Once Upon the Myers: September 2011

Dylan turns 10!

Dylan turned 10 this past Sunday. We can't believe it has been 10 years since we got her. We picked her out from an animal shelter in Anderson, SC when she was only 6 weeks old. It was one of the best decisions we ever made. She is the best dog in the world and a valuable part of our family.

First trip to Mimi's house November 2001

Creekside, Clemson, SC: November 2001

Concord, NC May 2005

Concord, NC November 2005

Tallahassee, FL September 2011 (Today)

Boston Red Sox in St. Pete, FL

I got Scott tickets to see the Red Sox play down in the Tampa area for his 30th birthday. The series was this past weekend and we went to the Saturday and Sunday games. We had a blast although they didn't play well, especially Sunday. Thank you to Brandy and Natalie for watching Addi so we could have a night away. We haven't gone out overnight with just the two of us since we went to New Orleans over a year and a half ago so it was nice to have time to ourselves. Of course we talked about Addi half the time, but that is to be expected.

Outside the dome

Saturday seats - We had great seats and could see EVERYTHING!

At Ferg's after the game

Brunch at Fresco's on the Bay

Cool trees :)

The same trees up close - they are huge and really neat!

Best gelato ever! Visited there a few years ago and twice while in town this past weekend - dark chocolate and salted caramel were my two favorite flavors. Yum!

Walked the Pier Sunday morning before the game.

Pelicans everywhere! Even posing by the sign.

View from our Sunday seats - much closer to the field but couldn't see everything.

Big Poppy and the weird Rays mascot giving each other a hard time and goofing off right in front of us before the game.

Addi Updates

Addi cut another molar recently and now has 19 teeth! We have full blown conversations with her pretty much all day. The other morning she looked at me and said, mommy, you stay right here, okay. I'm going to go tell Dylan morning in other room and will be right back. You stay right here. "Here" was her room, by the way. Each morning we wake up to her talking to her toys in her crib and then she calls us to come get her. We usually hang out in her room before getting ready. Then of course we feed Bubbles, turn off the humidifier if it is on, and sometimes read a few books.

One of her new favorite things to do it wait for us to count for her to finish something. We started telling her that once we got to 5, 10, 20, etc., we were all finished with whatever we were doing (e.g. when I get to 5, I am going to turn the water off). This is helping her to get a concept of time I think, and she doesn't get mad or frustrated as often when we stop doing something she likes. So now she asks us to count to X when she is doing things like putting her milk away (we count while she drinks, and then she places it in the fridge or on the counter depending on if it is morning or night).

Her nighttime routine is pretty much the same. We brush teeth, read books (sometimes she reads, sometimes we read, sometimes we both read or take turns reading the same book), say prayers, and rock and cuddle. She has started to pick up on how we read books and is mimicking the emotions that we use. So when we read a part and put excitement into it, she does the same when she reads it. Or when the sad chicken sadly says cluck, cluck...she says it in a sad voice. She still loves pointing out the shapes, colors, and objects in the books and is asking us what things are although she knows most of the time. She is doing what we do :)

We do all sorts of things throughout the day when she isn't in school. We just got a Groupon for another museum that has a fun kiddie area and are looking forward to spending time there. Once it cools off a bit we will start to go back to the outdoor museum so she can see the animals. Of course the park is still one of her favorite places to be.

Here are a few pictures from the other week.

The croup

By the time we got home Monday from SC, Addi was so hoarse we couldn't understand her and could barely hear her. That night we heard her wheezing and she had a fever of 102 so the next morning we headed to the doctor. Scott took off work since I was teaching and couldn't get off at the last minute. We weren't that concerned thinking she had a cough, and were surprised to find out that she has the croup (upper airway) and the start of a lower airway infection. They treated it pretty aggressively with two shots of steroids at the doctor's office, a nebulizer with albuteral (still on that 1-2 times a day), oral antibiotics (for lower airway bacterial infection since croup is usually viral), and oral steroids. Then our doctor called us that evening to check on Addi and let us know again that if she struggles to breath to get her to the E.R. At her check-up the next day she was already improving and the wheezing was done. She still hated the nebulizer (screamed bloody murder the day before) but with M&Ms and giving the medicine to her cow instead of her she slowly became okay with it. We would have her hold cow and breath it in without having to hold it to her face. Her cough took a few more days to subside but she was back in school on Friday and hanging out with Brandy and Natalie over Saturday and Sunday when we were out of town. Now she will hold the nebulizer to her face between giving it to cow (and now baby). She caught on pretty quickly that she was getting the medicine while Cow got it. Of course they all get an M&M for being so good :)

Here is a picture of Brandy took while keeping her this past weekend. You can see Cow's head on her right. I am so proud of Addi for actually wearing the mask!

SC Visit over Labor Day Weekend

We visited SC over Labor Day weekend and had a great time! We were just too homesick to wait until October. Scott, Dad, and Mr. Ricky made a day trip to the Clemson game. Michelle was up the entire weekend as well. We briefly got to see Aunt Jane, Uncle Ronnie, Uncle D and Aunt Libbi Anne (more golf cart rides to visit the baby cows!). We also hung out at Aunt Liz' house with her and the girls. And of course Aunt Nina came over to play. We had a wonderful weekend hanging out with the family, celebrating Mrs. Marie's birthday, and meeting Erin and Walt's one-month old, Elijah (and seeing Kess too!). We met Mom and Dad's new puppy, Magglio. He is a toy poodle and weighs about 3.5lbs. He is really furry and looks so much bigger than he actually is. Addi was obsessed with him!