Silver Springs

What's the point of going to Florida if you don't enjoy water? I feel like all of my childhood activities centered around water. The beach. The springs. The lakes. The list goes on. Florida's natural beauty is unique and I sooooo miss it. While we were sitting around my parents house trying to decide what to do one of our free days, Silver Springs came to my mind. When I was a kid, I remember thinking that the place was completely lame and boring. Not sure why this was my view, but we decided to take the boys and go check it out. Best decision ever. We had such a  good day and Parker absolutely loved the animals. It's similar to a zoo except that everything seemed much more close and personal. Plus, did I mention there was hardly anyone there since school isn't out yet and we went on a weekday? We basically had the whole park to ourselves.

Parker loved all the gators. Personally, I find them creepy.

Baby Graham after getting greased up with sunscreen.

Parker's reaction to the massive gator. It could have swallowed him whole.

I was really having to trust this glass. Parker kissed the gator on the nose.

The best moment of the day was when the boys got to feed the giraffe. You get these graham cracker looking wafers and just hold them up. The giraffe nibbled the food right out of the boys' hands.

What's Silver Springs without the glass bottom boat?

I totally recommend this place now, especially for families with small children. We loved it. My only regret: not jumping in the water at the springs. Well, maybe not...those gators were big.

Lightning and Lincoln

What a week! We had such a wonderful time as a family. Free of hiccups? Um, no. It was crazy. Crazy stressful at times and crazy good the rest. I would have it no other way. Well, maybe a little less stress. But I think I'm the only member of the family who felt the gravity of the situations that caused the stress. My husband and children obviously found it fun to drive straight through two horrid hail storms on our trip down. Come on, isn't it fun to think about the front windshield breaking in allowing water to gush all over your family in the middle of no where with two babies in the back seat? (Yes, Parker is still my baby. Plus, it makes the story sound more dramatic.) Anyway, I'm going to have to break this trip up into different posts or I'd lose you to boredom before getting to day 3. I'll begin the montage of vacation blogging with the trip down and meeting Mr. Handsome (aka Lincoln).

David got home from a half day at work around 1:00 pm and the amazing mommy (yes, I know it's a bit prideful) had the boys ready to go in the car. Let's just say, it is miraculous that I didn't forget everything with the way the day had gone. It was rough. Graham had decided to get a mysterious fever the day before and was wreched all morning. He cried and cried and cried. You get the point. Graham never cries like that, well, not since the last vacation when he got dealthly ill the day before we left. We had a chat about his timing this week and he's promised to work on it. I had checked the weather report before we left, and it said isolated thunderstorms throughout West Viriginia, Virginia and North Carolina. Concerned? Not really. Maybe if it would have said the words scattered or severe I would have been a little more cautious. What it should have said was, "Dunn family: you will be followed by lightning-crazed, 60 mph wind producing thunderstorms that will pound hail all over your car." I'm not typically an uptight person, but the beginning of the day had already set me off and the storm almost killed me with anxiety. I would almost gain my composure and then the radio alert system would come on warning of another severe storm and to seek shelter. Nice. We drove on. It took us 7 1/2 hours to reach Charlotte, NC and it usually only takes 4. We made it to my parents house at 4am after 14 hours in the car. I remembered why I normally fly.

We slept a few hours and got up to find that Graham had shared his fever producing virus with his brother. Sounding familiar to the last trip? Yeah. The good part was that the nasty little bug produced no other symptoms and the boys were both better within 48 hours.  The bad part about the whole ordeal was that I was planning for months to go see my friend Sheena Howell graduate from dental school. The ceremony was on Sunday when Parker was at his worst and i was too worried to leave him. I hated missing her big moment, but if you ever read this Sheen, I just want to say I am soooooo proud of you! You'll be the best dentist ever. CONGRATS!

The boys being sick also put off me getting to see my Heidi and her new little one. Finally, I made it over to her house and met Lincoln. I don't think he was as excited as I was since he slept the whole time but I won't take it personally. Heidi is rocking it as a mom. They hand us these little things when we leave the hospital and it is up to us to figure out how to take care of them. For all of us, it is a learning process, but there are some mothers who have a head start with gobs of natural instincts. Heidi falls in this category. I smile as she tells me stories that I remember telling her a few years ago while I learned with Parker. It's not that she didn't listen to me back then, it's just that she now really GETS it. I love our new connection as friends. Heidi, you are doing sooo great and can I just say, you and Mike made one beautiful baby.

Me and Lincoln meeting the first time.

Me and the trooper of a mom who had to endure 3 hours of pushing to get this big boy out.

Parker was really into Lincoln. He loves babies. Here's Parker holding lincoln the first time.

We let Graham in on the action...doing some inspection here. I had to keep removing Graham's finger's from Lincoln's ears and eyes.

Love these boys.

I may not know ow to work a camera, but i do know how to work a baby. I helped Heidi get a few shots of Lincoln before he grows out of the fleeting newborn phase. Look at this face!

Heidi and I and possibly some future best buds???

I still can't believe he is here. Crazy to think that between the two of us, there are 3 boys. Heidi, you and I have some wildly fun days ahead of us!

More Florida trip to come!

Mickey Mouse Bound

Growing up in Florida is wonderful in my opinion. However, you become numb to the barrage of tourist attractions, one of the largest being Disney World. I thought it was a fun place the first gazillion times I went, but then it lost its appeal as I got older. If there's one thing that can get you feeling excited to role back up in that magic world, it's having a toddler who's had a slight obsession with the obnoxious beloved M-I-C-K-E-Y  M-O-U-S-E. We're leaving tomorrow for a family (yes, I get to bring my husband this time!) vacation, and Disney is definitely on the agenda. Parker is thrilled, but I know he is clueless about how sick you can get on those blasted tea cups. Here's my little man last Halloween showing his enthusiasm for the mouse.

