Dairy Queen on Oleander Drive and got ice cream. CDF got a peanut butter crunch Blizzard®, I got a dipped cone, Dom got a multi-chocolate delight (I don’t remember it’s name), and Amber got a Buster Bar. MDF shared some with both CDF and me.

This past Sunday, CDF, MDF and I biked over to the park in downtown Burgaw. We went in the afternoon, after MDF got up from her nap. It’s maybe five or six blocks away, down Walker St, just past a Baptist church.

It’s a nice little park. It has a playground with a jungle gym with, I think, four slides, swings, benches, etc. There are two tennis courts beside the playground, and another picnic area across the street.

MDF spent most of the time going down the slide. But we did head over to the swings for a few minutes and I pushed MDF in the swing while CDF sat on another one.

Fun on the swings.

Enjoying the slide.

I found it amusing that after she went down the slide a couple of times, the static electricity started building up.

She’s Electric!

Dom’s wedding was this weekend, on Saturday, May 21st. After initial panic when Dom said, “I don’t know where I need to be going now,” things were straightened out and the ceremony moved on without a hitch (well… until the end when the recession music failed to play).

Pictures after the wedding

It’s probably worth mentioning that I made a speech for the toast that went well. 🙂

CDF has still been sick this week and needed help watching MDF (now whatever CDF had has turned into Bronchitis).

Yesterday I stayed home in the Morning to watch MDF. She helped me cook French Toast, and then helped wash dishes afterward. We puttered around the house for a while, had a snack of grapes, and then went outside to play until it was time for lunch. When she went to bed I headed to work.

Today MDF went to spend the day with Mrs. Pat, something she was very pleased to do. I moved her car seat to Pat’s car and they went off; MDF just hanging on for the ride. I’ve heard they went Food Shopping and by Noon MDF had gone down for a nap in Lauren’s room.

Last Friday started out great. CDF was having her book party in the evening, I was going to “babysit” MDF in the back bedroom, and so on.

Then around 8:00 PM, CDF got sick and started throwing up. She made it through the last bit of the party and then we tried to get her to bed. Soon she started saying she was getting dehydrated and needed to go to the hospital. At first I didn’t think she was that serious, but then I decided it would be better not to find out. By this time MDF was up, crying, so I hurried to get all of us ready and into the van. By 10:00 PM it was COLD outside.

So we took off. She was feeling groggy and like she was ready to faint. This started worrying me and I tried to keep her awake by talking to her. She also started saying she wouldn’t make it to the Emergency Room and we should try the Ogden fire station. Looking back that wasn’t necessary. We had plenty of time to get to the hospital, and even if she had fainted, she still wouldn’t have been in any danger.

Nobody was at the fire station, nor the emergency med clinic (8am-8pm only!). So we finally arrived at Cape Fear Hospital. Even for the shape she was in, CDF was ready to go and got out of the van on her own. I tried to tell her to wait, but she didn’t hear me. I thought she was going to wait at the end of the van so I got MDF out of her seat. Apparently CDF was not going to wait, but was too woozy to make it on her own. I found her lying on the pavement at the end of the van. I told her to get up, helped her stand, and we staggered toward the emergency room doors. A lady saw us coming and got the nurse to bring a wheelchair. That was the last MDF and I saw of CDF for the next 3 hours.

After signing in, I sat with MDF in the waiting room. Between going up and down the hall, watching Nick at Night on TV, and sitting for a while to play with her stuffed dog, I managed to occupy her while the hours dragged by. She kept asking for Mommy and I tried to tell her Mommy was in another room getting medicine, but I’m not sure how much it helped.

After a while the waiting room got hot and we went back out to the van to get the bottled water there. A lady who was waiting to be seen (an allergic reaction I think) got a kick out of how well MDF could drink out of the bottle.

Finally around 1:00 AM I asked one of the receptionists how CDF was doing and she let us go back. She was doing okay, cold but okay. The doctor hadn’t given a diagnosis and so we didn’t know what was going to happen next. Eventually MDF and I went back to the waiting room.

After watching more TV, watching a guy with a stab wound come in (he was only wrestling with his buddy), MDF finally went to sleep in my arms. I managed to get her to lay on my jacket and covered her with her jacket on a double seat in the back of the waiting room. So she slept for a few hours.

Finally I dosed off at 3:00 AM, after a couple of mind numbing hours of Rosanne, Fresh Prince, and Murphy Brown reruns on TV, and I slept maybe an hour.

At about 4:30 AM the nurse came and got me again and said that CDF was getting dressed and we would be released soon. It took a little while longer, but we finally made it out.

When we got home, I got them settled, and since CDF was still feeling sick, I went back out to get the prescription filled so she’d have something to keep her from throwing up again. It was quarter to six when I got back so I was about ready to stay up for the rest of the day, but instead I lay down and we slept for a couple of hours until MDF woke, ready for breakfast.

Then I got sick Sunday morning, but it wasn’t as bad as for CDF, and I was back up by that afternoon. I still took Monday off to rest up though.