Records

Serif has been in to my childhood records lately. He gets so excited as he holds on to the front of the stereo pull, anxiously waiting for me to come open it up. Our routine is to get out the records and open the record player, then we have to turn it on and pull up a bar stool. He holds on to the mirrored top until I'm ready to put it on the record. He sits up on the bar stool and watches as I put on the mirrored top. He gets so excited! He doesn't listen to all of them all the way through, but a couple of them he does. When he's done with one, he says, "More?" and motions it in sign language (circled hands and tapping his fingertips together).


These have been so much fun. I've always loved these records. I think my mom picked them up at a yard sale. Some are in great shape and others are pretty worn. I'm finding them on ebay for a bid price started at $9.99 per record. They are "Red Raven" records, in case you're interested or looking for a gift for the boy! ;)

Serif & Daddy

This is just one of my favorite photos right now. Aren't they adorable?

Bug Bites

Jeff and Serif spent some time cleaning up the back yard on Saturday and Serif got eaten up with mosquito bites. His legs were covered from the knees down with bites. I've been putting this moisturizing oil on any bites he gets and it always seems to do a pretty good job in getting rid of them quickly. (Serif calls them "bug bites" and the oil, "bug bite stuff".)

Sunday we went to lunch with Jeff's side of the family, Grandpa, Uncle Don, Aunt Shannon and Anelia. We got to talking about the bug bites and Aunt Shannon mentioned that she had heard that deodorant with antiperspirant was suppose to get rid of them quickly. So that night, we gave him a bath and after we lotioned him, we decided to give it a try. We applied it to all of his bug bites and then Serif insisted we let him try . . . immediately he does this . . . I guess he watches us closer than we think.



Another note. We took Serif to the doctor a few weeks ago because of numerous bug bites he had gotten from daycare. He hadn't gone outside that day and he didn't have the bites when we took him to daycare, so it was very strange to us that it could honestly be bug bites! He even had them in his diaper! That's when I got concerned and we took him to the doctor. They had us come in the employee entrance because they thought it could possibly be chicken pox and they didn't want him around any other kids, just in case. (yes, he has been vaccinated, but the doctor does still see about 1 case every year to year and a half). It ended up just being bug bites from a very trapped and determined little bug. The doctor was so gracious that he didn't even charge us for the visit. We were a little embarrassed by taking him for bug bites, but it's better safe than sorry!

SOCKS!

I was getting laundry out of the dryer tonight when Serif came over and wanted to help. I had just folded Jeff's socks and so I told him to go give them to Daddy. He did . . . and then came back like this! Serif has been very animated lately. Everything he sees and gets excited about is shouted out, so in this case he comes in and says to me, "SOCKS!". I think I snapped the picture when he started saying, "More?", which has been a much used word in his vocabulary lately.

Then he took me to his room and pointed to his fire hat. So I helped him put it on. He's snapped his chin before with the elastic and has learned to be very careful with it. His patience has grown a little now and will let us help with it. Once we got the hat on, he had to go show Daddy.

Several of the photos blurred due to the motion and lighting, but I couldn't resist posting them anyways. They're still fun.

Rocks

Serif was coaxed into staying at school this morning by Ms. Rachel offering him 2 big shiney rocks!


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ice cream. yes please!

Our Villa

The view of our villa from The Rockhouse Restaurant. The curve wall you see to the left hugs a single dining table that can be reserved for a private dinner.

I do believe this one will be blown up and framed on our wall . . . somewhere. I'm still pinching myself!

Our villa entrance and view of our patio.

Our patio.

View from patio to the entry.

Inside the villa.

The big windows are actually doors that slide open.

A view straight out from the open window/door.

Looking down at the landing from just outside our entry.

View of the ocean access from the patio.

Us, at The Rockhouse restaurant waiting for our breakfast.

16th Anniversary Trip - So far . . .

I don't know why, but the text on this post is acting up tonight. I'll have to fix it when we get home. Oh and see the new edits to the "Hey, little devil!" post.

The Rockhouse Hotel, Negril Jamaica

Our villa is in the center of the photo, the one with the green umbrella (to the left of the red umbrella).

Our villa to the left. The door is adjacent to the stone wall you see. Immediately to the right of that same wall, is the path that leads to the perched lawn chairs, green umbrella and ocean (see photo below).

