Whirlwind Adventure -- Part Two

Before I continue the re-telling of our recent roadtrip, I wanted to give an update on my favorite "worst baby in the world", Miss Avery Joy.  Don't get me wrong, she isn't a bad baby.  She is bad at being a baby.  She doesn't want to do baby things and believes herself to already be a toddler.  Avery started sleeping through the night at two months, rolled over at three months, and got her two bottom teeth at three and a half months.  Now four months and three weeks old, she is trying to sit on her own and is a good push away from crawling.  Given her current sprint to being a big girl, it was little surprise to us that the doctor suggested that we start feeding her real food.  The doctor and I both don't go with the standard "rice cereal first" practice, so for dinner on Monday Avery had her first baked potato.  And, true to her form, she ate it like a champ.  She has fully embraced this new challenge and will let out an eardrum shattering squeal if you don't get it to her fast enough.  The challenge in feeding her lies in getting it into her mouth, as she gets very excited and wants to help.  I can only describe it as being akin to feeding a baby octopus.  I captured this exciting event and posted it below.  And, yes, that blur in the bottom of the photo is her foot...

Now, back to our story...

We left Alabama the next morning around 11am.  I had hoped to get an earlier jump on the day, but when Junior woke up with a fever, the plan (again) changed.  I got her some meds and loaded the car.  The poor girl slept most of the way.  Much to our surprise, so did Avery.  Wanting to get as far as possible before she woke, I declared the car would not stop until she did.  It worked for everyone, until we hit Kentucky and Lee needed to go to the bathroom.  If you've ever made this trip before, you'll know that there aren't many places to stop in Kentucky.  This normally wouldn't have been a problem as Lee will be the first to tell you that all he needs is a tree, but it was pouring down rain outside.  Having no other options available, Grandma convinced him to pee in a water bottle.  Not preferrable, but it beats needing to shampoo the van's carpet.  Why would I tell this you ask?  Because I'm sure Lee will at some point relay his own version of the story to everyone he meets, so I might as well get it out there first.  Fortunately, that was the most excitement we had on this leg of the trip.

My grandfather's visitation was held the next night, which was also Junior's 2nd birthday.  She still had a fever of 103 and hadn't eaten anything but oranges for 2 days.  But my poor baby girl took it like a champ.  Having her daddy back (who was able to get his company to fly him in directly from Florida) certainly helped.  Her fever broke that night and by the end of the funeral the next day, she was getting back to her normal self.  Since the entire extended family was at my cousin's house, we decided to throw Junior a party.  I realize that sounds strange -- going from a funeral to a birthday party -- but in these moments you remember that we should never miss an opportunity to celebrate the wonderful gift of life we've been given.  And I think Grandpa Ralph wouldn't have wanted Junior to miss her big day.  No one enjoyed a grandkid's birthday (or birthday cake and ice cream) more than he did.  That gruff ole SOB was always the first to put on a party hat (be it Spiderman or Cinderella).  So, that night we celebrated the lives of both Grandpa Ralph and Courtney Junior.  To steal a line from Truvy in Steel Magnolias "laughter through tears is my favorite emotion."  We shared plenty of both.

Whirlwind Adventure -- Part One

Or at least that is what we tried telling the kids.  It sounds better than "we're going to spend two weeks in the car!"  That wasn't our original plan either.  The original plan was simple -- Court would be gone for five days to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for delivery of the Robonaut.  Not wanting to be stuck at home with nothing to do, I planned to take the kids to my parents house in Alabama.  But why stop there?  From Alabama, we would go up to Illinois to see family.  Court would fly up there and meet us and we would all drive back down to Texas.  Easy breezy...yeah, right.  Here's what actually happened.  (Get comfy, this could take some time and a few blogs to cover.)

My mom (a.k.a. my hero) decided that she couldn't possibly allow me to attempt to drive the kids all the way to Alabama by myself, so she made plans to fly out the Saturday before Court left.  The week before the big adventure, my father got an interview with Texas Medical Center for a position in Houston.  Things went swimmingly as he was able to fly out with my mom.  We had a good weekend of house hunting and visiting the Children's Muesum downtown.  The interview also went well until the CFO informed my father that she was a die-hard Cubs fan because her brother onced pitched for them AFTER he told her of his love for the Cardinals.  No worries though because his current company decideded they weren't ready to give him up and offered to let him work from home in Texas.  After 2 long years, my parents are finally making the move to Texas. Woohoo!

