Timeline

I went on Facebook tonight on my computer (I am usually checking it on my phone) and noticed my page has turned into the trial "Timeline" style.  Yeah it's somewhat harder to read, but I found it really neat that I could click on the year on the right hand side and read my status updates and wall posts from friends.  I was curious to see what 2010 had in the timeline as that was such a special, yet crazy year for us.  

I posted on September 7, 2010 the status of "to blog or not to blog?"  Well, I guess I answered that question!  Actually, my sisters started this blog as an easy way to update everyone about Claire.  But it has become so much more over the past 2 years.  It will be such a special "scrapbook" for Claire.  I love it! 

I also read all of the wall posts from those crazy days at the end of September and first of October.  I know I read all of them back then, but it was neat to re-read them today.  We really had/have such a strong group of people praying and thinking about our family.  We are so blessed. 

I found where I had posted on July 23, 2010 "IT'S A GIRL!!" just a few hours after finding out.  But it's strange, there are no status updates at the end of August when we found out about Claire's heart defect.  Maybe I just couldn't talk about it then.  Facebook was where I first blasted out that Claire was born on October 6, 2010 at 1:51 am (she was born at 1:16 am).  It is where we asked for lots of prayers and received lots of strength.  Just with the click of a few keys on the keyboard and a status update, Claire could have so many prayers and thoughts being lifted up for her.   Now it will be in an easy format for me to look back at and see how her "timeline" really was. 

And then I ran across my status updates and this picture below about praying mantises (is that the right plural way to say that??).  A few days after we found out that Claire would be born with a heart defect and liver cyst, I saw a praying mantis on the wall outside my window at work.  September 1, 2010 I posted that I had a "praying mantis outside my window at work today.  I believe in signs."  It was a sign to me.  He stayed there for a long time.  He was there on days when I really needed to see him.  September 20, 2010 I posted "another praying mantis today."  Nine days before I went into labor.  September 22, 2010, Brittany posted "For the first time in my whole life, a praying mantis was in my driveway this morning....and I immediately said one (prayer) for you and Claire!"   Then on September 29, 2010 (the day I went into labor and headed to Duke), Brittany posted "I'm not even kiddin'.....it's been raining for like 3 days here and I saw another praying mantis....on a day when y'all really need some prayers!!"   She then posted the picture below. I really, really think those bugs were a sign!

The one at work then moved on over my coworkers window and soon to find out she would need prayers and his constant watch out over her too. 

And it's funny, I haven't seen a praying mantis since that time 2 years ago.  But I truly believe he was sent for a reason. 

So seeing this picture tonight on my Facebook timeline has brought back so many memories.  The ones that meant so much at the time, but have gotten lost in the craziness of the last 2 years.  So I guess I have no reason not to like the new timeline layout that will change over and become permanent this Friday (or so my page says). 

This picture has so much meaning to me and represents the past 2 years and it makes me smile...........

Thanks Brittany for posting this and for all of the prayers he (and the other bugs) brought our way!

Love,
The Scott Family

PS- Claire is battling a cold this week.  She could use some good healthy prayers!  I do not like for her to have to struggle to breathe.  It somewhat freaks me out with her heart issues. 

PSS - Claire is attending her very first week of Vacation Bible School!  I will post pictures from the whole week after it is over!

Eye appointment

Thursday, Aunt Amanda and I took Claire to Duke Eye Center in Cary for an eye checkup.  I wanted them to look at how it seemed her left eye would move outward when she was looking far off or at distances sometimes. The ride up was nice and calm.  Claire took a nap on the way but when she woke up, she was not happy.  She had a runny nose and so I am assuming she just didn’t feel good sleeping in a car seat.  She cried and was not happy the whole 1^st half of the appointment.   They even tried to turn on Barney to make her happy and that didn’t work. 

So while we were in the exam room waiting for the doctor, Barney went off.  Aunt Amanda got up, and in a desperate move to find something else to turn on to keep Claire happy, she hit some button on the remote control and a new video popped up.  Well, Claire was absolutely amazed at this video!  She LOVED it!  I think it will be the next big thing!  You can probably hear us trying not to laugh in the background.

Amanda and I laughed until we were crying!!!!  It was hilarious!  You may have had to have been there for it to be as funny to you.  But Claire loved it, she quieted down from crying, and she was happy then.  So we left it on.  Obviously it was some sort of technique they use to get kids to look at the screen when examining their eyes.  When the doctor came in and examined Claire’s eyes we asked her if she could please turn the video back on.  She looked at us like we were crazy and said most people beg her to turn it off!  Not us!  It made Claire happy – she was even dancing in the exam chair (shocker)! 

