Rainy day fun

Love,
The Scott Family

Pool party and birthday thoughts

This weekend we celebrated my birthday and Uncle James' birthday with a pool party and cookout with family and friends at our house.  The weather was perfect and so was the day! 

Me, Claire, Becky, and Ava.  Two years ago at my birthday party we were both pregnant with these girls!

Connor, Aunt Sarah, and Anna

Pool fun!

Uncle Colby, Aunt Amanda (Ah-Mee-Nah as Claire calls her now), Aunt Julie, and Uncle James

Aunt Sarah and Anna

Playing with my water table

Curls and cuteness

Me, Claire, Beth, Izzie, Becky, and Ava.  BFFs all the way around!

Trent getting the grill ready for hamburgers and hotdogs!

My favorite family picture to date (well I have lots of favorites)!  We are all smiling! 

Enjoying the shade

Waiting for supper

Aunt Julie figured out how to bribe Claire into letting her hold her.  Diet Mountain Dew!

Three Amigos

"How many more pictures do we have to take???"

I love this!  Claire was having a blast playing in the yard with her cousins!

"Look at me mom!!!"

Connor and Claire

The infamous birthday cake for me and James (Jams....).  hahaha

Carpenter Girls:  Aunt Julie, Me, Claire (1/2 Carpenter girl), Aunt Amanda, and Aunt Brandy (soon-to-be Carpenter girl)

Candice, Jacob, and Trent playing pool volleyball

Aunt Brandy and Claire

We had a blast!  I just wish that Claire had not gotten sick.  And that she had not exposed the other kids unknowingly at the party.  I guess it's a part of life that I have to get used to sooner or later. 

I have never really thought of birthdays the way I do now. I have always thought of birthdays as an exciting time to get together with family and friends and have fun. Sometimes you get gifts, sometimes you don’t. The older I get, the more I see birthdays in a different light.

Let’s back up several years. Our parents always made a big deal out of our birthdays. We were always made to feel special. I remember after most of my birthday parties as a child, I would usually cry. I know it sounds really odd, right? It should be a fun time and I should be enjoying my new gifts. But I would feel so bad that people spent their money on me to buy me something. Weird, I know. I remember crying in bed one night after my party and my mom came back to see what was wrong (I specifically remember getting a new boom box radio - tells my age right?). I told her I was just sad because I didn’t want anyone to spend money on me or buy me things. I felt bad about it. I remember her telling me that they wouldn’t have come to the party or bought me a gift if they really didn’t want to. So I tried to accept it. I still to this day do not like a big deal made of my birthday. And still to this day, I cried as we laid in bed after the pool party. Trent had to deal with me this time and tell me that I deserved to have a party. I think I cried myself to sleep - and yes, I am 33 years old.

As I started thinking about it this year and realizing how old I was going to be, it just hit me. Birthdays are so much more. I guess last year, I was in such a daze and glaze when we celebrated Claire’s first birthday, that it still didn’t sink in then. I was just so excited that we had actually made it one whole year.  But as I think about my birthday and planning Claire’s 2^nd birthday, I realize that birthdays are super special and just how my parents must have felt when celebrating our birthdays as children.

What a day to celebrate and remember!? It’s not just a fun day to have cake and ice cream and gifts. It’s a day that celebrates the birth of that child or person. The world would not be the same without them being born and so it makes it such a great day to celebrate them and remember back to that special day. I see now why our parents always made our birthdays special. Not only were they trying to make us enjoy our special day, it’s also a celebration for parents to remember that awesome day when their child was born.

So instead of looking at my birthday this year as a day that I turn older, I am looking at it from a mother’s perspective this year. And so I celebrated.

I appreciate everyone making the birthday celebration special!  I look forward to many, many more birthdays!

Love,

The Scott Family

Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease

Does this look like a little girl with hand-foot-mouth disease??

Well it is!  Along with the ear infection, the high fever she had Thursday was also associated with HFM.  She has lesions on her feet and in her mouth, but haven't seen any on her hands yet. They just popped up Saturday night after we had fun at our pool party.  She didn't act like anything was bothering her.  Then we found all the blisters on her feet and between her toes.  Of course she wouldn't let me see inside her mouth.  But when we went back to the pediatrician Sunday, they looked and saw lots of lesions in her mouth. 

She even has a rash all over her body.  You can kind of see the little red bumpy rash all over her legs. 

Blisters on the bottom of her feet.

Hopefully she will be better soon!  I had to cancel all of her play dates this week!  :(

Love,
The Scott Family

Vacation Bible School

Claire REALLY enjoyed her very first Vacation Bible School at Centenary UMC!  She stayed in the nursery room and got to play with friends.  She started to learn how to sit at the table for snack and to share toys with other kids. 

Thanks to Granny Mary, Aunt Amanda, and Marisa, we have these pictures from the first 4 days.  Unfortunately, Claire came down with a 103 fever Thursday night due to an ear infection so she stayed home Friday.  But I think this was a good practice for preschool that starts in just ONE month!!! 




Day One:

I love this picture! 

She likes opening and closing the cabinets on the play kitchen just like at home in the real kitchen.

Day Two:

Kitchen time again!

Outside on playground making music

Day Three:

Granny said Claire liked crawling through this tunnel a lot.

So much so that it wore her out and she fell asleep at VBS!



Day Four:

Running through the sanctuary during music time!

Checking out the organ in the sanctuary.  Waiting for Uncle Colby to come play a song.

Where's Waldo/Claire?

Artwork - Goldfish and Lobster.  VBS theme was something to do with oceans.

A real live sea turtle from NC Aquarium.  As you can see, Claire did not like him. 

"Giiiiirrrll, did you see what she was wearing????......................."   (snack time!  This picture cracks me up!)

More snack time.  Practicing sitting at the kid table like everyone else. 

I am so glad Granny and Aunt Amanda were able to take Claire to VBS this year.  She really enjoyed herself and I really enjoyed seeing the pictures of her having fun!  We are really working at getting Claire around more kids so she can learn to interact and play with them.  If you are interested in a play date, let me know and I will put you on Claire's Play Calendar!! 

Love,
The Scott Family

Miracle Treat Day at Dairy Queen

Thursday, July 26th was Miracle Treat Day at Dairy Queen.  This was the same day as Claire's eye appointment in Cary.  Basically for every Blizzard bought that day, $1 would go to a Children's Miracle Network hospital.  So naturally we had to find a DQ participating.  Amanda looked on her phone and noticed New Bern was not participating (shame on you!) but saw that Clayton was.  We were right at that exit so we pulled off and got us a Blizzard!  Yummy!!!  It was for a good cause!!

Love,
The Scott Family

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