A Bunch of Random Stuff

Kingston and I had a big day today and it all adds up to a bunch of random thoughts.

First, we said goodbye to Dad (Nigel) this morning as we headed off to Virginia with Michelle and Riley for a little shopping. Nigel left for sales meetings in California later today. He will be gone until Saturday. We are so sad that he will be gone for so long and he was sad to leave us. We miss him already! We will try to email him fun pictures and perhaps a few videos. . .

The first thing Michelle needed to do in VA was visit a friend in the hospital. OK. Check this out. A Lithuanian student, Matas, that worked for Michelle at the Brew Thru was at a party about a month ago and had a little too much to drink and dove into the shallow end of a pool. Yep, you guessed it. He broke his neck and spine. He speaks excellent English and was telling us that he remembers hitting his head on the bottom and realizing that he couldn't move. He remembers thinking that he was going to drown. Crazy. Someone pulled him out and they called 911 immediately. He was airlifted to Norfolk General where he was in a coma for a few days and they thought he would pretty much be paralyzed from the neck down. Miraculously, the kid has fought so hard that he has full use of his left leg, his arms (but not so much his fingers) and is doing crazy amounts of physical therapy a day. Matas is scheduled for 2 sessions a day, but he does at least 2 more sessions on his own and with the help of his mom who flew in to be with him. He is so driven and positive. His doctor told him that he was in the 2% of patients who recover from such a trauma. I admire this kid so much. He spoke about how he will never again take anything for granted. How he was so impressed with American doctors and nurses and how it made him want to push for change when he got home. He said he wanted to see a more positive and personal healthcare in Lithuania. He thinks he might want to study medicine when he gets home. Amazing kid. He still needs lots of prayers. His insurance from home won't cover his care here, so they are trying to take him back to Lithuania. He wants to delay that as long as possible so that he can continue to get the great care that he is getting in Norfolk. He is also worried about the 17 hour plane ride. Yikes. Say lots of prayers for Matas. He deserves them.

On a lighter note. . . ! After the hospital we went to the mall, Target and TJ Maxx where I drooled over lots of fun things that I couldn't afford to buy. Here are the things I saw today that I wanted:
1. Every pair of designer jeans in Nordstrom
2. Lots of cute tops and dresses in Forever 21 (I know, a teenybopper store but so cheap and really cute stuff!)
3. The usual cute Sandra Boynton books that Kingston loves. He has a few but would love them all!
4. I REALLY drooled over the fancy cameras at Target. I would love to play with a really good camera some day. I mean, I have such a great subject I could really just use a disposable, but for when I'm needing to shoot other people other than Kingston. . .
5. Pretty pillows to go on my ugly couch.
6. All things Target. Man, I love that store.
Needless to say, I made it to VA and home without purchasing ANYTHING (except for lunch, of course). It's pretty easy to do when you don't have any money to spend! For now, I'll just compile my wishlist and hope for better days!

A real milestone: Kingston is almost crawling. He scoots around pretty good. He can make his way across the living room somehow! So cute. He will be really crawling by the end of the week, I think.

And just to prove that Kingston is scooting:

We had a good day today. As Matas showed us, we won't take any of it for granted. We will appreciate every day.

Sunday Morning Pancakes

Another milestone in the Haynes household this morning. Kingston had his first pancake! As you can see by the pictures, he thoroughly enjoyed it. He stuffed so much in his mouth at one time and stored it on the roof of his mouth that he started crying. . . I think because he didn't quite know what to do with it! It was a fun breakfast.

And just because I love to torture the animal that tortures me on a daily basis, I found this doggie T-shirt while looking for the plug to the skillet and decided that Able should wear it for a while. Can you find him? He is camouflaged! He seems a bit subdued while wearing the T. Or maybe that is his mortified look . . !

Happy Sunday!

A Post-Worthy Day!

We had a fun Saturday! Nigel and I had haircuts in Manteo this morning (Nigel having a haircut appointment is a whole other post! Insert giggles here!) and then Kingston and I went to visit Nana and Grandpa on their boat.



Kingston played with "toys" that Nana found for him. We spent the day mostly inside the boat since it was really hot and humid outside but we did take a few strolls around downtown. Kingston is having a late summer cold of sorts. Note the super snotty nose and the glassy eyes. Poor little man.



The playground is super fun. . . for older kids. Kingston will enjoy it next year. Looking forward to that.
After our day on the boat we went to Aunt Freda's house to meet the cousins. Or my cousin's kids, whatever that would make them to Kingston and me. 2nd cousins? I don't know. Lauren really loved playing with Kingston. She was so sweet to him. She is Dave's middle girl. So pretty and really smart. The other 2 girls checked him out from a distance while they finished making their beautiful art projects! Kingston maintained really well considering he was snotty and had fallen asleep in the car on the 2 minute ride to Aunt Freda's from the waterfront. We only visited for a few minutes because Kingston was about to turn into a pumpkin! It was so good to see Dave, his new fiance and his 3 girls. I see them every 8-10 years!!


We had a really good day with the family. Definitely a day worth posting about. Thanks for taking pictures, Nana. It's good to have a camera-happy Nana around. Oh, and to top it all off, East Carolina beat Virginia Tech today in one of the first games of the college football season. Hooray! (Sorry, Lee and other Tech folks!) Way to go Pirates and anyone else who beats Tech!