It was kind of crazy in there trying to keep Claire happy and not let her mess with all of the highly expensive equipment.  So I had a hard time remembering exactly what the eye doctor said.  But they dilated Claire’s eyes to check “refraction” and her nearsightedness.  The nearsightedness is the same as it was in December so that was good.  No changes.  She said the nearsightedness was not a huge deal (since it is just a small amount) since toddlers’ worlds are up close.   She does not have to look at a chalkboard in school yet or see street signs on a road while driving.  She said the type of vision Claire has right now (if she were an adult) would warrant glasses for seeing the chalkboard or while driving at night in the rain.  Let’s hope her eyes do not become as bad as mine. 

The doctor saw what I was talking about with Claire’s eyes and said it was mostly in the left eye but also sometimes in the right eye.  Which is good – I think because she said it meant she was using both eyes to focus.  If it was just in one eye only, she would worry more.  I can’t exactly remember why.  My concern was that when she put her hand in front of Claire’s right eye, Claire would immediately swat her hand away.  When she put her hand in front of Claire’s left eye, Claire didn’t do anything or even act like it was bothering her.  The doctor didn’t seem too concerned about that either at this point.  She said with toddlers, you never know if that means something for her vision or not.  It could just be the way she reacts to things. 

So right now we just watch her eyes.  They could get better on their own which would be awesome.  If not or if they get worse, they would either do glasses or surgery to correct it.  This doctor didn’t have much faith in the patches.  She mentioned something about Claire’s personality and how she didn’t think Claire would be one who would actually keep the patch on…….. 

We will go back in January (unless her eyes seem to get worse) and have another checkup and go from there.   I really liked this new doctor and the fact we didn’t have to drive the extra miles to Durham and park in a parking deck.  So as long as things go smoothly, we may just continue our care at the Duke center in Cary. 

Love,
The Scott Family

Bubbles and Curls

It's a lot of fun when you add dish detergent to the water table!!! 

Sometimes, you even get a bubble beard......

And this picture is just because I want to show off her super cute curls.

Claire goes to the eye doctor today in Cary.  Wish us luck!

Love,

The Scott Family

Book shopping adventure

I had promised Claire all last week that we would take a trip to Books A Million on Saturday and let her pick out a book.  So that's where we headed Saturday morning.  I thought she would be enthralled with the books but all she cared about was running wild through the store.  She had a blast!  And just a warning to all of you old people who go in there and get a book and sit and read - this is NOT a library.  So do not cut your eyes or shoot stink eyes to us mothers who bring our children to a book STORE (not library) to encourage reading and love for books.  Okay?  Thanks.  

Claire found the little spiral things on the carpet very interesting and followed them all over the store.

After an hour of running around, she finally found a book.  Well she did touch a few books - Harry Potter type looking books.  I thought, oh no, please do not want one of those.  Harry Potter is scary!  (Well, I really don't know anything about Harry Potter to be honest).  Mind you, I was thinking a book in the $5-$10 range.  She found one in the $20 range.  I tried showing her other books, but this one must have been so intriguing.  And you will never guess what it was.  Elmo?  No.  Farm animals?  No.  Santa?  No. 

"Cars" the movie:  Pit Crew MATER.   Yes, Claire wanted a Tow Mater book (you know, the bucktoothed tow truck that has the voice of Larry the Cable Guy).  Seriously?!?!  She loved the little tools it had attached to the book and the button you could press that sounded like a hammer.  Her Daddy's child indeed.  (Can you feel her excitement??)

In pure motherly fashion, I tried distracting her from the book.  I knew it was not worth the $20 and that all she really liked was the hammer button and tools.  I can buy a tool set or something for that.  But then I felt bad because I had wanted her to pick out her own book without "leading" her to a certain one.  And that's what she did and this is what she picked.  If it had been cheaper, we would have walked out with it. 

So I tried distracting her.  It was coincidentally kids day at BAM and I had no idea.  So the staff had set up a make shift bean bag toss.  Claire threw the yellow bag straight through the hole!  I swear this child will play fast pitch softball when she gets older.  Grandma Neat Neat and Aunt Doe met us there on their way to Pet Smart. 