The view from our porch. You can see the top of the green umbrella here. The ladder is our villa's access to the water and Jeff is the guy you see snorkeling. The highest railing you see above Jeff is the Rockhouse Restaurant and the hut to the left is set up with 2 adirondack chairs for relaxing, but is also used for messages from the spa. The white roof you see past that is the Push Cart Restaurant.

The pool.

One of several bridges along the path. This one only has the handrail on one side so you can jump off the other side . . . notice I said "you", not me.

The man behind this amazing trip.

One of the many paths on the property.

A portal in the path.

Another view of the property from the path.

This is a view from our walk from the restaurant. The hut you see in the background is a 2nd hut for spa treatments . . . ahhhh, yes please!

This shot was taken at lunch from the Push Cart Restaurant. You can see our villa in the far background just below the bottom left corner of the sign. The two huts you see in the foreground of ours are the spa huts you saw in the other photos.

Here's Serif having a blast with Aunt Shannon, Uncle Don and Anelia!

They were kind enough to send us these photos today to show us just how well he's doing.

Thank you!!! You've made our day! We're ALL having fun in the water!

We love you buddy! We miss you! See you soon!

I am so blessed.

Tomorrow will mark our 16th wedding anniversary. Yes, 16! It seems a bit strange that we've been married that long; I guess time does fly when you're having fun.


After all these years I am still amazingly blessed to have such a wonderful, thoughtful, loving husband. Five months or so ago, Jeff informed me that he was planning a secret vacation for our anniversary this year. I was tickled pink to think about such places he'd book us to go. Time has passed and tomorrow is the day that he sweeps me away to a secret little place that only he (and a few other fortunate few) know about. I am so excited to land the plane and see where this long awaited ride will take me. No matter where it is it will be amazing because he picked it and he will be there with me to enjoy it to the fullest.

Prior to having Serif, I could never understand why parents never went anywhere without their kids. It was hard to wrap my mind around the fact of it never being just the two of them again, even for a weekend! The thought has now come full circle and I now have a better grasp on that concept. This being said, I do think time alone together is a good thing in order to continue that foundation that sets the family together. It will be good for us and good for Serif to know that it's okay to be apart for a little while and that we'll be back together again soon.

Tonight, we had to drop Serif off at his Uncle Don and Aunt Shannon's house; he will be staying with them the next few days until we come back on Monday night. He absolutely loves spending time with them and I know he will do just fine. Regardless of that little known fact, it was still a little tough to leave him behind.

Serif has spent the night with them two other times and all went well. We were fine and really got to enjoy a little break to reminisce and re-live the old days of date nights with movies, dinner and no bed time. I'm sure this trip will be the same, but it's just a little harder to think of him not being around and not even in close proximity!

He did well tonight. He started to cry but it didn't last long. By the time we got in the car to drive away, he was laughing with Aunt Shannon and seemed to do well as we shoveled all the things we wanted to say in a quick wave through the window: "Bye! I love you! Be good! See you soon!"


I am so grateful to have such a wonderful family: A husband that I love so dearly and who is so incredibly and graciously good to me and a son that we both adore with all our hearts. Thank you Lord for our family and for giving us such a wonderful and blessed life together. Now, please keep us safe on this trip so we can reunite real soon! ;)

Coloring & Puzzles with Daddy

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Hey, little devil!

The very day after taking and posting this photo, I picked Serif up from daycare and had an unexpected surprise. One of Serif's teacher's, Ms. Tammy, met us at the door with a smirk and hung head and told me that Serif had taken his first trip to the principal's office; the principal is Ms. Sandra, who is the director of the daycare. The reason for the smirk was because they never really have any problems with Serif and he's actually known as "the sweet one with the cute smile". Apparently these cute little horns took root and Serif decided that he no longer needed to mind.
First, they were having water play when Serif wouldn't quit splashing the teacher. Of course, with each "No, Serif" came a grin and another splash. Second, they were putting up water play (due to his behavior) when he decided to start hitting. In effort to calm and redirect, she decided to have the kids sit down so she could read them a book. As Tammy read to the kids, she came across a page that spoke of legs and feet and how they can kick. Serif then gets up from his spot and goes to Ms. Tammy and starts kicking her. Poor Ms. Tammy had done everything allowable to keep Serif on track, but he just wouldn't listen. Therefore, he got sent to the principal's office to get his little lecture and to sit quietly in time out for a little bit until he could behave again.
Well folks, I agree with Ms. Tammy on this one . . . it looks like we're beginning the transition of the terrible 2's. (sigh.)
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Be still my heart . . .

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