Sweet words of a toddler...

I heard "mama" for the first time!  I'm sure other mothers will appreciate what a special milestone this is!  I never dreamed I would wait 2 years, 11 days to hear it but what a wonderful feeling!  I was talking to my baby and telling her "say mama, mama, mama" when Wythe walked over, patted me on the knee and said "mama". I looked at him and said "who is this??" pointing to myself, and he said it again!  Oooo...proud mommy moment!

As some of you know my son has taken his time with his speech. He started saying a few words back in the winter and at 18 months had about 15 words he would say consistently, but "mama" was never one of them. Then one day we quit talking completely and quit his sign language, this concerned me and really concerned his doctor. His doctor wanted to send him to UVA for some testing in April because of the loss of speech and a couple other things. But I wasn't comfortable with that idea and my mommy instinct said to wait. Over the last month his vocabulary has started picking up again. At this two year appointment the doctor said that although he is way behind in speech he is making progress and that is what they look for, moving forward instead of backwards. In the last two weeks I have noticed huge strides in his speech. He is repeating words we say. He walks around the house and names the items he knows, I love the look of pride on his face when he gets it right!  He walks around pointing to things asking what they are. This is such a fun time for us!

I know many people have told me that I will get tired of the questions and jabbering of a toddler and wish for quiet. That may be true, but after going so long with so little words and dealing with the frustration of a toddler that had no way to communicate...I say bring on the words!

'til next time...

More about "Rumblings in DC"...

The website FamousDC.com http://famousdc.com/2010/07/16/earthquake-hits-dc-california-laughs/  is cracking me up with their coverage of the "aftermath" of the earthquake. They have posted pictures of the devastation. Pictures posted below, please view with caution, may not be appropriate for small children.

photo courtesy of FamousDC.com

photo courtesy of FamousDC.com

They have posted quite a few stories about the quake, such as, "Burger Joint offering half-priced milkshakes to commemorate the D.C. quake", "Today, we are all Washingtonians. Pics of DC Earthquake Devastation", "7/16 Never Forget"....you get the idea. I love it when we can laugh at ourselves!

'til next time...

Dreams...

Last night I had a weird dream. As I've mentioned we have been watching the Tudors series and I have been re-reading some Tudor period books I have. In addition, some of my mom friends are planning to have a yard sale next month, we have exchanged several emails regarding plans for the sale. These two items merged to create my dream last night.

I dreamt that I was King Henry (I know...weird...should have been one of his queens) and I sent out a mass email "commanding" people in the Warrenton/Bealeton/Culpeper area to attend our yard sale. As one would expect after a royal decree, hoards of people attended. At the yard sale I sat in a chair (not sure why I didn't have a throne) and told people "it would please me greatly if you were to purchase this item" and of course they complied. We sold every last item within record time. And all my friends expressed gratitude to their sovereign for the assistance with the sale.

Weird...maybe I should cut out the alcohol before bedtime.

'til next time...

Rightmyerpalooza...

Most of the Rightmyer family is gathered together at Lake Tahoe for a reunion. I am sure that they are having a great time and I am really wishing we were there!  We decided not to go for various reasons. I wanted to go, Tahoe is one of my favorite places in the US! But I do have to agree with my husband that it would have been challenging traveling and hauling all the required gear for 2 kiddos. Especially now with the airlines charging for everything it would have cost us a fortune! But maybe next time we will get to go to the reunion!

Here's to Rightmyerpalooza 2010....hope you guys are having a great time!

'til next time...

Reading...James Patterson

I thought I had read all of the Alex Cross books but I was wrong, I guess JP writes faster than I can read!

So, I'm reading "Cross". I'm enjoying it as I have enjoyed the rest of the series. This book fills in some of the holes of Alex's life story, situations in his life that you never knew exactly what happened. I'm always happy when we get more information.

I like James Patterson for an easy read. The books are fast paced, the chapters are short and it is easy to get lost in the book and breeze through it. I don't feel particularly enlightened after reading them but I do enjoy his books.