As part of kids day, Claire also got a half of a chocolate chip cookie.  She was not interested in the cookie at all, just the bean bags.  So as you can see on my face, I really wanted the cookie (it was hot and gooey).  So I got to enjoy the yummy cookie!  :)

After much more book searching, Claire was tired and was starting to throw whatever book we offered her onto the floor.  So I found this one and we got it.  I really like this author and her books.  Since Claire's really into counting I thought she might like it.  Claire hasn't seemed to impressed with the book yet.  I think she still wants the Tow Mater book.  Guess I should have just bought it like I said I would. 

So we had fun at BAM and will do it again soon (so BEWARE old people using the bookstore as a library.  We WILL be back!)!  And next time I will let her pick out her own book.  Maybe.....

Love,

The Scott Family

This is what it's all about

This morning before it got too hot, Claire and I decided to outside to play.  Usually she runs to the pool or the ball or the tractor to play with.  But today she went on a different path.  I just followed her as she silently walked across our entire yard (which is about 5 acres) just looking around.  She walked across our gravel driveway out in front of our house towards the wood line. 

We walked back and forth at the wood line as she discovered new grasses, leaves, and pine trees.  She touched the leaves as if to try to figure out what they were.  She walked back and forth and I followed.   Then she discovered the hill that leads down to the pond at our house.  Since she loves water, I feared she would tear down the hill straight to the water.  And that's what she did.  But when she got close I stopped her and she turned around.  We walked up and down the hill - still in silence.  She would reach out for my hand when the ground felt unstable. 

We walked back to the driveway, hand in hand, and walked back through the yard.  I remember thinking how nice it was and quiet and beautiful.  Just walking with our daughter together like our hearts were carrying on a conversation but without words.  A special moment.

As we walked back across the yard, she got tired and held her hands up in a gesture as to say she was ready to go back inside and get some juice.  I picked Claire and and we headed towards the house.  I told her that I loved her and she blew me a kiss (her way of saying I love you).  Then I said "Claire, you are the most special thing in the world" thinking she probably didn't really understand what I said.  She turned and looked at me and said "thank you".   Folks, this is what it's all about!  My heart melted once again. 

Love,
The Scott Family

One little monkey jumping on the bed

I have to say I LOVE how this video shows Claire's personality!  And how much her curls bounce!!!!

Love,

The Scott Family

Guilt - Part 2 (with several run-on sentences)

I read a fellow heart mom's blog this week titled "Guilt" and it describes the guilt you feel as a heart mom (or mom to any special needs child I am sure) as to how you could have caused all of this turmoil to be in your newborn baby's life.  You can read the blog post by clicking here.  It will help make sense when reading my post below.

So after you somewhat get over the guilt of thinking you caused your child's heart to be formed differently, her liver to have a rare disease, and for her to be born almost 3 months early, a new sort of guilt sets in.  The guilt associated with parenting. 

What do I mean?  Well, like when Claire repeatedly throws her new juice cup on the floor and juice flies everywhere leaving a sticky path all over the floor, and I feel my patience growing thin - I automatically slip into guilt-mode.  I shouldn't be getting upset about this.  I shouldn't tell her "no" in a stern voice.  I should be happy that she can actually drink from the cup and use her strength to throw it.  I should be happy that she has a personality to know whether she wants juice or not.  I should just be happy she is ALIVE after all that she has been through! 

And I sink into that thought process over and over of feeling guilty for feeling "normal" parent reactions.  I try really hard not to treat Claire any differently than I would if she had not been through all that she has been through.  But at the same time, I can't just ignore it either.  Claire has been through more in her short 21 months than most people have to experience in their entire lives.  She has had a really rough start!  But I want her to grow up just like all the other kids.  Although she is special to us and I want her to always know that, I don't want her to feel that kind of special if you know what I mean - that she gets special privileges just because of her medical history. 

I want Claire to know that she can do anything that anyone else can do.  I don't ever want her to feel like she is limited or being held back by anything or being sheltered.  She can be whatever she wants to be in life.  I want her past to be a part of her, but not to define everything that she is or that she can do.  Yes, I know it's what makes Claire who she is.  But there is a difference.  Does that make sense to anyone but me?

I know probably most all parents feel guilty when they discipline their child.  I have heard of stories where the parent disciplines then has to leave the room because they are crying too hard themselves.  I get it that it's probably a normal parenting reaction. 

