Pool Time

Last summer, Nana was living in the apartment complex next door to us. Her apartment complex had a very nice pool.....and we took full advantage over the summer. This year - since Nana's gone - we decided to bite the bullet and join a pool nearby the house. Its been a good investment, because Katie loves going.

The place we joined has a nice sized Kiddie Pool - which I thought would be perfect. Unfortunately, Katie rarely plays in it. She always says "Get in big pool, mommy. Get in big pool!" Either way, its been so much fun for our whole family. Matt and I have enjoyed it probably as much as Katie has.

My mom says I was a complete dare devil at Katie's age. I would get a running start and jump into the pool. Katie's not quite that adventurous......she's a much more cautious personality than her mama. She will jump in, but it requires alot of encouragement and I have to be right there holding her.

Another funny little story......Yesterday while we were at the pool, the sun went behind the clouds. Right after it did, Katie looked at me and asked me to turn the lights back on. :-) Really wish I would have gotten that on video.

ABC's - Katie Style

Katie LOVES music, singing, and dancing. Now that her vocabulary is growing, she is making attempts at singing familar songs (i.e. Twinkle Twinkle Little Start, Wheels on The Bus). However, her vocabulary isn't quite to the point that she can sing the whole song. Its actually pretty cute to hear what she comes up with along the way. I got this video of her the other day singing her ABC's.....or at least part of her ABC's.

You may notice Katie's whining request to "watch it." She's referring to watching herself sing her ABC's on the camera. She's a fan of watching her own home videos! :-)

Freedom Festival

July 4th is in full swing in Richmond. We normally travel over July 4th....either to Matt's family's river house or home to Patrick County. Unfortunately, I'm working most of the weekend on a server migration (NY to VA).....so we are staying in RIC this year.

The good news...there are a TON of July 4th events to keep us busy. Last night we attended the Freedom Festival by Genworth Financial. A few pictures from the evening....

Barnes Family Beach Trip - 2011

Its been 4 years since the Barnes Family all headed to the beach together. The last trip was when Katherine was pregnant with Claire. Ironically, for this trip she is pregnant with baby number 2! :-) Normally the family goes to OBX - Nags Head. But since Topsail is only about 1 hour further south and considerably less expensive....we decided to give it a try. My family and Kat's family have been going to Topsail for years, so its wasn't like we did this blind. But - it was a bit different for the Barnes men!

Matt, Katie and I arrived on Sunday instead of Saturday because Matt and I spent Saturday at the US Open (GO Rory!!!). Katie woke up at 4 AM on Sunday morning and as soon as I got her back to sleep at 4:30 - I woke Matt up and said....well, I'm awake.....we might as well get on the road and get there early. So - we left Richmond at 5:15 AM and got to the beach around 10 AM. It sounds insane I'm sure to start driving at 5:15 AM.....but its the perfect thing to do when you have a little one. Katie slept for about 2.5 hours out of the trip.

As soon as we arrived, Katie was ready to hit the beach - especially since cousin Claire was there to play with. I wasn't sure how well the girls would relate with Claire being 2 years older than Katie. It turned out that watching the girls play together was one of my highlights of the week. Uncle Rob said multiple times...."they play like sisters." And they did! Sometimes they would play nicely together, sometimes they would fight over toys, and sometimes they got into mischief together (like raiding the chocolate chip cookie stash while no one was looking).

Its difficult to write down ALL the events of the week, so I've tried to make a list of a few things I know I'll never forget.

• The girls giggling together as they played.


• Terrible forest fires causing brown smoke in the sky, ash in the ocean and beach.


• Catching about 1 million sand crabs....because the girls loved it.


• Boogie board rides in the surf


• Repeatedly saying - "no Katie, you can't go any further. Its not safe."


• Terrific food all week (thanks to Coral and Kat)


• No having to do the dinner dishes....cause that was the men's job! :-)


• Katie not sleeping well....and us getting up at 5:30 AM with her.


• Playing volleyball on the beach with Uncle Jake


• Katie hitting Claire over the head with a paddle....and Claire pushing Katie down because she wouldn't play Hide and Seek.


• The Old McDonald animal show that both of the girls begged for daily.


• UVA ballgames...and a crazy end to their college world series run.


• Katie eating seafood for the first time (a bite of my crabcake....our last night there).


• Family beach photo shoot that was BEYOND chaotic.


• Losing power one night during a storm.....and turning a blanket into a tent to keep the girls entertained (Aunt Kat's idea).


• Morning coffee with Popa, Abu, and Kat (the early risers of the group)! :-)

I want to say a special Thank You to Popa and Abu for inviting us this year. We had such a wonderful time and hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

On the Mend...

I've been an absent blogger for the past week or two, but I promise I've had a good reason. Well, I at least had a reasonable excuse. Last Wednesday Katie was admitted to the hospital. Many of you have heard the news, but not the details. I'll do a recap in list form (in chronological order if I can).

