(Nearly) Wasted Trip

Yesterday was a big day for Amanda, Lily, and me as we planned on attending the Winter Jam concert in Greensboro. I got things arranged so that Uncle Bill and Aunt Tiff would watch Noah for the night and the three of us would head out to Greensboro as we did with Fayetteville last year. We had a fine trip and enjoyed some Chick-Fil-A in the car.

As we got near the Coliseum we ran into the expected traffic. I knew that we had some problems when I saw the "Lot Full" sign before the parking lot. We ended up parking on the street (something I may do in the future) and when I asked one of the police directing traffic if I was OK in my spot he gave me some bad news. The concert was already sold out. They don't do pre-sales for these concerts, so you just have to pay your $10 at the door. Apparently there were folks camped out since 11:30 in the morning for a show where the doors opened at 5:00.

To salvage the evening we took Lily to the nearby mall for dessert and a little gift. We got treats at the Nestle Toll House store and Lily got a "mood bracelet" in the shape of a heart with an L on it at Justice. It had been a while since the last time I was at a mall at 6:00 PM on a Saturday evening.  I am in no hurry to repeat the experience. Guess what? Teenagers are still thoughtless, rude, and inappropriately-dressed. And they travel in swarms too.

Frantic Morning

Amanda had a crazy morning today. She had to get the kids ready for school, get dinner ready in the Crock-Pot, and then do some fancy driving. She had to take Noah to preschool, drop his carseat off with Aunt Nat, and then head over to Clayton for a meeting with some friends. Then she had to do the whole thing in reverse in the afternoon. It was a little nuts.

Fortunately, the afternoon was better. The only negative was having to discipline Noah for climbing up on the dining room table. He was playing on the laptop and eventually decided to climb out of his seat and put both knees on the table. He didn't fall. It's a good thing too since it is still very evident where he fell last week. His head has had enough knocks for a while.

Sleepy Boy

Noah has been acting a little tired lately. On Monday Amanda found him on the couch asleep with a Wii controller in his hand. That's certainly unlike him as the Wii usually keeps him riveted and excited. Then yesterday he put himself to bed after dinner. He went up to his room and Amanda found him at 6:30 asleep on his bed with a lit flashlight in his hand. He woke up around 9:00, so Amanda changed him and had him go potty.

You can imagine my surprise when I came home from class, saw that the light was on upstairs, and heard a little voice say "hi" in response to my hello.  He was pretty jazzed up when I found him, but he did go to sleep once we put him to bed.

Amanda and I are both going to be sleepy today because of the wind we had last night. It was rattling one of our shutters that I clearly need to screw down. It also was banging the branches of a tree into the side of our house. I ended up giving up and getting up at 4:00 since I wasn't going to sleep anyway. I have had a nice morning with leisurely time to read my Bible and go running. I figured that I'd better since I'm going to need a nap at lunchtime.

Sunny Day

We enjoyed an unseasonably warm weekend, which was a welcome break after all the rain and snow we've had. I realize that I'm not going to get any sympathy from friends and family up north, but our feeling is that you don't endure the Raleigh summer only to have winter be rainy and snowy.

We took full advantage of the day yesterday. Noah and I played just about every sport we could in the front yard. We started with hitting golf balls, moved to frisbee, then soccer. We also played some catch with a tennis ball and the velcro paddles. He had a great time.

Meanwhile, Amanda and Lily went for a bike ride. They have a spot that they like somewhere on the Black Creek Trail between North Cary Park and Lake Crabtree. They had a nice time, but Lily fell on her bike on the way home. She didn't even bleed, but you would think that she had broken both wrists. I figured something was up because as she rode back to the driveway she was whining.  Fortunately, a few minutes with Noah's stomp rocket was all it took to stop the whining.

Amanda had dinner plans with some friends, so the kids and I ate pizza. We then had a campfire and roasted marshmallows. Overall, it was a great day. I did want to get some schoolwork done, but days like yesterday don't happen every January 30 and I figured I'd better take advantage of it. It was certainly one of those times where you think of the expression, "No one on his death bed says that he wishes he had worked harder."

Sore Every Night

Noah does not have any long-term ill-effects from the bump on his noggin except when it comes time to sleep. He has not quite got the hang of sleeping on it, which has been a problem. I gave him some Motrin last night just before bed and he made it until a little after 5:00 before screaming out in pain. I had him go potty and gave him more Motrin before going back to bed. That did the trick so well that he had a hard time getting up later. It worked out well for me because I wanted to get up then anyway and was struggling with getting out of bed.

I took today off as my floating holiday that I get for New Year's Day. I got a lot of research done for the extra work my professor wants for me to put into my thesis. The only problem is that my brain is a bit fried. Tonight is the convocation for our spring semester. As the Student Council President I do a welcome and a prayer. I'm going to take Lily as my date. She really likes helping to pass out programs. She also enjoys seeing me get up front and speak. She's got performance in her blood!

Long Night

It turns out that there were indeed some repercussions from Noah's cut. He found it very difficult to sleep. He woke up around 12:30 and was very unhappy. First Amanda brought him into our bed and after he fell back asleep she transferred him back to his bed. Unfortunately, he woke up again. I went in to comfort him, but he couldn't get comfortable. We brought him back into our room and he ended up sharing a pillow with Amanda.

As far as I could tell, he was not too bad in the bed, but I didn't have any little elbows jabbing me in the face. I do hope that tonight goes better.

Our Tough Kid

Amanda had some excitement today.Lily was off for a teachers' workday, which meant that she and Noah had to fill up the day. They were arguing/fighting about something in the hall by the kitchen pantry and she pushed him. He fell to the floor and cracked his head open on the corner of the baseboard. After some heavy bleeding Amanda took him to the urgent care. Since the bleeding stopped on its own the doctor recommended against a staple because the scar will be under his hair. There was no need to put him through additional trauma.

It took him a little while to find a comfortable position for sleep, but all's quiet on the monitor. Meanwhile, we chose not to punish Lily because of how badly she already feels about this. When Amanda called me at work to tell me what happened I could hear Noah crying and Lily yelling, "Noah, I'm so sorry!" I think she really is this time. Hopefully this will be a good lesson for her.