A star in the making...

I'm sure ever female on the planet has seen the movie "Steel Magnolias". When I moved into my apartment my senior year at Auburn I had to wait a week for the cable to be turned on and in that time I watched my DVD of this movie daily...sometimes multiple times daily...and I think I cried every time. The one thing that always amazes me the most was just how huge Julia Roberts lips get when she is crying...whether it was to her momma about wanting "...thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special." or when she has a diabetic seizure at Truvy's...her lips get incredibly enormous...



It appears when Tripp gets his cry on his lips do the same thing...



Perhaps I have a little movie star in the making...he definitely has a flair for the dramatic!

Where does the time keep going...

This was August 2010...


This was May 2011...



This was August 2011...



And this was today...



Can you hear the sound of my tears hitting the keyboard??? I was so worried about changing schools for the 2011-2012 school year...yet I was just as sad today to say goodbye to Ruth Ann's teachers as I was last year...and Ruth Ann & Tripp are both signed up to attend this same school next year! Change + Tara just don't go well together...and seeing how much my baby girl is growing and changing brings tears to my eyes...and the sound of my sobs can be heart all around my neighborhood!

My little old man

A few weeks ago I packed up the kids and headed to Myrtle Beach to visit my friend Page. When Page and I started making arrangements for this trip I told Arch I reserved the right to leave Tripp at home if I chickened out from being brave enough to take both kids with me. In the end I decided to bring him along...even though I know he's never going to remember these trips, I know he'll see the pictures and wonder where he was...he's already been excluded from a Disney trip so I feel like he already has enough to tell his therapist one day as it is! We ended up having a great time, but Needy Ned did show up a few times...thankfully, Page still loves him despite his constant crying and need to have his momma within his line of sight at ALL times! However, much like his sister, he loves the beach. I couldn't help but notice how similar my 16 month old is to a little old man...

 He's an avid shell collector...



Maybe it's his proximity to the ground...but he was constantly picking up something off the beach...



I guess some things just require a closer examination...



And like an old man...he can sleep anywhere...his only requirement is that he have his Baby (aka: his blanket) & pacie...



However, an old man would probably insist someone take better care of him and someone would have remembered to pack the beach umbrella! Now, I'm not a fan of bellies hanging over waistbands in the elderly population...but when my baby boy sports this look I may have never loved a belly hanging over a waistband more...



And like a little old man, when he's ready to go, it's time to go...Enter Needy Ned...



I'm not sure how to make a grumpy old man happy...but I know just what Ned needs...



Remember when I said he could have done without his Baby and pacie for months when he was little bitty...those days are OVER...we don't ever find ourselves too far from either object these days...which I'm okay with and I kinda support the idea of him carrying his Baby until he goes to college!

One day he's going to hate me for this...

Where Tripp may not be as verbal as Ruth Ann was at this age, I feel like receptively he is much farther along than she was at 16 months. He understands simple directions...and he still is sweet enough to obey me unlike his 3 year old sister...and there are a few phrases you can not say out loud with him around unless you are getting ready to the thing you just said. For example, you can not say "Let's go outside." until you have your shoes on and are walking to the door or Tripp goes crazy...he wants to go that very second you said it. Another is "It's time for a bath."...he loves a bath and sometimes tries to get in before I'm ready for him to be in the water...





And what bath isn't made better with the addition of bubbles??



And who doesn't love a bubble beard??



One day he's going to kill me for posting his baby behind for all to see...but seriously, it's the cutest behind I've ever seen!

A friendly SPF reminder...

Last weekend I took Tripp-man and Ruth Ann to Myrtle Beach for the weekend to visit my good friend, Page. Page and I had just finished discussing SPF when this walked by us...



I wish you could see just how leathery this woman's skin was and how skin moved when she walked. Believe me, I'm all about a tan...but after seeing her I may up my SPF ante to avoid this future!

From Cullowhee to Columbia

Although I'm a proud South Carolinian and I'm proud to say I've lived in the great state of Alabama for 6 years, I'm actually a Tarheel by birth...not meaning I cheer for UNC, but I was born in the mountains of North Carolina. Both my parents grew up in Western North Carolina and we lived there until I was around 2 1/2 years old and then we moved to South Carolina where we've stayed. I married a local boy who comes from a very large family so I often have patients ask me if I'm related to "So & So McCarty"...I never know because unless they're my in-laws I can't remember all their names. But when I meet someone who tells me they're from Western North Carolina I always tell them a little bit about where I'm from. Today I had the one of these encounters and I wanted to share...

Along with testing hearing I also sell hearing aids. Since I work in an ENT setting most of the time patients we see are usually scheduled to see a doctor following their hearing test. So when we identify hearing loss in a patients and recommend hearing aids we have time set aside for patients to come back to meet with just an audiologist to discuss & hopefully order hearing aids. Today I sat down with a sweet lady and as we talked about her lifestyle we first discovered she had taught school with some friends of mine. Her daughter loves sewing and her daughter-in-law loves Matilda Jane clothing.  Just when I thought we could not have any more in common she mentioned having had lived in Virginia and then Asheville, NC. I told her I was born not far from Asheville in Sylva, NC to which she responded by saying she had attended Western Carolina...which is where both my parents went to college and Cullowhee, NC is where my mom grew up and just outside of the town where I was born. The town of Cullowhee has changed a lot since my mom grew up there, but when she was growing up the name of the town was larger than the town itself...it was beyond tiny. My grandparents relocated their family to Cullowhee when my mom was in elementary school and they have a very unique last name...I'm not going to share for privacy reasons, but it starts with a U and has 11 letters...it's unique, believe me. When I told this patient my mom's maiden name she said "Oh yeah, there were lots of U**********'s in Cullowhee."...um, no there wasn't. There were exactly 5 in Cullowhee, my Grandpa & Grandma, my mom, my aunt and my uncle...that was it. My grandpa was a carpenter and could make or repair anything. He built affordable student housing for students at Western Carolina that my grandparents owned until I was in college. It turns out this patient lived in his first apartment building and she remembered him from the years she and her husband lived there.

