30th birthday, part two

Again, out of sequence…
My 30th birthday was, by a country mile, the best birthday I've ever had! First, I had the girls weekend at the Crescent, then we went to Little Rock on my birthday, and finally finished up the celebration in Key West. WOW! I am going to be seriously let down come 31 ;) I didn't actually have plans for my bday weekend because of the other celebrations planned. My sis-in-law called and said we needed to have a real bday party with a cake, etc. and since we had the weekend open, we decided to pack it up last minute and head to Little Rock.

My mother-in-law (Deb) and sis-in-law (Andrea) know how to throw a party, so I felt confident that the drive would be worthwhile. They completely blew me away! Deb and Darby got me 30 gifts which was madness. On top of that I received two of the most precious gifts I have ever been given. Deb created and Italy album for Andrea and I. I love it so much! Not only did I enjoy reliving the trip, but I love that it shares our story with everyone else. Deb did an amazing job of writing our story and including a lot of the history that we may have forgotten if it hadn't been documented. Thank you Deb!

My sis-in-law painted a one-of-a-kind painting for our home. It is beyond beautiful and special. The pictures just don’t do it justice. She was inspired by our Italy trip and used hidden symbols throughout the painting to represent memories, faith, etc. I was floored by her talent, effort and love. Thank you Andrea for the priceless gift!

Andrea, Brandon and their three boys came, so we had all 5 Darby kids together. We also got take Carson for his very first swim. He LOVES the water! I am so thrilled we have another waterbug.

The pictures tell the story much better than I can. But, thank you to the Darby family for spoiling me completely rotten! I don’t deserve you!

The whole Darby crew posed under the banner the boys made me. They call me Aunt Missy.

The MOST awesome cake ever! Why?! Because Andrea and Deb made a brownie cake that was Carson friendly. I was actually able to eat it. I about made myself sick on this ridiculous goodness.

Let the gluttony begin.

Posing with all 30 gifts. SO FUN!! I was actually shy and overwhelmed by all of this. I am serious. I didn't know what to do :)

Kissing my hubby for his super romantic card he gave me. So precious. Ok, I am lying. He sent my 4 year old nephew out on a shopping trip to get my card last minute. It was a picture of an old man making a joke about getting old. Nice.

Here is the Italy book. Deb rocks! She put countless hours into this masterpiece.

Drumroll....here is the AMAZING painting Andrea created. Here she is explaining that the nine blue circles (created by using real euro) represent the nine days spent in Italy. SO clever!

Mel posing with the actual artist :) The painting is titled "Dolci Recordi" -- "Sweet Memories"

Another exciting gift...Deb gave us tickets for the American Idol tour in July. It will be fun to see Kris Allen perform in his hometown.

Swimtime! Here are all 5 Darby cousins. Alex was devastated she had to use floaties. She swims completely on her own now, but at the time we were in the middle of swim lessons.

Uncle N8 got quite a workout heaving the kids across the pool. We did some fun stunts too but I won't be sharing those pictures!

Pops loving on his boy

Carson did so well in the water-- it was fun watching everyone take a turn with him
Father and son bonding time

Mommy is having a blast!

Alex and Daddy are having fun stunting in the pool. She is so brave!

Our family of four. All smiles!

Mommy gets a turn with waterbug.

Pops and DeDe with all the grandkids.DeDe and Carson had such fun together.

Aunt Onnie adores Carson. They are so precious together.Our Alex putting on some sort of performance

Carson got lots and lots of love. Did he ever play on his own? I don't think so.

Carson sums it up....AWESOME TIME!

Carson month 9: May 2 - June 2

I am an entire month behind, my apologies. Summer is so fun and with no schedule, traveling, etc., the blog has gone to the wayside...but I am ready to catch up! Have I mentioned how obsessed I am with my son? I adore him!! I can't get enough (which is good b/c we are rarely apart!) His 9th-10th month flew by. As he becomes more active, mobile and energetic, the time is really getting away from me. I can't believe he will be a year old so soon. He is really becoming his own little person. He reciprocates SO much emotion...he is just the best! I love that he adores everyone. He isn't picky-- he will throw a party if you just look at him with a grin.
Alex has been amazing with her "bubby" as she calls him. We will find her in his crib singing to him, reading him books, and tickling him. They are so cute together. She truly adores him and never seems to resent the attention that has been taken away. I miss her, but she makes the transition wonderful because she has become independent, but connected to her brother. It's truly pretty perfect!
Carson is finally exploring food! He's taking a few bites here and there, but still not where we want him to be. I really hope he will take a liking to the solids while we are in Key West b/c the dude needs FOOD....more than just the skim milk he gets from his mama.
His hair is growing like a weed. We are enjoying playing with it and giving him new looks. :)
Here are a few pics from this month:
Carson loves the puffs and wheels. Of course, they have rice in them so they killed his tummy :( Darn!