• Katie had been running a low grade fever for a couple days so on Tuesday we took her to the pediatrician's office to be sure she was okay. After some blood work, and ear check, and a strep test - the pediatrician said it was a virus.


• Tuesday afternoon Katie's fever spiked up to 103.7! We called the pediatrician and she said to monitor her for the night and if she didn't improve, bring her in for a chest X-ray to rule out pneumonia.


• Tuesday night was terrible!


• Wednesday morning we went to the ER at 6 AM to get the chest x-ray.


• Chest Xray showed swollen lymph nodes around Katie's heart and lungs, meanwhile her fever spikes to 104.6 in the ER.


• Decision is made to admit herDoctors inform us that the swollen lymph nodes could mean one of a few things: a virus, TB, cancer, or auto-immune disease.


• 4 sets of blood work are run, 2 IV attempts (broke my heart each time she got pricked!!!)


• Tuberculosis Test was administered - the swollen lymph nodes are a common sign of TB in young children.


• Fever was terrible for the first 2 days in the hospital then finally started getting a little better on Friday.


• Friday they repeated the chest X-ray and did not see the inflamation in the lymph nodes (absolutely an answered prayer!).


• Saturday - Katie's officially fever free and we get to come home!!!!

What I learned:

• Hospital meals are rather bland!


• St. Mary's pediatric nurses and doctors are great! I would send anyone I know there (though I hope you never need to go!).


• Seeing your child as sick as Katie was last week is BEYOND scary!


• Katie's vocabulary now includes the words hospital, doctor, nurse, and IV.


• Alternating Tylenol and Motrin doesn't always work to control a child's fever.


• Hospital chairs that convert into beds are not made for 2....not even 1.5. I had to share my bed with Katie for 2 nights because it was the only way she would sleep.


• I love my daughter more than anything in the world. I knew that beforehand, but its worth reiterating.

We had so much help from our families (Nana, Papa, Abu, Popa, Aunt Sally, Aunt Kat, Uncle Rob, Cousin Claire, and Uncle Jake.....our minister Mario and church friend Jill). Everyone helped in different ways.....some brought us food, some brought us company, some brought us reading material and snacks, some brought prayer, some made get well cards, some watered our flowers, some brought comic relief, and some gave medical advice. I'm really not sure what we would have done without you all! Thanks again for your help and support.

A quick update: We've had two sets of blood work done this week since coming home. The second set of blood work was finally back to normal. So, our little bug is finally getting back to her old self.

I've included a few pictures from the hospital. FYI - I didn't take many photos the first few days - for obvious reasons! But once she started to perk up, I figured I should commemorate Katie's 2nd stay at St. Marys (the first was when she was born).

Topsail Beach Trip - May 2011

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Memorial Day Beach Trip

When I was pregnant with Katie Matt and I took a trip to Topsail Beach, NC over Memorial Day weekend. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip and have been back every year since - this year making the 3rd trip. I'm hoping it will become a bit of a tradition for our family. I love Topsail for its absolute lack of commercialization. Its a beach lover's beach....no frills....just simple family beach fun.

Enough advertising for Topsail...on to the trip and the pictures. Last year Katie was between 9 and 10 months old and not quite walking yet. She didn't really get into the ocean and play. I wasn't sure what to expect this year....weather she'd be excited when she saw the water. Would she want to get in immediately? Or would it scare her to death? She was definitely excited when she first saw the ocean....and kept saying "Beach" and "Wawur" (her version of water). But, the ocean definitely intimidates her. Over the course of the weekend, Katie would repeatedly ask to go down to the water, but insisted on holding my hand ----- TIGHTLY! She also insisted on me holding her most of the time we were in the ocean. The sand was a big hit....though she destroyed more than helped with the sand castle building efforts.

Overall - I think she's going to be more of a pool girl than an ocean babe. Each day we would load up with our bags, umbrella, chairs, toys, towels, etc. and head down to the beach first thing in the morning. One day - Katie left our spot on the beach and just starting walking up to the pool.....totally unannounced, totally leaving me and Matt behind. I had to grab a towel and run after her to catch up. When I caught up to her and asked her where she was going (even though I was pretty sure I already knew)....she said "Pool, mama! Pool!" :-)

One things for sure....she couldn't make it at the beach or the pool without her bucket. I think she carried about 500 gallons of water into and out of the ocean and the pool. You may notice the same bucket in most of the pictures from the weekend.

To keep things in line....Katie had to throw in a medical emergency into the beach trip. She spiked a high fever one evening and - long story short - we ended up in the ER for most of the night. Turned out to be just a virus.....and I felt like and idiot for even taking her. But - with Katie - its better to be safe than sorry. I'm just praying she didn't pick up something else (germ wise) while we were there.

I'm working on a video montage from the beach....so check back for the pics (except the one at the top of course).