But is it normal that when I am rocking Claire to sleep at night that I know there are 5 million things waiting for me to do (dishes, laundry, pick up toys, emails, pay bills, etc.).  And I feel anxious that I need to hurry up and put her to bed, but then I really just want to sit and hold her all night. But I can't.   I have those 5 million things to take care of before I go to bed.  But I shouldn't need to do those things because our daughter could have died on several occasions and she has had her stomach and chest cut wide open and she had to spend all those long hours in the hospital in a scary place so I just need to sit and hold her a little while longer because if not, then I will feel guilty that I thought the chores were more important than holding Claire a little longer because, you know, what if something happens to her and I wish that I had just sat there a few more minutes and breathed in her sweet scent and kissed her warm skin and.........  Or getting excited about going out to eat - just me and Trent so that I don't have to scarf down my food as I feed someone else and pick up a cup off the floor and cut up more banana - and then feeling guilty once we get there that we should be home spending time with our daughter and that I shouldn't have even been excited about leaving her to go eat my food slowly because I should want to feed her and be with her because, you know, she has a heart defect and she spent more than 100 days in the hospital and........   You get my point.  Parent guilt trips going over and over in my head. 

I am curious as to if any other parents of healthy or unhealthy children feel the same way????  Or you can honestly just tell me it's just me.  I will be ok with that too. 

Love,
The Scott Family

All in a Saturday

We jammed a bunch of fun things into this past Saturday.  As we all know, Saturdays are a day to sleep in.  Well NOT in our household it's not!  Claire decided to get the day started before the sun came up at 5:15 am.  So by 8 am, she was ready to get out on the town!  We stopped by Granny and Big Daddy's for a visit.  Their neighbors have some chickens and ducks and now ducklings.  So Claire, Big Daddy, and I walked over to check out the ducklings.  Claire thought they were so funny as she chased them all over their yard!  She looks like she is herding sheep or pigs or something with that thing in her hand (it's a duck yard ornament from my mom's flower bed). 

She also thought you were supposed to squeeze their little heads.  :(

We then headed over the the park in my parents' neighborhood thinking on a Saturday morning it would be filled with kids to play with.  We were the only ones there.  Claire got on several slides and ran around, but it just wasn't as fun by ourselves.  Plus it was super hot by this time, so we only stayed 30 minutes. 

Then we went home and swam in the pool.  Aunt Amanda and Uncle Colby came over with a friend and also swam.  The water was refreshing!  Trent even finished working a little early and joined us. 

Aunt Amanda and Claire

We had a fun Saturday!  We usually try to pack a lot of fun things in on the weekends since we both work full time during the week (and Trent works most Saturdays too).  Claire still loves the pool so it's nice to be able to do that right in our back yard. 

Love,

The Scott Family

Happy Birthday in Heaven!

Claire wants to wish her Granddaddy Eddie an very special and happy birthday up in Heaven!  We know that he looks down on her and watches over her like a hawk.  We miss him very much and are sad at the fact that Claire will not physically get to celebrate his birthday with him here on Earth.  But I know if he were here, she would sing the "Happy Birthday" song to him that Chica sings on "The Sunny Side Up Show"!  :) 

Listen to Chica's birthday song.  You will love it and be singing it the rest of the day!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdZ0OVYMc1U

Funny thing is is that this morning I realized that we actually do get to spend time with a part of him still here on Earth - Trent is 1/2 part of him and Claire is part of him too.  So he is not forgotten. 

Love,
The Scott Family

Notice anything different?

We are in the process of taking the bottle away.  Right now she just gets a bottle with her milk.  So all juice is in a sippy cup!  I actually found these that work.  I just have to take the no-spill stopper out so it spills everywhere.  But she won't drink it at all with the stopper in.  But we are trying it out! 

Love,

The Scott Family

Does this make me a bad mom?

Lately when it rains a lot at our house, these little centipede or millipede things come crawling in for refuge.  I hate them.  I kill them every time I see one.  

Well, one day this week when I took the pictures of Claire's new hair bow, I saw her run down the hall and then she stopped, looked down, jumped, screamed, and came tearing back down the hall, through the kitchen, and into the living room crying.  I couldn't figure out what happened so I went to the spot where she seemed to get scared and noticed a small, 1" centipede on the floor. 

Once I realized what had scared her, I couldn't help but laugh.  This child has literally not been scared of anything except doctors/medical things and the vacuum cleaner.  So it was totally out of character for her to get freaked out over a tiny little bug. 

