The Liam Neeson Cool Factor

People that know Harding well know that he is notorious for never having his shoes tied. He knows how to tie them, but it takes forever and they never seem to stay tied (even if I tie them for him). I was a few minutes early to pick up H from climbing club at his school the other day and got to watch him in action. After several rounds of climbing routes with his shoes untied (as usual), I witnessed the following interaction between Harding and one of the belayers when he got to her section: 

Belayer: “On Belay.”
Harding: “Ready to Climb.”
Belayer: “Climb on.”
Harding: “Climbing.”
Belayer: "Wait, your shoe is untied!"
Harding: (Blank stare)
Ms. Jo, the P.E. Teacher: (says to me) "She obviously does not know Harding very well."

So, is Harding "Liam Neeson cool?" You be the judge......

Post note: I have since ordered my eight-year-old a pair of shoes with Velcro straps (sigh). 

Growing up: Inches and Miles at a Time

In so many ways, Shelby is developmentally still our little girl, but I've been noticing how she seems to have grown a lot over the last couple months. My long legged baby girl is looking like a big girl!

And to cinch the deal, she lost her first baby tooth earlier this week.....

 

 

She didn't quite get what the rest of us were excited about--but she enjoyed all of us making a big deal out of the occasion, and of course, the tooth fairy came through and brought Shelby a dollar bill!

And as if to prove that she's not just growing physically, Shelby started carrying her back pack by herself. Previously, she hasn't been able to handle balancing and walking and carrying it all at once, but she's got it now.

2014: What a Year!

2014 was a whirlwind of a year for our family! So much has happened and I have been too overwhelmed and in awe of it all to even attempt to document it on this blog....  

Major milestones included: 

1. Selling and moving out of our home of nine plus years.

2. Bunking at Trip's parents' house on the mountain for 6 months while our new house was under construction (God bless them for putting up with us).

3. Shelby started kindergarten. 

4. Harding switched to a local charter school. 

5. I changed jobs and am now happily employed as a school counselor.

6. We moved into our dream house on the mountaintop. 

7. We celebrated my beautiful grandmother Penny's 90th birthday at the beach with my dad's side of the family this Thanksgiving. 

8. After 4 1/2 years of  graduate school, I finally finished! I graduated from Western Carolina University with my Masters in School Counseling in December.

We have had so many transitions since last April. All of them were worthwhile, but also incredibly  stressful for everyone. Honestly, I'm still recovering from it all! So, what's next? Hopefully no huge transitions! In 2015, we're going to concentrate on having more quality time: loving. laughing, enjoying, reading, conversing, camping, splashing, creating, and sunset appreciating. And maybe I'll even document some of it on this little ol' blog. Cheers to a new year! 

Shunt mystery

Shelby's yearly check-up with the neurosurgeon at Duke Children's was yesterday. The best part about this visit was spending the night with my cousin Katy and her husband Pat in Durham the night before--Pat makes the best mojitos!

Anyway, Shelby's appointments started with a rapid MRI scan. Shelby has developed major doctor office/procedure anxiety since her surgery last summer (understandably) and she started screaming as soon as we walked in the door. One nurse had to lay on top of her and hold her down and still for the duration of the 5 minute scan. She screamed the whole time and the poor nurse had pinch marks on her arm from Shelby. I'm not sure who was more traumatized, Shelby or the nurse (or me)...

We left the MRI office and headed to the neurosurgery clinic to meet Shelby's new neurosurgeon and to get the results of her scan. I'll do my best to explain what Dr. Muh told us. Shelby's ventricles are more swollen than her post-surgery baseline scans last July. Dr. Muh says that this could mean one of two things. Either Shelby's ventricles shrank way down after her surgery last June and then continued to change and get to a new baseline after we did the follow-up MRI in July of 2013 or Shelby's shunt is failing. We've noticed now symptoms of a shunt failure, but there were no symptoms last summer either. We go back for another scan on August 15th to determine if she needs another shunt revision. If the shunt is failing, the MRI will show more swelling of the ventricles. Bleh! Such is life with a shunt, I guess....

Screaming and thrashing around and fighting nurses through an MRI is hard work. Shelby slept for an hour while we waited to meet with Dr. Muh. 

Well Hello There....We're Still Here

It has been a long while since my last blog post. There have been peaks and valleys since then, and so much has happened. I've felt guilty about not documenting our life here on this little blog. My phone data was completely full of pictures, so I just transferred them to my computer. All these pictures confirm what I already know--I've missed a ton of blogging opportunities these past three months. I'll start with one of the most recent, our vacation to Lake Keowee. 

As a lot of you know, we are currently living halfway up the family mountain with John and Barbara while our house is being constructed at the top of the mountain. There is a ton of work to do on our land and Trip's days are consumed with work, then working on the land/house/driveway/home-site when he gets home and on the weekends. I help out when I can get childcare, but our very active 5-year-old daughter requires a lot of supervision, so my summer days have been pretty consumed with that. Needless to say, a week-long break from all the work was much needed (thanks so much John and Barbara)! 

 H and Landen enjoying a boatride

 Shelby could spend forever happily floating and splashing in the lake! 

 I rented a SUP board and Harding enjoyed it just as much as the paddlers did. 

 My sweet kiddos relaxing on the boat. 

One of the perks of spending a week together was hanging out with 4-month-old Avery. I could eat her up!