A few more pics from our little vacation. Here's Carter performing on the ride home:

(love the hair!)

You could never tell we had to take him to the doctor that afternoon.

Update on daycare fiasco:

When Kevin took Carter on Monday, he received paperwork because they didn't have record of Carter being enrolled and didn't have his shot records. I clearly remember giving them his enrollment form and shot records on the same day I paid them $150 as a registration fee. Oh yeah, that was the same day the assistant director told me her computer and check scanner were down, so she needed cash. It seems I'm not the only one this happened to. She has been arrested on charges of embezzlement!

In my defense, the story seemed logical. We had just had a horrible thunderstorm.

Ok, a quick update. Life is crazy right now!!!!

Thursday 8/13 - Mom didn't feel too well, but nothing out of the ordinary, worked 8:00am - 7:00 pm.

Friday 8/14 - Mom felt really bad, but went to work. Thought it was the stress of all of her coworkers complaining. Got home and realized it was a stomach bug.

Saturday 8/15 1:00am - 2:00 am - lost 6 pounds.

Sunday 8/16 6:00 pm - Get a call from friend to let me know there are firetrucks at Carter's daycare with smoke coming from it.
8:00 - go check it out when Kevin gets home. See a bunch of firetruck and nothing else.
10:30 - find out daycare is closed the following day and amazingly find a babysitter through facebook.

Monday 8/17 - Kevin comes home from work with stomach virus. I call daycare all day long to try to find out about reopening. Drive by at 8:00 and talk to cleaners. It may be open on Thursday, but will probably be closed all week.

Tuesday 8/19 - Kevin stays home with Carter. Mom comes home with stomach virus round 2 after only working for an hour. Sick family drives to NC border to pick up Kevin's mom to take care of Carter for the week.

Wednesday 8/20 - Finally don't have to worry about daycare for the rest of the week but have to worry about school starting.

Thursday 8/21 - first day of school - went better than expected but new schedule is EXHAUSTING!!! Find out daycare is opening on Friday. I have Team in Training meeting.

Friday 8/22 - Carter stayed home with his Grandma. After work, Kevin meets his dad at NC border again to drop off his mom. I work on lesson plans.

Saturday 8/23 - Get up at 5:30 top meet team for 7:00 am run. Come home. Take Carter to get hair cut. Kevin has 2 baseball games. I nap while Carter naps, make more lesson plans, and go to 2 innings of game. Leave b/c the woman near me was dropping F-bombs while on the phone. Don't want Carter doing the same.

Sunday 8/24 - normal Wal-Mart rounds, exercise, work on lesson plans while Carter is napping. Cook dinner. Work on lesson plans after Carter is in bed.


Sometime in there, I made a to-do list inlcuding uploading pictures and videos to share. Teaching 3 new classes with all new textbooks and less than half the planning time is going to kill me this year!

After we showered, we walked to dinner at a little seafood place. I didn't realize it was all outdoor dining. We didn't get to enjoy our dinner too much because Carter was intent on throwing as much of his food as he could. I even think food hit someone behind us.
I got shrimp and grits. I think mine are better, but these had corn in them. I think I will have to try it. It is always nice to not have to cook them myself. After dinner, the ocean breeze felt wonderful, so we sat on the swings in the park next to the condo for awhile. Carter decided he wanted to run around in the grass. Of course, he had to get the attention of two women talking on another swing.

When I wouldn't let him play in the trash, he turned into Craig.

After the aquarium we returned to our condo to eat lunch and put Carter down for a nap. I decided to try out the fitness center. It was pretty cool. It's on the 20th floor with huge windows overlooking Cherry Grove. Even better, I ran for 30 minutes without any pain! Here's some more pics of the condo:

Our room is the second balcony up.

Our room overlooks this park.
After Carter's 4 hour nap, we went back to the beach. I'm not usually for staying out at the beach for a long time, but I really enjoyed myself today. We played in the tidal pools where the water was really warm. We always went to Gulf Shores, AL growing up. I just can't get over the tidal pools. The beaches here seem so different to me.

We started the day off very early due to Carter's recurring issues. I couldn't decide if we should try to check out early or not. We decided to stay and go to Ripley's Aquarium. I got in for free with my teacher ID, Kevin got in half price, and kids under 2 or free. Sunday mornings seem to be a great time to go. It wasn't very busy.

After, we walked around Broadway at the Beach. Carter fell asleep in his stroller and didn't even wake up when we put him in the car. He did have a lot of fun!

We had planned to spend most of the day at the beach, but Carter woke up very poopie. After we had breakfast,

we decided to rodailler for a bit. We drove up to Ocean Isle Beach
Carter slept for most of the ride

He did wake up on the way back:

We got in touch with some friends of ours and met them for lunch with their 2 little girls.

