The ER and then Disney World, first stop--Chef Mickey's

We had a wonderful trip to Walt Disney World last week! We left on Saturday, March 6 and drove all the way to Orlando (about 6+ hours) and met Brian's parents at our resort, the Wilderness Lodge. Our arrival was a little later than expected because we had to call the paramedics and make a trip to the Children's ER the night before!

Caleb started running a fever after his nap on Friday afternoon and woke throwing up. I tried to give him Tylenol, but he soon threw that up too. Then around 8 p.m., he began having febrile seizures, which if you have never experienced, can be quite scary! His eyes rolled back and he just went out for a few seconds... like I said, scary! We called the paramedics and they recommended that they take him to the ER (his fever was now almost 105). So I rode in the ambulance with Caleb, and Brian soon met us at the hospital. Miraculously, we were back home by 11:15 p.m. The doctors and nurses were so nice and efficient and ruled out anything serious. They said that the seizure was from the high fever and that they really thought he just had a viral infection. We were so thankful that he was okay and the doctor said that the Disney trip was still on and that he felt that Caleb would begin getting better immediately.

Thankfully, he did, and even though Brian and I had to stay up extremely late and pack, it was all worth it! We were just glad that Caleb was feeling better. So we were on our way, a little frazzled, but excited! Our dinner at Chef Mickey's was fun! The kids enjoyed the buffet and seeing the characters. Caleb was a little weary of them at first but warmed up quickly, especially later on in the trip, which you will see in the next few posts.

Snow in Charleston!!!

Snow in Charleston!!! I can't believe it! I never would have thought that when we moved to Charleston that we would get to play in the snow! It has been almost 20 years since Charleston has seen a snow like this! I mean, imagine, snow-covered palm trees; it's quite a sight actually! Anyway, the snow began around 7 p.m. and continued throughout the night. Before we went to bed, everything was white! Abby Grace was so excited! She came running into our room when she woke up wanting to go outside. Unfortunately, Brian was already up because he had to go to work, but luckily, he had about 20 minutes to play with us before he had to leave. When we went outside, the kids went right to playing! Caleb didn't seem to mind the snow at all; in fact, he sat in it most of the time. I was impressed that he did not seem bothered by his hat or mittens at all. We managed to build a snowman and throw a few snowballs, and then Daddy was off to work. :( After a quick breakfast with the kids, we headed to our backyard to play a little more. The kids probably lasted about 20 more minutes, and then it was back inside to be warm!

Patriot's Point

On January 23, we took advantage of the "Be a Tourist in Your Own Town" pass and headed to Patriot's Point, which includes the U.S.S. Yorktown, the National Medal of Honor Musuem, etc. The weather was not exactly ideal; it was very chilly, especially with the ocean breeze. However, the kids had fun. Caleb liked the airplanes (he's really into pointing to the sky and talking about airplanes when they fly overhead), and Abby Grace just liked being able to run around.

Finally, A Warm Day!

These are some pictures I took of the kids on Jan 18 (I am just a little late posting)--we decided to take advantage of the warm weather and play in our backyard! Of course, the Charleston forecast this week=cold! :(

As a little update, we spent the month of January battling coughs, viruses, colds, and an earache! It seems that most of us are getting better now, thank goodness! The kids are doing well. Abby Grace seems more like a 4 year old every day. She's so funny because she can be so girly and then, she has her "boyish" interests. In fact, she has been complaining after I pick her up from school that the boys don't like for her to play trains with them because she's a girl and shouldn't like trains. Apparently, she's one of the only girls in her class that likes trains... and she now has a new fascination with dinosaurs. However, she is also very into Snow White right now and asks about a million questions about the evil queen, the apple, and about everything else in the movie.