Preppy Pastel Party

We just got home from a party. It was a 30th birthday party and the theme was Nantucket/Preppy/Pastels. We had to do some shopping to come up with our "costumes" since there is not a whole lot of preppy stuff in the Haynes household! I sort of strayed from the theme and went with whatever would fit. I had to go out and buy Nigel an Izod polo shirt from Belk. Kingston had a hand-me-down outfit from Sarah's little boy, Tyler, that was perfect. It was an argyle sweater vest and plaid pants. He wore his skull and crossbone leather shoes that matched. He was so stinking cute in his outfit. His paci even matched!

The party was pretty fun. It was outside at a beautiful house on the sound in Nags Head. The weather was perfect and there was yummy food. I could have eaten all of the sweet potato biscuits with country ham but people were starting to stare so I limited it to 5. We left about 9 because Kingston's little bobblehead was rolling around. The final straw was when he had his hand in a cup of icewater for about 2 minutes while his eyes were nearly closed and he didn't even seem to notice the frozen fingers.

Fun family outting. . . even if we did have to be preps for the evening. At least we got some cute pictures out of the deal! My men look good as preps. . . but I'm glad they don't dress like that all the time!

I Did it for the First Time. . .

I called the Doctor's office to ask a question about Kingston. Up until today I had never called the Dr.'s office for anything. Even Lee's mom, Karen, who is our favorite nurse (even though she gives Kingston his shots!) has been surprised that I, as a new mom, haven't called with a bunch of questions. I never really thought I needed to until today. I had been noticing that Kingston was playing/pulling on his ears a lot in the past few days. He did it mostly when he was in his highchair eating which always resulted in sticky hair behind the ears. He also woke up nearly every hour on the hour last night, resulting in very unrested parents.

So since it was Friday, meaning the weekend was coming and that means a closed pediatrician's office, I decided to bite the bullet, suck it up, and give the office a call. The nurse called me right back and after I told her the symptoms, she suggested we come right in just in case. We got there in about 15 minutes (the nurse was so excited since we were the last patient of their 1/2 day). Dr. Thompson, not Kingston's usual doctor, saw him very quickly, checked his ears, nose and teeth and declared him to be teething and having very healthy-looking ears.

I did it. Called the doctor, went in, and it was nothing. I am so happy that Kingston does not have a ear infection and I am so happy I got that false alarm doctor's visit out of the way. Now let's just hope he sleeps through the night tonight. Hopefully the small dose of Infant Tylenol will do the trick. Those pesky little Chicklet teeth! So cute but such a pain!

And We're Home!

From Wilmington. We didn't end up going down to Charleston due to good old tropical storm Fay. Missy, we hope you are OK down there in the Florida!

We will show you our trip in pictures.

First, since Uncle Sam's floors were tile and he had not a single rug in his bachelor pad, Kingston spent a lot of time on the leather couches. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that drool makes leather super soft (yeah, right) so Kingston did his best to improve the softess of them. (Sorry Uncle Sam!)

While Dad was in Surf City Surf Shop, Kingston thought he would take care of some other business in the truck. I'm not sure, but I don't think anyone could turn this kid down! This caption should read, "Don't you want to buy like a million fins?"

We did finally meet up with Kimmi and Luna at the beach. Luna is 4 days older than Kingston and about 4 pounds heavier! And that's a lot in baby weight! They were so cute playing together. It was good to catch up with Kimmi even if it was only for about 45 minutes. Gone are the days of endless hours of gossip on the beach! That goes out the window when you have babies that need naps and bottles and a little less sand!

This caption should read, "Does my butt look big in this diaper?" "No but your legs do!" Luna was a chunker!

And finally, Kingston is like his mom in that he loves a good snack while he is travelling! He loves Club crackers. He will eat a saltine, but a Club cracker is the ticket.

We had a really good trip. It sort of felt like a vacation even thought it was work for Nigel. (And I booked 2 caterings while I was gone!) It was nice to stay at Sam's house instead of lugging our stuff in and out of a hotel room. For some reason we always seem to get rooms on the next to the top floor. That's not so cool when you have 1/2 a ton of baby gear!

Nigel and Kingston behaved on the car ride and I almost read a whole book. We will be traveling together again soon!

Such a Good Traveler!

We made it to Wilmington! We are staying with our friend, Sam. Nigel went to visit an account and Kingston and I visited with Sam when he got home from work. We didn't leave for dinner until 8:00. Yep. 8. I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, "Wait! Kingston's bedtime is 8:00." And you would be correct. We went to K 38 and had an awesome Mexican meal. (That place is awesome!) Kingston was SO tired but he maintained so well. By the end of the meal he had black beans and avocado smeared all over his face and in his eyes. Pick up avocado in fist, try to get it in mouth, end up dropping it, rub eyes with green hands. Repeat.

While we were eating I saw a table being set for a party of 5 people. One girl came in and sat down and said she was waiting for her friends who were at the bar. I started thinking that there was a good chance that I would recognize or know someone in the restaurant since I know so many people who live in Wilmington or go to school here. And wouldn't you know it! In walks Max Vaughn. He is the son of Jim and April Vaughn of Whalebone Surf Shop and I have known him for years. It was so good to see him and we chatted for a minute. Funny how sometimes you can think about something and then it happens. Wonder who we will run into tomorrow. . .

And I called Kimmi twice today and haven't heard back from here. Ummm. . . hopefully she will call me in the morning. Crazy girl.

I'll keep you posted on our travels and adventures tomorrow. For now, I think I might join Kingston. It's past my bed time too!