Cue the bad mom part - since this was really somewhat funny, I went and scooped up the bug, and put him in the open floor area of the kitchen to see if she would do it again.  Claire noticed me doing it and stayed far away by the couch.  Eventually, she came walking slowly into the kitchen.  I grabbed my camera as fast as I could to try to catch her reaction...........

I know, aren't I terrible!?!?!?!?!  It was hilarious!  I honestly do not normally try to invoke fear into my child at all.  But to see her react this way for the first time other than to something medical was something new.  She is learning her likes and dislikes and fears and excitement.  It's fun to watch her personality take on a whole new form. 

I finally killed the bug in front of her and got rid of him.  It took her a while to come back in the kitchen.  Then during supper I noticed she kept looking over the side of her chair to see if the bug was still there. 

The scary bug

So even though she is one of the toughest people I know, she still has some fears and weaknesses.  At least it's just over a bug!  :)

Love,

The Scott Family

Powerball

This past weekend, I took Claire to buy her very first lottery ticket.  Well, that wasn't the reason we stopped at the gas station, but I thought while we were in there, we would try our luck.  We did the random number pick and hoped we would be big winners! 

Unfortunately, we were not big winners.  None of our numbers matched.  I think next time I will let Claire pick out numbers and maybe we will have better luck! 

And since they announce the winning numbers way after Claire's bedtime, we reinacted the moment below as Claire sits with her lottery ticket, lucky dice, and is watching tv in anticipation........ 

Love,

The Scott Family

Corker

My Aunt Brenda is very crafty and made Claire some very cute hair bows!  They are called "corker" bows I think because they look like corkscrews.  She even made them in Claire's favorite color, pink.  Here is Claire modeling one of the bows.  I think the corkscrew design matches Claire's curly hair perfectly!! 

Love,

The Scott Family

A few days off

I just had a 4 day weekend.  Seriously, I can't remember the last time I was able to take a day off that didn't have to do with a doctor's appointment or something medical for Claire since I found out I was pregnant over 2 years ago.  It was SUPER nice to have a long weekend!!  Even if the 1st day was spent at Duke at an appointment. 

I had to work on the July 4th holiday, but was able to leave work a few hours early which was nice.  Claire made these festive hand prints for the 4th!  We went home and swam and then grilled out steaks to celebrate. 

Thursday, we headed to Duke for Claire's first GI check up.  Usually we hear from her liver surgeon about her liver, but after she had that terrible GI virus/infection a few months ago, I felt like we really should be followed by a GI doctor.   We had hoped to meet Nurse Marie for lunch, but it didn't work out.  I had not told Dr. Rachel we were coming up that day and Nurse Susannah wasn't working.  I hate to make all of Claire's favorites feel like they have to stop what they are doing each time we are at Duke to meet us.  I know they are working hard and I hate to bother them. 

Aunt Amanda rode with me and Claire this time and when we got to Duke, we went to Einstein Bagel in the basement of CHC to get some lunch.  As Claire and I were waiting for Amanda to get our food, I noticed several of the residents that were on Dr. Rachel's team/in her class walked out of a meeting room down there.  I figured we had probably already missed Dr. Rachel.  But low and behold, she came walking out a few minutes later!  It was a great surprise for all of us and made our day!

Claire had a good appointment and they basically looked at us like "why are you here?  She looks great!"  So we will follow up in a year with them or earlier if we think anything is going on with her liver.  It's just nice to have someone/place to call to ask questions.  Dr. Martin (surgeon) is super busy and not always in her office as she is usually doing surgeries. 

So this should be our LAST visit to Duke (hopefully) for an entire year!!!!!!  So we took a picture of us in front of the hospital so next year we can compare how big Claire has gotten.  It feels somewhat surreal. 

Aunt Brandy gave Claire a big bucket of finger paints, so one day this weekend we pulled them out and attempted to paint - the paper.  Instead, Claire painted herself.  And ate the paint.  Needless to say it was messy but fun.  I have found orange paint in her ear for the past few days. 

Saturday, we beat the heat by meeting Ava, Izzie, and Christopher at the New Bern Aquatic Center.  I had no idea this was even in New Bern until this weekend.  It's the city pool but it also has this neat spray/splash area for little kids. 

We had a lot of fun!  And it wore Claire out as she took a 2 1/2 hour nap when we got home. 

We swam some more on Sunday but the pool water was really hot.  These consecutive 100 degree days have really heated up the water.  It was almost too hot to be refreshing.  So we didn't stay in long.  Maybe it will cool of just a little before next weekend! 