My dad flew back to Birmingham Monday afternoon (he says he had to get back to work, I say he was too chicken to ride with three kids for 14 hours).  My mom and I packed the kids up early on the next day and took off.  Then we got "the call."  Only a few hours into our trip, my cousin Alicia had called to tell my mother her father had passed away.  He had Alzheimer's and he death wasn't really a surprise to us.  But that didn't make it hurt any less.  After a brief stop to let the children play, have lunch, and regain our composure, we continued on to Alabama. We took turns crying and driving the whole way.  Needless to say we were blubbering, puffy-eyed messes by the end of the day.  We spent one day in Alabama so my mom could pack and get her hair cut.  Her favorite hair dresser had an open appointment so we took Courtney Jr. for her first haircut.  She did awesome, which is no surprise because she loves doing anything girly.  I'll end this entry here with some pictures...but stay tuned because we're just getting started...

Aiya!

Cover of 3 Ninjas

Ninjas have invaded the Edmondson house.  They lurk in pantries and closets...they tip-toe through hallways...they're armed with a super sword and the spork of power...they will find you and you will be aiya-ed!

Are boys just born with the knowledge that ninjas, spiderman, and any other bad-guy-fighting-superheros are awesome?  I can't recall showing Lee any movies or reading any books about these characters.  Yet, somehow, they are ever present here these days.  I'm fairly certain that he learned some of what he knows from the boys at preschool...but where did they learn about it?  And how did they all come to decide it was pure awesomeness?  I have since found a few shows that have only encouraged the habits -- Lee's particular favorite is a movie called 3 Ninjas which was made in the 90's.  He loves pretending along with the boys in the movie and takes it very seriously.  It's hard not to chuckle. 

And, of course, no ninja should ever go into battle without his trusty sidekick.  While I'm sure Lee would prefer his friends Josh and Sam, he'll settle for his sister.  I'm not certain Courtney really "gets" the whole ninja thing (and she couldn't care less about the movie) but she willingly plays along, giving it her best effort.  I think she likes the reaction she gets when she "sneaks up" on me or Dad and yells out the battle cry.  Also, as any little sister could surely tell you, if you aren't willing to be one of the good guys, you become the bad guy and the target for the attacks.  Occasionally, Avery and I get in on the act and chase the ninjas around the house.  But it's all in good fun and it sure beats getting out in this awful heat!

Lee Quote for the Day:  "Courtney, let's play superheros.  I'll be Spiderman and shoot webs.  You can be Ironman and...(pausing to think)...iron clothes!"

Netflix Rules!

In a "Dave Ramsey" inspired move, we decided to cut our cable (which had gotten ridiculously expensive).  We replaced it with a DTV antenna and a subscription to Netflix.  The antenna works well for the local channels.  The good news is we pick up around 30 channels.  The bad news is 20 of the channels are in Spanish.  Surprisingly, it isn't all that difficult to follow the news in Spanish.  I guess those two years of Spanish in high school paid off (thanks, Senora Marsland).  I've always wished I learned more, so maybe this is my chance!

The real saving grace has been our Netflix subscription.  We are instantly streamming it on our Wii, which means instant access to lots of cool stuff -- Lee has an endless supply of dinosaur and shark documentaries, Courtney gets to see her crush Diego, Court gets to watch entire TV show seasons in a week, and I get my movie and strange documentary fix.  And all without commercial interruption.  Score!

Netflix does have one major down fall -- no college football.  Sure, we'll get some on the local channels.  But Auburn?  Not likely.  I'll be ok, but I fear for the sanity of my husband.  Would anyone care to adopt Court every Saturday from now until January?  Your generosity would not only be greatly appreciated, it could just save our marriage.

Baobab Blast!

Evening four of Vacation Bible School is upon us here at Clear Lake Presbyterian Church.  The kids were a little lacadaisical last night, so evening four should be interesting.  Ms. Bennie says by the last day the kids run the other way when they see her.  Our church chooses to do VBS in the evenings to make it more of a family event rather than just another time filler where parents drop their kids off.  It has it's pluses and minuses -- I don't have to cook since we have dinner there, but an 8:30 end time is a little late for kids the age of our kiddos.  I'm so proud of my husband for volunteering in the kitchen to do dishes after dinner.  He knows I was disappointed that I couldn't volunteer because of Avery this year, and he stepped up to the plate to take my place.  As always, he rocks.