Anyway, I am for sure looking forward to going to the Magic Kingdom, but I am the most enthused to meet someone new. He is nine pounds and super cute. I'm going to get to love on the long awaited Lincoln Michael Mitchell. 

I know, he's so sweet! He was born on May 24th, 2 days early. I can't wait to see Heidi as a mom, I know she's going to be awesome. It's so crazy that the last time I left her, it was just she and Mike. I'd just like to say, Congrats Heidi and Mike. So glad you've joined us in this crazy adventure called parenthood. You will experience more frustration and happiness than you ever have before, but though cliche, it's totally worth it! I love you and am beyond happy for your beautiful future with this handsome little man.

Have a great week everyone!

Where in the world is Graham Jeffrey Dunn?

With the onslaught of his new army crawling trick, I find myself constantly searching for this little guy. My life just got a lot more complicated. I am no longer in the phase where you leave your child and when you come back they are where you left them. It's alright though, because Parker is really into hide and seek. He thinks Graham is playing with him. Works for me!

Night and Day

People always say that your children will be different and possibly night and day. For the Dunn household, that couldn't be more true. Since Graham's birth, we have seen evidence of a pretty chilled-out personality. Everything from the amount he cries to his physical milestones have shown he is more laid back than his brother. Now, mind you, it isn't hard to be more calm than Parker who is the human equivalent of a tornado. He came out trying to walk. Physically, he did everything way ahead of time and verbally still surprises me everyday. He's an overachiever. He gets it from his father. :) When Parker was an infant he had episodes where he just cried to release energy.  Needless to say, I have been moving and shaking since July of 2007. Graham hardly cried at all his first 6 months, and when he did the culprit was almost always acid reflux. Physically, he's been pretty much behind until now. He's starting to pick up the pace recently and is now average. He's full of smiles and will sit in a stroller for endless hours if need be. If I had to describe my boys personality in one picture...these would be my choice:

This is not to say that Parker can't be relaxed and that Graham is always passive...they both have their moments. I am so excited for the future to see who they become.

Weekend Wrap-up

Mondays aren't always the greatest day mentally for stay-at-home-moms. You have to face the fact that full-time reinforcements (aka-the hubby) will not be on active duty for five more days. Evenings are great and I have a very hands-on husband who I don't really think can be beat in the "helpful daddy" category, but nonetheless Mondays can really put me a grumpy mood.

I'm not going to let that happen today. I'm going to talk about how great (not to be confused with exciting) my weekend was. Friday, David surprised me by coming home early form work. Yay! We enjoyed the beautiful weather outside with the boys.

 After putting the boys to bed, David and I just chilled on the couch and caught up on some DVR. Then we crashed early. (Yes, Graham is in his bath-seat in the swimming pool:)

Saturday, we got up and went to the Charleston East-end yard sale. It's the the mother of all yard-sales. There are streets and streets of yard-sales in Charleston's historic district. If nothing else, you can take a beautiful walk up and down the streets admiring the fabulous homes. I was on a mission for more milk glass. I didn't get lucky with any new plates, but found a couple more vases. Our friend Tabitha came with us and we were so glad to finally spend some time with her. She hung around later and played one of my favorite games with us, Dutch Blitz. It's addicting and I love it. Later David and I went to Panera and Toy-R-Us. It's harder to get David out of that store than Parker. Men NEVER grow up when it comes to toys. All of you wives know what I'm talking about.

Sunday was Mother's Day (in case you forgot) and it was my third. I had a great day, but laughed the whole day about how not too much was different even if it was a day to celebrate my place in the family. I'm sure it gets different as your children get older, but a two year old and 8 month old think that the world revolves around them every day, Mother's Day or not. Instead of me, Graham got breakfast in bed. I refused to get up before 7:00 and he was hungry at 6:30. During Young Adults held at our house last night, David had a discussion on mothers. Where was I? Sitting in the room enjoying the sweet comments about moms? Nope. I was getting the boys ready for bed. So typical. Like a mom could ever sit down in her own house to have a Bible study. What was I thinking? Anyway...once the boys were down (in Parker's case, down, peed, down, had a drink of water, down, pooped, down, bored, and finally down) I was able to join the discussion. Then we played more Blitz. Does my competitive husband show any mercy since it's my day? Nope. He won three times. Just wait until Father's day. I'll make sure we play Scrabble.

Anyway, I'm not complaining. I'm just saying we mothers rock.

True Love

I just had one of the best moments a mother can have. I put baby Graham down for a nap, and had a few quiet moments with Parker. We were out late last night and I could tell Parker was sleepier than usual. I took advantage of this rare and unusual situation, that is, Parker lacking the energy of an atom bomb. I asked him if I could rock him a little while. He said, "Sure." Normally, he'll let me hold him for a few seconds before his innate itch to constantly move kicks in. Not today. He faced me, laid his head on my chest, and didn't move. We rocked for at least 10 minutes as I sang to him and thought about how I can't believe my first baby is almost 3 years old. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in this same glider wishing so badly that I could finally hold him. Some days in my business with Graham, I forget to hold the baby who first made me a mother.

Today, I cherished every second. He never made a noise and just held on to me. I'm sure that God waits for these kind of moments with us where we shut our mouths, hold still for a moment, and just let Him embrace us. If Parker's willingness to let me love on him today meant so much to me, I can't imagine how much God desires to wrap us up in His arms. Maybe we should let Him more often.