Better than a Swimming Pool!

The salt pan is one of the many treasures you get to experience living in this area. Good ones that do not have oyster shells, don't have a lot of pluff mud (I don't hate on pluff mud--it is another treasure for sure!), and have some large sandy areas can be tricky to come by...fortunate for us we have a perfect one to play in! On days when we don't have much to do and the tide is high, we have fun in our own backyard. I load Anderson in his stroller, the bike trailer, or his Kettrike and we make the 30 second walk/ride to the salt pan and I and let him go to town! There is so much for him to explore, touch, and feel---as well as put in his mouth, which I try to discourage, but a little salt water or marsh grass isn't going to hurt anyone! We have played out there from the time the tide was coming in until the tide was rolling out and we are left with just puddles! When the masses of fiddler crabs start making their appearance is when I call it quits. Small crustaceans, in mass quantities, in one place kinda freaks me out---but I can appreciate from the wooden boardwalk with no problems. I can remember loving swimming in the salt pans as a child and lucky for me, one of my childhood friends had a salt pan in her parent's backyard that we could swim in at high tide...it was always so much more exciting than a swimming pool!

How I love the salt pan!


Did I mention I love this??!!

oooh, a treasure...

not quite as tasty as I thought!

Home Improvement.

****This is a longer post, so if you don't have a few minutes, you might want to read later****

Last week around here was absolute chaos. A couple of weeks ago we had the entire exterior of our house pressure washed in preparation to paint some some of our columns and rails that were in desperate need of repainting. Well, as it turns out, our huge pine doors that we have---all 14 of them--were not sealed properly at the top when the house was built. Water seeped down at the top of the doors and caused the doors to essentially swell and expand. As a result, every single pine door in the house would not open AT ALL. When I say at all, I mean those suckers were stuck and would not budge!!! That left us with only 1 way in and 1 way out of the house-- in and out of the only door in the mudroom/laundry room that is not pine. As they dried, they did actually open but did not open/close all that well and the doors did not seem to "fit" anymore. Last Tuesday, the contractor and his crew (not the guy who built the house---him and his wife split and thus why we ended up with this brand new home that was supposed to be for them) came with all sorts of equipment. I thought it was a bit more equipment than needed to lightly sand some doors to make them open and close again, but my brain is wired medical/science, so what do I know, really? I thought that this was a one day deal, boy was I wrong. They were here all week and ended up sanding, staining, refinishing, etc...every pine door in the house. I knew that they were going to do the front doors, but once those were done it really made all the other doors look neglected and decrepit. Brad and I decided that we might as well go ahead and do the rest of the doors to and get them done properly. This is a glimpse of what we have been dealing with.....

Plastic, very interesting to a one year old

Plastic on every door!!

No more dog scratch marks on the bottom of the door from Flash

It is hard to tell, but the ones on the bottom are done, and the ones on top are not

I am very happy that this is being done, but had planned on spending this money for home improvements we had budgeted on new furniture for the TV room! Chalk it up to home ownership. I cannot complain at all about the guys that are here. They are nice, courteous, and very professional, but it is the nature of the work frazzled me and this is why (1) I hear sanders and other power tools in my sleep (2) Anderson's naps were nearly non-existent (3) it was lukewarm in the house all week b/c the doors were open a lot (4) the floors are disgusting and it not even worth it to mop until they are done (5) I had to keep Anderson away from all the plastic and tools around (6) we had no place to go in the house that did not have a pine door (7) we had to stay at the house all week! #7 is the worst part of it all. Prisoner in my own home.


In the midst of all the chaos, it just seemed that annoying things just kept happening. The ones that in a normal day would not bother me at all, but coupled with the above just made me want to scream. But in true form, we also had some great things (awesome, actually) happen! Let me share the fun things (and keep the annoying ones to myself).....

(1) Anderson took his first few steps last Tuesday....9/8/09!! Still prefers to crawl, but we are
making progress!

(2) He started using a spoon. Let me clarify this...I put the food on the spoon and hand it to him,
then he brings the spoon to his mouth, and then puts the spoon on his tray. Many posts ago,
wrote about Anderson learning how get down once he gets to standing and how we worked
for an entire day on this and he got it. I got an anonymous commenter that said I should not
rush my child. Negative, anonymous commenter's annoy me. If this person knew that I
have a Master's degree in Occupational Therapy and my sole practice area is pediatrics,
maybe the comment would not have been made. So to any readers out there who do
not know me personally, I know EXACTLY what I am doing and unless you have an
expertise in this area to rival mine, please keep your comments to yourself. Sorry, it had
to be said, and I am not trying to be ugly, I just would never dream of leaving a comment
that was not positive on a stranger's blog.

(3) Brad was playing with Anderson after he got home from work on Friday and took the
spatula that he likes to play with and did a karate chop move while saying "hi-ya". Anderson
looked right at him and said "hi-ya" as clearly as I have ever heard anything! Too funny!

(4) He finally clapped his hands!! This little thing has been stressing me to no end. I knew that
he would do it and there was no underlying problem. He would bring his hands to midline and cross midline all the time, but would not clap. Now he will, and will do it when I say clap:)

(5) He learned his first football referee move. Brad taught him to raise both his hands in the air
when he says "it's good" for a field goal. One of the cutest things ever!

I think all of this was God's way of letting me know that all is well, and that the chaos in the house is nothing in comparison. Point taken. I went to bed Sunday night thinking, this week is going to be GREAT! The workers will be working on the outside after the noon hour and all my doors will be closed, finally. I woke Monday morning after a good nights sleep (something that was rare last week) refreshed. Then Brad says to me that we got an email early, early that morning alerting us of possible fraudulent charges on my AMEX. No way, this is NOT the way this is supposed to happen...this is a GOOD week. Brad got it handled, the charge was taken off, and my card was closed--b/c, of course, it was on my card. Not having my AMEX is not a start to a good week, but whatever! A new one was overnighted and arrived today!