I love our church and the fellowship that we've shared over the last few days and months.  We've made so many great friends and there are so many there that loves us and our children.  Not to name names (Cindy and Jennifer), but some may love our kids more than others -- the baby stealing has gotten out of control.  We let it go though because we know she is in great, loving hands.  And, to be totally honest, Momma and Daddy could use a break every now and then. 

Three kids is A LOT of work, but I wouldn't trade a one of them -- that includes the days they draw on the walls, whine incessantly, spit up all over me, or throw a temper tantrum in the middle of Toys R Us.  It's all part of the job.  Every smile, kiss, and hug makes up for it in spades.

Deja Vu

Apparently, we've been down this road before...

As I was playing around with our new blog, I found that I have tried the blog thing before.  In July 2008, I attempted to start a blog but life got crazy and I completely forgot about it.  There was only one posting, so I've copied it here because I know you are all dying to read it:

Welcome to the Edmondson family's first blog!

I decided to start this blog page because so much has been happening in our lives lately that I know it will be tough to keep everyone up-to-date. Hopefully I can update this enough to keep you all informed of the craziness that is the Edmondson family right now...

Here is a timeline to catch you up just in case it has been a really long time since we've talked...

October 5, 2002 - Court and I got married...we started our lives together in Birmingham, Alabama. I worked for Regions Bank and Court worked for ExpoDisplays (tradeshow exhibit designer and manufacturer).

June 20, 2006 - A wonderful baby boy, Lee Aaron Edmondson, entered our lives weighing 8 pounds, 13 ounces (yup, that's a big baby) and 21 inches long.

Still living in Birmingham working for the same companies although our job titles have changed quite a few times. I also managed to finish my Master of Accountancy degree through the distance learning program at Auburn just before the little guy made his arrival.

Here is where it all gets interesting...

December 7, 2007 - Regions has gone through two mergers in the five plus years I've been there. Sadly, it's no longer the same bank that I used to love working for. Also, being a mother has now shifted my priorities a bit. After much discussion, Court and I decide it is in the best interest of our family that I quit my job and stay home with Lee for a little while and possibly do some part-time work.

December 15, 2007 - After just two weeks of staying home with Lee, we find out we have another kiddo on the way and due in August. So much for that part-time job...I'm going to have another full-time position on my hands!

March 2008 - Court started talking to my best friend Hailey about job openings at her company in Houston. Hailey works as a Systems Manager (or something like that) at Johnson Space Center. While Court still likes working at Expo, an opportunity to be an engineer at NASA is just too appealing to overlook.

May 2008 - Things begin to look promising for the job in Houston so we threw our house on the market just to get the ball rolling just in case.
June 2008 - Much to our surprise, we got a contract on our house! Not so surprising, Court got asked to fly out to Houston for an interview! However, while we were in Houston we found out our contract fell through but someone else wanted to see the house. Again, to our utter amazement, we had another contract before we got home. Talk about things falling into place. A little while later Court got offered the job! Woohoo! With Lee's second birthday, June was a big month for us. We closed on our house June 30th and moved in with my parents while everything we owned was put on a moving truck and wondering somewhere around the country at this very moment.

July 4 to July 9, 2008 - We were incredibly fortunate to get to go on a vacation with Court's parents, brother and grandfather in Lake Lanier, Georgia after his last day at Expo. We had a wonderful time and got some really good tans hanging out by the pool and at the water park. It was just the getaway we needed to help us forget that we were homeless and jobless at the moment.

That brings us to today, July 11, 2008 - After one day back in B'ham to load up the cars, we headed out to Houston around 6 am this morning. It was a long day of traveling, but uneventful(thanks to whoever developed the portable DVD player and Dora the Explorer). We are staying at Hailey's house for a few days while she is in Hawaii (must be nice) and doing some serious house hunting this weekend, as all attempts up to this point have flopped terribly. Wish us luck!

Ta Da!

So, here it is...I have finally decided to post something to our blog.  I have been debating for the longest time about what to say and how.  My brother-in-law Eric asked me one day why I hadn't put anything up yet.  I told him I had no idea what to say.  His response?  To say just that.  So, here we are.  No profound insights.  Just us trying to figure all of this out.  Maybe next time...

Meanwhile, back at the Bat Cave, we had our first full family portraits done last week and I'm proud to say they came out pretty darn good.  I had no unrealistic expectations (my mommy motto), so I was pleasantly surprised when all not only smiled but also sat still without incident.  Hooray!!  If they never do that well again, at least we have this.  I've posted a few of those pics here...enjoy!