Love,

The Scott Family

21 Months Old

I seriously cannot believe it's only 3 more short months until Claire is 2 years old.  CRAZY!  Thought I would catch up on posting what Claire is up to at 21 months.

1.  Claire has 16 teeth.  All we have left are the 2 year old molars. 
2.  She can count really well and that is what she likes to do a lot.  She can now count - 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10.  Sometimes she will say 5.  She's really good at it!
3.  Claire is still obsessed with Elmo.  Anything Elmo.  She also likes Chica from the Sunny Side Up Show on Sprout TV channel.  In thinking ahead for her 2nd birthday, we could do either theme, but leaning towards Elmo since he has been her favorite for a long time.
4.  She loves it outside, loves water, and now loves to just sit in the car for fun.
5.  She still drinks from a bottle most of the time, but really likes to drink from a real cup.  It just makes a huge mess.
6.  Claire still only eats fruits.  No vegetables at all.  I try to hide some in her fruit, but she can pick it out.  Sometimes she will eat some meat.  Mainly just fruits, Cheerios, crackers, raisins, cereal bar, puffs, yogurt. 
7.  Claire likes to dance (see video below)! 
8.  She is still a Da Da's girl and it's usually the first thing out of her mouth in the morning or when we get home in the afternoons.
9.  Claire is getting better about being around people and socially interacting.  She is usually shy at first but then warms up to the situation.
10.  She runs everywhere!
11.  Still loves the news and Wheel of Fortune.  And the Furniture Distributors commercial.
12.  For some reason, Claire has decided she does not like a cow sound anymore.  She gets mad if you "moo". 
13.  Claire is officially really only about 18 1/2 months old.  I will be glad when she is 2 so we don't have to use corrected age anymore. 
14.  Claire is really into books, of course, but she has taken a liking to the Christmas books in her room.  Every night now instead of reading Old MacDonald, she reads The Night Before Christmas.  It's one of those recordable books where family members recorded it for her for her 1st Christmas.  She really likes to read/listen to it. 
15.  She still doesn't say Momma or really doesn't call me anything.  Sometimes it sounds like she says "mommy" or "ommy". 
16.  Claire still loves bath time but is not so fond of brushing her teeth.  I bought a new banana fruit flavored toothpaste and she acts like it is really bad.  I need to try something else. 
17.  She is still wearing a size 5 shoe, size 4 diaper, and wears anywhere from 18 months to 2 T clothes depending on how they are made. 
18.  She has still not had her first haircut.  I can't bring myself to cut the curls.  Plus her hair stays short with the curls. 
19.  Claire has a mind of her own - she really always has I guess.  It just seems more evident now in her reactions to things.  She had her first major heeny hiney (AKA - meltdown) this past weekend over not being able to get in the pool at 9 am.  She sounded like I had ruined her entire life. 
20.  She loves to listen for birds.  And then she says "bye bye bird" so sweetly. 
21.   Claire still looks for the moon each morning when we pack up to leave.  She knows exactly where it should be in the sky. 

Love,
The Scott Family

July heat

This past weekend was a scorcher.  It was super hot - the hottest I remember in a while.  At one point this weekend, my thermometer on my car read 106 degrees.  H.O.T.

So to beat the heat, we jumped in the pool!  These sunglasses lasted all of 2 seconds.  And you can see I am  having to restrain Claire's hands from pulling them off so I can snap this cute picture of her.  Unfortunately, the sunglasses are now no where to be found.  I think they blew away in the storm.  That's ok, they were only a dollar! 

We swam for about 45 minutes and then a summer storm rolled up.  So we had to get out and go inside. 

Aunt Amanda and Uncle Colby came to swim too.  After the 1st storm, the sun came back out and we got back in the pool.  But not for long.  The sky got dark and we heard thunder coming quickly. 

By the time we got back in the house, rinsed the pool water off, and sat down, there was a major severe storm approaching.  We were NOT prepared to say the least.  There were hurricane force winds and severe lightening.  We lost power pretty quickly and it stayed off for 12 hours.  Riding around the next day, it looked just like it would if we had had a hurricane.  It was pretty scary!  So we sat around in the dark with our 1 camping light and 1 flash light.  We have more, but the batteries are dead and we are not prepared for hurricane season!

I hope that we do not get anymore scary storms like that with all of the 100 degree days!!!!!!

Love,

The Scott Family

PS - Claire has her first GI appointment tomorrow at Duke.  Wish us luck!