These are my grandparents...



This is one of my favorite pictures of my grandparents because it's how I remember them best from my childhood...from the orange tint of the picture it had have to have been taken in the early to mid 80's.

I love chatting with patients and getting to know their families...it's one of my favorite parts of my job...but today I was thankful to have a patient remind me of my family too. My grandpa passed away almost 10 years ago and my grandma passed away almost 5 years ago...on almost a daily basis I find myself wishing they were still alive and could have known my children...but it made me feel good today to have someone remind me of what a neat man my grandpa was.

Daddy's first Zoo Trip

A few weeks ago my in-laws invited us to spend the morning with them at the zoo. The investment group they use had invited them and their families to enjoy the zoo and lunch...and since we love the zoo, we were in. I realized as we were driving out of our neighborhood that this was Arch's first trip to the zoo with the kids...how has that happened? Although we don't get to enjoy the zoo as much as others I know, we go way more than I ever remember going as a child and I could barely believe Arch had never experienced the zoo with us. I've learned during the last 3 years with Ruth Ann that you have to mix things up when taking kids to the zoo. We have a fantastic zoo that has great animals and lots of attractions like horse back riding, feeding animals, merry go rounds, etc. And thanks to my mom's grandparent pass we get to enjoy it all at no additional cost. Arch was over heard saying he wanted to see more animals and make less stops for attractions, but unlike Arch, this wasn't my first rodeo at the zoo and I know exactly how to get the best behavior out of our 3 year old for the longest period of time...so we continued to do things my way...a few animals, then a break for a snack, a few animals, then an attraction break, a few animals, lunch...then it was time to head home. Here are a some pictures from our day at the zoo...



My mother-in-law did have a good time...despite her expression. I grew up with a Granny who never smiled for pictures either so it doesn't offend me at all that my mother-in-law does the same.



Ruth Ann watched these baboons for a few minutes and then announced they needed hinney cream...hinney rash is taken very seriously by this little girl...



Here's Tripp where he is happiest...being held by Grand-daddy...



But he also thought it was pretty fun to ride on Daddy's shoulders too...



Then we had lunch and a magic show... Ruth Ann was a little hesitant to volunteer, but once she did she really enjoyed it...



And in my opinion, she got picked for the best trick because it involved a candy bar...



Tripp-man got a little jealous just having to watch...



But he was also exhausted and we headed out shortly after the magic show ended. All in all it was a really fun morning. I hope Arch had a good time and will be joining us on our zoo adventures more in the future!

Driveway fun...

I consider myself very fortunate to have a job & employers that allow me the ability to work part time...I love being an audiologist & a mom, so it's great that I can work at the job I love (and am still paying for the education it took to be qualified for this job) and also be home with my children. But I'll admit...when I'm at work there are times I can't wait to get home and there are times when I'm at home that I can't wait to get back to work...the late afternoon (or the witching hour as I like to call it) when I'm home is one of those times where I almost consider full time employment again! On this particular afternoon I had to get myself and my children outside for some fresh air...we all need it. I've been playing Draw Something on my iPhone for a few weeks and I'm addicted...it looks like I was practicing my doodle art on the driveway too...Ruth Ann helped by coloring in the lines for me...

 

I love that she's a lefty...not because I am, but because it makes her unique. Arch & I are both righties so the chances of us having a lefty is less than 2%...my mother-in-law and my aunt are lefties, so it must be in both our gene pools. But what I also love is knowing lefties also tend to be smarter...Lefties are relatively numerous among children rated as having an IQ higher than 131, 4 of the 5 original designers of the Macintosh (Apple) computer were left-handed, 1 in 4 Apollo astronauts were left-handed – 250% more than the normal level...great news for momma because I'm hoping for scholarships when it comes time for college! And we'll need all the $$ we can get to send her to the college which that paw she's coloring is in support of!

 

 But if academics don't pan out...maybe we could consider an athletic scholarship...

 

 Not only can she catch...she can look good for the camera too...

 

 While we were outside we also got the bikes out for a little bit...

 

I bought these cones on the dollar isle at Target...and we use them to make an obstacle course...or to wear on our heads...

 

 Poor Tripp got a very nice tricycle for Christmas and Ruth Ann is using a hand-me-down from one of my co-workers...but Tripp thinks the grass is greener on Ruth Ann's side of the fence...

 

 In the background of some of these pictures you may have noticed our very sweet dog Griff. He's a golden retriever and is just about the sweetest dog ever.

 

 I've been trying for a while to get a good picture of Tripp with Griff...but animals and small children are the hardest things to take a good picture of...so the 2 together is near impossible...I should just add taking a picture of a leprechaun riding a unicorn to my wish lists of pictures I would like to have...but while we were sitting in the yard I managed to catch this...

 

 Do I like that Tripp is holding a random piece of trash...no, but if you know my husband you know Tripp got that honest from his daddy! However, both are looking at the camera and I love them both so I'm pleased with what I got. I also got these pictures of Tripp that I find thought provoking...

 

At what point in life does it become uncomfortable to sit like this?? He does it all the time...my knees and legs would be killing me!

 I'm so glad the warm weather is here and here to stay...I kinda kept waiting on the cold to fool us and return, but we've had great weather...now if something could be done about the bugs!