My mom and dad hooked us up with a swing set-- hooray! Carson loves, loves to swing. Best gift ever!

How adorable are my babies?!

I love his grin! He has a chubby face just like his sissy. He LOVES the alligator xylophone. He plays with it constantly. Never a quiet moment for us!

This might be my favorite picture of him ever. OMG!!!! Can you see his dimples? And his eyes just sparkle! AHH! I want to eat him up.

Teefas!

Oh my! Carson has eight teeth coming in at once! He has his two bottom teeth in, but now has two more coming in on the bottom and six cutting on his top. Poor fella!

Key West...a week in heaven!

This will be out of sequence with the next few postings, but I HAVE to jump ahead to the best part...vacation!
A week of pure heaven. Truly. We had the best time in Key West. Key West was a fun place to vacation, but it was absolutely the property and staff that made it divine. We took a ton of pics (shocker) so I'll keep it brief. It's not where you are, it's who you are with...that's what we always say at the Darby house. I had the best time with Nathan. It's nice because we were on the same page the entire time. I love that! The expectation was just to have fun and relax...and that's exactly what we did. I did cry when I left the kids but as soon as we arrived, I realized how brilliant Nathan was to get me away from home...I SO needed the sleep and downtime. For me, the lack of chaos was the biggest perk. Oh and no baby monitor. Or was it the sound of the ocean at night while we slept? :)
A few highlights:
*We rented a brand new red mustang convertible. We had a blast exploring the island. We hit the local grocery store so we had several PB&J meals in our room to save $$.
*We saw "The Hangover" -- funniest movie I've seen in a LONG time. Hilarious!!! So inappropriate-- it was greatness.
*Oceanside candlelight dinner. Hands down the most romantic meal I've ever had in my life. It was one of those moments I will remember forever. It was so special. And the filet was perfect.
*"Pridefest 2009"-- Key West hosted a "rainbow parade" as I was trying to explain to Alex when she wanted to see pictures. Holy moly...we sat right up front and didn't miss any of the action. Took tons of video, but I will spare you from that. It was so dang funny! Lots of pride in Key West, that's for sure. During the parade a really handsome guy came up to me and said, "Ohhh, he's cute. Hang on to that one." AHHH!!!!!!
*Pumping on the airplane-- that was a ONE time experience for me. Awful!
*We ate at a Brazilian steakhouse. We both ate so much we literally had to race home because we both were sick to our stomach. I've never consumed so much filet in my life!
*Bean bag toss-- our favorite afternoon activity. Very similar to washers or horseshoes. We had a fierce competition going on and I held my own!
*We are 95% sure we swam right next to a nurse shark. They aren't aggressive, but it was still a freak out to see a large fin coming toward us.
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My favorite picture,"Soul mates." We were having fun playing with the camera.

Famous sculpture in the lobby of Casa Marina

The t-shirt says it all. I know, so mature :)Perfect form!

Mel's victory photo after a heated bean bag toss competition

Dirty pirate. Ewww. You can't see where the gun is pointing, but it was NOT OK! He wanted Nathan out of the picture.

Snorkeling adventure! We went with a group out to a beautiful reef and saw all kinds of exotic fish. The water was like glass. It was a perfect day.Wild dolphins at play. So amazing to see!
Mel's favorite reading spot.
Mel's birthday slice of Key Lime Pie. YUM!

Our view from the balcony. It looks like a postcard!

The "Stang" in front of our hotel

The Righteously Outrageous Twirling Corps in the parade. They took this VERY seriously.

"Miss" Jessica. Ewww.

Picture at the 'Southernmost Point' of the continental US. Just 90 miles from Cuba.

Enjoying our time at the ocean. I can see why Nathan got hit on! :)

Sunset beach walks

Nathan reading his "mystery book." You'll have to ask him about that one!

The beautiful beach

View from the patio

Room 190 is where it's at!

Lobby pic

Paraside Found.

The pier just after sunset

Dinner on the beach. Pictures can't begin to explain how intimate and special this was.

Mel taking it all in.

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Who wants to go next time?? :)

Celebrity Sighting

This is my first solo blog posting (i.e. without Melissa's help), but this is one of those situations that doesn't happen to me often so I thought it was blog worthy and wanted to share it. The funny thing is that as I type, I think of the people that will be reading this and I’m pretty sure you are the wrong demographic for the news I am about to share. No offence, but I bet most of you don't follow football players like I do...so you've been warned. For those of you that do follow football players, I appreciate you taking an interest in my childish ways when I am presented with a celebrity sighting. Shell shock with sweaty palms was the physical/emotional feeling during this whole event. I'm embarrassed to share the whole story, but I think it's funny and hope that you enjoy me in my vulnerable state.