I look at the paper this morning and on the front page is an article about the congressman and how people are changing their travel plans b/c of his outburst on Wednesday night (the aftermath of that was on my annoyance list). Then I get in the car to meet some friends at the beach and I hear the very same thing. Music to my ears since I live in the resort side of this county. Go ahead and cancel your plans, that means I don't have to waste 30 minutes of my life waiting on a table at a restaurant or sitting in traffic. Don't worry about the economic impact, those of us who have been in hiding will come out and spend money again now that the crowds are gone!

This blog post was a little heavy, sorry, but I sure do feel better now! This really is a therapeutic tool!

Gone Fishin'

The saltwater pond has provided endless entertainment this summer! It has produced several big ones recently....don't worry, no animals are ever harmed during this activity and we are strictly catch and release!

Charlie's Black Drum

Paige's Redfish




Close-up of Paige's Redfish



Charlie gets another Black Drum

Clip n' Snip!

Brad and I took Anderson to the barbershop get his first haircut the Friday before he had his 1 year pictures done. It was seriously overdue b/c he had a few curls in the back and was really starting to sport a baby mullet....we will have no business in the front and party in the back hairdo around this house! He sat in Brad's lap better and longer than I thought he would, but I did have to hand over to him my coveted blackberry to get through the last few minutes! Poor Mr. Jeff did get a work-out chasing his head--the scissors is what made me nervous! When it was all said and done, there was not much hair on the floor, but he looked so much different. Really, so handsome and like a little boy--I think my eyes may have started to water??!! He is changing so quickly and right before my eyes!

Sweet Summertime!

I always think of Labor Day Weekend as the unofficial end of summer, even though the official last day of summer is September 21st. Summer coming to an end is slightly depressing, but I am also looking forward to all the new things that Anderson will be able to do this fall that he could not do last year! This Labor Day started off with Momma's birthday and me, Brad, Paige, and Charlie took her and daddy out to celebrate!

In honor of the unofficial end of summer (we still intend to enjoy what we have left!!), here is a small sampling of the things we did to keep ourselves entertained--we did some of these this weekend too! Beware...lots of pictures!

Swimming in the pool on Tuesdays with some of Anderson's buddies!

Swinging in the swing that daddy hung!


Outlet shopping!

Swimming in the pool at BeeGee and Big Daddy's

Playing in boxes when Aunt Paige comes!

Acrobatics at Dolphin Head!

Fun in the salt pan!

The Sandbar---a favorite!

Boat Rides!

Riding in the buggy!

More buggy riding at the farm!

The beach!

Riding in the bike trailer!

Loved the garden hose!

Playing at the Sandbox!

You Can't Photoshop That!

Sweet Anderson had his 1 year old pictures taken on Tuesday! I am more than pleased with the outcome and cannot wait to order and get them here! His blue eyes still mystify me....a trait he gets from his daddy :)

Here is a link to a post about his shoot that has a few pictures:

http://www.youcantphotoshopthat.blogspot.com/2009/09/asoneyearpictures.html

If you have a bit more time you can see them all here: click on galleries and look for Anderson!

http://www.sillygoosephotography.smugmug.com/

We can't forget to wish my momma a happy birthday! Happy Birthday Momma!

Chore Boy.

Who knew that blogging could make you feel so good? I received such sweet comments about my smocking project and they all just made me smile...I know some of the BEST blog commenter's ever! How does it all get done?.....chore boy!!...(PS: these are blackberry shots)...

Why walk behind the push toy when you have a vacuum?

Always willing to help with the dishes!
Just a little light dusting to be done...


Yes, those are my flip flops he put in the dryer!

In all seriousness, I do not have it all together as the previous blog post might have made it out to be. What I did not tell you was that that dinosaur project took 2 months and I had A LOT of coaching from Katy! On a daily basis, I too feel like I cannot keep up with everything that needs to be done and truth be told it just doesn't! Brad is great about helping out, even though I do not tell him enough, and I do have help every other week with house cleaning. When I went back to work 2 days a week we decided to do that so that neither one of us had to spend our weekends cleaning all the time. Maintenance alone between cleanings just about does me in. School started back a few weeks ago and it is plucking on my last nerve. I have 2 excellent elementary schools that are connected by a breezeway with an office/treatment room. That means I do not have to travel and carry my supplies from school to school--both scenarios have positives and negatives. I have had technology issue after technology issue and cannot, for the life of me, get into a program I need desperately to do my documentation and write new OT goals for upcoming IEP's. I love technology and just recently I was talking on my home phone, uploading pictures to blogger, and checking my email on my blackberry all at once! And I frequently line up our babysitter via text! When things go sour with it, forget it, I am lost big time. My caseload is absolutely out of control with too many children to see and not enough time to get done what needs to be done in a day. The kids are great, albeit some are challenging, but that comes with the job. When I left last Thursday afternoon, I thought seriously that maybe I just need to put in my notice and be done with it--it is not worth the hassle when I could be at home in my pj's with Anderson playing peek-a-boo and cracking him up. On the short 3 minute ride home I remembered why I love being an OT and could not possibly just give up that easily---however tempting at the time! I might as well mention that I also have not had a haircut since my sister got married in May and my toes look like they got caught up in a piece of heavy machinery! Sorry to disappoint...I have no secrets to share, and I assure you I struggle too....you just don't see it on the blog!