We got back from lunch, and we all fell asleep. I woke Carter up around 5:00 to go out to the beach

We went to the beach as soon as we unpacked. Carter had an absolute blast. He didn't get upset when water hit him in the face or when he fell over. We splashed in the waves and dug in the sand. Carter even wanted to help bury a little girl in the sand. After, we played in the pool and the kids' splash area. Then, we came upstairs, bathed, and cooked the enchiladas I brought. Somehow, I lost his shovel before we left, so we walked to the IGA to buy him one. Carter is enjoying the condo with the huge windows and new things to explore.

Can you find the little boy in the curtains?

Hopefully, he will sleep well tonight since his bed is in our room.

Here are pictures of our condo. It's pretty nice. I think I will always compare beach condos to Sea Chase in Gulf Shores. We finally left the house at 10:00, dropped Tiger off, and hit the road. We decided to do the outlets today with the rest of the world. We mostly got clothes for Carter. I got some running bras. (I'm sure the internet wants to know about my supportive undergarments) We got to the condo around 3:30.

Here it is from the beach:
Living room/dining area (we moved the roll away bed to the bedroom)
Bathroom:

Bedroom (there's a balcony with a beach view. We're too cheap to face the beach.):

We're celebrating two VERY important birthdays today. #32 for this fine man:

(If I disappear, it's for making this picture public.)

and #20 for this old one:

Carter is growing up so quickly. I can't believe how much he changes everyday. He mimics us a lot. Here, he has placed his juice and snack on a chair for him to go back to after he played:

I had to buy Carter a nap mat for his new daycare. They also recommended I buy king sized pillow cases for it. I noticed that the pillow cases wouldn't quite be long enough. My creative juices started flowing, and Kevin got nervous as I pulled out the sewing machine. I'm rather proud of my product:

Carter decided to try it out:

I really just made a giant pillow case. It doesn't close at the bottom. I hope it holds up after multiple washings.

We decided to use Carter's artwork in the kitchen:




We bought some clear frame at Hobby Lobby, so they didn't have to fit the papers perfectly. The one in the middle has finger print bugs. The one on the right is a butterfly made from Carter's feet.

Last night, Kevin had a baseball game, so I was home alone with Carter. I was at my computer, and he wandered off into the guest bedroom. There are some of his old toys in there, so I wasn't too worried. When I went to check on him, I found him here:


taking the tissues one by one to the foot of the bed:


He was very proud of himself. I think we have a budding artist.

We bought Carter a vacuum cleaner today. It provided hours of entertainment. I sure hope his love of cleaning tools lasts far into the future.

As a followup to a post from earlier in the week concerning daycare.....

Carter was in the toddler room again on Thursday. I got there during snack time, so I sat with Carter while he ate his cookies. When I get to daycare, Carter wants me immediately, so I held him in my lap to avoid a melt down. One of his teachers made comments about my spoiling him. I also noticed they waited to fill out his daily report of nap time and diaper changes until I get there to pick him up. As I was leaving, I noticed the room he should have been in was working on an art project. He missed out two days in a row.

On the way home, I decided to stop at another daycare that thought they would have an opening tomorrow. I spoke with the teacher's assistant (the teacher had already left for the day) and was very impressed. The director told me to call her at 12:30 on Friday to verify the student was actually withdrawing.

When I dropped Carter off on Friday morning, I asked about the withdrawal policy. The director was concerned and pulled me into her office to talk to her. I expressed my concerns but did not feel any better when I left. I cried the whole way home and sat at home and cried. Ok, you may think I'm nuts, but I absolutely adore some of the teachers and have established wonderful relationships with them. Two of my favorites were also on vacation this week. I know Carter is attached to them too, but I worry about the room he was being sent to. I don't think I would have been pleased there, and he would have moved there in about 2 months.

The new daycare did have an opening they that they would hold for 2 weeks which was perfect because his old one required a two week notice. I decided to find out if I could negotiate with them to withdraw him early, and they let me that afternoon. Again, I cried. I don't know why I am being so emotional about this decision. I guess I have just gotten too attached to some of the people there and I worry about his transition. I'm hoping we will be as pleased with his new daycare as we once were with his former one. I'm not looking forward to dropping him off in an unfamiliar place tomorrow. I will be a mess!

Carter's hair was getting extremely unruly and shaggy. I don't mind the curls, but it was too long. He had a hair cut today, and when she was done, I asked her to style it in a mohawk to get a reaction out of Kevin. Too bad it fell before Daddy got home. It may have something to do with playing chase in the house for an hour. I've added some more pictures on flickr.

Back view:

Mohawk view:

When I got to daycare this afternoon, Carter wasn't in his normal classroom. I thought it was odd because they will usually send the youngest ones to the baby room, and the older ones the toddler room. Carter is in the middle, so he usually isn't the one to move anymore. He was sent to the toddler room this morning because he is too busy. He is too rough on the younger kids, and does much better with the bigger ones. He even went the whole day without his pacifier. I wonder how often he will be sent there. How could you not want this adorable child around you all day?