So here it goes...
On our way back from vacation (June 14th) I was upgraded to first class and someone tapped my shoulder and asked if they could sit with their boyfriend...who was supposed to sit right next to me. I agreed and went to sit in her original seat. When I looked at the boyfriend, he looked VERY familiar. I finally figured out who he looked like, but I didn't really think much about it. When we landed I had to go back to my original seat because my bags were there. When I looked at her boyfriend I said "You know you look JUST LIKE Larry Johnson"...he smiled and said, "yeah...'cause that's me." And then of all the normal, nice, clever things to say...I said, "Thanks for your fantasy points last year." He smiled and said, "No problem.” I’m such an idiot.

Just to make things worse for myself and to dive deeper into self deprecation, I'd like to elaborate how exactly I got Larry to take a picture with me after we got off the plane. I walked up behind him while talking out of the side of my half-pursed lips saying "Paging Mr. Johnson, paging Mr. Johnson" in that voice where you try to sound like an intercom. I'm actually blushing as I write this. What was I thinking?!

Again, I was a giddy little boy seeing what I consider to be a potential Hall-of-Famer...if he could just get on a better team…he’s still very young. We shall see.

BTW - If you don't know who Larry Johnson is, he's the Running Back for the Kansas City Chiefs...and he's no scrub...he's been a top 5 RB for the past 2-3 years.

Freedom!!

Nathan and I are headed to Key West, FL on Monday! I can't believe we are really doing this. I have to admit, I am having a hard time thinking about being away from the kids. We went to Cancun when Alex was 6 months old and I was fine. This time, it's just a different situation. Carson is still exclusively nursing and Alex had lots of slumber parties as an infant. I've only been apart from Carson one night in his life and it was just two weeks ago for the birthday party. Six days-- ahh! Heaven! I'm sure once I'm there I will feel better. I know THEY will be fine, but I'm a mess :) Thank you mom for your help this week, we will miss you guys. And, thank you Darby fam for watching my babies. I know they will have a blast. You are brave!!
We return on the 15th...travel with us:
http://www.casamarinaresort.com/
BUUUUHHHH!

The best words I've ever heard come out of a doctor's mouth

"You daughter is perfect."
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Today we took Alex to see Dr. Evans (neurologist) at Children's downtown. First let me start by saying that just walking in the hospital building gave me chills. After Alex's tonsillectomy nightmare, I can't imagine spending days or months in a hospital with your baby. If there is a place to do it, Children's is the place. The staff made our appointment as comfortable as possible. I tried all day to stay calm knowing this is in God's hands, but it's scary sending your baby to the Neurologist. I think I am tainted from our last experience when the doctor diagnosed Alex with Asperger's Syndrome (on the autism spectrum) and "not a mild case" in her opinion.
I needed a second opinion to confirm this because I've had a really hard time accepting or even believing that Alex could have this. Fortunately, my Aunt Cindy pulled some strings and got us a referral to see Dr. Evans. We've been on the waiting list for months. I knew that today, bad or good, I would have to accept the news presented by Dr. Evans.
The doctor came in and introduced herself and brought 6 other doctors to participate. I wasn't expecting that. A bit overwhelming! The team included: an Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist, Child Psychiatrist, Speech Therapist, Behavioral Therapist and a Neurology Resident. I knew we were going to get some answers today with this many doctors present!
To summarize, the doctor did diagnose Alex with a hand tremor. Her hands shake. It's hereditary. My mother and I both have shaky hands too. It's nothing that has ever been an issue or interfered with our life, but Alex's has been prominent and I've been approached by teachers to have her evaluated, so I felt like I needed to understand why she is shaking. Alex did so well during the visit! She wasn't intimidated or scared by the team of physicians. They asked us a battery of questions and spent time evaluating Alex. I explained our prior Neurology visit and she was "floored" that the doctor diagnosed Alex with Asperger's Syndrome and said "I respectfully disagree. There is nothing Autistic about this child. She is an intelligent, dynamic, energetic, wonderful little girl. I'm very impressed with her eye contact, social interaction, and she is extremely verbal." HA! I think Nathan chimed in with "ha, just like her mom."
She also asked the other doctors to give their opinion and they all agreed that she is doing great! Alex wrote her name and drew them a picture. Many of the issues we were struggling with in the past have been resolved since turning four. Four has been the magic age for Alex. Everything has really clicked for her.
Bottom line: no medication, no sedation and MRI/sleep testing....and most importantly...NO AUTISM! I think I can finally accept this and fully recognize that she's okay!
Thank you God! We will go back in 6 months for a follow-up. As far as the tremor is concerned-- because there is a family history of tremors and because she's improved so much, they just want to give her more time and see what happens. That works for me. It doesn't seem to be causing any problems.
Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to make sure and tell the full story because it's worth celebrating! We love you all and thank you for your prayers!

Alex outside the hospital giving a "thumbs up" after getting a Cinderella backpack in the gift shop.