It's been a while....

So it has obviously been ages since I last entered a blog and a ton has happened. When last I wrote I had just started my internship--well not I am a mere 9 weeks from finishing!! Of course I still have to finish the data collection for my dissertation and defend it but that should be a walk in the park..........

Karli turned 2 a few weeks ago. That is right 2 and she is still as sweet as ever. Every day she brings us great joy and the things she says........She talks in full paragraphs often not pausing for breath, i wonder where she gets that from? Karli has entered her princess phase, she is particularly fond of Cinderella and loves the color purple. While she has clearly demonstrated she does in fact have a feminine side (For a while there I was wondering if she knew she was a girl), she still can run with the boys. She holds lizards, kills bugs when necessary, rolls in the mud, and loves to work with her daddy. I say diversity builds character. Of course not every little girl can wield a hammer while keeping her tiara on top of her head.

Zack is now 6 years old and almost through Kindergarten. His teacher says he is the greatest little boy, so sweet, considerate, well-behaved and of course brilliant. While I agree with the brillance I am pretty sure she has my son mixed up with someone else in regard to the sweet, considerate, and well-behaved. Zack is quite the handful and loves to push buttons. He has already asked if when he gets a real girlfriend if he can make-out. Thank goodness follow-up questions revealed he has no idea what that actually means... Apparently he is quite the lady's man and has several girls vying for his affections. Zack is quite the opposite from his sister, he runs from the lizards unless he has a friend over. He then will allow a lizard to sit on his hand as his entire arm shakes and he breaks out in a cold sweat. (Male Pride starts young). He prefers one of us girls kill the bugs and while he will "roll" in the mud it is atop his ATV. He has a love for basketball and is getting quite good and actually gets the ball in the basket. He also enjoys learning to drive a golf cart, watching High School Musical, and building with his legos.

Zack, the husband, is now entirely self-employed so if you know any one looking for a talented, honest, hard-working general contractor give him a call. PLEASE!! Did I mention we still have a house and a lot for sale in Wake Forest......so if anyone is interested in buying let us know that too:)

And of course the biggest change, if you hadn't already heard, is that we are expecting our third baby!! That is right.....us...... Three kids who would have thought it, it came as a bit of a shock. The baby is due to arrive sometime around Oct. 23 and I don't know if it is a boy or girl yet but i have my suspicions.....

Chaos reigns!!

Well since last I blogged things have been NUTS!! I started my internship year at Duke--lots of hours for no pay whatsoever-but I am learning alot. Zack started Kindergarten-he seems to really enjoy it but he is tired of all the coloring--he came home with some pretty messy worksheets and I gave him a look and he said "What?! It's just busywork it doesn't need to be neat!" What a smarty pants. Karli is keeping us on our toes--into everything but so cute doing it even when it is very naughty-like dumping an entire box of crackers on the pantry floor.

Oh and did I mention we are moving --in 6 weeks. Yep I know moving......again..... Zack built a house off of Lake Wheeler right down the street from brother and given the state of the economy no one is buying so we are moving in. We will have Christmas in a different house for the third year in a row. Boxes are everywhere and if it wasn't for Lesha, who is living with us on hiatus from school, we would be lost. Anyone feel like having a packing party? How about an unpacking party?

Atlantic Beach

Last week we went to the Starritt beach condo on Atlantic Beach. With the exception of a rainy Saturday the weather was great. Brooke and Karli had tons of fun playing together.

Karli is fearless with the ocean, just like she is in the pool. She ran out into those waves with no fear. The hardest part for me was keeping up with her--she is fast. One day she ran after a strange man on the beach -from the back it looked a little like her Daddy -she started screaming Dada and running full out after him. Poor thing. Friday afternoon Karli sat in a beach chair for about 2 hours--just sat there taking it all in and eating snacks.


Baby Zack was a little obsessed with digging a deep hole.

And did I mention that my son gave himself his first hickey. It took us about thirty minutes to figure out what happened to his chin. Apparently he had sucked a cup to his face and left it there for quite some time....

New York City Highlights

So we recently went to NYC to celebrate our anniversary--



1. It was the hottest four days in NYC since the late 1800s--for real!

2. Tourist attractions are overrated-disorganized, confusing, long waits, and anticlimactic. They need to visit DisneyWorld and take notes on tourist comfort.

3. Don't visit the Statue of Liberty when it is 100 degrees--the ferry has no AC!

4. The view from the Empire State Building is not worth an hour plus wait and having to crowd on an elevator with very sweaty people

5. The double decker bus tour rocks--we were smart enough to do it at night when the sun wasn't beating down on us--many people were not.

6. At the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge there is a telescope contraption that allows you to wave to people at the base of the London Bridge-pretty cool (they use webcam technology:)

7. Prepare to spend a lot of money to eat-that's just the way it is--most of the food sure was yummy though...

8. If you catch a Broadway show (we saw Gypsy) don't get balcony tickets-they tell they are good seats and you can see everything but what they don't say is you have to sit on the very end of your seat and lean over the balcony to see.

9. The people who live in the city are quite helpful when you are lost on the subway-it is the tourists that are rude and pushy. While the subway often smells like pee it is the cheapest way to get around and the easiest on your feet. We felt perfectly safe the entire time.

10. We walked--alot. I got to go into Tiffany's, but no, Zack did not buy me anything. FAO Schwartz is a pretty cool toy store.

11. Riding a horse and buggy through Central Park is not worth the money--in fact Central Park really isn't that great. It is where New Yorkers go to see trees and grass-nothing we don't have here.

