Eating at the Neely's restaurant in Nashville (same Neelys as Pat and Gina from Food Network)
Eating at a Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives place in Cincinatti with our friend Heather Snyder
Snoozin' in the early morning hours at Heather's house in Dayton
Enjoying a quiet moment with Daddy reading a book in Grand Rapids at Lizzie and Dave's house
Visiting Grand Haven in Michigan with Lizzie - sans Muffin's face. (Lizzie, we did not get any photos of all of us with Dave! Poo.)
Opening a present from Uncle Andy in East Lansing at Lizzie's parents house.
Digesting dinner in Detroit with Uncle Andy and his girlfriend Jess.
Visiting the Children's Garden on Michigan State's campus (Go Spartans!).
We stayed with Lizzie's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Kidd, in East Lansing while we visited MSU. We basically took over their house and they were so gracious. It was so nice to stay there.
Finally we stopped near Ann Arbor to have breakfast with Kevin's first roommate, Jeremy, and his family at a Big Boy.
Overall, it was a great trip. Waaaay tooooo long in the car: over 39 hours. But we had a fun time. And now I'm still recovering.
Meanwhile, Muffin has learned to scoop dog food.
She can say Bye, Hi, and Uh-oh (and Mama, but she calls everybody mama). And she can sign Please, Thank you, I want, Milk, All done, Hi, and Bye. She knows to blow on hot food, and kind of how to eat with a fork.
That's the good. Unfortunately, she recently got her first ear infection. I know I should count myself as lucky to have a 16-month-old who has never had one before, but I was still sad. Sadder more when I discovered she wouldn't/won't take her antibiotics. She knows the flavor and I have tried E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. So we're getting through it. She's getting better, thankfully.
On a non-Muffin note, I've been dealing with trying to figure out how to give birth naturally in Alabama without fighting a battle. It's very restrictive here as far as birthing options go. You all know I'm a big proponent of natural birth, and it's almost unheard of here. So I've been mildly stressing about it. I know it'll all work out, but it'll take a lot more planning and preparation this time around. Blegth.
And finally we found out that Sparty's elbows have a developmental deformity, known as elbow dysplaysia. Surgery is only available in Birmingham and will cost between $1500 and $2200. Double yuck.
So that's our life lately. Oh, a Kevin update: he's still doing curriculum development for SOS (a course for all AF captains) which he'll start teaching in January. Plus, he's currently working on his last class of his master's degree. Hurray!
Okay, that's it. Hope everyone's doing great! OH, wait!! I have a quick "survey" for you. You will probably have noticed by now that I'm (grudgingly) growing my hair out. Please leave me a message and let me know which you think I look better in: long(ish) hair, or short hair. You won't hurt my feelings. Tell me truth. I'm going to start my hair cutting campaign with Kevin soon and I'm curious how many people think I look better with short hair (but you won't hurt my feelings if you think I look better with longer hair. You'll just make me feel better about myself currently.)