'til next time...

Rumblings in DC...

I had to post again because I couldn't let such a major event go by without commenting on it.

For those of you that don't know, this morning at 5:04 a.m. an earthquake hit our area with a magnitude of 3.6 !!  News stations reported that the quake was felt in the D.C.-area, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The quake was the largest recorded within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of Washington since 1974.

I didn't feel it, though some friends in Warrenton did. The secret to sleeping through an earthquake is rarely getting uninterrupted sleep, thanks to my darling children when I do get to sleep nothing will wake me! Actually, anything regarding the children wakes me, I can hear my daughter's pacifier fall out of the crib - that will wake me but not an earthquake. See, I have my priorities in order!!

This reminds me of something that happened years ago when I was living at my parents house in Richmond. We lived near a rock quarry and throughout the day the house would shake from the dynamite. One night there was a small earthquake in Richmond. My mom and I both woke up and thought "now why on earth are they dynamiting in the middle of the night?!?!" Then we went back to sleep only to wake up in the morning to the news of the earthquake.

I realize that our friends in California probably laughed when they heard they the East Coast was buzzing with the news of a no damage, 3.6 earthquake....but that's ok. We won't laugh at them when they panic over a Category 1 hurricane...or at least we will keep it to a quiet chuckle.

'til next time...

Oil spill contained???

When I heard this morning that BP had announced that the leak had been contained my first reaction was "Of good, great news!" And I proceeded to go about my day. Then I thought had sad it was that I wasn't more excited, that I didn't give BP some credit for stopping the leak, so I decided to write this post.

As with many things we quickly forget disasters that aren't immediately affecting us. Most of us don't think about the effects of the oil spill many times a day and yet there are so many people whose lives have been changed forever. How often do we think about the people in Haiti? Recent reports state that the conditions there aren't a lot better than the weeks after the earthquake. Death tolls now top a quarter of a million, I can't even comprehend over 250,000 deaths. I just find it somewhat ironic, and sad, that more people seem to be interested in the news about the IPhone 4.0 than the fact progress has been made in starting the recovery of one of the biggest man-made disasters in history.

So, I for one am happy that BP managed to contain the spill, ahead of their estimated date of August! Now, people can start assessing the damage and hopefully start a recovery before too many human and animal lives are ruined!

'til next time...

Addition update...

Hmmm.....for an update please refer to the previous post titled "Addition Update".  That's right, not much has changed.

Peter has been busy with his new job and I was supposed to be painting this week but somehow can't get started.

Hopefully I can post a true update later this week.

'til next time...

Reading...Margaret George

Since we signed up for Netflix we have been catching up on some of the shows that most people are familiar with. Lately we have been watching "The Tudors" series. I have always been fascinated by this period of history and have read many books about it. Watching the series has rekindled my interest so I headed to the library to find some books I hadn't read. And, I found one, a big one, don't know how I didn't see this before...maybe because it looks more like a fixture on the shelf rather than a book.


"The Autobiography of Henry VIII with Notes by His Fool, Will Sommers -A Novel"

The book is almost 1000 pages long and covers the entire reign of Henry VIII. I enjoyed it, but because of the length of the book it became almost burdensome and I found myself eager to be done with it. I would recommend the book as it is one of the only books that covers his whole reign, rather than just the Anne Boleyn era. However, I did have to renew it a couple of times in order to finish reading it, and I am a fast reader. If you are a slow reader you may have to pay a fine to the library in order to finish the book!


'til next time...

Too much sugar...

Well, my just-turned-two-year-old needs his first cleansing diet!  Between his birthday party at our house where he was treated to a piece of cake and some ice cream, to his actually birthday where he got to eat a piece of his leftover cake to his birthday party this weekend when he got a piece of cake...now all he wants is cake.