12. I learned that if I wanted to enjoy a museum I shouldn't go with boys--why didn't I know that sooner? We whipped through the Natural History museum in like two hours (we saw about half of what was there)

13. Taking two hours to find Serendipity and have a frozen hot chocolate was definelty worth it

14. Anyone considering a trip to the Big Apple--talk to me first-I can save you time and money:)

P.S. We saw two celebrities--David Hasselhoff (I KNOW!) and Randy Jackson (much smaller in real life and was wearing patent leather black and white cowboy boots)

Fighting Back

Like I have said before-no one told Karli she was a girl or little for that matter. Zack has been quite the butthead (for lack of a better word) lately. He "accidentally" trips his sister any chance he gets, takes her toys, gets in her face, etc. And did I mention the constant whining. Well this week Karli has decided she isn't going to take it anymore. First, the other day he was lying on the floor whining about something or other and then he started crying. I couldn't see him from the kitchen and he said that Karli had hit him in the head with her cup on purpose. I said 'yeah right'. Well a short time later I was sitting on the couch, Karli was playing with some toys and Zack was once again lying on the floor..whining. Karli got up from her spot, picked up her cup, walked over to her brother, and whacked him in the head, and then went about her business. I had to stifle a laugh and tell her firmly no. Later that same day Zack kept taking her car from her. I would tell him to give it back, he would, I would turn my back and he would take it again. Well I guess Karli got tired of it, she got her spatula that she chews on and slapped him with it on the hand---hard. Again a firm no from me but secretly I was cheering---is that wrong? Today was the best though and I so wish I had a video camera running at the time. Zack was laying on the floor, pretty much screaming at the top of his lungs because of something or another. I had asked him a few times to stop but he is in that 'you are not the boss of me stage' , so he continued to scream. Karli hates it when he screams. She looked at me in a way that seemed to be asking 'what are you going to do about this?' I told him to stop again, which he didn't, so Karli walked over to him, looked at me, looked at him screaming, looked back at me and then straddled his head and planted her butt right on his face. She sat there looking so proud of herself because his screams at first were muffled by her diaper and then he was just too stunned to continue. Again --is it wrong that I wanted to cheer?

Doctor Dilemma

Does anyone know of a really good pediatrician in the Wake Forest area? I have been taking my kids to the same one since Zack was a year and a half but decided the other day at Karli's 1 year check up that they are not that great. I have been debating for a couple of months about when to give Karli her MMR and varicella vaccines. There is much debate, both in the newspapers and in my profession, about the neurodevelopmental complications that may result from the MMR in particular. After conferring with some fellow psychologists and doing lots of reading I decided to hold off until 15-18 months of age rather than at her 12 month appointment. For those of you who know me, you know that for the most part I avoid confrontation so I was worried about the reaction from the doctor. They tend to be very stubborn and stringent regarding vaccine schedules. Anyway I informed the nurse that I wanted to hold off on these shots until Karli was older and she made a note, smiled, and left the room-no big deal. Then the doctor came in. Usually he is a little condescending as he goes through his developmental spiel and offers no-brainer parenting advice but he was even more so than usual. He gave a speech about ensuring I know where my child is at all times, use sunscreen, the perils of a walking child, etc. I could probably save myself some of this crap if I just interrupted him and said 'just so you know I am only a year away from having my PhD in child psychology and specialize in children under five'. But they don't seem to care what their parents do for a living and so I have never volunteered that info. Anyway--after that he gave me a stern look and said that Karli was supposed to be getting three vaccines today. I told him I was fine with the HepA but wanted to hold off on the others. He glared at me and stated that it wasn't recommended, I have seen the articles in the paper about recent measles outbreaks, and then asked me what we would do if Karli got measles. I was seething and said I wasn't going to do them today but would consider it at 15 months to which he replied he wouldn't LET me wait longer. Excuse me?? Never once did he ask me why I was waiting to get her shots. I hardly ever made eye contact and I let him intimidate me. What I should have said was 'what would you have done if Karli got measles yesterday? Do you care why I feel this way or what my credentials are. I wanted to scream at him that I diagnose children with autism and I am not convinced that vaccines aren't a trigger when administered at such a young age" But I didn't and he didn't ask and now he has put this notion in my head that karli might get measles which really is unreasonable. Anyway would appreciate your thoughts and recommendations. Her 15 month check-up she already has 3 regularly scheduled shots and there is no way they are giving her 5 in one visit--so much for sticking up for my beliefs or whatever. Wish I had a backbone.....

Birthday Princess

So my sweet little girl is officially a year old. It went by so fast. It seems like it was only yesterday that she was born and would lay curled on my chest. We have enjoyed every minute--well almost every minute those middle of the night feedings really weren't that much fun. She has such a warm and loving personality and is always smiling. Every day she is learning something new-she is learning new words and can say mama, dada, more, byebye, pop, and za (for her brother). She runs everywhere, prefers the box that her birthday presents came in more than the actual presents, and loves to hug.

Unfortunately the day before her birthday after a paticularly rough night due to teething she fell and bumped her head on my footboard. Blood was everywhere but it was only a small puncture wound. Still it will leave a scar and she has quite the bump. So she spent her birthday with a huge band-aid across her forehead.

I think the cutest thing she did at her birthday party was share her cake. We plopped a chuck of cake down on her highchair tray and of course she stuck her fingers right in but rather than eat it herself she offered it to whoever walked by. Grandma got some, and her brother, and then her cousin Brooke. I don't think she actually ate any herself. It was really sweet and I can only hope she is as good at sharing when she is 2:)