Caleb is turning into a little boy and talking and walking up a storm! Some of his favorite words right now are daddy, Dora, ball, dog, what's that, Au"burn" (he only can say part), Barney, shoe, ba-ba (for bottle), and the list goes on... It's amazing how much he understands from what you say to him too. He has started mother's day out; he is doing really well but cries for less than 5 min after I leave him. After that, he has lots of fun! Caleb also has a very sweet nature... he has been known to go up to strangers and hug them. He also likes to tell people that pass by him, "hey." He and Abby Grace get along pretty well until they start yelling at each other or when Caleb tears up Abby Grace's train or whatever toy she's playing with. Other than that, they do pretty well. Caleb has his 15 month check up tomorrow, so info on that to come; plus, pictures from Patriot Point, my birthday, and the aquarium as well.

The Charleston Children's Museum

Despite the fact that January has been cold and somewhat sickly for our family, we have managed to have some fun by "being tourists in our own town." Brian has had an easier month and has had some weekday mornings and afternoons off, so we have taken advantage of this and of this tourist pass, which allows you free admission to many Charleston attractions and great discounts on local restaurants during the month of January. One of our first stops was the Charleston Children's Museum, which has turned out to be one of Abby Grace and Caleb's favorite places. See pictures below. The setup was perfect for both of them because they had activities that both of them could do and enjoy at the same time, despite the differences in their ages. Since visiting, I think Abby Grace has asked about every other day if we could go back. They loved it!

These two picks are from the "ship" section, where the kids could play captain, pirate, fish, etc.!

You guessed it--water play! I think this was one of Caleb's favorites!

Plus, he loved splashing and painting the wall with water.


Another part included a Publix grocery store, where they could shop for their own groceries. Why wasn't there stuff like this when I was a kid? :)

This is the section for kids under 3--it included lots of mats and ladders/slides that were perfect for Caleb (and Abby Grace still liked it too).

And then there was the art room, where you could create all kinds of masterpieces. Imagine Abby Grace liking that! :)

Santa Claus Came to Town!

Abby Grace and Caleb must have been good this year because they had a big Christmas morning! Or maybe Santa just sometimes gets a little carried away (at least that's what their daddy says)! Anyway, they had a fun morning with their new train table, Abby Grace's new bike, and Caleb's ride-on train. After unwrapping our presents and having breakfast, we finished loading the car and headed to Birmingham for the fun 7+ hour trip. We arrived in Birmingham around 6 p.m. and had dinner with Brian's parents, Clay, and Jennifer. Then on Saturday, we headed to Joy's parents' house for Christmas brunch followed by dinner with the Brunson side of the family and then dinner on Sunday with the Reynolds side of the family. We had some time on Monday to see some friends and headed back to Charleston on Tuesday. Definitely a busy couple of days of driving, eating, unwrapping presents, more eating, and of course, more driving!

Happy 30th Birthday, Brian!

Well, I am still trying to catch up on all my posts... Brian actually turned 30 December 11! We had some sweet friends that were nice enough to watch the kids while we had dinner at High Cotton downtown... Afterwards, we celebrated with the kids.

Also, it may or may not be noticeable, but in a lot of these pictures, Abby Grace has a black eye. She fell on the couch and hit the side of her face on the armrest. I didn't think much of it at the time, but 3 days later, her whole eye turned black! So many of our Christmas pictures include it.

A Few Holiday Events

We took these two pictures after visiting Santa in the Citadel Mall... They wouldn't let you take pictures with your own camera of Santa (we had to buy those, of course). Abby Grace wasn't that interested in taking any more pictures, so I only have one of Caleb.






We went shopping (really just walking around) in Mt. Pleasant after going to church the Sunday before Christmas. Abby Grace and Caleb liked the reindeer decorations.

Abby Grace is performing in her Christmas program at her mother's day out school. She did a great job singing all the songs. In fact, I enjoyed her singing this entire Christmas season! It's amazing how quickly she learned many of the songs this year.

This is a pic from Abby Grace's party at school. I was one of the moms in charge of the party and spent an hour making snowman pretzel sticks... I enjoyed every minute of it! Plus, I did the party favors and tableware. The reindeer antlers were a big hit!

We don't really have too many pictures from our trip to the James Island Festival of Lights, but we had a great time! This is a pic of AGB with a M&M character that greeted us after our train ride (I think it was a M&M anyway; regardless, she liked him!).