Today we went to our neighbors house for a party, it was lovely as always!  She has such a beautiful place, beautiful view, beautiful trees, beautiful lawn, etc., etc. Yes, I like her place! For the party she was providing drinks and most of the meal and everyone was supposed to bring sides or dessert. I took a cake, since I had only baked two cakes that week I thought..."why not bake another cake!!"  Actually, it was the only thing I had the ingredients for without going to the store and I didn't feel like driving into town. So I fixed a black forest cake....yum!  I had forgotten that Black Forest cake is one of my favorite cakes. I made the chocolate cake in two layers, putting whipped cream and cherries in the middle and drizzling it with cherry schnapps. Then I covered it with whipped cream, pressed cake crumbs on the side of the cake and topped it with more whipped cream and cherries. It was yummy and the best part was taking home a piece to eat for breakfast!

But I digress, back to the party....

My plan to put Wythe back on his normal diet of almost no sugar was reinforced by his obsession with the dessert table and the many times we pried his fingers out of the cake. We would try to distract him with playing but before we knew it little fingers were digging in the cake again! I have a feeling Wythe will not be a happy camper next week when the week goes by with no parties, no presents and most importantly....NO CAKE!

'til next time...

Second "2nd" birthday party...

Wythe is a lucky boy, once again he got to have two birthday parties! Wythe's mommy is not sure how long this trend will last! Actually, I'm conflicted, it is kind of a pain to have two different parties yet the logistics of only having one aren't great either. The past two years we have had a birthday party/4th of July party with the neighbors and family. Because it is a holiday weekend a lot of Wythe's friends wouldn't be able to attend that party anyway so it makes sense to have another party the following weekend for Wythe and his buddy.

So, back the the party. Since Wythe's birthday buddy has aquired a sibling in the past month we decided to have the party at their house so that they didn't have to travel. We decided on a beach theme, thinking that we could set up a pool, sprinkler, etc and let the children have fun getting wet outside. Mother Nature got all excited about the water aspect and decided to join in and rain. We didn't get to have a pool party but I wasn't too disappointed because we hadn't had any rain at our house in over 3 weeks! The ground was so dry and I was starting to worry about how much was left in the well! So, we were very happy to see rain despite the party plans.

Fortunately all the kiddos were well and able to attend the party. Wythe and his buddy got lots of fun toys, mainly trucks, which they both love! We gave out sand buckets and beach balls and party favors and I made a sand castle cake for the boys.

birthday cake

Miss Ainsley

birthday boys opening presents

almost time for cake!

singing "Happy Birthday" - the center of attention 

"let's have cake!"

"hurry, hurry...we want cake!!"

birthday cake with candles

"yuummmmmyyyy!!!"

"Where did my cake go??"

'til next time...

Another party...

Busy, busy, busy....getting ready for another birthday party! My darling son is lucky and gets two parties since he will be celebrating with a party tomorrow with his buddy. This party is a beach theme so I am making a sand castle cake for the boys. It will be fun a fun day but for now I've got to get and finish this cake!

'til next time...

2 years later...

To my sweet little boy,

Today you turn two years old!  It is so hard to believe that two years have gone by since we first met you and saw your precious little face. And yet, I cannot imagine not knowing you.

You have changed so much in two years, it is sad and exciting all at the same time. Everyday is a new experience for both of us, you are learning new things, testing new limits and it so fun to see! You are just too doggone cute, even when you are being naughty you make my heart melt. Today you kept saying "I frow, I frow" as you tried to throw your toys, something you know you are not allowed to do. It is so hard to keep a straight face when I warn you to not "frow".

I love to see the excitement on your face when you say a new word, how you look to me for approval and then beam with pleasure when I compliment you on your progress.

I love to see you starting to play with your sister, it seems we are having more and more days of you being sweet to her rather than beating her over the head. Maybe she will survive you after all! There is nothing that melts my heart more than to see you giving her love without any prompting. You are going to be such a great brother!

We still have, and will have our days when every thing seems to be just one big battle. I'm sure you will still spend many more hours in the corner. But you are the sweetest, cutest little boy I could ever ask for and I feel like I am the luckiest woman alive to be your mommy.

I love you little man.
      ~Mommy

PS - anytime you want to say "mommy" for the first time is fine with me!!

Wythe, July 7, 2008

Wythe getting a piece of his birthday cake

trying to blow out the candles

Ainsley trying to get her fingers in that cake

sugar coma setting in

'til next time...

Birthdays, 4th of July's, fireworks, new toys and stuff like that...

Wow, what a busy weekend! This will probably be just the summary instead of the detail I normally give because I am about to crash!

Saturday we had a cookout in honor of the 4th of July and Wythe's 2nd birthday. My parents came up that morning to help out prior to the party. It seems no matter how much you plan and prepare there is always a last minute rush. The party started at 3:30, I had it set up on the patio again. In honor of the holiday everything was red, white and blue. If I continue to have Wythe's party in conjunction with the 4th he will grow up thinking that is the official birthday decor! We had invited a number of people but of course not everyone was able to come. I'll list the ones who were able to attend otherwise in a few months I'll be racking my brain trying to figure it out!
   Mom  & Dad, Julie and Andy, Molly and Sofia, Kirsten, Deb, Lowell & Paul, Margarita, Brandon & Gabriela, Katherine, Jeff & Teddy,
As usual I had way too much food, we are still eating it! We did have leftover ice cream though, homemade vanilla, that is a nice thing to have left over.
Wythe got lots of new toys, so much that I set some aside and will give them out as he gets bored with what he has.
It was hot, but considering that the East Coast has been under an unusual heatwave it was to be expected. It was quite different than last year though, last year it was rainy and cool, so cool we had jackets on. We did get a break in the heat though, it probably didn't even hit 90 that day which was a break from the 100's we have been having.

the birthday boy

Ainsley and granddaddy

Wythe trying out a new toy

Wythe's cake - I made it at about 1AM that morning

We had practiced blowing out the candle but when the time came the pressure was too much!

Sunday Mom & Dad were here. Dad and Peter worked on the addition, getting more done in the area that used to have a wall. That evening we went to see the fireworks up in Sperryville. Wythe walked all over that place, he was on the go. It always amazes me how he will just take off and doesn't seem to care if we follow! At one point I was walking around with him and he made his way over to the dance floor that was set up by the stage. At that point there were some ladies doing the Electric Slide, he was mesmerized! After that I couldn't drag him away, he wanted to dance!  I let him stay out there for a while but when I finally took him away he fell apart! I was hoping that the kiddos wouldn't be scared of the fireworks, fortunately they weren't. Wythe really liked them for a while, saying "WOW, oh wow!" every time they went off. But after a bit he got bored and wanted to walk around. Ainsley was laying on a blanket and seemed entranced by them, until she fell asleep. Yes, she actually fell asleep during the fireworks, she put her arm over her eyes and conked out! The kids did really well considering that it was way past their bedtime! Aside from almost being backed over by a most likely drunk driver....the evening was lots of fun! That incident happened when we were walking to our car, everyone was lined up in rows out in the field. As we were walked behind a small SUV he started slowly backing up, we really couldn't move because of people in front of us and a car beside us. My mom and I started banging on the back of the vehicle and a bunch of people starting yelling. The vehicle rolled back into us and the stroller but didn't hurt anything. I don't know where the guy thought he was going since there was a car right behind him. But fortunately no one was hurt, Wythe started screaming but I think we was just scared from all the yelling. I was carrying Ainsley, she was asleep, so it was good I didn't have to break out my mommy karate and hurt someone!  hehe...most likely myself...

Wythe & Ainsley watching the fireworks

Ainsley fell asleep watching the fireworks

Today mom and dad left in the afternoon. Wythe had a great day playing with his new toys. Ainsley joined in by trying out the Tonka dump truck. Everyone was having fun til Wythe tried to sit on Ainsley's lap, she was sitting in the back of the dump truck, that didn't work too well!

Ainsley trying out the new truck

Wythe trying to sit on Ainsley's lap

And now, I'm going to crash...

'til next time...